Chapter 281 - It Really Is Him!

Lucia saw Fatima and the Prince approach. She waved at them and invited the two inside their home.

When they entered the wagon, the Prince had the same reaction as Fatima and Karen when they first entered their home.

After a quick round of explanation from his fiancée, Rowan was able to get the gist of how something so incredulous could be created.

Serilla had finished preparing the refreshments and the 4 people were all seated in the living room. Just before Fatima began talking seriously to the 2 girls, Rowan went out of his way to personally thank the two girls for their help earlier.

Once that was out of the way, Fatima asked them the question she had been wanting to for a while.

"Uhm...Lucia, Serilla, this husband of yours, he's a Silvaria, right?"

"Well, of course! If he wasn't we wouldn't be Silvarias as well!"

"I-I see...c-can you tell me his name?"

"Hm?"

"Ah! I-it's nothing! I was just curious!"

"Oh! Well his name is Cecil Silvaria!" Lucia replied with a bright smile.

When she heard the familiar name, Fatima couldn't help but feel like an explosion had gone off in her head. She felt a little faint and couldn't help but slump back into the couch. Tears began streaming down her face and she couldn't help but choke at the overwhelming emotions she was feeling right now.

After searching for so many years, finally...finally she found something about her brother. Seeing her like this, Rowan was naturally happy for her and he pulled her close into a gentle embrace.

Lucia and Serilla were naturally shocked and puzzled when they saw Fatima suddenly break down into tears when they announced their husband's name. They couldn't help but grow fl.u.s.tered and at the same time suspicious at her reaction.

"I-I'm sorry, I just felt overwhelmed, ahahaha..." Fatima said as she regained her bearings and reeled in her emotions.

Seeing the two's suspicious looks, Fatima quickly began asking them about the description of their husband. Lucia was cautious, but Serilla explained when she saw the pleading look on the woman's face.

'I-it is him! Ahahaha! It looks like I have to do a reintroduction to my two sisters-in-law ~'

Hearing more about her brother, Fatima was beaming from ear-to-ear. Once Serilla finished her explanation, Fatima was sure that the person she was describing was indeed her little brother. Despite there being many changes to his description based on his looks, but this was understandable since he naturally grew up after 6 years.

However, the description of what kind of person he was, his characteristics and habits that Fatima would chime in from time to time which the two girls would excitedly agree with her, made Fatima certain that this husband of theirs was indeed her little brother.

After their long discussion, Fatima suddenly stood up and said, "This may be late, but I think I should reintroduce myself. My name is Fatima Silvaria. And yes, just like my name, I have the same last name as you and your husband. That's because that husband of yours is my little brother."

"Huh?!"

"Hmmm... I had a little suspicion of it, but it turns out this was the case." Serilla said calmly once her suspicions were confirmed while Lucia was shocked to hear Fatima before she immediately grew happy and excited in the next instant.

"Th-that means you're Cel's family!"

"Cel? Ahahah~ so you call him by his puppy name too?"

"Y-yeah! I've been calling Cel that ever since we met back at my village...w-wait if you're his sister...doesn't that mean you're our sister-in-law?!"

"L-Lulu, aren't you being a little too slow on the uptake?" Serilla said in exasperation.

This sister of hers had really quick reactions in a battle, but whenever someone said anything too shocking, it'd take a while for her to process it despite her being smart in her own right.

"Haha, yes, this is indeed the case. I am your sister-in-law, but it's such a surprise though! To think that my stupid little brother would have 2 beautiful wives! I wonder how my mother and father would feel when he comes home with you two in each of his arms?! Ahahaha~ that would no doubt be an amusing scene." Fatima said with a bright laugh.

Rowan was smiling gently at her. Ever since the burden of finding her brother was lifted off her shoulders, she had been smiling more and the cold mask she would normally put on had crumbled off her face.

"Wait a minute...these two are your brother's wives?!" Rowan said after he processed something in his head.

"Wow, Rowan... I didn't know you were slow as well!"

"..." Rowan turned speechless at the news. He had wanted to introduce at least one of these girls to his subordinates in hopes of a romance blooming which in turn would tie them to his side, gaining him another capable subordinate.

But now, he heard that his fiancée's brother wasn't married to just one, but both of these girls! His plans now had to be scrapped.

'Sorry, Chris, it looks like I won't be able to introduce them.' Rowan silently apologized in his heart to his right-hand man, Chris, the person which Fatima had asked earlier for the report on the prince's army, who was single and had inadvertently fallen in love with Serilla on first sight.

Now he was a little worried since these two girls were so formidable, just what kind of person could this future brother-in-law of his be like?! If he was able to tie down these two girls to himself, not to mention how loving they looked when they were talking about him just a moment ago...his abilities must at least be on par or even stronger than these two!

Thinking up to here, Rowan couldn't help but sweat a little and gulp nervously. Despite him losing to Fatima's father over and over again, he had still gained his future father-in-law's consent because of how persistent and serious he was in pursuing Fatima, but even then, this was because Fatima and her mother had chided her father, Kaiser, for being too high-handed and strict.

As for Gabriel, Matheus, and Luca, he had been able to gain their approval after proving himself to them, the only person he still hadn't gain approval from was the youngest sister and brother, who until now was missing.

While he was fretting alone, Fatima hurriedly asked the two girls the current whereabouts of her brother.

"He's not with you... so, where is he?"

"Ah...about that..." Serilla had a strained smile on her face.

Lucia was a little exasperated that things had ended this way. She should have forced the issue and not allow Cecil to separate the party. Now look, because of Cecil's idiocy, his family reunion was delayed!

Instead, Lucia and Serilla had been put in the awkward position of reuniting with their in-law before their husband.

"Well, because of how stupid our husband is at times, he had this great idea to separate the party in two so that he could go investigate another kingdom about your whereabouts. He left this kingdom to us and went on over to the Revertia Holy Kingdom. He should be flying in the neutral territory right about now..." Lucia explained.

"Revertia? That's 2 months away from our kingdom if you used the airship to travel there..." Rowan replied before asking in shock, "Wait, when did you guys separate?"

"About 2 weeks ago."

"2 weeks ago...and he's already over the neutral territory?"

"Well, he's flying over not on an airship, but my familiar," Lucia answered.

"I-I see... if he's that fast...then we'll have to wait a month or two before he realizes that his family isn't there before heading back to us." Rowan analyzed. This wasn't good. He wanted his fiancée and her brother to reunite as soon as possible.

He'd be hard-pressed to do anything right now. Sending a messenger to go look for the young man wouldn't be plausible since that would take too long.

"Don't worry, we can just call him and tell him that we've found you! I bet he'll quickly rush back here once he's heard the news!" Lucia said while whipping out her MID.

"Call? Wait, is that a MID?" Rowan asked.

"Yup~ but, unlike a normal MID, this is a customized one created by my husband! It can be used to communicate with others over a long distance!"

"Ah, so it's like a phone!" Fatima said in understanding before she turned to Rowan and asked, "How come you don't have one?"

"I do, Ima! But I can't use it to communicate with others! It's a device that's only used to interact with the Mana Integrated Network which spans the entire world! This is something the ancients created and this device is used to gain access to that network." Rowan explained as he took out his own MID. It looked similar to Lucia's, but the functions were worlds apart.

"Okay? But then how come Lucia's can?"

"That's what I want to know!"

Since Lucia was on the MID calling Cecil, Serilla was the one who explained.

"My husband is an artificer, he developed and upgraded the existing MID so that it could communicate with other MIDs that have the same function about 4 years ago. He's still trying to upgrade it, but since he's taken on an apprentice, he had to put a temporary halt to that and focus on training and mentoring."

"I-I see...so he's an artificer...does this mean you guys are from the Machina Reggio Empire?"

"From? Ah, no, we're not from the Empire, but we did pass by the Empire to arrive here."

"So your husband is a rogue artificer?" Rowan asked.

Seeing the glint that flashed in the Prince's eyes, Serilla chuckled lightly and said,

"Hmhm~ well, I guess. It's only his hobby though so you shouldn't have any expectations of recruiting him. We aren't affiliated with the Empire, but he was given the position as an Honorary Elder of the Empire's Great Workshop. His apprentice also happens to be the next candidate in line to inherit the position of the workshop's Head Artificer."

"!" Rowan couldn't help widen his eyes in shock upon hearing this. Such an important character like the next Head Artificer candidate was placed in his fiancée's brother's care as an apprentice. This attested to Cecil's ability as an artificer yet despite all that, it was only a hobby and not something that he took seriously.

This only strengthened Rowan's worries. Just what kind of monster did he have to gain the approval of? While Rowan had grown worried, Fatima was glad that he was doing well.

"Wow~ hearing this about my brother, it makes me proud as his sister!"

Lucia, who had been trying to call Cecil, looked at her MID with a frown before telling the others in the room.

"My call can't connect..."

Serilla was a little confused, but she quickly took out her MID and tried calling Cecil. Just like Lucia, the call wouldn't connect and this further confused her.

"This...has never happened before..."

"I-I can't access the Network!" Lucia suddenly exclaimed.

Serilla tried on hers but found that it was just like in Lucia's case. Rowan also tried doing the same, but even he couldn't access the Network on his MID.

When he saw this, he paled a little and immediately tried chanting a magic spell, but when he finished the incantation and tried to invoke the spell. The spell formation formed, but nothing happened and it immediately broke down causing him to grimace due to the backlash for failing to invoke the spell.

"N-No! How? I thought..." Rowan immediately dashed out of the wagon and looked around the air. Although he couldn't see it, he sort of felt it. The girls followed after him and Lucia immediately felt a change in the air.

From afar, the commanding mage of Rowan's forces immediately scrambled towards him and reported in haste.

"Y-Your Highness!"

"I know..." Rowan replied gloomily.

Behind him, Lucia tried to cast a normal lava bolt but suddenly found that she couldn't. The spell formation formed, but her magic spell didn't.

"Mana...there's no mana..." Lucia said in bewilderment as she focused her senses.

"That's right...the atmosphere is void of mana..." Rowan answered.

"H-How can that be!"

"It's a weapon created by the Machina Reggio Empire...I didn't think that the Merkruz Principality could buy it from the Empire!"

"What weapon?!"

Rowan turned towards the girls and answered gravely, "It's called the M-Jammer."