CH.142 Meeting Christina’s Family

CH.142 Meeting Christina’s Family

“Alice. Is it really you?” The lady asked.

We both got up, Alice first and I followed her lead. Probably a good thing to do, just in case she is someone important.

I’d guess she was in her early twenties, so basically the same age I am. Her hair was medium long and beige blond in color. Not quite the blond Alice and Christina have, but still blond. I think the one Alice and Christina have is called natural blond. Or was it buttery blond? I don’t remember.

She was wearing a simple looking brown dress, with some floral patterns embroidered into it, so she shouldn’t be a maid.

Spoiler

For those that want to see the picture I used as a reference for the hair colors.

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“Aunt Paulina?” Alice said, after a few seconds to recall the name of the lady.

“Oh. So you remember me! I‘m so happy.” Paulina said as she came over and pulled Alice into a hug.

“Of course I remember you. You visited only a year ago.” Alice said.

“But you know you could just call me big sis Paulina.” Paulina said.

“... big sis Paulina?” Alice said carefully.

“Yes! Just like that!” Paulina said, and seemed to hold onto Alice thigher. “I’m so happy to see you again. You’ve grown so much!”

“It’s only been a year. I can’t have grown that much.” Alice said.

“Oh, but you have. I can feel it.” Paulina said.

Feel? Don’t tell me you are talking about her boobs. And Alice has a very modest chest area.

“Your magic feels so much more complete. Can you use it now?” Paulina asked.

“Yes. I can.” Alice answered.

“Yes. Then let’s have a practice match.” Paulina said.

“... I’m not that good yet.” Alice said.

“Then let’s study together. I’ll teach you.” Paulina said.

“I’m sorry, but I already have a teacher.” Alice said.

Paulina let go of Alice and turned to me.

“Could it perhaps be this man?” Paulina asked.

“Sorry, but it's not me.” I answered. I assume Alice meant Mana, so I’m not her teacher.

Well, I guess I do study the contactless mana control with her, so that is something.

“Really?” She asked as she took my hand. “Water scan.”

Did she just cast water scan with no chant?

(Actually, that would be a quick chant.) Laura pointed out.

“I knew it. You have to be her teacher.” Paulina said.

“... but I’m really not.” I said.

“Then perhaps you should introduce yourself. And explain your mana circuits while you are at it.” Paulina said.

Did she remotely feel my magic circuits? Is that even possible? Then she confirmed it with the water scan.

(It’s most likely just intuition.) Laura said.

(I see. By the way, can I scan her as she is connected to me?) I asked.

(We can try, but it will be a little forceful.) Laura said.

I focused on my mana and tried to push it into her through her hand. As it was entering, I felt that she tried to pull her hand away, but I held onto it. If you are going to invade me, don’t try to run when I do it back to you.

“Wh-What are you doing? Stop.” Paulina said.

“Shouldn’t I ask you that? Or is it common for you to walk up to people and scan them without permission?” I asked, as I pushed my mana deeper into her.

(Laura, have you figured something out?)

(Her magic is slightly advanced. Most likely level 3 or 4. But she can use two attributes, water and earth.) Laura said.

“You are asking about my magic, while you are the abnormal one. Two attributes and everything.” I taunted Paulina.

“How... How dare you?” She asked, with her voice trembling.

“Again, you started this.” I said, but I should probably stop soon.

“... Brian. You should probably stop.” Alice said.

“Thank you, Alice.” Angelina said. “Now, let’s get back on track. First of all, Mr. Brian, would you give a detailed report of the dungeon?”

“Sure. And just Brian is fine.” I responded. I don’t really mind when the maids or servants call me Sir or Lord or whatever, but when a person in a position of power does it, it makes me feel awkward. And Christina did almost adopt me, so I’m almost a part of this family. Offering her home to me is basically adoption, right?

“Well, if that is what you wish. Then feel free to call me Angelina.” She responded.

“May I call you that as well? You may call me Paulina if that’s the case.” Paulina asked.

“Yeah. That’s fine.” I gave Paulina permission as well. She might be a little ... hyper, but she seems fun to hang around with.

“Thank you. Now you can be my little brother.” Paulina said.

“... are you sure I’m not older than you?” I asked.

“With that baby-face, I don’t think so.” Paulina said.

... is it really that bad? I’m 22, not 18.

“Well then, big sis, could you please stay quiet while I talk with big sis Angelina?” I jumped into my role and tried to get Paulina to shut up.

“That’s not nice, but I guess I can. I want to know about the dungeon as well.” Paulina agreed.

“Thank you. Now, let’s get to my study.” Angelina said, before leading us deeper into the manor.

She led us to a room on the second floor. It was not super large, but still larger than the GM’s office in the Alewatch guild, or the study of Brandon in the Watchman manor.

Two maids that had been outside the front room followed us and Angelina sent them away to get us some tea.

“Before we get started, I’ll just say that there is a possibility that you will have to repeat all of this once Father is available. I hope you are fine with that.” Angelina said. “But if you’d rather wait for Father to be available, we can do that as well.”

“No. I can just explain it twice.” I said. It’s not like there is so much to this. “Where would you like me to start?”

“The dungeon information, please. As we have to make an official report about that, that is the most important part.” Angelina said.

“I see. Can you be more specific, or should I just speedrun everything?” I asked.

“I need to know everything. And in full detail.” Angelina said.

“Well, that’s going to take a while.” I said.

“Don’t worry. We have all day.” Angelina said.

(Laura, where should I start?) I asked Laura, so I would give the information in a good order, instead of a chaotic mess.

(Why not just use the Dungeon Founder skill along with the terminal to show them the remote management mode? They should be able to learn all the relevant information from that.) Laura said.

(... I can do that? Well, I guess I never tried and I can open my Pack Opener for people, so it does make some sense.)

(Yes, you can. Just open it up for yourself and say ‘Dungeon Founder, open’.) Laura instructed.

(I see. Thanks.) I said to Laura.

I placed my left arm, and by extension the founder’s terminal, on the table between me and Angelina. I then pulled up the remote management mode of the dungeon, before saying: “Dungeon Founder, open.”

Dungeon 22_090: TinaWood DungeonCore Status: StrongMiasma Status: HighMonster Status: ManyFounder: Brian WoodCurrent Master: Christina Watchman Generation Points: 23564Generatable Items

The basic status of the dungeon is more or less fine, but I am a bit worried about the miasma status being ‘high’ and the monster status being ‘many’. I think we need to get some adventurers to exterminate some of the monsters soon, or I might have to head over myself to do it. But then again, having Alice summon two monsters and clear the dungeon would get her a lot of levels, so perhaps I should take her over to the dungeon with Gradius and boost her level.

I should get in contact with Christina about that. I don’t want to wipe out all of the monsters before the dungeon becomes popular, after all.

“I didn’t know you could do that.” Angelina said, as he was looking at the system screen.

“Yeah, neither did I. Laura told me I could, so I did.” I admitted.

“Laura? Who is that?” Angelina asked.

“My system support.” I answered. She already knew about the system support, so talking about it should be fine.

“I see. Well, we’ll get to that later, but for now, show me everything.” Angelina said.

We spent over two hours going over different details about the dungeon, starting with room layouts. Then monsters, both Angelina and Paulina were surprised when they heard that Christina took down a lava golem and that I took down a sword-horn bull.

And also the drops. Those caused another surprise. Not only was the denim and tricot fabric something that hadn’t existed before, the only source of similar quality cotton is in a different country, so it is quite expensive. Cardboard wasn’t as interesting to them, though. But the real surprise came from magic items that you could get deeper in the dungeon, like the magic bags and magic flask. As well as the magic weapons you could get from the Dark Door challenge rooms.

Going through all of that reminded me of one item that I made a while ago. The pendant that I installed Black Pendant into. I was meaning to give it to Alice, but she never showed me a new spell, so I never did. And there was that small fight as well, because I rejected her. But the pendant was decently effective and I made it for Alice, so I should probably give it to her. And unlike the magic stone bracelets that I made, the pendant shouldn’t be a proposal or anything.

“I think that is everything.” I said, after we had gone through, well, everything.

“Good. There is a lot to your dungeon, so it did take a while. Honestly, it’s a lot larger than the first report said. But I guess that is what you get when you use an S-rank core.” Angelina said.

“I still can’t believe that he would use it.” Paulina commented.

“Well, it did have a good result, so I suppose we can forgive him.” Angelina said. “But let’s just let that be. It is not the fault of Brian nor Alice, so we can’t punish the real culprit.”

“Don’t be too harsh on him. I’m sure the dungeon wouldn’t be as good if he used a lesser core.” I said, trying to defende Brandon. Even if his choice to use an S-rank core seemed a bit rash, it had great results.

“Well, as long as our dear sister uses the dungeon to its fullest extent, I’m sure they can pay off a small fine for their foolishness.” Angelina said.

“It’s not her fault, either.” I said. “It’s all on Brandon. Well, perhaps just a bit of blame goes on his butler Henry, as Henry is the one that carried the core into the dungeon.”

“But we need to stop pointing fingers at people that are not present.” Angelina said. “Also, it’s almost lunch time, so let’s head to the dining room.”