Chapter 823: Auden
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 823: Auden
Nineteen years old. This kid was much younger than she looked.
No wonder Alicia kept calling her ‘our Miriel, our Miriel,’ subtly treating her like a child.
Miriel’s status window was so shocking that it made me momentarily lose myself in such thoughts.
But no matter how hard I tried, the words floating in the status window before my eyes wouldn’t change.
…She’s a Main. This kid.
No. She’s not a Hero, but she’s a Main!
Weren’t Mains supposed to be like that?! Like, if our Goddess has Succubi, then the War God has Mains! Weren’t they like royalty on the War God’s side?!
Why is that kind of Main popping up here again?!
No, actually, it wasn’t that I had no suspicions. It wasn’t that at all, I was just pointlessly denying reality.
Because, from the start, the most shocking thing about Miriel’s status window wasn’t that her race was Main.
Of course not. Her surname. It’s Auden. The same as our Sara’s.
No, to be precise, Diana did say something like that.
Sara’s father, Sauron Auden, was a Hero who appeared like a comet about 20 years ago.
And countless nobles clung to him, trying to get his seed.
Above all, Sauron-ssi had initially refused, saying he had a lover back home. If Sara had already been born to that lover in his hometown at that time, the timing would fit perfectly. Our Sara is 21, after all.
What’s more, it seems he was so active that he eventually died during sex. So, it wouldn’t be strange at all if he had one or two children.
It wouldn’t be strange at all, but Diana! Shouldn’t you have at least told me that the leader of a clan allied with us was our Sara’s half-sister? Huh?!
No, I can understand hiding it from Sara, at least.
Sara was already living as if her father had never existed after hearing he died during sex.
If she heard that such a father had even had a child with another woman, she might even be upset.
So, hiding it from Sara is no problem at all.
I wouldn’t have been able to blurt it out carelessly either.
But still, you should have told me at least!
It’s not like you didn’t know! She’s the child of a handsome Hero who appeared out of nowhere! A child whose birth would have been rumored far and wide!
The excuse that the Supreme Archmage didn’t know won’t fly!
Thinking such thoughts, I shot Diana a fiery, burning gaze.
“Hmm? Fufufu.”
But Diana, mistaking my gaze for something else entirely, puffed out her non-existent chest proudly the moment she noticed it.
I wasn’t staring because you’re pretty, you know?! No, you are pretty, but the meaning of this burning gaze I’m sending you isn’t that, you idiot?!
“Is your meal already finished? You eat less than you look. That’s a good attitude. It’s not good to fill your stomach too much when we’re about to enter the Dungeon.”
And Miriel, for her part, seeing my movements completely stop, completely misunderstood and stood up, saying that.
Hey. It’s fine that you misunderstood, but stop giving Alicia the side-eye and picking on her.
Don’t you feel sorry for the kid? She’s already pitiful enough just pretending to pick at her food in front of a feast.
“Shall we go then?”
Then, unable to hide her excited expression, as if she couldn’t wait to depart immediately, she reached out a hand to me.
Looking at her like this, she didn’t not look 19, either.
No, but that’s not what’s important.
“We’re not going straight away.”
“Oh, is that so….”
But when I answered without even glancing at her outstretched hand, Miriel said that without asking why, and plopped back down in her seat.
Don’t openly sulk next to someone who’s eating! It’s distracting! My head’s already complicated enough as it is!
“I didn’t expect you all to come so early. We’re not quite ready yet. Please wait a little longer.”
“Okay. If that’s the case, then it can’t be helped.”
Faced with her utterly dejected expression, I couldn’t help but offer that additional explanation.
No, I’m usually a cold city man to anyone but my women, so I wouldn’t have cared this much normally, but thinking of her as Sara’s sister made it a bit hard to treat her roughly.
“Alright, Vanessa. Please stack the prepared food in one place. I’ll put it away all at once later. And Diana. I need a word with you.”
Anyway, after finishing the meal, I immediately called Diana over.
“Hmm?”
Diana followed me with a puzzled expression at my summons, then suddenly wore a look of realization the moment she entered the room.
“Ah, you. No lewdness. Staring fixedly at this body from morning is indeed a desirable attitude… Ugh!”
And for some reason, she took a sip of the tea she’d carried directly from the dining room, then immediately started spouting absurdities.
“That’s not it, you idiot!”
“U-uhyahyaheeeeee…!”
So dumbfounded, I placed my hand on Diana’s head and shook it wildly from side to side. Diana flailed her arms, shaking uncontrollably.
What did she just say? Uhyahyahe?
I prided myself on being accustomed to interpreting such words because of Silvia, but this time, I truly had no idea.
“Hyaah… hyaah….”
When I stopped, Diana immediately brought both hands to her mouth, making a tearful face.
However, she didn’t fully cover her mouth, but rather wiggled her fingers near it, looking utterly lost.
“Ah, did you bite your tongue?”
“Heuheohe….”
It seems so. Indeed. So, the ‘uhyahyahe’ from earlier was ‘stop it’?
No, but that’s not what’s important right now.
“Sorry. Are you okay? Should I call Leia or something?”
Normally, I’d make a joke about Healing Sex, but this time, given the seriousness of the conversation, I should restrain myself.
“Ughhh….”
But perhaps thinking it humiliating to call a healer for just biting her tongue, our Archmage shook her head fiercely from side to side, even while writhing in pain.
“Hooah… hoo… So, what is it?!”
And only after a long while, finally freed from pain, Diana cried out at me almost angrily, a slight pout on her face.
Strange. I was definitely planning to be angry at Diana when I came in.
No, it’s true I was at fault, but still.
“No, it’s nothing else. Why did you hide Miriel’s true identity even from me?”
“Hmm? What’s that sudden talk about? Miriel-yang’s true identity?”
Anyway, even though I got straight to the point and said it openly, Diana, as expected, played innocent again.
She knows I’m well aware of her abilities, yet she keeps this up.
It’s not like she wouldn’t have thought it would be revealed eventually.
“There you go again, playing innocent. I’m talking about Miriel being Sara’s half-sister. Why did you hide it even from me?”
“Aht… Puhuhuhuhup!”
And the moment I spoke even more openly, Diana, who had been carefully bringing the tea to her mouth, perhaps afraid of the warm liquid touching her injured tongue, spectacularly spat it out.
“Cough! Cough! W-what did you just say?! Who is whose what?!”
And Diana, too flustered to even care that she’d spat tea on me, clung to me frantically, shouting that.
Seeing that, I finally realized that Diana hadn’t hidden it on purpose.
…Seriously? You really didn’t know either?
“No, well. I just checked. Miriel’s surname is Auden, you know?”
“……Miriel-yang was also Sauron Auden’s daughter, you mean?”
When I calmly explained the situation, Diana stood there for a moment, mouth agape, dumbfounded.
But she soon collected herself, and Diana muttered that, trying to maintain a calm demeanor.
As expected of the Archmage. Even after such a shock, she recovers quickly.
“Probably… that’s how it is, right? You didn’t know either, Diana?”
“Hmm. Not at all. Didn’t I tell you before? Threon-kun is known as the only Hero left in this world. But Sauron Auden actually had another child, and it passed so quietly that even I didn’t know? There must be some circumstances behind this. Didn’t even Silvia-yang seem unaware?”
Ah, now that you mention it.
Since all sorts of noble families had pushed their daughters onto Sauron Auden, if even one of them had succeeded in having a child, there’s no way Silvia, a high-ranking noble, wouldn’t know.
But when we briefly discussed Sara’s past before, Silvia didn’t say anything to us. Meaning, Silvia didn’t know about it either.
“But is that even possible? To have a child without anyone knowing, when everyone was watching?”
“It’s not entirely impossible. The number of women who shared a bed with Sauron Auden at the time was almost impossible to count. From maids who attended him to high-ranking nobles. There were even cases where women already had husbands, so if someone was determined to hide it, it would have been no trouble at all. However, the goal of obtaining a Hero’s blood was ultimately to further prosper one’s family. Why would they go to such lengths to get a Hero’s blood, only to then deliberately hide the child once it was born? That is what I find more puzzling.”
Indeed. If a married woman or an unknown maid became pregnant, no one could have been certain it was Sauron Auden’s child.
As Diana said, if they were determined to hide it, they could have done so easily.
And after hearing that, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
“If that’s the case, I have a guess.”
“Hmm? Is that so? What is it?”
“Before that, I want to ask something. Being a Hero… it’s hereditary, right?”
“Hmm? Yes. That’s what’s known. If it weren’t hereditary, how would the Plitus family have been Heroes for generations, and why would people have been clamoring to get Sauron Auden’s blood?”
Plitus? Ah, that trash… Threon’s family, you mean. Yeah. I remembered it correctly, didn’t I? Somewhere in the back of my mind. Probably.
“Is that inheritance… 100%? If a Hero has a child, is the child definitely a Hero?”
“Hmm. At least, I’ve never heard of a case where a direct descendant of the Plitus family wasn’t a Hero… Hmmm. Indeed. So that’s what you mean.”
And it seemed even our clever Diana quickly caught on to why I had suddenly brought this up.
“Yeah. Miriel, that kid, she’s a Main and an Auden, but she’s not a Hero.”
“Hmmmm….”
Listening to me, Diana placed a hand on her chin and fell into thought for a moment.
Then she soon raised her head, looked at me, and opened her mouth with a knowing expression.
“Indeed. That’s it. So that’s why it happened. The child born to mix a Hero’s blood into their family wasn’t a Hero. Whichever family it was, they weren’t affectionate enough to raise an illegitimate child who had become useless.”
“It seems so.”
“And Miriel-yang’s goal might also be related to that.”
I agreed with Diana, who had reached the same conclusion as me, but our clever Diana went a step further.
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
“I’m talking about why Miriel-yang is heading to the deep layers of the Dungeon. Perhaps Miriel-yang wants to become a Hero.”
“What? But to become a Hero… Ah.”
“Hmm. One must receive the blessing of a Demon God. The question of how Miriel-yang learned that the Dungeon and a Demon God are connected still remains, but if we assume she started exploring the Dungeon with that goal from the beginning, doesn’t everything fall into place?”
Indeed. If I think of it that way, everything falls into place.
Normally, if a child is abandoned as a baby, they wouldn’t know their origins and would wander as an orphan, knowing nothing until they died. But this world is different.
Because in this world, one can confirm their surname and race with a simple spell.
Of course, there are many more cases like Leia, where even knowing one’s race or surname doesn’t reveal one’s origins, but having a famous surname like Auden changes things.
Miriel must have realized her origins by seeing her surname.
And thinking that, I realized there had been another hint.
No matter how high Miriel’s own level was, that trash… Threon was a Hero. A Hero whose combat power, when considered alone, no one could match.
And being equal in combat power to such a Hero is something to be proud of, not something to feel inferior about.
But when Miriel had said her skill was equal to Threon’s, she hadn’t shown any sign of pride.
Rather, she seemed to have solidified her resolve to become even stronger.
I had just brushed it off at the time, but could it be connected like this?
Furthermore, if we assume she’s heading to the deep layers of the Dungeon to become a Hero, then her statement about descending into the Dungeon to become stronger wasn’t a lie at all.
It felt like all the pieces of the puzzle were clicking perfectly into place in my mind.