Page 185

Inside the dining room of the Marquess Rommel family which was now furnished differently from before, I attended the dinner that had been prepared by our Butler and Maid.

The simple dinner consisted of dishes from the main ingredients left over from the winter. Since spring had just come and some crops were growing abundantly without being ready to be harvested, we had to use some of the main ingredients in the previous winter's food.

My mind was still focused on the information provided by the stealth slime herd and the damage that a reincarnation could cause.

I didn't want to think about this any more complicatedly with my head already filled with various things, especially with the scandal that had been carried out by the noble family who openly insulted us.

"Silencing people with blackmail is the main key for my family to live in peace, huh?" in my mind I was thinking of another solution to this problem, I unintentionally muttered like that.

My hands were busy holding a spoon and fork. The food in front of me was dried beef jerky and was very unsuitable to eat in a spring like this.

Since my tongue was used to eating winter specialties like this, I felt like I wanted to taste a sweet dessert but that would make the Butler and Maid on duty troubled.

The decision given by my father to finish the winter food supply in spring like this was intended to not throw away food that would rot if left alone.

It was a reasonable decision because the spring that had ended was used by farmers to plant new plant seeds. It took a long time for the plant seeds to grow and produce plant products that were ready to be harvested to be eaten directly.

Along with my other little mutterings, it seemed that I was thinking too much about the many problems that had been happening lately.

The movement of my hands while eating and my mind that was thinking about something else seemed to be out of sync.

"Lily, it seems like you've been thinking about something complicated lately," my mother asked while enjoying her dinner dish containing dried meat for a winter snack.

"Um, I did think about something that made me not know what to do after meeting them," I replied while enjoying several dinner dishes with one spoonful.

Right next to my mother, my father gave a small code from his wink to keep secret the information that had been collected about the troubled noble family that had many criminal records, and one of them was related to my mother's family who was in debt because of the ridiculous declaration of war that dragged her family to join the war.

Thanks to the financial assistance given by my father, it seemed that my mother's family had managed to survive the slump that was before their eyes.

"Is there another problem that made Princess Anastasia and Saintess Hana come home at the same time, Lily-nee?" asked Alyssa who seemed curious about something that I was hiding.

"Yes, that's what's been happening lately," I replied while enjoying my dinner leisurely. A few bites of this dried meat started to make me move my teeth unconsciously to eat it.

"What happened, Onee-sama?" asked Alice who seemed to want to throw a heavy topic of conversation while this dinner was taking place.

I, who was enjoying this jerky meat dish immediately chewed it quickly. Every bite that happened in my mouth was crushed softly before being swallowed.

My gaze was now focused on Momo who was flying as if observing the dining room of the Marquess Rommel family. Her body movements as she was flying seemed as if she did not get the full attention of the people around her.

"Something related to Momo... cursed sword sistership? I guess..." my gaze was looking at Momo and my words seemed to have attracted a lot of attention to Momo who was flying casually.

The attention that was focused on Momo had made her fly awkwardly.

"Have I done something wrong that I don't know about?" asked Momo who did not know that she was becoming an important topic of conversation at this dinner.

Like a child who did not know anything, Momo flew towards my side who was enjoying this dinner.

"Something related to Momo cursed sword sistership has become a topic that must be investigated immediately by Princess Anastasia and Saintess Hana," my formal-sounding words further showed that the danger posed by the heretical sect was not a problem that could be overlooked with just the blink of an eye.

"The incident about the Golden King Bear invading the underground cave where the stealth slime herd lived did not seem to have happened by chance. It seems that someone was pulling a string behind the scenes until Momo coincidentally ended up inside the Golden King Bear's body," my explanation seemed to have attracted several pairs of thoughtful eyes.

Several Butlers and Maids who were on duty in the dining room tonight seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"If the invasion being carried out by the Golden King Bear is not eradicated quickly, perhaps their next target for invasion will be the urban area near this Main Mansion," I continued my words which made my father frown as if thinking about something.

"It seems like they have a plan to destroy us using the scenario of a wild monster invasion," said my father who suddenly caught our full attention.

"Did you think about it? We just got back from a long family vacation. Oh!! Ooohh!!" My mother seemed to realize the meaning of my father's words until she seemed to realize it when she said something.

"That was a cunning act with careful calculation," said my mother who was now glancing at me, Alice, and Alyssa.

"They know that if our daughters are old enough to enter the adulthood ceremony, we will inevitably return from that long family vacation soon. It's a cunning plan with careful calculation. If not for the information provided by the stealth slime herd and the clever tactics provided by Lily, we might have fallen victim to the sudden monster attacks," my mother assessed her small analysis that sounded interconnected with each other.

But the crux of this problem is a cult that seems to be overusing the knowledge given by the Goddess of Destruction herself.

If my mother heard that the number of cursed swords reached seventy-two, what kind of expression would my mother show?

"I think it's a calculation that relies on luck," this time my father seemed to give his little opinion through his own thoughts.

"It seems like you're thinking about something else, Rom-chan..." My mother playfully called my father with an affectionate nickname that made the atmosphere in the dining room calmer and more relaxed.

"Yes, like the cursed weapon that Lily currently has. We have to deal with that too in the future. Isn't that right, Lily?" suddenly my father gave me a way to divert this conversation to the seventy-two cursed swords that had been successfully created by the heretical sect that worshiped the Goddess of Destruction.

"Father, you want to make my mother and my sweet little step-sister worry about the future that this family has to go through, huh?" I replied with a small answer that made several Butlers and Maids who were on duty swallow their saliva.

"That's not a difficult thing for you to explain without inviting worry, right?" My father replied with a small smile at me.

It seemed like this was a little prank given by my father to test me who would later inherit the title of Matriarch after my father retired as the owner of the Marquess Rommel family assets.

I took a deep breath and took a few sips of tea before explaining what my father and I already knew.

With relaxed movements and not inviting excessive worry, I began to explain about the heretical sect that had worshipped the Goddess of Destruction in the past which still survives to this day.

"Based on the information given by Momo, in the past, she was one of the cursed swords created directly by the Goddess of Destruction herself along with her sisters who formed a small prosperous family," I said while glancing at Momo who was flying beside me.

"But after several years passed and the conflict between the Great Hero summoned from another world was used as a tool to make the Goddess of Destruction return to the Goddess' realm, some of her fanatic followers have founded a cult that still worships the Goddess of Destruction," I think this explanation of mine sounds like a commonplace and like a children's bedtime story.

"Long story short, the small family consisting of several cursed swords has now grown into a large family that makes Momo intimidated and exiled from the main family tree until being used as a source of power by the previous Golden King Bear," in this short explanation, I managed to summarize several important things with the right words without exaggeration.

I gave a fairly long pause in the explanation I was giving and glanced at Momo.

"Momo, can you explain how many cursed sword sisters you have?" I asked with a surprise that surprised Mama and Alyssa.

Alice seemed calm after hearing this and tried to understand the meaning of my previous question directed at Momo.

"Currently the number of cursed sword sisters has reached seventy-two who have been active and used by the high-ranking officials of the cult that worships the Goddess of Destruction," replied Momo who gave a surprising answer that made Mama, Alyssa, and Alice who heard it a little panicked.

"T-That many cursed swords have been created? Moreover, with a monster that can act as a Calamity Disaster?" My mother seemed worried about the destruction that could be caused by one cursed sword that could make a Golden King Bear monster have a difficulty level equal to a Calamity Disaster.

"No wonder they returned home quickly before their winter vacation ended," muttered Alyssa who seemed very surprised by the information given by Momo.

This relaxed dinner seemed to end with a feeling of worry where the world is currently under threat from seventy-two cursed swords that are ready to be used at any time to spread destruction.

Without proper precautions, something as small as a monster invasion attack could turn into a major disaster involving the death of humanity on a large scale.

"That is why we need to prepare ourselves so that when this heretical sect surfaces, our family has enough strength to survive in any condition," I said in calm sweet tone.

"It seems like we need to find some reliable comrades after our family becomes a neutral noble like this," said my father, ending this important dinner and discussion.