Chapter 368: Related to Half the Server

"That they weren’t reincarnated..."

"Then tell me who they were."

Rose looked up at him with an awkward expression.

"...My sisters."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"HUH?!" everyone said in unison.

"Your sisters?!"

"Why did you never mention them?!"

"Does your family hate you?!"

"And can someone explain why your sisters tried to kill Master?!"

"They didn’t try to kill him... I think," Rose replied, sitting down.

"One of them hit him in the face with an explosion!"

"Well, yes, but--"

"Rose!"

"Let me speak," Rose demanded, raising her hands until they finally stopped interrupting. "I seriously doubt those two idiots crossed the entire continent intending to come kill Master."

Aria arched an eyebrow.

"Well, according to Yuki, one of them tried to drive a katana into Master’s head."

Rose closed her eyes for a moment.

"Yes... That sounds like something Dalia would do."

Everyone present exchanged glances and then fixed their eyes on Rose again.

"If they weren’t here to fight, then what did they come for?" Cali asked, still confused.

"Probably for me," Rose replied with a shrug. "I ran away from home years ago, so Father could perfectly well have decided it was time to bring me back."

She let out a tired sigh.

"The problem was that Lily decided to sneak up on us invisible because, apparently, behaving like a normal person was too much to ask. Master caught her, and Dalia, seeing her captured, stopped thinking altogether."

"..."

"Yes, she’s very strong, but she also has air for brains and the social skills of a piece of furniture."

Luna regarded her with obvious skepticism.

"Well, from how the fight sounded from down here, I’d say she knew exactly what she was doing."

"I know... but I really don’t think they came intending to hurt anyone," Rose replied, looking away, as if even she weren’t completely sure.

Alice frowned.

"Then why did they have gear of that level? According to Yuki, thanks to it they were even able to withstand several of my lord’s attacks."

Rose took a moment to answer. Mark saw her clutch the fabric of her dress between her fingers and knew, before she spoke, that this wasn’t easy for her.

"Because my father is a reincarnated...," she murmured after a few seconds, lowering her gaze.

After that revelation, silence spread across the room.

Everyone stared at her in disbelief, except Emilia and Mark, who already knew the truth.

"Most likely he gave it to them before sending them to look for me," Rose continued. "It’s not stuff they got on their own."

"..."

Meanwhile, Mark was barely following the conversation among his wives.

The word "sisters" had made him remember a conversation that had been buried in his memory for months.

The one in which Rose confessed that her father was not only still alive, but also a player.

After remembering that, everything that had happened in the garden took on a different meaning.

He had recognized the Eternal Conquest Online equipment instantly, and mistakenly assumed Dalia and Lily were players.

When in reality those items had come from their father’s inventory.

Which wasn’t all that strange, now that he thought about it. After all, it wouldn’t even be the first time he’d seen something like that; Emilia’s father had also left several of his things in the royal vault.

Mark felt his stomach turn.

He had nearly killed Rose’s sisters by jumping to a conclusion too quickly.

But thanks to Lily waking up just when she did, the situation hadn’t gone any further.

Although, to be fair, Mark hadn’t had many options either.

Neither of them had tried to speak at any point.

Lily had crept up invisible until she was less than a meter from Rose without a word of explanation, and Dalia had appeared out of nowhere, lunging straight for his head.

Even when he offered her the chance to surrender, she answered by taking a fighting stance.

What was he supposed to think?

He knew his reaction had been reasonable. The problem was that knowing it didn’t make him feel any better.

Mark let out a heavy sigh, stepped away from the door, and rubbed his temples with his fingers.

"All right, listen up, all of you," he said, getting his wives’ attention. "Before I get another surprise like this one, I want to ask something, and I want honest answers."

They all turned toward him.

"Is anyone else the daughter of a reincarnated?" Mark asked, running his gaze over each of them. "Or related to one, even distantly?"

There was a moment of silence.

And then, as if they had agreed on it, every head in the room slowly turned toward Ely.

Ely immediately noticed her companions’ eyes fixing on her.

"...What?" she said, looking from side to side. "Why are you all looking at me?"

"Well... that’s because you were the Great Knight of Dawn," Aria said delicately. "The trump card of the entire clergy."

"Because I’d been training since I was a child!" Ely protested, indignant. "My parents are farmers! They raise goats in a village that doesn’t even show up on maps. My father can barely read and my mother can’t at all, how could they be reincarnated?"

"Okay, okay, we get it," Cali said, trying to calm her down.

After that, the looks gradually shifted until they landed on Alice. She noticed and let out a small sigh before answering.

"My parents were ordinary people," she said, crossing her arms. "Bandits killed them in front of me when I was seven, and afterward I ended up in the Inquisition’s orphanage."

She said it without changing her tone, as if recounting something she had accepted long ago.

Mark watched her for a moment.

"...I’m sorry."

"It’s fine," Alice replied, unfazed. "It was a long time ago."

Then the looks, a little more awkward than before, moved on to the last candidate.

Yuki, who was still leaning in the corner, watched them all without changing her expression.

"I don’t know," she confessed, frowning.

"What do you mean you don’t know?" Ely asked.

"Since Master revived me, I have no memories. Or did you all forget already?"

Mark cleared his throat, desperately searching for some way to change the subject, when Luna raised a hand from the sofa.

"Technically, I am related to a reincarnated."

The statement turned every gaze toward her.

"Really?" Emilia asked, surprised.

Luna nodded and tucked a cushion behind her back before explaining that, about three hundred years ago, the first leader of the beastmen had unified the tribes and founded the royal house.

That woman had also been a reincarnated.

"So my whole family descends from her," Luna continued with a smile. "My grandparents, my father, my brothers, me..."

She smiled slightly and patted her belly.

"And this little one too."

Mark stared at her with his mouth slightly open.

"And why did you never tell me?"

"Because you never asked, darling," Luna replied in her usual teasing tone.

Mark decided not to argue.

He dropped into the nearest armchair and stared at the ceiling while doing mental math.

Rose, daughter of a reincarnated. Emilia, the same. Luna, a distant descendant of another. Mary, a full-blown reincarnated.

Mark let out a dry laugh.

"Fantastic... Now it turns out I’m related to half the server."