The pose was so perfect that it annoyed him. Faced with this unexpected sight, Oscar reacted the only way he could.
“Sorry, looks like I’ve got the wrong house.” He closed the dining room door and backed away.
I must actually have gotten the wrong house. Haha, maybe I’m tired from working so much.
However, this mysterious and oddly cheerful girl had no intention of letting Oscar escape.
“Wait, don’t just leave! I can’t believe you closed the door on me! An extremely beautiful girl just offered herself to you, so shouldn’t you be moved to tears right now! I know you want to gaze upon these perfect legs! There’s just the right amount of skin showing between my skirt and my kneesocks. I know you can’t resist them. We both know you’re a huge pervert, O-kun!”
Oh, just shut up. Quit acting like we’re best friends when I don’t even know you. Besides, you’re obviously crazy.
In a second, Oscar had already made his judgment on what kind of person this girl was.
He adjusted his glasses and spoke as calmly as he could.
“You said your name was Miledi, right? It seems you’ve wandered into the wrong house. It’s getting late. Surely you should be getting back to your own home. On the off chance you came here on purpose, that would mean you’re trespassing. In Velka, trespassing is a serious crime. If you don’t leave within the next three seconds, I’ll have to arrest you.” Oscar grinned as he shot Miledi a thinly-veiled threat.
“That’s not a thinly-veiled threat at all! You obviously want me gone! How mean! I’ll have you know it was my destiny to meet you, O-kun—”
“Alright, your three seconds are up. Put your hands in the air.”
Oscar pulled a small object out of his pocket. It was a transceiver. Its range was limited to the capital, but it was still a valuable piece of equipment that usually only nobles were rich enough to afford. Naturally, he’d made this one himself.
The girl recognized it as well, and she began to panic. Just then, a bunch of kids jumped to her defense.
“Waaaaaaaaah! Onii-san, wait!”
“She’s not a suspiciou— Okay, she’s pretty suspicious, but she’s our guest!”
“Onii-chan, please forgive her. I’ll apologize too! I’m sorry she’s so annoying.”
“I’m innocent, Onii! It’s all that noisy lady’s fault!”
Children crawled out of various hiding places within the dining room. The reason Oscar had been able to handle Miledi so calmly was because he’d spotted the kids peeking out of their hiding places when she had opened the door again.
“H-Hearing them insult me so nonchalantly kind of hurts...” Miledi muttered and sunk to the floor. Oscar sighed and turned to an older lady who had just walked into the dining room.
“I can’t believe even you were in on this, Mom...”
“I’m sorry. But Miledi-san seemed so excited about playing this prank. And I’ve never seen you surprised by anything, so I thought it’d be fun.”
“Fun, huh...? Well, it wasn’t very fun for me. I was really worried about you guys.” Oscar sighed again.
Moorin, the orphanage manager and everyone’s surrogate mother, smiled at him. She was nearing her seventies, but she barely looked a day over thirty when she smiled.
Once everyone had settled down, Oscar sat down with the kids for dinner. The girl, who’d said her name was Miledi, joined them too. It appeared she’d come here because she had business with Oscar. Oscar had asked her what she came for, but apparently it was a long story, so at Moorin’s suggestion they’d decided to have dinner first.
The refined way in which she ate suggested that Miledi was of noble upbringing. The two seven-year-old girls who were sitting next to her, Corrin and Katy, began whispering to each other.
They both blushed, glanced at Oscar, then squealed at each other. He doubted they were saying anything nice about him. He glared suspiciously at Miledi, but she only smiled at him.
God, she’s annoying. Oscar desperately wanted to say that to her face. But he didn’t. He didn’t want to set a bad example for his cute little sisters.
Corrin had tied her red hair back into a ponytail in the same style as Oscar’s. Out of all of the children in the orphanage, she was the shyest. Her puppy dog look could also make instant slaves out of anyone who wasn’t part of her family. They were already used to it.
Katy, on the other hand, kept her chestnut brown hair in pigtails and was the most distrustful of all the children. Aside from Oscar and the other children in the orphanage, she didn’t trust anyone.
The fact that those two girls were willing to relax around her meant that while she might have been annoying, and perhaps a little touched in the head, she wasn’t a bad person.
Because of that, Oscar didn’t think it would be right to insult her.
“I see, I see. So O-kun’s a kind and reliable big brother.”
“Y-Yep! Onii-chan can do anything!” Corrin smiled and proudly puffed out her chest. Oscar smiled in return.
Miledi grinned. Oscar frowned in return.
The children forgot about their food and began explaining to Miledi just how amazing Oscar was.
“That’s right, Miledi-san. All the toys and stuff in the house were made by Onii-san. And he made them all when he was my age!”
The oldest kid in the orphanage, Dylan, boasted about Oscar’s accomplishments. He was the mediator between all of the other kids. Like Corrin, he had his brown hair up in the same kind of ponytail Oscar had.
“Did you know? Onii works at the Orcus Workshop! The chief guy said he wanted him! Isn’t that amazing!?” Katy’s eyes sparkled as she spoke.
“Onii-chan gave us all something to show that we’re related.” Corrin held out the small coin dangling from her neck. The other children all pulled out their coins as well. They didn’t look valuable at all, so no one would even bother stealing them.
Still, Miledi didn’t make fun of them for treasuring those coins.
“Wow, you guys are all really close, huh!?” She seemed honestly impressed. The kids all smiled proudly and continued regaling Miledi with tales of Oscar’s awesomeness.
“G-Guys. Come on, give it a re—” Embarrassed, Oscar tried to get them to stop. Before he could, however, Miledi cut in.
“Tell me more, Onii-chan! I want to hear about how wonderful you are, Onii-chan! I knew I was right to pick you, Onii-chan! Don’t you think so too, Onii-chan? Hey, Onii-ch—”
“Call me Onii-chan one more time and I will end you.” Though he was smiling, there was murder in Oscar’s eyes. He’d tried to act civil so as to set a good example for his little siblings, but he couldn’t take it any longer.
“Oh my, you’ve got a surprisingly wild side to you, O-kun...” For some reason, Miledi was blushing.
“Please don’t call me O-kun, either.” He managed to reign in his emotions and sound calm again. He didn’t want to act rude in front of his family, after all. Though internally, he still thought Call me O-kun one more time and I’ll strangle you.
Miledi stared at him for a moment before responding.
“Don’t wanna!” she exclaimed, a smile on her face all the while.
There was a loud crack as Oscar snapped the fork he was holding.
Dylan and the others turned to look at Oscar’s hand. By the time they did, it looked as good as new.
He’d repaired it with his transmutation. The children tilted their head in confusion.
“Wow, that was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it!” Oscar had even gone so far as to hide the glow of his mana to repair it in secret, but Miledi just had to go and blow his cover.