When Lowell woke up, she noticed that she was already on her bed.

She didn’t see both Axie and Nephy so she thought they were taken outside… when she realized..

They didn’t know Axie’s existence!

She looked towards her room’s window and she saw the sky has orange tint on it, hinting it was already sunset when she woke up.

Using Lightning skills really aren’t that good to use outside mock battles, where if you got incapacitated is equals to crippling of you party.

Lowell immediately stood up and gone out of her room.

That’s when she noticed that Axie and Nephy are on the table, with her Mom and Dad.

“Mom, Dad..”

The first one to notice her was Belle, who was petting Nephy's fur.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

“Good job, Lowell-sama.”

Her Dad winks and gives Lowell a thumbs up, but her Mom smacked his head.

“Good job my foot. You should know it’s dangerous for Fleurs to ran out of mana!”

“Nothing bad happened right?”

Louis nonchalantly replied as if it wasn't a problem.

“B-But!”

Belle tried to reason, but Louis interrupted her.

“Just be careful next time, right Lowell-sama~?”

Louis looks at Lowell with a smile.

Lowell knew behind that smile had another meaning, like ‘learn to take care of yourself’ kind of meaning..

“Yes, Mom and Dad.. I’m sorry.”

Lowell bowed her head and apologized.

“Well, while that issue is already closed, we would like to ask you about this.”

Her Dad lifted Axie, who was trembling with fear.

“We heard from Qazar that you bought a Jade Cat child, but he didn’t mention this thing here. I know it’s a Land Serpent.. and they don’t hold any poison.. but do you know their rank when they reach adulthood?”

Lowell looked at her Dad, who had a serious face on his face.

“What rank?”

“A child Land Serpent is born with Low-rank classification. Every two years, it raises it’s rank by one. When it reached it’s adulthood, which is in eight years, it can raise it’s rank by four, which is Unique Rank. They are incomparable to Dragons, but they are already a force to reckon with. They aren’t that huge like the Dragons, only reaching up to ten feet, but their control of elements are second to none. If only their magic manipulation skill is combined with big physique/constitution like Dragons, they can outmatch them.”

Lowell looked towards Axie with wonder.

The poor thing wasn’t struggling right now since it knew that Louis is powerful enough to hurt, or even kill it.

This shows how sensitive Axie is when it comes to mana.

But.. I can’t tell Dad that I didn’t know where Axie came from.

Noticing his daughter's indecision, Louis grinned and poked Axie's cheek.

“Hmm… Shall I kill it then? It might give you problems in future.”

Lowell's fear of her father killing Axie was overshadowed by her curiousity.

“What kind of problems?”

“Betrayal.”

Louis spoke like it was normal, but his voice says otherwise.

“W-what?!”

Betrayal.

Desertion.

Her Dad said that Axie has a chance to betray her.

“Unlike Dragons, Serpents could be called ‘natural evil’. There was once a myth circulated around our continent about a couple which relationship was destroyed by a serpent. They’re just way too cunning.. and this serpent I have here… I’ll guess you didn’t get it as an egg, right? It’s full loyalty won’t be yours… especially if this young one here experienced the fear of humans.”

Her Dad hit the sore spot.

Lowell didn’t encounter Axie as an egg.. and Axie experienced the wrath of humans..

“B-but!”

Before Lowell could rebut her Dad’s decision, he saw something that changed his decision.

“This little brat’s really smart. To think he’d already done that…”

“Done what?”

In response to Lowell's question, her dad placed Axie back to the table.

He pointed at Axie's leaf-shaped tail.

Lowell didn’t notice yesterday, but it has a tattoo under its tail.

It was really small to notice.

“Imprinting. That smart-ass already made you her second guardian. Of course, in that way, she won’t have a chance to betray you. I think you also have a tattoo like that on your body. Unlike ‘Making it submit’ or ‘Making a deal with it’ way of taming, Imprinting is the strongest bind that only the magical beast could do. It’s the one of the still unsolved mysteries of our world. You can betray it, but it would never, ever you. You gained another potentially strong ally.. It looks like it liked you a lot, Lowell-sama~”

When her Dad loosened his hold on Axie, it clumsily runs towards Lowell while crying.

Lowell tried to comfort it until it fall asleep.

Nephy, who was looking at the scene awhile ago, jumpe on Lowell's shoulder and starts to rub its head on Lowell's cheeks, wanting her attention.

“T-then, can I take Axie then?”

“I can’t give you my confirmation though. All decision in the house comes from my goddess of a wife, right Honey~”

Louis was hit by his wife again.

“Honey my foot! You only push hard decisions to me you cheapskate!”

“Ah, my honey is being tsundere~ Lemme hug you… Ouch.. please stop that, my goddess wife~”

Before Louis could hug Belle, she started to stab Louis with a metal fork whenever he gets near.

“Little Elle, my question is.. can you take care of both of them?”

Belle looks at Lowell with a serious look.

Lowell gave her answer with a decisive look at her face.

“Yes, Mom. Both of them are my responsibility already when they became my Tamed beasts.”

Belle sighed as she heard Lowell's answer.

“If you say so.. but! We won’t let them sleep on your room! They might make a mess inside your room.”

“Yes, Mom.”

After that, Lowell guided Axie and Nephy to a free room upstairs.

Nephy, who wasn't asleep like Axie, won’t let Lowell go at first, but Lowell departed when she saw Nephy fall asleep.

Since she didn’t bought Axie’s share of food, Lowell asked her Dad of what she could feed Axie for the meantime.

“Oh? Hm… Serpents like anything, especially a Land Serpent. You could feed her with our dinner later, so don’t worry about that. Her main diet is worms and bugs, but she eats meat and fish if needed. Oh, and don’t tremble there, it won’t eat a cat, you know.”

Her Dad’s really spot on when it comes to his observations.

Lowell was worried if Axie counts Nephy as food.

After eating dinner, she took Axie and Nephy’s share of food.

When Lowell opened the door, she saw a crying Axie running towards her leg and clung its neck into it.

Inside the room she saw Nephy crying in the floor, which ran towards the other leg when it noticed Lowell enter the room.

I was only away for an hour, and they already missed me.. It looks like I obtained two cute and troublesome little sisters….

After making both Axie and Nephy eat their lunch, Lowell asked her Big Brother of what happened after their battle with Teacher Aurel.

“When you suddenly fell unconscious, Teacher checked your mana stream. She detected that your mana was way past the critical levels so she rushed you towards our house. Father infused some of his mana towards you, making your mana levels stable again.

Well, only Father has a compatible inner mana to inject towards you, so we didn’t try to act rashly. After that, Weiss’ butler arrived and guided him back to Blanc City. When the tension goes down, Teacher also departed, telling Mom and Dad to take us to Blanc City tomorrow. She also reminded them that her wedding would be celebrated five days from now.”

After talking with her Big Brother, Lowell heard Axie and Nephy’s cries from their room.

When she opened the door again, both of them clung on her legs tightly.

Lowell tried to carry the both of them like what she did previously, but now, they won’t even let her carry them.. as if they think she'll leave them both again in that room..

Lowell tried to persuade her Mom to let both of them sleep on her room, and she reluctantly accepted.

Well, looking at both of them which is still clinging on my legs while I walk.. One would feel pity and cuteness at the same time.

After Lowell confirmed that both Axie and Nephy are already asleep, she walks out of her room and remembers her Teacher’s reason for quitting as their mentor.

it’s because she taught us all of what she knew already.

Lowell started to think of what to do now that her teacher won't teach her anymore, then she remembered her family’s library.

The last time she remember going there is when she was still three years old.

She started her lessons with Teacher Aurel when she was three so she thought there wasn’t a necessity to read advanced books in the Library when Teacher could teach her the basic knowledge.

Now that she thought about it, she didn’t remember what type of books did she read before her last visit there.

She felt the main reason she read books there was because of ‘this alphabet is beautiful’ vibe, she thought.

Lowell didn’t even know what she reading but she find it amusing to look at the writing style of the country's language.

Unlike the origin of ‘Chemistry’ and ‘Physics’ books which are written in a simplified and efficient form, the language in her country is written in a very artistic way, as if each stroke while writing it has a meaning.

Lowell found it pretty hard at first, but she got the hang of it after a month.

She thought that if she were to start adventuring, she would need more knowledge about this country, or even this world.

Her only source of knowledge right now is Teacher Aurel and her teachings and now that its gone, she thought of going inside the library again.

When she was in the front of the door, she heard her Mom’s voice talking to her Dad.

It looks like she’s crying.

“Why?! Why does it have to be her! I don’t care if we die with the new Queen, but why does it have to be her?! I can’t accept this!!”

Lowell peeked on the door and saw her Mom holding Dad’s collar while crying.

Belle pushed her head on Louis' chest, trying to remove her grief.

Lowell thought that both didn't notice her, but her Dad looked at her while Mom was still crying.

He pat Mom’s back, trying to comfort her.

“Lowell-sama, it’s already nighttime. What brings you here?”

When her Mom heard her Dad say Lowell's name, she was startled.

She looks at Lowell and looks back at Louis.

Louis moves his head, making a ‘no’ signal.

Lowell didn’t know what they’re talking about, but she heard something unacceptable.

“M-Mom and D-Dad will die?”

Lowell was struck by fear and anxiety.

Both of them would die? What’s the meaning of this?

Because of that, Lowell remembered her mother’s story.. her difficulties of living without parents.. her face full of grief when she told her story.

I will experience the same fate as Mom experienced?

“Who is the Queen you’re talking about? Is it worth it for Mom and Dad to die for her?! Mom, Dad… don’t leave me..”

Lowell slumped to the floor while crying.

The one who held and comforted her was her Mom.

“Don’t worry, Little Elle.. We won’t leave you.. In fact, we’ll protect you even more..”

Lowell looked at her Mom, then towards her Dad.

He nod with approval, which made Lowell start to calm down.

“But Mom said both you and Dad would die with the Queen.. who is this Queen, Mom?”

“I-it’s-!”

Before Belle could speak, Louis held her shoulder.

Belle looks at Louis, and sees him making a disapproval.

After a few seconds, she looks at Lowell and wipes her daughter's face.

Her normal smile returned in her face.

“Both Mom and Dad would tell you a very important story..”

Belle said that as she starts telling Lowell a mythical story.