"Shion is so kind huh."

I suddenly remember the memories of my mother. Especially the recent ones.

"In the name of Takatsukikami-sama, I pray that my daughter, Shion, will continue to have a good life now and in the future."

"... with this, I hope that I can be a help for you even if it's only a little bit."

Even with her condition, she still cared about me.

"No need to think about it that much. Do you have anything you want to do? Or something like a wish? If it's something that even this weak mother of yours can do, I would be very happy to help."

As I stand in front of my father, those flashbacks about mother suddenly appear in my mind.

I try my best to comprehend about what he just said.

"W- what do you mean... mother is..."

"It is as just what I said."

"!"

After hearing my father's calm words, I quickly rush towards my sleeping mother.

"Mom... wake up... it's me... Shion..."

I know that those words won't ever get a reply from her. And yet I still desperately deny the truth in front of me.

"Mom.... please.... wake up...!"

Even though this is my second chance.

Even though I have the knowledge from my previous life... together with my regret and resolve...

Even though... I learnt magic and my other abilities as fast as I can...

Even though this time... I swore to protect and support her...

"MOOOOOOM!!!"

Before I know it, I am already crying while holding to my mother's arm.

"Shion-sama..."

I vaguely hear Kaina's voice.

Even so, my crying did not stop at all. It just happens out of my control.

Then I suddenly hear my father's voice.

"Kaina, I leave the rest to you. I'll go to kingdom as scheduled."

"!?"

I stop crying the moment I hear that.

Did I mishear it? He just said...

Did he seriously think that this is a matter that he can just ignore...!?

"W- Wait!"

I look at my father who is about to leave the room.

"... what is it?"

My father turn his back to see me. As expected, I can only see his cold gaze from his eyes.

"... where are you going?"

"You should have known by now. There is a mission that I must fulfill at all cost."

He literally says that his mission is more important than mother. This man...

With a mixed feelings inside my chest, I walk towards him and slightly grab his cloth.

"... what are you doing?"

"Mother... is still there..."

I can't help but to stop him. I know that he is a knight... but he is also a father... and a husband....

"Let go."

"Mother... even until now... I'M SURE MOTHER STILL LOV-!"

*SLAP!!!*

Eh? Did I... just got slapped...?

I fall down after losing my balance.

"Shion-sama!?"

I vaguely hear Kaina's words. She sounds really shocked.

As I try to comprehend what happened, I try to touch my cheek.

... it hurts...

I look up at my father who just slapped me out of nowhere.

"Don't be selfish."

"Sel...fish...?"

It's as if he scolded me for stopping him... no... he really scolded me for that...

Then my father, Graize Els Victorious, turns his back to me.

"I shoulder not only the lives of the people in this house, but also all the people living in Bramashtra."

I can't believe the words he just said. But he keeps talking since he does not care about my opinion.

"I cannot allow myself to be stopped from protecting the Kingdom by just a lost of single life. We are the Kingdom's protection before being human. That is what it means to be the member of Graize family."

... what is this guy saying?

"Feel free to hold a funeral whenever you like. But I have no time to waste."

... ahh... I remember...

Right... this is what a man is...

I remember the father from my previous life. They are just bastards who never truly appreciate anything...

I look at my father who is leaving the room with a hateful gaze. Not that he will care anyway...

Kaina, Nelsia and other maids quickly come to me when my father leave. They looks really worried.

... I have to act fine to not make them worried...

Is what I plan but... I can only think of sadness and hatred of mine.

In the end... all men are the same.

.....

....

...

Few hours passed since then.

Victorious, Millson and Korsch already went to the capital.

I coop up in my room all the time so I don't know much about the detail.

I thought I can change my life for the better in this world.

But in the end, nothing changes at all.

I still couldn't save mother... and I have to deal with a good-for-nothing father...

I spent my life, energy, patience and love to protect things that are precious to me.

And yet these feeble hands will never be able to protect anything.

"*knock knock* Shion-sama, your dinner is here."

It's already this late?

It's about time I get out and assure them with the classic "I'm okay" statement.

But before that...

I look at the window and decide to go out using my usual route.

At least I want to see my mother once more alone before tomorrow comes.

As I go through my usual route, I see the two guards from yesterday.

They look really lax talking with each other even though they are supposed to be guarding the gate.

A little bit annoyed, I eavesdrop their conversation a bit. I wonder what makes them so lax despite what happened this morning.

"So we will move tonight?"

"Yes, we finally can say good bye to this house"

"...?"

Their strange conversation makes me even more curious. I am hiding in the bushes few metres away from the main gate.

"So if we're lucky, we might even get our own slaves. Hehehe..."

"You're being too loud. Geez..."

Slaves....?

"But are you sure that it will work out?"

"You can say that because you never see him."

"Well duh. I'm already working here at that time. So? How is he, our leader?"

Leader... they are not talking about my father...

"Out of this world... is what I can say..."

"Was he that strong...?"

"He basically can copy any magic that he once saw. Not only that, his mana seemed to be endless. Even after fighting more than 50 people, he did not seem to be tired at all. Also for some reason, he can guess all our abilities right just by seeing us once."

"Whoa..."

Wha... who is this person they are talking about? With enough knowledge, people can guess and copy what magic that other people use. But I never hear of something like knowing all abilities of a person just by looking at that person.

"What an extraordinary person... but with that person as our leader, taking over this house would be a piece of cake."

"!?"

What....? Taking over this house...? What are they talking about?

"This is the perfect time when he is away from his house. Graize Els Victorious, finally the time has come to give him punishment worse than death..."

"Imagine his face once he finds his house burnt down to ashes... kukuku."

This is bad.... it does not seem like they are joking about it. I need to go back and tell everyone about it.

And when I am about to go back, they said something that I can't ignore.

"But still, why would you do that? Poisoning the madam was not part of the plan."

"!?"

In that instant, I can't move my body.

No, it's more like I don't want to move at all from this place.

"I wanted him to taste the feeling that I experienced that day. That feeling when you got something precious stolen from you... that's why I told that woman to use that poison magic."

"Our plan would have been ruined if he had decided to stay at the house. Next time-"

"For that reason, you killed mother?"

Both of the guards were surprised. That's understandable, because I suddenly appear behind them. I am also surprised at what I am doing, but I won't stop talking.

"For hurting my father... you dragged my innocent mother into this?"

"S- Shion-sama..."

Their face become pale when they realized that they were being eavesdropped.

"T- that's not it Shion-sama. We were talking about-"

Before one of the guards finished talking, the other one unsheathe his sword.

"O- oi!"

"We're going to do it tonight anyway. Let's just shut her up before she said anything troublesome to the maids!"

"Kuh..."

The other guard also unsheathe his sword.

"Run away? You must be joking..."

After I say that, I quickly rush towards one of guards and kick his crotch.

*thud!!*

"OOOUUUUGGHHH!!??"

While the other guard is still surprised, I jump and use my ankle to kick his nose.

*crack!!*

"BBFFFGHH!!??"

As I landed, both of them fall to the ground.

I learnt a bit of martial arts long ago from Millson. I asked him to teach because I want to teach him a lesson whenever he starts doing his perverted antics again. He surprisingly agreed to teach me. Too bad that I don't have much stamina to learn everything from him.

Now while they are still writhing in pain, I need to tell the maids about this.

"Wait....!!"

"!?"

They stand up faster than expected. I know that I lack the power but it should be enough to paralyze them for 5 minutes (Source: Millson).

Then I suddenly see animal ears on their heads. It looks like wolf ears.

They are... beastman race?

There exists races that are different from human in this world. Beastman is one of them. They are a humanoid race that have animal limbs. Beastman are physically stronger than human in normal cases.

So that's why my attacks did not do as much damage as it should've.

"Now you've done it little brat..."

They also show their claws on their hands. So they hide the fact that they are from beastman race... for what reason...

If only I had my poison bottles, this would have been an easier fight.

"Grr... Beast Boost!!"

"Beast Boost!"

*flash!*

That's... a beastman race-exclusive magic huh... I read that it raises the physical strength of beastmen.

Red aura envelops their bodies and their fangs can be seen from their mouth.

"DIE!!!!"

Just as one of the beastmen rush towards me, I overtake both of their "Beast Boost" and reverse the effect of their magic.

"!?"

It takes effect really fast, now their physical strength is even weaker than mine. The beastman that were rushing towards me becomes too tired to run and it stops midway.

Not missing the chance, I kick one of the beastman right in the face.

*smack!*

All his teeth are broken and he fall completely unconscious.

The other beastman already fell to the knee as his feet is too weak to even stand normally.

He won't be able to even deactivate "Beast Boost" after I overtake that magic. Therefore, it will keep weakening his body until he runs out of mana.

He's no longer a threat so I approach him. It's as if my anger disables my sense of danger.

"W- what did you do?! You're supposed to not be able to use magic!!"

"If you don't want to die, stop resisting and answer my question."

The conscious beastman pause after my statement for awhile and then he laugh a bit showing his wicked smile.

"... hehehe."

"What's so funny?"

"Milady. Whatever you do, it's too late."

"What?"

"I have a telestone in my pocket."

Telestone... a stone-looking magic item that allows someone to communicate with other person with the same telestone. It's like a handphone but they come with pair and can only communicate with the paired stone.

"I had it turned on ever since you appeared."

"!?"

It's already connected to the other side. That means...

"It's your fault Milady. Our allies will come here soon!!"

"You....!"

Right when I get irritated, multiple brown magic circles suddenly appear on the ground.

Then ten human-sized golems made of rock appear from the magic circle surrounding me.

This is... Golem Summoning Magic...

"This must be Midora!!"

"Midora..?"

"Our leader! You are finished! The moment he summon these autonomous golems, they won't stop beating you until you are dead!"

Autonomous... in other words, they are given one order and will execute that order until the order is accomplished or they run out of mana.

Before the golems hit me. I overtake them and change their order with this following order:

"Beat these two beastmen to death."

"Hahaha! They won't listen anyone other than their summone- huh?"

The golems come towards these two beastmen instead of me.

"H- huh? Wait. You guys are supposed to beat her. Not me-"

Not hearing the beastman's statement, the golems start using their rock arms to beat the conscious and unconscious beastmen.

"GUAAAAAAKKKKKHHHHH!!!!"

The golems will just keep doing their job even if I am not there, so I just let them be and rush towards the maids.

I must protect them at all cost!!!