"I-I'm. I'm not going to ask how the fuck you have a mansion hidden behind a magic door."

"The door is just a catalyst. The mansion is in me."

"Gross. Where can I put him."

"Nice place, son."

"Go inside, past the ballroom, up the stairs, go right from there, another right when you can, and at the end of the hall should be a large, unused, furnished bedroom."

"Ballroom?"

"Yeah, past the ballroom."

"Who's that creep over there?"

"That's Dylan. Don't talk to him. He's a prisoner thrall thing that I picked up somewhere. Don't worry. He deserves it."

Val looks at me strangely and looks back at Dylan.

"If that's your boyfriend, you don't need to hide it from me."

"...I only feel contempt and disgust by that person. If I fall in love with someone, I'll introduce them to you."

Dylan waves.

"Don't worry, I'll vet your first love. I don't trust you to not fall for a crazy person."

I use [Master's Hand] to relay a silent message to Dylan, forbidding him of being in my family's presence or speaking to them and telling him to return to his grave or wherever he sleeps nowadays.

Before this conversation, we entered the mansion out of sight, and I left it to Duchess to move us closer to the Auroran Insitute. The dean had a hand in setting up my parent's protection. He should know something.

I leave Val to move our father to his new room because I need a moment to think. She disappears beyond the front door.

Finding my mother should be my top priority, but that doesn't mean I should ignore the other people in my life. My masters, employees, friends, and... no, that's it.

I mean, I could save people. My beasts and I have the resources/skills for the job. My PR manager would love that, and... Fuck. I wonder if my buildings are alright. I JUST bought them.

I don't feel obligated to save anyone, and if doing so puts people I care about in danger, I rather the random damsel in distress die.

...Here I am hypothetically saving/not saving people when I couldn't even protect my parents. Fuck, what do I do? It's not like I can imprison them somewhere.

Or can I? Oh, hey! Val's back.

"Ellis. You have this whole fucking estate. It's obviously lived in, and you never told me?"

"Yup."

"You know I share a dorm room with a necromancer, right?"

"I didn't."

"I'm going to claim a room for my own, and you can't stop me."

"I can, but I won't. Find a vacant bedroom and feel free."

"After. After we find where Mom is and someone to help heal Dad."

"I know a damn good alchemist. We can look for her after we confirm where our mother is."

"Alright. By the way, what's that over there?"

"That over there? Oh, that's a dragon corpse."

"..."

"By the way, here are some gifts for Remembrance."

"People don't exchange gifts for Remembrance."

"Take them anyways."

I got her a complete 'set' of accessories. A pair of earrings, a ring, a bracelet, and a necklace. There's no bonus for having all of them 'equipped' at once. Unless you count fashion as a bonus.

The earrings give her a minor health regeneration, and the rest accessories raise her defense stat. The necklace does have one ability, however.

If her heart would be pierced by something - like an arrow or a spear - it would take the attack for her before breaking.

I thought of getting a necklace for myself, but then I'll need two, and it would also be a waste of money since even if my hearts are pierced, I could shrug it off.

Before leaving the mansion, I'll check up on my foster father.

He's in a room that overlooks the treeless orchard. A dead, boneless, and bloodless dragon is sitting right there—a sack of scales and meat.

My foster father is sitting up in bed, and a blanket is covering his fucked up lower half.

Color returned to his face after drinking a potion Val provided, but he's still too pale for my liking.

"I hope I'm not intruding."

"Here are some gifts, you should wear them always. One of them might be able to help with your legs."

I gave my father a set of the same accessories I gave Val, except these are more potent and expensive.

"No problem... Son, don't blame yourself. You didn't do anything wrong."

It would be hard not to blame myself. Our family is in this fucked crisis because of what I didn't do.

"Alright. I'm heading off to find Mom."

"Good luck... Thank you, son. Thank you."

I step outside the mansion, then off the manor grounds. I find myself on Duchess' back next to a nicely carved mahogany door Rob is holding up. I reach back in and grab Val's hand before pulling her out in front of me.

"Hi, Duchess, It's nice to ride on your back again."

[Tell your kin thisss one said hello.]

"Tell her yourself."

"What?"

"She says hello."

"Whatever, Ellis. Where are we?"

Val's question gets answered when we spot the Auroran Institute below us. A slightly opaque magic barrier engulfs the entire school grounds.

I can see students inside the barrier, trying to get out. Instructors are yelling at them - presumably telling them to return to their dorm rooms - and dispersing the crowd.

"I'm guessing the Auroran Institute has some sort of procedure - automated or otherwise - to protect the students. Causing them to be trapped on campus until there's an all-clear."

"Then how do we get inside, Ellis? I can shoot it, but if it works, the Institute has a massive embezzling problem because there's no way I can peirce that thing."

"Try it."

She shoots an arrow at the shield, and it bounces off. The barrier ripples, but there is no damage.

A grizzled man riding something that looks like a mix of a hairless bat and a scaly bird flies up at us from inside the barrier.

"Get away from the barrier, kids. The Auroran Institute is under lockdown until further notice."

Val and I look at each other. She shoots another arrow.

"Hilarious. But I'm serious."

"Tell Albert that Ellis Vincere and Val Caddel want to see him. It's about our parents, and I will raise hell if I don't get some answers."

"Kid, I don't have a direct line to the dean. I can send that message through the proper channels when I can. I can't do anymore, even if you're both going to represent humanity when the time comes."

"How long will the barrier stay up? Can we come in for a little bit?"

"Miss, in all honesty, phones will come back online before the Institute deems it safe to release the barrier. At that point, call the dean yourself."

"Are you a security guard or something? Can I get your name?"

"Nope."

After not elaborating on which question he answered, the man flies down and disappears out of sight. I turn to Val.

"Do you know who else had a part in the security detail? Was it just the Institute and the enforcers?"

"It was something like witness protection but without the changing identity thing."

Oh, I know who helms that program. Leader of the enforcers General Harlan Blackwood, a direct family member of someone in the First Party. Which makes him technically a member of a great family.

If my mother is dead because of him/his incompetence, then I'm putting him on the top of my shitlist. 'Right above the Ken and Strickland families.

"It would be a less waste of time to wait here doing nothing than going to a government agency during a crisis."

"I'd like to go back inside your secret mansion and make sure Dad is alright until then. I already know that the friends I made in the capital are alright. You should do the same. Didn't you mention an alchemist or something?"

"Okay."

After letting Val back into the mansion, Duchess did a quick driveby at Rain's store, but it was empty and nearly destroyed. We decided to go to Master Wang's estate.

The estate barely took any damage, cracks have formed in the perimeter wall, but the interior buildings are alright. I go inside, and almost everything is knocked to the ground.

I find Master Wang in a room I've never been in, not even when I underwent the prestiging of my vigor stat. The onsite infirmary.

It looks like a kitted-out nurse's office in an affluent private school. It's built to only hold a few people at a time, but it has almost all modern-day medical apparatus.

Whether it's new or Master Wang was holding out on me is unknown. It would make sense to have a space dedicated to healing on estate grounds since we both practice a self-mutilating martial art.

I always heal myself or tough it out, so I guess I haven't seen it before.

If Master Wang noticed my presence, he did not show it. He's staring solemnly at a bandaged and unmoving person lying over the covers on one of the hospital beds. His hand is near their's but he won't grab it, almost like he's afraid to break it.

"Master Wang?"

"She was in her shop's workshop, surrounded by potions, acids, and poisons, all contained in fragile glass containers."

"...Is she-"

"Rain is alive. Barely."

"I can do something to help."

"I endured the first time this planet tried killing everyone. I thrived during the aftermath and made a name for myself. This old man is at fault for what happened."

"How can you say that?"

"I pushed my only daughter away since I didn't want to celebrate a holiday based on an event I lived through. Why be forced to recall the prime I can never return to? If I wasn't selfish, she would've been safe here. If I never forced her to pay me back for those damn herbs, there wouldn't be a store for her to get hurt in."

"I'll heal her. With your permission."

"Look at this old man, my skills only amount to this. I can only heal my daughter this much. I will be eternally grateful if you can one-up this old man and save my Rain."

I place my hand on her bandaged forehead and start channeling my mana. For some reason, I recall something Master Giles said to Master Wang in a fit of rage.

"You break everything you touch, especially people."

Master Wang has lived a long and troubled life. My mana has regenerated some since healing my father, but it isn't much. After checking her condition, the most I can do is wake her up. I hope Master Wangs' treatment was enough, or she can remedy herself the rest of the way.

"I already purged all the toxins and gave her [Flesh Repairing Pills], but that wasn't enough."

I'm sure Rain would've woken up eventually. My healing feels hot like my hand will catch on fire. With a few points of mana to spare, the bandaged Rain stirs.

The first thing Rain does is grab her head and keel over in pain. Master Wang and I spring into action, but her words stop us.

"Hundreds of millions. Hundreds of millions worth of credits worth of potions, gone in one earthquake. I should've gotten insurance when I got the chance."

"My daughter, you're alright!"

Rain undoes the bandages on her head and looks at Master Wang and me. Her face is horrifically scared. It's so bad it broke the rules of genetics and changed the color of one of her eyes... actually, it might be she's blind in one eye. My bad.

"Ellis, you look like shit."

"Yeah, you too."

She touches her face with a bandaged hand and shrugs.

"I created a scar-removing potion in my teens. This is nothing, although not all the damage will be reverted."

"My daughter! How are you feeling? I'm so sorry."

At some point, Master Wang started weeping. I understand, but I also don't. Rain looks at him quizzically and asks him about it.

"Are you crying? I've never seen you cry before?"

"I'm going to be transparent with you, my daughter. If you died, I would've gone crazy with grief and started killing people."

"What the fuck? Don't do that."

"Master Wang, would you kill me in that situation?"

"Only a little."