Life in Vain: Jobless Reincarnation

134 – The Baby Sister’s Crumbling Hopes

Part 1

After that mess at the beach, the man called Paul (who Stella refused to call 'Papa') collapsed and looked lifeless. The appearance of someone who saw their world crumble before their very eyes.

But he didn't stay like that for long. After a couple of minutes, he got up on his feet.

Or rather, Onii-chan got him up on his feet with a gust of wind magic and started dragging him through town.

And with the man being paraded through town like a pariah, Rudy led everyone to a fancy looking house on a hill overlooking the rest of the town.

...One that definitely hadn't been there before they arrived.

It seemed like Onii-chan really was showing off a lot.

But anyway, after tossing Paul into a sofa in the living room, Rudy took a seat across from Paul.

Before anyone else could move, Stella dashed over to Onii-chan and took a seat on his lap.

Norn puffed her cheeks at that, but then she dragged a chair over and took a seat on Rudy's right.

Eris and Sylphy stared at each other for a bit before Sylphy let Eris take the spot next to Rudy. When Eris did, Sylphy conjured a fancy crystal chair and sat directly behind Rudy.

Eos and Ena took the spots next to Sylphy, and then Roland quietly locked the door before standing in the back.

If Stella didn't know better, she would have thought they were there for an execution...

...But Onii-chan wouldn't do that.

Right?

Paul sat up and took a look around. After a brief glance, he smiled and said, "Did you remake our house here, Rudy?"

"It's the one I remember the most, yeah." Rudy nodded and patted Stella's head.

Stella pouted, but stayed still. The mood was weird, so she didn't want to interrupt.

"You've gotten pretty strong, huh?" Paul swept his gaze around to meet everyone before settling it back on Rudy. "And in the blink of an eye, you're already a man. I always joked with your Mom about you growing up fast, but this is a bit ridiculous, you know?"

"I think it's more ridiculous how strong you've gotten." Rudy frowned and stared at Paul, his eyes flashing green. "...Since when did you figure out how to meld your Battle Aura with every fiber of your body? I was wondering why it felt like kicking a steel wall..."

"Meh. You pick things up here and there." Paul looked over at Eos and Ena and said, "The more important question is... Since when did you get kids? And if they're that big..." He frowned and looked at Rudy. "...How old are you now? Did you get trapped in a dungeon?" He paused and then looked at Stella, confused. "...But Stella doesn't look that much older... It's already been five years though?"

Five years?

Stella furrowed her brow and did some math.

She and Onii-chan arrived at the Magic Continent shortly after Stella was born. Then Onii-chan spent about a half year building a kingdom and gathering his forces. Then there was another half year after all of Stella's nee-chans arrived...

...So it should just be one year?

No, Sylphy nee-chan said that time was flowing a bit differently on the Magic Continent...

...But Onii-chan said he fixed that?

...Stella's head hurt. The math didn't line up right.

Rudy patted Stella's head and said, "Don't think about it too hard, Stella. Being W messed time up all over the world, so trying to keep track of it all won't work."

"...Okay, Onii-chan."

Right. She'd leave Onii-chan to sort it all out. It didn't make any sense, but a lot of things stopped making sense. So she'd leave it to her senseless Onii-chan to deal with it.

Rudy looked over at Paul and said, "It's been ten thousand years."

...Or not?

Eris immediately spun towards Rudy and said, "Wait, what?"

Sylphy's eyes widened and she turned towards Rudy. Her emerald eyes started to glitter with tears and she said, "Rudy..."

Norn was surprised as well and said, "Big Brother... Did you lie about how long it had been to keep us from worrying? You..."

Faced with those three, Rudy flinched and said, "Oh come on. You ruined it. How am I going to guilt trip Dad now?" He paused. "Oh wait. I don't need to since he groped Ena."

Paul's ears turned a bright red and he stammered, "I-I said I'm sorry, okay?! It's just... she looks *just* like Zenny! Even the bo-"

Rudy narrowed his eyes.

"I-I mean..." Paul coughed and said, "It seems like your daughters inherited a lot more from your Mom than me?"

Eos turned up her nose in disgust and crossed her arms. "...Father. May I pluck his eyes out? He's worse than those perverts who joined the Survey Corps for me to yell at them."

Ena shuddered and tugged her very conservative white robe around her. "I'll listen to Daddy more. People are scary..."

Rudy pointed at them and said, "See? And no, Eos. We'll let Mom and Mama Lily deal with him. Also, I'll make you a barrier charm later, Ena. You won't have to worry about creeps like that in the future."

Ena let out a relieved smile and said, "Thanks Daddy."

"You're welcome." He paused and said, "...But don't use it to fry Cliff."

Ena pouted. "How'd you know?"

"He's not *that* bad. A bit too earnest, but he's not a pervert."

"...If you say so, Daddy."

Paul looked between Rudy and Ena and mouthed 'Daddy' with a weird expression on his face.

Norn turned up her nose and muttered, "...Papa got worse."

Eris nodded. "It looks like it."

Sylphy pursed her lips and said, "I understand what Mom meant now about Paul being a bad influence..."

"Hey!" Paul spoke up and said, "I'm not that bad! I've done a lot of good things in these past years, you know?"

Rudy raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Paul waved his hand and said, "Forget about me for now!" He pointed at Rudy and said, "What are you doing going around killing a bunch of people to practice magic?"

Rudy blinked. "I didn't though?"

"They why did you dye your hair brown? That's obviously to go undercover, isn't it?"

"No. I dyed it brown because people with white hair stick out like sore thumbs and I didn't want to get mistaken as the reincarnation of Milis again in a place with people even more zealous than a few of the high-ranked priests that got warped to the Magic Continent."

"...Huh?" Paul frowned. "...So you *didn't* turn Windport into a land of the dead and learned how to summon a bloodred moon?"

Rudy paused to think about that. "...Technically no, but also yes?"

"That's not reassuring, Rudy."

"To be fair, I didn't expect a different version of myself to be able to crossover into this world."

"...What?"

Rudy sighed and said, "It's a long story. But we can catch up on that in a bit. First..." He paused and said, "Since when do I have an older sister?"

Paul blinked. "...You don't?"

"Didn't that woman who looked like Mom say that Ena and Eos were her nieces? That'd mean that she'd be my sister, right?" He narrowed his eyes and said, "...Have you been keeping something from us?"

Eris turned up her nose to look down at Paul.

Sylphy turned her head away.

Norn crossed her arms and pouted.

As for Stella...

'...Just what kind of family did I get reincarnated into...?'

...She just sat there and watched the unfolding trainwreck.

-SNG-

Part 2

"Ena. I am *so* sorry about that. Believe me when I say that I seriously would have never done that if I knew who you were."

"U-Um... I... guess it's okay..." Ena covered her chest and said, "I heard from Mother Eris and Mother Sylphy that you're a lustful beast barely contained in a human body, so I suppose it was natural considering how I was dressed..."

"No, no." Paul quickly shook his head and said, "It's not your fault. If any bastard does that to you, it's a hundred percent on them for not having self-control."

Stella gave Paul a blank stare and said, "So Paul is a man with no self-control?"

Paul nodded and said, "That's right, Stella. Your Papa's this sort of shameless person at heart. I've gotten a lot better over the years though."

Stella wrinkled her nose.

*Wow. Stella's Papa is really shameless...* Fai's voice echoed in Stella's head.

*...He wouldn't be the type to attack his own daughter, right...?* Wata's concerned voice.

'I'm not really sure... That's the scary part.'

If he did that to Ena then what wouldn't he do...?

Paul noticed Stella's expression and quickly waved his hands. "I'm not like that, Stella! Promise! This was a once in a lifetime mistake!"

"...If you say so."

Just in case though, Stella would make sure to stick around Onii-chan a lot when she grew up.

Just in case.

Paul sighed. "Well. I suppose I did that to myself."

They were still in the house that Onii-chan made. Apparently, it was a replica of the house they actually had back in Buina village before it was ripped apart by the spacerend.

Onii-chan had purchased a plot of land on the outskirt of town by throwing money at the mayor and then terraformed everything.

As per usual for Stella's Onii-chan. He couldn't be bothered just acting like a normal person and buying a house. No, he had to reshape the land to his will.

But anyway, after sorting things out and making quick introductions, Onii-chan propped up a magic door linking back to the Magic Continent and headed back to grab some people who wanted to return home.

...It still hurt Stella's head how casually he did it. Especially since she had seen the calculations he used to map out the spatial coordinates.

She was still convinced that Onii-chan was an evil genius from a different Japan who reincarnated after taking over the world.

That aside...

Roland and Eos had gone out to check with the Adventurer's hall and make sure notices were put up for Stella's moms.

And that was a thing. She had been wondering for a while why Onii-chan was so casual about having a harem, but it turned out that their dad had two wives.

It should have been obvious in hindsight considering all the implications, but Stella *really* wanted to believe that there was some normality in her family.

But it seemed that wasn't the case.

Maybe that was her punishment for being selfish before she died?

Well. There wasn't much point in thinking about what ifs.

Sylphy and Eris were cooking in the kitchen. Norn was chatting with Aunt Therese and a girl with blonde hair and weird blue and pink eyes.

Which left her and Ena with Paul in the living room.

Ena still had a bit of a trauma from earlier, so she was sticking close to Stella and gently holding Stella's hand for reassurance.

It was kind of cute and reminded her a lot of her little brother hiding behind her in the past.

Except that Stella was currently only a year old and Ena was a grown adult.

...Though Onii-chan said that they were 'born' as adults, so technically Stella was older? And she *was* the aunt.

...Hah. At this rate, all of her hair was going to turn white like Onii-chan's did.

Paul shifted in his chair and then looked at Stella. "So... Stella. Um, what do you like to do for fun? Play outside?"

An awkward and stilted conversation. Still, it looked like Paul meant well, so...

Stella stared at him and eventually said, "I like magic."

Paul's eyes lit up and he said, "Of course! Your mom's a great magician." He nodded and said, "It's obvious that you'd take after her." He paused and said, "I thought that Norn would actually, but it seems like she's better with a sword than magic. Zenny would be really happy that one of her daughters is taking after her."

Ena tilted her head and said, "Grandmother is a magician?"

Paul looked at her and nodded. "Yep! I bet that's where Rudy gets his knack with magic." He paused and said, "Though I'm not sure how he got so ridiculous. Sometimes I wonder if he's even my kid... But then I see how he drops the ball every now and then and go, yep. That's my kid alright." He frowned and said, "Wished he wasn't so dense at times though."

Stella blinked. "Dense? Onii-chan doesn't have common sense, but he isn't dense."

Considering how easily he turned Eris and Sylphy into gooey messes... in figuratively and literally, he definitely wasn't dense. Especially with how expertly he kept dodging Rika's clear advances.

Paul blinked. "What?"

Ena nodded and said, "Daddy is really good with women." She tilted her head and said, "Me and Eos were surprised that he was still single for so long. But I guess that's because he was waiting for Mommy Eris and Mommy Sylphy. Oh! And he said that we have a Mommy Roxy too, so... Yep. Definitely not dense."

Paul blinked again and then looked smug. "That little bastard. So he finally took after me, huh?"

"That's not something you should be proud of, 'Papa.'"

Stella said it sarcastically. Clearly sarcastically. Even so...

"Hah! You called me Papa!" Paul grinned and then pumped a fist in the air. "Yes! It's only a matter of time now before you accept me!"

Stella quickly scrambled into Ena's arms.

"L-Lady S-Stella?"

"Ena. Let's go."

"G-Go? Um... Okay? But where?"

"Anywhere but with this creep."

Paul stood up with wide eyes. "H-Hold on, Stella! I was just kidding!"

"Wata."

Paul blinked. "Water? Wh- Bwaha?!"

Wata appeared and blasted Paul with a water ball, turning up his nose in disgust. "...Yes." He nodded and turned towards Stella. "I think we should treat Master Rudy as your father, Stella. This man doesn't deserve that honor."

"H-Hold on!" Paul stood up, completely dry.

Wata blinked and then looked at his paws, confused. "...I hit him, right?"

"I'll be serious, so-"

Wata sent out another water ball.

It hit Paul again. But instead of splashing, it just vanished.

Wata blinked and then tilted his head. "...Huh? Did you... cut the mana?"

Huh. Well, that explained a bit on how Onii-chan was ridiculous...

Wait. Did that mean that her Mom was super ridiculous too?

...

Stella turned to look at her 'Papa' and said, "Paul."

"Yes, Sweetie?"

Stella resisted the urge to shiver and said, "Is Mama an angel?"

"Hm?" Paul stopped to think about it and then nodded. "Yep. Definitely an angel. And definitely not a sadistic fallen angel who made me develop a weird kink or anything, hehe..."

"...Let's go, Ena."

Ena gave Paul a blank look and then slowly nodded. "Yes. Let's leave Grandfather alone for a while..."

"H-Hold on! You're misunderstanding again!" Paul looked off to the side and said, "Norn! Therese! Help me out here!"

Paul cried out. But as expected, he was being ignored.

Ena lifted Stella up and turned to walk away. Wata floated in front of them both, holding his arms out to protect them with tiny water balls and ice crystals floating around him.

And then a deep sigh echoed. One that sounded familiar, but also was a bit different.

Stella blinked and looked towards the source of the sigh.

"I told you this would happen if you run off without me, Paul."

A man with a familiar build. A familiar vibe. Also a familiar voice. Not only that, but he even had on a white coat. It was different than the one Stella was used to since it had some fur on it and had a more wild flair. But it was definitely the same sort of style overall.

Ena paused and tilted her head. "...Daddy?"

The man froze, slowly turning towards Ena. As he did, he revealed a face covered by a plain white mask as well as a head full of violet hair.

"Daddy?" A charming and slightly sultry female voice called out after that. And with it came an elf woman with light blonde hair and crimson eyes. One wearing a loose green maternity dress with a clear baby bump. She turned to the man and pouted. "I thought you said that I was the only one for you, Hubby."

The man reached out to poke the elf in the head and said, "Stop playing around. You'll cause more misunderstandings."

"Teehee."

"Still..." The man tilted his head, staring straight at Stella.

Stella stared back.

And then the man spoke in Japanese.

"Shizuka Nanahoshi... Since when did you get reincarnated here instead of being transported?"

Eh?

-RNG-

The basement of the infamous Dark Spire in the Kingdom of Arcadia.

Not my name for the tower or the kingdom, but that was what stuck, so that's what it was.

Anyway, setting up the Everywhere Door in my new summer home back at the Milis Continent, I warped back to Arcadia to finish linking it to the gateway I prepped beforehand.

After a few tests, everything was working. Felt a bit weird stepping through one door and ending up somewhere else entirely, but that wasn't important in the grand scheme of things.

What *was* important was helping people get back home and fulfilling my promises. So...

"I cannot thank you enough for this, Lord Rudras." A middle-aged man in formal white robes bowed to me and let out a brilliant smile. "To not only shelter us, but to go through so much effort to allow us to return home... Truly, this must be the grace of Milis."

I shook my head and glanced out behind him. "I wouldn't be thanking me so soon, Harry. Especially not when I'm using you guys."

A group of White Knights. Among them included Astolfo and some of the original core, but most of them were people who had been transported from the Milis Continent who had joined the group to help pay back Arcadia.

And all of them were at least Saint-ranked in magic and combat abilities.

Mostly because Astolfo and Roland were great teachers. Well, that and being attractive probably helped inspire the group.

But anyway, as promised, I would be sending them all home. But before they left Arcadia forever, I asked them for a favor.

Cliff adjusted his robes and frowned. After that, he looked up at me and said, "Are you certain about this, Father-in-law? I don't think the Demon Race Expulsion Faction will take our return lightly. Especially not since we're returning with a large military force."

"Well." I activated Clairvoyance and checked on the capital of Milis. Seeing the chaos, lynchings, and the mist of Being W's mana hanging over the city. "...It's either we come in and reassert order or the nobles execute the 'peasants' for inciting 'revolution.'" I looked over at Cliff and said, "You ready to show me your worth, Genius?"

"...While I'm honored, hearing that word coming from you is a bit heavy, Father-in-law."

"Then you should work harder. Especially if you're serious about Ena. Now, let's get going."

Time to go ruin that bastard's plans.

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