After finishing the discussion about the Behemoth, Duke Oler arranged rooms for Cloud and his group.

Though, that had nothing to do with Eri.

Because this was also her house and she had her own personal bedroom.

Eri stepped into her bedroom.

The room she returned to after several years was nothing different from what she had left. Except for the fact that there was a lot of accumulated dust.

‘..they completely neglected it after I left, huh?’

Woh, isn’t this still too much?

Taking in the absurdity, she let out a short chortle.

Eri pondered whether she should clean her room, and then she shook her head. She was only going to stay for a while, unless something extraordinary occurred.

She just swatted the dust off the bed and plopped down on it. As she blankly stared at the ceiling, what happened a little earlier made her mind wander.

""

‘..I don’t think he even cares.’

Duke of Oler, Eri’s father.

He never looked her way during the entire conversation with Cloud in the living room previously. He was acting as if she didn’t even exist.

‘I feel like a fool for expecting anything.’

‘I should just get some sleep.’

Eri was about to close her eyes.

– Knock, knock.

– Can I come in?

Along with the knock came the voice she hated the most.

How she wanted to tell the owner of the voice to just piss off, but aware of her reality, Eri knew she couldn’t.

“..come in.”

With her permission, the door opened—a man and two woman entered the room. They frowned to the room’s dusty interior.

""

“The half-blood’s room is just as dirty as her.”

“You’re being shameless, Callion. Aren’t you the one who instructed the maids to specifically not clean this room?”

“But my words do hold some truth. Even after accompanying a Hero on his glorious adventures, the fithly will remain filthy.”

Duke’s eldest daughter, Marilyn Oler, and second daughter, Jerina Oler, grinned at the words of the eldest son, Callion Oler.

They held an arrogantly contemptuous attitude, but Eri was not affected in the least.

Not because she was used to it, but she had been through worse at Lorian’s party.

“Right. I’m dirty that’s why my room is dirty too. So if you have nothing further to say, why don’t you all just get out of my room, my clean brother and sisters?”

“Hey, we came all the way here to meet you and this is with what you greet us? With this?”

To Marilyn’s jeer, Eri snorted.

“Then why did my so clean brother and sisters came here?”

“Ohh? Your way of conversation has improved a bit. Good, your way of speech to us is more courteous than before. Honestly, it’s quite a surprise~!”

“Just get to the point.”

Eri interjected, tired of taking anymore bullsh!t from them. Callion, who had a smirk on his face, erased his smile.

“How brazen of you to come back with a straight face, isn’t it?”

“..I didn’t come back. We are staying for a while until Behemoth subjugation.”

“I hope that’s true. No one in our family wants a dirty rat to stay and pollute our house.”

“Dirty rat..? You’re crossing the boundary by all means, huh?”

Eri grabbed her wand she had left beside the bed.

She had no intention of harming them. No matter how abhorrent they were, they shared same blood, and above all else, letting herself flow into her impulsions will only lead to bad results.

She just wanted to kick them out of her room with light wind magic.

She started chanting in her head.

It was not a difficult spell, so the chant duration was just five seconds.

“Hero Cloud and Hero Lorian. You have been switching back and forth between the two heroes, isn’t that a trait of a dirty colour-changing rat?”

She flinched.

Her body trembled slightly. Concentration was lost and the wind spell chant was nullified.

Magic incantation requires a high level of concentration. So a mage must be capable of keeping their mind in a stable state. Eri was an excellent one, so she had never faced a similar problem.

But until this instance.

Because what Callion was referring to was—her betrayal.

“Look at her, fortunately she seems to be conscious. I’m glad the half-blood of our family isn’t a totally shameless human.”

Confirming that it worked, Callion continued his spiel with a smirk.

“Ever since childhood, you have always wanted to be recognized by others. Others thought it was the eccentricity of a genius, but the family knew the real reason.”

Eri opened her eyes wide.

As if asking if that was true.

“Did you think we wouldn’t even notice those obvious actions? When you showed behaviors that seemed to clearly shout, ‘Please look at me.’ Members of the Oler family are not stupid.”

“So you know why? Then tell me. Why do I want to be recognized?”

“Isn’t that because you want to be accepted as a member of the Oler family? A real member, not half.”

“So you all know very well!”

Eri raised her staff and pointed it at Callion’s neck. The indigo crystal at the tip of her wand began to glow.

“Why! So why?! Even if it’s half, the blood flowing in my veins is all the same! You could have accepted me as a part of the family!”

“Because you’re a monster.”

Despite Eri’s unexpected behaviour, Callion didn’t even wiggle an eyebrow.

He smirked.

“Mo-Monster!?”

“Yeah. When you were eight years old, your magical talent blossomed, and you were admitted to the mage tower. However, after two years, you returned back to the family. I was left wondering. Your talent is so huge, that’s why they even accepted you, so why were you kicked out of the tower? I sent a letter to the tower to resolve the question, and it wasn’t long before I was able to find out why.”

He let out a smirk.

“You achieved quite a great track record, didn’t you? It’s understandable that you were kicked out from the mage tower, where competition is the motto.”

“..”

“It’s been the same in recent times. You were at Hero Cloud’s party, but then you hopped into Hero Lorian’s party at will. Because his party’s better. It’s more capable of making your name known to the whole world.”

“..”

“But now you’re back to Hero Cloud’s party. And that was at the same time when the unbelievable rumors of him unilaterally assaulting Hero Gis came in. In a sense, you’re great. You’re the one who changed teams twice.. No, your other team members beat you at that. Still—you are but a dirty rat.”