I'm very sorry for the delay on this, I have little excuse.
I won't promise much from here on out, but I'll try to set things straight in some way.
Peace.
If most forgot, after Silver went with Lili to the Dungeon, Hestia found Emma bleeding in an alley, this led to a series of problems that caused Hestia to go and try to call Silver through a Magic item.
After healing Emma, he is now going to resolve all of her problems immediately because he doesn't really want to stretch this any further.
Silver is somewhat upset there was such an event so close to his house, so he needs to figure out the intentions of those going after Emma who he has already determined to be connected to her sister.
While also resolving all of Emma's worries since she is now part of their familia
And he just burst through the walls of her house, causing a commotion pretty much.
As for Emma's situation itself, long ago, she left her home due to something.
Years later, Emma left to go after her.
That's about it.
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/Sip…/
'Not long after their bombastic meeting...'
'In the middle of the training room, Emma, Silver, and her sister, the purple-haired girl sat around a table, small teacups in front of them, still releasing faint steam from the heat of the tea inside.'
/Awkward.../
'However, despite how warm this may seem to those further away, the atmosphere was extremely tense.'
'At least, for the two sisters.'
'One felt uncomfortable due to the presence of all mercenaries around her, their expressions fierce and their eyes open wide...'
'She also didn't know where to start, what should she say? She had finally found her sister, yet no words came from her mouth...'
'But in that regard, it was a feeling shared by both.'
/Gulp.../
'As for the sister, she felt pressured by the man next to her, the one drinking tea without a care in the world.'
'This action could be taken in many ways, as for her, it was a sign of confidence, as his strength was currently at the top of adventurers.'
'If at any moment he wished, no one would come out alive of this room.'
'It was a grim way of looking at things, but it was the unfiltered reality.'
'She swallowed dry, feeling the intense "aura" of the man, even though there was nothing there and it was all her own imagination.'
'Silver himself had no such intentions, as he prepared this tea and table on the fly just because he wanted to.'
'He felt it would make things simpler by making them a bit closer, but he was very much wrong.'
/Thud/
'He placed his teacup on the table, looking at the purple-haired girl.'
We won't go anywhere gazing at each other like this.
The younger sister is too inept at talking... Well... I wouldn't say inept as she was quite sociable back in the Manor.
It's more like... She isn't good at acting in such socially awkward situations, because if it's acting under pressure, she managed to survive and escape just fine.
Even if there was some luck involved.
The shock of seeing her sister should also be rather high, so her words got stuck and her brain went blank...
As for the older sister... She's worse.
She's immensely stiff.
I feel as if she's not used to this sort of scenario, just what did she go through to not even be able to talk openly amidst some tea?
Well... This isn't some normal tea party anyway...
"There is something I should apologize for first." Silver said as he looked at the elder sister
"I would like to apologize for bursting through your wall..."
"But you see, we weren't exactly given good vibes about you all, after the people you sent after her… At the doorstep of my home." Silver said heavily as he looked at her sweat slowly
'There was a bit of dissatisfaction in his tone, and the girl noticed it immediately, fusing the words inside her mind as she came up with an adequate response.'
"I… Please, accept my apologies also." She said as she dropped her head
"We... I never wished to problem anyone else with my own personal problems... Though I admit that it was my own stubbornness that caused this mess to begin with."
Had I just accepted a meeting with her from the moment I knew she was in the city, nothing like this would've happened.
But my greatest fear was fueling her determination, Emma is already a strong-willed girl, if I were to appear in front of her and tell her to leave, she wouldn't accept.
And now, my worst fears became reality as everything I didn't want to happen cascaded in front of me one after the other...
Of all Familias she could've joined, it had to be this one...
Is it for the better? Or...
'Her expression was one of conflict, but her feelings were as genuine as they could be.'
'After hearing Silver be the first to apologize, she understood that he wasn't as stiff and authoritative as she imagined him to be, and this prompted her to follow.'
'The feelings she held in her chest under her cold mask.'
"Sister…" Emma said with a saddened expression
What happened to you after all these years?...
You weren't like this, why is your face so heavy?
Does the past still pull you down? Please, don't be so heavy on them...
'Sometimes, forgiving others is the first step into freeing oneself...'
'And indeed, her sister's face looked heavy, her eyes deep, who knew what she had experienced in the years ever since she left her hometown?'
'But how could she not?'
'How could she maintain a straight face upon witnessing the dark age of Orario with her own eyes?'
'She knew of the brutality that hid within the shadows of this city, and she wanted her sister to have nothing with it.'
'Yet, here she was... With a blessing on her back... And a troublemaker besides her.'
"This… Was never supposed to happen like this… I only wanted to scare you."
"..."
'She didn't quite know what exactly had happened to Emma in particular since the Scouts that hurt her were still trapped within the Hestia Familia.'
'But from their expression, she could tell something rather serious had happened, and she wanted to apologize because her sole plan had always been to push her out.'
'And nothing more.'
'So she looked at Emma.'
"Emma, return to the Village."
I may have failed once but that doesn't mean I won't try again.
"Orario isn't a place for you, return and stay within the peace…"
'But Emma shook her head.'
"Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't…"
"Our home… It isn't the same as it used to be." She said with great disappointment and sadness
"Not long after you left, the truth was revealed to father, and he immediately bolted outside, trying to follow you, but by then, it had already been days since you left."
"Some tried to go after you, but they all returned empty-handed."
I wonder how things would've been if they had been a bit faster...
How would your expression be now? Happiness? Sadness?...
Or something completely different?
"Me and mother were forced to stop him for many days on end until he calmed down..."
"But that didn't help much in the grand scheme of things."
"After… What happened… Father's and Mother's relationship hasn't been the same."
"For not trusting you, his own kin, Mother blamed Father for your departure, and he, more than her, blamed himself as well."
"No matter how much he apologized, it wouldn't matter if he couldn't forgive himself, though this wouldn't happen if you weren't there."
"I… Don't blame him, not anymore." Her sister said as she shook her head
He may have turned his back on me, but father was always a serious man, a side I very much inherited from him.
He will always punish those that commit evil, even if those are his family.
It was just that... He jumped a bit too far, too quickly, forgetting what truly mattered as he lost sight of his own goals.
"That day, I was angry, and I felt betrayed too, but after I left, after the many hardships I experienced, I realized that was all meaningless."
'As she said that, she looked at the guards, and they all nodded, leaving the room quickly as they weren't helping by staying still near them.'
"I imagine you came here to have me come back and forgive him, right?" She said with some disappointment
"No! I wanted to know how you were too!"
"..."
'She smiled slightly.'
"Silly girl, I couldn't be any better."
/Silence…/
'Looking at them both as they exchanged a silent gaze that contained 1000 words within, Silver thought about the source of their problem...'
'And if it was even alright for him to be there.'
'If he was here or outside, he could protect Emma just the same...'
'Either way, Four to Five years ago, they were a happy family of 4 living in one of the many villages surrounding Orario, around one month's journey from it.'
'However, one day, a big merchant was making his way to Orario, and he stopped by their village to rest.'
'It wasn't anything unusual, travelers couldn't arrive at Orario within a day and they couldn't always camp on the side of the road.'
'That was why many villages had their own Inns and establishments to accommodate these travelers, with many being taken as reference points in their journey.'
'Most of their interactions went well, sometimes cultures and languages would clash, but nothing outside of the Ordinary.'
'As travelers usually preferred to not cause too much trouble near Orario.'
'But this merchant was an arrogant man, one that considered himself as a ruler of the lands…'
'With great wealth and influence in the lands he hailed from, he wanted to go to Orario to hit it big, not really understanding why the city was called the center of the world.'
'He felt that his Level 2 and 1 Knights were enough for him to be proud of, a force strong enough to thwart most in the lands far North.'
'Their Village had only been one of the many places he stopped by as he made his way South.'
'It was unknown why, but Upon seeing Emma's sister, a gorgeous girl in the prime of her youth, a switch seemed to have been turned as he became infatuated with her, trying everything to get her attention and love.'
'But obviously, she refused.'
'She had her own goals, her own aspirations, she felt no desire in being tied down to a merchant that never proved anything to her and only desired her for her external appearance.'
'Most importantly, she could tell his internal emotions were as dirty as his ego was high, so she felt it wouldn't end well to associate herself with such a man.'
'So what happened after… Was obvious.'
'Ohh... Such a classic tale...'
'And they say women are a Heroes' downfall… They weren't wrong, but neither were they right too.'
'Upon being refused, he tried to get his hands on her by baiting her with a large reward for defeating one of his knights, which she did with some difficulty.'
'She desired wealth too, she was a young lady with big dreams at the time, and she was confident in her own abilities more than anything.'
'She was as ignorant as the man in some aspects...'
'On the day he was supposed to reward her, he arranged a dinner with her in secret without alerting others, and when she noticed her food had been drugged, she tried to flee, only to be held by him.'
'But she was stronger than that.'
'Upon being brought to his home, she freed herself from his clutches, accidentally dropping an oil lantern on the ground.'
'A great fire soon raged, claiming the lives of many servants of the Merchant as they tried to calm the fire.'
'She survived by jumping from the window, hurting her ankle as she fled in the shadow of the night.'
'Enraged, the Merchant affirmed she had attacked him, aiming his vast wealth by claiming his' and his servants' lives.'
'An almost obvious lie, but to ignorant Villagers, was it so clear?'
'And due to the way he portrayed himself to others, most believed him.'
'Because compared to him, Emma's sister had always been silent and not as sociable as the others, and a troublemaker at heart.'
'Her strength didn't come from anywhere, from a young age, she sought adventures around the Village, fighting passersby and small monsters that strayed too far from their habitats, making them easy prey.'
'She believed people would side with her, but her expectations were too high…'
'As even her father turned his back on her, blinded by greed and self-righteousness as the merchant promised things too grand for him to comprehend.'
'Much to the alarm of his wife and daughters…'
'In the end, in the dead of the night following this event, she fled from the Village once more, without even saying goodbye...'
'Not long after, the merchant that had lost his backbone with most of his Knights being either injured or dead due to his own carelessness was exposed by the Villagers as they gathered witnesses, beating him up before sending him to Orario to serve his life in jail.'
'Albeit that never happened, since merchants possess power and connections, he easily fred himself long ago...'
'Although thankfully, perhaps it was his fate, upon freeing himself from his sentence, he met his end at the hands of a Wyvern in the Beol Mountains North of Orario.'
'His corpse was never found… But his belongings were.'
'Still that was the only good thing that happened after her departure, from there, it only went downhill.'
'Devasted by the news of his daughter's disappearance and the fact he had betrayed her and his family's trust, Emma's father collapsed mentally, never being the same since that day.'
'He never got his reward for siding with the merchant, and he also lost his family, it was truly sad.'
'Even though he seemed to be extremely apologetic of his actions, to the point even Emma forgave him for what he did, as long as her sister never came back, it may be safe to say things would never be the same…'
'No, they would never be.'
'Even if her mother was willing to give him another try, it may be already too late.'
'That was why she came after her sister because she didn't want to stay there any longer, as it pained her more than anything...'
'By following the signs she left behind and the most obvious path she would've made given her condition, she made her way to Orario.'
'Fueled by a dreamy desire to have her family together and happy again, Emma followed the faint traces of her sister.'
'And eventually, she was found by her, who then tried to have her go back.'
'The rest is history.'
"I'm glad… That you're okay." Emma said as she rubbed her eyes
"Many times I thought the worst might've befallen you… That you might've… But that's in the past now."
"But sister, I'm afraid I can't follow through with your request."
"Now… It's too late." She said as she smiled helplessly
"What do you mean… Ahh… I see."
'The girl looked at Silver with a clear expression.'
"Fate... Sure is bizarre." She said in a deep tone
"... You protected her once… Would it be too much for me to ask you to do so again?"
"..."
'Silver smiled.'
"Until she can walk with her own two feet, I'll be here for her, you don't have to worry about that."
That's my promise as the Captain of the Hestia Familia to all with her blessing.
'Emma smiled too.'
'Seeing that things had somewhat taken a turn for the better, Silver pressed:'
"It's a bit late, but I don't think I've introduced myself yet."
"Not that you need it… We all know your name." Emma's sister said as she exhaled lightly
"I'll do it either way, it's standard procedure after all."
"Then I'll go first, Sophia Flores, Leader of the Ward Family's Guards, Level 2 adventurer."
"... Mellios Silver, Captain of the Hestia Familia, Level 4 adventurer."
Ward Family? I know these people.
Aren't they a massive Family that runs one of the big banks within Orario?
They run mostly loan businesses, which is quite in high demand when you have so many adventurers wanting to buy High-quality gear.
To stand at the top, you have to know who to loan to, as adventurers have a good tendency to… Die.
And within Orario, a dept only extends to its holder, and in the case of death, in most scenarios, it won't pass to the family of the debtor.
Or so it should… Many disregard this law and still go after them, but that's illegal.
Well well, this is interesting, didn't spect this small time task to get me a connection to the Ward family.
Not that I needed it, but it's rather interesting…
Then… This Manor must be their property?... Oops.
'Albeit Silver wasn't afraid of the family, he didn't want to make them an enemy either.'
'If they wanted to, the Ward Family could bury them… In money.'
'And like many times before, he couldn't care about his own skin anymore, he had others to look out for.'
'He couldn't go around making more enemies that had the potential to just ignore him and go after everyone else.'
"E-Emma Flores, n-novice adventurer of the Hestia Familia… Level 1 adventurer…" Emma said hurriedly after hearing Silver talk
""...""
'Silver and Sophia stared at the embarrassed Emma.'
"Why did you say your name?" Sophia asked
"I thought… It would fit…"
"... Ha…"
This girl didn't change at all.
'Letting out a small laugh, she turned to Silver again.'
"In any case… It's a pleasure meeting you."
"Now… I think you two deserve an explanation for what happened, and if possible… Could I have my subordinates back?"
"That can be done, they'll be back in one piece before midnight." Silver replied with a smile
"..."
I'm sorry everyone… Hopefully, you all weren't beaten… Too much…
'Having both of their gazes on her, Sophia quickly went through her story…'
…
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Notes
This is pretty much it, the last chapter before another time skip.
I think I will post the first chapter of this time skip later, and then take the next week off to properly settle some things like making more chapters.
I'm way behind my schedule.
That was all from me, peace.