After ordering my way too late to be called breakfast, it didn't actually take too long for it to arrive. 10 minutes at max had passed, and I could already see the waitress from earlier coming towards our table… but the size of the plate she was holding was actually pretty worrisome.
"Here you go, Cael. Eat up while it's still warm, and let me know if you want seconds!"
"…okay."
What the actual fuck is this?!
The plate was worryingly large! No, this wasn't much short from straight up being a tray of food… does she actually expect me to eat all of this?! I looked at Maia and Luna, pleading with answers with my eyes only as my mouth didn't dare to say it out loud.
"Don't worry too much Cael."
"Yeah… Layra has wanted to meet you for a while now, not to mention you're an Ashford."
I assume that the Layra Luna was talking about the waitress in question, so I looked over at her next.
"Oh, my… was it now enough?!"
"…no, it's… plenty."
She let out a sigh of relief, which frankly speaking only made me feel worse at that point, so without a further due I started digging in.
"I have to make sure the young lord is fed up properly, it's my duty as an Ashford servant descendant. Though it was my grandma who cooked it, not me haha."
The food was actually extremely good. I couldn't deny that, but even then there was still something bothering me, and this time I didn't actually waste any time to stop munching and politely express it.
"I'm sorry, but could you drop the young lord? We don't really have any authority anymore, not to mention that even if we do regain it, I have no intention of becoming the heir…"
She looked at me with a stunned expression for a few moments, then looked at Maia and Luna in that order and all 3 of them then shared the same smile which I couldn't really understand the reason or meaning behind.
"I see… so it really is like how they told me. You really have no interest in the status your family lineage would give you even if you regained it."
"Frankly speaking, yeah. I couldn't care less about being a nobleman. The minimum adventurer registration age is 10 if I'm not mistaken, right? I'm just waiting to get there now."
"Ah, that reminded me. Your parents also became adventurers after the fall of the Ashford estate. Contrary to their former status, they were actually fairly famous adventurers, you know?"
"Is that so?"
I looked at Maia to confirm wherever Layra was right or not.
"Cael, you remember those piles of monster cadavers I burned a while back, no?"
"Yeah, dad, mom and Aldric are the ones who killed them, right?"
As if I had just told a joke and she was trying not to laugh because of it, she started chuckling, covering her mouth with her hand for a few moments before composing herself again.
"Huh? What's so funny?"
"Haha, my bad, my bad. I'll Be frank with it. Cael, most of those were taken out by dad alone. Mom can't really fight on her own, she's a supporter due to her high rank healing magic and enhancing. And Aldric was most likely also supporting dad from the back."
Wait, what? Most of those monsters were killed by that on his own?!
I was too stunned to speak back right away, but she continued.
"And though I'm not sure if you even noticed it, the barrier… it actually reduced all the stats of any human inside it by 50%. That included me of course. But that's not the point. Before you ask how I can tell they were mostly taken out by dad, the answer is simple."
She paused for a few moments, as if trying to let me figure it out myself, but it wasn't going anywhere. With a sly grin, she then continued.
"About 90% of them only had lethal sword slashes on them. The rest ranged from arrows or magic. But for the most part, dad is 100% the one who killed them."
At that moment, I dropped my fork which ended up falling on the ground. Layra sighed as if disappointed in the fact that Maia was talking about something as grotesque as that at the table, but she didn't seem surprised so I assume she already knew the details, or at least where Maia was going with it, the same went for Luna. But that aside, something didn't add up. While they weren't necessarily strong monsters, they were probably close to 1000. In this world Adventurers aren't supposed to be that strong. For that matter, I don't really remember the full scale but weren't S rank adventurers supposed to be like 100 times weaker than the average singular sentinel recruit? And not to mention the 50% reduction in all of his stats… just how strong is dad?
"It's pretty easy to tell what he's thinking about… just keep going at this point, Maia. You've already told him this much. Might as well finish it."
"You do have a point. Alright then."
She agreed to Luna's comment before turning to face me once again.
"I'm sure you're probably thinking something along the lines of "even if dad was an S rank, shouldn't they be substantially weaker compared even to just the average recruit of the sentinels?", and frankly speaking you're half right. The general strength comparisons in the continent are made comparing individuals or groups to the sentinels, because they are the official "military" institution of the continent. But that doesn't mean that there aren't exceptions."
"… I'm not really following you."
"Putting it simply. Just because someone isn't a sentinel recruit or whatever, it doesn't mean they are automatically weak. I'll go straight to the point in Dad's case. Making an estimate, at his peak, dad is around the same level as a high end Sentinel recruit. And yes, the recruits themselves also have some kind of ranking within them which I don't bother explaining, but frankly speaking dad is far from weak. It would take about 5-10 high end recruits to take care of a mature Wyvern, but perhaps dad would be able to do it on his own…"
Once again, I was genuinely too stunned to speak. Layra had returned with my new fork, and I did start to eat again, but I couldn't think of anything to say about what I just heard. We're we really thinking about the same person here? The same clingy father that clearly has a soft side for Maia? The same old man that mom bosses around? It just didn't make any sense.
"Well, continuing with the exception route explanation. Keeping it as real as possible, there are many individuals who are as strong as the recruits. And we do know about a few that are as strong as high end captains even. For example, each semi human race in their kingdom is divided in tribes of their own, albeit they do still have an overall monarchical system and a king. Each tribe leader can be anywhere between a low end to a mid and sometimes high end captain level. And you'd be surprised by how many strong monsters actually are around. So don't just take the sentinel comparisons for granted. Take them for a grain of salt for anyone other than… the commander and her lieutenant. Which will be me by the way. ♡"
Maia's comment at the end about herself this time at the very least lessened the overall impact of the info dump she just released, and I was actually able to talk back this time.
"Alright, alright. We get it, oh mighty prodigy of the Ashford household!"
"Haha, I do appreciate it, but Cael… you're really underestimating the Ashford household, huh?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you really think I'm the only special one?"
Oh… now that she puts it this way. I might've been underestimating us because of my inability to use magic and what seemed like an astronomical difference in talent between Maia and everyone else. But looking back at what she just said, I couldn't bring myself to say "yes, I do" which would've been my answer to the same question before hearing what she just said earlier.
"Even mom is an exceptionally talented individual, you know? Even though she's not a fighter, she's still extremely good at enchanting people or objects. She's probably a mid-end high tier in those fields. Her healing is also great. Of course, she can't fully heal people's entire bodies with it like I did with you and the rest of the survivors, but as I said, soon I'm gonna become the commander's lieutenant, so don't compare anything I do with anyone for that matter."
"When it's being put this way, yeah… I see your point. Even if it's not in fighting strength alone, thinking about it the Ashford genes are definitely high tier. But on one end, that reassures me."
All 3 of them looked at me with a curious expression, and it was painfully obvious that they were waiting for me to elaborate, so that's what I did.
"I already knew that both Nala and Rune were smart kids, but having the fact that our entire family is usually high tiers by default shoved down my throat like this makes me glad and reassured. I feel guilty about the fact that even if we do regain our status, I won't become the heir, but I have no intention of giving up my dreams for it either. So the heir will be either one of the twins. I'm glad to know that they are most definitely capable enough for it…"
They looked at each other, baffled because of my explanation. This was fairly embarrassing to say out loud. I was pretty much declaring out loud to be dumping my responsibilities on my younger siblings to become an adventurer then saying that I'm guilty about it but won't change my mind… I probably sound like a terrible brother and a hypocrite, don't I?
"You really care about them, don't you?"
Layra was the one to break the silence among the 3 of them. But it wasn't what I expected to hear… was she actually slow in the head? I don't recall saying anything that portrayed love towards them, it very much sounded like I was just dumping my responsibilities on them and not caring about it.
"No need to be so surprised haha. In our kingdom at least, although not as common, women can be household heirs and rule them, but the Eldest Ashford is soon to become the sentinel's commander's lieutenant. To begin with, in a sense you're getting forced to take the responsibilities on yourself by Maia, as the eldest male which is the next in line by default in this case."
"Hey, why am I suddenly the bad guy here?!"
"She's right though. Regardless If it was your intention or not, you're pretty much dumping the heir position on Cael."
"I mean… but that wasn't my intention, just to make it clear!"
Maia waved her hand while trying to defend herself against Luna's follow up to Layra's explanation, but that aside, I was actually still not just shocked but also confused how they weren't blaming me. But luckily, picking up where Layra ended, continued their shared opinion.
"As you can clearly see, this idiot didn't think about your position in the matter, not even once. Albeit probably because she already knew about your plans to become an adventurer, but the main point stands. You're already way better than your sister by default because you're thinking about the twin's feelings on the matter, while simply rejecting some responsibilities that were dumped on you without your consent on the matter. Well, making it short, you're definitely a better older sibling than Maia."
I appreciated the positive view on the matter defending my situation, but rather than reassurance, what I felt at the moment was amusement. Almost as if she had fully turned into a sad puppy, Maia was looking as if she had just gotten scolded by her owner, which resulted in both Layra and Luna hugging and comforting her.
"It's fine Maia, it's fine."
"That's right, you're a terrible older sister but you're still a good person."
"…"
She snorted, kinda looking like a kid that was just consoled instead this time, but unironically calmed down because of it, going back to normal a few moments later.
After that, I was finally able to keep eating my meal in relative peace as I excluded myself from their conversations, and focused on nourishing my body with the delicious food that was in front of me. Being reminded that the Ashford genes shouldn't be underestimated aside, I was genuinely glad to actually be proven wrong about my view on myself as a brother towards the twins. Perhaps I was being a bit too harsh on myself, although I won't be calling myself a great brother or anything like that, at the very least, it seems like I'm actually a decent older brother.