Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[Eon's POV: ]

"Young people surely worry too much about their children, huh?" Grandmother took a sip of her tea as she addressed the two young nobles sitting before her.
Enjoy new tales from empire

The natural air around her was filled with her authority, something that the two of them did not have despite their noble status.

They were pretty young to begin with, perhaps as young as uncle Theo and Aunt Haze, though, both surely weren't naive or fools.

"It was a mistake from our side, Lady Grizelda." Young lord Karl apologised with his head down, his light orange hair somehow complimenting the couch that coincidentally was of similar color.

"We acted impulsively when-."

"No! It wasn't his fault, my Lady!" His wife shouted and gave grandma a tense look.

"I was the one who forced him to look for the children."

'She really is serious about this, it seems.'

Lord Karl was a young man that though did not possess any unique talent for magic and weapons, he was someone with a mind as bright as uncle El.

He was praised for his intelligence and the many policies that he had created throughout his years.

He was also an academy graduate… though he was not a valedictorian, he was someone pretty famous for all the work he did in the field of energy beasts and wildlife preservation.

'Not only had he rescued many endangered species from faraway places and provided a special environment to them, he had also done extensive research on their behavior patterns, their lifestyles in different environments, as well as their evolutionary traits.'

He was one of the few scholars in the world who studied how creatures evolved from one being to another. And he had not limited himself only to the beings that had the ability to 'evolve' and did quite the research on the simpler energy beasts as well as non-Mana possessing beings.

On the other hand…

"Young lady, it doesn't matter if it was him or you who dragged your knight brigade as well as one of the few knight kings of this world to my land.

What matters here is the fact that you did it and even trespassed into restricted areas. And even if it was due to your children, it doesn't justify your actions."

Miss Lumina was one of the few High ranking tamers of the continent that had tamed many (Purple) ranked ferocious beasts.

She was also one of the few people in the world that had an Origin beast as her familiar despite not being a mage.

She did possess Aura, though she was barely at the level of a beginner when it came to using that power in combat as she mainly used it to calm the creatures down.

'Still, she was a famous figure that many high nobles and royalties depended on when they needed to tame any good beasts that they had managed to capture but could not tame.'

From time to time, she also rescued many creatures from the hands of the evil nobles who only obtained those beings for their own entertainment, so she was kind of a hero as well.

"You made a conscious choice even though you had the option to seek out the lords or the dedicated authorities and explain the urgency of your situation.

I am pretty confident about the services the associations here provide, and, given your status, you even had the option to seek a direct audience with Us.

But, you did not do that.

Instead of doing what you should have as the members of a prestigious household, you decided to take advantage of the forces that you have and infiltrate the dungeon island to save your children who, as I understand, were merely doing what You had asked of them."

The atmosphere suddenly got heavy as she said those things in a heavy tone.

'Haaa…'

We were in the living room with the entirety of our families being present here. Even Anna and the other children including the adventurer party that had come with us were present here with the two captains looking down with complicated feelings.

'They knew their turn would come soon, and that they would also have to face the Master of Heliox.'

They were preparing themselves for anything that they might have to go through since they were responsible for the lives of not just the five children of the Olsens, but also the two of us.

'They were worried that they would be punished by grandmother for dragging us into some unexpected danger with the Origin user that they had as the third captain, the person who became the cause of all our suffering in the dungeon, shouldering most of the blame.'

Since we had already explained to them what had happened in the dungeon and how we were faced with a trial that Rein and I somehow managed to clear after which, we were able to get out of that place, the others understood the gist of what had transpired there.

But, we still did not know why the young Olsen couple had sent their children into the maw of danger willingly, and appointing someone as careless as That person as the one to look after them also seemed like a reckless decision.

"Why did you want Your Children to go through such a dangerous experience in the first place?"

It was not just a question but also a criticism.

'For grandma and anyone in this family, the children were the most precious individuals that did not have to do pretty much anything if they did not want it.'

They never forced us to do anything that we should not. They guided us whenever we needed them and they showed us a path that was the best for us instead of pushing us into some kind of dungeon to figure out what our own powers were.

'For them, what we did or what we wanted to do in this life was entire up to us… they gave mom enough freedom to set up her own business independent from the family affairs and even allowed uncle El to become part of the academy despite it having complicated implications.'

They never asked Carla to use a sword or try learning magic or asked Alf to train his body beyond what he needed.

Even when it came to Anna, they simply wanted that child to live a fulfilling life even if she could not have a normal one given her unique situation.

And when it came to Zoe and me, they simply wanted us to be happy.

'They gave us freedom of choice and became the guiding light that lit up the best path… not the smoothest one without obstacles, but the best one that we wouldn't regret walking on.'

Since they loved us unconditionally, they could very well confine us for our own safety and make it so that we are pampered and spoiled. But, they did not do that.

From time to time, they scolded us for what we thought was right, they stopped us from doing foolish things, they did not ask us to do something that wasn't completely safe, and they asked us if we really wanted to do something despite the risks whenever we wanted to do those dangerous things.

'They did that because they cared for us, because they loved us.'

But what did this young Olsen couple do to their recently adopted, non-blood related children which they seemed to care about as much as their own children?

"You must have known how dangerous that place is since you appointed someone like Him to look after your children. I guess given the abilities that he has, he could have sneaked the children out of any dangerous situation.

However, I do not think he would have thought about the lives of the other party members in a dangerous situation, or in a situation where he believed he could save the children despite the challenges of whatever the 'trial' that they faced was."

We had a choice. And, if it was up to me alone, I would have chosen to go further and finish the dungeon.

That was what we would have done as the adventurers, but even if we were some normal children with the right to decide our next path, choosing an unknown path that obviously was dangerous would not have even been my last option.

"If you really did consider them your children, you would have nurtured them properly instead of pushing them through such an experience. To me, it simply seems like you two were conducting some kind of human experiment with these innocent children."

The eyes of both the Olsens sitting before her widened and the mother was just about to raise her voice to argue back against grandmother… when a voice came from behind the two of them.

"Great Lady of Heliox… it… it wasn't them who asked us to do this."

The middle child spoke up with shame splattered all over his face.

"It was our idea… we… we asked them if we could go to a dungeon… and even though they did not want it, we insisted, and they allowed us."

Now this was new information.

Not that it was going to matter to my grandmother.

"It is still the same, child.

They were the ones who allowed you to do something so crazy so even if it wasn't them who asked you to do it, they are equally responsible for allowing you to do something so utterly dumb."

Grandmother was not a strict person… she was a very strict person.

And with parents that did not understand what it meant to be a parent, as I've seen before, she was even stricter.