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A vacant lot away from the farm building.
It was the place that was mostly used for performing dimensional leap magic, and today, Andras was preparing the place to welcome the guests while tinkering with the magic circle.
I murmured, staring blankly at the figure.
“Huh… Are they really coming?”
“I still can’t believe it. I never dreamt that Sihyeon would be choosing the successor of the Barbatos family….”
“What the hell is going on? No matter how much they owe to Senior, I can’t believe they left the most important affair of the family to an outsider.”
“I know…right?”
I nodded automatically at the words of Lia and Alfred.
I told the Barbatos family several times that it was too much, but they said it was okay and proceeded without hesitation.
Time flew by like that, and eventually, the day for the Successor candidates to arrive came.
“Sihhyeon! I’m done checking. I think the guests will arrive soon.”
As soon as Andras finished speaking, heavy waves of mana flowed through the vacant lot.
Before, I used to be very amazed by it, but now I’m so used to it that it didn’t feel strange.
– Woo! Woo!
– FLASH
As the light flashed on the empty vacant lot, human figures began to appear one after another.
As I frowned for a moment because of the bright light, an urgent step was heard from the front.
-DASH!
-HUG!
I felt a heavy feeling on my legs.
When I looked down, I found two children clinging to my legs.
As soon as I saw the children’s light pink hair, I thought of a similar situation in the past.
“Ray, Shasha!!?”
– Nod.
– Nod.
The children looked up at me and nodded.
I lowered my posture to meet the eye level of the children.
Both children were a little older than when I met them at the swearing-in ceremony.
Of course, their expressionless face and their unique atmosphere remained the same.
“Long time no see, guys. How have you both been?”
“I missed you…”
“Umu… I missed you…”
I smiled softly when they said they missed me.
I patted the two children’s heads slowly.
I was glad to meet the twins, but soon, questions popped into my mind.
‘Why are the kids here…?’
“Ray, Shasha. Why are you here?”
The twins answered my question with their eyes twinkling.
“Lord told us to go.”
“Umu, we listen to the lord.”
Huh? Don’t tell me… were the twins also candidates for succession.
While confused by the unexpected situation, other people’s footsteps were heard behind the twins.
I slowly rose up as the shadows fell in front of me.
I saw three Demons before my eyes.
A male and a female Demon dressed in fine clothes, and a female Demon, who was dressed as a maid.
The three of them in the front bowed their heads one after another.
“I greet Lord Cardis. My name is Crosel Lenik Barbatos.”
“I greet Lord Cardis. I’m Amy Rundg Barbatos.”
The male Demon, who introduced himself as Crosel was tall with red hair, red pupils, and had a stiff expression on his face.
Even though the color of his hair was red, it was a bit lighter than Lia’s red hair.
Next to him, the female Demon named Amy, was small, had pink hair similar to the twins, and wore a large round glass.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lim Sihyeon, I’m appointed as the Lord of Cardis estate.”
Starting with me, farm members introduced themselves one after another.
While greeting each other in a slightly stiff atmosphere, Amy’s eyes sparkled.
“Vice-chief, you were here?”
“Uh, yes. I didn’t know Miss Amy would be here.”
“I’m definitely qualified to be a successor.”
Andras and Amy talked naturally to each other.
I looked at Andras with a slight look of surprise.
Then he scratched his head and explained his relationship with her.
“Miss Amy here is one of the members of the Germour Wizardry. She’s a very talented wizard.”
“Oh… I see”
The female Demon named Amy seemed to belong to the place where Andras was the Vice-chief.
After the brief greeting, I couldn’t keep the guests outside, so I led them to the farm building.
“……”
There was a heavy silence in the sitting room.
Crosel and Amy kept their mouths shut, savoring the tea that Lia had prepared, and I was also at a loss of words, so I just gave snacks to the twins next to me.
In the end, Andras, who couldn’t stand the silence, opened his mouth first to open the door for a conversation.
“Hmm. Sihyeon, can I speak?”
I nodded quickly and thanked Andras with my eyes.
He nodded slightly and turned to the two quiet guests.
“Prince Crosel, and Miss Amy. First of all, do you know why you’re here?”
“Of course. To be judged by Lord Cardis on who’ll be a suitable Successor.”
“That’s what I heard from the Lord.”
“I heard that Lord Barbatos entrusted Sihyeon with the full power to choose his successor. Are you both okay with that?”
Andras asked a question that might be sensitive.
But surprisingly, the two answered calmly.
“The selection of Successor is the authority of the Lord. If that’s what the lord has decided, I’ll just follow it.”
“To be honest, I thought it was a little strange. It’s about leaving the family’s major affair to an outsider. But as brother Crosel said, the power of the Lord is absolute. Of course, I don’t intend to disobey the Lord.”
“Hmm… Thank you for answering frankly.”
Andras seemed a little surprised since they were more honest than he expected.
I was very surprised that the two seemed to accept the current situation without resistance.
After finishing the question, Andras gave me a sneak glance and stepped back.
Perhaps he wants to leave the rest to me.
I sighed softly and opened my mouth.
“I’m sorry that you two have to come here, but to be honest, I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’ve been forced to do this by the Lord. So first of all, the two qualified Successor candidates…”
While I was talking, the twins next to me pulled my arm at the same time.
They looked very dissatisfied.
I belatedly realized what the twins were trying to say, and then revised my words.
“Hmmm. First of all, the four Successor candidates…”
Hearing my corrected words, Ray and Shasha nodded in satisfaction.
“Could you stay on the farm as guests for a while? I’ll talk to you again when I’m ready.”
“All right, my lord.”
“I’ll do that, my Lord.”
Fortunately, the two quickly accepted my opinion.
After taking a breather, I asked Lia to guide them to their respective rooms.
Crosel and Amy followed Lia with their luggage, while the female maid Demon followed behind with the twin’s luggage.
As soon as they walked out of the sitting room, I sighed loudly.
“Phew…”
Andras said to me with a bitter smile.
“It certainly seems difficult.”
“I know. To be honest, I thought they’d be dissatisfied with this situation. I didn’t expect them to accept it so easily….”
“Senior, what are you going to do?”
I shook my head at Alfred’s question.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know anything about aristocrats, but all of a sudden I have to choose a successor to an aristocrat family……!”
“Cheer up, Sihyeon. If it’s Sihyeon, I think you’ll be able to find the solution somehow.”
“Thank you, Lia.”
I thanked Lia’s support with a weak smile.
“Here.”
“Umu…  Here.”
The twins pushed something out to me from both sides.
There had a snack in their hands.
They seemed to want to comfort me.
I smirked and ate the snacks given by the twins one after another.
“Thank you, guys.”
As I stroked their head with gratitude, a faint smile hung on the children’s faces.
Looking at it, I felt like my complicated head was getting cleared for a moment.
Days passed since the Successor candidates arrived at the farm.
Regardless of the presence of guests, the daily life of the farm was no different from usual.
If there was anything different, the number of people at the dining table has increased.
Of course, it wasn’t like they didn’t do anything on the farm.
In Amy’s case, she followed Andras and as she got used to the farm, she helped Andras’ work. She did the inspection of the barriers on the farm and even helped build a new storage room in the strawberry field.
Crosel followed Alfred around and helped him with the farm work. Sometimes he followed me around and helped me with my work.
Contrary to the first impression of having a stiff expression and a pompous look, Crosel did everything in silence.
“He is doing a better job than I thought, way better than Elaine when he came?”
“What, what do you mean by that, senior?! I did a lot better.”
“Did you?”
“Look, senior. I’ll prove how good I am at my job!”
There was no problem except for Alfred’s occasional burning competitiveness.
The twins also followed me around and insisted on helping me.
“We’ll help, too…”
“Umu… Lord said we should work hard…”
The twins sparkled their half-closed eyes and showed their will to work.
The figure was so cute that it made me smile, but I couldn’t make the twins do the hard farm work. So instead…
– Poo Woo wooo!
– Biip! Biip!
– Biip!
“Hahahaha! Hurry up and run away.”
The twins were entrusted with playing with the baby Yakums and Griffins along with Speranza.
Just watching the baby beasts and the children running in the meadow warmed my heart.
In particular, Speranza took care of the young siblings who she met after a long time.
Wherever they went, she walked around holding their hands tightly and offered her favorite snacks to the twins.
Looking at the twins playing to their heart’s content, I could feel that there was no thought about being Successors in their heads.
Rather, it seemed more convincing that they came to the farm using the Successor candidate as an excuse.
While watching the kids running around, I felt someone’s presence behind me.
When I turned my head, an unexpected person was looking at me.
“Huh…? Miss Amy?”
Amy, who usually followed only Andras, approached me for the first time.
She hesitated and wiggled her hand and opened her mouth with difficulty.
“Lord Cardis… you’re very close to Vice-chief Andras, aren’t you?”
“Well… I think so, why?”
“I’ve heard a lot about you from him. He talks about you very often.”
“Is that so? Haha, I hope he isn’t badmouthing me.”
I smiled embarrassingly at Amy’s story about Andras, which I heard for the first time.
On the other hand, Amy, who had a serious look on her face, said solemnly as if she had decided on something.
“Lord Cardis!”
“Yes?”
“Can you tell me how you got close to Vice-chief?”