Adopting Disaster

"I finished all my homework!"

Rosaria, who finished all her homework, immediately closed the book.

"Meowmoew, I finished all my homework today!"

-Meow.

"It's 2:30 now, and we eat dinner at 6:00, so the remaining time until dinner is..."

She counted on her fingers.

Meowmoew watched her struggle with his round, shiny eyes.

After finishing her calculations, she finally announced the answer.

"I have 4 hours and a half left!"

-Meow!

Rosaria puffed out her chest proudly, and Meowmoew nodded in agreement.

"It's not 4 hours, but 3 hours."

Orphe, the water spirit who had been quietly watching from behind, poured cold water on the excited atmosphere.

"Is it 3 hours?"

"Yes, how can you not do such basic arithmetic properly?"

"Math is hard."

Rosaria looked at her fingers with a pouting expression.

"Anyway, I'm going to make a strategy map until then!"

Unlike her peers, Rosaria had a strong sense of adventure.

She had a deeper sense of adventure for the unknown than boys who mainly read adventure stories to grow strong.

However, her adventures always took place within the tower.

To go outside, she had to accompany Phoebe, and there were limited places she could go.

So, she looked for places to have adventures within the tower.

"By the way, Dad said he brought something, right?"

The tower was small, and rumors spread quickly.

"What did he bring? Do you know, Meowmoew?"

-Meow.

Meowmoew shook his head.

After a moment of hesitation, Rosaria made a rough guess.

"Considering he didn't tell anyone, it must be the Hero's Sword!"

She couldn't actually tell what it was.

Rosaria decided it was the Hero's Sword, thinking that it would be more fun if it were an adventure to find it.

She began to create a strategy map with the Hero's Sword and colored pencils.

Orphe looked down at Rosaria and said,

"Isn't it time for kids your age to stop drawing like that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about kids your age. If you're the child of a magician, you should be practicing magic circles or copying spells instead of doodling like this. If you don't hone your magic skills, you'll regret it later."

That was actually true.

Even if they were a little playful, it was a time when they were undergoing intense magic education through early education.

Compared to other noble magician's children, Rosaria was far behind, as she didn't do anything other than the homework Dolores gave her.

In fact, Reed didn't prefer that kind of education.

He preferred a self-directed learning method that nurtured love and allowed her to know what she wanted to do.

Rosaria was annoyed by the words Orphe was saying.

"Orphe, you sometimes say difficult things. And mean things too. That's why I don't like it."

"Hmm......"

Rosaria turned away, sulking.

Orphe sighed with a troubled expression.

'Good words are usually bitter...'

In fact, Orphe, the high-ranking water spirit, was actually Orneptos, the king of water spirits.

However, she had to hide his identity through a contract with Reed.

She was faithfully fulfilling Reed's contract.

Orphe tried to please Rosaria in her own way.

She swallowed her pride, but it didn't yield great results.

She believed that she should guide her on the right path to become a good magician.

Orneptos found it strange that Rosaria did not understand her.

Usually, she would have slept again inside Yggdrasil until another contractor appeared.

'In order to open a new age of water, this child's power is essential. I have to do whatever it takes for that.'

With that determination, Orphe stayed by Rosaria's side.

However, it was not easy to change the habits maintained over thousands of years.

That's why a close relationship with Rosaria was still far away.

"Little one."

While Rosaria was humming and singing, Orphe asked.

"Yes?"

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

What would she like to be in the future?

Rosaria spoke as if she had thought it all through.

"Rosaria wants to go on adventures!"

"Adventures?"

"Yeah! Like heroes, defeating evil! Eating delicious things! And I want to try holding a cool sword."

"Aren't you a magician? Why would you need to hold a sword?"

"Isn't there... maybe?"

"You're so careless."

"It will be! Definitely!"

Rosaria insisted with a determined look in her eyes.

Orphe pondered over Rosaria's dream.

'An adventure?'

When observing talented humans, there was one common point: they all preferred adventures.

Even when they were well-prepared, they threw themselves into unexpected situations and faced life-or-death moments.

As a spirit king, or even as a spirit, she couldn't understand the psychology of humans.

"Alright! The strategy map is all done!"

Rosaria looked down at the map with a proud face.

Orphe also looked at the map that Rosaria had struggled to make for about 30 minutes.

It was extremely crude.

So much so that he couldn't think of any sarcastic words to say.

"Rosaria's Hero Squad, assemble!"

Although it seemed like there would be more, the three of them were all there was.

"The invincible fire dragon that burns fiercely, Meowmoew!"

-Meow~

"The reliable shield, the invincible knight, Lucy!"

Rosaria swung Lucy's arm threateningly as she lifted it up.

"And the invincible great magician and hero, Rosaria! Together, we are Rosaria's Hero Squad!"

"Am I not included in that foolish plan?"

Rosaria turned her head at the casually thrown question.

"Orphe, are you going to join our Hero Squad too?"

"Um......"

Orphe hesitated.

Should he go along with such a childish act?

He would have refused originally, but he needed to make up for the bad impression he had given Rosaria so far.

So, he decided to go along with it this time.

"Alright."

"Great! Then Orphe's nickname is the Picky Water Fairy!"

"…Why am I not invincible?"

Orphe was a high-pride spirit.

It was a childish act, but he felt upset when he was treated differently.

"To become invincible, you need to go through an evaluation. It's only possible after going through a tower master conference. The evaluation always takes three months!"

"You're picky about unnecessary things."

She didn't even know about the holy sword, but it took three months to give a title.

Orphe just let it go.

Rosaria carefully opened the door and crouched down to move.

"We have to move stealthily for this mission! If we're discovered by the enemy, we'll become hostages."

"Understood."

"Shhh!"

"……."

Rosaria, who was crouching down, carefully put her body on the elevator.

Their destination was the floor below.

She always took the elevator, but she enjoyed this adventure with a serious face.

"We've arrived at the treasure storage!"

The place Rosaria arrived at was a storage room for items.

Moreover, they were the personal belongings of the tower master.

Since most of the items were used for projects, anyone with access to the research facility could access them.

That included Rosaria.

She carefully opened the door and went inside.

The dark storage room where sunlight couldn't enter.

Although the room would brighten up if she turned on the switch, Rosaria didn't touch it.

Instead, she used the light emitted by Meowmoew, a fire spirit, like a torch to navigate through the storage room.

Rosaria was excited, as it felt like a real adventure had begun.

"Here, we're going to find the Hero's Sword."