Is It Wrong to Explore the Dungeon Even Though I’m Overpowered? (Danmachi SI- WC) (Patreon)

Chapter 11: Rem

A sudden silence came over everyone as they digested what was said by the twins before it was broken by the sound of giggling.

“Fufufu, I guess we no longer have to think up of a proper nickname anymore for when you level up~”

Turning to the one responsible I was not surprised to find that it had been Lante who had once again managed to lighten the mood with her witty banter.

Sending a smile her way which was rewarded by a wink, I turned towards the twins again. “Rem, Ram could you please tell us what exactly you remember before you arrived here?” I asked with reassuring smile.

I observed silently as while Rem only nodded her head obediently, Ram also developed a small flush on her cheeks along with squirming slightly in her seat.

“Of course, Reinhard-sama.” They answered in unison.

“While under the employ of the Head Court Mage, we came under attack by the Archbishop of Greed.” Rem started with her face slightly contorting in hate when she mentioned the Archbishop.

“Unfortunately,” Ram continued with a similar look hate only this time directed at her own employer. “The Court Mage was not present at the time and we had to defend ourselves.”

“Even with a Great Spirit by our side and a half-elf competent in the spirit arts, it was not long before we were overwhelmed.”

“No matter what we did, nothing seemed to work.” Ram let out in a small sigh. “Magic, physical attacks and even the spirit arts proved useless against him.”

“It was as if all of our attacks never even hit him.” Rem continued lowering her head in frustration.

“Right when things seemed hopeless for me and Rem, we heard a voice in our head asking us if we wished to be saved in return for entering into a contract.” Ram now looked at me with a grateful look on her eyes.

“While I was wary at first, once the voice mentioned that Reinhard-sama was the one we would be forming a contract with, nee-sama persuaded me to agree.” Rem said blankly giving her sister all the credit.

“I knew that if it was Reinhard-sama the one holding the contract, then we had nothing to worry about.” Ram finished with a careless shrug before looking off to the side and muttering to herself. “Plus, this way we would also be out of that man’s reach and our lives would no longer be in his hands.”

“Everything then turned dark and we received some basic information regarding Reinhard-sama before we woke up here awaiting his return.”

“I see.” I nodded silently going over everything they said with everyone else staying quiet for now. ‘That about sums up what I thought, though that leaves the question if Roswaal knew the attack was happening or not with that book of his.’

“Just one last question if you don’t mind.” Receiving a nod from them I continued. “What information did that voice tell you about me?”

The twins looked at one another and had a silent conversation for a moment before they turned to me again with Ram taking the lead.

“That Reinhard-sama was not the one from our world and belonged to another timeline.”

“How he acquired new abilities and now goes around from world to world saving people and recruiting people to his cause.”

“How Reinhard-sama was reincarnated as a regular human and lived an ordinary life before he died and regained his memories when he made a contract with something called The Company.” Ram looked at me curiously when she said that but nonetheless stayed quiet and let her sister continue.

“And finally, how Reinhard-sama is currently weakened at the moment and how he was somehow able to save nee-sama and myself from certain death and bring us here to work under him.” Rem finished with her expression not really changing throughout our entire talk with the exception of when she talked about the Witch’s Cult.

“Thank you for sharing that with me you two.” I gave them a thankful smile while bowing my head. “First of all, let my start off by saying that I am beyond grateful that you accepted to come here even with so little information.”

In return all I got was a nod from the twins so I continued. “Next I would like to inform you what’s really in store for you before you decide to join us.”

That seemed to catch their attention as they tilted their head with a confused look on their faces.

“What do you mean Reinhard-sama?” Rem started.

“We thought we were already under your employ?” Ram finished.

“Technically you are but I would feel better hearing it from your own mouths than just accepting it as fact.” It was the least I could do in my current situation as Reinhard’s morals were shouting at me that this was the right thing to do.

‘Even with the Company already ensuring their compliance, I still want to hear it from them to make me feel better if nothing else.’ I thought keeping my emotions from spiking to not alert the others.

Thinking over my words for a minute Ram looked at me with a serious expression. “And what if we decided that we wanted out?”

“Then I would let you go and do my best to make sure that you live a comfortable life in this world.” I answered immediately taking both sisters by surprise by my quick response. “With your abilities it would not be very hard for you to find work and earn some money.”

While it would suck to lose these two as I came to really like them from the novel and anime, I would still let them go if that was their wish even if it lost me a couple of credits. This new life of mine looked to be a long one and I wanted to live it without regrets and accompanied by friends/lovers who truly appreciated me.

“Huhuhu yep~ That’s our Rein~”

“I expected nothing less.”

It seemed as if my words finally made everyone else who had stayed silent up until now speak up as they heaved praises my way making my cheeks turn red in embarrassment.

The sisters took a look around the room and at the expressions everyone was wearing as they praised me before turning my way again, this time both of them looking more relaxed now.

“It seems that just like I first thought, no matter what world or timeline, Reinhard-sama will always be Reinhard-sama.” Ram declared with a small grin on her face.

“If nee-sama thinks so then it must be true.” Rem, still hanging on to everything her sister said, only nodded in agreement.

“You flatter me, but I’m no one special really. Just someone really lucky.” I tried to dismiss only to be met with deadpans from everyone even the twins causing my embarrassment to grow.

“A-Anyways, getting back to what I was saying. If you decide to stay you will…”

Patiently I took the next few minutes explaining to the twins everything relevant about this world and what my current goals were.

I told them about the dungeon, Familias, the Divine, the races of the world and how other than helping me in the dungeon, we now had a mansion that would need the help of a pair of Maids.

Or Rem really when it came down to it as Ram was not very good at household duties to put it lightly.

The others chimed in from time to time helping me explain things to them before we finally finished with our explanation leaving the room in silence again.

Ram then looked at me seriously for a moment before a smile grew on her face. “It seems my hunch was not wrong after all in entering a contract with Reinhard-sama.”

“Nee-sama’s hunches are always correct in Rem’s eyes.” Rem didn’t even pay attention to me and instead praised her sister.

“Thank you, Rem.” Offering her sister a smile Ram got to her feet followed by her twin before they offered me a bow and said in unison.

“Once again, thank you for having us Reinhard-sama.”

“We’re glad to have you.” I gave my own bow in return causing Ram to slightly roll her eyes in amusement and taking a closer look around the room we were in.

“Now that you’ve decided to join us allow me to present you with a small gift that will make you just a bit stronger.” I spoke up with my shroud materializing behind me catching their attention.

“Oh, that’s that shroud thing you spoke about, right?” Ram asked curiously causing me to nod. “Go ahead, as I understand it everyone else already has this power.” She looked around at everyone who catching her meaning manifested their own shroud.

“At lest it’s not slimy.” I heard Rem mutter quietly to herself.

Deciding to pretend I didn’t hear that I willed my shroud to surround them and a moment later the process was done leaving the twins looking at their own shroud curiously.

“This is actually pretty handy.” Ram commented as she used her shroud to hold up the cup of tea, I had served everyone earlier before looking at me. “Well, at least I won’t have to tire myself too much if these can be used as extra hands.” Ram chimed in happily about not having to work as hard as before.

“Indeed. With this it should only take me an hour or two to complete my duties.” Rem spoke next already testing out her shroud by having it hold various things.

“On the matter of this dungeon and monster hunting, Rem is the one you want for that. As you may already know, without my horn I’m not as strong as I used to be.” Ram turned to her sister and gave her an encouraging look when she noticed how her aura slightly dimmed at the mention of her horn.

“About that…” I interrupted turning their attention my way again. “That should no longer be a problem. One of the abilities I received was the ability to heal anyone completely once the contract is agreed to so you should already have your horn back Ram.”

Blinking in confusion for a moment, my words finally registered in their mind as they widened their eyes in shock with Rem turning to her sister with a hopeful look on her face.

“W-what?” Ram stuttered out still out of it.

“In the future I should also be able to grant both of you two horns of your own so you no longer have to share a single pair between the both of you.” I continued dropping another bombshell on them.

“…WHAAT!?”

=====

(Minutes Later, Outside)

Wanting to make sure that I was telling the truth, the Oni twins had all but demanded I show them proof so I took them out into the island to an open field where we now found ourselves.

“Alright, this should be far enough away where you can go all out if you want without damaging our home.” I said to myself with a nod before turning to Ram who was standing beside me with her sister.

Taking that as her cue, Ram stepped far enough away from us before taking a deep breath and concentrating. A moment later a horn made out of pink light grew from the center of her forehead as she extended her hand forward.

“El Fura!” With a slash of her hand, she released a huge blade of wind that immediately decimated at least a few dozen trees in an instant leaving a path of destruction.

“I-It’s back. S-she, she r-really has it back.” The muttered voice of Rem came from my side and turning in her direction I saw that she seemed more emotional about the return of the horn than Ram herself.

‘Of course. All this time she has blamed herself for Ram losing her horn and even with Ram telling her otherwise, it’s been something that’s never left her thoughts.’ I thought understanding perfectly how she felt.

After all I (Reinhard) had plenty of things that weighed heavily on my mind even now, chief among them the whole deal with the Company and while I had somewhat gotten over feeling responsible for the death of grandmother (Theresia), I understood what Rem was feeling.

“It’s alright now Rem. You no longer have to feel responsible for holding your sister back.” I muttered in a reassuring tone as I gently laid my hand on her shoulder causing her to slightly jerk in place before looking up at me with teary eyes.

“R-Reinhard-sama?”

Giving her an understanding smile I gently, to make sure that I didn’t overstep any bounds, moved my hand up to her soft blue hair and patted her head. “As you just saw with your own eyes Rem, your sister has her horn back and soon enough I’ll make it so both of you have a pair of horns each so please don’t put yourself down anymore and smile more.”

Shaking her head free from my arm, Rem looked up at me with a glare that was slightly ruined by the tears running down her face.

“Don’t talk as if you know anything about me! While I am beyond grateful to you for saving nee-sama and myself, you know nothing about us so don’t pretend like you do!” Rem exclaimed angrily surprising the others around us.

Without looking back, I raised my hand signaling everyone to let me handle this along with sending them feelings of reassurance to keep them calm once I noticed some of them looking ready to step in.

Rem didn’t even notice my gesture and continued to pour her heart out unaware that we now had an audience. Talking about how she was always a burden to her sister and how it was her fault that her horn was broken in the first place. About how she was a horrible sister for feeling happiness for a moment when Ram’s horn was cut off and how it would be better if she was never born in the first place.

Throughout all of this I just stood silently in place letting her vent her grievances patiently with a gentle smile on my face.

Ram who had immediately taken notice of the commotion, was now standing a bit away from her sister with a sad look on her face directed at her twin all the while throwing me glances every now and then wanting to see how I would handle this.

When Rem finally seemed to run out of steam and was now panting after that emotional moment, I opened my mouth again.

“You’re right Rem.” I began much to her confusion but continued nonetheless. “I don’t know the first thing about you or your sister, not really.” I mean can you really claim to know someone by watching them from behind a screen or reading a few lines of text?

Of course not. Even my memories as Reinhard didn’t reveal much about the twins other than knowing that they were under the Emilia Camp.

“Then-”

I raised my hand politely to interrupt her when Rem looked ready to speak again and gave her a thankful smile when she let me continue.

“While I know nothing about you two, I do know the feeling of being responsible for hurting a family member.” I muttered softly memories of grandmother (Theresia) resurfacing into my thoughts and how I had been forced to put down a puppet wearing her face in front of my father and grandfather.

Seeing that I had her attention I continued. “When I was just five years old, I gained the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint and inadvertently killed my grandmother.” I revealed softly hearing a few gasps coming from behind me but ignored them for now.

“W-what?” Looking shocked, Rem looked up at me with wide eyes.

“You see, at the time my grandmother was tasked with leading the Great Conquest against the White Whale where she ultimately met her end when the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint left her and transferred to me.” I kept the fact that it was actually Pandora the one responsible for her death for now since it had no real importance in my story.

“B-but that had nothing to do with you! You were only a child at the time and couldn’t possibly have known that was going to happen.” Rem exclaimed in my defense to my slight surprise.

Raising an eyebrow knowingly at her, she slightly flushed when she caught my meaning.

A moment later I shook my head and let out a sigh dismissing those memories and focused my attention on Rem again who I noticed was no longer crying and was listening closely to what I had to say.

“Irregardless if it was my fault or not, the fact is that grandmother lost the Divine Protection that I gained and died. Whether she would have lived or not if that never happened is unknown and has no meaning to those living in the here and now.”

“Perhaps you’re right and Ram would have been better off if you were never born or if she never lost her horn but that is just something that we don’t know.” My words seemed to hit home as Rem’s eyes dimmed in sadness as she looked down hiding her face from everyone.

Seeing and hearing Ram let out a quiet snarl at what I said and at seeing her sister make such a face I continued talking less I incur the wrath of the other twin too.

“What’s important Rem,” I once again lowered my hand and placed it on her head thankful that she didn’t immediately pull away. “Is that both of you are still alive right now and love each other so please stop worrying about the things you can’t control and focus on those you can.”

Blinking up at me cutely Rem tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“That night your village was attacked you couldn’t do anything to help, right?” I was immediately met with a nod. “Then let’s become strong Rem.” I declared with a confident grin.

“So strong that no one will ever be able to threaten or take away those precious to us. Strong enough where we are able to smile and laugh without a care in the world with our loved ones.” Seeing her eyes take on a slight shine to them at my impassioned speech I continued with the words just naturally spilling out of my mouth.

With our new connection in place, it was impossible for Rem to not feel my raw emotions as I spoke and know for a fact that I was speaking from the heart. Perhaps that had been the reason she had opened up in the first place at feeling a connection so much like the one she shared with her sister only so much stronger and rawer.

“While I may be considered strong, I’m still an idiot and at the end of the day I’m only one person so I need someone trustworthy to watch my back. There’s a saying I learned in my past life, ‘Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.’” I recited a quote from memory I remembered learning upon my thousands of hours browsing the internet.

“So, what do you say Rem?” Removing my hand from her head now I extended my hand forward for a handshake all the while looking at the blue-haired maid with a big grin on my face. “Will you help this idiot carve out a piece of happiness for ourselves where we are able to enjoy life with those precious to us?”

“…”

At my question Rem lowered her head to the ground again seemingly thinking over what I said leaving my hand hanging in the air. Then just when I thought that she would decline, I felt a small pair of hands grab onto my own with a tight grip as Rem let out a few giggles all the while sniffling before finally raising her head and meeting my gaze.

“I don’t think that you’re an idiot Reinhard-kun.” Rem graced me with a smile so beautiful that the very sun reflected off her face taking my breath away. “But yes, let us get stronger together~”

‘And I thought that whole ‘love at first sight’ thing was a bunch of nonsense. Shows how much of a fool I still am.’