“Awoo (Here we go again).”

With a twitch at the corner of her eye, she leaped out of Jikuhir’s arms. The little puppy, already used to this kind of scene, let out a bored yawn. Its “mom,” the jealous Dragon Sovereign, had started targeting any woman who got close to “dad” again.

“It’s just a bottle of jam. Do you really have to be that stingy?” Yuna shot back, her chest swaying as she spoke. “Besides, I was asking little brother Xiao Xi, not you. Why are you butting in, shorty? Right, little brother Xiao Xi?”

Deliberately provocative, Yuna grabbed Cang Xiaoxi’s arm and pulled it toward the not-to-be-seen area of her body. She was very obviously seducing an innocent boy.

“You damn cow, let go of my Xi’er! That lump of fat of yours will make my Xi’er lose sleep! And I’m not a shorty, I’m an adult! You brat!”

“Oh? Really?” Yuna raised a brow in disdain. “Looks to me like your flat chest is what makes little brother Xiao Xi uncomfortable. Otherwise, how come I haven’t seen him get close to you even once these past few days? Seems like... every single time, you were the one forcing the closeness.”

“That’s because...” The strongest Dragon Sovereign was actually getting roasted speechless by a human. Choking on her words, she still roared under the pride of a woman who absolutely couldn’t lose, “Who says that? My Xi’er is very close with me. Xi’er, say it, right? Hm? Right? Hurry up and say it’s right!”

She urgently shook Cang Xiaoxi’s arm, her voice sweet and trembling, almost on the verge of tears as she begged him to give her some face.

—Honestly, this is kind of annoying.

“Here. This is the jam. Mr. Woods and I still need to discuss the mission, so we’ll head over there first.”

He tossed a bottle of jam to the slightly smug Yuna. Cang Xiaoxi kept up his usual style. He had no interest in getting involved in arguments between women.

Feeling Jikuhir’s nakedly resentful gaze stabbing into his back, Cang Xiaoxi went off to the side with Woods.

“I know this might be a little late to ask, but... is this really okay? I mean, over there.”

Halfway through confirming the mission, Woods awkwardly glanced at the two women still puffing out their chests and trading commercial-grade compliments.

“It’s fine. Women like bickering. It’s nothing serious.” Cang Xiaoxi tilted his gaze aside, shrugged, and waved a hand without caring. “Compared to that, there’s something I don’t quite understand, Mr. Woods. Why is the client’s identity listed as unknown?”

“That counts as nothing serious... You’ve really got a big heart for someone your age.”

Woods’ mouth twitched.

Thinking back on his time with the boy, the other party really didn’t act like a normal kid his age.

To be honest, he was way too mature.

Is he really only ten? Why does he feel steadier than me?

“I’m not too clear on the identity issue either.” For who knew which matter, Woods shook his head helplessly. “But it’s not that big a deal. This kind of thing happens sometimes. For example, important people from certain countries, or nobles traveling incognito. They don’t want to make a big scene, so they hide their identities and hire adventurers as guards like this.”

“I see... that does make sense...”

Cang Xiaoxi rested his chin on his hand and thought deeply.

If there was nothing wrong with what Woods said, then in other words, the client’s real identity was very likely some high-ranking figure of a nation. If that was the case...

He tugged down the hood on his head, the one that covered half his face, and muttered inwardly.

—Better be extra careful no matter what...

Temporarily parting from Woods, he pulled along Jikuhir, who had by now completely lost any trace of a Dragon Sovereign’s dignity.

With the adorable puppy bouncing around at their feet, they also began sorting their luggage inside the carriage they had rented for the trip.

Until the voices of a man and a woman drifted over, sounding noisy, yet not quite like an argument, and gradually became clear...

...

“Good little sister, sweet little sister, just listen to your brother this once. Leave this trip to pay respects to Mother to me, alright? You stay in the palace like a good girl, okay?” Wearing ordinary commoner clothes with a longsword at his waist, Mia, the Second Prince, smiled ingratiatingly as he tried to persuade his irritable younger sister.

“No! If someone’s staying in the palace, then Mia-gege can stay there by himself.” Giving him no face at all, little princess Lia, also dressed in plain commoner clothes and wearing a hood, pouted and turned her head away. “I can’t miss Mother’s once-a-year memorial. Absolutely not!”

“It’s not that, my dear sister. The world’s been unstable lately. I’m worried something might happen to you, so—”

“I’m not listening, I’m not listening. Mia-gege is the worst. If you keep trying to stop Lia, then Lia will ignore you forever.”

“How can you do this...”

The siscon big brother had once again fallen at the feet of his adorable little sister today.

Bickering all the way—or rather, carrying out their own uniquely affectionate sibling exchange—they arrived at the place where they had agreed to meet the hired adventurers.

Tomorrow would be the death anniversary of their mother, the late Imperial Consort Aisha.

Because official duties kept them busy, the two of them were acting as the representatives for this visit to honor their mother.

Since their royal status was far too conspicuous, and because Lia had previously been kidnapped, they had to keep things as low-key as possible. That was why they had hired Woods and his adventurer party.

“Hello. I’m the employer for this trip, Miye. You must be the adventurers responsible for guarding us, right?”

Using the alias he had prepared for going out, Prince Mia extended a hand to Woods, who had already been waiting there for some time.

As a side note, Lia’s alias was Liye. Very simple and easy to understand, right?

“Mr. Miye, hello. I’m Woods, a C-rank adventurer, and this is my teammate Yuna.” Returning the handshake, Woods introduced himself and his teammate, then pointed toward the carriage where Cang Xiaoxi and Jikuhir were. “There’s also a pair of E-rank adventurers. Since they happened to be leaving the city too, I invited them to join the escort. Of course, I can vouch for their skills, so there’s no need for you to worry, Mr. Miye.”

“I see... alright, understood. Then I’ll leave the escort to you from here on.”

—C-rank and E-rank, huh... If possible, I really would’ve preferred at least a B-rank team for this mission.

Because the request had been posted in a rush, all kinds of preparations were incomplete. As a result, all the B-rank and A-rank adventurers were currently out on other jobs, and Woods’ C-rank team was the highest-ranked one available in the entire Adventurers’ Guild right now.

If the guild hadn’t said Woods and the others were about to be promoted to B-rank, Mia honestly wouldn’t have wanted C-rank adventurers handling the escort.

Forget it. If something really does happen, it’s not like I can’t step in myself.

He touched the Imitation Holy Sword hanging at his waist as decoration. From beginning to end, the only one Mia intended to protect was his younger sister, Lia...

“Mm? Hm?! What is it, Li... ye? What are you looking at?”

He had originally wanted to look properly at his adorable little sister to show his resolve. But Lia looked distracted instead, narrowing her eyes as she stared at the carriage where Cang Xiaoxi and the others were.

“Is there something over there?” Mia followed her gaze and asked.

“No, nothing.” Lia said, “It’s just... I feel strangely concerned about that place. It’s like there’s a familiar aura there.”

“A familiar aura?” Mia nodded thoughtfully. “If Liye says so, then there’s probably nothing wrong with that.”

After all, their family had inherited not only the bloodline of the First Saint, but also the First Saint’s unique techniques.

Unlike using magic power to sense the strength of a person’s rank, aura perception in ancient martial arts was one of the secret arts they had inherited.

Remember how little princess Lia once knocked an enemy unconscious with one fragrant kick? That was the power contained in martial arts, a system completely different from magic.

By controlling the aura within her body, she could make her strength erupt in a short burst and defeat an enemy in a single strike.

Among all her siblings, Lia had mastered it the best. Despite her young age, she was already close to earning the title of martial arts master.

For those reasons, Mia continued speaking to Woods.

“Could we meet the other two adventurers? We’ll be traveling together for quite a while, so it’d be good to get acquainted early.”

“Of course, no problem.”

Completely unaware of the danger hidden in that request, Woods ran toward the carriage, intending to call out their names.

Just as things were about to reach the point where their identities might be exposed, an “awoo~” rang out. A flash of silver shot by, and a fluffy little ball of fur with silver hair went whoosh! darting out of the carriage.

“Xiao Fen, what on earth is wrong with you? How could you scratch ‘Daddy’s’ face? Don’t you know your ‘Daddy’ makes a living with that face?”

Right after the fluffy furball—that is, the naughty Xiao Fen—jumped down from the carriage, an angry little loli followed after it, carrying out a “mother’s” duty of disciplining a misbehaving child.

Scratching Xi’er’s cute little face—something so enviable—even Xiao Fen wouldn’t be forgiven for that.

Chasing after the little puppy, she kept weaving back and forth, circling around Woods and the others again and again.

Round and round they went. The people in the middle got so dizzy that even standing still made their heads spin. None of them could figure out what this adorable duo was trying to pull.

In the chaos, the naughty little puppy even seized Lia’s skirt hem in its mouth and kept tugging downward, nearly exposing a girl’s hidden private area. The scene was utter mayhem.

“You naughty child, if you really scratch ‘Daddy’ badly enough to ruin his looks, then there won’t be any more Spirit Peaches for you in the future.” (whisper: Nice job. Good child.)

“Awoo~ (Nooo.)” (In a puppy-style flat tone: It was only my duty.)

After a stretch of chasing that caused a whole pile of trouble, the little puppy was finally caught by Jikuhir, who grabbed the back of its neck and lifted it up, then gave its fluffy little butt two smacks as a sort-of punishment.

“I’m truly very sorry. I apologize for causing everyone trouble.”

The little loli actress was online. Full of apology, Jikuhir bowed deeply to the four victims with her child in tow.

“It’s fine, it’s fine...” The employer, Mia, soothed Lia, who was ready to fight Xiao Fen to the death after nearly having her skirt pulled off, while sizing up Jikuhir from the corner of his eye. “You must be one of the other two adventurers, right? Th-that really is a lively little wolf pup you’re raising...”

“Yes, my Xiao Fen has always been very lively.” When the child gets praised for its performance, the parents naturally bask in the reflected glory too, even if this was glory of the negative kind. “By the way, little miss, is your butt okay? It didn’t get disfigured, right? I’m really so sorry. It’s all my fault for not keeping this child on a leash.”

Putting on a little-loli-style act of apology, Jikuhir reached a hand toward Lia with worry on her face.

“I-I’m fine... I’m okay...” Lia reached out and shook her hand back, her little face full of black lines.

“Hello, nice to meet you. I’m Cang Kuku, an adventurer already promised to one person for life. Very happy to meet you.”

“Hello. I’m Liye, just an ordinary girl... also someone already promised for life to the White Dragon Prince. Very happy to meet you.”

Beneath false smiles and a false handshake, one side still didn’t know the other’s identity. Yet in this lifetime, the two of them were destined to be tangled together in countless intersecting threads—sisters in another sense of the word.

This was the moment they first met...