Shadow Monarch: Heroines Could Hear My Thoughts?!

Chapter 09- Aria Silvereye (Part 1)

Holding his breath, Rin waited eagerly for his supposed big sister to reveal herself. For some reason, time seemed to have slowed down a little bit as he looked at her go down the carriage' steps.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, her face finally was visible to him and his eyes immediately widened.

His first thought wasn't whether she was a heroine or not but another completely different thing.

'Beautiful…'

Ignoring the fact that she could be his sister, Rin genuinely felt mesmerized by her beauty. He had the same reaction when he first met Elise before and this girl in front of him was very close to Elise's beauty if not comparable.

She was a tall woman, the fact that she was merely one head shorter than Rin made him even more amazed. Her figure was like an hourglass in every sense of the word. Big breasts that were tightly shut inside a shirt and a pair of legs that shined under the warm rays of the sun.

Her face was small, and cute yet also mature enough to make any man go insane. However, her most distinct feature by far is her red, long hair that looked like embers of fire dancing left and right as she walked closer to them. He had seen people with red hair before but hers was just at such a level where it was just straight-up red with no other color mixing in.

On her hip was a long sword that looked way too real to pass as a cosplay.

"Aria, honey!! You are finally back home!" Selina basically ran to Aria and enveloped her in a big hug.

The girl hugged her mother back and said with a warm yet calm voice.

"You are as clingy as ever, mother."

"You can't blame a mother for missing her daughter!!" Selina retorted with a pout.

The girl chuckled happily and tapped her mother's back. However, even when she was having this warm reunion with Selina, her eyes were fixed on Rin the whole time. The latter only became aware of this fact after waking up from his daze.

'Why is she looking at me like that? Wait, the most important thing now is that she's… not one of the heroines!! Yes! Fuck yes! I almost had a stroke from anxiousness.' He took a deep breath to calm down his heart.

The fact that this sister of his wasn't a heroine made him feel some hope in this situation.

'Ok, good. This is perfect. I can still be a mob character and not a villain. Thank, my big sister who I don't even know.' He thanked her in his heart.

However, much to his surprise, Aria's eyes squinted at him as if she wasn't sure of something. Her expression was really complicated and hard to understand. But, Rin instead felt as if someone was suffocating him and pressure started falling on his shoulders as if he was lifting heavyweights.

It was not the most horrible experience but it still made him shudder slightly.

'What?! Stop looking at me like that. I feel as if I'm going to get choked to death.'

Coincidentally, Aria averted her eyes immediately which took Rin aback.

But, he didn't have time to question this weird behavior of hers as Selina had already looked back at him.

"Aria, you must hear this. First, let's get inside. We can't speak at the front door, can we?"

"Yes, mother," Aria replied before walking to the door along with her.

"It's been a while… Rin." Her eyes didn't carry any notable emotions in them but Rin could swear he heard her emphasize his name a little at the end.

'Was it my imagination? Is she suspicious of me? Dammit, you are too mysterious.' He complained in his head before following them inside.

"It's good to see you… big sis…" He tried to keep it casual yet also not overly familiar since he didn't know how close they were in the first place.

'Let's keep this for now and see what she will do. I can't take any rash decisions before things turn south.'

The three reached the living room and sat down. The maid then came with a tray filled with teacups and sweets.

"I know the trip was long so I made your favorite sweets for you, sweety," Selina said.

Aria smiled slightly and picked up one of the sweets before taking a bite. Her face as she enjoyed the sweets was so captivating that it almost made Rin forget that he was about to face a mental war.

His instincts screamed 'that girl is no joke' and he totally believed that.

After that, she sipped some of the tea and enjoyed the lingering aftertaste of the bitter tea along with the sugary sweetness of the cookies.

"Mmm, I always appreciate your sweets, mother." She said.

"I will always do anything for my cute children."

"So, what did you want to tell me?"

"Oh my, how careless of me! Right, your brother… he lost his memories this morning." She said.

Aria immediately looked at Rin suspiciously. If she hid that suspicion previously, now it was as blatant as the sun in the sky.

'Shit, this is not good. Gotta keep the clueless front. Calm! Calm!'

"What do you mean he lost his memories?"

"He can't recall anyone from our family. I was really horrified that he must've been ill or something. Luckily, it's not anything bad." Selina touched her cheek and explained.

"I see… Can't you remember me, Rin?" Aria asked.

"No…" He replied.

'No, seriously, I don't know you. You are certainly not a heroine or maybe you're one of the hidden heroines. Anyways, My memories are as clean as my browser history.'

Aria's expression turned immediately from suspicion to outright weird. It was as if she didn't get what was going on or something like that.

"Mother… are you sure it's not some kind of magic spell or a curse?"

"No, I checked his body and there was nothing like that at all."

"I rely on you to take care of him, Aria. Rin really needs our help now more than ever."

"I get, mother. I will supervise him thoroughly."

'Out of all the possible words, you chose 'supervise'? Why, are you really still that suspicious? I swear I'm not lying.' He screamed in his head while keeping a calm front.

"Please take care of me… Mmm-"

"Just call me Aria…"

"Ok, Aria." He smiled warmly.

'I have to gain their trust if I want to have a peaceful life. They are my new family after all.'

After that, Rin excused himself to go back to his room to 'rest'. Obviously, that was not the case. The main reason for that is a weird notification from his system.

[New character appeared, Aria Silvereye.]

[You have gained 100 Action Points for meeting Aria Silvereye.]

'Huh? Is Aria related to the plot, system?' He asked in his head.

[Yes.]

'So she's a heroine?'

[Not every female character is a heroine, host.]

'You are actually right. I kinda sound like some kind of pervert now.'

[I will accept every variation of you, host.]

'Thank…you?'

Rin didn't expect that reply from the system.

But, he quickly shook his head and focused on the important matter.

'I didn't ask this before, but how do you count the action points? Is there some kind of rule?' He asked.

[It's a complicated process for me to explain to a normal human brain. Just know that the more important and significant the event that you did is the more points you get. Since Aria Silvereye is a very important character, that explains the high number of points you got.]

'Understood. Now, open menu.' He thought.

[System Menu!]

[Profile]

[Inventory]

[Quests]

[Map]

'I will check the points and stats later. Let's check the other things first. Open quests.'

The quest section opened accordingly. He was already growing accustomed to this system after using it a few times.

[Daily Quests.]

[Do 500 pushups. Reward: 10 Action Points.]

[Do a 50 Mile run. Reward: 10 Action Points.]

[Do 500 situps. Reward: 10 Action points.]

[Complete all the daily quests. Reward: 30 Action Points.]

[PS: Not finishing the daily quests will result in a punishment. Time Left: 15:25:36]

[Main Quests.]

[None.]

'What the hell is wrong with these daily quests? Do you think I'm a bald hero or something? Even he didn't make his daily training this extreme!'

[The system scanned your body and created a perfect training that fits your capabilities.]

'But, it's still going to be hell on earth. Besides, what is the punishment for not finishing it?'

[The host better lives not knowing that… for your sake.]

He never thought mere words could make him shudder in fear. But, he shook his head to erase these thoughts.

'I still have time before the end of the day. I can pull it off!'

After resolving himself, he went straight to work.

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