My Daughters Are Regressors

༺ No One Knows What This Is! (6) ༻

“Today’s Sifnoi is busy…! Hence, will Master Judas be able to bring the little Kores home…?”

It was almost time for the end of school.

Sifnoi said she had business to attend to and wouldn’t be able to pick up the kids.

Come to think of it, Sifnoi seemed pretty busy lately.

“What’s got you occupied?”

At my question, Sifnoi let out a “Mwehehe–” with a rather suspicious expression. This brat is so audacious.

“What is it?”

“Did you know that since the days of old… nymph thieves have always been around…?”

“From Linknoi who stole Princess Zelda…to the shadow-thieving Peternoi….the world has many nymph thieves…!”

I see.

The only nymph I really know is Sifnoi so I wasn’t able to tell, but it seems that nymphs can be decent thieves, too.

So what about it?

As I wondered, Sifnoi continued her chatter.

“The assembly of nymph thieves is taking place in the Principality of Freesia…! It is an important event equivalent to the gathering of the Thief Lords…! This Sifnoi is qualified to attend for assisting in the Demon King Subjugation…!”

I see.

There must be a system of ‘Thief Lords’ for nymphs as well.

So basically, there’s an event at which nymph thieves like Sifnoi are getting together.

I couldn’t really imagine it, but it seemed very important to Sifnoi so I could only nod.

“Yeah, sure. I can pick up Naru and the others. Brigitte said they might need to go to the lab anyways.”

Being able to spend time with the kids was good for me, too.

With the experimentation with Elle Cladeco being in full swing, I hadn’t been able to see them all that much.

Was this how fathers felt when they would come home late after working hard and only got to see the children asleep?

If not, never mind.

Pondering such things, I headed towards the school gates.

Ding— Dong— Deng— Dong—

Not long after the end-of-school bell rang for the 1st graders—

“Waaa—!”

“Let’s play board games when we get home!”

The kids sprinted towards the school gates like ponies that found freedom.

Was I like that, too?

As I reminisced, someone waved at me from afar.

“Wow, holy shh…! Dad came to get Naru today instead of Sifnoi…!”

Naru must have found me amongst the other guardians waiting here at the gates.

I spotted her, too.

But it was fascinating.

How did she recognize me out of all these people, and how did I distinguish her from the similar-sized bunch of children?

I suddenly thought of penguins.

I had once seen a documentary on them, and even though they all looked similar to one another, the parents and babies found their own with no problem.

Maybe parents and children awaken some kind of instinctual ability to recognize one another—

Of course, that was bullshit.

“Dad! I am happy to see you…!”

Squeeze—

Naru hugged my leg and her enthusiasm was like a raccoon that met its friend.

“Did you have a good day without getting into trouble?”

I stroked Naru’s head as I asked her about her day.

Hina, who was watching, frowned.

Then she hugged my other leg.

“…Dad….”

With a child on each leg, I felt like a Christmas tree.

I patted Hina’s head, too.

Then, satisfied, they both detached from me.

“Cecily, do you want head pats, too?”

I asked Cecily who had been standing nearby, but she humphed and looked around.

“Did you bring a carriage? We need to get the facility beyond Freesia’s gates so surely you would have rented one?”

“No.”

Scrunch—

Cecily made a face.

“Are you expecting a young noble lady to walk under this blazing sun? A noble gentleman with class does not subject girls and ladies to long walks…!”

Was she put off by the long distance?

“I’ll give you a ride on my shoulders if your feet start hurting.”

“Hnnng, that offer isn’t good enough.”

“Then you can put me on your shoulders instead.”

“Absolutely not…!”

I see.

Anyway, we were about to head out.

Then I discovered Tywin at a distance walking alone as usual.

“Are you heading to the facility?”

“…….”

Whether she didn’t hear me or didn’t want to answer, Tywin looked away. But since she was going to the lab anyway, we ended up walking in the same direction.

* * *

“Look! Naru caught a ladybug! Naru likes butterflies but ladybugs are good, too!”

Swoosh—

Naru held out the ladybug she caught to show Tywin.

Freaking out, Tywin slapped Naru’s hand away.

Smack—

“Get it away!”

Vzzzz—

The ladybug flew away from Naru’s finger.

Is Tywin frightened of bugs?

“Uuu, the ladybug flew away. But there are lots of bugs because of the nice weather!”

Summer.

The season of insects.

“Another ladybug, a larva, and here’s a beetle. Bugs… bugsbugsbugs…! Bugs!”

Seeing all the bugs in the field after we passed the gates, Naru was crazy ecstatic. As her dad, I was a bit concerned.

But if I think about it, I also loved catching insects when I was younger.

To be honest, I still do.

To the point that my eyes are following the colorful-legged wolf spider over there.

It was a spider about the size of my hand, intelligent enough that thieves would raise them as pets.

━Kong— Kong—!

Fwooshh—

As if it noticed my stare, the spider went hiding in the grass.

Good instincts.

I was mourning the lost opportunity when Naru held out a golden beetle to show me.

“Oh, holy shh…! Look at this…! It’s a huge beetle! I’ll give it to Dad!”

Indeed.

━Zzzz Zzzz━

The beetle as big as Naru’s hand wriggled, caught by the back of its shell. The hard chitinous body sparkling brown seemed like it would be attractive to collectors.

“That’s awesome.”

─Thief Style, 「Trophy Scouter」!

I activated my self-proclaimed skill that could estimate the cost of any item 「Trophy Scouter」 to appraise Naru’s beetle.

「Sultan Rhino Beetle: Big and strong. Collectors who enjoy insect fights seek to get their hands on one.」

“Wow, it could sell for about 100 thousand arcs.”

100 thousand arcs was someone’s salary.

Amazing.

As I received the beetle from Naru, Hina, who had been watching, made a frustrated noise.

Then she started digging the ground nearby with her hand before finally discovering a large purple-shelled stag beetle.

“…Kaiser Stag Beetle….”

Kaching— Kaching—

It was an insect with powerful-looking pincers.

It would be a good match against the rhino beetle that Naru caught.

「Kaiser Stag Beetle: It can cut through anything with its powerful pincers. Along with the Sultan Rhino Beetle, they fight for territory every summer as rivals.」

Indeed.

Hina also found a good one.

I took the stag beetle and complimented her, “This is amazing,” which had her nodding in satisfaction.

“…It’s bigger… than Naru’s…!”

With that, Naru and Hina started a bug-catching contest.

Tywin, who was disgusted by bugs, muttered about it being childish, but Naru and Hina seemed to be having fun searching the grass and digging the ground even while sweating in this heat.

“Cecily, why don’t you go play with them?”

I asked Cecily who was watching with a parasol over her head.

Cecily let out a ‘hmph’.

“Insects aren’t noble creatures.”

Even as she said this, she kept glancing toward Naru and Hina which gave her away. Being my daughter, she would enjoy catching bugs, too.

“Then, I’m gonna go catch some so hold onto these guys.”

I held out the rhino and stag beetles to Cecily.

At that, Cecily snapped, “I’m holding this parasol. I don’t have any hands for them.”

That’s true.

“Then guess I’ll have to let them go, even if we caught them. Not really keen on tossing them, though, since they might be useful for the experiment.”

“Hmph, then it can’t be helped. Give them here. I, Cecily, am especially helping because of the experiment, not because I’m interested in the insects.”

Cecily folded her parasol and packed it nicely in her bag.

Then in each hand, she took the rhino and stag beetle.

“Take care of them.”

After that, I went around catching bugs with Naru and Hina.

When I sneaked a glance towards Cecily, she was holding the beetles against each other and watching them fight.

“… Hurry up and fight. Fight! Fairly…! Ah, fuck…! I mean to fight each other, not bite this Cecily’s hand…!”

I see.

Cecily was more interested in the fighting than the actual catching.

Watching a fair 1-on-1 match was a very noble interest.

As we made our way like that, the research facility started to show in the distance.

Time to stop playing.

“Naru found 10! More than Hina who caught 9! Naru wins!”

“… But, Hina’s is bigger…. Hina won in size….”

It was an even match.

Both of them looked at me as if I should decide the winner.

They must have competed like this a few times with one another in the future and I acted as the judge who would proclaim the victor.

“Naru caught more!”

“Hina’s… is bigger in size….”

Indeed.

They both had a point.

Then I should make a fair judgment.

“It’s a tie.”

“…….”

“…….”

At my verdict, Hina and Naru looked at each other.

I wondered how they would react, and then Naru held out a hand to Hina first.

“It was a good fight! Then next time, it’ll be fishing!”

“…Okay…. Naru, next time I’ll win….”

…Fishing.

With it being summer, it was the time for beaches, rivers, and creeks.

Come to think of it, weren’t Naru and Hina’s birthdays in August, the summer season?

“Birthday, huh….”

* * *

“Why are all of you so dirty? Don’t you know hygiene is most important within a lab? Hurry and go wash up. Cariote, can you help wash the kids?”

At Brigitte’s request, Cariote nodded and led the kids away.

Soon, Cecily spoke.

“Did you know that if a Kaiser Stag Beetle and Sultan Rhino Beetle fight, they will tie? I, Cecily, know this. The two are certainly equal—”

As the children all followed Cariote to get cleaned—

I spoke to Brigitte who was putting the beetles inside a container.

“When the experiment starts wrapping up, how about if we all go to a beach or lake together? The kids also have birthdays in the summer, so.”

“What’s this, Judas, you’re talking about going on an outing? Sure, why not? That is, if today’s experiment is successful.”

About an hour passed.

The kids showed up in the lab all nice and clean and dry with even their clothes laundered.

Then Naru, Cecily, and Hina got their bags that were stuffed full of what they collected and climbed the stairs installed next to the tank.

Zuuun—

The lid of the tank opened.

Hina spoke softly.

“Sugar….”

She dumped all the sugar in her hand into the tank.

Cecily, who had been watching, also dropped the spices she was holding into the tank.

“They’re herbs and Saffron, Ceylon tea leaves, and other such aged specimens.”

Sploosh— Sploosh—

Once the sugar and spices entered the tank, it became aromatic.

It was sweet and refreshing.

Swoosh—

With that aroma in her nose, Naru finally lifted her bag up high.

Then she flipped it and poured out all that was inside.

“And everything nice…!”¹Powerpuff Girls opening reference.

Sploosh— Sploosh— Sploosh—!

Not really things that I thought of as ingredients for a homunculus, but when Naru’s bag emptied, the inside of the tank started to churn.

Voooooom—!!!!

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  Powerpuff Girls opening reference.

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