“Excuse me, are you lost, perhaps?” I knew it was a silly question, but I didn’t immediately recognize the woman who had appeared inside my apartment.

She was a pretty woman, who was wearing an expensive-looking dress and had her hair made up. Her look fit in the apartment far better than mine. When she turned around and saw her face, the familiarity started to grow. She was a Japanese woman with dark eyes and dark hair. Her skin was very pale and flawless, and her face possessed an ageless quality to it.

“You’re quite bold for not recognizing me, especially after manhandling me so aggressively.” She spoke with a sharp look on her face.

Of course, I hadn’t encountered so many Japanese women that I wasn’t able to place her after a few seconds of shock. The first time I had met her had been an extreme circumstance and I only saw her for a moment. However, Mizuki had already stated that her mother was Japanese, and since she was able to get into my apartment, she had to be someone with the ability to do so, and the Mizuki family qualified.

“Mrs. Mizuki…” I let out a breath. “Why are you here?”

“You made quite the impression.” She responded. “You fought through a dozen of my guards, men hand-selected from retired special forces. You then stormed into my daughter’s room, took advantage of me, and then molested my daughter in front of me.”

“That was an accident!” I started, but when she raised an eyebrow, I coughed slightly. “The… um… with you…”

“Husband sought to make you pay a little for that stunt earlier…” She spoke casually, ignoring my weak apology. “However, to pay, you have to have something first, and he was a bit surprised to find that the only thing you had was a little bit of help from my daughter.”

“I never asked for your daughter’s help,” I responded. “She insisted on helping.”

The elegant lady tilted her head. “Yes, Kurumi has stated as much. Husband wouldn’t use his daughter in such a manner either way. He’d be much more likely to use your family.”

I took a step forward. “He better not touch my family!”

I realized that I had shouted that, and also had pulled out the blade from my inventory. It was Anweil’s Blade. I didn’t have it on though, so the saber just looked like a normal Saber to anyone else. Of course, it did appear out of thin air. Mrs. Mizuki’s eyes widened when she saw the blade. Feeling slightly embarrassed, I made it disappear, first putting it behind me so that she didn’t see it dissipate.

“No wonder you were able to dispatch my guards so easily.” She finally found her voice. “I wonder if you’d protect other women so vehemently… for example… this Kiera.”

My eyes shot up, but I managed to resist launching forward again.

I could only speak with clenched teeth. “Leave her out of this.”

She looked me up and down for a second, and then let out a little laugh. “You’re far too worked up, Daniel Miller. “Are you not even going to offer a guest a drink?”

“I don’t…” I followed her eyes to see that there was a complete drink bar in my living room.

I wasn’t even of age yet, but it was fully stocked with booze. No wonder Lily was amused when I made a big deal of going to the club. I let out a sigh and walked over to the bar, pouring something very simple, and without alcohol. She seemed amused that I just poured some ginger ale with ice, but she still took the glass I handed her and sipped it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“My daughter’s cancer was starting to get worse.” She declared. “She has been on chemotherapy through three rounds. They failed, and we only brought her here because there was a promise of an experimental treatment. When that fell through, Kurumi suddenly refused to leave. My husband believed that she had given up fighting it, but he couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to live the last few months of her life at home with her mother. That’s why he sent me here. Imagine our surprise when we found out why she was so reluctant to leave. Can you guess why?”

I took a sip of my ginger ale, making a bitter face. “I can imagine.”

She had seen me miraculously cure a room full of sick children, and even temporarily force her sickness into recession. She thought I could cure her, and the rest was history.

“She had met a boy.” Mrs. Mizuki spoke in a biting tone. “She wanted to stay here to stay near him. How ridiculous.”

“I agree…”

That wasn’t the truth, but I wasn’t going to tell her I could cure cancer either.

Mrs. Mizuki gave me a sharp look, sipped the rest of her glass, and then put it down. “Yesterday, the doctor confirmed that her cancer has inexplicably gone into remission. Every tumor in her body seemed to disappear overnight. He says he hasn’t seen anything like it in his entire life.”

“S-strange…” I responded, doing my best to keep my expression straight.

Her expression turned harder. “My daughter seems to think you have something to do with it.”

I stiffened. “I-is that what she said?”

“No…” Her expression turned more bitter. “However, when she thinks no one is looking, she smiles to herself and hums.”

“I don’t… think I understand…” I made a face.

“She’s happy… and I haven’t seen her happy since she was a baby… she has been in pain for so long.”

“I’m sorry? I’m glad she’s no longer in pain?”

She leaned closer, her expression serious. “You don’t understand… she was smiling and humming to herself before her cancer went away, while she was still in pain.”

“Huh?”

“Tsk…” Mrs. Mizuki stood strait. “You’re as clueless as her father! Well, it’s not like I dislike clueless men. They are just harder to train.”

“Ma’am?” I blinked.

I was starting to feel like we weren’t even having the same conversation anymore. Did Mizuki tell her that I gave her a cancer pill or not?

“You’re a dangerous man.” Mrs. Mizuki declared. “My husband wanted to keep his daughter away from dangerous men, but now you came along and he doesn’t know what to do. He’s afraid if he keeps you apart, it’ll only make her chase you harder. That’s why I felt I needed to get involved.”

“I guess I understand.”

I didn’t understand, but she rolled her eyes, seeming to understand my confusion.

“You’ll be attending a dinner with us the weekend after next.” She declared, walking to the door. “If you wish to continue a relationship with my daughter, this meeting is mandatory.”

“Then, I’ll come,” I responded.

“Good boy.” The slightest smile formed on her lips, the only one since the beginning of the conversation.

She turned and left through the front door. I filled up my glass of ginger ale and took another sip. This was only complicating things. If I wanted to continue my business venture with Mizuki, it looked like I needed to work through her parents. However, I didn’t have much of a choice at this point.

This was exactly the kind of thing I was trying to avoid when I refused to take Mizuki’s aid back then. I thought it’d eventually become something complicated like this. I let out a long sigh.

I didn’t dare refuse them though. With the Allco bearing their fangs, I might need Mizuki shortly. I wished it was as easy as in the movies. You could just instantly become rich and there would be no problem. For me, though, as soon as I show any evidence of upward movement, a hundred landmines are waiting to explode and throw me back into poverty, presuming I even survive them.

Feeling even more stressed than ever, I wandered into the bathroom. Seeing the large jacuzzi with bubbles, a small smile formed on my face. I filled it with hot water and a provided bubble bath, and then got out of my clothes and jumped in.

This was probably the first luxury I had allowed myself since I had started using World Travel. I sank into the tub and allowed the blowing jets to massage and warm my body. This was nice. Compared to fighting to the death in an underground laboratory or running from murder dragons, this was what the body was meant for. Allowing the good feelings to watch over me, I started to close my eyes…

Beep!

My eyes jerked open as I heard a loud and obnoxious sound.

“Master, it’s been two hours, it’s time to return to that place.”

I let out a groan. I had been in the tub for two hours and my fingers were a bit shriveled. With a sigh, I got out of the tub, dried myself, and got dressed. The night was still young, regrettably, and that was all the time I was going to get.