After eating our breakfast (some just a tad faster than others), Issei made sure to hastily make his escape with Meil and Grim before I called out to him, which yet again left Nelly and the girls with me. Well, looks like he made a mistake in not taking these two with him, cause he forgot I can just ask them about what I saw last night and get a clearcut answer!

"S-So..." I felt a bead of sweat drop down my forehead as I braced myself to ask, "About last night."

"Ed, please." Eleanor ashamedly looked away.

"Right, you guys need to fess up!" Nelly slammed the table all of a sudden, "I wanna know what happened too. It really upset uncle last night, so we're not leaving until you tell us!"

"Ah, Nelly, could you please leave the room?" I just then realized how close I was to having Nelly hear about this shitshow, "This isn't a topic for your age."

"What?! Oh come on, I'm old enough!" She protested, "It can't be that bad, I've had my fair share of experiences no matter how you look at it."

Eh? Experiences? Hold on, what does she mean by that? Nelly, stop giving me those Eyes, dammit! Wait a second, it's Nelly we're talking about, so she wouldn't be doing anything with anyone unless it's... Meil!

"H-Huh?" Eleanor too looked very worried, "Wait, when you said experiences just now, you don't mean...?"

"Well, experience would be kind of the wrong term, I guess." She shrugged, "More like, I've been with all sorts of people, and done all sorts of things, so like, nothing you guys say will surprise me?"

Hold the fuck up, Nelly!? What in the ever-loving shit do you mean you've been with all sorts of people!? You're only 14, goddammit! Hell, even though Anna and I have known each other for so long, we've only lost our virginities to one another when we were... Oh wait, we were 16 at the time... B-But still, two years is a lot in this context! A-And wait, she said she's been doing it with all sorts of people, so there's multiple? Augh, not this feeling of nausea again, I think I'm gonna be sick...

"Right, it's important to explore that aspect of life at your age." Even Othelia was kind of taken aback, but chose to enable her for whatever twisted reason, "It's a whole other world to explore out there, and if you wait too long, it might stunt your growth."

"I-I'm still growing!" Nelly bashfully covered her chest.

"That's really not something you should be concerned about." I admittedly got pretty mad, "Rather, go on then. Tell us everything about the people you've been with."

"E-Ed!" Eleanor yelped.

"Shut up, she's flaunting whatever the fuck is going on in her life, and we as adults need to at the very least listen to her and tell Grim about it."

"Flaunting? It's not anything special though, I mean - You guys have done it too, right?"

"That's totally diff-!" Eleanor almost blurted out, "I-I mean, I haven't!"

"Huh? But then what about that guy Issei?"

In that very moment, I felt my heart stop. Well, the feeling is more accurately described as me falling unconscious for the duration of but a single blink of an Eye. So does this mean Nelly knows about this alleged relationship between them? No, there's no possible way, maybe she just assumed because she never met Issei before? Even I refuse to treat this as a fact until one or both of the parties flat out tell me about it. Well, despite that, it appears such a dreaded moment isn't all too far away from me, cause Eleanor really isn't making it difficult to guess from her panicky reaction. Othelia's just as chill as ever, though, which kind of only makes me more mad.

"Whoa girlie, kind of on the nose, aren't we?" Othelia smirked.

"Why? You're with them too, right?" Nelly tilted her head innocently, "You three are together, if I understood correctly."

"...Girlie, just what are we talking about here, exactlt?" Even she got a bit scared just then.

"What else?" Nelly shrugged, "Adventuring."

"Eh?" The girls yelped.

"Adventuring?"

"Yeah, y'know, going around the world, meeting all sorts of people, doing all kinds of things with them - That's adventuring." She elaborated, "And all three of you have done it. Even I could be considered a pretty experienced adventurer, what with all the places mom and dad dragged me through as a kid, haha."

So that's what she meant. She wasn't talking about anything promiscuous or even slightly romantic for that matter. Cheh, just like her father, it seems at times she only has wanderlust on her mind...

"What did you guys think I was talking about?" Nelly then asked a rather difficult question.

"That's..."

"Yo, Nel!" A boy's voice shouted from the front door, "Come hang out with me! Kevin's making me go to the gym with him and I need an excuse to blow him off!"

"Ah, hold on a sec." She excused herself before hollering back at him from her seat, "Can't, Lem! I got guests over!"

"..." The boy seemed to have gone quiet as he weighed his options before coming up with a solution, "They can come too, come on!"

"Looks like he really wants you to go with him." Othelia leaned in, "Oh, the poor fool. What a lame excuse to get you to go on a date with him..."

"Wrongo. If you took just one good glance at him, you'd totally see in his body just how much of a visceral hatred Lem has for going to the gym." Nelly explained, "That, or he just really hates Kevin after he and Kiria started going out."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Ah, poor fool indeed, in that case. If he had his heart broken, then I can definitely see why he wouldn't wanna see the face of the guy that's probably banging his crush every single day. Still, depending on their ages, there's a possibility this kid just thought to switch out "Kiria" for "Nelly" in his head. Teenagers tend to switch interests at the flip of a switch, y'know.

"So, you guys coming or am I gonna have to start reciting all of Nelly's spicy fanfics she writes about Meil in secret?" He threatened from the front door.

"H-How do you...!? Oi, Lem, what's the meaning of this!?" Nelly ran off from her chair to him.

"Damn, I kinda wanna stay here just to hear what she wrote." Othelia calmly stood up, "But yeah, whatever's going on through her head about that guy should probably be kept secret for everyone's sake."

"Wait, we're really gonna go with them?" Eleanor turned to me with a look of guilt on her.

"...Sure, I could use some fresh air." I nodded.

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***

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"Oh, there's three of you." The short boy apparently named Lem said as we opened the door for him, "Kinda crowded, but I'm used to it. Pleasure to have you joining us."

"No prob, a change of scenery would do well for everyone's sakes." I glanced at the two girls I've been trying to get a confession out of this entire time.

"Ugh, we're not going anywhere, Lem. Stop bothering them with your selfish excuses." Nelly got mad at him.

"OH MY DEAR EBONY PRINCE!" Lem immediately pulled out an entire manuscript sized text before loudly reading it for everyone to hear.

"F-Fine, we'll go, goddammit! Just gimme my stuff back!"

"Pff, ebony prince?" I tried stifling my laughter to no avail, "What the hell, Nelly... Pfft, damn...!"

"Grr...! How the hell did you even get that!?" She went to take the fanfic back, but he kept dodging her, "I hid it in a place no one in the world could find it?"

"You're forgetting my dad and I used to be bandits just a few years ago." He smirked as he dangled it just out of her reach, "By the way, your taste in panties is crap. I get you wanna look more mature, but black really doesn't suit you."

"You!" She hit him with a barrage of fists right then and there, "Never enter my room without my permission again, sicko!"

"Looks like we have an interesting fellow in front of us indeed." I smiled at him, "Nice to meet you. The name's Ed."

"I know." He revealed, "We were neighbors back in Stringwood before the war. My dad's name is Lee."

"...Lemuel!?" It finally clicked in my head.

"Don't call me that, jackass!"

Wait, so this is the tyke that embarrassed Anna and me way back when we were living in Stringwood during Graalridge's opening ceremony? I'll admit he's changed quite a bit, so much so that I can hardly recognize him even after finding that out, but one thing's still the same as ever though, oddly enough...

"Shouldn't you be like, 20 or something by now?"

"I'm 19, you piece of shit." He hissed, "Say another word about my height and I'll use my shortness to perfectly kick your balls so hard they'll end up coming out of your mouth."

"Duly noted." I then yanked him close to me to whisper, "That being the case, aren't you a bit too old for our Nelly here?"

"It's either me or the ebony prince who's twice her age, y'know. Pick your poison." He replied just as quietly.

So he's not even denying his feelings for her. Dammit, why is Nelly only ever involved with people older than her? Granted, this guy's way better than Meil in terms of the age gap, but even though I hate to admit it, Meil has him beat in just about everything else. It also looks like she's not interested in him even in the slightest, so he's basically knowingly joined an uphill battle after just recently losing the previous one.

"Uncle?" Nelly looked worried for this poor pipsqueak at least.

"Well, I'm not worried." I let him go with a few jeers, "A guy who can't even lift a dumbbell isn't even 1% the threat of the alternative."

"Sounds to me like you're not particularly favoring either option laid out in front of you, uncle." He smirked back a very punchable face, "Tell you what, I wanted to go watch that new play today, so how about you pay for our seats?"

Cheh, what the hell does he think he's trying to accomplish here, acting so high and mighty? Where does he get off, thinking he can boss me around to such a degree? Boy, if I don't beat the shit out of him right the fuck now-!"

"Sure." My mouth disobeyed me as I agreed to it, "H-Huh!? What the-!?"

"Ugh, Lem... Don't Command my family..." Nelly looked tired of his charades.

"Haha, nice! Thanks a bunch, Ed!" Lemmy's Eyes glew a scary Yellow as he grinned, "Then, this way, everyone!"

This kid, he just made me do his bidding without a care in the world. This feeling, it's gotta be that, the most dangerous Iro Ability in the world... Lemmy's no longer a nuisance, he's a genuine threat.

"Uncle." Nelly snapped me out of the trance, "Come on, get a move on. Sigh, sorry to make you three do this, but let's just go see the play and go on with our day."

"Everything alright, bro?" Eleanor waved her hand in front of my Eyes, "Your brows are furrowed."

"Of course they are." I muttered, "Any sane pair of Eyes would be staring daggers at their next victim."