Darkas the dad had too much fun subjugating with his daughter and went too far.

Just before the Adventurers’ Guild’s reception closed for the day.
With tomorrow being a holiday, evening had come and everyone was restlessly aware that work was ending.
Some were making plans to go drinking after work, while others had already begun clearing their desks, eager to return to their families.

At that moment, an easygoing voice called out, “Ooh, we made it in time!” as an S-rank adventurer rushed into the guild alongside a newcomer adventurer who had recently become something of a hot topic.
The instant the guild staff saw that combination, every single one of them had a very bad feeling.

As far as they knew, Darkas and Liana had come to the guild late in the morning and declared that they were “just going to shallowly explore the Arere Forest” before heading out.
The receptionist who handled it had watched the two leave together, looking almost like a parent and child, thinking, “Well, they probably won’t have much to report today.”
When evening came and they still hadn’t returned, the thought, “They’re a bit late,” had crossed their mind, but only briefly.
That was all it should have been.

“Yeah, we only planned to go shallow at first, but Liana’s growth was so impressive that we just kept going deeper into the forest.”
“That’s not true.
Darkas taught me so carefully that my body started moving so much more easily.
I was able to do this much thanks to Darkas!”

As they praised each other while writing their subjugation report, Darkas’s and Liana’s pens never stopped.
The guild staff’s sense of dread continued to grow.
The cheeks of the staff waiting for the report to be finished slowly began to twitch.
By that point, the workday had already ended, but they couldn’t turn away someone who had arrived just before the reception closed.
And when they peeked at the contents of the report, it started with beginner staples like horned rabbits and forest wolves, but gradually escalated to outrageous names like blue snakes (mid-level) and poison bears (high-level).
The numbers were strange too.
Four, three, or sometimes “around ten,” as if they had encountered entire packs.
Not just the reception staff, but all the guild employees found themselves unable to go home, forced to wait for the report to be completed.

By the time Darkas and Liana reached the second page of their subjugation report, the guild master Rise had been summoned.
Rise had plans to go out with his wife that night.
It was her birthday.
He had reserved her favorite restaurant and prepared jewelry that suited her taste.
He too had been restlessly waiting for the end of work, when a staff member came to him with a pale face.
He felt the wonderful weekend he had carefully planned for days collapse before his eyes.

“Oh, Rise.
We just finished writing it.”
“I’m done too!”

The two of them handed over the report with bright, innocent smiles.
Staring at the pages filled almost entirely in black ink, Rise felt a headache coming on.

“This water bag really is incredible.
Until now, we had to limit subjugation based on how much we could carry back, but with this, we can hunt without worrying about numbers!”
“We separated the bag for luggage and the bag for prey, so we didn’t have to worry about our equipment getting stained with blood.
I recommend carrying two!”

“I see.
Separating them does make sense.
Cleaning bloodstained gear is a hassle.
Liana, that’s a good idea.”

“…Daaar-kaaas.”

A low voice echoed between the two as they chatted excitedly.

“Y-Yes?”

Darkas and Liana instantly straightened their backs.
Faced with Rise’s strangely intense smile, they swallowed back a small scream.

“You did make it back before reception closed, sure, but when you’ve got a lot of prey, there’s an unspoken rule that you return at least two bells before closing.
Darkas, you’ve been an adventurer in Janne City for a looong time.
You know that, don’t you?”

“Ah… um, yes.”

High on the excitement of the hunt, Darkas finally remembered that rule.
It was rare for someone as normally calm and cautious as him to forget something so basic.
Liana had been stronger than expected, the water bag had been too convenient, and the enchantment magic too fun, and he had completely lost track.

“And teaching those unwritten adventurer rules to a newcomer is part of a senior adventurer’s job too, right?”

“Y-Yes.”

Even when facing an S-rank adventurer, Rise said what needed to be said.
Without that resolve, he could never serve as guild master.
Having given Darkas a proper scolding, Rise let out a sigh and looked over the report.

“The rule is to process reports the same day they’re submitted.
You’re going to be hated for this, you know.”

Prey brought back from subjugation loses freshness if not processed the same day, drastically lowering its purchase price.
That was why adventurers were expected to return early when they had a large haul.
The guild staff, now certain they would be working overtime on the eve of a holiday, glared at Darkas with resentful eyes.

“U-Um.
If that’s the case, we can submit the report after the holiday…”

Unaware of the rule, Liana offered timidly, but Rise shook his head.

“No.
We can’t let perfectly good prey lose freshness.
That would be a waste.”

When the guild buys prey from adventurers, the meat is distributed to the city’s restaurants.
As part of the city’s food supply, they couldn’t possibly leave such a quantity untouched just because they didn’t want overtime.

“Th-Then it’s fine.
The grandpas at the Mages’ Guild and I improved the storage magic circle and added a time-stop function.
If we keep them in this water bag, they’ll stay fresh!”

Liana rummaged around inside the water bag and pulled out a horned rabbit.

“This was the very first monster we hunted this morning.
It’s still warm!”

The guild staff’s eyes widened at the monster suddenly appearing from the bag.
Rise hurriedly reached out and touched it, feeling warmth and softness just like freshly slain prey.

“During testing, even ice treats didn’t melt!”

Liana reported brightly, her eyes sparkling, completely unaware that she had just introduced a problem far more serious than bringing in a massive haul right before closing time.

“Um, this is scheduled to be presented at an emergency symposium with the senior members of the Mages’ Guild.
Along with the storage magic circle, Prince Mark has already granted usage permission, so it’s all right.”

Darkas quickly added that explanation, but Rise did not think it was all right in the slightest.
Even the seasoned guild staff, rarely shaken by anything, were buzzing after seeing the horned rabbit pulled from the storage bag.
What kind of chaos would this cause once it hit the market.
And an emergency symposium by the Mages’ Guild, which almost never held them.
Just hearing that screamed trouble.

Incidentally, after reading the paper on the storage magic circle and its improved time-stop function compiled by Liana and the senior mages, Prince Mark had apparently wept tears of blood in regret, wondering why no one had summoned him on the spot to research together.
Given that Liana was already afraid of him, there was no way the senior mages would have allowed him to be present.

“…I see.
All right then.
Today’s operations are concluded!”

Rise shouted that in near desperation.

If the prey wouldn’t lose freshness, the reports didn’t need to be processed that day.
Bracing himself for the uproar that would surely follow after the holiday, Rise decided to focus solely on celebrating his wife’s birthday for now.

“Liaaanaaa!”

By the time Darkas and Liana returned home, it was already completely dark.

The moment they arrived, Shanti rushed out and hugged Liana tightly, bursting into tears, leaving Liana wide-eyed in surprise.

“You were so laaate.
You didn’t come back for so long, I was so worried.
I was just about to go look for you.”

Shanti was dressed for easy movement.
Beside her, Andy stood quietly with a formidable sword at his side, while Martha, wearing robes and holding a staff, looked exasperated.

“I told you there was nothing to worry about, Shanti.
With your father there, how could anything possibly happen?”

“But Mom, you didn’t stop me from going to get them either.”

Told that with a face soaked in tears and snot, Martha snorted and twirled the staff she was holding to hide her embarrassment.

“My daughter was late coming home.
Of course I’d go looking for her.”

“I’m her sister too.
I’m going to protect my cute little sister!”

Squeezed tightly by Shanti, Liana looked helplessly toward Andy.
He gazed at her with calm, gentle eyes and nodded, clearly relieved that she was safe.

Inside the house, the table was covered with warm dishes, all of them things Liana had loved.
It was obvious that Shanti and Martha had gone all out to welcome Liana back from her first subjugation.
Liana felt a sharp sting in her nose, overwhelmed not just by the warmth of the embrace, but by the warmth of everyone’s feelings.

“…I’m home, Sis.
Sorry I’m late.”

“Welcome hoooome, Liaaana.
As long as you came back safe, that’s all that matters.”

Liana realized again just how happy it felt to say “I’m home” and be told “Welcome back,” cherishing her current good fortune.

Later, at the slightly late dinner table, Shanti and the others listened cheerfully to the report of Liana’s first subjugation.
But as the story went on, their expressions gradually darkened.

“…I see.
So there were that many black tigers.
That must have been tough.”

“But Darkas defeated most of them.
I only took care of a few stragglers.
I’d never seen that many before, so it surprised me.”

As Liana smiled brightly and spoke of Darkas’s heroics with pure goodwill, Darkas felt panic rise inside him.
Yeah, this is bad.
This is really bad.
The atmosphere around his wife, his youngest daughter, and his future son-in-law had flash-frozen solid.
This was not a good sign.

“Dad?”

At Shanti’s unusually forceful voice, Darkas, who had been trying to minimize his presence, stiffened.

“You said you were only going shallow into the forest today.”

Martha’s voice, cheerful as she swirled her wine glass but utterly devoid of warmth, carried the same pressure.

“You said it was just to check Liana’s ability, and that you wouldn’t push it.”

Andy followed quietly, his voice calm but heavy.

“You said you would be back soon.”

Stared down by three pairs of eyes, Darkas broke out in a cold sweat.

He had honestly planned to keep it light today.
But Liana’s talent as an adventurer far exceeded expectations, and she absorbed everything he taught at an incredible pace.
Before he realized it, he had gone deeper and deeper into the forest to test her limits.
And then there was the enchantment magic circle they tried together.
Different enchantments produced different effects, and before they knew it, time had flown by.

The Arere Forest was like his own backyard, and he had planned to step in if anything truly dangerous appeared.
In truth, Liana had been strong enough that she hadn’t needed it.

But excuses like that wouldn’t work on these overprotective guardians.
His last hope, Liana, was red-faced and fluffy from slowly sipping wine.
She had supported him so perfectly during the subjugation, but he couldn’t count on tipsy Liana now.

“Liana looks sleepy.
She must be tired today, so maybe she should go to bed a little early.”

“Okaaay.”

Unaware of Darkas’s desperate eye signals, Liana nodded cheerfully as Shanti gently guided her away.
Shanti watched her fondly until she left the room, then immediately turned a cold gaze on Darkas.

“You’re going to explain this properly, Dad.”

Darkas was tired too, mostly mentally.
But for him, the long night was only just beginning.

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