Everything these heroes had built up about themselves was completely fake. I had been fooled by their outward appearance, and I was a fool to even believe them for just a second.

"Although… that light hero did seem a bit different."

He definitely had split personalities, but one of them seemed kind of innocent like he wasn't the horrible and dark angel the goddess of taboos described.

I first needed to confirm it… of course, after completing this quest, though.

"A slave business… how unoriginal," I smiled, turning over on my bed and grabbing a tablet from my nightstand.

…

The next day, bright and early in the morning, I went to visit my daughter in the massive palace smack dab in the middle of Tokyo.

It completely ruined the neon and cyberpunk aesthetic everything was built around, but since it was home to the emperor, nobody dared to do anything.

At first, I considered entering through the front door, but upon feeling a tinge of laziness hang in the back of my mind, I decided to just jump the massive walls and deactivate the alarm myself.

Of course, a few hundred guards immediately stormed out of the palace, ready to defend this place with their life.

They were all quite strong, around the mid-A-rank in terms of adventurers. Although, I didn't need to fight them as showing my face was more than enough.

"We are aware of who you are, but please give a heads up next time you come here," one of the leaders of this massive force said.

"Sure, that's my bad. I just didn't feel like waiting outside… it would draw too much attention for a meeting that will be short-lived."

The man opened his mouth to try and reply to me but caught his lips as he knew arguing with me was just plain useless. He couldn't do anything but complain to his boss, who was most likely enjoying his beauty sleep as of now.

"So, where is she?"

"She is currently training by herself, under the watchful eyes of those maids of hers."

"Oh? She's training this early in the morning? Do you know if it was my maids who forced her to do that or if she did it of her own free will?" I asked as we proceeded to walk down the long halls, presumably heading towards this supposed massive training room of theirs.

"U-Unfortunately, I'm not aware of such information."

I light chuckled as we turned a corner, arriving at the doors to this training room. And upon pushing through, I found myself at the edge of a massive open dirt arena with hundreds upon hundreds of weapons lining the edges.

From where I stood, I noticed my daughter hard at work, obviously being forced to train by my maids, who had essentially turned into drill sergeants.

It was quite funny seeing them yell at her while she was practically on the verge of tears from exhaustion… although maybe I should step in before they really begin to break her mind from all this training.

Slowly, I crept up behind the maid of death, who noticed me instantly, swiveling her head around with a light smirk.

"Welp…" I shrugged, running over and scooping up my daughter in my arms. She immediately began to flail around until noticing it was her mother who was holding her.

"M-Mom… y-you scared me," She sighed, dropping her weighted sword while I rained a few kisses on her forehead.

"Euk… you're sweaty as hell," I chuckled, wiping the sweat from my lips and setting her down before my clothes were soaked.

"What are you doing here? Another deal with the emperor?"

"A mother can't just visit her daughter? Is that so bad?" I laughed, ruffling her hair before she dashed inward, giving me a hug.

And as she buried her face into my stomach, I slowly stroked her hair until she retreated. It was a short but warming interaction that showed me just how much she was beginning to grow.

"I'm happy that you were able to beat the prince, but was he really going all out?"

"No… but I still did good, right? I may have made a risky move, but I was still able to beat him… so it isn't that bad… please don't be mad," She looked up at me with sparkling and pitiful puppy eyes.

"Don't worry," I smiled, lightly stroking her flushed red cheek. "You're growing up. Do what you want, but always remember to think it through carefully… I'm done being overprotective, but I hope…." I quickly picked her up again, but this time into a princess carry. "... you won't forget me if you ever go somewhere else…. Unless you're still thinking of helping me out."

"I am," She replied with a determined expression plastered across her face. She not only seemed genuine but ambitious. "Please let me help you. I'm not only strong but also more mature than before."

On the surface level, she seemed like she was talking about when she was younger, but I could see that she was actually referring to her previous life, where she acted like a spoiled tyrannical ruler who needed to get everything she wanted.

"And you're telling me you're not so arrogant anymore? If I ask my maids will they be able to vouch for that?"

My daughter stumbled over her words, trying to explain herself, but surprisingly my maids spoke up for her.

"It's much better than before… believe me. She didn't rub it in the boy's face… and I assume she was acting arrogant before the fight to get him riled up, right? That was part of your plan? You just wanted to prove yourself?" My maid of death smiled at Ada.

"Uh, y-yeah!" She exclaimed, clearly just going with the flow.

"Mhm… Anyways, let's get you washed up. Then, we'll discuss about the real reason why I came here."

"Hah! I knew it! You didn't come here because you loved me!" My daughter shouted almost smugly as if she wasn't offended by this thought.

"*sigh*... just get washed up."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.