But, was it worth it? I used to wonder so.

Taking care of just one child is more than troublesome. And she decided to take care of 4 of them. Was she out of her mind? No, that's impossible. After all, that woman didn't have a mind to be out of.

But maybe, that is why I married her. Who knows? I surely don't.

*****

"Grimma!" She called out the name of the eldest sister as she was about to be done with cooking, "Would you arrange the plates, my dear?"

"Why would I!?" A grumpy voice of the 12 years old girl came in response.

"Why? You don't want to eat?" the woman tilted her head in confusion as she questioned Grimma.

"Of course I do. But that doesn't mean you can make me arrange the plates like I'm some servant." She looked away from the woman.

"But if you don't arrange the plates, how will you eat?" the woman tilted her head once again as she was genuinely confused by the question she posed.

"W-Well, you can arrange the plates, can't you?" Grimma yelled at her with a blush as she started to feel like she was being made a fool out of.

"Ah, I see. That's what you meant." The woman said while churning the ingredients. "I can't do that though as I am still cooking."

The woman said with a smile. Grimma's cheek grew even more fl.u.s.tered with that.

"Fine! Whatever! I'll arrange them if that's what you want from me." She grumpily took the plates and started to place them on the table. Seeing that, the woman nodded and gave remarks like 'good girl' and 'just like that' and 'you're doing great' and so on. Each remark only made Grimma more fl.u.s.tered, feeling like she was being made fun of.

Looking at that scenery from a little distance away, the man started laughing. "Hahahahaha!!!"

He laughed to his heart's content. Hearing his voice frustrated Grimma but she ignored it and continued to arrange the plates.

"Well kid, looks like even someone like you can't handle a behemoth like that, can you?" the man asked sarcastically as he pointed at the woman who was still cooking. Looking at her, Grimma only took a big sigh and returned to arranging plates.

*****

Grimma, was it? That was the name of my oldest daughter? Yes, I feel that's right. She was a real brat at the beginning, not that any of that mattered against her, my wife. For all the stubbornness Grimma showed, my wife would misinterpret it in some way that would make her give up.

It truly was quite a spectacle, if I do say so myself. And while I was laughing at that predicament, I knew so well that, in some corner of the world, a girl like Grimma would be suffering, a woman like my wife would be suffering and a man like me would be powerless. I knew all so well about all that. And, I didn't care? I ignored it? Just how big of an a.s.shole do you need to be to do something like that?

*****

Two years had pa.s.sed by.

Grimma tried to sneak in without anyone noticing but, "Sis, you're back!" Her 8-years-old brother wouldn't let that happen. She couldn't be mad at him though, not after looking at that wide smile he had. But, because of him giving a notification to the rest of the house, her 10-years-old sister came and greeted her and her 13-years-old brother came and greeted her as well. Till then, she was fine. But then,

"Oh Grimma, you're back?" her adoptive mother said with delight. Hearing her voice, Grimma tried to run away. Too bad that her two youngest siblings wouldn't let that happen as they clung to her and made her unable to move.

The only choice left for her at that point was, "Yeah mom, I'm back, as you should be able to tell for yourselves."

The mother plainly ignored the second part of her sentence and hugged her and then the father came and, "So how did the exam go, did you fail?" He asked in a teasing voice.

"Yeah, like h.e.l.l! I pa.s.sed with an average score of 94.8%." Grimma said with a chest puffed up with pride.

And after hearing about that astonis.h.i.+ngly great score, the father said with a contemplating att.i.tude, "Wow! That's a whole 0.2% less than 95. Sucks to be you, girl!"

"Tsk!" Instead of a compliment, he only offered his eldest adoptive daughter a tease causing her to have started pouting and said, "Yeah, whatever! Like you have ever even crossed 90 in your life!?"

She tried to get back on him but as she did, she realized it was going to end like it always had, "My lowest avg. score was 94.8%." With an evil grin, the father said so, only teasing her further.

What followed after that was a series of wrestling tournaments with the army of children and the mother mobilizing themselves against the father in order to protect the honor of the eldest daughter of the house.

After an hour or so, all the members of the household were busy cleaning the house.

*****

Wasting precious time like that when I could have worked towards perfecting my mage-craft and save lives – it was the height of hubris.

What did I consider myself back then? Even though I was being paid by various underground magic a.s.sociations to provide all kinds of magical tools to help people in any way, I was wasting time like that, doing nothing.

Was teasing my wife and daughter and playing with them better than working for such a n.o.ble goal? Could I have not saved at least one more life if I had used all those hours in studying magic that I wasted in playing around? Could I have not have brought a smile to at least one more person's face by using a little time productively? Yet, I didn't do more than what was required of me. I used all the free-time I could get to have fun with those 5 who I considered precious to me.

I don't even know, was I a monster or an idiot? Whichever I was, I failed someone somewhere in the world by wasting that time in having fun. That, in itself, is another sin that I have to bear.

*****