"It is good that you came. Was work alright?"

With a smile, Qiong Xing was greeted by Katarina and Sarin.

"Like I would refuse."

"It is fine. I finished anything urgent, so I can relax today."

Qiong Xing smiled in relief and, together with Albe, led the two toward where everyone else was waiting.

Today happened to be a rare day when Leander and the others were off, so the entire family had gone out together.

"Today Rui and Yue are learning how to swim from Cari."

"Isn’t that a bit early?"

That would be true for humans.

However, the twins were beastmen and their growth was fast.

They had already graduated from needing support to stand and now spent their days happily running around without any particular goal.

"They are still small, but as beastmen their physical abilities are good. Not like me..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone quietly averted their eyes.

"Ah, then how is Qiong Xing?"

Sarin tried to change the topic out of consideration, but this time Qiong Xing himself averted his gaze.

"The face and personality are like Qiong Xing, but everything else is like Elias."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Silence fell again.

Instead of Qiong Xing, Albe answered, but the awkward atmosphere made everyone go quiet.

As parents, it would normally be a relief if they did not inherit the undesirable traits, but still... it was hard to accept.

Qiong Xing quietly wished for someone to share that feeling with.

"Well, it is fine. All three of them are cute because they resemble Qiong Xing anyway."

Hearing that should have made him happy, but... no, he still could not fully accept it.

"Exactly, they are the cutest in the world, no one can beat them!"

Such a grandparent like statement.

"...Thank you. Lian! Grandma and Grandpa are here."

"!!"

Hearing that, Lian turned around, noticed Katarina and Sarin, and ran over with a bright smile.

"Grandma! Grandpa!"

"It has been a while, hasn’t it?"

"Have you been well?"

Lian was happily lifted into Katarina’s arms while smiling brightly.

Qiong Xing watched them for a moment, then led everyone to the river they usually visited and introduced the others who were already waiting.

"You have met Elias before. He is Lian’s father. And this is Leander, and that is Joa, the father of the twins."

"Hello."

"Sorry for intruding."

Katarina and Sarin greeted them as if it were completely normal, which surprised Joa and the others, though they still responded politely.

"Rui and Yue are... ah, they are practicing properly. Cari, come here too."

When Qiong Xing beckoned, the three of them ran over together, causing Katarina and Sarin to look even more surprised.

"They can already run? That is impressive."

"It is true. They were just newborns not long ago..."

They were small, but close in size to Lian, and in fact the twins were growing even faster.

Even Qiong Xing had been surprised and confused at first.

"Hello."

"Rui."

"Yue."

As taught, the children greeted properly.

Qiong Xing gently patted their heads, praising them for doing well.

"..."

"..."

"See? It is this different."

Qiong Xing explained with a small smile.

It was not that Lian was slow because she was human.

Rather, it was simply that beastmen were that much more advanced in physical development.

To Qiong Xing, both Lian as a human child and the twins as beastmen were equally precious.

"...I see. That is impressive."

"Really. Cari, Rui, Yue, hello to you too."

Sarin crouched down to match the children’s eye level and greeted them.

The twins responded with bright smiles. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Grandpa!"

At the twins calling him the same way Lian did, Sarin... collapsed.

"I am going to die from how cute they are."

"Grandpa? Play with us?"

"Of course I will!!"

He immediately revived at their request.

The two children ran off shouting "tag," and Sarin chased after them with surprising speed that did not match his age.

"I am sorry about him."

"It is fine. They seem happy to be playing with him."

Still, there was a difference between children and adults in stamina.

On top of that, Sarin would not last long against beastmen children like the twins.

So Qiong Xing and Katarina began preparing tea and waited.

"So? What brings you here today?" Katarina asked, noting that if it was just for tea, they could have done that in town.

Qiong Xing told them there was something he wanted to report.

"The day after tomorrow, we will be moving. There is nothing in particular wrong, but I thought I should inform you in advance. Also, I wanted to properly introduce my family to the two of you, who are very important to me."

Lian was not present because there were preparations on the other side, but Qiong Xing wanted to properly introduce Joa and the others to Katarina and the rest beforehand.

"...I see. Thank you."

He also explained that they would be spending some time over there until the children got used to it, and asked them to look after Naz and Brat.

"Alright. But instead of worrying about everyone else all the time, you should think about yourself too. Take care of your health, and if anything happens, contact us right away!"

"Yes. Thank you very much."

Qiong Xing could not help but smile at how she spoke as if she were lecturing a small child.

"Lian and Cari, make sure you look after your mother properly too."

"Okay!"

"Yeah!"

Their energetic replies were very cute, but...

"Should it not be the other way around?"

"If anything happens to this child, I will not let any of you off easily!"

"We know."

"We got it."

"Yeah."

No, that was strange too.

Why were they worrying about Qiong Xing instead of the children?

"You are usually quite capable, but you do cause trouble sometimes. If you are unsure about something, just leave it to someone else. And if someone says it is dangerous, then stop don’t do it, alright?"

"...Yes."

So... was something about this not a little strange?