Chapter 4 · 9 min
Chapter 4
She's My Daughter-in-Law.
“Wait, just a second! Don't open the door yet! I just summoned her, and she's an elf!”
“An elf?”
“An elf~?”
What should I do? My summoned creature was strangely friendly toward me, but what about my parents?
While all the posts from Gallery users suffering because of their summoned creatures flashed through my mind.
“They are my father-in-law and mother-in-law! I have to greet them!”
My summoned creature let go of my face and sprang to her feet as she spoke.
“I'll open the door for them now!”
Bang.
“Ahem!”
“Goodness?”
My parents were momentarily flustered when my summoned creature, rather than me, came out through the suddenly opened door, but soon reacted with admiration.
“Clara Drevovna Drevana, your daughter-in-law, offers her greetings to both elders! Please call me Clara!”
Clara greeted them by lightly lifting the hem of my T-shirt as though holding up a skirt to curtsy.
Because of her childish way of speaking and the things she'd done that had flustered me, I'd honestly already given up on expecting proper manners from her...
But rather than merely being polite, her movements were unbelievably elegant, unlike anything I'd ever seen before.
More than anything, my parents seemed quite shocked by her unreal appearance, enough to make them wonder whether she was even human.
‘Well, she really isn't an ordinary human. She's an otherworlder...’
No, she's on a completely different level of beauty from any elf I've ever seen! An otherworlder among otherworlders...!
...What am I even saying?
“Daughter-in-law... Son, can you explain what's going on?”
“W-well... Today's actually the first time I've met her too...?”
“Ahem, ahem! Would it be all right if I called you my daughter-in-law? Miss Clara?”
Dad adapted incredibly quickly.
“Father may call me whatever is most comfortable!”
“Suho.”
Dad suddenly called me in a serious tone.
“We need to go buy clothes for my daughter-in-law. I used to buy clothes for Suyeon back in the day, so I'll be right back.”
‘...? Wasn't it about ten years ago that you last bought clothes for my legal-family-member? Wait, Dad!’
Before I could stop him, Dad opened the front door and left in an instant.
“Hmm...”
Beam.
Clara merely continued smiling brightly even under Mom's intense stare.
I thought all otherworlders were arrogant!?
‘She's not saying, “How dare you look at me with such disrespectful eyes”...? Judging by the way she greeted them, she seems like some kind of noble too?’
“I wonder if Suyeon has any spare underwear....Miss Clara? Could you follow me for a moment?”
“I shall follow Mother's words!”
They say you can't spit on a smiling face, and after looking over the state of Clara's clothes, Mom took her to Suyeon's room, which was empty because she lived in a college dorm.
Come to think of it... There's probably nothing under that T-shirt...
I only told her to wear anything! I absolutely did not make her wear only that! Believe me!
__________
After the brief commotion had passed, Clara and my family sat together at the dining table.
Dad, who had gone shopping, came back with princess clothes from a nearby department store. At first I'd asked how he could possibly buy something like that, but now I had no choice but to admit it.
‘Looks really are everything!’
There really were people in this world who looked good even in frilly pink princess clothes.
Seeing as Dad had also bought fruit from the department store, did he know that elves supposedly only ate expensive fruit?
“So you're saying this young lady is our daughter-in-law?”
“That's right!!!”
“Ahem, ahem. It's good that my daughter-in-law is so energetic!”
“Why are you rushing ahead again!”
“Ahem.”
My parents, who had quite an age gap between them, bickered as usual today too.
After saying something to Dad, Mom's attention turned toward me. Her gaze seemed to be interrogating me about what exactly I'd done to end up in this situation.
I really don't know either.
First, I called out to my summoned creature.
“Um, Miss Clara?”
“Just call me Clara!”
“Ah, yes....Clara, may I ask you something?”
“Ask me anything!”
Was it about three months after I finished rehabilitation?
The day the dream I'd been so certain about was treated like some suspicious religious pitch?
Well, it couldn't be helped.
Even if I was treated like an idiot again.
I still had to ask.
“...Do you perhaps know the hero?”
“The hero?”
Ah.
The moment I heard Clara's response, I knew.
“I don't know!”
“...”
She had absolutely nothing to do with the hero.
“But I might have remembered before!”
“What? Before?”
What did she suddenly mean?
“I think I had lots of older sisters, but after being summoned, I can't remember anyone's face or name!”
What?
I've never heard anything about summoned creatures losing their memories when they're summoned.
Should I ask about it on the Gallery?
“Then why are you my wife, Clara? How do you remember that?”
“I fell in love at first sight! And then you asked me to marry you! That's why we became husband and wife!”
...When did I do that?
No, Miss Clara, the moment you were summoned, you looked at me and said you were my wife, remember?
It wasn't a proper answer, but she wore a proud expression as though she'd answered perfectly.
Did something happen between Clara and me in a part of the dream that I couldn't remember?
Then why didn't the other otherworlders know me?
“Hmm, Clara. Do you know all three syllables of my name?”
My parents had called my given name several times already, so she must have heard it. I was checking whether she knew my family name, Han.
“I only know Suho! Hurry and tell me your family name!”
Hmm...
The otherworlder I summoned recognizes me as her husband. It seems related to what happened in my dream, but the other otherworlders don't know me. Honestly, I'm not even sure whether Clara actually knows me or not.
Ah, my head hurts!
“...I'm Han Suho.”
“Han. Su. Ho. It is a very good name!”
Clara seemed delighted to have learned my name, smiling brightly as she repeated it over and over.
She really did seem to be hearing my name for the first time and savoring it.
But that was the problem.
“Son?”
Mom's gaze changed into one that suspected I'd seduced an innocent summoned creature and married her the instant I saw her.
No! She does look a little young and innocent, but...!
Your son isn't that terrible of a person, Mom!
“Ha ha, Mom. It looks like she got some of her memories mixed up when she was summoned. I think it'd be better to figure things out slowly.”
Fortunately, communication itself wasn't a problem. Every otherworlder spoke Korean.
No one knew why.
So I'd once wondered whether this too was something the me from my dream had done. Making all otherworlders from different races and countries forget the languages they used and know only Korean?
...That was a little too unrealistic.
___________
We finished eating. Now there was something I really needed to check properly.
“Clara? If it's all right, could you show me your status window?”
“Sta..tus window?”
Did I make a mistake?
She'd been treating me so familiarly until now that I hadn't thought about it.
Normally, a first meeting with a summoned creature wasn't like this.
An overbearing attitude. Disdain.
Those were the norm.
Something as personal as a status window probably wasn't something she'd show me yet...
“Oh!? There are letters floating in the air! Amazing! Is this the status window? Let's look at it together!”
...Apparently it was.
But why didn't an otherworlder know what a status window was?
And so, the status window I checked for Clara was...
Huh?
「
Name: Clara Drevovna Drevana
Age: 24
Level: 5 (11%)
Grade: Un
Class: Imperial Princess
Strength: 34 (43)
Agility: 34 (48)
Stamina: 34 (39)
Magic Power: 0
Skill: [Wish of Fire]
Traits: Elf, Female, Mars, Peerless Beauty, Peerless Beauty, Peerless Beauty, Sloth, Obsession, Swordsmanship
」
How many Peerless Beauties are there? But more importantly, Imperial Princess?
Wasn't the highest-ranking elf supposed to be the Queen?
And her stats were a little strange too.
When I compared them to the level-by-level stat chart saved on my phone, they were definitely strange.
She was only level 5, yet her stats were close to those of a level 12.
The values inside the parentheses, which were actually being applied, were even more absurd.
Traits modified stats, and the numbers inside the parentheses were the values actually being applied...
What kind of trait was giving her such huge bonuses?
First, I tapped on Wish of Fire to check its description.
[You are a mid-ranking ability user]
?
She's level 5, but she's a mid-ranking ability user?
From what I'd seen on the Gallery, you had to be at least level 11 to be mid-ranking.
With stats like these, was there even any need to find a party?
“...Son?”
When I kept staring intently at Clara's status window, Mom seemed worried that something had gone wrong and called out to me.
“Ah, Mom, Lady Clara is twenty-four! And her stats are so good that I ended up staring at them for a while!”
“I like Han Suho too!”
No, I said your stats were good...
After learning my name, Lady Clara kept chanting it like some kind of slogan. And after finding out she was three years older than me, I'd unconsciously started adding “Lady” when addressing her.
“Han Suho. Han Suho. Han Suho. Mm-hmm! It really is a good name.”
“Twenty-four? My daughter-in-law is an adult. Then there is no problem at all. I approve of this marriage.”
“Father, thank you very much!”
At Dad's words, Lady Clara let out a bright, tinkling laugh.
Dad's expression softened even more as he watched her.
‘My legal-family-member Suyeon stopped acting as affectionate toward Dad as she used to once she grew up...’
It felt like Lady Clara was filling that gap.
Mom also seemed to relax after hearing Lady Clara's age.
Seriously! Did you really think I'd seduced some innocent little kid, Mom?
Anyway, the party problem I'd been worried about was gone, so now it was time to ask whether she'd help me climb the tower...
“If it's my husband's request, I'll do anything!”
Unlike everyone else's summoned creatures, mine required neither persuasion nor payment.
_____________
And so, that stormy day came to an end.
For the time being, Lady Clara would stay in Han Suyeon's room, while I lay down on the bed in my own room.
“With stats like those, Unranked-floor monsters shouldn't even be a match for her. But wasn't the Queen the highest-ranking elf? Then what exactly is an Imperial Princess affiliated with?”