Fantasy Family Simulator (FFS)

Rhett and Carlton enjoyed a dinner together in Twilight City. It wasn't until nightfall that they bid each other farewell. After retrieving the fifty-plus commoners from Clear Springs Town from the inn, Rhett decided it was time to depart and climbed into the carriage.

At that moment, the coachman at the front turned around hesitantly, glancing nervously at Rhett.

"Hm? Is something on your mind?" Rhett asked, noticing the man's expression.

"Well, sir, after talking it over with the other coachmen, except for Derby, the four of us have decided that we'd like to join your territory!" The coachman sincerely explained, thumping his chest. "We all have extensive experience with horse-rearing and will surely work hard to contribute to your territory!"

During the journey, they had thought about it long and hard. The former lord of Clear Springs Town was dead, having reaped what he sowed. With the town's connection to an evil alchemy organization now known, its future was uncertain. Rhett, a powerful Tier-3 mage, seemed like the ideal figure to pledge their loyalty to. However, during their time in Clear Springs Town, Rhett hadn't extended an invitation to them.

Except for Derby, who had a family in Clear Springs Town and didn't want to leave, the others, being young and unattached, saw no reason not to take this opportunity.

"What's your name?" Rhett asked.

"Sir, my name is Jean," the coachman answered respectfully, then added, "The others are Essam, Harry, and Fick."

After a brief pause, Rhett considered his growing territory. Currently, only George served as a coachman. With the territory poised for rapid expansion, various sectors, including the stables, would need to grow as well. It seemed inevitable that more hands would be required.

Rhett nodded and said, "Jean, right? I accept your request. But in my territory, you must all follow the rules."

Jean's face lit up with joy. "Rest assured, sir! From now on, we coachmen will be bound to your stables, and we will work hard to help build Eagle Town!"

He ran off to share the good news with his fellow coachmen, and a few cheers echoed outside the carriage. With that, the entire group set off into the night, heading back to Eagle Town.

On the night of May 24th, two knights, Trull and Willow, were on guard duty at the gates of Eagle Town. The night was quiet, with the sounds of summer cicadas and rustling leaves filling the air. The two knights vigilantly scanned their surroundings when they noticed a large convoy approaching from the distant path, illuminated by faint lanterns.

Trull rubbed his eyes and whispered, "Willow, look ahead, there's a convoy coming this way!"

"Hm? That's a strange convoy. Those horses and carriages… I've never seen them before," Willow replied, his attention now fully on the approaching group. "There's a different crest on the carriages. I don't recognize it."

"There are some common knowledge books on the shelves in the keep that cover the power distribution of the southwestern border. I've told you to read more, but you never listen," Trull said, shaking his head in disapproval. "That's the crest of Clear Springs Town. But why is it here at this hour?"

"A viscount's territory, Clear Springs Town?" Willow's expression turned serious. "Trull, just in case, you should go back and alert the others while I stay here."

"No, Willow, you're younger and quicker on your feet. You should be the one to go back and alert them," Trull, now in his middle age, insisted, shaking his head.

"Ugh, fine. But you owe me a drink when we get back…" Willow started to argue, but then caught a glimpse of a familiar face peeking out from one of the carriages. His anxious expression immediately softened. "Wait, it's the lord!"

"Ah, so it is! What a relief," Trull said with a smile, though he couldn't help but mutter, "But why is the lord in a Clear Springs Town carriage?"

Jokingly, he added, "Hey, Willow, you said you'd treat me to a drink. Don't go back on your word!"

"Yeah, yeah," Willow replied, dragging out his words as he rolled his eyes. "I'm still too young for this."

As the convoy drew closer, Trull and Willow straightened up and loudly greeted, "Good evening, my lord!"

Rhett poked his head out of the carriage and smiled. "Ah, Trull and Willow, good evening to you both. You two knights have done well!"

"It's no trouble at all, my lord. All for the sake of Eagle Town!" they replied with bright eyes.

Under the admiring gaze of the two knights, the convoy passed through Eagle Town and arrived at the manor gates.

A warm night breeze blew through, lifting the curtain of the carriage as Rhett stepped out. Bathing in the starlight, he couldn't help but reflect that summer was almost over.

Rhett noticed that the castle was still lit up from the first to the fourth floors. He arranged for the four coachmen to stay in the stables' quarters, then led Shilin into the manor.

The butler, Svetta, had yet to retire for the night, having been troubled by insomnia for the past few days, ever since the lord had been away for two months. Without Rhett's presence, Svetta felt like the town was missing its core.

As fatigue finally began to creep in, and he prepared to extinguish the candle and lie down, a faint whinny caught his attention. Jolted awake, Svetta hurried to the window and saw a convoy making its way down the stone road. Though it wasn't Eagle Town's usual convoy, his instincts told him it had to be the lord's return.

Excited, Svetta hastily put on his clothes, checked himself in the mirror, and rushed out of the castle just in time to meet Rhett.

"Ah, my lord, you've finally returned! I've been dreaming of your return for nights. Without you here, Eagle Town feels like a bird with clipped wings," Svetta said respectfully. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the young woman with orange hair standing beside the lord and silently wondered about her identity.

"Svetta, my most reliable butler, no matter where we are, our hearts are always in Eagle Town," Rhett replied with a smile. "But why are you still awake so late?"

"I've been struggling with insomnia lately, only falling asleep very late. But now that you're back, I feel like my insomnia has disappeared!" Svetta said, stifling a yawn, then added with a serious expression, "I swear, I'm not lying!"

"I believe you, Svetta. And I hope you'll take care of your health. When Eagle Town soars, I want everyone by my side to witness it."

"Thank you, my lord. I too want to be there for that day!"

"You will be," Rhett said firmly. Then, gesturing to Shilin, he added, "This is our new member—Shilin, a Tier-2 knight. Please arrange a place for her to stay, and make sure she's separated from the men."

"Of course, my lord. Your returns are always full of surprises," Svetta replied, placing a hand on his chest before turning to Shilin. "Lady Shilin, if you would follow me, please."

"Thank you, Mr. Butler," Shilin said, following Svetta but turning back to wave at Rhett. "Goodnight, my lord. See you tomorrow!"

"Goodnight, Lady Shilin!" Rhett smiled and then headed to Deep Rock Castle.

In Relay's room, Rhett entered to find Relay standing by the window.

"Father, you've finally returned," Relay said with a smile.

"Yes, I'm back," Rhett replied warmly, finding a chair to sit on. "How has your training been going, Relay?"

As a father, it was natural for him to care about his son's progress.

"Hmm, not bad. Since last year, with the Snow Elf's help, I advanced to the late stage, and with half a year of training, I think I'll reach the peak by next year," Relay answered thoughtfully.

"Good," Rhett nodded approvingly and then opened a gift bag. "Take a look at what I brought you."

He continued, "This time in Twilight City, I bought some Moonlight Elixirs. I'll keep a few for myself, but the rest—over forty bottles—are for you and the others. I hope you can all break through soon."

Having reached the peak of Tier-3 magic, Rhett no longer needed Moonlight Elixirs. When it came time to advance to the rank of Archmage, the elixir would no longer be effective. He would need to seek out medium-grade spiritual elixirs instead. However, to avoid drawing attention, Rhett made a show of it. Later on, once Relay and Tylus had used up this batch, he'd find a reason to distribute the rest.

"Wow! Thank you, Father!" Relay's eyes lit up as he looked at the bottles in the bag, feeling invigorated. But then, with a curious expression, he asked, "Wait, Father, you said you were giving these to 'us'? Who else besides me? Is it the orange-haired woman who came with you? Is she also a mage? But she carries a sword…"

"She's not a mage," Rhett shook his head. "She's a Tier-2 knight named Shilin, and she's joined our territory."

"But…" Relay started to say, but Rhett interrupted him with a raised finger. "Hold on, before we get to that, take a look at this."

Rhett pulled out a potion filled with black liquid from his pouch and placed it under the bright light.

In truth, he hadn't expected that just the day before, Blackstar had reversed course and found him in Eagle Town. The two had exchanged bloodline potions six days earlier than in the simulation.

Rhett could only assume that the difference in timing was due to some minor changes in reality and perhaps the fact that he had given all the Bloodsource Beads to Blackstar this time around. Perhaps some subtle difference in events had caused the timing of their transaction to shift slightly.

"What is that, Father?" Relay asked, his brows furrowing. The bottle was clear, without a label, and its contents were impossible to identify by color alone.

"This is the bloodline potion of a Tier-6 dark-type magical beast—the Black-Eyed Phantom Snake," Rhett replied casually.

"What? A bloodline potion!" Relay gasped, his eyes widening with shock, his breath momentarily halting.

After a deep breath to calm himself, he asked, "Is this from the same source as the potion you used, Father?"

Rhett had shared the secret of his bloodline potion with only his three sons. After all, they had fought together many times, and during their battles against the Tier-3 magical beast in the Dark Mark Eagle range, Rhett had found it impossible to conceal his mastery of Earth Spike. Moreover, he trusted his sons, and the simulations had never indicated any risk of them betraying his secret.

"Yes," Rhett nodded, offering no further explanation.

When he had first revealed his use of a bloodline potion to his sons, he hadn't gone into detail. He had simply instructed them to keep the secret and act as though they knew nothing.

"That's great!" Relay, sensing the boundaries of the conversation, wisely refrained from asking further questions. Instead, he excitedly exclaimed, "Now Tylus can become a mage too!"

"Then, Father, shall we go find Tylus now?" Relay suggested. "He's probably reading one of his knight novels. You should have a talk with him."

"You might not know, but while you were away, Mina from Dam Town visited twice and became quite close with Tylus. She even gave him a sequel to his favorite fantasy novel, Knight Academy. He's been absolutely absorbed in it! A few times, he even wanted to stay up all night reading, but I had to stop him."

"Oh? So much has happened while I was away?" Rhett pretended to be surprised, but then waved his hand. "Alright, we'll deal with the other matters later. Let's get Tylus to take the bloodline potion first."

They went to Tylus's door and knocked gently.

Knock, knock, knock.

"I know, Relay. Just ten more minutes, this part is really exciting! I'll go to bed right after!" came the disgruntled voice from inside.

Relay shrugged and turned to his father. "See? When you're not here, Tylus always tries to break his promises. I've had to supervise him constantly, or else he wouldn't sleep at all."

Rhett frowned slightly and knocked again, raising his voice. "It's me, open up, Tylus!"

"Ah! Father! I'll be right there!" came the surprised reply. A few seconds later, hurried footsteps approached, and the door was pulled open to reveal Tylus in his bear-print pajamas. Embarrassed, he scratched his head. "Haha, Father, I didn't realize you'd come back tonight."

Rhett glanced at Tylus and walked into the room without a word.

Feeling guilty, Tylus followed closely behind, his eyes darting around nervously before he blurted out, "Father, I've missed you so much while you were gone."

Hearing this, Relay smiled without saying a word. Rhett, now seated on the edge of the bed, said, "Relay told me that while I was away, you weren't behaving. You kept trying to stay up all night reading novels."

"I… I didn't!" Tylus protested, lowering his head in guilt and casting a quick glare at Relay.

"I swear, I didn't stay up late even once. I trained properly every day!"

"Maybe, but if I hadn't been keeping an eye on you, things might have turned out differently," Relay teased.

"Ugh, just shut up, Relay," Tylus huffed. "I was about to go to bed anyway, even if you hadn't come."

"Oh, sure, pure coincidence, right? You just happened to be ready for bed right as I showed up. How convenient," Relay quipped, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, obviously!" Tylus insisted.

"Enough, Tylus!" Rhett interjected firmly, and Tylus immediately fell silent.

"Whether you kept your promise or not, I have to ask you—do you see the agreement we made back in the Dark Mark Eagle range as just a burden, something you resent?" Rhett's gaze bore into Tylus's eyes.

"I… no," Tylus instinctively denied but quickly averted his eyes under his father's stern gaze.

"Sigh," Rhett sighed. "Tylus, my son, you need to understand that I don't impose rules just for the sake of it. I want you to see that self-discipline is an essential quality on the path to growth."

"Even if you can't cultivate and remain an ordinary person, you still can't afford to slack off!" Rhett's tone softened as he continued, "Tylus, as your father, I don't expect you to be extraordinary. I just want to see you strive for something, to make your life more fulfilling and meaningful."

"You once said you wanted to improve your skills, to study business, and help with the trade caravans. But what happened? You showed interest for a few days after I returned, but then quickly forgot all about it."

Rhett walked over to the bookshelf, tapping a dusty book. "Look, your business books are covered in dust, while your novels are spotless."

Relay stood a few meters away, deep in thought.

His father's heartfelt words struck a chord in Tylus, filling him with shame. His eyes reddened, and he bowed his head, unable to speak.

He began to reflect on himself, realizing that he had accomplished nothing. He had never truly pursued any goal…

"Tylus, tell me, what is your dream?" Rhett raised his voice, his tone firm.

Tylus flinched and looked up, meeting his father's gaze. "I want to become a great alchemist!" he blurted out.

Rhett narrowed his eyes slightly. "Can you promise that if you become a mage and start studying alchemy, you won't lose interest after a few days?"

"Are you sure you can stick with it?"

With that final question, Rhett revealed his true purpose.