HP: The Arcane Thief (LitRPG)

"Hi! Are you my sister's boyfriend?" Axel heard someone ask as soon as he got his bearings.

He turned around to see a cute little girl in a princess dress looking at him curiously. She had brown hair and gray eyes.

Axel knitted his eyebrows,

"No. Why would you ask that?"

"Tory! Don't start speaking nonsense once again!" Came Daphne's voice from afar, sounding unnaturally shrill as she hurried down the stairs while holding her dress. She was wearing a green strapless dress that came down to her ankles.

"I'm sorry if she said anything inappropriate. She likes to create trouble," said Daphne while glaring at Astoria who stuck out her tongue.

"Daphie told us a lot about you," said Astoria as if she was telling a secret.

"Ah… ok, I'll bite, what did she say?"

"She—" began Astoria, but Daphne put a hand on Astoria's mouth to stop her from saying more.

"I'm saying it again: don't believe a word she says," said Daphne in warning.

Axel shrugged,

"... Whatever." It's not like it matters.

Daphne sighed in relief as she finally smiled,

"So… welcome to my home! You look really great in that outfit! I've only ever seen you in uniform or training clothes," she said, giving him a once over.

Axel just nodded but then he saw Daphne looking at him expectantly, making him confused,

"Um… you look great too...?" Is that what she wanted to hear? Judging by her smile, that seems to be the case. Though in his honest opinion, her dress was making him feel uncomfortable in his casual clothes. Axel didn't know that 'nothing fancy' meant this fancy. Daphne had said it was just a family dinner.

"Daphne?"

At this moment, an elegant woman walked from inside. The woman was beautiful, with brown hair, and soft features, but looking into her blue eyes, Axel could see that she had suffered various vicissitudes in her life.

The woman seemed to study Axel minutely, and her gaze lingered on his hands. For a moment, Axel saw her occlumency mask crack to show some emotions, but it might be his imagination as she smiled politely at him.

"You must be Axel. I'm Daphne's mother Evelyn Greengrass. I've been dying to meet you,"

Axel looked at the woman who was that bastard's ex-wife. Daphne had told him that she had celebrated all night when the man had died. So, instead of resentment, he rather had a good impression of her.

"Thanks for having me for dinner," he replied politely. Though he actually wanted to say, 'You shouldn't have invited me.' But since he's here, he'd rather be done with this dinner quickly without coming out as an asshole.

It's just that he wouldn't be in this situation in the first place if he hadn't been dumping all his work to Daphne for the better part of the semester.

Mrs. Greengrass smiled,

"The dinner will be ready soon. Daphne, you can show him around or play in the meantime," she said, leaving them to their devices.

Axel gave Daphne a look,

"You said dinner was ready half an hour earlier," he said in irritation.

Daphne looked away trying not to show how pleased she was with herself,

"Oh, did I? I don't remember. Come, I'll show you around," she said, walking ahead.

Astoria walk beside him,

"She lied," she whispered helpfully.

Axel shrugged as he followed.

At least it's a good thing that he came half an hour late.

As expected from the man who kept that much amount of money as chump change in his pouch, the manor looked quite extravagant and well furnished.

"That's the Christmas tree," she said, pointing at the huge tree decorated with various magical gimmicks.

"This is our first time decorating one by ourselves. Usually, the ass— I mean, that man wouldn't allow us. He'll get it done perfectly and then host a Ball or have us attend one," she explained.

"You were going to say 'that' word again right?" Asked Astoria while giggling. "You've been using a lot of bad words after coming back,"

Daphne slapped her forehead and then glared at Axel as if it was his fault...to which Axel only gave her a clueless look.

She then brought him outside,

"Now, let me show you the reason why we're called Greengrass," she said, pointing at the vast expanse outside their gates.

"We run plantations and greenhouses of Potion ingredients. We supply plant-related potion materials to various sellers like BigOwl. Aside from that, we also run Potion shops,"

So, BigOwl, the company he has been ordering his diet ingredients from, got its plant-related potion ingredients from the Greengrass.

"...This is huge," muttered Axel, looking at the vast expanse.

Daphne nodded,

"That's what everyone says," she said proudly as if he was praising her dick.

"Tory! Don't go outside! It's not safe outside the wards!" She said as she followed Astoria, leaving Axel to look at the view.

Axel had some idea about her family business, but he hadn't expected it to be this massive. The plantations seemed to stretch for miles and there were multiple greenhouses with workers working.

But her words reminded him of something else as well. Revenge wasn't the only reason he had gone out of Hogwarts this Christmas. He had various other things to handle as well.

And one of them was that, some potion recipes for the training of his Arcane Thief class had been unlocked for a while now. But he couldn't make them himself due to his low dexterity. So, this was something he was supposed to figure out during this time.

At this moment, Daphne's magi mirror beeped, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"The Dinner's ready, shall we go?" She asked.

They made their way to the dining room where they all sat at the end of one long table.

Mrs. Greengrass smiled as she looked at her family,

"Usually, we're always either Hosting Balls or attending one. But this year, we didn't do anything," explained Mrs. Greengrass.

Axel wanted to ask, 'then why invite me?' but he didn't as he looked at all the food piled up on the table.

Turkey, Cranberry sauce, Brussels sprouts, Stuffing, Gravy, Roast potatoes, Braised red cabbage, Roast carrots, and the list went on and on.

Looking at the tempting meal, he sighed.

"Well, this looks delicious. But I must follow my diet," he said, taking out his lunchbox. After almost half a year, he had now totally started to follow the diet.

"?" X3

Everyone at the dinner table was surprised and confused.

Axel looked at everyone,

"Ah… I'm sorry. I've been on a strict diet since I've been trying to recover from my… injuries," he said opening up the lunchbox.

Daphne had warned her family about his injuries, but not about this.

Evelyn looked at Daphne,

"Daphne, why didn't you tell us he's been following a special diet? I would have arranged it for him," she said in a chiding tone.

Daphne looked like she had been slapped,

"I… I didn't know. He...never sits at the Great hall. I haven't ever seen what he's eating," she said in realization.

Everyone looked at what Axel was eating.

"What is that?" Asked Evelyn as she looked at the bizarre lunch from beside him.

Axel shrugged,

"Some moonseeds, boiled dragon meat, boiled Occamy eggs, boiled wiggentree roots, fluxweed, etcetera, why do you ask?" He asked as he began to eat.

Evelyn was shocked.

"Those are some expensive ingredients…" she commented.

Daphne picked some up and tasted,

"Bleh—" she spat it out on her plate.

"Have you really been eating that the whole time?" She asked in shock.

"No, it's different ingredients every day. It's a weekly schedule," he informed.

"But…" began Evelyn, "that's not really food, is it? There's no flavoring, and it's not even cooked," she said, looking at the food.

"Well, it's boiled..." he defended.

But Evelyn was unimpressed.

"As I said, it's uncooked,"

Axel couldn't understand the thinking of these rich people. Is it not good enough that he's getting food? Furthermore, it's edible, not harmful but beneficial, and it's bloody expensive. Why does the taste matter so much?

Evelyn clapped her hands, calling an Elf. She pointed at his plate,

"Tolly, Make a nice dish out of this using healthy cooking methods," she said, pointing at his dinner.

"Yes mistress," the elf left and his plate vanished.

"...That wasn't necessary," said Axel helplessly.

Evelyn shook her head,

"There's no way you are eating such bland food on Christmas Eve," she said firmly.

Daphne gave him a look that he couldn't quite decipher.

"Is that why you've always rejected every time I've offered you snacks? You can't eat anything else?" She asked, recalling all the times she'd eaten snacks during class while he rejected them. Even that time at the VIP box, he didn't eat any popcorn.

"Well, it's not like I can't, but I shouldn't, if I want the most benefits. Why do you ask?" He asked.

"... Nothing,"

She now felt really bad. It's not that he didn't want to eat them. He just couldn't eat them in hopes of a recovery that might never come. And all that while, she ate those delicious things right in front of him.

Along with feeling sorry, she once again felt the familiar disappointment. Axel knows everything about her and yet he hasn't let her know much about him at all. Maybe only she is the one who wants to be friends. He still hasn't said anything about the gift she had sent him this Christmas after all.

It made her recall the time when she had prepared a Christmas present for her dad with so much effort and yet, he hadn't even bothered acknowledging it.

'No! Let's not think about it! Axel and the asshole are world's apart!' she said to herself as she looked at him enjoying his food. May be just didn't like the gift.

Astoria looked at Axel in a new light. Right now, she wasn't smiling like she always does and wasn't as talkative.

Axel's dinner came soon and he was surprised to taste it.

"It's delicious," he muttered, his eyes closing involuntarily for tasting good food after so long,"

Click*

A clicking sound came from his side, followed by a giggle, making him infuriated,

"You are going to delete that," he muttered.

"No!"

"I'm not kidding, delete that!"

"Over my dead body!"

Overall, the dinner went rather well and Axel felt that perhaps it wasn't such a waste of time coming here. But after dinner just as he was about to leave, something unexpected came up.

"Axel, I need to talk to you about something, could you please spare me a minute?" Asked Evelyn, making him pause.

Axel shrugged,

"Alright,"

"Daphne, Astoria, could you two please leave the room? I need to talk to Axel about something,"

"What is it, mom?" Asked Daphne in puzzlement.

Evelyn shook her head with a serious look,

"Go,"

"I...Ok, I'm waiting outside,"

Since her mom rarely used this look, Daphne didn't protest anymore as she left while dragging Astoria.

"What is it?" Asked Axel.

Evelyn picked up her Magi-mirror and showed him a picture. It was of Axel standing in the woods. Just when he was about to ask why she was showing him this, Evelyn zoomed in to one of his hands, and Axel's eyes slowly widened a little but he controlled it.

He still feigned ignorance.

"...That's my hand,"

"What is it holding?"

"... A wand covered in leather. Why do you ask?" he answered. But at this point, he knew she knew. But the question was—How? To avoid this situation, he had wrapped up the wand in leather.

"Could you please tell me where you got it from?" She asked desperately.

"..."

Axel paused. He couldn't just say,

'I got it after I won allegiance by killing your husband,' as the system had informed him.

Or could he?