Chapter 12 ~ The Midnight Apothecary

I watched as Ryina’s face lit up with joy. Before her was the finished guest house. The various months Lily and I had spent alongside her was enjoyable. Now, after many long months, she had a place to call her own. While the two-story building was simple in its design, it had five other bedrooms on the second floor in the event I hired on other staff to help around the shop. Overall, it was a functioning house with a kitchen, two full bathrooms and some other smaller rooms.

My only condition for Ryina was that she, and any others, would have to keep the guest house clean. Ryina continuously thanked me and rushed into the house. Since it was our day off, I decided to allow her to enjoy looking around the house and all the rooms. Like a child, Lily followed her around too after removing her shoes at the entrance. While the two of them enjoyed their time looking through the structure, I noticed my sister approaching in the distance.

“So, looks like the rumours I heard were true, Onii.”

“There are rumours about my shop.”

“Word is, you made an elf your slave.”

“Completely not true.”

As Lily and Ryina exited the guest house, I noticed Ryina seemed a bit timid at the sight of my sister. Lily rushed up to my sister without warning and hugged her gently. Afterwards, she tried to introduce Ryina. It was almost cute to see her hide herself behind Lily like a scared child.

“Ryina, this is my little sister, Myilia. Don’t worry, she won’t bite you.”

I noticed my sister was staring intently at Ryina before moving closer to her. It was clear that Ryina was unsure how to deal with my sister.

“I-It’s nice to meet you. I’m Ryina—”

Before Ryina could finish her sentence, my sister had wormed her way behind her and gently bit her ear in a playful manner.

“M-Master, I thought you said your sister wouldn’t bite.”

“Master?”

My sister released Ryina from her grip and looked over to me.

“Onii—”

“I didn’t force her to call me that. Since she works here, she decided to call me that.”

Even though I was one to lie to other people, my sister knew I would never lie to her. We had an agreement to never be dishonest or lie between each other. This was due to the fact our mother never told us about her illness. Along the way, various interacts with others made both me and my sister trust people far less in our previous life. In this new world, our distrust only grew.

“Anyway, did you need something?”

“I was just in the area and wondered how your shop was doing, Onii.”

“Surprisingly, sales are better than ever before.”

My sister smirked, her fang slightly exposed as if she was proud of herself. It took took me only a second to realise why she seemed so proud.

“I would hope so since I’ve been trying to spread the name of the shop around to the various cities and towns I visited. Also, there is a family matter to discuss.”

Lily smiled and placed her hand on Ryina’s shoulder. I was glad she understood what my sister was trying to say. While the two of them decided to get things together and setup in Ryina’s room, my sister and I took a walk in the moonlight around Nullus. The night air was the perfect temperature for the both of us. While most of the shops in the area were starting to close up for the night, there were a few which were still open.

“So, what was the this family matter that we needed to discuss?”

I could feel my sister grab my hand and squeeze it tightly. She smiled as she looked over to me.

“It seems you got me pregnant, Onii.”

A shocking look from a nearby adventurer who I had seen a few times seemed as if they wanted to say something. They were aware I had a little sister and this conversation only served to paint me in a rather creepy light. The truth was, to the outside world this was a normal phrase, for us in the guild it was a warning that the organisation was watching. While it did not mean I was a mark for death, it did mean I had to be careful. They were watching from the shadows.

“Well, that does sound serious,” I said in a nonchalant way.

Looking out at the streets, I pulled my sister closer to me and wrapped my arm around her waist as if we were a couple – in truth, this likely only made me creepier.

“Are you starting to give into your lustful incest desires, Onii?” my sister asked in a giggling tone.

Moving closer to her ear, I whispered softly.

“How many and where?”

“Six. Three o’clock, six o’clock and nine o’clock. Split into pairs.”

“Must be the sextuplets twins.”

The quintessential sextuplet twins were six beautiful twins of three boys and three girls. Trying to tell them apart was near impossible for anyone, even a highly trained assassin. All of them had their white tied off in a short braid on the right side. It was always hard for me to tell which ones were which until I found out their secret. Still, knowing that could not help identify the twins from one another.

“What’s the plan, Onii?”

I thought about what the best option was. If they were only meant to observe then I and everyone I knew was going to be safe for the time being.

“Let’s just ignore them for now.”

“As you say, Onii. What do you have in plan for us to do? We going to make them watch as you defile me in the inn?” my sister teased in a giggling tone.

“If I was going to defile you, it would be here and now.”

My sister and I understood the message hidden in the banter. I was calling the twins out, knowing they could hear me from where they were. Making my way with my sister down the street, I turned the corner into one of the nearby alleyways as my sister followed my lead. She nudged my side gently and smiled as she looked up at me.

“Looks like they backed off, Onii.”

“I figured they would. I just hope they don’t mess with anyone I care about.”

“Don’t worry, they won’t.”

After our walk through the streets of Nullus, my sister and I made our way back to the shop. Once we entered the shop, Lily greeted me with a smile at the door, holding two glasses of wine. Without delay, my sister took the glass and downed the wine in one gulp. Likewise, I did the same.

“Question for you two. You mind if I stay here for a bit? I can help around the shop in exchange.”

“Don’t be stupid, Myilia. You know you’re always welcome here. You never have to ask,” Lily said with a smile.

“Thank you. Do I get a cute maid uniform too, Onii?” my sister asked.

“Wait right here,” Lily said as she rushed up the stairs.

A few minutes passed before Lily returned with another maid uniform that was similar in appearance to the one Ryina also wore. I started to question if Lily was trying to start up a harem for me. Last thing I needed was a harem of maids. Regardless, my sister seemed happy to try on the uniform and made her way down into my room to change before emerging into a maid outfit that bordered the lines between professional and seductive. She had her long white tied into a pair of twin-tails and stroke a cute pose that was reminiscence of our old world.

“You are so cute, Myilia!”

“Nyan~”

It was almost funny to see my sister, an assassin who was deadly enough to kill and emotionless when took a life, laugh and enjoy herself. She was still the same little sister I cared about in the old world but now she had become a bit more mature – as well as a tiny bit of a sadomasochist.

“Onii, you need to wear one too.”

“No thank you.”

“Please, Onii?”

“Please, Nyizel?”

Having both my sister and Lily begging me to wear a maid outfit left me with little say in the matter. Lily had already gathered up another maid outfit and was intent on forcing me to try it on. After giving into the peer pressure, I put on the clothes. I decided to tie off my hair into a pair of twin-tails like my sister and emerged from my room.

“You two are so cute together!” Lily said.

“Welcome home, master, nyan~” my sister and I said in unison.

The two of us struck a famous cat-like pose used by a vTuber from our previous life that was known for saying ‘nyan~’ even though the persona they had built up was a gender-fluid wolf. While I did not follow vTubers, I did remember the news of their suicide making headlines throughout the world. Apparently, due to a decline in their deteriorating mental state, they decided to end their life with a single bullet to the head. As it turned out, they had a little sister they had left behind.

Even if I did not care about the death of some random person, I could not help but look over to my sister. I would never want to see her suffer because of me and I would do everything in my power to ensure that she was happy. Placing my hand on my sister’s head, I smiled as I looked over to her.

“What’s wrong, Onii?”

“Nothing.”

“Nyizel, I think you should wear that maid outfit more often.”

“I’d have to change the shop’s name from Midnight Apothecary to Maid Apothecary.”

“The Midnight Maid is pretty good too, Onii,” my sister said in a playful tone.

“This is not a hentai.”

Lily seemed puzzled by the word I had used.

“What is hentai?”

I was not sure how to dig myself out of this grave. While Lily was an adult and by the standard laws of this world I was too, there was a part of me that still had that some mentality of a sixteen year from the previous world.

“Yeah, Onii. Why don’t you show Lily what hentai is from our world,” my sister giggled as she nudged me towards Lily.

“Why don’t you you help her with that one, imouto,” I said turning the tides on her.

“No, no, I insist, Onii. You first.”

“Why don’t the two of you just show me what this hentai is together?” Lily said with a smile.

The room fell silent as my sister and I realised what we had done.

“Hey… Onii…”

“I know…”

“You think—”

“I know…”

Lily continued to stare at us with a puzzled expression. I sighed and looked over to my sister.

“You should tell her, imouto. You are a girl after all.”

“Fair enough, Onii.”

My sister moved closer to Lily and began to whisper into her ear. She explained the details of hentai from our world and with each passing minute I could see Lily’s cheeks fluster at what my sister was saying. The explanation lasted a full six minutes and nine seconds.

“…and then there is all that but with tentacles,” my sister said as she finished her explanation.

Lily was at a lost for words. I was unsure how to feel about Lily knowing a niche culture from our homeland. Japan had created many things to be proud of. We were considered hard working in various crafts. Apparently, a bit too hard working. It was definitely something that had an… interesting take on things and provided people entertainment in ways that other media could not.

“H-Hey… Nyizel…”

I watched as Lily fiddled with the hem of her skirt like a girl scared to ask the person she liked out.

“You’re not going to tell me I should change the shop name to the Hentai Apothecary, are you?”

“W-Well… um…”

“I could use more wine! Onii, bring me more wine.”

My sister managed to change the topic and taking the bone like a dog, I made my way up the stairs and fixed up three glasses of wine. After tonight, it would be best to forget the conversation that took place.