Selene, who had been sitting very still at the end of the table through all of this, finally spoke. Her voice was quiet but clear enough for everyone to hear.
"No one in this house is an adventurer who can go on missions with Lys. Not yet. And I am going to fix that."
The room went silent as she declared that she was going to be an adventurer.
Elara looked completely baffled by that. She hadn't expected this at all. Her eyes widened slightly as she stared at Selene. "What are you talking about? How would you become an adventurer? And from when did you start thinking about this?"
Selene met her eyes directly. She didn't look nervous. She looked determined.
"The thought didn't just come to me tonight to save Lys or anything like that," she said to Elara to clarify her determination. "I've been thinking about it for longer than tonight. Since the day Lys showed me his guild card, I've been thinking about it. I have already started the serious portion of my priestess training, the combat-applicable texts in the old books from Father. And I've been doing the physical conditioning required for that in the mornings for the past couple of days before anyone is awake. I didn't say anything yet because I wanted to be far enough along that it wasn't just an idea. And I think it's not just an idea anymore. That's why I'm saying it out loud now."
She looked at Elara steadily. "I am going to become a priestess adventurer. And I am going to join his party. I will be the person who is with him when he goes out, and I will be someone capable enough to actually matter when things go wrong in his missions. That is not a maybe. That is what I am planning to do. That is my goal."
The room stayed quiet after that. No one spoke for several long seconds. Selene's speech spoke volumes about how determined she was about it. There was no question in it that she was serious.
Elara looked at her for a long moment. Then she looked at Lys. Then, at Mira, who was nodding without trying to hide it, which made Elara suspect that Mira knew about it from before.
Then Elara asked the room in general, her voice careful, "Is this actually possible? Can Selene be the rope that holds Lys back from danger, realistically?"
Sara answered from her chair, finally seeing the chance to shift the whole conversation upside-down. "Yes, it is possible. I have seen Selene's talent firsthand. We were at the academy together. Selene is more capable than she has ever shown in this village. If she is serious, and she looks serious to me at least, then yes. It is possible."
Something shifted in Elara's face at hearing Sara acknowledge Selene's strength and determination. Not full capitulation happened in her resolve. Not yet. But the first crack in the certainty she had sat down with tonight formed.
She said slowly, "If what Selene says is really serious… then I might just reconsider about the ban."
The decision wasn't reversed, but it was visibly moved. Mira exhaled beside Lys with quiet relief. She had been holding her breath for the last twenty minutes.
Elara added, "But I want everyone to understand, if I do revise this, it will come with conditions. Real ones. Not suggestions you can ignore if you want."
Lys nodded quickly. "Yes, I will take whatever conditions you give, if I can do adventuring."
Elara looked at him for a long moment. She said nothing else for a while.
But seeing her expression, Mira spoke up before she could. "If you think that only Selene is not enough, then I'll also become an adventurer."
The room went still again.
Lys turned his head toward Mira, surprised. Elara's eyebrows rose. Sara leaned forward slightly, interested. Even Mitsu, who had been quiet the whole time, looked up with wide eyes.
Even after seeing the look on her mother's face, Mira didn't back down. She sat straighter on the chair and continued, "I'm serious too, you know. If Selene is going to train to be part of his party, then I can do the same. I'm not useless with a sword, and I've been helping Lys with hunting for years. I can learn swordsmanship properly. I can get stronger. I don't want him to stop adventuring altogether."
Elara rubbed her forehead with one hand, clearly overwhelmed by how quickly the conversation had shifted. "Mira… you too?"
"Yes, me too," Mira said firmly. "If the problem is that he goes out alone, then the solution isn't to stop him from going out. The solution is to make sure he doesn't go out alone. And the best people to go with him are the ones who actually care whether he comes back or not."
Selene nodded slowly, agreeing with her sister-in-law. "Exactly. That's what I've been thinking too."
Lys sat there, listening to both of them. The surprise on his face slowly turned into something warmer. He hadn't expected this, not from Selene, and definitely not from Mira. The idea that both of them were willing to train and step into the dangerous world of adventuring just to stay by his side made him feel happy and cherished.
Sara watched the three of them with a small, thoughtful smile. "Well… this is turning into an interesting family meeting."
Elara let out a long sigh. She looked exhausted, but there was also a hint of reluctant pride in her eyes as she looked at her daughter.
"Okay, I need time to think about all of this," she said finally. "This is not a small thing. If both of you are serious about becoming adventurers… then…just forget it. We will talk about it properly tomorrow. When all of us are rested properly. Not tonight. Tonight, everyone needs rest. Especially Lys."
No one argued with her.
The tension in the room didn't disappear, but it shifted a little. The decision wasn't reversed, but it was no longer set in stone; everyone in the room knew it now. For the first time that evening, there was a small opening, a possibility that things could change in this house for the better.