As soon as I returned to Belfast, without even going back to my room, I went to report. Pops was surprised at how quick I was, but I reported the job was complete. I also mentioned the Hunter shortage.
“I see. However, it’s difficult to send them back now. I did say we’d vacate the towns after the generals captured them, but we can’t completely empty them out. A small number must remain to maintain some level of public order and act as messengers if something happens.”
From what I hear, the generals are already on the offensive. Apparently, since no Imperials have infiltrated yet, they assessed that the towns would fall easily now and decided to invade.
“Is Marquis Arbane with them?”
“No, I had the Marquis stay behind. I couldn’t very well ask him to march after dumping such a troublesome territory on him.”
After that, I briefly discussed the Hunter qualification matter with Pops, and he was surprisingly receptive, saying, “If it’s just within Belfast for now, that might be an option.”
He said he’d bring up whether to try it out in Orde as a trial phase at a meeting, so I left it to him.
After that, we chatted about seeing the sea and the Monsters I fought, then I left his room and headed to see the Marquis, who happened to be visiting the Castle.
“Your Highness! I heard you delivered water to Orde!”
When I knocked and entered the room, I was invited to the facing Platform.
“Um, you’re planning to entrust it to Aunt Mary, right?”
“Yes, that’s the plan… Could there be a problem?”
I shook my head, telling the worried-looking Marquis that wasn’t it, and took out about fifty Large Gold Coins.
“I think she’d hesitate if it came from me, so I was hoping you could give it to her, Marquis. To me, Aunt Mary is like a second mother, so I don’t want her to go through any hardship.”
The Marquis shook his head, saying, “Securing funds for the Orde territory is my job,” but I bowed my head and said, “Please, I insist.”
“Your Highness, if you feel that strongly… Very well. I will gratefully accept it, along with your kind sentiment. We’ve just finished selecting personnel and were about to send them, so I believe it can be delivered promptly.”
The Marquis straightened his posture and, holding it carefully as if receiving an award certificate, bowed deeply. I thought he was being rather stiff, but I was relieved he accepted it.
It seems Aunt Mary’s appointment was a consideration so that she and Uncle Rudolf could eventually establish a house.
Aunt Mary, naturally, is not the heir to the Marquis’s house. Uncle Rudolf comes from a Baron’s family but has left it.
Apparently, this was the most suitable way for their children to inherit a title.
Um, that child is Yume, right… I wonder if she’ll be okay.
Despite these worries, the discussion ended, and I left the room.
Yuri, who had gone to make her return report, said she’d come to my room when she was done, so I entered my room hoping she was already there, but for some reason, I found Yume and Yuri.
“Huh… It’s Yume. So you came after all.”
“Huh? What do you mean, ‘came after all’?! Aren’t you happy I came to see you!?”
“Well, if it weren’t wartime. Anyway, I’m glad you seem well.”
Seeing Yume picking a fight with me as usual, with no change in attitude like I’d worried about, I felt relieved.
“Yuri, let me introduce you. This is my younger sister, Yume. She’s a cheeky brat, but she has a few good points, so I’d be happy if you could get along with her moderately well…”
“Eh!? A younger sister, is she!?”
Her sullen face changed into a smile.
Huh, they were in the same room, so I meant it as a formal re-introduction, but…
When I added, “She’s Aunt Mary and Uncle Rudolf’s child,” she nodded, saying, “I see.”
“Rui-nii, who’s this girl?”
“My fiancée… or the person who will be.”
Yume froze, her face showing disbelief, as if saying, “Wha…”
Hahaha, surprised? I bet you are, I bet you are. She’s cute and an incredibly good girl. I want to praise myself for doing so well. No, am I getting ahead of myself?
I was getting carried away thinking that, but it seems she was thinking something different.
“Rui-nii, aren’t you going to marry me!?”
“Huh? I never said that! Where’d you hear that!?”
“Dad said I should support Rui by his side in the future… That’s what he said!”
Huh? Uncle Rudolf, you didn’t explain it properly!? Not even about our positions?
Wondering how much she knew, I checked, and she understood I was a prince. When I asked if she knew what ‘being an attendant’ meant, she seemed to understand that too.
“But! If I stay by your side and keep supporting you, Rui-nii is bound to fall for me! And yet you have a fiancée… That’s cheating, isn’t it!?”
“I won’t fall for you! Besides, you’re my sister! You always have been, haven’t you!?”
“No way! It’s so inconvenient when Rui-nii isn’t around!”
“As usual, there’s no room for sympathy with you…”
I retorted while pushing Yume’s face away as she tried to hug me, but once she gets like this, she stays this way.
When Uncle Rudolf, unable to watch any longer, would make me give in because I’m the ‘older brother,’ she’d start throwing a tantrum and keep it up until she got her way.
“Rui-nii, if you don’t cut it out, I’m going to get angry! You’ll be sorry if you make me, a Hunter, angry!”
“Huh? You… you’re not actually thinking of using violence to control your family, are you?”
When I gave her a cold stare, Yume flinched and stopped trying to jump on me. I immediately sat down next to Yuri, who was looking at me worriedly.
“So, yeah, she’s this kind of troublesome little sister. Yuri, you be careful too and keep a moderate distance, okay?”
“Th-that’s so mean!! Rui-nii, you idiot! I’m gonna tell Dad on you!”
“Yeah, go right ahead. Especially about this!”
Go get a good talking-to from him. Well, if she were the type to change her mind over something like that, I wouldn’t have such a hard time. But it should slow her down a bit.
“‘You’ll regret this!’ Yume shouted as she ran off. But how did she even get in here… It couldn’t have been anyone but Uncle Rudolf, right?”
“…Sh-she’s a very energetic little sister, isn’t she?”
“You don’t have to be polite. She’s a handful, isn’t she? That’s her true self. And she doesn’t have any other face.”
Yuri, at a loss for words, let her eyes wander.
“Yuri, now that she’s here, be prepared to leave this place soon. I sense she’s even more carried away than before, so we might have to make a run for it.”
Yeah, if she becomes an enemy, even Uncle will side with her. It’s incredibly troublesome.
Well, it’s not like I hate her, and if it’s just ‘make this, do that’ kind of stuff, it’s fine, but if it looks like a situation where Yuri would be sad, keeping our distance is the only option.
“That would be pitiful…”
“…Then I’ll do it when you no longer think it’s pitiful, Yuri.”
“‘That time will never come,’ she said with an exasperated look, but I think it will someday.”
While we were talking, Yume burst in again without knocking, dragging Uncle Rudolf by the arm.
“Uncle, Yume has some strange misunderstanding…?”
“N-no, that’s not it! I never told her to marry you! Yume, you mustn’t!?”
“Then what! You mean I have to stay single even though I’ll always be by Rui-nii’s side!? Don’t you think that’s pitiful for me, Dad!?”
Yume continued to wail. Uncle, desperate to calm her down because causing a commotion in the Castle would be bad.
I was used to it, but Yuri remained completely bewildered.
“‘That’s enough! Stop crying and screaming in my room!’ I shouted, kicking them both out.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen you so merciless, Rui. Are you always like that with your family?”
“Ah, yeah. Basically, only with Yume. I was normal with Aunt Mary, wasn’t I?”
Yes, trouble only starts when Yume begins being selfish.
And it always ends with an unreasonable resolution for me.
Uncle always says, “She’s pitiful, so Rui, you should give in halfway.”
And then I have to grant half of her selfish demands.
Well, it was mostly just her wanting to play with me, so it wasn’t that bad.
But this time, there’s no ‘halfway.’ It was only natural for me to take a firm stance.
Once again, the sound of frantic footsteps echoed, and Yume burst in.
“Yurisia-san, duel me for Rui-nii!”
…Huh? What’s that about? Is she planning to raise a hand against Yuri?
Her ridiculous words ticked me off, and I stood up, but Yuri stopped me.
“If I win, you will give up. Is that acceptable?”
“Fine! I won’t lose!”
Huh, why did Yuri-chan accept? This isn’t something to be solved with violence, is it? Yuri will definitely win, but… well, if that’s the case, is it okay?
I wasn’t convinced, but it was convenient. Given the situation, I watched with a twitching cheek as they moved to a different location and promptly began to fight.
The place they arrived at was the familiar training ground in front of the soldiers’ station.
“The match will be decided by fainting due to Magical Power depletion, or by admitting surrender. Now, please begin.”
Yuri didn’t even don her Maso, materializing only a single small sword.
“Underestimating me… Fine, it’ll be too late to complain once you find out how strong I am!”
As if in response, Yume also materialized only her weapons. They were somewhat unusual weapons: curved Twin Swords. Clearly the weapons of a speed-type Maso.
Yume lowered her stance and then, without a pause, dashed forward as if taking flight.
Ah, she’s slow.
I was a little worried about what I’d do if she had actually gotten really strong, but she was just normally strong for her age.
Alright, Yuri, go get her!
And so, smiling, I sat down on my Maso chair and switched to spectator mode.
“Rui, why didn’t you stop her!?”
“Hey, Yume was the one who started it, wasn’t she!? That’s your job! Besides, if Yuri is her opponent, it’ll be fine. She’ll just get a little roughed up, that’s all.”
My Uncle, grumbling and conflicted, retorted desperately.
“Aren’t you worried? Yume is pretty strong, you know?”
“Nah, she’s weak. Even if she went twice as fast, Yuri would still win overwhelmingly, you know?”
When I urged him to look at the match, Yuri was deflecting all of Yume’s reckless Twin Sword swings with a small dagger.
Without moving a single step.
“Huh… Isn’t she stronger than me?”
“Of course. Yuri is my master, you know?”
“Come to think of it, you did say you lost to her too, Rui…”
Yeah. I still don’t feel like I can win against her in close combat.
No, wait… If I increase my enhancement output, could I do it?
At least in terms of physical ability, I’m superior now.
I’m significantly outmatched in skill, but if I further increase my enhancement output…
Maybe I should have her spar with me next…
Lately, Yuri doesn’t even like me fighting Monsters on the front lines unless she knows they’re small fry, and if things stay like this, it’s a bit…
Man, Yuri is as insane as ever…
She keeps knocking Yume’s swords away.
She plans to drain all her Magical Power just by doing that, huh…
“Wh-why! Why aren’t you attacking me!!”
“That is because if I were to cut you with this sword, I would kill you.”
“–!?”
Yume, looking a little pale, crouched down and started crying.
Yuri, flustered, deactivated her Maso and approached to comfort her.
“Yuri! Those are fake tears, you know!”
As I warned Yuri not to fall for it, Yume clicked her tongue and attacked again.
The difference in their strength wasn’t something that could be overcome by that. She was quickly dodged and sent tumbling.
“Why are you interfering, Rui-nii!!”
“I will! Are you an idiot!!”
“Idiot! I don’t care anymore!!”
Yume dashed off with a pyuuu sound, fleeing the scene without settling the match.
Uncle ran after her.
“Well then, Yuri, shall we go next?”
“Eh… What are we… betting…?”
Eh, why do you look so anxious?
I won’t suggest anything unpleasant.
“Fufufu… How about the winner gets a lap pillow?”
That way, even if I lose, I can forgive myself.
I said that, thinking so, but Yuri’s eyes sparkled.
“I-If you insist… very well.
I’ll see just how much stronger you’ve become.
Since it’s a match, I’ll go all out, but no hard feelings, okay?”
We both clad ourselves in Full Armament and clashed with our Maso at full power, but Yuri, knowing she was outmatched in raw strength, lightly parried everything.
“As expected of my master. You pull off techniques I can’t do so easily…”
“I’m the one who’s surprised! You’ve gotten too strong!”
Doing the same thing would be pointless, so I initiated the next exchange, increasing my enhancement.
I could see Yuri’s movements starting to fail to keep up with my second, then third consecutive attack.
I can overwhelm her!
The moment I thought that and swung my sword down, Yuri slipped past my side, and the joint of my elbow was slashed.
The Maso on the joint was split wide open.
If it hadn’t been offset by Magical Power, I would have lost right there.
“Eh, what was that just now…”
“It’s a combat technique that uses the opponent’s strength.
Simply put, it’s a technique where you redirect the force of an opponent’s attack and add it to your own.
I can’t afford to lose anymore, so I refined what I was learning to a level where I could use it somewhat in actual combat.”
Huh…?
We’ve been together all the time lately, haven’t we? When I asked about her not having time, she started nagging me about the days I went to the Abyss.
“In the first place, you could have taken me to that Abyss with you!”
“Well, you know, I want to get stronger and protect Yuri too, and Monsters are a limited resource, you could say?”
“That’s unfair!” she said, and I retreated under her reckless assault.
And then she chose to press her attack further. Perhaps driven by emotion, her moves became sloppy.
Alright, this is it! I layered on even more enhancement and lunged, but it was me who ended up on the ground.
Huh… What just happened?
Blood oozed from my side. It wasn’t deep, but it seemed my Magical Power offset couldn’t completely keep up with an attack from outside my perception.
I immediately treated it with Healing Magic.
“R-Ruiii!! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
“Nah, I’m used to this much by now. But still, I can’t win yet, huh…”
After finishing the treatment and calming down the tearful Yuri, I was told a sad truth.
“Rui, you’re too simple.
You mustn’t jump at obvious openings and make monotonous attacks.
Besides… if you can move that well, you should be able to dodge something like that.”
Apparently, her reckless attack was a feint.
As I was feeling down, for some reason, I heard the sound of applause.
Turning my gaze towards the sound, I saw a large number of soldiers watching us.
Muu. I showed them a pathetic side of me…
Dejected, I waved back at the applause before returning to my room.
Trying to soothe my frayed nerves, I sat on the bed and patted my lap.
And then, I continued to stroke the head of Yuri, who fidgeted and rested her head on my lap like a cat.