☆★☆★☆★
So I paid a visit to Sheryl’s room, and…
Sure enough, grimoires were strewn across the entire floor, leaving absolutely nowhere to step. Still a disaster zone, I thought, a wry smile slipping onto my face.
She had been given an exceptionally nice, incredibly spacious room… but being able to wreck it this magnificently was a unique talent all its own.
“Haha, this is quite a sight.”
“…I am completely hopeless when it comes to daily life. You told me before, Ephthal, that it is nothing to boast about.”
“No, you can definitely boast about it.”
“…Eh?”
“Because it just means you’re studying hard, right? I didn’t notice it before, but looking at it now, that’s clearly the case. The room is messy, sure, but it isn’t dirty. And the fact that you rarely go out stems from the same thing. You grudged the time it took to sleep, you grudged the time it took to go outside, all so you could study magic. So the only things cluttering the place are your books… or am I wrong?”
“…I’m surprised. How did you know?”
“Because the Ice God Emperor’s room was apparently identical to this one. I guess it really does run in the blood.”
To be fair, I was guilty of the exact same habit in my past life. Once I start researching something, I’ll spread dozens of reference books across the floor and leave them all wide open.
“By the way, Sheryl? I need you to tell me about your brother… about Brad.”
“…I have not seen him in a very long time. The semifinal the other day was the first time we’ve met in ages.”
“No, you haven’t physically met up, I already know that much. What I’m asking about is the correspondence you’ve been having via that invisible familiar.”
At my question, Sheryl’s eyes went wide with shock.
“…I am truly caught off guard.”
“Will you tell me? What exactly is your brother trying to accomplish? On my end, since I’m sending Maria and Anastasia into the finals, I need to know the truth—if only to secure their safety as much as humanly possible.”
Well, that was half true and half a convenient excuse. For now, even if I wanted to continue treating Sheryl’s mana depletion, if the Fire God Emperor was pulling the strings in the background… there was no telling what kind of traps had been laid. Without knowing the full picture, moving carelessly would be like blindly stepping into a minefield. In my past life, the Fire God Emperor was a mage a cut or two above me. There is no muscling your way through a fight against an opponent who outranks your capabilities.
“…Before I answer, I want to ask you something, Ephthal. The reason I kept silent about my communication with Brother until now was because I did not want to drag you into trouble. Because Brother seems… to be diving further and further down a very dark path.”
“A kid like you doesn’t need to stress over stuff like that.”
At my words, Sheryl puffed out her cheeks in a silent pout. Yet, her face remained largely expressionless. Something about that quiet stubbornness amused me, and I let out a soft laugh.
“…If you get involved, it will only bring you trouble. I am merely an abandoned puppy. I think it would be better… if you just looked at me that way.”
“I’m already in this boat with you, Sheryl. Actually, scratch that—I’ve already set sail. It’ll be much easier for me to navigate if you just tell me what’s going on.”
“…Mm.” Sheryl gave a small, hesitant nod. “…I do not know what Brother’s ultimate goal is. But… I can explain the circumstances.”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“—It will be a somewhat long story.”
And it truly was a long, harrowing story.
It began from the moment she was taken in by her adoptive parents. For as far back as her memory reached, magic training had been forced upon Sheryl and her twin sister, entirely by compulsion. Viewed as nothing more than biological tools to elevate the family’s noble name—and with absolute disregard for their tender age—savage, dangerous training regimens were carried out endlessly.
Consequently, they were never shown a shred of parental affection. None of their other adoptive siblings wanted anything to do with them, either. They lived completely isolated within the vast walls of the mansion.
And her brother, Brad? His treatment within the household was just as miserable.
Because he possessed zero magic aptitude, he was treated as an utter outcast within the family. He was kept no differently from a common servant—no, he was viewed as something far beneath one. Frequently, as a means for their parents to relieve stress, brutal beatings under the guise of “discipline” were routinely carried out for no reason at all.
Yet, despite the abuse, Brad remained incredibly kind-hearted. He always looked out for the isolated Sheryl and her twin sister. Inside that massive ducal estate, those three were utterly estranged from everyone else… but because they were alone in the exact same way, they huddled together to survive.
Then, when Sheryl was six years old, her twin sister’s health abruptly failed. Upon investigating the cause, the symptoms of severe magic power depletion finally came to light. Because there are rare, congenital cases of individuals showing similar symptoms, the family’s illegal spirit connection wasn’t exposed, but… well, for anyone belonging to a mage lineage, it remained a fatal defect regardless.
Her planned enrollment at the magic academy was instantly canceled… and that was when the true horror occurred.
The twin sister, having lost all practical utility to the family, was scheduled to be sold off. The sordid circumstances were to be kept strictly buried. She was to be auctioned to a lower-tier noble house of the mage line that had been unable to conceive children.
Being a direct descendant of the legendary first Ice God Emperor, she would still command an astronomical price. For a low-ranking noble house, the plan would be to take in a relative of their own as an adopted son-in-law down the line, finalizing a marriage. By doing so, they would gain the immense prestige of being kin to the Ice God Emperor, preserving their house’s lineage. Essentially, Sheryl’s sister was nothing more than a convenient, high-value commodity.
Which meant the ducal house that had taken Sheryl and her sister in operated on the exact same ruthless logic—they were simply trying to cut their losses and resell defective goods.
Tossed about solely for the convenience of adults until the bitter end—it was a genuinely gut-churning story.
But then, one day… right before she could be sold off as an adopted daughter… Sheryl’s sister died.
Afterward, Brad and Sheryl enrolled at the magic academy at the same time, and the terrifying symptoms of magic power depletion began manifesting in Sheryl as well. Naturally, her condition quickly became common knowledge among the academy staff. At that point, attempting to quietly resell her to another noble house with the facts covered up was no longer an option.
And so, she was completely disowned by the family. Her life from that point onward matched what I already knew.
Brad, whose grades at the academy were consistently anchored to the absolute bottom of the rankings, was discarded in the exact same manner, labeled entirely incompetent. Consequently, in a desperate bid to afford his own tuition and purchase the expensive magic crystals necessary to keep Sheryl alive… Brad knocked on the door to the underworld.
That was the sequence of events that brought them here.
“…I have barely seen Brother over the last two years. We exchange letters, but he says almost nothing regarding his own circumstances… I was deeply shocked when he suddenly unleashed Level 7 magic.”
“I see. Before you stopped seeing Brad regularly, did you notice anything unusual about him?”
“…Year by year, the size of the magic crystals I required grew larger, and he constantly seemed to be running into a wall financially.”
The price of high-grade magic crystals didn’t just increase incrementally with size; the digits on the price tag multiplied exponentially. Even by taking on the most perilous underground jobs imaginable, a mere student would blow past the limits of what they could afford in no time at all.
“By the way, Sheryl? Could you tell me the exact contents of his recent familiar messages?”
“…Brother said… that we should live together. He promised me that all sorts of things would start going well very soon. He told me that I would never have to worry about my mana depletion ever again.”
Going well soon, huh…
The foundation for that confidence was undoubtedly the massive Soul Eater circle currently rigged within the magic academy.
“Thank you. I think I understand the situation now.”
Yes, that piece of information solidified everything. In all probability… Brad intended to use the harvested souls of the students to refine raw magic crystals, or something incredibly close to it. When you think about it, a magic academy is the most ideal venue imaginable for that kind of horrific work. It is a closed environment where young souls brimming with high-purity magic power—yet possessing incredibly immature magic resistance—gather together in a single hall.
But opting for a monstrous method like that would make him a catastrophic felon. No matter how powerful you might be as an individual, making an enemy out of an entire nation… let alone the whole world… is a losing battle.
His invitation to live together was, in short, a summons to a lifetime on the run.
“So? What do you want to do?”
“…Honestly, I am deeply torn… I… loved Brother.”
“Loved? Why the past tense?”
“…Because Brother killed my twin sister.”
“…What?”
“…I do not know his reasons. But that night… I saw it. I heard an unusual noise in the dead of night, and my sister’s bedroom door was locked. When I looked through the keyhole in the knob… I could clearly see Brother inside, forcefully siphoning away my sister’s magic power.”
“Do you have any idea why he would do that?”
“…Brother… he became entirely different. After he cross paths with that mysterious, red-haired boy… Brother completely changed.”
The red-haired boy… that could only be the Fire God Emperor. No, given the context, it was an absolute certainty.
“Can you tell me more about that boy?”
“…He only came to our estate once. He visited the ducal house out of nowhere… and I remember my adoptive father acting incredibly strange.”
“Strange how?”
“…He behaved normally on the surface, but it felt utterly wrong. My arrogant, prideful father—for reasons I couldn’t comprehend—treated that boy, who looked far younger than him, as though he were royalty. And afterward, when I tried to ask about the visitor… Father just looked at me blankly and asked, ‘What are you talking about?’—as though no such person had ever existed.”
Memory manipulation, or high-level brainwashing… huh? To produce an effect that absolute, it would require a spell ranking at Level 9 or above. It was definitely the work of the Fire God Emperor.
“And did you speak with the boy yourself?”
“…I barely spoke to him at all. The only thing he did was take Brother into a separate room… I have no idea what they discussed in secret, but afterward, Brother became completely withdrawn, constantly brooding over something… and a week later, my sister was dead.”
It looks like meeting Brad directly is going to be the fastest route, then, I realized. I needed to pry the details regarding the Fire God Emperor out of him myself. No further useful information was going to come from Sheryl.
“…For some reason, Ephthal, you smell exactly the same as Brother used to… the very scent of your magic power is so close to his. Colorless… a deeply, deeply rare aura. But it feels warm… the exact same warmth Brother carried before he changed, before that awful night… I cannot… express it well.”
“No, I get what you mean, more or less.”
Magic power takes a powerful, permanent impression from the state of one’s mind. The “color” she referred to was likely the manifestation of magic aptitude. And that “warmth” was undoubtedly a reflection of a peaceful soul. Something must have been done to Brad during that clandestine meeting with the Fire God Emperor—something that completely shattered his internal stability and left him unable to maintain his sanity.
“…And that is why my love for Brother belongs in the past tense. Ever since that night, I… I have been terrified of him. No—it is more like I completely stopped understanding who he is.”
“And regarding his offer to live together—what are your intentions?”
“…As I am right now, I cannot bring myself to run away with him… but… someday, I want to sit down and talk to him properly. That is what I truly want. I want to know why he did that to my sister… he has no idea that I witnessed it, and until now, I was far too terrified to ever ask.”
“…”
“…”
A heavy silence settled between us.
“By the way, Sheryl—looking at all these grimoires strewn around your room, why do you continue to study the magic arts so obsessively? Given that you carry the burden of mana depletion, casting spells that actively drain your remaining magic power is literal poison to your body. Even… if you have access to a magic crystal.”
“…Because I believe that if I keep trying, something might change.”
“Something might change?”
“…The fact that my adoptive father discarded me like trash, the fact that Brother was forced to walk a dark path in the criminal underworld… all of it originates from my own absolute powerlessness. There is no mistake about this. If I possessed true power, I would never have been thrown away. If I had power, Brother would never have struggled so desperately for money. All of this misery is a direct result of my own weakness. That is what is wrong with this world.”
True enough, I thought.
Or rather, if Sheryl possessed an overwhelming, absolute layer of power like mine, her life would never have devolved into this tragedy. If it were me, I could effortlessly generate whatever quantity of magic power my body required, and I certainly wouldn’t be discarded as a magic failure. Furthermore, if you ever find yourself struggling for funds, you can earn as much wealth as you desire by taking on top-tier requests at the adventurers’ guild.
“…I want power. In this cruel destiny where misfortune blows around me like a relentless storm, I refuse to remain a tiny, helpless boat left adrift. With my own hands gripping the oars… I want to pull myself out of the tempest. That is what I believe.”
“…”
Unsure of what words could possibly comfort her, I let the silence stretch out. After a long pause, Sheryl gave a small, resolute nod.
“…Just a moment ago… I said I was torn about what to do regarding Brother. But now… I have made up my mind. I will not go with him. So… until the day comes when I can confront Brother and speak with him properly… I want you to let me stay here, Ephthal.”
“Whether you stay or go is entirely your choice, Sheryl. If this is what you want, the doors to this mansion will always be open to you. Even if you decide to leave and come back later, you will always have a place here.”
“…Thank you. Ever since Brother killed my sister… I felt like I had nowhere left to belong in this world. But here… I feel like I might have finally found a place where I truly belong. Truly… thank you.”
With those words, Sheryl completely broke down, tears streaming down her face.
She had likely never shared this crushing burden with a single living soul until today. She had carried it entirely alone, agonizing over the horror, paralyzed by fear. With absolutely nothing she could do to fix it, this poor kid had simply shut herself away in a messy room, trembling in the dark.
She was drowning in anxiety regarding her own uncertain future, while simultaneously carrying a profound distrust toward the brother she loved more than anyone else. She had spent years endlessly turning those thoughts over and over, her mind trapped in a vicious, exhausting cycle.
She might have been raised within a bizarre noble lineage under highly unique, magic circumstances… but strip all of that away, and at the root of it, this kid was just a child.
Yes, the person weeping in front of me right now was nothing more than an ordinary, vulnerable nine-year-old girl.
“You’ve been carrying this all alone, haven’t you? But it’s okay now. You don’t have to be lonely anymore.”
When I stepped forward and pulled her into a tight embrace, Sheryl looked up at me, a deeply relieved, fragile expression finally washing over her face.