Chapter 5 – The Thunder God Returns Home
“Eeeeh?! Brother and Mother… ended up together?!”
In the end, after all that, we decided to leave Svetlana at the Dragon’s Treasure Vault. No, having someone like that along really would have been a trial, a thorough nuisance to boot. Still, she’s an old acquaintance, so I mean to look in on her now and then.
Anyway, at long last we’d reached home, or rather the ducal mansion. I’d sent word of my return by letter, so we were welcomed in the drawing room, Cecilia nee-san included. But the greetings were barely done when Mother, a wedding ring on her finger—
“I’ve married Fraser-sama.”
—dropped that sudden confession. And to me, frozen, my brother, seated beside her, gave a small, sheepish nod.
“That’s… how it’s turned out.”
No, thinking it over carefully, there are things that add up. Cecilia nee-san loved me far too much, and used to visit endlessly at that house where I lived with Mother, the two of us. And, my brother had been visiting at a tremendous pace too. Unable to watch our money-grubbing father any longer, he’d personally been helping with our living expenses, or so the story went, coming to the house on that account. My brother is a kind man. So there’s no doubt he had a wish to save a younger brother in financial straits. Yes, of that there’s no possible doubt. But… well… that there were other circumstances behind it besides, I can’t deny either.
—In short, on the sly, behind the scenes… Fraser nii-san and Mother had… ended up together.
As the son, being made to watch the two of them looking so happy leaves me at a loss for how to react. My brother and Mother share no blood. She’d be an older wife, but they’re close in age. Both are good-looking, and as a well-matched couple they’re a well-matched couple.
—But, bluntly, it’s awkward.
No, there are, of course, things I think, along the lines of surely not.
“But you know, Ephthal-chan?”
“Eh? What is it… Mother?”
Mother, who’d been seated across from me, rose and came over. Shoving Merlin aside, she wedged herself in next to me on the drawing-room sofa and… hm? Why is she wrapping both her palms around my right hand? And why is she gazing fixedly into my eyes, cheeks flushed?
“Listen, Ephthal-chan? I don’t want you to misunderstand, but Mother’s true darling will always, always be Ephthal-chan alone.”
“No, you’re already my wife, aren’t you?!”
To a flustered Fraser, Mother declared, sharp and flat:
“That’s one thing, and this is another.”
“What do you mean by that, Ilya-san?!”
“There’s a saying, too, that sweets go to a separate stomach.”
“Ilya-san! I don’t understand you at all!”
There Cecilia nee-san, likewise seated opposite, sprang to her feet with force. This time she shoved aside Anastasia, who’d been sitting beside me, and wedged in on the side opposite Mother. Then Cecilia nee-san wound both arms around my left arm.
“Your big sister’s true darling is Ephthal too, always and forever!”
How to put it, these two… never waver. Not in the slightest… not by a single millimeter do they waver. And in the thick of that intense scene, Merlin, elbowed aside by Mother, began to tremble. Then Merlin drew a great, sharp breath—
“My true darling is Ephthal-sama alone!”
“What are you saying, Merlin?!”
“Don’t lay your hands so freely on Ephthal-sama, you mere human!”
Merlin’s roar of fury… And really, why is she in such a rage? In any case, at her words Mother and Cecilia nee-san instantly went red in the face and started to tremble too.
“Ilya-san! This is exactly why I was against sending my transcendently beautiful, ultra-cute Ephthal-chan to the magic academy! And sure enough, my Ephthal-chan’s been stalked by some old crone…!”
“Who are you calling an old crone, you?!”
No, you’re over four hundred, Merlin. Crone or not, there’s no doubt you’re advanced in years.
“Ephthal-chan?! Mother will not permit it! I will not permit you to consort with some hippopotamus whose one selling point is a big chest! A big-chested woman is a hippopotamus, that’s been settled since the old days!”
No, Mother… I’ve no idea what you’re saying. She spotted the chest and disparaged it in her rush to deny Merlin, I suppose. And a hippopotamus, of all things… I don’t understand why it’s a hippo…
“A hippopotamus, you say?! And if it comes to that, your own chest is the bigger, isn’t it?!”
Well, Mother’s rather busty too. Setting Svetlana’s off-the-charts case aside, at the human level Mother’s in the top class… no, what am I thinking.
“Big chest or no, I’m shielded by the love-power of loving Ephthal-chan, so I’m perfectly fine! And how many years do you think Ephthal-chan and I go back?! For a nobody who’s just turned up like you to complain… you’re a hundred years too early!”
Sorry, Mother. In all seriousness, I’ve no idea what you’re saying…
And at those words, veins throbbing up on her temples, Merlin’s eyes rolled to white.
“Ephthal-sama and I have four hundred years of history!”
At that, Mother and Cecilia nee-san traded a look and considered a while, then, in perfect unison, harmonized:
“Now, now, your little jokes.”
Well, that would be the reaction, yes.
“In any case, I’m telling you not to paw so freely at Ephthal-sama, you mere human!”
There Anastasia and the others, who’d kept quiet, began whispering, flustered.
“M-M-Maria-san? What are we supposed to do in this situation?”
“Keep quiet, Anastasia. Right now the wise move is to wait, still and silent, for the storm to pass.”
“…Mm. Bluntly, nothing we say will do a bit of good. These people are the genuine article.”
And so, one way and another, my brief homecoming began with an ugly quarrel among women.
⁂
That day—
I carried several materials that looked to be fairy tales from the mansion’s archive room back to my own room. Reading through the fairy tales from the angle of encryption, I could quickly pin down which book it was. Splitting the work with Merlin, we set to cracking the cipher. Some ten hours from the start… I finished at three in the dead of night, and let out a sigh.
“Now then, a dead end, at last.”
“Yes, so it is, Ephthal-sama.”
“…The material for the Key of Solomon that opens the road to the goddess is… in the poorest possible taste.”
The Scarlet of Hades too is a necromancer’s artifact, and its material is a human soul. And from Sasha’s note that it could be substituted, I’d formed a rough guess, but the truth was far above what I’d imagined.
“The soul of a human close to the subject… a loved one, or one held in affection, in short, the soul of someone precious, isn’t it.”
“Aye. It wasn’t because Sheryl’s sister was a spirit that Brad opened the road. It was because it was the soul of someone precious. The power of that grief, of that emotion, the wailing of the soul is the key that crosses the dimension of the wheel of rebirth.”
Damn it!, and I nearly hurled the book down on the spot. But Merlin reached out in an instant and stopped my hand.
“What will you do?”
“I’ve learned the method of the dimension-transfer rite that leads to the goddess! I’ve learned that offer another’s soul as material and the goddess grants an aptitude correction! But do you think a thing like that is something I could do?!”
“…”
“It’s a checkmate.”
“If I can be of use… I don’t mind offering up this body of mine.”
A dry crack rang through the room. It was the first time, I think, that I’d truly struck Merlin’s cheek with an open hand. Blood at her lip, Merlin stood rigid on the spot, wearing an expression beyond describing.
“Don’t say it twice. Next time I use my fist.”
“…My apologies.”
“…”
“…”
“…Sorry. And… thank you.”
“…I accept the thanks, but there’s no need for the apology.”
Still, with this, everything’s back to square one. Curing magic aptitude carries a sacrifice, and there’s no way I could choose that road. Sacrificing someone precious is out of the question. And curing aptitude with another’s soul for material is likewise out of the question. The Scarlet of Hades can apparently stand in for another’s soul, but if it can’t be used for the crucial work of opening the dimensional door, it means nothing.
“Are you all right, Ephthal-sama? Your color isn’t good.”
“…It’s a bitter thing. And I’m downcast, too.”
A dearest wish carried since a past life, just when I’d thought it about to be granted, and it’s this.
“But if there’s no road, there’s no help for it. It was fated, I suppose, that I take the plain, steady way by some other road.”
There Merlin turned her gaze to the fairy tale I’d set down on the desk.
“Ephthal-sama?”
“What is it, Merlin?”
“The title, did you translate it?”
“No, I hadn’t…” and I took up a pen and a fresh sheet and set to work on the book’s title. There being few characters, it was done in a few minutes, and the letters that stood written on the clean sheet were—
—The Lesser Key of Solomon ~The Reincarnator’s Goddess and the Road to the Ideal~
“The road to the ideal…?”
“Not to the root?”
I thought a while, then gave a small nod.
“If there’s a lesser key by the name of a loved one’s soul, then does that mean there’s a greater key that uses something else?”
“In any case—” I let out a small sigh. “The trail breaks off here. If it’s come to this, it’s faster to ask the Fire God Emperor or Sasha directly. In the Fire God Emperor’s case it’d mean crossing a very dangerous bridge, though.”
“You’d change tack to seeking contact from our side… you mean?”
“Whatever else, our hand, family, connections and all, is surely wide open to them. In any case, leave the Fire God Emperor be and he’ll make contact from his side, if only indirectly. And when he does, once I’ve got hold of his tail… next time I won’t let go.”
At the words, Merlin gave a small nod.
⁂
Now then, the sea.
Lately it feels like all I’ve done is fight, and all I’ve done is turn heavy thoughts over besides. Anastasia and Maria too showed the kind of tiredness that comes from a worn-down spirit, and, so, to the strong-sunned sea. Our nation faces the sea, and some twenty kilometers from the ducal mansion there’s the sea, plain and simple. Even in this world, sea-bathing in summer is an ordinary thing. It doesn’t get packed with people like a seaside near a Japanese city, but a beach with decent conditions has decently many people all the same. And we were on a private beach, making the fullest use of the ducal house’s privileges, but—
“Fufu, how about it, Ephthal! This swimsuit… how about it?!”
Ta-da!
Hands on her hips, Maria threw out her flat chest, same as ever. A hibiscus set in her hair, and a red bikini, low on exposure. Mm, simply cute, and it suits her well.
“Mm, cute, I think it’s very nice.”
“Just cute?”
“Mm, I think it’s cute.”
At my words Maria went bright red and, floundering, puffed out her cheeks.
“I-i-it’s a bikini, you know?! I’m putting up with the embarrassment to wear it! What’s with that reaction, ‘cute’?! You’re the worst! You’re the absolute worst! What is with you?! Honestly unbelievable!”
No, embarrassed in a bikini…? I don’t quite get that feeling to begin with, and it really is low on exposure.
“Master! What about mine?! How about this swimsuit?!”
And, looking at Anastasia as she came running over, I lost my voice.
“A-a-a micro-bikini?!”
Anastasia spun once for me. No, this one’s exposure is genuinely absurd. Sexy, or rather, so far past exposed that it’s at the level of having no decency. The back of it is almost nothing but a string. As for the top, it’s less cloth than a scrap of something like nori seaweed, covering the vital spots by way of a token apology. At the slightest jolt the cloth could slip and something that must not be seen could pop out to say hello. It’s that precarious a situation. And Anastasia wore a triumphant “ufufu” at me as I struggled for somewhere to put my eyes.
“Since it’s a seduction contest against Maria-san… I gave it my best♪”
A seduction… contest? What in the world are the two of you competing over… I let out a defeated sigh.
“What is with that, Anastasia?! That’s cheating! You’re basically just an exhibitionist pervert!”
“There’s a saying, too, the winner writes the rules!”
“What is with this exhibitionist?! Winning isn’t everything! Say, Ephthal?! Something perverted like this is out of the question, surely?!”
No, as I keep saying, what are the two of you competing over… And, with another sigh, all but unconsciously I answered from the heart.
“No, it’s not bad, though.”
“Idiot! Utter idiot! I’m done! I don’t know any Ephthal!”
Half in tears, like a defeated general, Maria spun on her heel and ran off the other way. No, where does she mean to run to, I thought, watching her back… ah, she tripped. Went down in a beautiful head-over-heels. As I laughed despite myself, Merlin, who’d somehow gotten behind me, spoke up.
“Hmph… little girls. This is true seduction!”
Anastasia and I opened and shut our mouths at ultra-high speed, like fish washed up on a beach. No, small wonder—
—You’ve got nothing on up top, Merlin-san.
It was a strong-style boldness that made me tack a -san onto my own disciple despite myself. A clean, unflinching figure that carried even a kind of bushido about it.
“Fufu, cowed, little girls?! A hundred years too early to think of beating me!”
Still, Merlin’s chest was a fairly dark color, are half-vampires all like this… no, what am I studying so closely?! And, coming back to my senses, I quickly turned my face from Merlin.
“Anyway, put your top on properly, Merlin!”
I flung the parka-style jacket I’d had on at Merlin.
“Ephthal-sama? What are you embarrassed about? You’ve seen not only my chest but… down to the hole of my backside.”
“No, that’s from when you were a baby, isn’t it?!”
As I floundered, Anastasia chimed in—
“The hole of the backside… between people who aren’t even both men, that’s impure! Out of the question!”
Er… Anastasia-san? What are you saying. Come to think of it, the other day, when she thought Sasha and I were entangled, she was gleefully chanting men’s bottoms, bottoms over and over… No, let’s not think too deeply about it. Yes, let’s not. Let’s not, I say, let’s not. The rotten-girl suspicion only makes the story more complicated. As I stood there with a chill crawling up my spine, Sheryl, who’d somehow appeared behind me as ever, spoke up.
“…Ephthal? How’s this?”
“A white school swimsuit… you say…?”
There Maria, who’d somehow come back this way as ever, raised her voice.
“Hold on, Sheryl?! The whole point this time is to startle Ephthal with seduction, isn’t it?! It’s a prime chance to see Ephthal fluster, and… a swimsuit with zero exposure, what’s the reasoning?!”
“There’s a proper reason. A white school swimsuit is…”
There Sheryl fell silent. Then, drawing a great, great breath, she said it.
“…popular with the enthusiasts.”
Now then, a hard remark to react to.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Mm, sure enough, everyone’s at a loss for a reaction.
“…So, actually, how is Sheryl’s, really, Ephthal?”
I thought a while, then gave a small nod.
“…Cute. Isn’t it the best of them?”
“…”
Maria’s eyes went wide.
“…”
Anastasia was struck dumb, frozen in place.
“…Ephthal-sama. Even I… can’t quite cover for the genuine article there…”
Merlin, for her part, wore a troubled face.
Eh? Did I… say something odd?
And there, “Ah!”, I caught my slip.
“No, not in a sexual sense! In the way a dog or a cat is cute! And ‘the best’ meaning the most decent!”
And at the words, Sheryl went instantly teary-eyed.
“…I’m treated like a dog or a cat?”
“No, that’s not what I mean!”
And Maria, veins standing on her temples, raised her voice as if about to lunge at me.
“If it comes to that, however you look at it, I’m the most decent, surely?!”
Ahh! I was seized by the urge to shout what a pain you all are!, and it was just then that Mother and Fraser nii-san came walking this way. At which Merlin zipped up the parka, and Anastasia hastily started throwing a jacket on.
“No, if you’re embarrassed to be seen by others, then don’t show me such a state either…”
Well, Mother wore a black-based swimsuit. Ordinarily one would call it high on exposure, but coming right after Anastasia’s and Merlin’s, it looks perfectly ordinary. Still, as her son, I suppose I’ll say a word.
“Mother? Why such a daring swimsuit? That’s a bit much…”
“It’s because Fraser-san is shy.”
At Mother’s troubled words I tilted my head, all how so?
“Shy?”
“That’s right, Ephthal-chan. The truth is, since we married we still haven’t shared a bed, you see…”
Now then, trouble. Mother’s started saying something outrageous.
“It’s been months since the wedding, and we’ve only kissed three times… I’m truly at my wits’ end.”
—I don’t want to hear it! I absolutely do not want to hear that kind of talk between family! The two of you share no blood, but I share plenty of it with each of you, don’t I?!
“H-hang on?! Ilya-san?!”
“Now really, it’s Fraser-san’s fault. However long it goes, he won’t lay a finger on me… so I thought I’d give a little stimulus.”
“B-but, you see, there’s an order to these things—”
“No, I’d say marrying first is the odd part, myself.”
Well, that’s a sound point. To a Japanese sensibility, at least, doing that sort of business before the wedding does seem the norm.
“Listen, Ilya-san. I’ve kept quiet until now, but…”
“Yes, what is it?”
“The truth is, I’ve never had a lover before, nor any such experience. That I long for you and pine for you is certain, but not knowing how I ought to treat you…”
Oh my, Mother’s eyes went wide.
“Well, so that was the circumstance.”
“Yes, to my shame…”
“Your words just now, that you pine for me… I’m truly glad to hear them. But you see, Fraser-san?”
“What is it, Ilya-san?”
“A woman can’t know unless it’s put into words. Unless it’s shown in word and deed… she grows anxious. Months into the marriage, have you ever thought of the feelings of a bride you haven’t touched at all? That there might be another woman… feeling that way is a natural emotion.”
Turning something over a while, my brother gave an apologetic little bow.
“So… it seems I made you feel lonely.”
“But I understand now, and I’m reassured. I long for you too, you know… Fraser-san.”
The two of them gazed at each other, cheeks coloring, hands clasped… mm, mm, so Fraser nii-san too, now that he knows Mother’s feelings, will screw up his courage and, step by step, the two of them will move things forward, I suppose. Mm, mm, good, good, and—
—I don’t want to see it!
Family gazing at each other, a scene of sweet nothings about to start any second, I absolutely don’t want to see it! And so, one way and another… at a sea-bathing outing meant for a rest, I ended up thoroughly worn out in spirit. Incidentally, Anastasia, Maria, and Sheryl, for all that, seemed to have savored the holiday mood and enjoyed themselves.
⁂
And so, one way and another. Mother and Fraser nii-san turned out to be a lovestruck-fool couple beyond my imagining, but that aside. Spending my days at the mansion, that day I paid a visit to the ducal study—
“Brother? Have you a moment?”
“Hm? Ephthal? Once I’ve reached a good stopping point in my writing… wait a little, if you would.”
Entering the room, a maid showed me to the drawing-room sofa and set out a tea service. Fraser soon came to the sofa opposite, smiled at the maid, and she bowed a “pardon me” and left through the door.
“So, what is it, Ephthal?”
“Brother… what’s happened? You look a little tired, I think?”
“Ha, you’re imagining it. Thank you for the concern, though.”
“Imagining it…? Then why are the servants fewer in number? And the damage on a conspicuous part of the front gate hasn’t been repaired… that’s not damage from a day or two ago, is it?”
At that my brother thought something over, then smiled.
“The servants have a lot of leave today. And repairs to the gate? I hadn’t noticed. Where’s the damage?”
And I let out a deep sigh. He doesn’t want to worry me, most likely. But that something’s happening to this house is a settled fact.
“You always were bad at lying… that habit of the corner of your right eye twitching for an instant hasn’t been cured.”
At the words, my brother shrugged, all I surrender.
“Honestly… there’s no hiding anything from you, Ephthal. To put it bluntly, the King’s-Brother faction is regaining power.”
“The King’s-Brother faction? Father plotted a coup using the tribe a while back… and after that the faction was wiped out, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. The affair was settled, and we nobles would support the young Crown Prince as one solid body. That’s how it was supposed to be… but His Highness the King’s Brother has returned.”
“His Highness the King’s Brother was… supposed to have been exiled to an island, taking responsibility for the affair?”
“It seems he’s gained a powerful backer. Say, Ephthal? You know these last few years’ poor harvests have worn the noble lords down?”
“Well, this house is at least a ducal one, and I’m counted among the nobility, so that much yes. So, what happened?”
Well, noble though it is, I’m treated as a quasi-noble… but say that and my brother’s liable to sink into a serious funk and apologize, so I’ll leave it unsaid. This man seems to carry a strange indignation and guilt over not being able to treat me publicly as a full-blooded brother.
“First… money was scattered about.”
“Money?”
“From the month after the king passed away, the month before last… it’s guessed that a fearsome sum was scattered, centered on the neutral faction and the former King’s-Brother faction.”
Every noble house now is in dire straits running its lands, for the poor harvests. When you can’t help yourself, slapping a man’s cheek with a stack of bills is a highly effective style in this case.
“Then, next, suspicious deaths came one after another. Or, several lower nobles have been confirmed to have lost their lives, their lands assaulted by hordes of monsters or undead.”
Now then, the story’s turning suspicious. And, with an unpleasant premonition, I put it to my brother.
“So the dead were, most likely…?”
“Yes, members of the Crown Prince’s faction. The tribe’s movements have grown active too, and particular territories have come under attack. In short—”
And, my unpleasant premonition turned to certainty, I stayed my brother’s words with a palm.
“Those too, then—aimed at the Crown Prince’s faction?”
“Yes, that’s how it comes out. That flagrant way of doing things has drawn fierce backlash from some lords, myself included, but by this method, hard and soft mixed together, some eighty percent of the nobility have already gone over to that side.”
“So this house is being pressured, openly and covertly? For instance, works that ought properly to be carried out as state projects are being stalled by the court, leaving you in financial straits… that sort of thing?”
“Ha, truly, there’s no hiding a thing from you. Where did you learn such things, not only magic…?”
Asked that, I found myself at a loss for words. No, I can hardly say I was the first Duke Alcott in a past life. Though even then, I dumped the administrative side wholesale on Bridget and trusted aides. My real trade was mage.
“In any case, it’s whispered plausibly. From that method of using even the undead, that His Highness the King’s Brother may be possessed by a Progenitor vampire.”
“And where is His Highness the King’s Brother now?”
“The Valley of Death… I hear His Highness is being sheltered in the dwelling of the foreign-tribe king. Officially he escaped the island and is missing, but it’s nothing of the sort. Everyone at court knows His Highness’s whereabouts.”
At the words I froze on the spot. Since the coup earlier they’d likely built friendly ties with the tribe, but for royalty to be sheltered in the tribe’s very stronghold…
“But that’s far too…”
“Yes, a dreadful business. The other party being the tribe that assaulted the royal capital. But knowing it, no one can lay a hand on him. Before the money was scattered there was not a single soul of the King’s-Brother faction, so there was even talk of seizing His Highness in the confusion of a tribe-subjugation… no, truly, we ought to have forced the subjugation through back then.”
“There was a reason the tribe couldn’t be subjugated, you mean?”
“It’s a matter close to a military secret, so keep it quiet, Ephthal.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Three hundred years since the tribe made their stronghold in that place. Ever since, the neighboring nations have had their trade routes raided and their frontier villages plundered, it’s given kings and nobles no end of headaches. But while we can subdue the tribe’s small outposts, laying a hand on that stronghold has been beyond us… all because the War-Maiden of Aegis guards the tribe’s stronghold.”
“The War-Maiden… of Aegis?”
“A guardian that watches over the ruins of the ancient magic civilization. When it comes to guardians the eastern Taishang Laojun is famous, but her power surpasses that of a great nation’s knight order.”
She was a troublesome foe even four hundred years ago, true. The ruins of the ancient magic civilization are, once you defeat the guardian, all but a mountain of artifacts, so the reckless would boldly take them on. Every time word of a ruin’s discovery came, the reckless would rush to be first to charge in, gaining vast wealth, or falling halfway. Well, fundamentally I think of them as a dreadfully dangerous mountain of gold. In practice they were a resource of the fight-over-it kind. For the record, eighty percent of my past life’s fortune came from selling artifacts of the ancient ruins I’d split with the Ice God Emperor. Alone it would have been hard to clear them. And, in proof of a death-line crossed, I still remember well the tremendous sense of achievement at the post-clearing feast. It’s a rare thing to see the usually cool Ice God Emperor drink himself under the table.
But in the present world it’s become unconquerable even with a nation’s strength, is it. Fundamentally a guardian is a self-governing, ultra-durable weapon. Put it that way, and perhaps that’s only to be expected, no host, however vast, amounts to anything if it has no means of landing an effective blow; the damage simply won’t go through.
“The tribe’s stronghold is a refit of the ancient civilization’s ruins. So there’s no laying a hand on it from our side.”
“No, wait a moment, Brother? Why doesn’t the guardian, the War-Maiden of Aegis, remove the humans who’ve invaded the ruins… the tribe?”
Every living thing that invades the ruins, slaughtered to the last. That’s supposed to be the guardian’s unwritten law. When I cleared ruins, it doubled as research into the guardian as a magical lifeform. So I attempted communication experiments any number of times during a subjugation. But by any method whatever, they’d lend no ear.
—A killing machine that brooks no argument.
Exactly that… nothing a mere tribe should be able to control.
There I felt a faint headache.
—No, or perhaps… the Fire God Emperor could.
Everywhere I turn, everywhere, the Fire God Emperor’s shadow surfaces. Truly, I’m about to come down with neurosis over it. But if this too is the Fire God Emperor’s doing, it’d be the tail-end of the broken trail to curing magic aptitude.
“What’s the matter, Ephthal?”
“Ah, don’t mind me.”
“Hmm…? Well, in any case, the house’s present situation isn’t good. The remaining twenty percent of the Crown Prince’s faction… their going over to that side is only a matter of time as well.”
“The Crown Prince and the King’s Brother. Money and suspicious deaths. And the undead, the monsters, and the tribe… is it.”
“Yes. The tribe especially is unsettling. They seem to lead a preposterous number of monsters, and rumor says the tribe may be commanding the undead too. In any case, a splendid piece of work, hard and soft interwoven.”
“…I see.”
“And… well, I’ve told you a good many tangled circumstances, but politics is my domain. You needn’t worry. As a student of the magic academy, you need only focus on your proper work.”
“Mm. Thank you for telling me all this, Brother.”
And I nodded, but that’s not how it can go.
—Because I came home precisely to secure my brother’s and the others’ safety.