chapter_0143

“Welcome back, Young Master.”

As I stepped out of the carriage pulled by a magic stone golem, I was greeted by almost all the maids working at the mansion, led by the butler. The maids bowed in unison as the butler politely bowed.

“Yeah. It’s nice to be home. Nothing happened, did it?”

“The master and mistress asked me to convey their apologies for not being able to meet you today.”

“It was an unavoidable situation, so they will understand. They’ll be here within a week anyway.”

After a desperate excuse, Leona finally succeeded in convincing the four reincarnators, and with a tired face, she asked me to come and see her hometown, a slightly different request.

After some discussion, it was decided that we would first return to Leona’s house, see her parents, and then visit Leona and Aria’s hometown. The next stop was Priscilla.

The others didn’t set a schedule, so it seemed they were planning to gather somewhere anyway.

“Yes. They promised to finish their business as soon as possible, so you’ll be able to see them within three days at the latest.”

The elderly butler, who had welcomed us back, left after once again expressing his welcome and saying that he would prepare a banquet in advance, and that we should order anything we wanted.

As I was about to hand over my luggage to the maids, they refused and followed the butler.

“It is my duty to carry the Young Master’s luggage. Why are you trying to touch it?”

“Yes. It’s always our job to carry the master’s luggage.”

As I watched the departing backs, Beatrice turned her head.

“Shall I take you to your room, Young Master?”

“Yeah. I’ll take a rest on the first day of vacation.”

“Yes, Young Master. This way. I’ve been cleaning your room every day while you were attending lectures, so you can rest right away.”

It had been a long time since I entered my room at the mansion. As I was about to arrive at the entrance of the mansion, following the two maids,

-Kwajangchang!

“Dooonnnnngggggg!!!!!!!”

Something fell from the broken window on the third floor, casting a shadow on the sky. I protected Beatrice and Nika with a barrier, but not a single fragment fell.

A woman landed in a superhero pose, breaking the window, and a woman with a very disappointed expression landed behind her.

“Didn’t I tell you to greet him properly, Trisha? What if Mira or Beatrice had been hit by the shards? I’ll deduct the repair cost from your salary, so keep that in mind.”

“Do whatever you want! Anyway, I was going to donate it since I only received it and didn’t use it, so what’s the big deal! And if I really thought you would get hurt, I would have protected you!”

One was a tall, thin woman with black hair that fell to her ankles and a cold expression, and the other was a woman with a short bob that barely reached her shoulders, with visible muscles and a cheerful smile.

They were my older sister, Diana Crate, and my younger sister, Trisha Crate. Despite their two-year age difference, the two sisters looked completely opposite as they approached.

“It’s been a while. How’s the business?”

I greeted them first. Both of them were quite a bit older than me, so they had already graduated from the Academy and were running their own businesses, but I wondered how they had returned so soon.

Of course, only Diana was actually managing her business. Trisha had tried to turn the business she inherited into a mercenary group, but after being beaten by mother, she was kicked out and became Diana’s personal bodyguard.

“We’re not that big, so there’s not much work. I finished early because it was just small stuff.”

“I just have to guard our boss lady here!”

“Get your hands off me. You’re dirty.”

“Ouch, that’s rough.”

Diana pushed away Trisha’s hand, which was resting on her shoulder. It was pushed away so easily that it was practically pushed away. The fact that she was still smiling was proof that she didn’t mind.

“Anyway, Mom and Dad couldn’t come because of work, so we came so you wouldn’t be disappointed.”

“Yes! Even Diana, who failed to get into the Academy, has a younger brother who got in, so I have to see his face! Come here! I haven’t hugged our cute little brother in a long time!”

Trisha, with her well-toned muscles, ran towards me with her arms wide open. I grabbed her arms and pushed them back, completely overpowering her. Trisha’s face showed a sense of surprise.

“Wow, what’s this? You’ve gotten a lot stronger. Do they have the best exercise equipment at the Empire’s top Academy?”

“I was stronger than you even before.”

“No, it feels like you’ve gotten a lot stronger than before.”

“Of course. That’s what it takes to declare your ambition to be the top student for three years at Bellium Academy.”

I had expected to hear this sooner or later, but it came much sooner than expected. I turned to the side, startled. Diana, who seemed to have expected it, was there.

“I’ve been looking for you every day without fail. But for the past two weeks, I haven’t had to look because the news came to me. So, what have you been up to that the Sword Saint herself can vouch for your skills? What have you been up to that you don’t even have to take the final exams at Bellium Academy?”

“……Has the news spread a lot?”

“I told you. The news came to me even without looking. Most of the students at the Academy are nobles, so wouldn’t the news have spread? Our parents heard about it too. They were worried that you, a sickly child, might be pushing yourself too hard.”

The two of them were still the same. They didn’t need to be so consistent with the bad things.

“Right now, the news is spreading among the nobility. I’ve already heard from people who want to connect with you. How they have a daughter of marriageable age, and want to connect with me?”

“Hey, it’s probably because of you. When did my preferences become like that? I don’t know.”

“……”

There was no point in denying it when the purpose was so obvious.

“What’s more, there are rumors about the women around you. How can you gather Agnes’ second daughter, the Saintess, and the Heroine to form a club? And recently, the Sword Saint’s first disciple and the first transfer student at Bellium Academy, as well as the Crown Prince, have joined, haven’t they? How can the most ordinary person among the eight of you be the Hero’s childhood friend?”

In fact, that childhood friend of the Hero is also the protagonist of the original work, so she’s not exactly ordinary. I swallowed the words and closed my mouth.

“Also, I heard that the Chairman is taking special care of you, and that the Magicians are completely intimidated by you. What happened?”

It was true that the Chairman was taking special care of me, but the kind of care they were thinking of was probably quite different from what I was getting. It was also commonplace for the Magicians to be intimidated by me these days.

I wanted to refute something, but since it was all true, I quietly kept silent. Diana sighed.

“Our cute little brother, who used to be pure and innocent, has come back as a formidable opponent… How did this happen?”

It was quite strange that none of the three adjectives that came before the word “little brother” were true.

These people’s statements that “Mira used to be sickly” should never be believed. They would bring a doctor from the Imperial Palace to perform a health check-up if I coughed from choking on water.

That’s why I decided to enroll at Bellium Academy.

“……I’m sorry. It might have sounded a little sharp.”

After a while, Diana apologized.

“If you felt that way, I apologize. I’m sorry. I got a little carried away because there were suddenly so many people who wanted to connect with you. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine. It’s understandable that you’d be surprised to hear such outrageous rumors. So, is that the end of your request? It seemed like you had something else to say earlier.”

“……Is it possible that you noticed? Yes. I have a request for you. Or rather, it’s more like a commission that I need to make to you. It might be dangerous, so we need to make sure the money is calculated correctly.”

“A request? What kind of request?”

“It’s a little awkward to talk about it outside, so let’s go inside. Trisha, you too. Act your age. What have you been doing to Mira?”

Diana looked at Trisha, who had been trying to hug me since a while ago, with a sigh.

“No! I haven’t hugged our cute little brother yet!”

“When will you ever grow up?”

Diana sighed and lifted her arms with one hand.

“Is this a request that my little sister absolutely has to be a part of?”

“No. She’s my bodyguard, so it doesn’t matter if she’s there or not.”

“Oh?”

I used physical enhancement and acceleration at the same time and released her arms. Trisha’s face, which was puzzled, passed by very slowly. I bent my middle finger and fixed it with my thumb, then brought it to her forehead.

-Taak!

I gave her a slap on the forehead. A crisp sound rang out, and Trisha’s eyes rolled back as she fell backwards. Her body lay sprawled on the grass.

“Is that enough now?”

“……What? Did you just knock her out with a slap on the forehead? Trisha?”

Diana looked at me with a bewildered expression.

Diana’s explanation was as follows:

A few weeks ago, a masked woman suddenly appeared and began to relentlessly interfere with the movement of Diana’s caravan. Only Diana’s caravan, not the other caravans.

The masked woman was so skilled that it took nearly ten of the highest-rated mercenaries to drive her away.

“The problem is that if we do that, we end up losing money. The highest-rated mercenaries are extremely expensive to hire. I can afford it with my money, but then there’s no point in running a caravan.”

Despite this, the attacker couldn’t be caught. Even with the addition of magicians, the attacker managed to slip away and attack from another location.

Instead, the mercenaries they hired ended up getting badly injured by the masked woman, and the news spread, causing the number of mercenaries willing to accept the request to visibly decrease.

“The goods must have been damaged a lot, too. That’s quite a loss.”

“No. There’s hardly any financial loss. At most, the carriage is broken.”

“So you’ve been attacked so many times, but there’s hardly any financial loss? That doesn’t make sense.”

“No one has died, and nothing has been stolen from the carriage.”

The more peculiar fact was that the attacker always destroyed the carriage, but never killed anyone or took anything other than the carriage. Especially when it came to the people of the caravan, they were watched over even more closely.

If mercenaries or magicians attacked, the attacker would mutilate their entire body and inflict terrible injuries, but if the people of the caravan resisted with weapons, the attacker would only strike their wrists to make them drop their weapons and subdue them.

Moreover, the attacker always took only a few fairy tales from the carriage, even though they so thoroughly destroyed it. It was hard to understand their intentions.

“It’s a very unique person.”

“That’s why it’s driving me crazy. Lately, people have even been saying that it’s our own scheme. But it’s still at the level of rumors, and if this continues, I won’t be able to run a caravan under my name in the future.”

Diana frowned.

“I could ask my parents for help, but since it’s a caravan that I created, I want to solve it on my own as much as possible. They’re already busy, and I don’t want to burden them with this. Well, this is a concern that’s only possible because no one has died…”

Hooo, Diana sighed through her lips and looked up at the ceiling. She then looked at me with a determined expression.

“My request is to catch that person. Your skills are definitely reliable, right? But please try to capture them alive as much as possible. I’m curious as to why they’re doing this. Of course, if you’re in a dangerous situation, that’s a different story. Don’t get hurt unnecessarily, and if it’s dangerous, just kill them. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

I was going to capture her alive first. I was curious as to why she was doing this. Diana’s caravan was always attacked, but no one was killed, and the only thing taken was a few fairy tales.

“When do you want to leave?”

“Whenever you’re ready. I’ve been putting it off until you came, so it doesn’t matter when.”

“Good. Let’s go now.”

I felt a little bad for Beatrice and Nika, but I thought I should rest later.

“By the way, what’s the commission fee? You said you were making a request, not a favor, because you wanted to make sure the calculation was correct.”

“That’s right. Money… I don’t need it, and later, I’ll grant you any wish you have. If it’s not enough, you can ask for more. But not too much.”

“Anything…”

It wouldn’t be of much use to me anyway. I was seriously considering asking for something else when Diana suddenly twisted her upper body and covered her meager chest with her arms.

“Why are you hesitating? I’ve already said that I won’t do anything sexy. We’re siblings, after all.”

“Can’t you distinguish between erotic novels and reality?”

Since she had been secretly reading so many erotic novels since she was young, she must have gone crazy.