episode_0005

‘What the hell…!!!’

The distinct sound of the shower room door opening and

Joan of Arc’s excessively energetic voice piercing both of my eardrums at the same moment,

Described by the shape of my mouth,

And filling my head, was the word “crazy.”

Even though I clearly knew the state of my younger brother, who had become an adult unlike before,

How am I supposed to deal with this insane sister who opens the shower room door without any rhyme or reason?

‘I’m glad I was facing away, just in case. I was wise.’

Amidst all that, I even wore a slightly relieved expression.

Joan of Arc, who sprinted madly to the third floor to my room,

However, my rational thought circuit believed that even though Joan of Arc is a tomboy,

She wouldn’t open the shower room door.

On the other hand, the unconscious danger alarm in my head had a different opinion.

It advised me that Jeanne is not the kind of person who would be bound by such common sense, so

I should at least face away from the shower room door.

As a result,

Joan of Arc ended up throwing open the shower room door, and

Ultimately, accepting the opinion of the unconscious danger alarm, I was already facing away, so I was able to prevent the disaster of showing my erect front.

Perhaps it’s thanks to the pilgrimage,

Or perhaps it’s thanks to the memories of my past life,

I feel that my intuition has also developed further.

At that moment when I was briefly praising myself,

“W, who is it!! What are you doing!!!”

Joan of Arc’s voice, which was so uninhibited and spirited just before,

Suddenly, that feeling disappeared, and

Joan of Arc’s voice, filled with intense embarrassment and caution, filled my shower room.

‘Heh, I knew it. It’s because there’s a muscular back of 190cm and over 100kg, not a delicate 170cm body, blocking her view.’

Upon hearing that voice, the corners of my mouth turned up with a feeling of satisfaction.

An unexpected situation where I experienced the wild antics of the second daughter of a great noble family,

But it was a triumphant smile created because I thought I had immediately delivered a proper counter.

Of course, 2 years and 4 months is by no means a short time.

It’s enough time for many changes to occur,

So, regarding the possibility that my appearance has changed,

Joan of Arc wouldn’t have not considered it at all.

However, wouldn’t that also be within certain limits?

My height has grown by a whopping 20cm,

My weight has increased by about 50kg,

And that increased weight is not flab but pure muscle.

It’s as if the species has changed, not just the person.

Therefore, I think Joan of Arc is feeling that my current appearance is enough to make her feel like a hideous barbarian has invaded the Archduke’s mansion in a naked state.

“Who else could it be? It’s Eugene Schneider, the one who wandered around the forest with you, Jeanne, looking for the secret hideout, and got scolded by the Archduchess.”

Eventually, I turned my head and upper body slightly and

Said as if rebuking Joan of Arc, who was in a state of panic.

It was a look I could adopt thanks to the considerable subsidence of my erection.

“Think about it. Is this mansion a place that anyone can enter? Who else could be here besides me?”

Following Charlotte, I have perfectly executed what I had planned for Jeanne as well, so

A cool and relaxed attitude, to the point of feeling prickly, is blossoming in my heart.

Unfortunately, however, that attitude of mine did not last long.

‘What? Why is Jeanne looking like that????’

The moment I turned my head and saw Jeanne standing at the shower room door,

I suffered brain freeze because of how different she looked from before.

‘Did she go to war or something??????’

Joan of Arc d’Essel Oublié, reunited after 2 years and 4 months,

Her appearance was no longer that of a tomboyish young lady of the Archduke’s family, but had become that of a warrior.

She had even thrown away her active dress and was wearing leather combat attire,

And she was wearing a swordsman’s longsword, not a self-defense dagger, on her waist.

Also, it was clear that the outfit was not just for show,

Although not as much as Charlotte, her skin, which was clearly as white as that of a noble,

Was slightly tanned as if she had done a lot of outdoor activities.

Decisively, her hairstyle was a sight to behold.

Her hairstyle was no longer long red hair with a slight wave,

But a tomboyish short haircut.

“Y, you’re really the real Eugene? The guy who was shorter than me and had a frail body has become this kind of barbaric body???”

However, Jeanne doesn’t seem to have noticed my embarrassed expression.

That’s how great the impact of my transformation is.

Joan of Arc d’Essel Oublié, the second daughter of the Archduke’s family of the Imperium Empire,

With a dazed expression as if her soul had left her body,

She repeatedly stuttered and confirmed as if muttering whether I was really the weak Eugene Schneider who used to be dragged around helplessly by her.

‘Still, it seems she recognized me.’

Judging from the words that poured out like a torrent, unlike her outward appearance,

It seemed that she was gradually acknowledging me as Eugene Schneider.

According to Charlotte, even though my appearance had changed so much,

When she met my gaze, which was slightly visible through the disheveled hair that covered half of my eyes, she immediately saw my former self.

I think Jeanne is also going through that process.

“If you’ve had enough of admiring your fully grown younger brother’s muscular body, close the door and go downstairs. A marriageable young lady of the Archduke’s family doesn’t even know she should be ashamed. Charlotte didn’t eat breakfast because of her prayers, and I only ate enough to stave off my urgent hunger. The lunchtime itself was delayed because we were waiting for you, Jeanne.”

Looking at Jeanne, whose mentality had broken down,

On my side, the embarrassment from before was quickly repaired.

This is why I act so cocky towards Jeanne.

Of course, I don’t act cocky recklessly.

It’s done with sufficient justification,

Although Jeanne arrived somewhat earlier than the appointed time,

The current lunchtime is also late by the original standard.

It wouldn’t matter if it was just me, but

I strongly appealed as if scolding her because even Charlotte was affected.

“O, okay, I’ll go downstairs…”

Squeak…!

Could it be that her mentality was more shattered than I thought,

I expected Jeanne to back down, but

I didn’t expect her to look so limp.

I thought she would close the door, protesting, “What again, sis!”

Turning my back on her and trying to concentrate on showering again,

Jeanne once again made me realize that she is not the kind of person who would ever betray my expectations.

“Just because your body got a little bigger, you’re acting like this to your sister…you cocky Eugene Schneider…”

Closing the shower room door and leaving my room,

Jeanne grumbled loudly enough for me to hear.

Indeed, even after time passed, her tendency to backpedal did not allow for any change at all.

**********

“Mercenary group?”

About 30 minutes later,

Charlotte, Jeanne, and I, who had removed her leather combat attire, started lunch.

Jeanne was unusually quiet, perhaps because her mentality, broken in the shower room battle, had not yet recovered.

So, I asked Charlotte about Jeanne’s changed situation first.

Then, Charlotte replied that Jeanne had started working as a mercenary,

And that’s why she had become like that.

She had become a real warrior, not just a cosplayer.

At her words, I widened my eyes slightly,

And looked at Jeanne, who was silently cutting her steak, and reacted.

“So, after Eugene left on his pilgrimage, around the end of the year before last, Jeanne started her own mercenary group and started working. So Jeanne isn’t just a mercenary now, she’s the leader of a mercenary group.”

Charlotte also looked at Jeanne and gave additional explanations.

Judging from her expression, aside from blessing and supporting Jeanne’s path,

She was full of considerable worry.

Jeanne, who had been a tomboy since she was young,

The Oublié family, which has thorough internal security,

But everyone who knows about it in noble society knows.

I thought it would get better over time, but

Even in her late teens, it didn’t get better, it got worse.

So, eventually, even the Archduchess and Charlotte

Started to think that Jeanne’s future would never be ordinary.

Therefore, the two tried to watch Jeanne from a much broader perspective than the general standard.

As a result, Jeanne made the choice to start from the bottom, rather than joining an existing prestigious mercenary group centered around nobles.

How could Charlotte not be worried?

‘Wow…Uncle Hans and Charlotte, Jeanne must have told them to keep it a secret. She’s committed an amazing move while I was away.’

When I asked about Jeanne’s recent situation,

The image of Uncle Hans, who was restless with a feeling of itching to tell me, is vivid in my mind.

So that’s what it was about.

I don’t think I could have held back.

Uncle Hans has had a relationship with the Oublié family for quite a long time,

I guess there was a reason why he was able to do that.

“I see.”

Nod, nod, nod…

Afterwards, I turned my gaze towards the center of the long table, and

Nodded slowly as if I understood Charlotte’s words.

What my appearance meant was,

It’s because I think I roughly understand why Jeanne made that decision.

‘The promise she made to me, she really went ahead with it?’

The reason is related to me.

‘Don’t worry! Even if you can’t awaken, Eugene, you can work under this sister of yours. I mean, I can just create my own mercenary group. I’ll go out and fight, and you can take care of the mercenary group members like you took care of Elizabeth.’

Around the time I entered puberty,

So, it was when I realized that there was almost no possibility of me awakening.

I tried my best to manage my expression and not show my bleak feelings about the future.

But Jeanne, who spent the most time with me at that time, noticed.

In her childhood, she was with Elizabeth the most, but

Around that time, Elizabeth started studying to go to the academy, so

A relationship was created.

Looking into my heart like that, Jeanne has been confidently promising that she would take responsibility for me.

She, who would definitely awaken, would fight as the mercenary leader, and

I, who couldn’t awaken, would manage the finances of the mercenary group.

‘I thought Jeanne would eventually do something, given her personality…but even so, I didn’t think she would start exactly as she said back then, or rather, start at the age of 20.’

I honestly thought that Jeanne would feel the harshness of reality and

I thought she would set the direction of her start in the Knights rather than the mercenary group.

It’s because she can build a sufficient foundation through the fame she gains in the Knights and then create a mercenary group.

But truly, Joan of Arc d’Essel Oublié, the romantic second daughter of the Oublié family,

She committed what she had confidently promised me without any deviation, as if paying in a lump sum with cash.

“Oh, you haven’t told Jeanne yet, have you Eugene? That you’ve awakened?”

Charlotte, who thought that there had been enough talk about Jeanne, changed the center of the topic to me.

“I haven’t told her, but I think Jeanne has noticed?”

If she has been working as a mercenary leader for about a year and a half,

Just by looking at my body condition, I think Jeanne’s mind would immediately have the intuition that I had achieved awakening.

“Oh, I know that Eugene has awakened.”

Jeanne, who is still expressionless and eating while looking at her steak,

She had indeed noticed the fact that I had awakened.

‘Hmm…I have a feeling that another aftershock is coming.’

Jeanne’s atmosphere, which is maintaining an expressionless face, is not very good.

Aside from predicting what kind of reaction the Oublié family members would show due to my changed appearance,

I had also kept in mind in advance the repercussions that would occur as a result of the awakening, which is a very important matter for nobles.

My unconscious sensor, which is calculating the aftershock, rang an alarm in my head as if flashing an emergency light.

However, it didn’t take long for an event to occur that would match that sensor warning.

‘Charlotte isn’t here, so should I create a more active atmosphere?’

Charlotte had to return urgently in the evening because something happened at the Holy See.

Tomorrow, I and Jeanne will have to be together,

It seems I should try to improve the relationship with her, who has been silent since lunch.

And at that time, when I was lying on my bedroom bed and thinking deeply,

“Are you asleep?”

Jeanne’s ominous voice was heard beyond the silent, darkened door.