episode_0137

First, I tried to change the subject.

“How did you get here?”

“Last night, by car.”

“… … Is there anyone who drove a car here?”

“There are a lot of people in the palace. But you can’t ask the train to run when it’s not running. It doesn’t cost a penny or two. ”

It probably wouldn’t cost a penny or two to get here in a steam car either.

No, more than that, it is absolutely not easy to get here by ‘car’ from the system. The roads were somehow built, but there were a lot of cases where those roads were dirt roads. I guess they are managed to some extent.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t come alone, I had knights to escort me.”

As I watched Alice say that, leaning back in her chair with her arms folded, I felt the urge to slap my forehead again.

Maybe if it were just Alice and Nathan, I would have done that.

“Is it because of the one thing I said to you, ‘Brother’?”

“Because of that ‘one thing’? You don’t think that’s ‘just something like that’, do you? ”

One of Alice’s eyebrows went up.

“… … .”

If that’s not ‘just’ then what is it?

But I wasn’t stupid enough to actually say that out loud. Whatever the reason, Alice was dead serious right now.

“You don’t use such… intimate terms with other people. Isn’t there something important that you had to go all the way here? ”

That’s… … sharp.

That story was a huge bombshell that ‘Alice and Claire might be real sisters’, so I couldn’t tell the story that I came here to find out the truth.

If I bring up the Emperor’s words, Alice will think it’s my story, not Claire’s.

Turning back time is a fantasy world, and it’s a world where goddesses might actually exist, so even if you get caught, it’s something that ends at the level of the opponent being scared or surprised. Of course, it’s not something you can laugh about.

But, telling them that I come from another world and that the stories of this world are just stories in a game is… …a separate story. Telling them that their will might not be that important to them and that they might already be moving as if they were completely denied is a bit, isn’t it?

“… … .”

Alice sighed deeply as she saw me hesitating to answer.

“Okay, okay.”

Alice spoke to me with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed.

“You came here to stay anyway, right? So I’m going to stay with you while you’re here.”

When I heard a sound and turned my head, I saw that Black Frederick was covering his forehead with his hand. His eyes were tightly shut, so the wrinkles on his face looked twice as many as usual.

“Now, you two little kids who aren’t even adults yet, are going to stay in my cabin?”

“Don’t worry too much, Master.”

At those words, Alice looked at her teacher with a faint smile on her face and said.

“If Sylvia says she’ll go back, I’ll go back today.”

And then he turned his face back towards me and looked at my expression,

“It doesn’t seem like you really want to go back.”

He said it as if mumbling something.

“… … .”

I looked at Alice quietly for a while, then slowly opened my mouth.

And then closed it again.

hmm.

When I used the word ‘brother’ to Jaden, of course I felt embarrassed then and I regret it now, but honestly, it wasn’t that hard. I had planned to find out the truth from the beginning and then turn back the clock.

Of course, there was no guarantee that I would find Lucas within the two weeks before the end of the vacation. Lucas might be in another country, or he might be training in the mountains so he could kill me more quickly.

But if you can’t find it, that’s okay. You can turn back time and think of another way, or you can spend the rest of your vacation leisurely and think about it later.

But, calling Alice “sister” is… …

Even if I could turn back time, for some reason I would be incredibly reluctant to do so.

This is just my thought, but for some reason I have a feeling that it will become a huge… … stain on my life.

“… … .”

Alice was still looking at me with an expression that said, ‘If you have something to say, say it.’

“… … Uh… … .”

“Huh?”

“What… … .”

I took a deep breath and said.

“ni.”

“Huh?”

But Alice, as if she hadn’t heard, turned one ear toward me and asked.

“What are you trying to say? I can’t understand what you’re saying because you’re saying it word by word. ”

“… … .”

I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth.

And take a deep breath,

“Sister, why don’t you just go back home and wait instead of doing this here?”

He spoke as if spitting out rapid fire.

“I couldn’t hear it because it was too fast.”

“… … .”

I took a deep breath again.

“… … Sister.”

Only after I said that did Alice turn her head fully toward me.

His face was filled with a victorious smile. His eyes sparkled, seeming brighter than the stars in the sky that had not yet completely disappeared.

“Yeah, why, Sylvia?”

Seeing Alice speaking with a kindness that seemed deliberate, I seriously considered turning back time and pretending that the incident with Jaden had never happened, but I eventually concluded that even if I did that, the resentment inside me would never completely disappear.

To Alice, who was in a state of ‘Tell your sister,’ I slowly opened my mouth and spoke.

“Please, is this it?”

“… … .”

Alice, who heard what I said, smiled broadly and said:

“I understand the feelings of a younger sister who thinks of her older sister, but”

And when I heard those words, I was overcome with intense anxiety.

“But I can’t just leave my little brother in a place like this, right?”

“A place like this… … .”

The blacksmith muttered in a slightly wounded voice. No, is that the same person who was speaking as if nothing had happened just a moment ago?

“Sister, I will stay with Sylvia.”

“… … .”

I felt a different kind of anger from Jaden, who was casting ‘this and that’ while resting his head on his forehead.

And only then did I realize what the anxiety I had felt before I called Alice ‘sister’ was.

… … That’s right. Deep down, I already knew that the method that worked for Jaden wouldn’t work for Alice.

“Is that okay, Master?”

“… … .”

Blacksmith was silent for a while,

“What will you do if I refuse?”

He asked that with a very serious expression.

“I will inform every inspector in the country of your location. Even if it means mobilizing all the powers of the royal family.”

Then all kinds of people will flock in.

A person who wants to learn swordsmanship, a person who asks to spar. A person who was cut by Geomseong’s sword when Geomseong was a little younger and who burns with revenge.

It’s probably going to be a huge headache.

All you have to do is run away, but if you do that, the relationship you started in your later years will be cut off again.

He was a quirky old man who hid in the mountains because he hated the world, but he was not a person without empathy. That person was Geomseong.

“… … .”

Blacksmith looked at Alice blankly, then sighed as if the ground was falling apart.

“Well, that would be good.”

And then he turned his gaze towards me.

It didn’t seem like there was any particular emotion in it, but the black gaze itself felt very sharp. It was as if it was looking straight through me.

Until yesterday, he had no intention of letting me sleep here, but perhaps he changed his mind after seeing me meditating before Alice came a little while ago.

“Just don’t cause trouble. I’m already teaching a disciple here.”

The black dragon’s eyes turned towards Leo.

Leo stood at attention, completely frozen in place, in front of the three of us.

I thought the attitude towards us at the academy had softened a little, but outside the academy it was a different story.

Well, that’s why the commoners are so uncomfortable with the nobles and don’t want to talk to them. Even if you become close to them and talk to them freely, after 4 years and graduation, you’ll have to treat them politely again.

Rather than feeling bad because you keep thinking that they are ‘equal’, it is better to just think that the relationship was like that from the beginning.

“Instead, here, you three are equal beings. No one is higher or lower. ”

Geomseong said, looking at Leo as if he was pitiful.

“And,”

Seeing us nodding, Geomseong added.

“There are no women or men here. Even though the training content is the same, it is not done differently depending on gender.”

“Because I’ve already experienced that.”

Alice nodded her head at Geumseong’s words.

And I… … .

“… … .”

It was only then that I realized something big had happened.

It was fortunate that I wasn’t kicked out, but…

The black dragon’s eyes looking at me were unusual.

Just like when I was practicing meditation here.