22. Reconciliation

22. Reconciliation

The duel ended with my victory.

I was a little flustered when a barrage of magic came at me right from the start, but surprisingly, it didn’t hurt when it hit me. It felt like it looked cool but lacked substance.

I could confidently say that one wooden stick swung by my father would hurt more than all that magic.

And so, now, Priscilla’s sister was at the tip of my sword.

“I won, right?”

“Ah….”

Priscilla’s sister, with a bewildered expression. Taking that as a sign of affirmation, I sheathed my sword and helped her up.

The ice shards crunched underfoot.

I don’t know exactly when it started, but at some point, whenever I swung my sword, the ground would freeze over. Since the north was all snow anyway, it didn’t matter, but doing it here was quite conspicuous.

Anyway, it feels good to exert myself so much after a long time.

It was much more fun than fighting the bald guy. I even swung my sword twice. This was the first time since coming to the Academy that I hadn’t ended a fight with a single sword strike.

In any case, since I won, the next step was clear.

“You remember the bet we made earlier, right?”

“…… Yes.”

The terms of the bet: if I lost, I had to part with Priscilla, and if I won, I could give the opponent one command.

… Of course, I couldn’t leave my friend in a place rife with domestic violence, so even if I lost, I intended to forcibly take Priscilla with me.

But now that I had won, there was nothing holding me back.

I smiled and looked at Priscilla’s sister. She, who was slightly taller than me, covered her face with her hand and trembled, as if suppressing her indignation.

Is losing a fight so infuriating that she’s trembling like that?

I touched my lips for a moment and pondered. Then, Priscilla’s sister flinched, but I continued my thoughts without minding.

Naturally, winning feels better than losing. Conversely, losing feels worse than winning. But whether it’s so infuriating that one trembles like that is debatable.

Of course, in my past life, I got angry every time I lost a game, but Priscilla’s sister now looks like she’s lost something truly precious right before her eyes, not just a simple fit of anger.

Hmm.

I don’t know.

Maybe Priscilla’s sister just had a high competitive spirit.

I shrugged and, leaving Priscilla’s sister behind, walked through the spectators and brought out the girl with the red twin buns.

Golden Sun too.

“Wait, why me?”

… Yeah, why did I bring her?

Thanks to Golden Sun’s help during the past two days of training Priscilla, I seemed to have brought her along without realizing it.

“… Just stay by my side since you’re here.”

“Hmph….”

Despite her exasperated expression, Golden Sun dutifully stayed by my side. She really is a good friend, despite her appearance.

“Heeek!”

“Priscilla, not yet.”

In the meantime, it seemed the intensive training over the past two days had worked too well, as Priscilla rushed towards her sister the moment she saw her, and I had to stop her.

Priscilla, dangling from my grip on the back of her neck. Then, Priscilla and her sister made eye contact.

It was time for the sisters’ reunion.

“Priscilla?”

“Ah, Sister.”

Now that the two had met, only one thing remained. I looked at Priscilla’s sister and commanded.

“For today, accept whatever Priscilla does to you.”

“Yes?”

“Now, Priscilla, you can go.”

“Yes!”

Priscilla, running like a dog meeting its owner, dashed away. She then threw herself into her sister’s arms, and Priscilla’s sister, who had been looking bewildered, began to look even more dumbfounded.

Priscilla nuzzled her head into her sister’s chest with a cheerful smile, while Priscilla’s sister flailed her hands helplessly.

It was as I expected. You can’t slap a smiling face, so if she hugs with a bright smile, even anger will subside.

Besides, Priscilla is cute, so the effect will be even better.

“Sister!”

“P-Priscilla?”

While I nodded in my mind, Priscilla lifted her head sharply and looked at her sister. The two pairs of red eyes met, and then-

Peck!

“?!?!”

“Hehe….”

With Priscilla’s kiss on her cheek, accompanied by a cheerful giggle, her sister began to stutter, her body malfunctioning like a CPU at its processing limit. Priscilla hugged her sister tighter, who moved stiffly like a robot.

“Sister….”

“P-Priscilla?”

Now, Priscilla looked at her sister with a somewhat flushed gaze. Their heated breaths brushed against each other’s skin, swirling in the space between them.

… I don’t think I taught her to look at someone like that.

Golden Sun was watching the scene with great interest. The other spectators were not much different.

However, wanting to avoid interrupting this touching moment of sisterly reunion, I drew my sword and threatened the spectators, driving them away. The area around the dueling ground became clear.

Meanwhile, Priscilla gazed intently at her sister for a moment, then opened her mouth.

“Sister, I…”

“Uh, yes…?”

“I want to be close to you again!!”

Priscilla shouted, closing her eyes tightly.

“I want to be petted like when I was little, I want to sleep with you, eat together, be praised for using magic well, and, um, I want to be close to you again like before…!”

“P-Priscilla.”

“I’ll listen to you and won’t cause trouble, and I’ll study hard… Please? Can’t we…?”

Priscilla’s voice, appealing to her sister, even contained a hint of tears. Her sister looked at her sister with a bewildered expression at her sister’s sudden confession.

“Oh….”

“I didn’t teach her that… is it innate?”

Golden Sun and I watched the scene, admiring Priscilla’s genius in persuasion. To make her estranged sister so flustered in an instant!

“P-Priscilla, I…”

Her sister’s hand, which had been keeping a distance as if she didn’t deserve to touch Priscilla, slowly moved closer to Priscilla. Priscilla still held her sister tightly in her embrace.

With only a hand’s breadth left, her hand, which seemed to be contemplating deeply, finally embraced Priscilla with a gentle hug.

“Priscilla, I’m sorry.”

“Sister…?”

“I’ve been too strict with you all this time. Yelling, scolding… Even though I was having a hard time, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”

Her voice was soft, different from how I had seen her treat Priscilla normally. As if soothing a child, her hand slowly patted Priscilla’s back.

“Sister… Didn’t you hate me a lot?”

“How could I? Priscilla, I’ve never hated you, not even once. It’s shameless to say this now after being so harsh….”

She gently pushed her sister away, so they were face-to-face, and asked.

“Priscilla, I… I, your sister, am truly sorry. Can we be like we used to be again?”

“Sister….”

Tears began to well up in Priscilla’s eyes. Seeing this, Frisia panicked and flailed her hands.

“P-Priscilla? Priscil-“

And then, Priscilla leaned forward.

Their noses almost touched, feeling each other’s breath, and their lips met….

“Oh.”

Golden Sun exclaimed.

——

Starting with Priscilla’s surprise kiss (a shallow one, of course), their relationship began to recover rapidly. It was as if their previous estrangement was strange in comparison.

This is the power of kissing.

The common sense my sister taught me was not wrong after all.

“Sister, can we wash together later…?”

“It’s fine… but why all of a sudden?”

“Um… I heard somewhere that close sisters sometimes wash each other! So I wanted to do it together….”

“What?”

The sisters chattered away.

Seeing them become so close, I felt my own spirits lift.

If they could become this close so quickly, perhaps they would have reconciled even without my intervention, given the right opportunity.

In any case, it’s good that it’s good.

I smiled with satisfaction, watching the close sisters. Then, I nudged Golden Sun beside me and said.

“It was resolved well, wasn’t it?”

“Mhm.”

Commending Golden Sun for her efforts in training Priscilla over the past two days, I looked at the two sisters again.

“Yes, well, let’s wash together later. It’s a bit late now.”

“Yes!”

“Well, I should be going now. Stay well, Priscilla. See you next time.”

“Already…?”

“Yes. Don’t worry too much, you have plenty of time. And I won’t have much reason to be angry with you anymore.”

Priscilla’s sister added, giving her sister a peck on the cheek.

“Next time… I’ll return as the family head.”

There was an undetectable hint of killing intent in her voice as she said that.

After seeing her sister off, Priscilla trotted over to me and naturally hugged me.

“Hehe… Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, we’re friends.”

I patted Priscilla’s back as she hugged me tightly and took a deep breath.

And so, the day came to an end.