55. A New Younger Sister

55. A New Younger Sister

“… I couldn’t sleep at all.”

Priscilla hadn’t returned by the next day. I was told it would take a few days, so I wasn’t worried, but the problem was my sleep.

Before coming to the Academy, I slept with my younger sister in my arms, and after arriving, I slept with Priscilla in my arms. For me, being completely alone like this was very unfamiliar and difficult to adapt to.

On my bed now, or rather, Priscilla’s bed, was a giant, rolled-up bundle of blankets. I had tossed and turned all night, and when I woke up, it had been made.

It was probably made to substitute for Priscilla.

However, inanimate objects lack warmth, so no matter how I shaped the blankets to resemble Priscilla, I couldn’t sleep. As a result, I stayed up all night, and I got out of bed with a very tired look on my face.

“It’s been a while since I couldn’t sleep, not since Father’s training….”

Memories of being thrown to the monsters by my father from a cliff when I was young came to mind.

It wasn’t a good memory.

“I’m tired, but… maybe a walk will help.”

If I sleep now, my day and night cycle will be messed up. I forced myself to wake up and headed outside.

Opening the door, the refreshing morning breeze filled my lungs. I swung my tail vigorously, perked my ears a few times, and then started walking aimlessly.

“Huh?”

As I walked, fiddling with my sword, I saw a familiar blue-haired girl in my vision. It was Ella.

Perhaps she was out for a walk with a friend, as a girl with long brown hair tied in a ponytail stood beside Ella. I raised my hand to call her, but Ella spoke to the girl before I could.

-Hey, Sara….

-Why?

-Th-that’s….

-Ella?

Ella’s face was strangely red, and she couldn’t make eye contact with the girl called Sara. She then squeezed her eyes shut and lunged at Sara.

-Hmph!

-?!

Ella and Sara fell to the ground with a thud. The two of them began to passionately embrace, their lips locked.

According to what my sister told me, one should not interrupt when this act is happening, so I quietly focused my hearing and eavesdropped on the sound of their tongues mingling.

Slurp, slurp. Slurp.

-Hek.

As a result of the intense kiss, Sara seemed half-conscious, with saliva hanging long from her mouth. Ella stood up, leaving her behind, and touched her own lips, muttering.

-This isn’t enough…. Why don’t I feel like I’m melting away like last time…? Why, oh why….

Seeing Ella stumble away as if addicted to some drug, I couldn’t bring myself to call out to her and had to let her go.

I rubbed my tired eyes and continued walking.

“… Am I lost?”

Until I got trapped in an alley.

As I walked, blankly staring at the pattern of the bricks on the ground, I got lost in the intricately intertwined paths. By the time I realized it, I had already gone too deep.

“I guess I have no choice.”

I braced my legs and prepared to leap into the air. The cold air enveloped me, and as I stepped on the bricks that began to crackle and split, I released my power and headed for the sky….

-I gave you plenty of time, didn’t I?

-P-please, can’t you just let this slide this time? I beg you!

-You only use polite language when it’s like this, huh?

… Just before I leaped, I heard familiar voices in my ears. I relaxed my legs and headed towards the source of the sound.

“A white light exploded and destroyed the shop, you have to make sense!”

“That’s the truth, what do you want me to do?!”

As I suspected, where I headed, I found Golden Sun, whose vision was still obscured, and… the portly owner of the general store I met when buying parchment before.

I waved and inserted myself between them.

“Hello?”

“Oh? Ah, Skadi? What brings you here?”

“By chance. What were you doing here?”

Golden Sun replied.

“Nothing much, I came to pick up the items I ordered previously, but this gentleman suddenly said all the stock had disappeared. So I was arguing with him.”

“I had it prepared! This was a natural disaster!”

Even though I didn’t ask, the portly shop owner complained indignantly from the side. To summarize, it was simple.

The shop owner, who had somehow received a commission to create a magical item from the Ossen Duchy. However, on the day of the dungeon incident a few days ago, his shop was half-destroyed by an unknown white light, causing the contract to be delayed.

“Hmm.”

That white light, wasn’t it me?

I closed my mouth.

In any case, today was the last day of the extended payment deadline, but yesterday, the shop was destroyed again by a white light, making it impossible to deliver the magical item.

The shop owner, with a tearful face, pointed to the ruins of his building, which only had its foundation left, and said.

Looking at it and thinking carefully, I realized this was the alley I had destroyed yesterday. The sword strike I unleashed to break the stone wall had destroyed this shop.

“….”

I apologized inwardly to the portly gentleman and changed the subject.

“By the way, a magical item? What kind of magical item is it?”

Recalling my memory, this general store wasn’t particularly large or famous. Even someone not as intelligent as me could tell it wasn’t the kind of place a duchy would commission.

Golden Sun replied while rummaging through her crossbody bag.

“That… just a moment. I put it in my bag… Ah, found it.”

What Golden Sun took out was a cuboid box with a unique shape. The exterior seemed to be made of metal, and intricate lines of unknown purpose were engraved on it.

The front of the box had something like a lens, and there was a button on the top. Golden Sun showed the box, turning it around, and said.

“It’s a magical item called a camera. You point it like this… and press the button, and the scenery appears as a picture. Haven’t you seen it before?”

Golden Sun walked towards me, put her arm around my shoulder, and moved closer. I naturally wrapped my tail around Golden Sun.

Then, as she pointed the lens at both of us and pressed the button, a piece of paper fluttered out from a gap on the back of the box. Surprisingly, the paper had an exact print of me and Golden Sun.

Golden Sun, with one hand stroking my ear and her waist wrapped by my tail. And next to her, I stood expressionlessly. My eyes were a bit hollow, perhaps from lack of sleep that morning.

“Oh….”

“Amazing, isn’t it?”

A camera. Was that invented in this world too?

Well, considering there were shower facilities and heating systems, it was a bit strange that there wasn’t a camera yet. As I admired the photo, Golden Sun said to the shop owner.

“Anyway, I can’t postpone it any longer. I’ve already given you one extension. Come with me obediently.”

“No! I have a young daughter to take care of at home! If the mother is gone and the father disappears too…!”

The shop owner, grabbing Golden Sun’s pant leg, pleaded desperately. Golden Sun, with her pants held, sighed and then suddenly looked at me and exclaimed.

“Old man, does taking care of a child always have to be family?”

“What?”

“Skadi, can I ask you for a favor?”

I nodded quietly. Golden Sun continued.

“Take care of his daughter for a few days. Is that okay?”

“I don’t really mind.”

I didn’t dislike taking care of children. When I agreed, Golden Sun turned to the shop owner and said.

“Then it’s settled, right? Now that your daughter is okay, you have no more excuses?”

“Ah, no, but she’s still a child. I feel like it’s better for her to be with family than a stranger….”

“Hush.”

“W-what if my child inadvertently causes trouble for the Grand Duchess, our entire family might be beheaded….”

“I wouldn’t do that over a child’s mistake.”

Even if she wasn’t a child, I wouldn’t go that far.

As I cut off his words, Golden Sun looked at the shop owner with a smile that felt somewhat sinister. The shop owner let out a sigh of “Ah…” and nodded with a tearful face.

“Iris, come to Daddy….”

The shop owner beckoned towards the ruins of the building. Then, a child popped her head out from behind a pillar.

Silver hair with a faint blue glow, red eyes like unset rubies. She was shorter than Claire, her crown reaching just below my chest.

“My beloved daughter… can you stay well while Daddy is away…?”

“Yes!”

“Iris! You should say no to that place…!”

The shop owner shed tears, but the girl named Iris just smiled brightly. Golden Sun helped the shop owner up and dragged him away.

-I’ve been falling behind on paperwork for days already. You’ll have to handle it all. Wasn’t your old nickname ‘King of Paperwork’?”

-No!

“….”

The area suddenly became quiet, almost unnervingly so. I quietly said to Iris, who stood beside me.

“Hello, Iris. My name is Skadi.”

“Hello, big sister!”

Iris bowed deeply. I chuckled at her adorable appearance and continued.

“I’ll take care of you until your father returns. Is that okay?”

“Yes!”

“Alright, shall we head to the dormitory first?”

I took Iris’s hand and walked forward.

“That’s the way to go deeper in!”

… I changed direction without a word.

——

“Finally, freedom!”

Freya, released from her confinement after only a day, stretched her hands towards the sky and shouted. With the Academy acceptance letter in hand, there was no one who could stand between her and her sister, so all that remained was to find her sister.

Freya put her nose to the ground and sniffed. As people around looked at her in confusion, Freya angrily chased away the onlookers.

“What are you looking at! Get lost!”

Freya continued sniffing. Eventually, a familiar scent tickled her nose.

“… This direction!”

The direction the scent indicated was an alley in the Academy. Judging by the intensity of the scent, it was clear that her sister hadn’t passed through here long ago. Filled with the joy of soon meeting her sister, Freya ran with all her might….

She got lost.

“Why!! The scents are tangled in all directions!!”

As if her sister had gotten lost and wandered here, the scents pointed in all directions and were tangled. As a result, Freya, who was following the scent, also got lost.

“What is this paper?”

After wandering for tens of minutes like that, Freya reached a ruined building and picked up a piece of paper lying on the ground. It was a paper with her sister’s scent strongly imprinted on it.

And what was drawn on that paper was-

“… Sister?”

A scene of her sister, with hollow eyes, her ears and tail being messed with by an unknown blonde person.

No, she knew the name. With that distinctive appearance, it was impossible not to recognize her. Sorina von Ossen, the eldest daughter of Duke Ossen. She, my sister, was being carelessly….

Hollow eyes, as if she hadn’t slept properly, her tail and ears being touched without permission. Seeing the drawing, only one thing came to Freya’s mind.

“My, my sister… all night with that damned bitch…!”

Freya imagined the unspeakable, suggestive events that might have occurred between her sister and the Ossen lady last night, and in her uncontrollable rage, she tore the photo to shreds.

“Aaaagh!!!”

After that, Freya ran following the scent, but it was only after several hours that she was able to escape the alley.