Ch.265Exploding NPCs. (6)

“Let go!! Let me go!! I don’t like you, lady!!! I said let go!!!”

“Ugh, Miss Ira?! Pl-please…! Ple-?!! J-just… huff?!!”

Incredible. Miss Ira, who has never thrown tantrums or been difficult before, is being incredible!! I managed to hold onto her by exerting the same power that earned me the nickname “Golden Wind,” but Miss Ira is now throwing the biggest tantrum I’ve ever seen, crying floods of tears and struggling wildly. Ow, it really hurts!! Has our Miss Ira truly gotten this strong?!!

“Let me go!! Let me go!!! I want to go to Big Sister Ragni and Grace!!!”

“Argh?! Ple-please?!! M-Miss Ira!! Please calm down…!! Pleease?!! C-calm down, I beg you!!!”

Ah, she’s just a child. We kept too many secrets from Ira, especially since she cares deeply about others like Jack does. We should have at least told her why the academy students kept taking leaves of absence. If we had, there might have been some room for dialogue. As I was being hit by the punches and kicks from Miss Ira’s small flailing arms and legs, I was sincerely regretting it. And then…

[…Miss Ira has gained the ability to use teleportation magic circles.]

While I was restraining Miss Ira in the living room, the information that Gorg brought after barely reviving and saying he would fix and investigate the siblings’ room was something Jack would have been very happy about. And for us right now, it was the worst news. Indeed, I thought her disappearing earlier looked similar to the Headmaster’s method?!!

“Let me go!! Let me go!!! I want to go!! I want to go too!!!”

“Ugh, please…! Gorg, help me. I’m dying here… Pl-please?!!!”

[No, I can see you’re secretly enjoying this. You truly are a hopeless pervert.]

No!! I’m not enjoying it!! No matter how much of a pervert I am, I don’t feel that way about Miss Ira’s tearful punches!!! I sincerely looked to Gorg for help, but he shook his head. Why not?!!

[I already caught Miss Ira once when she came back into the house to deceive you. And then she teleported away from my arms to somewhere else. Given the enormous differences between you and me, unless we understand how that worked and why it’s not working now, you need to keep holding her.]

“H-how is that possible?!”

-Thump! Whack! Whack!!

Ow, it hurts. Maybe because they’re punches thrown by a crying Ira, both my body and heart are in pain. Truly, even while taking these hits, I couldn’t let go of Miss Ira. After holding her in my arms for a while, she began to sob as if genuinely wronged.

“Waaahh!! My sisters!! We promised to wait for brother together…! Grace and I were supposed to play together during the break…!! Hic, hiccup!! Stupid! Stupid! I hate everyone!! Waaahh!!!”

“…Miss Ira. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Please, stop crying. Sniff…!!”

As Miss Ira sobs as if wronged, clutching my clothes so tightly she might tear them, I feel tears welling up too. Ah, we’ve been hiding too much from this child and taking advantage of her too much. Because she’s well-behaved, because she’s mature. We always thought she would “understand us” this time too.

“I hate brother too!! I hate my sisters!!! Everyone’s stupid!!! Waaahh!!! Always, always keeping me in the dark!! Leaving me out!! Everyone’s deceiving me!!! Leaving me behind!!! Waaaaaahhh!!!”

[…Miss Ira.]

“I hate Gorg too!!! Stupid!! Stupid idiot!! You said you were on my side!!! You said you’d listen to me!!!”

[……]

Ira’s heartbreaking sobs make both Gorg and me wince. We always said we were on Ira’s side, but we certainly always deceived her and kept her away from danger. Rather than telling her what was dangerous, what was threatening, we simply prevented her from coming near and blocked enemies from the start.

In the end, that exploded with Ragni’s impulsive action and Miss Grace’s crisis—actions of people precious to Miss Ira. Only now do I begin to understand Miss Ira’s behavior that I had arrogantly thought I already understood.

“Hic, hic! Big sister…! I, I too…! I can protect too!! I can fight like brother… Please, sniff!!”

“Miss Ira…”

“Let’s go after them!!! M-me too!!! Like brotherrr…!”

“Ugh!!”

[!!!]

Like brother.

What feelings, what thoughts make her say this? Is it just a 12-year-old’s tantrum? Because her friend disappeared, because a big sister she loves disappeared? Is that why she’s throwing a fit?

Can we really dismiss it like that? This child who always listened to us, who always smiled and agreed when we asked her to be patient, to wait—should we just hold her again this time until her tears stop? Just hold her until she calms down?

‘…No. That’s not right.’

“…Miss Ira. I’ll let you go. Don’t run away, okay?”

[?! Rey!!]

“Sniff!!”

At my serious tone, Miss Ira finally nods, turning her violet eyes that glisten like the Milky Way toward me. I slowly release her from my arms and seat her in the chair opposite me. Gorg nervously reaches out his hand, hesitating, but…

“Sniff. Can I go with you?”

“…Let’s talk first, let’s have a conversation.”

“Sniff! I don’t wanna wait anymore…”

“…I know. Miss Ira has always waited a lot, a lot, hasn’t she?”

When we first met, when she faced the slime, when I was burning with jealousy toward Ragni. In Aigram, and in Neti too. Ira has always waited for Jack, always waited for us. Was that possible with the patience of such a young child? Did she really wait blankly, knowing nothing, just because we told her to stay home, to just stay put? Such an intelligent child?

“…I, I. Now, now I. Can use fire magic and ice magic and wind magic too… Now, now. Piyaki, Piyaki can fight too. And, and… I can use the punches brother taught me… So…”

“…And you’ve learned to teleport too, I see?”

“Sniff. Yes, Master… showed me how… sniff, so I practiced every day… Sniff!! So!! That’s why!! Hic, waaaah…”

Was she frustrated? Wronged? Miserable? Did she hate herself for not being able to do anything but wait for her brother to return? So even when her beloved brother said he would leave for a year, she stayed to study here because she could become stronger here, could become an adventurer if she studied. Because then she could be by her brother’s side. Is that why she remained to study? And yet.

“Ra-Ragni sister too… and Grace too… I love them…!! I don’t want them to go…!! I want, want to be together!!”

“…But what if I tell you to wait? If I say it’s dangerous and that I’ll go bring them back?”

“Waaaah!! No!! I want to go too!!! I don’t want to wait anymore!!! Big Sister Rey!! Don’t leave me behind!!!”

[…Rey, this is going too far…]

Looking at Miss Ira, whose overwhelming sense of injustice is making her cry so much I worry all the moisture in her body might turn to tears, Gorg tries to end the conversation, fearing she might teleport away at any moment. But I shake my head. No, we need to listen. If we don’t listen now, we won’t be able to stop “her” anymore.

“Miss Ira. No, Ira.”

“Waaaah!! Big sister!! Me too!! I’ll do well!! Don’t leave me behind!!”

“Ira!!”

“Hic?!!”

[!!]

Instead of taking Ira’s short arms that were reaching out to me pleadingly, I shout, forcibly stopping her tears. To face her properly, I shouldn’t teach her that begging and crying is the way to get what she wants. That’s not what Jack would want for her.

“Sniff.”

“Crying won’t get you anything. We know the abilities you’ve developed until now. And where we’re going now is ‘dangerous’ even with those abilities. Do you understand?”

“…Sniff. Uh-uh.”

Meeting the gaze of Miss Ira, who honestly shakes her head that she doesn’t know and withdraws her outstretched arms, I slowly ask again.

“Ira. You’ve become very strong. Certainly strong enough that Jack would be incredibly proud if he saw you. But with that power, it’s still difficult to protect even yourself. Surely, Gorg and I will have a very hard time protecting you. Even so, do you absolutely have to go?”

“…I don’t wanna be alone, I don’t wanna wait.”

“If I go, Gorg will stay here. You won’t be alone at all. Even so?”

-Shake shake!!

Seeing her shake her head with all her might, absolutely refusing, I hold my final question in my mouth. Depending on how she answers this, it will determine whether I break or whether I forcibly break Ira’s heart. I hope…

“What if your brother comes to hate your current behavior?”

“…Sniff. Brother would… would definitely have followed too, so, so he definitely won’t hate me. Sniff.”

…Yes, Jack would have followed. He was that kind of man, even before he accepted my feelings. That’s the kind of man he is.

“Gorg, pack our bags. For three people.”

[…Sigh. If the master gets really angry, I’m not taking responsibility.]

I hope she won’t regret her choice. And I hope I won’t regret mine. I hope you can grow up to be worthy of such a man’s sister.

“…We’re going after them?”

“Yes. Let’s go. As Ira says, Jack would have definitely gone after them. If his sister wants to go, I have no reason not to go. No reason to stop her anymore.”

If Jack, who has disappeared from Gorg’s detection, appears and blames me, I will blame Jack in return.

[Huh? How long have I been the mountain keeper? Since my father passed away when I was 12. Yeah, since then it’s been just me and Ira. Well, it’s nothing to brag about. But living like that, you could say I practically raised Ira.]

I’ll blame him for raising such a pretty and kind sister and only showing us his back. As I wipe Ira’s face, which has stopped shedding pearl-like tears, with a handkerchief, I broke my own emotions.