To Become Strong

“Riel has an enormous amount of magical power.”

When Riel was young, her sister Eve, who often hugged her, said such a thing.

At the time, Riel didn’t understand those words, but Eve, who had been practicing magic since childhood and was called a prodigy, could feel the tremendous amount of magical power Riel possessed.

Despite being just a young child, she had an enormous amount of magical power that easily surpassed adult magicians.

Eve, who was praised for her talent, had magical power that wasn’t inferior to an adult’s, but she had to concede to Riel in this regard.

“She might become a great magician following in the footsteps of our family’s ancestor, Aritia Ignis.”

“Father, that’s a bit of an exaggeration.”

The Duke Ignis said this with a laugh, and her brother Andrew laughed too.

It was one of the few happy memories from her childhood.

In reality, as she began learning magic, Riel realized that her magical power was significantly greater than that of ordinary people.

Even when she recently went to the Count’s territory, the Countess, an excellent magician, had vouched for Riel’s magical power.

That’s why Riel chose a deception strategy.

After using enough magic that would have depleted an ordinary person’s magical power, she pretended that all her magical power was consumed.

Then, she carefully chanted a high-level spell without being detected.

Of course, someone sensitive to the flow of magical power, especially an elf, might have noticed, but fortunately Kyo, who had caught on to her intention, was definitely drawing their attention.

He rushed at the enemy, using magic freely to draw their attention.

Seeing him get injured in the process made Riel feel like her heart was being torn apart.

‘Quickly… quickly…’

Somehow suppressing her impatient feelings, she chanted magic as calmly as possible.

Eventually, she prepared the maximum magic she could use.

She used Freya to signal Kyo, who had been buying time.

Perhaps the signal was properly conveyed, because as soon as he turned around and retreated with all his might:

“Explode Ray!!”

The high-level magic Explode Ray, the most powerful magic Riel could use, fell on the enemies and caused a massive explosion.

Watching the explosion with tremendous flash that covered the mansion garden—an explosion that would reduce ordinary magical beasts to ashes in an instant—Riel felt slightly dizzy and sat down.

For an experienced magician, casting a high-level spell once wouldn’t cause dizziness, but for Riel, who had used a high-level spell for the first time, it was an unfamiliar sensation.

Somehow calming her dizzy head, she looked at where her magic had landed.

Despite the sudden attack, as expected of mercenaries who had experienced many real battles—they had hastily raised their magical power to create a barrier, and the elf sisters had survived the explosion.

But it was over.

They looked as if they were no longer capable of fighting.

Kyo dragged his injured body, running to finish them off.

Riel felt a sense of relief that they were both safe, along with a slight feeling of exhaustion.

At that moment, Riel’s eyes met the blue eyes of an elf staring intently at her.

Those eyes contained a chilling killing intent…

And suddenly, she heard a sound like something exploding.

Whack!!

And then, a sound like hitting a piece of meat.

When she came to her senses, she saw the black-haired boy who had been at a distance from her collapsed in front of her eyes.

She couldn’t understand what had happened.

“…Kyo?”

She called his name.

From the boy’s face contorted in pain, she shifted her gaze to his body.

Confirming the shape of the foreign blade protruding from his body, Riel screamed.

“Wake up! Please open your eyes!”

In the midst of terrible pain, only Riel’s voice could be heard.

I had been cut by blades several times before, but this was the first time a knife had been cleanly embedded in my abdomen.

“Please… pleeeease!!”

Suppressing the pain, I opened my eyes to look at her face.

I saw a beautiful face with red eyes that had become even redder, tears streaming down.

“Riel…”

“Yes! It’s me! Are you okay?!”

Somehow not wanting her to cry, when I opened my eyes and spoke, her expression noticeably brightened.

“I’m fine… I’m fine…”

A lie, honestly I’m not fine.

It was a horrible pain that made me suspect my internal organs were damaged 100 percent.

But I was just putting on a brave front to ease the worry of Riel who was crying in front of me.

The first thing I learned while living as a noble was how to bluff.

“So, be careful… it’s not over yet…”

Yes, it wasn’t over yet.

The elf sisters were still alive.

Indeed, as I gritted my teeth and endured the pain to look toward where the elf sisters had been, the younger elf sister was standing there, forcibly putting strength into her staggering legs.

In her hand was the other dagger. Her gaze was fixed on us.

Hearing my words, Riel looked toward the elf and widened her eyes as she used magic.

“Flame Lance!!”

A spear made of flame flew straight, targeting the younger elf sister.

Kwang!!

The sound of flames bursting as the magic hit, but the younger elf sister sprang out from those flames.

Her left arm was mangled from the magic hit, but she was running toward us with a dagger in her right hand.

“Stop right there!!”

Perhaps having dealt with her opponent already, Lilu hastily nocked an arrow and shot it at the approaching younger elf sister.

Whack!!

The arrow embedded itself in the younger elf sister’s right arm with a loud sound.

But the younger elf sister’s movement didn’t stop.

Instead, she put the dagger she was holding in her right hand into her mouth and ran toward us with bloodshot eyes.

…That movement suggested she was prepared to die and wanted to take at least one more person with her.

Riel hurriedly shot quick-to-cast spells like Fire Arrow or Blit, but the elf continued running despite her body becoming increasingly mangled as she took all the hits.

It was a moment when Riel’s expression turned pale at that horrifying sight.

Thud!!

A loud stomping sound was heard.

And the next moment, with a loud impact sound, the body of the younger elf sister who had been running toward us while glaring was sent flying sideways.

The younger elf sister who was flung away flew into a tree planted in the garden, collided with it, and stopped moving.

“Sister…”

When Riel said that, the figure who had sent the younger elf sister flying turned to look at us.

Eve Ignis.

I saw a red-haired woman with sharp eyes that quickly widened, rushing hurriedly toward Riel.

“Sister… Kyo… Kyo was stabbed with a knife…”

Perhaps because I confirmed that Eve had returned, I felt relieved and lost consciousness while hearing Riel’s voice.

When Eve was almost at the mansion, what she saw was an explosion accompanied by a bright flash.

Convinced that something serious had happened at the mansion, Eve activated the magic she had been chanting.

“Sudden Impact!!”

A high-level magic that instantly delivers an impact of tremendous mass, crushing the target.

Its power was enough to crack sturdy castle walls, so it could easily blow away the walls of the current Duke’s mansion which, though sturdy, had no magic cast on them.

Though the wall had been repaired not long ago, this was no time to worry about such things.

When Eve, who had rushed in through the wall she had destroyed, reached the site of the explosion, what entered her eyes was the sight of a demonic female elf rushing toward her sister.

But there was still some distance.

Eve hastily took out a magical tool from her chest.

The Eye of the Typhoon, a magical tool that explosively increases leg power.

It’s an item that needs to be rested for three days after one use and is disgustingly expensive, but as an escape tool for unexpected situations, high-ranking knights each carry one.

Although it’s primarily an escape tool for crisis situations, it can be used for other purposes, and some knights often experimented with various applications.

Like Eve right now.

Thud!!

Eve’s enhanced leg power allowed her to launch from the ground with explosive force to reach the female elf charging toward her sister.

And she poured that leg power directly into the female elf.

Eve’s kick pierced right through the female elf’s side, and she was sent flying, crashing into a tree.

Only leg power is enhanced—Eve’s leg couldn’t withstand the impact and tore, but Eve ignored it and looked at Riel.

“Sister… Kyo… Kyo was stabbed with a knife…”

“It’s okay… let’s move him quickly.”

A black-haired boy who had lost consciousness with a knife embedded in his abdomen.

And seeing her younger sister looking at her with tears in her bright red eyes, Eve let out a groan.

Soon after, she saw several of her subordinates from the magic corps arriving behind her.

Eve ordered them to restrain the fallen elves, and personally carried the boy, rushing toward the mansion.

“So it was a diversion…”

Princess Aine, returning to the mansion after suppressing the rioters, muttered this as she saw the broken wall and damaged garden.

Normally, she wouldn’t have failed to predict such a diversionary tactic, but in the situation where civilian casualties were occurring in real-time due to the sudden riot disturbance, she had misjudged.

“…So, what are you doing?”

“Hmm, I was also restrained.”

Princess Aine wore an incredulous expression when she saw Lilu sitting restrained by the magic corps members.

“Since the attackers were elves, there was a bit of a misunderstanding.”

“I… I see.”

Princess Aine immediately ordered Lilu to be released, and Andrew and Alicia arrived behind her.

Alicia also had a dumbfounded expression seeing the restrained Lilu, but Lilu nonchalantly stretched her hands that had stiffened from being tied up.

“The boy was injured.”

“Kyo?”

“Yes, he was stabbed in the abdomen. He might be seriously injured.”

Princess Aine turned to Andrew and Alicia.

Eventually, they nodded to each other and rushed toward the mansion.

When Princess Aine’s group arrived inside the mansion, the first thing that caught their eyes was none other than the Ignis sisters.

Seeing them, Andrew shouted and ran toward them.

“Eve! Riel!!”

“Brother?”

Eve, who had been comforting Riel, raised her head at Andrew’s voice.

“Yes, it’s me! It’s been a while!”

“Brother, I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“Yes, Mother will be overjoyed to see you too.”

Though it was a reunion of siblings after a long time, given the situation, Princess Aine stepped forward.

“Eve.”

“Your Highness, you’ve returned.”

“Yes, how is Kyo?”

At Princess Aine’s words, Riel, who had been crying, flinched.

Eve, looking worriedly at Riel, opened her mouth.

“First aid has been completed. The details will need to be confirmed when a doctor arrives, but…”

“I see.”

Princess Aine’s eyes also contained worry.

And just then, a knight rushed in saying he had brought a doctor.

It seemed that since a riot had broken out at the hospital, there were many doctors who had evacuated and been rescued by the knights, making it easy to find one.

The doctor entered the room, and Princess Aine sighed and sat down in a chair.

“…I should have anticipated it was a diversion.”

“Your Highness…”

Princess Aine blamed herself, and Commander Gareth tried to comfort her.

Andrew and Eve were comforting Riel.

Riel had her head bowed deeply with a dark expression.

“Riel…”

Eve called Riel’s name worriedly.

After a moment, Riel raised her head, looked at Eve, and opened her mouth.

“Sister…”

“Yes, your sister is here.”

“About Kyo. Even after being stabbed with a knife, he said he was fine.”

Tears fell like chicken droppings from Riel’s red eyes.

“I know it’s a lie, I know he’s just putting on a brave front, but he said he was fine… and even told me to be careful…”

“Riel…”

“If I hadn’t let my guard down… if I could have avoided it on my own, he wouldn’t have…”

“No, it’s not your fault, Riel…”

Riel also began to blame herself.

Eve denied it to comfort Riel, but she wasn’t sure how to console her.

Andrew also just held Riel’s hand silently.

How much time had passed?

Riel firmly grasped Eve’s hand.

Eve looked at Riel, who had grasped her hand tightly.

“Riel?”

“Sister, how do I become strong?”