After seeing
Along the way,
She wanted to come with me.
But she had work to do.
Skipping out without notice wouldn't go over well.
I sent her to the school—partly so she could explain the situation to Ariel.
By the time I got home, it was already past noon without me realizing it.
I made lunch and ate.
Since
The result was a thoroughly masculine-looking meal.
If I had to give it a name, I'd call it bean fried rice, or something like that.
Can't be helped. Unlike Sylphie, I'd never seriously studied cooking.
"Is it good?"
"It's delicious!"
"..."
Aisha was eating with gusto.
Norn didn't complain either, eating away in silence.
Compared to Sylphie's cooking it was night and day, but apparently it wasn't bad.
After we finished eating, we moved to the living room.
I sat Aisha and Norn down side by side, and positioned myself in front of them.
Once I'd caught my breath, I got down to business.
"Well, a bit late, but first—congratulations on making it through the long journey."
"Yes, and I see Onii-sama is in good health as well."
Aisha said that with a perfectly composed look on her face.
She was wearing a maid outfit.
The last time I'd seen her, it had been baggy on her, but now it fit perfectly.
Judging by the patches visible here and there, it was probably the same one as before.
She kept glancing around the room, as if the interior was novel to her.
Her bouncy brown ponytail swayed as she moved.
A white ribbon holding the ponytail together and a somewhat ungainly dark silver ornament caught my eye.
"..."
Norn was sitting with her head down like a child.
Her outfit was, well, what you'd expect a normal kid to wear.
A cute design with a light blue base.
In Millis I'd often seen children dressed like this, but around here it might stand out a little.
Her golden hair—probably longer than Aisha's—was gathered at the back of her neck.
That big clip-like hairpin was kind of stylish.
"Aisha, you seem to have worked really hard."
"Yes. Everything was for the sake of meeting Onii-sama. It was no great hardship."
Aisha looked self-satisfied.
But for some reason, her way of speaking was off today.
Why was she being so stiff about it?
"We're family, and from today on, this is your home too. There's no need to be reserved at all, so please make yourselves comfortable."
"Yes, Onii-sama, thank you very much. However, even though we're family, this is still Onii-sama's home. It would be too presumptuous just to stay here for free, so I was thinking of helping out with household chores and such."
I was getting a strange sense of distance.
Had I done something? Why was this happening?
Was it because of the honorifics?
"Hey, dear little sister."
"What is it, Onii-sama?"
"Could you maybe drop the formal speech?"
"Absolutely not, Onii-sama. When the elder party is using polite language, how could I possibly drop mine?"
Ah, so it was my fault.
Because I was using formal speech, she wouldn't drop it either.
"Got it. Then I'll stop using polite speech."
"There. See, using polite language between siblings does create distance, doesn't it? But I'll still use it when the situation calls for it—Onii-sama is my elder, after all."
Whoa, I was kind of hoping you'd drop it entirely there too.
Oh well, whatever.
Teaching kids to use polite language from a young age wasn't a bad thing.
Learning to switch between registers depending on the context was an important skill.
But that phrase—"creates distance."
Could it be that Ruijerd,
I always thought using polite speech was the first step toward smooth communication between people.
Next time I saw him, maybe I should try being more casual.
"Hey, Ruijerd, how's it going? You've really changed—back in the day you were so scrawny and didn't even have a beard. What? That's not my name anymore? Come on, even your name changed? But your manner of speaking is still the same."
...No, that wouldn't work.
Ruijerd was someone I respected.
Using polite speech with someone you respect—that was only natural.
If a parallel-world version of me had used casual language with Ruijerd or
"Well, anyway. Aisha, Norn. Living together like this is new for all of us, and there'll be plenty of things we don't understand about each other, but...let's get along."
"Okay!"
"..."
Aisha nodded enthusiastically.
It was like the look Puruserna had when I was luring her with meat—her tail was practically wagging.
She looked like she'd agree to anything I said.
Norn, on the other hand, looked displeased.
She had that expression that said she was unhappy about being stuck here.
The circumstances of our reunion hadn't been great. I'd shown up drunk with a woman in tow. Not the best first impression.
Maybe I should tread carefully with her.
"But I never expected Onii-sama to be married to Sylphie-nee. What a surprise, right, Norn-nee? You think so too?"
Aisha directed the question to Norn.
Norn shook her head.
"...I don't really remember much about Sylphie."
Norn apparently didn't remember Sylphie very well.
Well, I supposed that was to be expected.
Unlike Aisha, who'd studied etiquette alongside her, Norn hadn't had much contact with her.
"Hey, hey, Onii-sama, what happened? What about Eris, who was with you before?"
Aisha leaned forward and asked.
About Eris.
So everyone really was curious about that.
"Well, let me think..."
I decided to tell them everything with a rueful laugh.
About returning to the Fittoa Region in the
About catching an illness and being recommended to the Magic University in order to treat it.
About meeting Sylphie at the Magic University and being cured.
I glossed over the details of the illness itself—namely ED and its treatment.
Not the kind of thing you explain to girls around ten years old.
I also explained that because Sylphie's situation was extremely delicate, she often disguised herself as a man in public.
As for that whole matter, Ariel had told me to use my own judgment on who to tell.
Honestly, it might be better not to tell my two sisters at all.
They were still young.
But since we'd be living together, it was inevitable that it would come up—that questions would be raised. Thinking about the problems that would cause, it was wiser to get ahead of it.
It'd be easier to deal with that way.
"So, that's the gist of it."
When I'd finished the story, Norn was looking down with a troubled expression.
Aisha peered at my face with a worried look.
"So, is that illness all right now?"
"Yeah, fully cured. Nothing to worry about anymore."
I still did physical therapy every three days, though.
Aisha murmured "Oh, good," then slapped her hands together.
"Oh, that's right!"
"Hm?"
"Father told me that if I saw Onii-sama, I should give him something."
With that, she sprang to her feet and darted upstairs.
She came back almost immediately carrying a square travel bag.
A trunk.
"Here you go!"
It was a trunk secured with serious locks—three big ones, no less.
Cautious was one word for it, but it practically screamed "steal me."
No, I supposed it was to keep Aisha and Norn from opening it and losing things.
I used magic to unlock it.
"Oh, the keys..."
"Hm? Oh."
Aisha was holding a keyring frozen in place in her hand.
I took it anyway.
I pocketed the keys and opened the trunk.
"Whoa."
Inside was a hoard of gold, silver, and treasure.
Well, "hoard" was an exaggeration, but there was a substantial amount of money stashed inside.
Over a dozen Millis gold bills and various precious metals.
At a glance their value was hard to gauge, but they'd fetch a good sum if sold.
This must be the "operating funds for the time being" mentioned in the letter.
With this, our household could survive for another ten years.
But I'd have to be careful not to waste it.
Tucked inside the lid of the trunk were two letters.
I checked them.
One was the same kind of letter that had arrived the other day.
From
The other was from Lillia.
It described the current study progress and personality shortcomings of both Aisha and Norn.
Aisha was outstanding and never made mistakes, but she could be a bit full of herself, so strictness was warranted.
Norn was average, but she'd been constantly compared to Aisha at school and had apparently grown somewhat bitter because of it.
She often put on a brave front, so the advice was to be gentle with her.
Lillia was a bit harsh toward Aisha.
She probably saw herself as a concubine or mistress and was therefore holding back somewhat with Norn.
In my opinion, I should treat both sisters equally.
Still, Aisha really was remarkable.
By a year ago, there was already almost nothing left to teach her.
Reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography—she'd already mastered all those subjects to a sufficient level.
On top of that, cleaning, laundry, housework, and cooking.
She'd learned the basics of Water God Style swordsmanship.
In magic, she'd reached the elementary level in all six fundamentals.
She'd apparently attended school in Millis, but since Roxy and the others had shown up and they'd set off on their journey, she hadn't been there for very long.
And yet this was the result. No wonder Norn felt bitter.
Norn, by contrast, was ordinary.
Nothing special, but nothing wrong either.
She was probably more capable than Eris, who was the same age.
Average—or maybe slightly below average.
Norn had been thrown into chaos by the teleportation incident.
Given those circumstances, this was actually commendable. She was doing her best.
There was no reason to feel bitter.
There were no other letters in the trunk.
I'd half-expected something from Roxy, but...
Well, these were family-to-family letters. Maybe she'd held back.
"In any case, once you've settled in a bit, you'll both need to start school."
"Huh?!"
It was Aisha who let out the discontented complaint.
Did she have bad memories of school?
"There's nothing left for me to learn at school! I worked hard so I could serve Onii-sama!"
"But still—"
"I want to take care of Onii-sama! You promised before, remember? Look, I always have it with me!"
With that, Aisha undid her ponytail and showed me the thing tying her hair.
It was the headband I'd given her at some point.
The iron plate had been reshaped into a hair ornament.
No wonder it looked a little ungainly.
Seeing something I'd made being treasured like that was kind of nice.
But setting that aside...
What about not going to school?
Honestly, I didn't think it mattered whether someone went to school or not.
The will to learn was more important than the school itself.
Without that, going to school was just a waste of time.
Like the me of middle school.
That said, Paul's letter had specifically told me to make sure both girls attended school properly.
There was no compulsory education in this world, but...
"At the very least, take the Magic University entrance exam. We'll go from there based on the results."
"Huh? Oh... alright. Understood."
Aisha grinned confidently.
She was sure she could score high on the exam.
Well, if she really could, I supposed there was no particular need for school.
I'd tell Paul my side of things.
"Norn, why don't you take the exam too?"
"..."
When I turned to Norn, she kept facing away but shifted just her eyes toward me.
She really doesn't like me...
Was she never going to talk to me for the rest of her life?
Just as I was thinking that, Norn muttered something.
"...But I might fail the exam."
It felt like the first time she'd actually spoken to me.
Well, not that there was any real risk of that.
But I was happy about it regardless.
Yeah, being ignored was the worst.
"Don't worry about that. At that school, anyone can enroll as long as they have the money."
"...I don't want to go to school that badly!"
She shouted it at me.
I guess that had sounded like I was trying to buy her way in.
"Hey, Norn-nee! How dare you talk to Onii-sama like that!"
"Well, you heard him! He said he'd fix it with money!"
"That's because you can't study!"
"I'm not stupid!"
Norn lunged at Aisha and grabbed her hair. Aisha grabbed Norn's wrist and went for her face.
Scratching, pulling—it was a girl's fight. A kid's fight.
Good. This was how fights were supposed to be.
A punch to the jaw followed by standing over your opponent wasn't a real fight.
Moderate fighting wasn't the worst thing, but my wording had been bad. I should stop this.
"Enough."
A lower voice came out than I'd expected.
Both of them flinched and stopped.
"..."
Norn still looked like she had something to say, her head lowered.
Her eyes were brimming with tears.
Hmm.
My presence, and Aisha's, were causing her more insecurity than I'd realized.
"So, Norn. The school in this town—anyone can enroll regardless of race, status, or talent, as long as they pay the fees. It's not about buying your way in."
"...sniff."
Norn wiped her tears and sniffled.
"You remember Teacher Roxy, right?
She attended there too.
It's a good school.
There are lots of teachers, and they teach all sorts of things.
Maybe, Norn, you could...find something you enjoy there too."
She might even find something she could beat Aisha at.
I almost said that part, but stopped myself.
This wasn't the time for comparisons.
Norn kept her head down for a while.
"...Fine. I'll take the exam."
Eventually, she said that much, then scraped her chair against the floor and stood up.
She started to leave the living room.
Aisha called after her in an irritated voice.
"Norn-nee! We're not done talking!"
"Shut up!"
Norn clomped up the stairs, and from the second floor I heard a door slam shut.
I see.
She really was a difficult kid.
Difficult age, difficult personality.
Would I ever be able to get along with her...
"Good grief, Norn-nee is always like that. Ugh, I hate kids who can't behave. Right, Onii-sama? You think so too?"
Aisha shrugged and sought my agreement.
She was looking down on the difficult Norn in her own way.
That wasn't good either.
"Aisha."
"What?"
"Stop saying things like she can't study or looking down on her."
"Huh..."
Aisha pouted.
She wasn't happy about it.
"But Norn-nee doesn't even try!"
"Well, maybe that's how it looks from where you're standing, but Norn is trying in her own way."
"...Fine. If Onii-sama says so, I'll watch myself."
She nodded, though she was clearly reluctant about it.
Well, not that anything I said carried much weight.
After all, I didn't know the first thing about either of them.
But how exactly were you supposed to handle girls this age?
Tough.
--- That afternoon.
I left the two sisters at home and headed to the school.
In the morning I'd gone to the staff room and spoken with Vice Principal Jinas about the entrance exam.
"Since they've been attending another school, they should be able to keep up with the coursework. It might be a good idea to have them take the exam sooner rather than later."
That was the general advice.
So I set the exam date for one week from now.
It would essentially be a surprise test, but that shouldn't be a problem.
"Still,
"One of them is, but the other is just an ordinary kid."
"You say that, but then it turns out she can cast spells without incantations or something, doesn't it?"
"Not a chance."
I made some small talk with Jinas, then suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, by the way, Vice Principal. Is Her Majesty Bardicardin at the school today?"
"...Her Majesty? I don't believe she's come in today."
"Is that so."
She was impossible to predict.
Though whenever she did show up, it always turned into a commotion, so you'd know soon enough.
"If there's something you need, I can pass along a message."
"No, it's nothing that important. I just wanted to have a quiet conversation with her, just the two of us."
"Understood. I'll let her know if I see her."
With that, I parted ways with Vice Principal Jinas.
I'd been about to head home, but I had a little time to spare.
So I decided to drop by
I knocked and entered the lab.
But Nanahoshi wasn't there.
Strange—the shut-in wasn't here?
I checked the experiment room too. Not there.
The bedroom was off-limits, but I knocked anyway.
"...Mm, ugh..."
I heard a groan. She sounded like she was in pain.
I hesitated about going in.
But a moment later, Nanahoshi emerged with a deathly pale face.
"H-hey, are you okay?"
"My... head... hurts... I feel... awful..."
Wow, she reeked of alcohol.
A hangover, huh?
Well, when you drink that much...
Her intake had been enough to cause acute alcohol poisoning.
"Sit down. Let me cast detox on you."
I guided Nanahoshi back into her lab, sat her in a chair, and gripped her head.
I chanted the detox spell.
Then I used healing magic to remove the pain.
"That's... much better. Thanks."
Nanahoshi shook her head, pressed her temples, and thanked me.
Then she put on the mask that had been sitting on the desk.
The masked woman, Silent Seven Star, had arrived.
"So, what's up? If it's about payment, I haven't prepared it yet, so can it wait?"
Her tone was cool, but with a hint of embarrassment mixed in.
This must be what they meant by "tsundere."
"I came home the other day and my sisters had arrived, so since they'll need to attend school, I was just stopping by while taking care of the preparations."
"...Your sisters? From your old world? Did you trip back?"
"What? No, of course not. They're my sisters from this world."
"I see."
Nanahoshi stared intently at my face.
"Sisters from this world—then they must be adorable."
"Did you just... compliment my face?"
"I'm just speaking from our perspective. I don't know what you looked like before, but right now you've got a pretty well-structured Western-style face, don't you?"
"I, yeah."
My face had been complimented.
She was dangerous.
If I were still alive, I'd have been thinking "Wait, does she like me?" by now.
But I was no longer a virgin, and I wasn't single.
A single comment like that wasn't going to shake me.
"How old is she?"
"I think ten."
"Same as one of my younger brothers, more or less. If the same amount of time has passed over there, he'd be older than me now."
Nanahoshi said that and her eyes softened with nostalgia.
She was probably thinking about Japan.
I didn't have many fond memories associated with the word "brother."
"Now I suddenly want pudding."
Nanahoshi said that abruptly.
What a non sequitur.
Why pudding?
"Do you have some memory tied to pudding?"
"I had put one in the fridge and someone ate it without asking. It was the expensive kind, too..."
Every younger brother was apparently the same.
But even a memory like that was something Nanahoshi cherished.
She was looking up slightly.
Was she fighting back tears?
I'd pretend not to notice.
"Well, I'll be heading out."
"Right... And, um, last time was... sorry for the trouble. I've reassessed you a bit."
"Heh. If you fall for me, you'll get burned."
"What's that supposed to be? Are you trying to sound cool?"
Nanahoshi said that and cracked a small smile.
Generation gap.
Well, I could ask about the experiments another time, once things had settled down more.
--- After school.
I walked home with Sylphie.
I wanted to consult her about various things regarding my sisters.
She was close to their age, so she probably understood certain things.
"Oh, right, Rudy. Let's go shopping. Now that there are more of us, we need to stock up."
At Sylphie's suggestion, we headed to the market.
The moment we set foot in the market, the sweet smell of boiling beans wafted through the air.
The commercial district's market was bustling even in the evening.
The common image was that food markets were busy in the morning, but around here the freshest food available was meat.
Meat came from adventurers and hunters who felled monsters and wild animals.
Setting hunters aside, adventurers went out into the forests and plains during the day and returned in the evening.
Since supplies came in during the day, the market peaked in the evening.
That said, the selection wasn't enormous and prices were on the high side.
Still, being able to solve most problems with money—the three magic nations were relatively fortunate that way.
Head east and there were supposedly plenty of poorer countries.
Countries where you couldn't buy things even if you had the money.
Incidentally, one of the adventurer requests available around here was simply freezing freshly caught game.
A request aimed at students who'd just learned magic.
I shopped with Sylphie while discussing the future.
"Yeah, you're right—they probably don't get along that well."
"Honestly, I have no idea what girls that age are thinking."
"Maybe not."
"Aisha doesn't want to go to school—she wants to become our maid. What do you think?"
"I've been a bit neglectful of the housework, so if Aisha is willing to help, I'd be happy about that."
Sylphie was smiling.
She didn't seem to think her job was at risk.
"That said, Sylphie, we're responsible adults."
"Mm."
"Shouldn't our job be to send Aisha to school and show her what's possible?"
"Hmm. Well, what if we had her learn some things at the Magic University that are a bit off the beaten path?"
Sylphie rested her chin in her hand, thinking.
She had that "which should it be" look on her face.
Her gaze drifted to the ham on display at the food stall.
The price differed slightly between the left and right pieces.
"Sylphie, I'm being serious here. Think it through."
"Of course I'm thinking. But you know, Aisha is probably a more capable girl than you realize, Rudy."
"And so what if she is?"
"I think whether she goes to school or not, she'll do fine."
"Oh."
"So rather than overthinking it, why not just let her do what she wants?"
Sylphie had a lot of faith in Aisha.
Come to think of it, Sylphie had known Aisha—she'd known her when Aisha was even younger.
I'd heard that Aisha had been outstanding even back then.
"The real issue is Norn.
She seems anxious, now that she's separated from Paul and Ruijerd.
We need to look after her properly."
"Yeah."
Watching Sylphie, so calm and composed, I could see that I was the one who was a little unmoored.
Sylphie was dependable.
She was just like Senpai Fitz.
Ah—no, she was Senpai Fitz.
"So let Aisha do as she pleases, and lay down some rails for Norn—is that what you're saying?"
"Rails?"
"I mean pave a path for her."
"Mm, yes, I think that's the way to go."
Still, I wondered about treating them so differently.
No—their abilities were vastly different.
Forcing the same treatment on them would be absurd.
Don't confuse discrimination with distinction.
"Hmm... I feel like I said something pretty bossy."
"No, you helped a lot. I was able to sort things out a bit."
"But I have my duties as Ariel's bodyguard, so I can't really look after them as much as I'd like..."
Sylphie scratched behind her ear and said with a troubled look.
Because of her duty to protect Ariel.
Come to think of it, she always made that face whenever that subject came up.
Maybe she was troubled by it too.
The possibility that I might say "If we're getting married, quit being the princess's bodyguard."
I decided to ask on a whim.
"Hey, Sylphiette."
"What is it, Rudeus?"
"If I said, 'If we're getting married, stop being the princess's bodyguard'—what would you have done?"
I tried to keep it light.
Sylphie turned to look at me.
With a serious face.
"...I might have turned down your proposal."
What?
...That stung a little.
Maybe I should have waited longer before asking.
Yeah, I see.
She'd choose Ariel over me.
Right, right...
"Oh."
Seeing my face, Sylphie suddenly panicked.
"Don't get the wrong idea. I do like Rudy.
No—'like' doesn't capture it.
There are so many different feelings all mixed together that even I don't understand them myself."
Flustered Sylphie was adorable.
"Ultimately, I think they all come down to 'like,' though.
And, well, the idea of having children with Rudy felt natural, too..."
Sylphie said that while rubbing her stomach.
That gesture made my face flush as well.
Sylphie was quite talkative today. Even in public.
"But you see, I love Ariel too.
It's a different kind of love from what I feel for Rudy...
A friend's love, I suppose."
Come to think of it, I'd never really heard Sylphie talk about her feelings toward Ariel.
"Ariel is, despite appearances, kind of a mess in a lot of ways.
I'm sure Rudy would manage just fine without me, but Ariel would probably die if me or Luke weren't around.
So... I don't want to abandon her."
Sylphie said that and scratched behind her ear.
Then she added, "Oh, but—"
"This life I'm living now... it's been something of a dream for me.
So, if it's possible... please let me stay with both of you."
Sylphie probably thought she was being greedy.
Two things that should be mutually exclusive, and she was asking me to make them work because of my goodwill.
So maybe she was trying to be the woman who suited me best.
Not that that was the case.
"..."
Without answering, I planted a kiss on Sylphie's cheek.
The instant I did, whistles and jealous clicks of tongues echoed around us.
We'd become the center of attention without realizing it.
Sylphie's face turned beet red all the way to her ears, and in the end she put her sunglasses on.
Senpai Fitz was still as adorable as ever.
A few minutes later.
Sylphie had calmed down, so we resumed our shopping.
We'd gotten a bit sidetracked.
But in any case, we'd covered pretty much everything we needed to discuss.
If Sylphie got along with both of them, my burden would be lightened considerably.
Honestly, I had no idea what girls this age were thinking.
"I'm not great at understanding girls, so I'll probably end up relying on you a lot."
"Mm. We should help each other when we're stuck. We're husband and wife, after all."
Sylphie said that and smiled with a shy look.
My wife was dependable.
That said, Rudy would be fine without me—but Ariel would fall apart without me?
Sylphie could probably manage just fine without me.
Unlike before.
--- One week later.
Aisha scored a perfect score on the entrance exam.
:Aisha's Capabilities: Though she may appear unremarkable at first glance, she is already capable of working as a maid in the royal palace.