That forest was located just a short distance from the manor of House Eberun.
Monsters dwelled there, but none of them were particularly strong.
Adventurers from the area regularly came and went to thin them out, and Rest also hunted there for magic training.
As long as one didn't venture into the deep parts of the forest, even pre-adult boys and girls could set foot there without much danger.
"All right, let's go! Follow me!"
Into that forest a group of five — boys and girls alike — ventured.
Leading the way was a red-haired boy: Cedric Eberun.
Cedric, whose father was a court magician, held in his right hand a short wand and strode confidently into the forest.
Following behind him were two boys who were Cedric's friends, both children of minor nobles with established ties to the family.
And then… two girls.
A girl with a golden ponytail, and a girl with long silver hair.
Both still carried the youthful innocence of their age, yet possessed a radiantly beautiful appearance.
Compared to the three boys, they were clearly more refined and appeared to be of noble birth.
As one would expect.
They were children of a marquis's house — born into a far more prestigious family than the three boys.
"Sister Viola…"
"It's all right, Primula. I'll be right here with you."
The name of the blonde girl was Viola. The name of the silver-haired girl was Primula.
They were twin sisters born into House Rosemary, a marquis's family.
The reason they were visiting the Eberun estate was to build a friendship with Cedric and the others.
Their father, the Marquis of Rosemary, served as Chief Court Magician, making him the superior of Rest and Cedric's father.
A superior and his subordinate happened to have children of the same age, and those children would be enrolling at the same academy next year.
In that case, it was only natural to create opportunities for them to get to know each other now.
(Cedric Eberun. I heard he has extraordinary magical talent, but… as a human being, he's hopeless. He's so obviously checking me and Primula out.)
(Cedric-san is kind of scary. The way he looks at me and my sister is creepy, and he's always bragging about himself. There's no way I could ever get along with someone like this.)
However, as a result of all these attempts at friendship… the Rosemary sisters had come to thoroughly despise Cedric.
His father had pressured Cedric into somehow winning over one of the sisters and getting close to her.
By having the daughter of the Marquis of Rosemary—Chief Court Magician—become his companion, he no doubt had ambitions of climbing the social ladder.
Cedric himself had been instantly taken with the beautiful sisters and was scheming to somehow make them his own.
That was the reason he had insisted on leading his friends and the sisters into the forest where monsters were said to dwell.
He planned to defeat the monsters with spectacular magic and impress the sisters with his prowess.
"Gyee, gyee."
"Oh, a Goblin appeared! Alright, I'll take it out with my magic!"
As they walked through the forest, they quickly encountered a monster.
A creature with a child-like frame, green skin, no hair on its head whatsoever, and two legs.
It was a Goblin—the lowest rank of monster.
"[[Fireball !"
"Gyiiiiiiii!"
Cedric aimed his short wand at the enemy and cast his spell.
A fist-sized fireball struck the Goblin, engulfing its small body in flames.
The Goblin collapsed to the ground, thrashing and writhing in agony, but eventually it drew its last breath and lay still.
"Ha ha ha! A Goblin is nothing—easy pickings. I took it out in one blow!"
"As expected of Lord Cedric! What incredible magic!"
"There's no way we could ever pull off a spell like that!"
"Ahahahahahaha!"
The victorious Cedric stamped his foot on the charred corpse of the Goblin.
Two friends, both sons of barons, heaped praise on the smugly grinning Cedric.
"............"
Cedric kept stealing glances toward the sisters... but both Viola and Primula wore cool, detached expressions.
Cedric had it all figured out... right about now, the sisters were supposed to be captivated, swooning and calling him "Wonderful! So dashing!"—but their reaction was the complete opposite.
(Sister, that guy is...)
(I know, Primula... we can't trust him.)
The sisters whispered to each other.
The two sisters of House Rosemary had been accustomed to being stared at with calculating, self-serving eyes since childhood, and they were highly sensitive to gazes that carried such sinister intent.
Both of them could clearly sense that Cedric harbored inappropriate feelings toward them.
(We should tell Father to avoid any involvement with House Eberun. Even after enrolling at the academy, we ought to keep our interactions to the bare minimum.)
(He seems talented as a mage, but... his personality is genuinely scary. I don't want to get close to him.)
Cedric's attempts to impress the sisters had completely backfired.
His swaggering after defeating weak monsters and his delight at trampling corpses only gave the sisters nothing but disgust.
However, Cedric had lived his entire life self-centered and utterly oblivious to such things.
If anything, he suspected his appeal wasn't coming across strongly enough and pointed toward the depths of the forest.
"Goblins are barely even training fodder! Let's push further in!"
"Um... even if this forest is relatively peaceful, wouldn't there be somewhat stronger monsters the deeper we go?"
"Y-yes, that's right, Cedric. Surely we've gone far enough..."
"Quit your whining! What's the fun in killing weak monsters over and over!? Don't worry—I'm here, the genius magician!"
Cedric puffed out his chest with pride and marched deeper into the forest without a care in the world.
His fellow baron's sons scrambled to follow after him.
"...Sister, what should we do?"
"...Well, he does have a point. There shouldn't be anything too dangerous in a forest like this, so it should be fine."
Annoying as he might be, their conscience wouldn't let them simply abandon someone heading into a potentially dangerous area.
The Rosemary sisters fell into the role of reluctant guardians babysitting a bratty, reckless child as they trailed after the three boys.