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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: An Unlikely Older Brother
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"Well... I suppose it's true only someone like me would have noticed."

Axel, who had been clearing his throat proudly as if being called a sharp guy was some great compliment, suddenly let his expression darken and lowered his gaze.

"I always thought there was another culprit. I never imagined you were dead, though. Well... the same went for 'them,' too."

I had a feeling I knew who Axel meant by 'them' without him having to say it.

For someone like me, who was all alone in the world without a family, the only people who would have been on my side were the members of the expedition party that defeated the Mad Dragon together.

"Then we should hurry and contact them..."

"No."

Axel cut me off flatly, shrugging his shoulders.

"If you're going to do it, do it yourself."

"...How am I suppowed to do dat? You told me not to use magic."

"That's for you to figure out."

"Why'd you get so mean when you got owder...?"

Wasn't this supposed to be a somewhat touching reunion after all this time?

Why the sudden change?

"Who told you to go to the battlefield alone and get caught up in things? You should have contacted us the moment you found something strange. If we had gone together, none of this would have been a problem."

As I blinked in disbelief, Axel rose from his seat with a deadpan expression.

"Since the great Black Mage loves to do everything by herself, try solving this problem on your own as well."

Having said his piece, Axel turned and walked toward the door, not even glancing back as he prepared to leave the room.

In the past, I wouldn't have cared whether Axel stayed or left, but right now, I desperately needed his help.

In this little kid's body, I can't even write a proper letter.

"Hey! How can you just weave wike dat!"

I quickly scrambled after Axel.

But as I scurried to keep up with Axel, whose strides were long even at a casual pace, an accident was bound to happen.

"Whoa!"

My short legs got tangled, and I tumbled forward.

I fell with a loud clatter, and the embarrassment stung more than the pain, making my face turn red.

I tried to get up quickly before Axel could see my embarrassing state, but judging by the way his eyes widened as he stopped at the loud noise, he had undoubtedly seen the whole spectacular fall.

Just then, something trickled down from my nose.

I wiped it with my hand and saw it was covered in a red liquid.

"Uh oh... a nosebweed..."

Even as I mumbled in a daze, blood kept streaming from my nose.

Thinking I had to stop the bleeding first, I hurriedly tried to pinch my nose, but a sudden rush of wind filled my vision with white.

The white thing was Axel's shirt.

The moment I realized that, Axel took off his coat, wrapped it around his hand, and firmly pinched my nose.

'I can't breathe!'

I instinctively started breathing through my mouth, panting as I looked up at Axel.

But Axel's gaze was fixed solely on my bleeding nose.

As he focused on stopping the bleeding, his blond hair cascaded down, tickling my forehead.

When I lifted a hand to rub my forehead, Axel warned me verbally.

"Now your forehead is covered in blood."

"Gasp."

Right, my hand was bloody!

Seeing my hand frozen in embarrassment, Axel let out a small laugh.

"Seems people don't change, even after dying and coming back to life."

"And you got meaner as you got owder."

With my nose pinched shut, my voice came out all stuffy.

I was sixteen when I first met the expedition party members.

We spent three years together vowing to defeat the Mad Dragon, and another eight years have passed since then, so this guy, who's the same age as 'Greslin', has gotten quite a bit older.

'He must be twenty-seven now.'

It felt a little strange seeing him as a grown-up all of a sudden.

We hadn't seen each other at all after defeating the Mad Dragon, so there was a bit of a difference between the Axel in my memory and the one before me now.

As if sensing my stare, Axel cleared his throat and roughly wiped my forehead.

"It's not a situation where we can contact them."

"Huh?"

"The expedition members, I mean. Servian went into the Red Desert to find ingredients. It'll be at least three months before we can reach him."

"What about Bael?"

Since Bael was the one who officially declared me a Saintess, contacting him to hear his side of the story was the most important thing.

"Bael started his hundred-day prayer two months ago, so he won't be out for another month."

Priests of the order hole themselves up in the temple during the hundred-day prayer, cutting off all contact with the outside world, so there was no way to reach him.

"And Kirke..."

The moment Kirke's name left Axel's lips, I shook my head.

"We're not contacting him. Nothing good will come of it."

"Well..."

Axel trailed off, as if in agreement.

After the Mad Dragon was subjugated, Kirke inherited the throne from his father, the Emperor.

That was because the Emperor had promised Kirke, 'If you return after defeating the Mad Dragon, I will hand over the throne to you!' but...

'The truth is, the Emperor never thought we would succeed.'

At the time, the expedition party was made up entirely of teenagers.

Axel and I were the youngest at sixteen, and even the oldest, the spirit master Servian, was only nineteen.

They gathered a bunch of kids like that, called them an expedition party, and threw them at the Mad Dragon.

It was a sloppy attempt to manage public opinion—which was questioning what the Emperor was doing while the Mad Dragon rampaged—by creating the image of 'an Emperor who would even send his young son on the expedition.'

So, the Emperor sent the son he cared for the least.

That was Kirke.

He was, of course, sent there to die.

'But somehow, that young expedition party ended up succeeding.'

To his son who returned a hero, the Emperor reluctantly handed over the throne.

The Emperor, who had been young even back then, was still a vigorous middle-aged man.

Even after abdicating, he was determined to find some fault with Kirke and drag him down.

In a situation like that, getting involved with a Black Mage with a bad reputation like me would only be harmful to Kirke in many ways.

"Then..."

What should I do for now?

My plan to gather my companions and discuss the Mad Dragon's subjugation had gone awry, and I was suddenly at a loss.

As I blinked and stared at Axel, he let go of my nose and looked me up and down.

Thankfully, the blood that had been streaming from my nose had stopped.

"First, you should..."

"First?"

"Take a bath. What in the world is this state you're in?"

"..."

"And those clothes you're wearing, throw them out immediately. It's painful just looking at such a shabby sight."

"...Hey. Dis is what your people dwezzed me in, you know?"

When I retorted indignantly, Axel surprisingly didn't argue and simply nodded.

"Right. That's a fair point. Since you are my 'little sister' now, I suppose it's my duty to see you dressed in a manner befitting the dignity of Elpinade."

"L-Little siiiister?"

"Why? You are my 'little sister.' Am I wrong?"

Legally, that was correct.

But to hear the word 'sister' come so casually from that jerk Axel's mouth left me dumbfounded, my jaw hanging open.

"As your 'older brother,' I will take full responsibility for my 'little sister's' dignity."

"O-Owder bwo..."

I couldn't even bring myself to finish the word.

Just the thought of calling that jerk Axel my older brother sent shivers down my spine.

"Don't take wesponsibiwity. It's a bad omen. I'll just stay shabby."

"I can't allow that."

Axel gave me the elegant smile he only used when he was plotting something and being polite, then placed his coat in my arms.

"Use this to plug your nose. It's starting to bleed again."

* * *

As if they had received an order from Axel, who had vanished like the wind, three maids rushed in and began to wash me with professional courtesy.

Usually, only one maid was assigned to Lesia, but she was nowhere to be seen.