Goodbye to a Sister, Hello to Sisters (1)
Goodbye to a Sister, Hello to Sisters (1)
After a fierce year-long struggle, the wicked disease known as Nine Yin Severed Meridians finally knelt before me.
I call it a struggle, but honestly it was just me napping on Flare's belly every day. Still, I was the one who had it rough, so whatever.
My body felt light, like a year-long cold had finally cleared up.
As if to congratulate me on my full recovery, a status window appeared before me.
[Nine Yin Severed Meridians (九陰絶脈) fully cured! Acquired Frost Resistance Lv.3.]
A grin spread across my face. I'm really cured. I don't have to worry about dying anymore.
Suddenly overcome with joy, I flung my arms wide and shouted.
"Mark of a Manly Man! Nine Yin Severed Meridians takes only a year to cure!!"
"Young master Yune, are you on about that manly man business again? When you're this tiny and adorable."
"Quiet! I keep telling you, I'm an adult and a man among men—a manly man!"
Flare, however, denied my manly magnificence. I snapped at her in irritation.
She just sighed and looked at me.
"Such a manly man getting caught picking carrots out of his stew and getting scolded?"
"...."
I had no comeback. When did she even see that? That was a one-on-one scolding from Mother.
"W-well, anyway! I'm a manly man! A manly man doesn't have to eat carrots!"
Flare's words left me speechless again. But this time it wasn't because I was searching for an answer—it was because all the pent-up frustration I'd endured surged up my throat.
In this world, being manly means exactly one thing. Delicate, obedient, cute—a passive man.
Manly conduct means sitting demurely wherever you go. A man's cultural refinement is measured by how gracefully he dances.
Before I possessed him, Yune had been bedridden and groaning every day, so he'd never faced that kind of pressure...
But as my health rapidly returned while living alongside Flare, Mother and the servants around me began increasingly insisting that I act more "manly."
That's because I'll be turning ten next year and becoming a debutante... but I'll save that story for later.
In any case, I was thoroughly sick of people treating me like a "boy." My gender identity belonged to Ryu Si-u, not Yune.
As a backlash against everyone trying to treat me like a girl, I'd started constantly asserting that I was a manly man. But the people around me, Flare included, didn't listen to a word I said no matter what.
"Right? You've got nothing to say, young master Yune? You'll be ten soon, so maybe a bit more masculine...."
"Shut up! A man among men is more womanly than a woman!!"
I nearly got dizzy from my own ridiculous line, but whatever.
I cleared my throat a few times and looked at Flare with a serious expression.
"Anyway. I was able to recover thanks to you. Thank you."
"I'm glad I was able to help you, young master Yune. It's been a real joy—like having a little brother all this time."
"Yeah. ...So about that, the contract's ending soon, right? Do you have somewhere to go?"
The mercenary contract between Flare and me was a one-year term.
It was almost over, but I really didn't want to let Flare go.
Over the past year, thanks to all the stories Flare told me, I'd learned a ton of information about this world—things neither Yune nor Ryu Si-u would've known.
She'd cured me of the death-sentence disease called Nine Yin Severed Meridians. Deep down, every time I looked at my status window, I'd been trembling at the thought of dying.
When Mother interrogated me about how I knew this person would aid my recovery, Flare covered for me by lying—saying she'd always been well-known for healing. That got me through it safely.
She taught me fire element magic. She could've just given me a few superficial lessons to save face, but she put her heart and soul into it. Like a genuine teacher treating a real student.
The flames we conjured together were so beautiful they planted a longing for magic inside me.
And above all... I'd grown deeply attached to her over the past year.
I don't want to say goodbye. Yeah.
But Flare shook her head.
"Once the contract is over, I'll return to the Magic Tower. I've earned plenty, so it's time to resume my research."
"C-can't you do that here? I could ask Mother to buy you magic tomes."
"I'm a fire element mage. The northern region has far too little fire element for me to conduct proper research."
"W-well then... if you just didn't do research...."
"Young master Yune, you're a proper mage yourself now, so you understand. Mages are beings who cannot live without pursuing truth."
I wished she'd stay here in the north, but she just kept listing reasons she couldn't, completely oblivious to my feelings.
She drove it home.
"Now that you're well, I'll leave the north and head back to the Magic Tower the moment the contract ends. So...."
Flare tried to say something more. But I didn't even let her finish before shrieking.
"...I hate you!!! I really hate you! Get out! I don't ever want to see you again!! Never!!"
* * * * * *
The head butler came rushing in at the sound of my shouting. Flare looked back and forth between the head butler and me, and when she saw me glaring, she reluctantly headed for the door.
But the emotions flickering in her eyes. ...Worry, regret.
Those feelings seemed to linger in the space she'd left behind.
I pulled the blankets over my head.
The blankets that had smelled of Flare's warmth just moments ago, because we'd been lying there together.
Flare didn't come to see me after that. And I didn't go looking for her either.
She could at least apologize—I might grudgingly forgive her. If she'd come crying and begging for forgiveness for leaving me, I could've said fine and forgiven her like a true manly man.
I thought about it like that for a day, then two. ...Three days passed.
And then the day came when our contract finally ended and Flare would leave.
"Young master, your meal...."
"Forget it. I have no appetite."
"You've barely eaten more than a few bites for several days now. At this rate you might collapse again...."
"...I said forget it."
Late morning. The head butler had brought me a meal since I was holed up in my room. But my stomach turned after just a few spoonfuls, so I pushed the tray away.
The head butler narrowed her eyes as she watched me blankly nibble at a cookie that had come for dessert.
"Is it because of Lady Flare?"
"Some mercenary like that? Not my problem. I'm all better now, so I don't need her anymore."
I thought I'd sounded properly aristocratic, but the head butler studied my complexion and then carefully spoke.
"Lady Flare said she'll be departing at noon. You've spent an entire year together. Are you truly sure it's fine to not say a single word of farewell?"
"...Mark of a manly man. When you part, you part without looking back."
The head butler kept trying to persuade me of something.
I whipped my head away, radiating don't-say-another-useless-word with my whole body, and soon after she set a piece of paper down.
"What's this?"
"Lady Flare gave it to me this morning. She asked me to pass it to you, young master."
"...Take it away. I don't want to look at it."
"Yes, as you wish."
Then the head butler gathered up the dishes I'd left and departed the room.
But—
-Flutter.
"...?"
Uncharacteristically, the ever-perfect head butler dropped the letter she'd just tucked back into her coat as she left.
"Head butler?"
"Then please rest well."
-Creeeak.
I tried to tell her she'd dropped the letter, but maybe my voice was too quiet. She closed the door and left me behind.
...Can't be helped. The head butler can be so careless.
I had no choice but to pick up that letter. Then I pattered over, checked to make sure no one was outside the door,
-Rrrrip.
and tore it open in a frantic rush.
I tore open the letter, sealed so prettily with wax, and pulled out the paper inside. A familiar handwriting flowed elegantly across the page.
The slightly cursive script of someone who wrote often—a mage's handwriting. The same writing Flare had shown me countless times while teaching me magic.
-To Yunes von Nordkirchen.
When there is a meeting, a parting must follow. Yet it pains my heart to think that your last words to me shall serve as our farewell, and so I write these few presumptuous lines.
Under ordinary circumstances I would tell you this in person, but the magic contract prevents me from coming to see you directly. Please understand.
I have been sincerely happy to be of help to you over this past year.
It began as a matter of money, but watching you grow healthier by the day and witnessing your magic skill improve by leaps and bounds filled me with genuine fulfillment.
But as your magic teacher, I was lacking. I could only teach you fire element magic, yet your magical affinity lies closer to the ice element. I was a poor teacher who taught only magic unsuited to my student's aptitude.
That weighs upon my mind, and so despite your words that you never wish to see me again, I leave this letter. Below are the ice element mages with whom I am personally acquainted.
If you mention my introduction and show them this letter, they will offer you instruction for an appropriate fee.
...
I shall end the letter here.
May the blessing of mana accompany your future, young master Yune.
A fairly long letter. Most of it was a list of ice element mages. Some were names I'd often seen in the game, but the vast majority were names I didn't recognize.
I barely glanced at that part, though. I just kept reading the beginning and end of the letter over and over.
Woven into every sentence was Flare's worry, as warm as her own body heat. The more I read, the warmer my heart felt.
So.
-I bolted upright!
I glanced out the window and then dashed outside in a panic.
The sun hung at the center of the sky. It was already noon.
...It was time for Flare to leave this castle, leave the north. To leave me behind and return to the Magic Tower.