57. Family Is Still Family
57. Family Is Still Family
The story of how Hera learned of her half-sibling Atlas's existence began about a week into the new semester.
"They all got turned into morons?"
"Morons... Well, in any case, they all came back with major injuries, Club President-nim."
The members she had lent to the Newspaper Club President came back looking like they'd been put through a meat grinder.
She had dispatched members with definite skills, befitting a guard mission, but they were shredded without even being able to put up a proper counterattack.
He hadn't even herded them into an extremely narrow space and forced repeated one-on-ones; reportedly, he broke through a multi-person encirclement and shredded every single one of them.
"So that's the halfling who allegedly dueled Lemnos?"
She suddenly recalled the interview the Newspaper Club President had frantically rushed over to secure the day before.
It was about whether it was possible to stand against Lemnos, who used the Flame Sword, without even using an Aura Blade.
That was harder than facing a sword barehanded.
At least, you could block a normal sword with terrain or objects, but there were virtually no means to block a Flame Sword.
Reading the newspaper distributed that morning, she could guess why he had conducted such an interview.
A new student who had defeated the successor of Lemnos and taken down members of the Newspaper Club... and four members of the Swordsmanship Research Club... a rare individual these days, possessing both firm resolve and the skill to back it up.
Hera wanted to see his skill for herself at least once.
"A new student with backbone, it's been a while. So, what was his name again...?"
"Club President-nim... it's written in the newspaper you're holding."
"Oh geez, look at me, completely out of it."
She must have skimmed it too quickly and missed it.
She unfolded the newspaper once more and read it properly; the person's name was clearly visible.
"Atlas... Nemea?"
Why does he share my surname?
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She couldn't eat anything that night.
She was so shocked that she just stared blankly, trying to organize her thoughts.
'Nemea...? None of my younger siblings were supposed to enroll, though?'
It was an escapist thought in many ways, but everything pointed to one single conclusion.
'.....Father... had an affair...'
That was the only explanation she could think of.
There were no cadet branches of the family.
At least as far as she knew, the only ones who bore the Nemea surname were her own parents and her younger siblings.
With the hair color combination of her parents, that vivid blonde hair couldn't possibly exist.
Had he gone out on a campaign and fallen for some country girl, or maybe locked eyes with some nameless noble lady in a border territory...
She didn't know what kind of woman it was, but she certainly had incredibly beautiful blonde hair.
"Since he's a new student... about 20 years... that's when I was just toddling around... "
She couldn't remember the events of that time, but she did recall that the border had been quite turbulent, and her father had traveled here and there a great deal.
"Why... did he show up at the academy now..? And bearing the Nemea name at that..."
It also bothered her that he enrolled just before she graduated.
Thinking about it that way, the fact that he had beaten down the Swordsmanship Research Club members... meaning members of the club she presided over... also bothered her immensely.
"Is this a message telling me to come find him..?"
Maybe he wanted revenge.
Or perhaps he was telling her to look clearly at the person she had abandoned until now.
Now that she knew, Atlas occupied far too much of her mind.
Hera hadn't heard a single word from him directly, but she was busily piecing together the situation and writing her own personal script.
An illegitimate child who grew up without a father, a life of hardship raised in a poor environment—she painted that entire picture.
"Aaaaah..!! Father, how could you..!!! Do you have any idea what will happen if Mother finds out..!!!!"
In her mind, her father Patro Nemea had already become a man who went out on business 20 years ago and scattered his seed irresponsibly.
As Patro's image plummeted into the abyss, her sympathy for Atlas only grew.
Worried, she watched Atlas from a distance from time to time.
Every time she looked, Atlas wore an expression that seemed full of some kind of displeasure.
He must have deeply resented the world and the father who had merely sowed his seed and fled.
She didn't know if that was actually true, but at least, to her eyes, that was how it appeared.
"He was... so small. When I'm this tall..."
Atlas was incredibly short.
It looked as if he hadn't eaten properly as a child, and his growth had been stunted by malnutrition.
Had his family's circumstances been strained? She, who swung her sword so freely, was this tall, yet the fact that Atlas, who shared the same bloodline, was shorter than anyone else at the academy broke her heart.
"So pitiful... unable to eat well... how hard must it have been.."
As she investigated Atlas, she also heard that he had a pattern when he got angry.
If anyone made fun of his height, his fist would immediately fly out.
It must have been Atlas's own self-defense instinct to overcome the storms of the world.
Even under such harsh conditions, Atlas had grown up incredibly strong.
He had defeated Lemnos, one of the Two Swords of the Five Pillars, and also brought down the senior members of the Swordsmanship Research Club.
That was so admirable.
From this point on, she truly began to think of him as a real younger brother.
She sincerely thought that at the very least, she should be on Atlas's side as his ally.
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Since there were many eyes watching, we moved somewhere else, though it already seemed late.
There was still some time until the next class, so we had enough time for a conversation.
The location was the Swordsmanship Research Club President's office; the moment we entered, we were met with sharp stares from the members working out inside.
As soon as a club member brought out warm tea and left the room, Hera Nemea leaned back on the sofa and spoke comfortably.
"Relax. I didn't call you here to cause you any harm. I just wanted to have an open talk between family."
"Family... you say?"
The glares from the two people behind me were stinging.
I told them to go ahead, but they worried it might be a ruse to lure me into the club room for a lynching and insisted on following me; every time Hera spoke, they glared daggers at me.
It was a look that seemed to ask if I had been hiding a secret like this.
This is seriously unfair; I am hiding a lot of things, but I didn't know about this either.
"It hasn't been long since I learned about you... but I know very well how much you've suffered."
It was true I'd had a hard life, but at least, it wasn't the kind of life Hera could investigate.
She probably pieced together the stories floating around... or maybe that Malcolm guy talked nonsense.
Hera wiped her tears with the edge of her cape and spoke.
"Yes... Atlas, you can come into my arms anytime.. How hard the world must have been on you."
"Uwah, Club President-nim?!"
"Call me nuna. You're allowed to!!"
She suddenly spread both arms and hugged me.
Hera was about the same height as Russell, so once again my face was buried in her chest.
I thought dealing with Hera was going to be extremely difficult, but a very familiar scent wafted from her embrace.
'Why is this feeling so familiar...'
It was incredibly comforting but somehow uncomfortable.
Her chestnut hair, her strong-willed face, everything was familiar and uncomfortable.
'Ah, so that's it.'
The moment I realized that fact, my stomach churned.
The close embrace was very comforting, but it was unbearable.
The chestnut hair, the face, and several other factors all triggered my trauma.
'This... woman resembles Asia...!'
Hera bore a strong resemblance to the mother who abused me... Asia Nemea.
"Atlas is flustered..!! Let him go!!"
"That's right!! Even though Atlas can free himself with his own strength! When you refuse, do it properly!!"
Seeing me breaking out in a cold sweat and suffering, Liber and Emy panicked and freed me.
What kind of skit is this.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Wow, my emotions just got a bit overwhelming.. Sorry, sorry."
Once freed from the embrace, Hera broke into a big, beaming smile.
Unlike the worst-case scenario that had first popped into my head, she seemed incredibly kind.
But seeing her face brought back the image of Asia, whom I'd forgotten for years, and dealing with her became difficult.
That woman who had abused me to relieve her own stress, that is.
"Atlas... you had a sibling at the academy?"
"About that, well... "
Liber, who had been watching the situation, whispered the question to me.
I had rarely talked about family until now.
I'd only ever said that I had unpleasant memories... so the fact that I had family at the academy must have seemed suspicious.
"Atlas probably couldn't say it himself. Since he isn't registered in our family's census. It must be an unpleasant memory..."
Hera, who had overheard, explained to Liber.
As Liber listened to Hera's words, he was asking me with his eyes if it was true.
"I won't ask for the details. Just seeing how well you've grown is enough to satisfy me..
Though this is my last year, at least I got to see you now..!"
Hera genuinely thought of me as a sibling.
I felt sorry for Count Patro.
I had many concerns about whether to correct this misunderstanding.
'No, wait. Isn't it true that Hera and I are family, connected by blood?'
Yes, let's think about it differently.
We are family, it's true.
Quite close family at that.
Yes, if you look at it broadly, couldn't cousins also be seen as siblings with different mothers?
It's a bit roundabout, but blood is connected: O.
Since we share the same grandfather.
Different mothers: O.
It's also a fact that our mothers are different.
Though our fathers are also different.
Cousins are still siblings, after all.
Yes, there's no need to feel so guilty.
She really is my cousin nuna, so I'll just treat her as a nuna.
In my past life, there was so much interaction between cousins!
Nobles seemed to have relatively little interaction among relatives.
Or was it just that I didn't know?
Did my younger sister know and just not tell me?
Once my thoughts concluded, words left my mouth without any sense of reluctance whatsoever.
"I wanted to stay quiet... but you shrewdly noticed, I see."
"You wanted to stay quiet..! Don't say things like that; we're already family..!"
Seeing Hera smile brightly, I tried my hardest to think well of her, but Asia's image welled up again and I flinched.
Well, whatever the truth was, what did it matter.
As long as it works out well in the end, that's all that matters.
Count Patro Nemea, who would be unfairly blamed.... Uncle, I'm sorry.
I'll clear up the misunderstanding later.