Chapter 57
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: The First Step
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This is the first step.
"Even though you don't know my sister at all...!"
Squeeze—
Even as she spoke, far too much strength poured into her grip.
This wasn't just about her opponent.
I was the same.
The relationship between the Dreitna sisters was no longer what it used to be.
Even thinking back on it now, I still couldn't figure it out.
It wasn't a fight, and there hadn't been any accident.
'Just where did it start...?'
There was no denying that, from some point on, her sister had started feeling more and more distant.
Even now, staying in the massive mansion in the capital felt awkward, the atmosphere heavy.
She wanted to move to the academy dorms, where she wouldn't have to watch her step.
Looking at her changed sister, so different from their childhood, made it hard to even meet her eyes.
But separate from that.
She had lived in the mansion and witnessed her sister's daily life.
Ever since enrolling, she had never once seen her relax completely... She went to bed later than Chloe and woke earlier to prepare breakfast herself.
There were times she didn't return to the mansion at all, working nonstop, and plenty of times she came back drenched in dark red blood.
On a day when torrential rain poured down, Chloe had been shocked by her sister's appearance—silver hair matted with bloodied water—but she couldn't bring herself to say anything.
Thinking about it, that was a familiar sight even from their time at the main house.
A few days later, on another day when her sister returned to the mansion in a battered state soaked in someone else's blood.
Lying in bed, Chloe had a certain thought.
A thought that disrupted her sleep and made her toss and turn restlessly.
Really.
'Is it okay for me to get used to this situation...?'
She had seen similar scenes in the past, but her feelings now were different from those snot-nosed childhood days.
No deep contemplation was needed; everyone knew it.
At the center of the Dreitna family's rapid growth and prosperity was her sister.
Even their steadfast father... and their mother, always lost in worries about expanding the family, had never accomplished what their sister achieved so effortlessly.
Thanks to her sister wandering far from the main house, the family had grown unimaginably wealthy and powerful, their standard of living rivaling that of nobles whose trade was management or commerce.
Back then, she hadn't known.
Her parents didn't know, nor did the retainers... No one did.
Maybe they all knew but pretended not to.
Because realizing it would make their hearts uneasy.
What state her sister had endured, where, and how, in exchange for this wealth.
Who exactly they were stepping on to live so lavishly.
...
...
Whoosh—!
Blue aura blazed from Chloe's sword, tracing a downward arc.
"Aura... so you can wield it?"
The knight smoothly parried the manifested mana blade with her standard longsword and asked.
There was no obligation to answer.
"Hah...!"
The opponent's unbelievable swordsmanship drew an involuntary gasp of admiration from Chloe, only spurring her on further.
It was an unconscious reaction driven by emotion.
But Chloe had no time to savor the joy of manifesting aura for the first time.
Even reaching that milestone wasn't enough to draw out her opponent's true intent or prove her words right.
There was no omnipotence in mere aura.
"...I don't know why the cadet assumes I don't know her properly. It's not that I don't know— I know exactly."
Chloe tensed her core against the knight's dispassionate voice, which grated on her nerves like sandpaper.
"No! You don't know!"
This much she could assert with certainty, so Chloe couldn't back down.
"..."
Her inadequate swordsmanship couldn't fully express this frustration.
Since it was nominally a class, she assumed she wouldn't die even if hit, leaving her with nothing but her mouth—lacking eloquence or social grace.
Seeing the knight rooted to the spot like a stake in the earth, Chloe swallowed hard and spoke.
"...Knight, are you my sister's lover?"
"No..."
"Then a friend?"
"No..."
"A comrade from the Knight Order...?"
The knight shook her helmet side to side in denial.
Clang—!!
Chloe's sword came down fierce with the wind, but the knight blocked her aura with just the pommel, not the blade.
Seeing this, Chloe spat words in a rage she'd never felt before in her life.
"Th-then what gives you the right... to badmouth my sister!"
"..."
Clang!
Of course her sword would be stopped, so Chloe pressed the longsword with wrist-breaking force, closing in as much as possible.
Creak—!
Why am I doing this?
"The one who must have suffered the most... isn't those around her, but my sister, charging ahead alone..."
Ever since sparring with the instructor before coming here, her emotions had been surging wildly for some reason.
No amount of breathing exercises calmed her.
Just thinking of her sister, expressionless even covered in blood, made tears threaten to burst.
Yet sparring with this knight who denied her sister only brought more thoughts of her.
"Someone who's sacrificed her whole life for family... saying she doesn't look around is just your narrow view, Knight!"
As she spoke, tears streamed down Chloe's cheeks.
"Apologize..."
With her emotional dam broken, Chloe's mind forgot everything after, as if committing insubordination.
Just like that day long ago when she donned a helmet and unwittingly activated a skill.
*****
Chloe and Eclair's duel only ended when the sun had set and true evening arrived.
To make up for it, I had the idling cadets run another lap.
After class, the cadets were frantic remaking the campfire before preparing dinner.
Swish—
Opening the tent flap with a lamp inside, I saw Eclair helmetless, gauntlets covering her face.
"My knight~ Feeling refreshed?"
"Ah... it's you."
"You still look muddled."
"Various things... keep coming to mind."
We sat facing each other, staring blankly at the lamp casting its light.
Listening to the cadets' clamor outside.
Eclair stroked her prominent wrist veins and turned to me.
"Thinking about it... Chloe always cried bitterly after class but never once skipped or ran away."
At such a young age, enduring harsh emotional wounds without fleeing, facing head-on times others would avert their eyes from just seeing.
Tearful and small in action, but mature and resolute inside.
"I told you. Don't assume softness outside means softness within."
"Truly... words that pierce the heart."
Her eyes hazy like she'd been drinking, she still cast a red gaze my way.
"Being here like this brings back old memories. I even secretly fed that ever-fragile Chloe the Essence of Animus to toughen her mind...? It's certified black history now—pointless and embarrassing—so I'd crawl into a hole if I could. Turns out the one who needed it was me."
"No... that was really well done?"
I sincerely praised Eclair amid her grumbling, packed with shocking info.
Unlike Eclair, whose all resistances had broken through walls, Chloe was still growing.
Feeding her an elixir that raised mental resistance—from a base of zero, unlike others—was the best choice.
Maybe that's why Chloe, with that backstory, couldn't have low favor with playable character Robert.
"...Well, if you say so today, I'll take it as such."
My words must've sounded like clumsy comfort or a joke; she gave a small smile, lip corner lifting.
"Not a time to relax yet—you've gotta do well from here on, right?"
"Yeah... this is just the first step."
Chloe seemed to have a change of heart, but most important was Eclair's direction going forward.
I snapped her out of reminiscing their conversation, obvious from her look.
"Worth the trip, though?"
Focusing at my voice, Eclair showed a warm smile.
"An experience for the ages. I was utterly soul-shaken... Chloe's anger made my legs tremble in fear. I've vowed to be careful."
"Yeah, when quiet types snap, it's scary..."
I thought of Rike executing Robert's mind today; Eclair probably Chloe.
Pour—
I divided the cold lunch coffee into two cups, placing one before her.
She lifted the cup, peering at her reflection in the flavorless brew.
"...I've received more than I could give; I lack the face to show."
"What're you saying? In business, take the profit quietly."
"Can't hide the smugness, so I keep mentioning it to you... Already looking forward to meeting Chloe at the mansion after tomorrow's work."
I caught a weird word in Eclair's smug sentence.
"Tomorrow? You're going to work tomorrow?"
"Yes?"
I thought she'd taken a few days' vacation at least...
Eclair seemed set to stay till morning and head straight in.
No issue for her stamina, but still, no.
Even superhumans need mental rest if not physical.
"It was my solo task anyway, so head home and rest."
"...I'm fine."
'Headache...'
Arms crossed, stubbornly obtuse, I scratched my head.
I decided to shoo her a different way.
"Once cadets sleep, I'm calling Rike here."
"Lady Skadi...?"
"Yeah."
She rolled her eyes uncomprehending, then flushed as realization hit.
"...Not used to adventurer slang or jokes, so stop."
"Haha—no joke. Can't help it with a great girl like that around."
"Stop...! Fine... I'll go."
About time.
Eclair rose awkwardly, moving to undo her armor.
"Why remove the armor? What if you're caught leaving?"
"Was gonna return it now?"
Seeing her freeze oddly, I scratched my chin habitually, pondering.
I'd never use that thing anyway.
Rike hated it too, calling it stuffy.
"Just keep it. Gift to a friend whose issues eased up. Or give to your sister."
"...Friend?"
Not the armor, but that word surprised her; I huffed a laugh at the absurdity.
"Why surprised there? Shared secrets, meals, coffee— that's friends. Strangers?"
Clunk—!
She jammed the helmet on, wordless, and waddled oddly to the tent flap.
"...Won't forget this; I'll repay it. Endure till tomorrow, fri...end."
Awkward end to her words, then gone in a step; I couldn't hold back laughter.
"What to do with that total nerd..."