Brother is Being Kept?

"What is this..."

Vera stared at the check on the table in astonishment, quickly picking it up to examine it under the kerosene lamp.

"100,000 pounds! 100,000 Imperial Livre??"

Vera's azure eyes widened into perfect circles, and her small mouth formed an "O" of shock; the little look of disbelief was truly adorable.

"Brother? Did you rob a bank?"

"Or did you steal money from the academy??"

The more Vera thought about it, the more frightened she became. How could her penniless brother suddenly have so much money? Her imagination even ran wild... there were so many wealthy noble children at Benalu Royal Academy; had Ansu done something terrible at school?

Ansu rolled his eyes at her helplessly.

It was no wonder Vera was so shocked. Due to the empire's "financial hegemony," the Imperial Livre was pegged to gold, giving the currency a very high value.

His tuition at the Royal Academy was only 30,000 pounds a year, which he had only been able to afford by selling their original house. This check was enough to let him study for another three years, right up until graduation...

"What are you thinking about?" Ansu poked Vera's little head. "This money wasn't stolen; it's money your brother earned."

Earned with his life, that is...

After all, if Ansu were the slightest bit careless and angered Cecilia, he would be remade into a "new toy"...

"Earned?" Vera was still full of suspicion. She leaned in close to Ansu and whispered nervously, "What kind of job pays this much money? Why don't you introduce me to it?"

"Better not..." Ansu didn't want the two of them to become a pair of toy siblings, so he could only explain vaguely:

"This job is a bit special and has some risks, but don't worry, it's certainly not dangerous enough to threaten my life. In short... my new employer is very generous, and you won't have to worry about the family's financial situation for a while."

"This employer of yours..." Vera frowned, then suddenly asked with keen insight: "Is it a man or a woman?"

"A woman," Ansu replied.

Vera gave Ansu a suspicious look, and the more she thought about it, the more wrong it felt...

Ansu had been coming home late for the past two days, his employer was a woman, and this female employer was even generous enough to give him 100,000 pounds all at once...

"Brother!" Vera said, unable to believe it. "Don't tell me you've actually been kept by someone??"

Ansu, who had just finished eating, was drinking water and ended up spitting it all out.

"Of course not!" he quickly explained righteously. "Where is your mind wandering? This is a proper job, and my boss is a proper person. The organization behind her is massive..."

So massive that it was arguably the number one evil cult on the continent, one of the two future "world-ending groups" mentioned alongside the returning Demon Army...

"But I'm still a little worried..."

Vera sighed softly. She knew she couldn't easily change Ansu's mind, so she finally made a tactful suggestion: "Brother, I want to meet your female employer. Can I?"

"Of course not!" Ansu felt a surge of panic. Let his sister meet Cecilia? He would have to be insane to do such a thing.

"Oh..." Vera's little face drooped, but she eventually nodded.

"Alright then..."

Nothing happened over the next three days; Ansu went to school during the day and studied magic at home at night.

The three basic spells—[Meditation Technique], [Mage Hand], and [Illumination Spell]—had all been unlocked. Beyond that, he discovered that the latter two could continue to be leveled up.

[Mage Hand Lv1 (Lv2: 15/100)]

Although it was only the most basic 0-circle spell, based on Ansu's experience playing games, even basic magic could be incredibly powerful if pushed to the limit.

Ansu couldn't help but think of the world-building of Eternal Night Sword. In this era of declining magic, humans capable of learning magic were extremely rare. Even if he had only learned these few tricks, he could still be considered a legitimate "transcendent."

Of course, this was partly due to the Church suppressing magic, but at its core, it was because of the cataclysmic Demon Calamity War a thousand years ago, which had polluted most types of magic... leading to a devastating blow to the entire magical system, eventually pushing it to the brink of extinction.

If he wanted to learn more powerful magic, the Echo of Truth Cult, which claimed to be the successor of the 'Ancient Magic Empire', was not a bad shortcut. Ansu planned to wait until he saw Cecilia again to try and mooch another magic tome off her.

"Brother... are you studying that evil book of general knowledge again?"

Vera placed a cup of brewed black tea on Ansu's desk, then sat beside him, resting her chin on her hand as she watched Ansu, who was obsessed with his studies.

Her brother had really been acting stranger and stranger lately...

For the past few days, he hadn't been eating or drinking, just sitting there staring blankly at a tattered book.

And the content of that book worried her too, as it was full of 'heretical nonsense' forbidden by the Church. If this were to accidentally get out, the Church's Inquisition might come to arrest her brother...

"It's not an evil book, just a work of occultism by an ancient scholar."

Ansu closed the book. Learning magic was too mentally draining, so he decided to rest for a while before reading more.

He looked up at his sister, who was idly keeping him company.

Today was the weekend. Vera would normally have been working at the newspaper office, but since he had taken her there to resign yesterday, she finally had some rare leisure time.

"Brother, why don't you take me out shopping today?"

Vera remembered that it had been quite a while since they had gone out together.

"Sure." Ansu glanced at Vera's simple little dress and thought it was time to buy her some pretty clothes; girls her age were always very fond of beauty.

"Great!" Vera beamed, her eyes turning into beautiful crescent moons.

Just as the siblings were preparing to head out, a soft knock suddenly sounded at the door.

Vera frowned, "Who would be knocking at this hour? It wouldn't be that person from next door again, would it..."

She had no choice but to get up and open the door.

After opening the door, a tall girl dressed in exquisite clothing appeared before her eyes.

As the midday sunlight spilled in, Vera blinked in surprise while looking at the stranger.

What a beautiful person!

Ansu, however, stood up nervously, "De—er... Lady Cecilia? Why have you come here?"

Dressed in a ladylike style and wearing a sun hat, Cecilia glanced at Ansu in the living room, "What? Can't I come to see you if there isn't a reason?"

"Of course not, of course not..." Ansu hurriedly invited her in and then asked his sister to go brew another pot of tea.

"It's just so sudden." Ansu looked at Cecilia, who had suddenly come to visit, with confusion, wondering what she was here for. Could it be related to the mission of finding the Chosen One?

"Hm? Is it sudden?"

Cecilia sat on the sofa chair in Ansu's home, her gaze casually sweeping across the surroundings, "Wasn't it you who told me to knock? It's better than me suddenly appearing in your room..."

Ansu coughed twice in a hurry, cutting her off.

"Brother?" Vera looked back and forth between the two, who seemed already quite familiar with each other.

In the end, she stared at Ansu with a suspicious gaze, her tone becoming sullen.

"This young lady, aren't you planning to introduce her to me?"

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