Transfer

Sleeping In

How long had it been since I last did this?

After coming to this world, I had almost never slept in.

Before going to Roa, I usually got up as soon as I woke.

And in Roa, I always had to get up early to prepare lessons. I only had time to sleep a little longer on weekends, but even then, I got up once I woke.

But now, I was awake, and even though I was awake, I didn't want to get up.

I turned my head and looked at Eris on the bed beside me. She was still asleep too.

Aisha... seemed to have gotten up early to go help Lilia.

What a good girl.

Forget it. I'd sleep a little longer...

"Big brother~ time to get up. Breakfast is ready."

When I opened my eyes again, Aisha had already crawled into my blankets.

She just lifted her head and stared at me blankly, a smile on her face.

So cute...

I turned to look at the bed. Eris had already gotten up and left...

"Mm, I'll get up now."

"Ehh—sleep a little longer. Aisha only just lay down."

"Weren't you the one who told me to get up?"

"I just wanted big brother to know Aisha was lying together with him~"

"Then let's sleep a little longer."

I hugged Aisha in one swoop, using this four-year-old child as a body pillow.

Aisha's body really was soft. It felt like if I used a little force, she'd break a bone or something...

"Ah! Big brother is being a pervert!"

"Hm? How is a big brother hugging his little sister being a pervert? Also, where did you learn that from?"

"I'm not telling you, big brother~"

In any case, after the little farce ended, I still got up.

After washing up, I ate breakfast, though I didn't know whether Lilia or Zenith had made it.

Lilia and Zenith seemed to have gone into town together with Paul and Norn. They really got along well.

As for Eris, she was practicing swordsmanship in the yard.

Hm...?

"Aisha, why didn't you go into town with them?"

"No way. It's so boring."

"Really? You don't have any friends in town or in the village?"

"Nope~ Those people are all idiots."

"That's not good. If you don't make friends now, you won't know how to make friends in the future. Not having friends can be very lonely."

"Ehh—big brother, why are you nagging just like Dad?"

Me... nagging... just like Paul?

Well... she just didn't want to make friends, that was all... I really shouldn't meddle so much.

My little sister called me naggy...

"And besides, Dad said big brother didn't like playing with kids before either. I bet you still don't like it now, right?"

"Of course not. I love playing with Aisha."

"Hmph~ If Aisha wasn't your little sister, big brother probably wouldn't even bother with me."

I found myself at a loss for words.

It was true that I wasn't the type to take the initiative and talk to strangers.

But that wasn't because I was shy or anything. It was mainly because I found it troublesome. If I knew interacting with that stranger would benefit me, I definitely wouldn't find it troublesome, though.

"See! Big brother, you were definitely thinking about what you'd do if Aisha wasn't your little sister! Aisha is so sad..."

"Of course not... Even if Aisha wasn't my little sister, I'd still take the initiative to get to know you. Aisha is so cute... uh... and so smart... and so well-behaved..."

In any case, I was played by my little sister.

She fake-cried as she listened to me praise her, and when I finally couldn't come up with anything else, she opened her mouth and laughed.

"I know! You really do like me, Brother!"

"Yes, yes..."

I really did not know what to do with this slightly impish little sister of mine.

After we finished eating, Eris also finished her sword practice.

She walked back to the house and spoke to me while I was washing the dishes.

"Rudeus! I want to see Saint-tier magic!"

"Hm? What's this all of a sudden?"

"Sylphie told me you've used it before! But I've never seen it!"

"Ah... All right. But we'll have to go pretty far. It's better to cast it somewhere open."

"Then let's go!"

Eris was the same as ever, doing whatever came to mind the moment it did.

I put away the dishes I had washed, then went into my room and took out Arrogant Water Dragon King.

"Brother! I want to see too!"

"I know, I know... Want to come with us?"

"Mm!"

Since the road was a bit long, the three of us rode together on Paul's horse.

Of course, Eris was the one handling the reins. I did not know how to ride a horse.

Luckily, all three of us were still children. Otherwise, carrying three people would probably have been too much for the horse.

We arrived.

We had come to the place Roxy had once brought me to.

The place where I took my final exam.

I got off the horse and activated magic, first creating an earthen wall so Aisha, Eris, and the horse could hide inside.

"Which kind do you want to see?"

"Hmm... Which kind are you good at, Rudeus?"

"Then... Cumulonimbus. It's a spell that creates heavy rain over a wide area, accompanied by lightning. It's the magic I'm best at, and it was also the first Saint-tier spell I ever used."

"Ooh! It sounds so cool!"

I smiled, then walked more than ten meters away from the earthen wall.

I looked up at the sky. It looked as if it had been about to rain anyway, gloomy beyond belief.

"In any case... I'll clear away the dark clouds over this area first."

After all, that would make the effect look better.

I raised my staff and cast magic into the sky.

It was a mixture of wind magic and fire magic, capable of blowing the dark clouds apart and dispersing them.

But... even after it succeeded, the sky was still just as overcast...

What was going on...?

"Rudeus! Hurry up and start!"

"Brother! You can do it!"

I nodded. For now, I would ignore the abnormal sky.

I raised my staff and, full of enthusiasm, pretended to chant loudly.

"Wahahahaha! Gather, mana! Majestic water spirits, ascend into the sky and... Hm?"

At that moment, I noticed something.

"Uh?"

"What is that?"

Aisha and Eris's attention also turned toward the sky. No... toward the far end of my line of sight.

Had the color of the sky changed?

And it was a disgusting color, too, with purple and brown mixed together in marble-like patterns.

"Rudeus! Is that your magic? It's so weird!"

"Brother! Stop it already. I don't want to see such gross magic!"

No... Something was wrong...

I activated magic, sending ice magic racing along the ground toward the far end of my line of sight.

I touched the ice magic with my hand, feeling the changes in its mana.

This is... so... such incredible mana... And the farther forward it goes, the more I can feel the mana increasing...

Calm down... At any rate, first I need to take Eris and Aisha back to the village, tell Paul, and have the whole family evacuate somewhere else.

"Eris, Aisha, we're leaving here first..."

I had only just opened my mouth when I realized the two of them were frozen in place, staring behind me.

I turned to look in the direction of their gazes.

A beam of light stretched from the white-stained sky down to the ground.

The instant that light touched the earth—

I saw that light begin to swell at an astonishing speed, turning into a torrent of light that swallowed everything in its path as it gradually closed in on us, like a tsunami.

The instant Eris and Aisha saw the scene clearly, they simply stopped moving in a daze, utterly unable to comprehend it.

"Eris, Aisha!"

I rushed toward them and cast a spell.

For the first time in my life, I used more mana than I ever had before, raising an enormous, thick earthen wall in an attempt to block the advance of that pillar of light, but it was no use.

By the time I reached their side, pure white radiance ruled the entire area nearby.

Amid the feeling that I was being dragged somewhere, though I couldn't tell whether it was toward the ground or the sky, I lost consciousness.

Only, before I lost consciousness, I was certain of one thing: I had wrapped my arms around Eris and Aisha.