Aisha 3

Don't you think you've been entering my dreams more often lately?

"Have I?"

You definitely have! I don't trust you.

"Hmm? Which piece of advice I've given you so far has been a problem? You're about to find your father, you obtained a Demon Eye, and you haven't run into any real danger along the way. Doesn't some of the credit for that belong to me?"

Even without your advice, my brother could have led me out of the Demon Continent. At most, your advice sped things up by a few months.

"Honestly~ Are you still going to listen to my advice from now on?"

Mm-hmm. I don't trust you, but go ahead.

"Aren't you going to follow your brother to the Central Continent? When the time comes, your brother will probably take you through the Red Dragon's Jaw. If he decides that, you absolutely have to stop him. Otherwise, your brother will die, you will die, and this world will be destroyed."

How serious. And if I don't listen?

"Then this world will very likely be destroyed."

Heh.

"In any case~ you have to believe me. Lord God is going offline again. I hope that by the next time I come, you'll have gotten through this crisis."

I opened my eyes. My brother lay asleep beside me, snoring softly.

He probably didn't even know he had started snoring, right? But I'd heard Father say before that people snored like that because they were too tired...

I thought back to the conversations in the dream.

My brother would die? I would die? The world would be destroyed?

That kind of wording only made me want to rebel. In any case, up until now, I had listened to the Human-God's advice, and I had gained some benefits from it too.

But when I thought about it carefully, even if I hadn't taken his advice, a lot of the decisions my brother made had been perfectly fine. In fact, many of his actions overlapped with it...

The Human-God made it sound so serious that I felt a little afraid to go against him. He always talked in that mysterious, godlike way. Though following his advice really did bring benefits, from my point of view, a lot of things were judgments my brother had made himself.

Even without the Human-God's advice, my brother could do it.

Mm... Then I would do the same as before and follow my brother's lead.

As I was thinking, the snoring stopped.

"Brother?"

"Mm... You're up early, Aisha."

"I went to sleep early last night."

"I see."

My brother sat up in bed. The first thing he did was look at Eris, who was also sleeping soundly nearby.

Eris's sleeping posture was not exactly pretty. She was sprawled out on the bed like the character for "big," snoring away.

My brother smiled, got out of bed, and stretched.

"Ah~ We'll rest for the day today. Tomorrow, it's time to set out."

"Okay!"

I also climbed out of bed, getting ready to wash up.

Just then, my brother looked me up and down.

That made me feel a little embarrassed... Though I did think this sort of thing was normal between siblings...

We usually bathed together, so why did being stared at by my brother in the morning make me feel a little shy? Was it because my hair was a mess right now?

"What is it, Brother?"

"Mm... I just think..."

My brother narrowed his eyes, as if thinking about something.

"I just think it's time to buy you some new clothes. You've grown a lot. I did buy you a few outfits on the Demon Continent, but that was half a year ago."

"Uh... Is that necessary?"

"Of course! In another two months, we'll be seeing Pa... Father. If Father sees you wearing clothes that don't quite fit, he'll definitely beat me up. Besides, seeing you like this doesn't sit right with me either."

My brother had definitely almost said Paul just now...

My brother's attitude toward Father was strange. I couldn't quite put it into words.

Though he hated Father, he respected him? That was the feeling.

"Aisha? Are you listening?"

"Ah! I am!"

"So, like I said, we're going out to buy you clothes next. Get ready to go!"

"Ehh~"

In any case, under my brother's forceful insistence, we went out to buy clothes before setting off.

Before we set off, I saw my brother say something into Eris's ear, and Eris blushed as she replied with a few words.

I was so jealous. If nothing went wrong, Eris would become my sister-in-law before long, wouldn't she?

We strolled through the streets, my brother holding my hand.

When we came to a clothing shop, my brother picked out clothes for me.

My brother's taste was very strange. He did not like the clothes commoners wore, and he did not like the clothes nobles wore either.

After who knew how long, my brother finally chose three outfits. After I tried them on one after another, he nodded.

"So cute! Are they comfortable?"

"Mm! They're really comfortable!"

When my brother paid, he bought two extra sets of clothes. Judging by the size, they seemed to be for Eris.

So that was what he had been talking about this morning.

"I really wonder which man my adorable little sister will marry in the future. If that day really comes, I'll have to screen him properly..."

As my brother spoke, he held my hand even tighter.

"I'm not getting married!"

"You're still young. You'll understand when you grow up."

"Oh..."

After buying clothes, we wandered around town.

Should I say human society was really nice? All kinds of food tasted much better than what we had on the Demon Continent.

When we passed an alley, my brother stopped.

"Aisha, do you hear that?"

"Mm... There's a child crying..."

However, my brother only listened for a while before taking my hand and preparing to leave.

I stopped and tugged at him.

"Brother? Aren't we going to take a look? If it's a child who's been kidnapped..."

"Aisha, I don't want to get involved in things like that. As long as you're safe, that's enough. There's too much human trafficking in this world. Even if we wanted to change it, putting on an act now wouldn't change anything."

My brother's tone was cold, and it made him feel a little unfamiliar.

Although I also thought that whether we saved them or not had nothing to do with us, I did not want to see my brother looking so indifferent toward life...

"But... but... what if I want to save those children...?"

My brother looked at me for a while, then nodded.

"If it's a request from my adorable little sister, then I agree."

Sure enough, as long as I acted a little spoiled, my brother would step in.

My brother took my hand and turned back into that alley, burning the wooden door open directly.

We entered the house. Inside, cage after cage held children who seemed to be from the Beast Race.

My brother crouched beside the cages and communicated with them in a language I could not understand.

So my brother knew the Beast God Language too...

After talking for a while, my brother used water magic to cut open all the cages.

"Hey! Who are you?!"

Four uncles with swords at their waists suddenly appeared from inside the house. The moment they shouted, my brother killed them with water magic.

Four heads hit the ground in an instant.

Whenever my brother killed enemies, he always felt a little unfamiliar to me.

The way my brother disregarded life was a little frightening in my eyes, but normally, he loved me and Eris very much. It was almost like he had two different personalities...

After rescuing all the Beast Race children, my brother told them to follow us.

"Their home is in the Great Forest. It's on our way. There are more than thirty of them, plus one big dog."

"A big dog?"

"Yeah, uh... according to those children, it's called the Holy Beast, but I can't see what's so amazing about it..."

"Speaking of which, Brother, all I asked was for you to save those children. How did you decide on your own to send them back to the Great Forest?"

"Mm... Before I saw these children, I didn't care whether they lived or died. But since I saw them..."

My brother stopped for a moment as he spoke, then sighed and said, "All right, the truth is, it's because they're around the same age as you and Norn. Back then, what went through my head was... what if you or Norn hadn't been beside me and Father when you were teleported? What if you or Norn had become slaves too... Just thinking about that possibility scares me..."

My brother was always like this, suddenly saying things that moved people deeply.

"Aren't I right here by your side, Brother? And I plan to stay by your side for the rest of my life!"

"If Aisha hits puberty and starts acting like she can't stand me... I'll definitely cry..."

"Puberty? What's that?"

"You'll understand when you're older."

In any case, we settled the thirty-odd Beast Race children and the big white dog into an inn.

According to my brother, money was something we had plenty of.

So we got three rooms, with six or seven children sleeping in each. Of course, we only booked them for one night, since we were leaving tomorrow.

My brother washed them one by one in the inn's bathroom, and he gave the big dog a proper wash too, because Sister Eris really liked that big dog.

The big dog seemed to know who had saved it, too. It kept pouncing on my brother, me, and Sister Eris and licking us. It was so cute.

However, every time it did that, the Beast Race children would cover their eyes with both hands and say things in a language I couldn't understand.

For dinner, the food my brother prepared wasn't nearly as lavish, but the children were still very grateful to us. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but I could tell from their tone and the way they treated my brother.

After dinner, a little Beast Race girl walked over to me, with several other Beast Race children behind her.

She looked at me, her mouth slightly open, and after a long while, the children spoke together.

"Th... thank you!"

It was Human Language. I looked over at my brother, and he was smiling at me.

I hurriedly asked my brother how to say "you're welcome" in Beast God Language, and after a minute of instruction...

"You're welcome!"

When I answered in Beast God Language, the Beast Race children all smiled, then happily ran back to the rooms we had booked for them.

After returning to our own room, my brother and I took a bath together and got ready for bed.

...Uh, Sister Eris was still playing with that big dog.

Sister Eris really liked that big dog, and the big dog really liked Sister Eris too.

"Rudeus! I want to keep it!"

"It seems to be the Beast Race's Holy Beast... Keeping it would probably be hard."

"Huh~ Do you want to come with me?"

Sister Eris said, hugging the big dog, but the big dog didn't seem to understand.

My brother walked over and translated for Sister Eris in Beast God Language.

The big dog first nodded hard, then seemed to think of something and shook its head again.

"All right..."

That night, Sister Eris slept while hugging the big dog.