Water Magic Without Incantation

A swordsman's rank was more or less the same as a magician's.

They could be divided into beginner, intermediate, advanced, saint, king, emperor, and god ranks.

Though they were not as rare as magicians, high-ranking swordsmen were still respected wherever they went.

According to Roxy...

As long as someone became a saint-ranked swordsman, they would receive enthusiastic recruitment from people on the level of city lords.

If they were a king-ranked swordsman, it would not be strange for lord-level figures to treat them as honored guests.

As for even higher emperor-ranked or god-ranked swordsmen...

They were already famous throughout the world, and could even change the course of wars between nations.

But that was far too distant for Hilde.

After the pre-bedtime lesson ended, Roxy blew out the room's lamp and shut the door for the two of them.

The sound of footsteps gradually faded down the corridor.

"Compared to magic, I really do like swordsmanship more after all."

Hilde murmured to herself as she lay in bed.

"...I mean, isn't swordsmanship just swinging a sword around? No matter how you look at it, it can't compare to magic. Didn't Teacher Roxy say so too? High-ranking swordsmen might be respected, but magicians have the power to change a battlefield. At the same rank, they're definitely more popular than swordsmen."

Rudeus, lying beside her, could not help but retort, "Besides, magic is something that doesn't exist on Earth. Don't you think the path of a magician is more worth exploring?"

"Is that so? Maybe."

Hilde neither agreed nor disagreed.

As soon as she finished speaking, Rudeus suddenly crawled up.

In the darkness, he brought his face close and stared at Hilde with a wicked grin.

Hilde furrowed her brow. "What?"

"I'm just saying, you're not choosing swordsmanship because you can't beat me at magic, are you?"

"Idiot. Like hell I am."

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. It's okay, you know. I understand. After all, I'm your big brother, so it's only natural that I take care of my little sister's poor wounded pride."

Only at times like this would Rudeus remember that he was the older brother.

They had clearly only been born a few minutes apart, yet this guy was already getting so full of himself.

However...

Perhaps Rudeus was right.

Hilde thought to herself.

Teacher Roxy had said that a magician's ability in frontal combat was inferior to a swordsman's. Especially in fights between high-ranking swordsmen, victory was almost decided in an instant.

Against an opponent like that, magicians were at a disadvantage.

So if Rudeus was going to become a magician, perhaps one day he would end up in a situation where he had no choice but to fight an enemy head-on. When that time came, she, as a swordswoman, would be able to protect him.

Perhaps it was because reincarnators in another world naturally huddled together for warmth, or perhaps it was because of the innate closeness that came from being bound by blood.

A reason like that took root and sprouted deep in her heart.

But when she looked at Rudeus's smug face, Hilde ultimately still could not hold herself back...

And beat him up again.

Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, another year passed.

During that year, Rudeus and Hilde focused on studying magic under Roxy's guidance, spending basically half of every day on it.

And thanks to Roxy's careful teaching, Rudeus learned most intermediate magic, had already begun touching on advanced magic, and had even learned healing magic.

It was just that...

How should one put it?

Perhaps because he could not understand the principles behind healing magic, Rudeus could not use it chantlessly the way he could with other magic.

But with healing magic, as long as you could use it, that was enough.

As for Hilde, she was a little slower compared to Rudeus.

At first, she could just barely keep up with the pace, but after they got into combined magic, Rudeus gradually pulled ahead.

At present, Hilde had more or less learned beginner magic, and chantless casting was no problem either.

But her progress in intermediate magic was slow, and advanced magic went without saying. Even now, she had not fully understood the elements and tricks of combined magic.

There truly was a gap when it came to talent and ability.

Even Hilde had to admit that when it came to magic, Rudeus really did have something going for him.

Of course, by Roxy's standards, achieving that much in a single year meant Hilde's talent for magic was actually quite good.

It was just that Rudeus was far too abnormal.

She reached the age of four.

Once her body had grown a little more, Hilde finally received permission to leave the house and move around a bit somewhere not too far from home.

For Hilde, being stuck inside every day and unable to go out was torture. Even if she could not go very far, simply stepping outside for a breath of fresh air was nice.

Originally, Hilde had wanted to go with Rudeus.

But that guy Rudeus refused to leave the house no matter what she said. Even Hilde's attempts to provoke him did not work.

It was as if he had made up his mind to stay inside for the rest of his life.

Only in this matter did Rudeus act completely unlike someone who had been reincarnated, and not even like the sort of child filled with curiosity about the outside world.

Maybe he had some kind of trauma from his previous life.

Hilde did not force the issue. After all, even if she left something like going outside alone, once he reached a certain age, it would stop being a problem. At worst, when the time came, she could find a few pretty little girls to tempt Rudeus outside his window every day. A little virgin like Rudeus definitely would not be able to stand that.

Night.

Faint footsteps came from beside her, and Hilde woke up, rubbing her bleary eyes.

She found that Rudeus had gotten out of bed at some point and was crouched by the door, staring intently out into the hallway.

"What is this guy up to now?"

Hilde muttered as she climbed out of bed, slowly walked up behind Rudeus, and followed his gaze.

As always, the hallway echoed with the sounds of a certain unrestrained couple's passionate battle.

And at the doorway of the room where those sounds came from...

A blue-haired girl was crouching outside the door, her face flushed.

While secretly peeking at the scene inside the room, she was also... drenched in fragrant sweat.

Hmph...

So that was what was going on.

Hilde glanced at Rudeus and whispered into his ear, "Does. It. Look. Good?"

"Eek!!!"

Rudeus jumped in fright and hurriedly closed the bedroom door.

He turned to look at Hilde, who was close enough to touch, and a rare trace of awkwardness appeared on his face.

Like a child caught doing something bad.

"I-I only happened to see it when I was going to the bathroom. I absolutely did not intend to peep on purpose," Rudeus tried to insist.

"You were watching there for at least five minutes, right? You can still call that a coincidence?" Hilde said expressionlessly.

Rudeus's attempt to bluff failed the appraisal.

All he could do was lower his head and admit it.

"I just didn't expect Teacher Roxy to do something like that too, so I watched a little longer, that's all."

"True. I didn't expect it either."

Hilde thought back to the scene she had just witnessed.

That was probably not the first time Roxy had done something like that.

Though it was not as if Hilde could not understand. As a woman, Roxy had normal physical needs too. She just had not expected Roxy to secretly watch Paul and Zenith's battle to relieve herself. Maybe Roxy, who looked so serious on the surface, was actually a little repressed in that way...

In truth, Hilde had wanted to comment on it for a long time.

After all, Paul and Zenith did it almost every day, and every time they made a great deal of noise. They did not even properly close the door. This house still had Lilia, who was also a young maid, as well as Roxy, Hilde, and Rudeus. Basically, everyone could hear the two of them battling every night.

Did those two genuinely think it did not matter?

Or was it that, because they were too young, they had simply never thought about it?

"With how diligent those two are, maybe we'll end up becoming an older brother and sister before long," Hilde said with a sigh.

"That wouldn't be surprising at all."

Rudeus also expressed his agreement.

Speaking of which...

If Roxy secretly watched the two of them battle to relieve her loneliness, then what did Lilia do?

Maybe she also relieved her loneliness while listening to the sounds. After all, Lilia was the same age as Paul, and Paul seemed to have vaguely mentioned before that when they were younger, he and Lilia had had a thing.

Thinking about it that way, this family really did have a strangely depraved air to it.

"If we go around saying whatever we want, this family might fall apart. In short, to maintain the current order of this household, everything we saw tonight has to stay secret. Let's just act like we know nothing."

On this matter, Rudeus and Hilde reached a rare agreement.