Manowa

『Strongest Younger Brother Plan』was the name of a mysterious younger brother remodeling plan that was being planned in Kazane"s brain. The purpose was remodeling Naoki"s battle style based on the Return Stake that would soon be available, but for now Kazane was trying to strengthen his attack power using materials that they currently had....... naturally, Naoki didn"t know anything about it. It was only inside his sister"s brain.

And Kazane"s thinking was simple. I don"t want my little brother to be injured, what should I do? Ah, he should just be strong, right? Then won"t he be fine? …… those kinds of thoughts.

Basically, Kazane considered Naoki the worst kind of man and would have absolutely ignored him, but he was very important as her younger brother, so she practically doted on him. It was a maternal protective instinct, and the fact that she could only see him as a younger brother that needed protecting was an immature part of Kazane, and Naoki"s inability to resist against her overprotectiveness was part of his immaturity. That problem might come to a head eventually, but for now Naoki was stunned by his older sister"s『Killer Move』talk, so that was left aside.

「A killer move isn"t such a simple thing to make, right?」

Well, Naoki had a sound argument.

「It"s not that hard. After a hiatus, a long running publication might have 5 or 6 killing moves quickly developed once it resumes.」

Kazane didn"t have a sound argument.

「That"s in manga!」

And Naoki"s words continued to be sound. He was a boring man.

「Umm, I don"t really understand what you"re talking about, but doesn"t Kazane have an idea for that killer move she mentioned?」

Since the talk wasn"t progress, Louise broke in. Naoki looked at his sister with an「Oh, is that so?」expression. Kazane nodded confidently and immediately spoke.

「That"s right. A new magic sword will be made for Naoki.」

「A magic sword?」

Kazane made a satisfied smile after seeing Naoki"s surprised face.

「Well then. Do you remember when Yumika was attacked with a light beam near the end of the Crystal Dragon battle?」

「……Ah.」

It was from a distance, but Naoki saw it. A rainbow beam gouged out a large section of earth. Louise was at point blank range, so she remembered feeling nervous. That power was high enough that it wouldn"t have been strange if she had been incidentally killed by it.

「We"ll make a magic sword that can fire that attack using one of the Crystal Dragon"s horns.」

Naoki and Louise were taken aback by those words.

「Louise should have seen it before; that『Seventh・Ray』is the model for Sieg"s Zexia Ray.」

Louise was convinced by those words, and Naoki also understood from knowing Sieg from the game and said「Ah.」

The Heroic Spirit Sieg"s secret technique『Zexia Ray』fired from the Great Wing Sword was made by Tatsuyoshi, but the components it was made from were available in the normal game and were simply combined. There originally wasn"t a specification that could make an attack that used all 8 elements, but Tatsuyoshi was able to do it by using the combination of element release arrangement and time delay. With that achievement, the Great Wing Sword became an official item. Tatsuyoshi used the sword『Gla.s.s Fear』made from the event boss Crystal Dragon『Gla.s.s』as a reference. It fired the seven element attack Seventh Ray.

「Naturally, its power depends on Naoki"s magical power, so I don"t think the ray attack will be as powerful, but it will still have a much higher attack power than any of his current magic swords.」

Kazane was smiling broadly at him, but Naoki made a slightly depressed expression.

「But getting stronger by relying on the power of such a tool...」

It was the troublesome young boy"s idea of wanting to become stronger by his own power. Such an idea was meaningless to Kazane.

「There is nothing wrong with becoming stronger using tools. The only problem is how you use them.」

Kazane therefore argued down Naoki"s words.

「After all, I have my Dragon Ogre Greaves, Yuuko-nee, and the Tatsuyoshi-kun series. Yumika received a powerful spear from Master in the beginning and has the Wolf G.o.d Transformation.」

「Uu… well, that is...」

Naoki moaned. Certainly, Kazane and the others diligently mastered the usage of their equipment.

「Well then, are you saying I should properly master using it?」

Naoki swallowed the words he was going to say earlier and said that.

「Yeah. Since we"re using that to make it, Naoki will have to spend his own money without receiving any of this time"s reward.」

「That"s fine.」

Naoki couldn"t do anything this time. He was intending to refuse his portion anyway, but if he was able to receive something that could make him useful, he wanted to do so.

(That"s right. Rather than stubbornly insisting on becoming stronger by my own power, it"s more important to be useful to the party.)

Naoki was ashamed of his statement earlier. He understood that his sister had worked hard to help him find a place in this party when he had no ideas himself.

That"s why Naoki thought. He had to become stronger. Louise smile grew wider as she watched him.

◎ Lake Shirodieh, Shirodieh City

「It"s a beautiful city.」

Kazane reflexively said while looking at the elegance of the townscape after they entered.

「I"ve also never been here before, but this is amazing.」

Naoki agreed and breathed a sigh while looking at the rows of high-cla.s.s buildings.

「Well, the people living here are aristocrats and wealthy merchants, along with the many servants and retainers they have. A person can"t even enter the city without certain identification. It seems the buildings are standardized before construction so they don"t harm the pleasant view.」

「Really? I"d like to talk to the people responsible. I kind of feel like I"ve hit the limit of what I can do with the cottage by myself.」

As a matter of fact, Kazane succeeded in creating the gla.s.s windows she desired with the  Crystallization Skill from the Crystal Dragon. However, now that she could do more things, there were many choices she had to make about what should be added. The cottage was originally made from combining building samples, so there were parts that were gradually becoming beyond her capacities.

『If it"s related to architecture, it might be good to inquire at the university in the capital Deer South.』

Mefirus told Kazane from Louise"s arms.

「So there is a university.」

『There were also ones in Minshiana and Tsuvara.』

It seemed she didn"t notice because she wasn"t particularly interested.

「If you have Mefirus" and my recommendation you can probably talk to the professor, so should we ask once we get to the capital?」

「Yes. Please. I will make some diagrams on paper.」

Since the blueprint itself was in Golem Maker, it was necessary to transcribe on paper for other people who couldn"t see the Window. However, she had practice from drawing the blueprints of the Tatsuyoshi-kun series, and she could draw well with『Intuition.』Her increased Wisdom stat meant her comprehension ability was also high, so the work wasn"t difficult. Kazane even felt it was rather fun.

「As always, Aneki is smart.」

She was planning to discuss things with a university professor, so Naoki looked at his sister with respect. Kazane had always been intelligent. Unlike Naoki whose grades didn"t improve no matter how much he studied, she did well even without studying, so she played games instead of using that time to study. Though that didn"t mean she didn"t study at all. Kazane"s grades were good, so maybe it would be better to call her clever than smart. But she was unmistakably intelligent.

Like this, Kazane and the others advanced into Shirodieh City, an area that only permitted immigration for aristocrats and the privileged cla.s.ses. As always, their bizarre vehicle attracted attention.

However, no one in Kazane"s party noticed the gazes of a certain pair among those gazes. Kazane"s『Dog"s Sense of Smell』couldn"t help her when she didn"t know the scent of the other party.

**********

「That carriage just now was dreadful.」

The Barnes siblings had just just arrived at Shirodieh City, and Lyle had a light cold sweat while watching the retreating figure of the carriage that had just pa.s.sed in front of them. It was a dreadfully bizarre and impressive black horse and black carriage. Moreover, he didn"t know what they were, but it was followed by a transparent horse like crystal and a white horse like a marble statue.

「Should it be called bad taste or something else? But the horse-like things following behind were beautiful.」

The sister Emily so evaluated.

「Didn"t the man driving the carriage look like grandfather?」

Lyle didn"t see more than a glimpse, but the man in the coachman"s seat resembled his own grandfather.

「What ridiculous thing are you saying. I only glanced at him, but he was probably more than 10 years younger than our grandfather. And he had such a smug expression. It wasn"t the kind of facial expression that severe grandfather would make.」

As a matter of fact, Emily was watching quite well...... but her observation was actually too good. Because of her preconceptions, Emily was completely unaware he was her grandfather.

「Is that so? I think that thing would suit grandfather"s taste.」

Lyle remembered that his grandfather"s room had metal carriages and soldier miniatures lined up. They were all strangely solemn products.

「It"s inconsequential. More importantly, we should quickly go to our villa. It hasn"t been used in a while, so we can"t sleep until we clean it.」

「How bothersome. If we have to clean it, shouldn"t we have just continued onward to the royal capital?」

「Shut up. It can"t be helped, right? Mildina"s perfume is only sold here.」

According to Lyle"s memory, Mildina"s perfume was a perfume used by Sheila, a young lady who also liked Naoki, the same as Emily. By the way, they had never been to Shirodieh City with Naoki because his Adventurers Guild identification was insufficient. The Barnes sibling had their identification as members of the Barnes family, but an accompanying adventurer would need to be recognized by a country with a t.i.tle.

「I wonder what can"t be helped.」

Lyle grumbled as he followed his sister, who was walking ahead briskly.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Adhesion Sword『Gum』, Spell Dagger, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Ogre Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator

Level : 30

Health: 107

Magic Power: 181+420

Strength: 52+10

Agility: 43+4

Endurance: 29

Wisdom : 57

Dexterity : 38

Spell : 『Fly』 『Torch』 『Fire』 『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』

Skill : 『Warrior"s Memory』 『Night Vision』 『Crushing Blow』 『Dog"s Sense of Smell』 『Golem Maker: Lv3』 『Rush』 『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』 『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』 『Air Jump: Lv2』 『Killing Leg: Lv2』 『Fear Voice』 『Invisible』 『Tiger Eye』 『Wall Walking』 『Intuition』 『Cheat Death』 『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield』『Information Link』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Placement』『Thunder Chariot』『St.u.r.dy Teeth』『Crystallization』

Kazane:「Yes, Jinrai-san"s smug face has come. And he wasn"t recognized by his own grandchildren.」

Yumika:「Master.......」