Mabbo, Yakult, Schwarz13
enjoy~
20. Megane-kun, Listening to Sister"s Circ.u.mstances
My older sister who is unchanging to a fearsome degree is still the same in the part where you can"t talk to her in her mealtime. If she"s dead-serious when she decides her dish, she"s dead-serious all the way while being fidgety when waiting for her ordered food to arrive, and, of course, when she enjoys her food. If one interrupted her or letting out an obstinate voice in the middle of her meal, one would be beaten, therefore one must exercise prudence. d.a.m.n beast.
Since I can"t expect a decent reply if I talked to her, I ask Lexton and Laila the things that have been bothering me in the meantime. First of all, of course, about that.
「I heard she fell to a debt.」
I have collected some sum of money thanks to the redbear hunt the other day. Even if it"s not enough to clear up everything, it should help even a little.
「She did if I have to say, but I think you don"t need to worry about it.」
According to Lexton, Horun did take charge of the request fee, just like what I heard from Laila, but it seems she hasn"t repaid even a penny at all. …Oi.
「She hasn"t repaid? At all?」
「It"s Horun after all. If there"s an income, it"ll vanish to something else.」
Despite that it"s supposed to be a reason one couldn"t accept, I hate the fact that I can accept it. It"s true, it"s Horun after all.
「She donates it an orphanage, or lends it to some broke people, or paying the installment for her equipment, etcetera, etcetera. Though most of it drained by her food expense, even I can"t grasp exactly where it goes.」
Her way of spending money is awfully messy. Well, it"s quite expected though. I knew it since there was nothing to spend on in the village, she was indifferent with money management, so it was clear. If there"s something unexpected out of that is that it"s way messier than I expected.
「She basically doesn"t know what"s wrong about borrowing or lending money, to begin with. Even if she"s pressured to pay her debt, she"s already penniless when we realized. I just don"t know what to do.」
…………
Laila should be alerted. As she"s my older sister, she also can only be described as foolish.
「But, it"s really strange.」
Lexton gazes at sister who"s been fidgety with a smile on his face. Sister is watching the meat on the table beside us intensely. That"s right, it looks delish, isn"t it. Do give a little care to us.
「In the one year I spent here before Horun came, I gained experience as an ordinary adventurer. The adventurer team 『Black Swan of Dawn』 I knew back then was a team that couldn"t make into first-rate. They had the ability, their members underwent careful selection, both their job performances and achievements rate were always the first, if not the second, within the royal capital.
「However, something was missing.
「That was why it felt like they would never reach Three Star, it felt like, they were an eternal center fielder. I couldn"t exactly put that into words though..」
[ED: It"s like a sport team that has never won the league, but has never been at the bottom either.]
An eternal center fielder, huh.
「I think I understand. There are things like that, aren"t there.」
Maybe I"ll put it like, despite they have both the ability and actual result, it feels like you just can"t leave everything on them. Like, you can"t put all your faith in them. Like, they"re overshadowed by something else. Like, they just can"t be the main character of a story.
Bluntly speaking, it feels like the status is different. I think the reason may vary from one another, so I can"t say it unconditionally, but there"s something like that.
「Recalling it back, it was after Horun joined in. With her becoming a member of 『Black Swan』, the hole they had was filled. As the outcome, the team obtained the Three Star rank, and now it"s called the best adventurer"s team in the royal capital.
「If there"s something that changed, it would be the atmosphere. Before, 『Black Swan 』 was like a top-notch team with high pride that won"t accept cheap jobs, but now we"re doing relatively anything. Thanks to that, we become popular.」
Hmm.
「Ah, by the way, I joined 『Black Swan』 relatively recently. I received the enrollment exam, you see. Though, before that, Horun and I often went out to do some adventure.」
It"s a team I want to join, after all, said Lexton.
I see, so the 「Black Swan」 has changed that much. Well, that"s understandable. I mean, if you meet my sis, you"ll want to tell her 「be more proper」 or 「have some pride」, but you"ll be tired of saying them then start to leave her with her own device.
「So, in general, while you kept company with Horun in order to look after her, the members of 『Black Swan』 got involved with both of you.」
That"s why she can"t be taken light of. The conclusion of her being an idiot is wasted on her.
「That"s right. Just like what happened to me.」
The village"s number two"s idiot is saying something, but I believe that"s something I can ignore.
「—First time I heard this Megane is Horun-oneesama"s little brother. 」
Brushing off Laila"s fault-finding, let"s eat the meal they brought to us. I also didn"t know my older sister has a little sister, so it"s a tie-tie situation.
Rather than that, let"s return to the debt talk since the convo was derailed.
「Aah, the debt, is it? The leader also doesn"t look like he wants to collect it. Should I say he gave up on it, or should I say he instead doesn"t want to collect it?」
[TL: a.s.suming that the leader is a male. Subject to change.]
「He doesn"t want to collect the debt?」
「Some of the members are worried that Horun would leave 『Black Swan』 if her debt is cleared」
Ah, I get it. That"s why they let the debt as is, or they want to leave it be.
「Now, Horun is also a famous adventurer in the royal capital. The rumors around her are good, while she"s indeed an idiot her character isn"t bad, and since she"s easy to be deceived everyone thinks she"s docile. She even got scouted by other teams, she also made connections with many big wigs.
「And, I mentioned this before, there are times when Horun filled the part 『Black Swan』 lacked. That"s why, if she left the team for too little a reason, 『Black Swan』 might be disbanded. …Well, it may be just me reading too far into it.」
That, too, is understandable. The two years after Horun left, the 「hole left by Horun」 in the village isn"t small. The elderlies who had their work burdened by the other, now they look way less energetic, and the number of children rented by them to do every little ch.o.r.e is increasing.
Horun and Lexton alone did all that much work or something like that. It was something that everyone noticed at the later hour. And, apparently, the whole village fell to a dispute to find a way to fill the gap they left. Truly, as she is my older sister, she"s someone troubling that has no common sense in her.
「Phew… That was delish.」
Her meal is finished, and Horun is finally relaxed. That was two helping of goat meat stew and two pints of draft beer. She could eat, really~.
「And then, Eil, did you come to play in the capital?」
And she suddenly took interest in her relative. Too late, you. That kind of question should be asked when you first see my face.
「It"s due to the Ceremony of Determination. Just like you, Horun」
「Nn? ………Ceremony of Determination?」
Wait.
「Of course, you"re not forgetting that, right?」
What a face to make when you could not remember. She won"t tell me that she forgot even the Coming of Age Day, will she?
「…….Ah.」
And there she remembered.
「That"s right. I was brought to the royal capital because they said my 『Talent』 is rare, wasn"t I? And then I continue to live here after that.」
She"s just as amazing as always. Did she try to erase the circ.u.mstance why she"s here to oblivion? How do I put it… amazing, huh.
「Then, Eil, do you have a rare『 talent』 too? Is that why you"re brought here?」
Here it is.
She nonchalantly asked something that any ordinary people would hesitate and careful to ask. That"s why Horun is… nah, it"s fine.
Generally speaking, it"s common sense not to ask about 「talent」 lightly. That"s why Laila never asked me about it so far, that"s also the reason why n.o.body asked about that to me since I came to the royal capital. It"s just common sense. For Horun who has no common sense, asking that isn"t something unnatural.
「I have a little bit of 『Magician talent』.」
「Eh, for real!?」
The one who got surprised was Lexton. And Laila, as an addition. Horun only gives out 「Heeh」 kind of indifferent feeling. Therefore, Lexton and Laila"s responses should be the norm, socially speaking. Being a magician is that much of rare 「talent」.
「But it"s not some great 『talent』, I received a refusal treatment from the castle. That"s why I"ll go sightseeing the royal capital for a little while then return to the village.」
I didn"t tell a lie. Materialization like 「summoning a megane」 means I could use magic. That"s why that category is also applied to me. Hiding a truth doesn"t mean telling a lie.
「I see. That"s unfortunate.」
「Not really. Conversely, even if my 『talent』 was estimated, I have no intention to work for the castle. No matter what"s the end result, I just want to go back to the village as soon as possible.」
Now that I"ve met with Horun, I only have to fill the order from the castle, then I"ll have no reason to be in the capital. Should I say it"s as expected, despite she has difficulties at having a conversation, she"s doing well, so I"ll just tell our parents that. For how things are currently going… asking Lexton that will be way faster than asking Horun.
The rest is, of course, that huh.
「I want to greet the leader of 『Black Swan』.」
There"s a person who looks after this sister of mine, a task that definitely takes mental fatigue. As her relative, I want to greet him. This isn"t a matter I can let slide with the thought that I don"t want to meet or a.s.sociate with people. It never is. I believe with my all that if our role reversed, then he would at least come to greet me.
It"s someone who looks after Horun after all. Well, I"m heavy-spirited to do that, though. …As expected, he isn"t someone I can ignore if he spoke of Horun"s faults.
「Rather than that, Eil.」
As I was b.u.mmed out, Horun"s upper body approached me. Her shining olive brown eyes seized mine as if she"s seeing through me.
「That thing that hanging on your head, that"s something good right? Gimme.」
And there she suddenly says something again.
「This is something unnecessary for someone who has a healthy eye. Horun, your eyes are good, aren"t they?」
I stared back at my sis through the lenses. Facing with my gaze, sister shows no change at all—most likely, she"ll say 「I just think that"s the case」.
「That thing, it"s not something as simple as that, right? That"s why, gimme.」
…………
Something like 「How did you know」 or 「What gives you the idea」 is a foolish question for my sister. Generally, it"s all because of 「Because I think it"s like that」 is going in that mind of hers.
By some chance, maybe I"ve learned it sometime before my oldest memory of 「being left behind in the forest」. Maybe I learned it from my sister, that a creature who lives with intuition and instinct is terrifying.
Mabbo here.
Blame me for the late chapters. It"s my fault. I found some good novel that I can"t wait for the translation so I read the RAW. It got a load of expositions and world building. Also, I b.u.mped into Azur Lane. Laffey"s too cute to be abandoned, so I can"t help it. For my defense though, I"ve preserved future chapters beforehand, including this one, so you can expect the next two chapters to be released soon.
Also, my life; College sucks, I"m broke, phone wrecked.