Chapter 76

In the frontier of Sutrena, the rainy season continued as usual, and both Geni and Dunk were in high spirits as they frolicked in the pool. Furthermore, plants were growing faster than they did during the dry season, and Sutrena’s food situation continued to improve remarkably.

While I was playing in the pool with Geni and the others, Tony arrived.

He visited the mansion whenever he wasn’t busy with magic beast extermination work to act as a trainer, preparing Dunk to become a riding beast. Dunk didn’t act out either, obediently following Tony’s instructions.

Tony looked at me and spoke as if he had just remembered something.

“Come to think of it, Lady Agnes, there was a suspicious person in front of the mansion just now.”

“A suspicious person?”

“Yes. It was a child, so they didn’t seem particularly dangerous, but they were floating in the air dressed like some new breed of exhibitionist… It was just plain creepy.”

“If it’s an exhibitionist, that’s serious. I’ll go drive them away.”

If they were already pulling stunts like that as a child, I worried for their future.

As I headed for the gate, Torre, our guard, followed along.

“Lady Agnes, it’s dangerous, so I will go out first. Floating in the air… there’s no telling what they are.”

“It’s likely magic. I have a relative who’s a similar user. My younger brother… wait… hmm?”

—Oh dear.

I had a very strong feeling I knew exactly who this “child floating in the air dressed like an exhibitionist” was.

“Torre, it’s a child, so you mustn’t be violent right off the bat.”

“Understood! I shall wait three seconds!”

“At least give them a little more leeway than that!”

Just as I stepped out of the gate while pleading with him, I saw the child in question floating there.

Although he could use levitation magic, it seemed he couldn’t reach an altitude high enough to fly over the gate.

When the boy saw me, he drifted through the air toward me. Yep, total déjà vu.

“I was hoping my guess would be wrong, but no luck.”

The boy with the same hair and eye color as mine, a mushroom-cut hairstyle, and white tights was Paul Eventail. He was my twelve-year-old younger brother.

Just like when we met at Count Yarata’s party, he looked down his nose at me with a glaring gaze.

“You’re as shameless as ever, I see. You look like a total nympho.”

Since I had been playing in the water with the magic beasts, I was only wearing a coat over my swimsuit.

However…

“You’re the last person I want to hear that from.”

I didn’t want to be lectured by my younger brother, who was currently dressed in white tights and being mistaken for a suspicious person.

If only he would at least wear short pants over them, but both my father and brother insisted on walking around in nothing but white tights.

“Anyway, Paul, why are you here at the frontier? Where are Father and Mother?”

When I asked, he pursed his lips tightly.

“…ult.”

“What did you say?”

“It’s your fault! Because of you, Father and Mother have gone crazy!”

As soon as he screamed, my brother lunged at me.

Just as the white tights loomed before my eyes, Torre stepped in between us.

“I don’t quite get what’s happening, but I shall guard Lady Agnes!”

Torre slammed into Paul with a powerful body check.

Unable to resist the guard’s full-force tackle, Paul was helplessly caught.