Chapter 22

“So, we probably won’t ever meet again. Unless you have unbelievably rotten luck, Second Lieutenant.”

Should she have told that werewolf to shut his mouth instead of letting him talk as if he knew everything about her so easily?

Maybe she should have.

But Aethlyn—Aethlyn, who Federin often called “needlessly serious”—knew that Sergeant Gennadi Vilev was right, at least to some extent.

“If I told my friends from the military academy that I’d met the Fenrir Detachment, none of them would believe me. And if I said I’d even gone on leave and had dinner with a werewolf NCO from the unit… they’d probably think I was making the whole thing up.”

“Maybe… saying that was my mistake.”

Aethlyn let out a long sigh.

Of course, Sergeant Gennadi Vilev wasn’t the sort of person who read hidden meanings into every little remark or took offense the way young noble ladies and gentlemen in high society did.

Even so, from his perspective, it had probably been an unpleasant thing to hear.

‘I talked about him like he was some kind of gossip topic.’

That was my fault. It was rude.

Once she admitted it to herself, a trace of regret surfaced.

Only a trace.

Just as the sergeant had said, once the Fenrir Detachment left the Kran Trench, the two of them would never meet again.

Whether Sergeant Gennadi Vilev had been offended by her words—or whether the opposite had happened—in the long run, it wouldn’t matter.

It truly wouldn’t matter at all.

Fortunately, the remaining two days of leave had been left entirely to their own schedules.

During that time, Aethlyn intended to forget all about the Kran Trench and Sergeant Gennadi Vilev and simply enjoy herself.

‘Well, I’ll spend the next two days sightseeing around the old city’s ruins.’

Once she’d sorted out her thoughts, drowsiness slowly overtook her.

What finally woke Aethlyn from her light sleep wasn’t her alarm clock or the morning sunlight slipping through the curtains.

It was three in the morning, with the world still buried in darkness.

The door to her hotel room rattled violently.

“Mmgh…”

“Second Lieutenant Wintercrown! Second Lieutenant Wintercrown!”

The instant she heard the rank “Second Lieutenant,” Aethlyn’s eyes flew open.

Beyond the shaking hotel door, an unfamiliar voice was desperately calling for her.

“Second Lieutenant Wintercrown!”

‘What’s going on?’

Before she was even fully awake, Aethlyn sprang out of bed like a coiled spring.

Without bothering to get properly dressed, she threw a robe over her nightclothes and opened the door.

A pale-faced young hotel messenger stood outside.

“W-What’s…”

“Y-You’re a Magic Army officer, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“Th-there’s… something strange… in the hotel lobby…”

“A magical beast showed up?”

“N-No… I don’t know… Please… you need to come and see.”

Judging by how badly the boy was trembling, seeing it herself would be faster than asking questions.

Aethlyn gave a small nod.

“I don’t know what’s happened, but lead the way.”

Following the boy down the dim staircase, she reached the lobby—

—and froze at the sight before her.

“What the… are you kidding me?”

She ran a hand through her already messy, pillow-flattened hair.

“Arthur… what are you doing here?”

The lobby looked as though a wyvern had rampaged through it.

The sofas and chandeliers had all been smashed to pieces, debris scattered everywhere.

And right in the middle of the destruction sat a man dressed in black.

The entire hotel staff, including the manager, stood several paces away from him, each gripping whatever they could use as a weapon while keeping their guard up.

A few of them lit up with relief the moment they saw Aethlyn arrive in her nightclothes.

“Second Lieutenant Wintercrown!”

“A mage! We’re saved!”

“Please stop him!”

But Aethlyn didn’t even spare them a glance.

From the very beginning, her eyes had been fixed on the intruder.

It was a face she knew all too well.

A face she’d seen so many times she was sick of it.

“Arthur Wintercrown.”

The moment she spoke his name, the figure slowly stirred.

The man, who had been sitting on the floor with both legs stretched out like a lazy cat, rose to his feet.

After meticulously brushing the dust from his coat collar, he stood with his usual slouch and slowly turned toward her.

“Big Sis.”

His voice was bright and cheerful—completely at odds with the devastation surrounding him.

“It’s been a while.”

Arthur Wintercrown.

Aethlyn’s younger brother.

His black hair was shaggy and unkempt, his skin pale. Without his glasses, his blue eyes looked unnaturally large.

It had only been a month since she’d last seen him, yet somehow he’d grown even taller.

He stood with the awkward posture of a newborn fawn.

Arthur was smiling.

It was such a rare sight that it only happened about once a month.

To Aethlyn, however, it only made her blood boil.

“Is ‘it’s been a while’ really the first thing out of your mouth?”

Her anger flared all the way to the top of her head before confusion followed.

Shouldn’t he have been at the magic academy by now?

So why was he here?

And why had he turned the place into this disaster?

“Aren’t you supposed to be studying? What are you even doing here? No, before that—how did you even get here?”

Arthur casually shrugged one shoulder.

“I used teleportation magic. The second attempt turned out pretty well too.”

“…What?”

“Hmm. Though just now—and the last time too—it created a disturbance in the surrounding space. I’ll need to minimize that part.”

“Hey.”

Arthur pulled a notebook out of the inner pocket of his black coat, lowered his head, and continued scribbling something inside.

Aethlyn stared at him blankly.

“You teleported here?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry. I’ll be heading back to the academy soon.”

“And just how are you planning to get back?”

“…If I adjust this part of the circuit a little more, the return trip should be easier.”

Watching Arthur mutter to himself, Aethlyn came to one conclusion.

‘He’s actually insane.’

Judging by the way his left hand was twitching as though he were about to cast another spell, he was clearly preparing to do something else completely unhinged.

Cursing her little brother under her breath, Aethlyn rushed straight at him.

If she had to, she’d use binding magic.

Stepbrother or not, she’d beat some sense into him.

“I asked what the hell you’re thinking, Arthur Wintercrown!”

But the moment she closed the distance, Aethlyn froze.

As soon as Arthur raised the index finger of his left hand, her body locked up.

“Big Sis. I’m thinking.”

The instant he finished speaking, Arthur casually muttered an incantation.

“[Stasio.]”

“Y-You…”

It was the very same binding spell Aethlyn had been about to cast herself.

The casting had been so fast that she couldn’t react.

‘And besides…’

Hadn’t he just said he’d teleported here?

Teleportation magic.

Aethlyn suddenly remembered what she’d told the driver on the way to the Kran Trench.

“I thought all mages traveled by teleportation.”

“They can. It’s just terribly inefficient. After a long-distance teleport, you’re useless for about three days, so it’s usually better to take the train.”

That was true.

Teleportation magic—especially a long-distance teleport from the Republic of Esta to Pharos—wasn’t something anyone could realistically cast twice in a single day.

Arthur looked indifferently at his sister’s horrified face.

“Actually, I stopped by the Kran Trench or whatever it’s called earlier just to see you, but you weren’t there.”

“…”

“Some major or whatever told me you’d be here, so I just teleported again.”

“That’s impossible…”

“Oh, teleportation magic? I can do it. I optimized my magic circuits.”

Arthur answered as though it were nothing.

Aethlyn remembered what she’d told Sergeant Gennadi Vilev at the movie theater only a few hours earlier.

“Simple spells are one thing, but attack magic that powerful is practically impossible. Magic circuits have their limits.”

A chill ran down her spine.

She had always known Arthur was an exceptional mage.

She just hadn’t realized he was this exceptional.

‘His abilities are really at this level…?’

Meanwhile, Arthur genuinely seemed unable to understand why she looked so shocked.

Tilting his head in confusion, he asked,

“By the way, was the war fun? I stopped by, and honestly it looked kind of boring.”

“It’s not supposed to be fun. We’re fighting to protect Esta.”

“I don’t get it. Why is it considered honorable for a mage to interfere in a war between insects?”

‘Insects.’

To Arthur, anyone incapable of using magic was little more than that.

Not that he respected other mages, either.

‘Social skills? Forget that. His personality is rotten to the core. Janet spoiled him rotten, and this is the result.’

Grinding her teeth, Aethlyn replied,

“You’re the only one who doesn’t understand. Everyone else does.”

Arthur’s tone became even more indifferent.

“Anyway, that’s enough. Come back to the estate. If you keep rolling around in this mud pit with insects, you’ll end up filthy too.”

“Shut up.”

“Can’t even argue with that, can you?”

The siblings were in the middle of their exchange when—

Without the slightest warning, something enormous charged in from behind.

It swallowed Arthur whole.

At the same moment, the binding spell restraining Aethlyn shattered.

“Arthur!”

Aethlyn screamed.