Helping Yuti-san

Maybe it was because the northern country was cold, or because the coffee they served was so good that I drank too much of it.

After using the restroom while also taking the opportunity to escape my embarrassment, I started walking back toward the courtyard.

When I turned a corner and entered the hallway that crossed the entrance, I noticed something approaching from the other side.

A stack of books was moving at an extremely slow pace.

But a long skirt extended beneath the books, and I recognized that skirt.

I hurried over and called out to the tower of books.

“…Yuti-san, are you all right? Would you like me to carry some?”

“That voice… Nova-san?”

The tower of books—or rather, Yuti-san carrying it—answered.

Before getting her permission, I took more than half of the stack from her and held it myself.

I could only see the spines, but the books seemed to cover all kinds of subjects besides magic, including politics and history.

“Sorry for troubling you.”

“No, this is nothing.”

“Thank you… My room is on the second floor, so please carry them there.”

“Got it.”

With Yuti-san leading the way, I followed behind her.

We climbed the staircase extending from the entrance, then she stepped onto the stairs leading to the right, so apparently Aurora-chan’s room was on the left side while Yuti-san’s room was on the right.

“Sorry. I got so absorbed picking out books I wanted to read that I ended up taking more than I could carry.”

“So that’s why there are this many… That’s amazing. I only really read books about swordsmanship…”

“They’re necessary.”

After climbing the stairs to the right, Yuti-san opened a door with her back.

How had she planned to carry all these books if I hadn’t been there?

Maybe she would have had to set them down on the floor every single time, but even then, it would have been a lot of work.

It was fortunate I happened to run into her at just the right time.

Following Yuti-san, I turned a corner, and she immediately opened the door to a nearby room.

Just as I was about to follow her inside, I glanced to the left.

At the very end of the hallway was a door larger than the one to Yuti-san’s room.

Maybe that was Shia’s room? I thought as I stepped into Yuti-san’s room.

Her room was spacious, as befitted the eldest daughter of a noble family, but books were scattered everywhere.

On the chairs, on the bed—books, books, books.

There were more books in this room alone than I could possibly count.

As I stared at the sight in surprise, Yuti-san spoke to me.

“Please put them beside that table.”

“Here…?”

Not on the table, but beside it.

Since this was one of the few places where I could still see the floor, that was probably what she meant.

When I had visited the library on the first floor, I thought an unusually large number of books were missing.

So this was where they had gone.

Still dumbfounded by the state of the room, I lowered the stack of books onto the floor.

I let out a breath and looked over to see Yuti-san standing still with part of the remaining stack in her arms, before eventually placing those books on the bed.

“That’s an incredible number of books. Do you use all of them?”

“No. I don’t use all of them. I simply haven’t returned them.”

Saying that, Yuti-san sat at her desk and began writing something.

I thought I might be interrupting her work, but I was too curious not to ask.

“Really? Wouldn’t the number go down if you took the books you no longer use with you whenever you went to borrow new ones?”

“I find the time spent deciding whether I still need a book or not to be bothersome, so I haven’t done it in quite a while.”

“I see…”

Maybe that was the kind of problem someone like Yuti-san had because she read so many books.

While looking at the titles on the spines, I recalled what Shia had told me.

If I remembered correctly, she had said Yuti-san was incredibly intelligent.

In that case, maybe I could help her somehow.

“Then how about I read out the book titles, and you tell me whether you still need each one or not?”

“…………”

Yuti-san didn’t answer me.

I started wondering if I had said something unnecessary, but then—

“Would that really be all right?”

“Huh? Yes, of course.”

“…Then please do.”

The way Yuti-san said it caught my attention slightly, but I began reading out the titles on the book spines one after another.

Yuti-san answered in only two ways: “I need it” or “I don’t need it,” so I gathered together only the books she said she didn’t need.

I kept going until I had collected almost as many as I could carry.

I temporarily placed the pile of unnecessary books in the corner of the room, then resumed asking Yuti-san whether she needed each book.

Her answers came quickly, so the sorting itself went fast, but with this many books, it still looked like it would take some time.

As I continued making a pile of books she no longer needed, Yuti-san suddenly asked me a question.

“Nova-san, did you ever meet that girl when you were young?”

“Huh?”

The question came so suddenly that I answered reflexively, but by “that girl,” Yuti-san must have meant Shia.

Still, I hesitated over whether I should say anything and responded with a vague question of my own.

“Um… Why do you ask all of a sudden?”

“Originally, that girl held an unfortunate position in this family. She could not use magic, and whenever she did, it ran out of control. You know, don’t you, Nova-san? How painful something like that is for someone born into a family like this.”

“…………”

“But one day, that girl suddenly awakened to her power. Her mana stopped going out of control, and with that power, she climbed all the way to the position she holds now. Until today, I never knew what had caused that change, but after seeing her today, I realized that you were the reason. Isn’t that right?”

“…Yes.”

Shia herself had told me about it.

That snowy day, when I scolded the mana inside Shia’s body, she became able to control it.

I had thought that such a small thing I did had simply become one part of who Shia was today.

“From the day you solved that girl’s problem, I’m sure she has looked only at you. That is why she was able to wield that immense power without being consumed by it. That is why she rose all the way to become the head of the family…”

I had been wrong.

Something I thought was so insignificant had changed Shia’s entire life.

“Nova-san, you intend to accept that girl’s marriage proposal, don’t you?”

“…Yes. I want to protect Shia. Maybe she doesn’t need me to. Maybe I’m not very dependable. But I still want to protect her.”

“Protect… that girl…”

Perhaps she couldn’t deny that I was lacking in strength, because Yuti-san murmured those words quietly.

But then she slowly bowed her head.

“I am saying this as her older sister. Please take care of her.”

“…I will.”

When I answered firmly, Yuti-san raised her head and returned to her desk.

Without exchanging any more words, I picked up the stack of books she said she no longer needed and left the room.

As I walked down the long hallway, I thought back on what Yuti-san had said.

She was a good older sister.

At the very least, I thought she was different from my brothers.

I had thought she was an eccentric person—and she definitely was—but she was a good person.