Not long after all of us left, Mana’s elder sister—whose name I once more forgot… since her name never appears ever—came running towards us with an exhausted expression as she looked at Mana eye-to-eye which caused Mana to be irritated as she asked with a cold glance.

 

“What do you want?”

 

Mana’s elder sister—let’s call her Nelia, for now—looked at Mana a bit surprised but regained her composure faster than a blink of an eye as she replied to her, “I am only asking whether you really want to abandon the inheritance?”

 

“Of course, I do—if it was even possible, I would love to abandon the Fragaria name as well!” Mana replied with an irritated look as Nelia looked disappointed before suddenly pouncing towards Mana as she hugged her.

 

“All of us in the family are sorry for treating you badly—I know that no matter how many times we tell you that… we all know that you will never forgive us but please know that even if you won’t forgive me or any of us in the Fragaria… we will always think of you as one,” she suddenly spoke in an upset voice which surprised all of us before she suddenly released Mana as she smiled.

 

“I can only hope that your decision will lead you to true happiness—one that we were never able to provide you with—no matter what… you will be my little sister and the Fragaria household will forever be behind you in every action, so don’t be afraid to push forward, okay?”

 

Mana looked at her as if she was disturbed; her expression was filled with disbelief that was understandable as the person that was standing before her was someone she used to constantly butt heads, for her to suddenly change stances and become someone this kind would naturally be shocking.

 

“I don’t care what schemes you have in mind, but they won’t work on me!” Mana responded before grabbing my arm as she dragged me away with her, leaving Nelia with a wry smile as she looked at Mana with genuine worry.

 

After some time, Mana soon stopped as she rested on the wall with a complicated look on her face—it was like she wanted to believe their words, but her experiences caused her to overreact and burst out. I couldn’t bear to see her expression and instinctively hugged her tightly as I kissed her forehead.

 

“You can cry, you know?” I looked at her and smiled before she shook her head.

 

“I won’t cry—it’s not worth crying about…” she responded before hugging me tightly as the two of us stood there without speaking a single word, letting her calm her emotions before a few moments passed by as she pushed me away with a smile on her face, “Thank you… dear.”

 

The surprise I had received from that single word was immense—it was rare for Mana to ever call me “dear” or something lovely, she would always refer to me with my first name which made me unbelievably happy as I hugged her again.

 

“You finally called me dear, at least once,” I smiled before she stabbed me with her elbow while looking at me with a blush on her face.

 

“And that will be the last time I will ever call you like so.”

 

“How rude! At least let me bask in the glory of being acknowledged by you!” I refuted to which she averted her gaze before all of a sudden, a noisy little girl’s shout echoed from the distance taking both of our attention.

 

“Mwama!”

 

The shout was naturally Flora who was runn—walking towards our direction while holding Crystal’s hand, the two were wearing their lovely uniforms which consisted of a white blouse with golden buttons, a black skirt with red stripes paired with a magnificent black cape.

 

“Flora, slow down!” I said but the little brown fluff ball didn’t listen as she jumped towards Mana, releasing Crystal who came crashing towards me with an annoyed expression on her face… naturally, she would be annoyed since her elder sister loves to drag her around.

 

But as annoyed she was, she could only pout as she reached her hands towards me as if asking to be picked up to which I responded by attempting to pluck her from the floor but all of a sudden, a certain boar-loving creature appeared right next to me, biting my hand as usual.

 

“Flora! You already threw her to me, don’t you dare try to take her back,” I scolded to which she looked at me with a frown as Crystal suddenly walked towards me while looking at Flora with a pout, she looked like she had enough of Flora and slapped the girl away from my hand.

 

“Mama, let’s go,” she said in a calm manner which made both Mana and I look at her with a wry smile.

 

“Little sis—” Flora tried to intercept to which Crystal interrupted by throwing three words that could kill anyone’s heart in an instant.

 

“I hate you… Mama, let’s go—I want to see Mama Kaori…”

 

The fact that she was calling me Mama was undeniably another joyful occasion for me since not even Flora calls me like so—not to mention, it felt like she deliberately taunted Mana by calling Kaori as “Mama” for some reason but as if telling me that she wasn’t, she looked at Mana and smiled before whispering into my ear, “Let me tell something to Mama Mana as well…”

I was a bit curious, but I decided to follow her wishes as I walked close enough for her to start whispering into Mana’s ear before the two soon nodded to one another with Mana looking at me with a wry smile, “This child is more scheming than I thought…”

 

“What did she say?” I asked to which Crystal pinched my cheeks.

 

“You shouldn’t tell,” she pouted towards Mana who nodded as well with a smile.

 

Flora was a bit irritated at our interactions and started pouting as well as she looked towards me with her hands out as if telling me to pick her up from the ground, but Crystal poked my cheeks almost like her way of telling me not to obey.

 

“Flora, how about letting Mana carry you instead?” I looked at the poor little girl who looked a bit conflicted. Her intentions were visible though, it seems like she deliberately wanted me to carry her together with Crystal which is clearly the work of her super intelligence but ultimately, it failed.

 

As if she also realized her plan had failed, she looked at Mana before being carried up from the floor as Mana soon patted the little fluff ball’s back with a wry smile as she tried to calm the two girl’s cold war by asking, “How was class today?”

 

“It was fine… Elder Sister caused an explosion as usual,” Crystal replied.

 

“Hey! Flowa didn’t mean it!” Flora tried to fight back but the little black-haired girl only looked at her with an exhausted expression. Of course, Flora would cause a sudden explosion every now and then… she even once incurred us a bill of two gold coins one time because she caused an entire wall to vanish.

 

This girl, despite being intelligent, is bad at controlling her powers… as mentioned many times, she is super talented in combat but that is because her raw power is super high which is at the upper level of a child Great Spirit according to His Majesty.

 

If only this girl could be someone like His Majesty’s daughter… what a dream would it be, being someone super strong, intelligent, and calm… Coincidentally, a familiar voice suddenly came echoing from behind.

 

“Little sister!”

 

All of us turned around to which a red-haired lady could be seen running towards our direction, accompanied by an elderly man who wore a majestic outfit. In an instant, Mana and I bowed down for a second as the elderly man was none other than His Majesty.

 

“Greetings to His Majesty, The Sky!” the two of us greeted at the same time to which he smiled.

 

“You don’t have to bow down, after all, both of us practically have the same status by now if we add the total influence your family has… the Fragaria, the absolute Queen of the Nostalgia Kingdom and the super talented girl that was once little Aurora’s student—added with the future leader of the Queenshelm, even the royal family couldn’t compare to such statuses,” he chuckled.

 

As if not caring about the greetings, the red-haired lady ran towards Flora and started hugging her as if she was taking care of her own little sister. She was the Great Spirit of Fire, a creature way older than Flora which meant she was technically her elder sister.

 

“Do you need us for something, Your Majesty?” I asked to which he shook his head.

 

“The two of us were only taking a walk around the school before she noticed that girl’s mana and started running towards your direction since as you may know, she is the type to care a lot about the same species as her,” he smiled.

 

“Father…” the red-haired girl pouted which made him laugh.

 

“Anyhow, do you mind if we have a little chat over at the garden? I would also like to inquire a few things that I heard from Aurora,” he asked with a serious expression.

 

“We don’t mind,” Mana and I replied before he smiled, leading us towards the central garden of the school where a waterfall with a magnificent tea party table waited.