—-- Aisha Greyrat —--

Clutching Brother’s red scarf, I feel a warmth envelop my body. A different kind of warmth than the one coming from the bright sun above.

When I pulled it up to my face, I could smell the scent of sweat and grime from constant use, which might sound gross at first, but it also smelled like Brother, so it wasn’t bad at all. 

It made me feel safe. Happy.

After all, I knew that Brother would do anything to protect me.

But while knowing that would do anything made me feel giddy, it also made me feel… guilty.

Here, on the Demon Continent, things were tough. Much tougher than back home. And with Norn and I slowing him down… I can’t imagine how hard it’s been for Brother.

No, I didn’t have to imagine.

I remember the first week, after all, where Brother looked like he hadn’t slept at all.

I knew I was a burden. But that didn’t mean I would have to stay one.

Even if only a little, I wanted to be helpful.

So…

“Brother?” I ask, tilting my head just like Mother taught me in order to ask for things I wanted. “Can I ask you something?”

Pausing his maintenance on his sword, he looks back to me, “Of course. Is there something wrong?”

“Not exactly…” I tilt my head down. “Just… do you think you can teach me something?”

He frowns in confusion, “‘Something’... What exactly do you want to learn?”

“Magic, writing… anything that would be useful!” I answer.

His frown deepens, “Where’s this coming from?”

“Just… we-”

“We don’t want to slow Brother down!” Norn interrupts me.

Huh? Was she… thinking the same thing as me?

Honestly, I didn’t think my sister was one to think so much.

Well, two voices are better than one.

“Yeah!” I continue, “We wanna be helpful!”

And not a burden.

I don’t expect to be able to make us go faster compared to if we weren’t here, but at the very least, I didn’t want to make things harder.

Sheathing his sword, Brother readjusts himself on the lizard so that he’s facing both of us, his face stern as his eyes moved between both of us.

Eventually, he releases a sigh before placing a hand on each of our shoulders.

“Listen, you two,” he says. “While it might not seem like it, you are already being a great help just being here with me.”

I shake my head, “No we’re not! I remember…”

The first week. 

Before we met Ruijerd. How tired Brother got. How hurt he got, watching out for us.

That… I hated that.

“Anyway! Don’t lie! I know we’re a burden!” I say.

He smiles before shaking his head, “I’m not lying. You two are the greatest moral support I could have. Just one hug from my cute sisters keeps me energized for the whole day.”

He then rubs my head, which I lean into with a hum.

Wait! No! That wasn’t important!

“And besides,” he continues. “If you weren’t here with me and Eri… I would probably be dead.”

…What?

“I know that the rest of our family got teleported on that day. Where to, I don’t know, but I know they were teleported.”

…Right. That light engulfed the entire city before reaching us who were on the hill, and that light definitely had something to do with us appearing here.

“With Eri’s parents, I know that Ghislaine will keep them safe, and as for our parents, well, Mama was a great adventurer, and Mother Lilia is smart enough to keep herself safe, so they’ll be fine,” Brother continues.

“And Sylphy…” he winces slightly. “...She’s able to cast chantless magic, and she’s really smart too, so she’ll be okay… Yes, she’ll be okay…”

He shakes his head, “Anyway, I can trust everyone else to take care of themselves, but if you two weren’t with me… I wouldn’t be able to say the same. I would rush everywhere as fast as I could to find you, and I’d probably get myself killed in the process. But since you two are here, I can trust everyone else to be okay and make my way back home at a safe pace.”

…I see. 

I could understand what he was saying, but still… that didn’t mean I couldn’t be more useful. More helpful.

“But Brother-!”

“Hold that thought.”

Brother then jumps off the lizard, and seeing him run forward, I watch as a scorpion-like monster jumps from behind a rock.

My brother flicks his wrist, and a moment later, the monster’s head falls to the ground, sending a wave of blue blood splashing onto the rocks below.

“Ruijerd?” he says. “Does this thing have anything useful to take?”

“Its stinger is often used as a medicine in the northwest, but it would be hard to sell in the next city. But with one that size… there should be a magic stone,” Ruijerd responds.

“I see…”

Brother then cuts through the monster’s torso before taking out a gem. A so-called magic crystal, before setting fire to the corpse and hopping back onto the lizard with Norn and I.

As for Eris, well…

“Hya!”

Well, she was still training, swinging her sword around as she walked alongside the slow trot of the lizard.

“Now… back to what we were talking about,” Brother says, storing the stone in his bag. “If you want me to learn stuff, then I’ll definitely teach you but don’t expect me to give you any responsibility. You’re kids, after all.”

Norn’s eyes light up, “Then… can we… learn magic?”

“Yep,” Brother nods. “But don’t think it’ll only be that. I planned to teach you reading and writing once we got home, but I might as well do it now. But be warned, I won’t stop just because it’s boring.”

“I’m fine with that!” I shout.

After all, Mother always said that knowledge was the greatest power a woman could have. Alongside a cute face, of course. But I already had that.

“Me too…” Norn adds.

“Good,” Brother nods before turning his head to Eris. “Hear that Eri? Do you wanna start classes up again?”

“In your dreams!” she shouts back. “...Unless it’s swordsmanship.”

I watch Brother’s eye twitch before he turns back to us. “Ahem! Well then, I guess I’ll try to get something to write on in the next city.”

And with that, he leaned back, letting his head rest between Norn and me before closing his eyes. “We can start some magic lessons tonight at camp, okay?”

“Okay!” Norn says before hesitantly reaching her hand out and patting Brother’s head. “H-Have a good rest, Brother!”

—-- Information on the Six-Faced World —--

Adventurer’s Guild Rules

1. Use of the Adventurer's Guild - If one registers with the Adventurer's Guild, they will receive services available to Adventurers.
2. Service Content - All Adventurer's Guilds throughout the world offer these services: job offerings, delivery of compensation and rewards, purchase of raw materials, and exchange of currency.
3. Registration Information - Adventurers receive a card with their own information under their control upon registering for the Adventurer's Guild. It is possible to re-issue it if lost, but rank will be reset to F. Also, each area has its own fine for it.
4. Withdrawal from the Adventurer's Guild - If you request it, withdrawal from the guild is possible. Re-registration is possible, but the rank will restart at F.
5. Prohibited Conduct - If prohibited actions are discovered, a fine will be applied and Adventurers guild qualifications will be revoked. The below actions are considered prohibited.
   • Actions which go against a country's laws.
   • Actions which disgrace and cause the reliability of the guild to fall.
   • Actions which interfere with or obstruct other Adventurer's jobs.
   • Buying, selling, and trading of jobs.
6. Breach of Contract Compensation - If you fail a job you have accepted you must pay compensation for the breach of contract, two times the amount of the job reward compensation. The repayment period is half a year. If compensation is not paid, the Adventurers guild qualification will be revoked.
7. Rank - There are seven ranks from F to S based on Adventurer's proven skills. As a general rule of thumb, you can only take jobs within one above or below your current rank.
8. Rank Promotions and Demotions - It is possible to raise your rank by succeeding in a regulated number of jobs. However, if you feel that your ability isn't up to standard it is possible to remain at your current rank as well. Also, if you fail a certain number of jobs in succession, your rank will be demoted by one.
9. Obligation - In the case that a country is under attack by monsters and a request for assistance is made from the guild, you have an obligation to obey. Also, if an emergency situation arises, Adventurers have an obligation to obey the guild staff members.

—-- Leon Greyrat —--

“Like… this!”

“Amazing Aisha! Now remember that feeling,” I instruct.

“Okay! It just- oh,” her face falls into a sad frown as her water ball splashes to the ground.

“It’s alright. That happened to me the first time too,” I pat her head. “It’s amazing that you could cast it so well.”

Truly, I could now say without a shadow of a doubt that Aisha was a genius.

After all, from teaching Sylphy and Eris, I knew that even if children were more ‘attuned’ to magic, it still took a considerable amount of focus and intelligence in order to cast a spell without an incantation.

And to think she could do it only a few weeks after learning her first spell…

Heh. Maybe I was a pretty good teacher then?

“A-Ah! Brother… I can’t do it…” Norn whines.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get there,” I reassure her. “Besides, unlike Aisha, you can already cast healing magic. The two of you just have… different strengths is all.”

As I said, Aisha seemed to have a knack for elemental magic, particularly in water and wind magic. Norn, on the other hand, while not able to cast any of that yet, was already able to cast Healing, although only for a few seconds before she lost concentration.

I suppose Norn got her talent from Mama, and as for Aisha… well, she definitely didn’t get it from Paul, so Lilia must have passed on her intelligence.

But Norn, contrary to both Mama and Paul, was quite… quiet.

And shy too.

Due to this, I have noticed that as time passed, she has become closer to Ruijerd, becoming calmer in his presence likely due to his gentle nature.

Well, I was a little jealous, to be honest, but knowing that she liked falling asleep with me next to her quelled such envious thoughts.

“Now, how about we-”

“Leon!” Eris shouts, interrupting me. “Come on! We’re basically there!”

Raising my head, I watch as Eris happily bounces on her feet with her sword in hand, looking into the distance with a smile.

“Let’s go fight them!”

As for what she was looking at? Well, it was our next quest which we picked up at the last town.

An extermination quest for a nest of Wargwyrms. A species of monster that was part wolf and part dragon, though the dragon part only amounted to scaled bodies and their ability to breathe fire.

As the people of this Continent were quite strong, they weren’t helpless in front of such a foe, but the numbers were a problem, hence our commission.

Getting up, I jump off our lizard before I begin to stretch my arms above my head, “How about you and Ruijerd go fight them? I’ll provide support with magic and look after these two.”

“What? Why not me and you?” Eris whines.

“I should practice my pure magic as well,” I answer. “Plus, you should learn to fight with Ruijerd. He’s stronger and smarter than me in combat, plus, you are more like him in abilities rather than me.”

She frowns, “Hah? But he uses a spear!”

“And I use magic,” I retort. “Now go, and try to pick up any habits you notice from Ruijerd.”

“Hmph… fine!” Eris says before heading out.

Shaking my head in slight exasperation, I then hop off our favourite lizard mount before taking its reins and following behind the two as we moved toward a large hill.

“So, Ruijerd, how are we gonna do this?” Eris asks.

“Swift. The most troublesome thing about nests like these is how they repopulate so easily,” the man answers. “We have to kill them all at once.”

“So… fast?” Eris frowns. “But I do that anyway.”

“Not only swift in speed but also in tactics,” Ruijerd chides. “Aim for those on the outskirts and corral them towards the centre. Follow my lead.”

“Or,” I interject, “I could just do this.”

Placing my hand on the ground, I send earth magic through the rocky sand, causing rock walls to rise from the distance, blocking the nest.

Unfortunately, that also meant they would be alerted, as these monsters could sense magic on an instinctual level. Especially when it was a spell that created walls of earth.

“Yes… that works too,” Ruijerd says in slight amazement. “With my lack of experience fighting alongside mages, I forgot such a thing could be done. Anyway, they’re coming. Be prepared, unless you want to make things difficult for your brother.”

Ruijerd then dashes forth, creating a cloud of dust in his wake.

“He’s not my-! Argh! Whatever!” Eris, gritting her teeth, joins him.

I was originally wondering how Ruijerd had forgotten after being with us for so long, but looking at the man, I noticed a small smirk adorn his face.

So the man could tease… Who knew?

As Ruijerd and Eris began fighting the Wargwyrms, I started sending blasts of wind to support the two, distracting the monsters right before they were attacked.

I could kill quite a few by making blades of wind instead, but I wanted Eris to get some experience, as well as some fun too.

“Brother… scary,” Norn says.

“It’s fine! They’re really strong, you know!” Aisha says. “Actually, isn’t it kind of exciting?”

…Oh dear.

Did… did Aisha pick up on Eris’ traits?

Well… I suppose that wouldn’t be the worst. In moderation, of course.

As the two cleared out the nest, I began mixing some fire attacks into my barrage, aiming to finish off any monsters that hadn’t been completely killed by the two’s strikes and wounding some others, while also making sure to stop any of their fire breath attacks by changing the flow of air.

As it turned out, Ruijerd was not only a master at individual combat but he also was a master at teamwork, easily adapting to my assistance and Eris’ swiftness, even finding the time to help her as he felled monster after monster.

Eris, on the other hand, was not so great at it. Much like with her dancing, she went at her own pace and stubbornly stuck with it regardless of her partners.

But at least she moved similarly to Ghislaine, so I was able to understand how she ticked.

With the last of the Wargwyrms felled, Ruijerd and Eris then began cutting off some ears as proof of completion before returning to us.

“Nice job you two,” I say. “Any injuries you want healed?”

“No,” Ruijerd shakes his head. “But I’m surprised… I have only fought alongside a few mages, but none of them were like you. It was quite nice.”

“Of course it was! Leon’s amazing!” Eris shouts, crossing her arms with a proud smile. 

Well, thank you for the compliment, but I didn’t feel too happy getting it from a girl whose face was drenched in blood.

Monster blood, of course.

“Haa… thanks, but here, Eri. I’ll clean you up.”

I then generate some warm water in my hand before placing my palm on her cheek, letting the water swirl around her face and get rid of all the remnants of the battle.

“There,” I say, finishing up. “Try not to get too much blood on you, okay? It can be toxic, and if you get it in your eyes, it can impede your vision.”

“O-Oh,” she stammers, looking away. “Thanks, Leon.”

Hah. To think this was the same girl that tried to punch me on our first meeting.

She really has grown.

“I’m proud of you, you know,” I say, patting her head.

“W-What’s with that!? Stop it, you sound like a dad!” she shouts, swatting my hand away.

But despite that, I could see the giddy smile on her face as she gently touched the place I had patted.

How cute.

Shaking my head, I hopped back onto our lizard. “Anyway, if that’s everything, we should start heading to the next city. From the map I read, I think we’ll have to camp for a night or two.”

“Yahoo! Brother, you’ll be my pillow, right?” Aisha cheers, pulling on my shirt.

“Yeah, sure. As long as you’re good,” I tease.

“I’ll be good! I hate using clothing rolls!” she pouts.

Well, I guess I was to be a pillow tonight. And from how Norn was peeking over at me, it would be the same for her too.

But Eris? Why are you looking at me so intently?

“You can join too if you want,” I offer.

“W-What!?” she turns her head away. “W-Well… if you’re so insistent, I guess I’ll do it.”

…I don’t know how to respond to that, but okay.

—-- Leon Greyrat —--

Positioning myself behind Eris, I watch as she unleashes a flurry of strikes against Ruijerd, creating a symphony of clashing metal as the Superd blocks every attack.

Deftly twisting and weaving his spear, Ruijerd eventually finds an opening on the girl, and thus, punishes her with a jab with his shaft, sending Eris tumbling to the ground.

Although her frenzy was ultimately futile, it did give me an opening. So, planting myself in a crouch, I unleash a Longsword of Light, my blade streaking across the ground as it approaches Ruijerd’s open neck, as his spear was still extended from hitting Eris.

Clang!

Only to be blocked as he kicked his spear up to defend.

Seriously, what the hell? That looked so cool!

“You’re distracted.”

He then flicks my sword to the side before twirling his spear to hit me with the blunt end of his shaft. 

Or at least, he tried. 

Coating my hand in touki, I grab onto the approaching shaft, stopping in its tracks as I grip it tightly.

“Haha,” I smirk. “What’re you gonna do n- Ouch!”

Ruijerd, unperturbed by my move, simply smacked his head into mine, sending me crumpling to the ground.

“You did well, but you got too conceited,” he smirks. “Use your head.”

‘Use your head’... after headbutting me?

…Was he making fun of me?

He was definitely making fun of me, wasn’t he?

“Anyway, that’s enough for now. I sense a few monsters ahead, and they might come attacking if they heard the noise of our spar,” he continues.

Eris, dusting off her clothes, gets up, “Dammit! I lost again!”

“Yes, you did,” Ruijerd says. “But… did you understand?”

“...Yeah, I did,” she nods her head.

Well, while it was a bit weird, that was how the two of them ended every one of their spars.

As for what Eris was understanding? That was something only the two of them knew, but I did notice Eris getting better and better each day, especially with the North God style as she was fighting such an unconventional fighter as Ruijerd.

But she wasn’t the only one. I was also raising my abilities while fighting the man.

He had a plethora of experience, and his touki moved fluidly and swiftly with each of his movements. 

It was beautiful to watch, in a way.

Anyway, he was a bit different from Ghislaine for training, but in a good way, as he was able to draw out fights while providing a challenge for me to overcome, while Ghislaine would have trouble holding back as it went against her training as a Sword King.

These spars also helped the three of us gain an understanding of everyone’s fighting abilities, which would aid our teamwork. Although most of the monsters here could be dealt with individually, it was always good to be on the same page in case of a scenario where we would need to bring our full fighting power.

But speaking of fighting power… I was quite interested in Ruijerd’s abilities.

His spearmanship, that is.

After all, due to the Superd’s infamous reputation, he was one of the few expert spearmen I could ever learn from.

But speaking of that… I think it's about time to start enacting my ‘plan’.

Though, ‘plan’ was a bit of a stretch.

I was just planning to tell anyone we met on good terms that Ruijerd was a Superd, and through this, hoping that the reputation would be somewhat mellowed out.

After all, Eris and my sisters were fine with him after being with him for a while, and that was before he cut his hair and hid his gem, so I had a feeling the reaction from others wouldn’t be as… stimulating as Ruijerd was used to.

It was a bit of a simple solution, and knowing what a conniving kid Rudy was, he might have even decided to go through many hoops to spark the same effect, but as with many things in life, simple was often better.

Plus, just some good old exposure would do wonders for such a ‘demonized’ race as the Superd, especially since Ruijerd was a good and just guy, and the ‘crimes’ of their people, if you could call them that, happened so long ago.

But even if it didn’t work out, while it would be a lie to say I wouldn’t care, our journey would still have to continue onward.

After all, this continent was not fit for my sisters, and we still had a family to return to… hopefully.

“B-Brother?” Norn hesitantly says, walking up to me. “Do you need healing?”

Looking down at my hand, I noticed that there was a small bruise forming where I blocked Ruijerd’s spear.

Such a small injury didn’t bother me too much, and I could easily heal it myself, but since my cute sister was asking with such a hopeful expression… well, I knew that the two wanted to help out, so this would be a perfect opportunity.

“That’d be awesome, Norn. Here, can you heal it for me?” I ask, showing her the injury.

“O-Okay! Here I go! Nnnghh!” narrowing her eyes, Norn’s hand begins to emit a soft light as my bruise begins to slowly heal. 

It was slow, and the flow of mana was horribly inefficient, but considering that she had just begun using magic without an incantation just a week ago, it was definitely considerable progress.

But despite this skill in healing magic, it would be a bit too far to call my sweet sister a ‘prodigy’ in any sense of the word like with Rudy and Sylphy.

Although… she was able to use chantless healing magic unlike Rudy… so I suppose she had that over our brother in that sense.

But speaking of Rudy… he was probably doing fine, right?

As long as he didn’t piss anyone off or get too conceited, that is.

But still… while he was certainly mature, possibly even more so than me, and while I knew he could take care of himself with his abilities and intelligence, it still felt wrong to know he was out… somewhere, all alone.

It was a burning sensation of anxiety at the pit of my stomach that was always there, trying to claw its way out, and thinking of Sylphy and Mama and Lilia only made that feeling more pronounced.

But I couldn’t let these feelings out.

For Eris, and for my sisters’ sakes.

I was their rock, their support. I couldn’t show any signs of crumbling under the pressure, even if Ruijerd was with us now.

After all, while the man was powerful, I still had to take the lead with anything inside the city, as well as taking care of the three girls’ emotional states, making sure nothing was wrong that they were hiding.

Heh. I suppose in that sense, I was a little hypocritical, huh? To disregard my feelings so easily and focus on theirs.

Well, unfortunately for me, I needed to be.

But once this was all over… I would definitely be finding myself in Mama’s arms, being pet back to sleep for a long while.

After that, all the stress of this journey would melt away, and we could go back to the happy times of the past.

Suddenly, I feel my head being pulled down before finding myself looking up at Eris in confusion.

I was… on her lap?

“D-Don’t look at me!” she says, covering my eyes. “You just… looked tired, is all!”

…Well, while it wasn’t Mama, I guess this would suffice in the meantime.

“Thank you, Eri,” I say, turning my head to the side.

“Hmph! Just don’t get too used to it!” she huffs.

Chuckling lightly into her uncovered thighs, I feel Eris squirm. “A-And don’t breathe!”

Jeez, that was a little harsh.