Thump!
Taking advantage of Eris’s opening, another heavy blow landed on her abdomen.
She hunched over again, motionless as before.
But Ghislaine didn’t call a stop this time.
Eris endured the pain and suddenly threw her wooden sword at me.
Using the brief moment I took to dodge the sword, she lunged at me, intending to engage in hand-to-hand combat.
Thump!
I caught Eris and threw her over my shoulder onto the ground.
She lay there for a long time, eyes wide, beginning to question her life choices.
“Alright, that’s enough.
Eris, don’t fight anymore.
You have no combat experience; you can’t beat her.”
Eris looked like she was about to cry.
She stood up and walked back, looking lost and dejected.
“Aren’t you going to comfort her?
Comforting the young lady will increase her affection points.”
I joked with Rudy.
According to galgames, it really would increase affection.
Comforting the depressed young lady, then the two falling in love…
As the protagonist’s sister, I’d be like an NPC, sacrificing myself to buy time for the protagonist to elope.
Heh, I don’t want that.
If there’s any sign of trouble between them, I’ll tell Philip immediately: ‘Your daughter is about to elope with our brat.’ I don’t believe he’d let his daughter marry Rudy.
“Luna, actually…
I’m sorry.
It’s actually my fault you’re here.”
Rudy looked at me shamefully.
I then remembered that him being here seemed to be his doing.
“Tell me, now that Eris and Ghislaine are gone, what’s really going on?”
“It’s because of the glass…”
It turned out the local lord had his eye on the glass-making technology—mainly the technique for creating such beautiful handicrafts.
However, this technology was something Rudy and I reconstructed using magic.
Unless they could find other Chantless Magicians, they couldn’t possibly produce it.
So, only Rudy and I can do it.
Sylphiette doesn’t count; she has PTSD regarding fire and can’t use flames to melt materials for long periods.
“Rudy, how is this family treating you?”
Rudy looked confused, not understanding why I was changing the subject.
“They’re very good to me, but does that mean I should leak the glass-making method to them?”
“Sigh…
Rudy, don’t you understand yet?
This production method can only be done by you and me.
Where are they going to get a blowtorch that reaches thousands of degrees to constantly heat and melt materials for easy shaping?”
Making glass handicrafts in this world isn’t impossible, but it’s extremely labor and fuel-intensive.
Melting quartz might take over a day of burning, and every time it’s shaped, the whole thing needs to be heated.
Without a tool like a blowtorch for localized heating, they can only do it that way.
It’s time-consuming, laborious, and has a low tolerance for error—nowhere near as efficient as the cooperation between Rudy and me.
“In other words…
will we be kept here to continuously make glass handicrafts for them?”
His face changed as he finally realized the potential outcome.
“It’s very likely.
To avoid being trapped, I’ll sneak away in a bit.
You’re on your own; I don’t want to be married off to the lord’s grandson.”
Just as I turned around, Rudy grabbed my leg.
“Don’t go, Luna!
Don’t go!
What will I do if you leave?”
“I don’t care what you do!
Let go!
This is all the trouble you caused!”
“Don’t go, Luna!
This family won’t force you to marry.
Eris is the only child in this house.
You have to stay and help me!”
At this moment, Rudeus was like Nobita Nobi encountering another problem he couldn’t solve, hugging my leg and crying helplessly.
“Stop crying.
Don’t think I didn’t notice your tears are made with Water Magic.”
Rudy immediately stopped his performance but still looked at me with a pitiful expression.
“Well, since there’s a possibility of being kept here, let’s see their attitude first.
Since they know Paul and are very good to you, they probably won’t restrict your freedom.
At most, they’ll make you marry into the family.”
“What?
Marry into the family?
I don’t want that!
I still need to go to the Magic University Roxy-sensei mentioned, and Sylphiette is still waiting for me.”
At the mention of marrying into the family, Rudy’s face changed drastically.
It seems he doesn’t like the idea.
Indeed, marrying into a family has many benefits but also many downsides.
The downside is the lack of freedom.
Although this country doesn’t follow the Millis Church and allows polygamy, a man as lecherous as Rudy would surely be kept on a tight leash by the young lady, making it hard to find a second wife later.
“Anyway, let’s see the situation tomorrow.
This family seems to be relatives of Paul and knows him well.
If all else fails, we can ask Ghislaine for help to let her take us away.
She has a good relationship with Paul.”
“Sigh, I guess that’s the only way.”
After taking off my sweat-soaked protective gear, I was about to go sit with Rudy when a beast-race maid called me away.
“Miss Luna, Lady Eris would like you to come over.”
She’s not going to take personal revenge, is she?
But Eris doesn’t look like that kind of person.
Although I was a bit reluctant, I decided to go check it out.
After comforting the somewhat worried Rudy, I followed the maid to Eris’s room.
Eris was currently rummaging through things with a maid in her room, looking for something.
“This, this, and this.
Take your pick.
They’re all old clothes I used to wear anyway.”
Eris, who had been a bit dejected after being beaten by me, had immediately adjusted her mindset.
Fulfilling her promise before the battle, she triumphantly gave me her old clothes.
Looking at the dazzling array of gorgeous dresses, my heart remained unmoved.
I really hate it; I have to wear dresses again.
“Um, Eris, aren’t there any pants?”
“Huh?
You like wearing pants?”
“Yeah, pants are more convenient for fighting.
If I had known there would be a fight today, I wouldn’t have worn a dress.”
Eris’s eyes suddenly lit up.
As someone who loves fighting, she surely didn’t want to wear cumbersome dresses either.
Eris then pulled out a small training uniform, which she probably used to wear.
“This one!
This is what I used to use for training.
You can wear it now!”
“Mhm, thank you, Eris.”
After taking the clothes, I carefully put them away and asked the maid to help me find a cloth to wrap them in.
Whether I took them home or not, I had to make an effort so Eris wouldn’t feel I was just humoring her.
“Hey, Ghislaine said you have combat experience.
What does it actually feel like?”
Eris widened her eyes, looking expectant to hear about actual combat.
She’s truly a natural battle maniac.
A young lady like her should join a Knight Order or some other combat organization; she can’t be a traditional noble lady.
I understand why Philip looks so troubled.
Eris and the word ‘lady’ don’t go together at all.
It’s hard to imagine what kind of noble Eris will marry in the future.
In her family environment, she’s bound to have an arranged marriage.
Given her personality, her husband’s family will have a lot to handle; she might even beat her husband to death on the first day.
Still, I should cater to her interests and chat about topics she likes, since I’ll be staying at their house for a few days.
“My first real combat…
It was Rudy, another child from the village, and me.
We were attacked by a monster that lunged out of the forest while we were passing by, and we were forced to fight back and kill it.”
“A monster!” It wasn’t my imagination; Eris’s eyes were shining.
“Yes, a monster, and more than once.
Later, my father took Rudy and me to the forest to subjugate a monster called a Termination Boar…”
After telling Eris some slightly exaggerated stories about combat, the first thing she did was call Rudy, Ghislaine, and me to go to the forest.
“Eris, let’s not go today.
It’s too late.”
Ghislaine advised calmly.
She was already used to Eris’s impulsive nature.
“Then we’ll go tomorrow.”
“We’ll see about tomorrow.
Your father and grandfather have some business with Rudy and me.”
“Sigh…” Eris’s disappointment was plain to see.
Rudeus added another comment.
“Eris, there aren’t many monsters in the forests near Roa.
They’ve been cleared out several times by the Knight Orders and Adventurers.
Even if we go, we won’t run into any.”
These words seemed to dampen Eris’s spirits.
She gave Rudy a thwack on the back of his head.
Eris turned her head and let out a dissatisfied “Hmph!”
Rudy just rubbed his head with an awkward smile.
He seemed used to it.
How tragic, Rudeus.
“In that case, if you get the chance, Eris, you should come to our place.
The forest near our village has many monsters, including some low-level ones that would be perfect for you to practice on.”
“Really?
I want to go, I want to go!”
Hearing that she could hunt monsters, Eris immediately broke into a joyful smile.
Wow, this girl is actually quite easy to please.
She has the kind of personality where she’s fine as long as you rub her the right way; just find a topic she likes and she’ll be happy with whatever you say.
“Oh, I’m hungry.
Rudy and I are going to eat now.
After dinner, I can tell you an adventure story.”
“Then you have to wait for me to come back before you tell it!”
Eris skipped off toward the dining room.
During meals, Eris ate with her family.
Rudy and I, however, ate separately.
According to Rudy, sometimes they had to wait for the Lord and the others to finish before they could eat.
There were many rules, but as long as you didn’t deliberately disobey, they were actually quite easy to talk to.
The meals provided by House Boreas were delicious, mainly because the ingredients were well-chosen.
The white bread was softer than at our house, and the soup was richer.
But in terms of actual cooking techniques, it wasn’t as good as what Zenith and Lilia made.
“What story are you going to tell Eris later?”
“Hehe, do you want to hear it?
You can.
Anyway, it’s the story of your reincarnation.
It’s a very good work, not too long; the author spent ten years carefully crafting it before finishing.”
“Then I’ll look forward to it along with Eris.”
“By the way, where’s Ghislaine?”
“She has to accompany Grandpa Sauros for dinner along with the butler, Alphonse.
That’s her job as a guest.”
It’s actually protecting the Lord’s safety at all times.
But even though she’s the Lord’s bodyguard, she stays by Eris’s side constantly.
It seems that previous incident had a huge impact on House Boreas; they’re very afraid of Eris being kidnapped again.
According to Rudy, the mastermind behind the kidnapping has a lot of power, so much that even House Boreas, as local vassals, finds them hard to shake.
Just who is so powerful?
I hope you’re enjoying the fanfiction so far!