“Are you sure you can afford to spend all your time fussing over me? Are you doing your work properly?”
“There’s no problem. Everything is proceeding smoothly. Taking one day away from work is nothing.”
“Is that so?”
A noble’s workload was supposed to be considerable.
Democracy remained a distant prospect in this world, after all. They were running a world undergoing rapid change from the Industrial Revolution using methods handed down from long ago.
“Even so, can’t we do something about this situation?”
We were in a small room in the residence.
Sister Shia sat behind me on the chair I occupied, holding me in her arms so that the two of us shared a single seat.
It was absolutely not something a fifteen-year-old sister and her twelve-year-old brother should be doing.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“I’ve thought this for a while, but you’re far too overprotective, Sister Shia.”
“Hmph. I’m your big sister. This much is only natural!”
“Other big sisters aren’t this overprotective. You’re the only one. You’re the strange one, Sister Shia.”
“What an awful thing to say!”
“Why are you so overprotective? Can you even get married like this? We won’t be together forever, so hurry up and detach yourself from your little brother.”
“I’m not getting married.”
“What? I intend to.”
“What?”
Sister Shia’s voice dropped to absolute zero, and she began squeezing my body like a vise.
“Ow, ow, ow!?”
“There’s no one who would marry someone born with the earth attribute.”
“Th-That isn’t necessar— That hurts!?”
The crushing pressure hurt too much for an argument. In a panic, I activated my magic and transformed the chair I was touching.
I stretched the chair thin and inserted it between Sister Shia and me like a wall.
“Too naive.”
“Gah!”
But my magic was cancelled partway through.
“Huh?”
“Earth magic’s effects are generally permanent!”
It had still worked up to that point.
Using the half-completed wall, I escaped from Sister Shia.
“Phew. An anti-magic barrier.”
Once I had put some distance between us, I turned my attention to the spell that had cancelled mine midway.
“That’s right. Convenient, isn’t it?”
“The development of non-attribute magic is remarkable.”
I touched a shelf in the room, transformed it into a chair, placed it in front of my former seat, and sat down again—alone this time.
“Seen like this, earth magic is convenient too.”
“Isn’t it? I’m proud of how well it withstands anti-magic barriers.”
“That aside, stop sitting there elegantly by yourself and repair my chair.”
“Oh, sorry.”
I stood again, touched the deformed chair, and restored its original shape.
“The drawback is that I can’t activate it without touching the object.”
“That’s what makes it earth magic.”
“I hope to overcome that limitation someday.”
“Do your best. If you need help, rely on your big sister.”
“There’s no hurry. I’ll take my time. It’s only earth magic, after all.”
Even if I discovered some revolutionary new earth-magic technique, it would have little effect on the world.
There were simply too few people who used earth magic.
“Yes, it’s only earth magic. That means marriage is impossible for you.”
“Are we returning to that? It’s true I have little value from a noble’s perspective.”
An earth mage and a third son.
Even taking my birth into a marquis family into account, there was very little demand for me in noble society.
“But I wouldn’t object to marrying a commoner. I’ll find someone good. You should find someone soon too, Sister. Why do you fuss over me so much in the first place? I’m the family underachiever.”
“You may be an underachiever, but you’re the cutest little brother in the world. How could I dislike you? I’ll protect you properly until the day I die.”
“…That’s rather intense. Don’t forget that you’re my sister.”
“Hmph… Well, I understand. If I meet someone I believe I can entrust you to, I might be willing to do so. Find someone good. Until then, you remain under your big sister’s protection.”
“Oh dear…”
She would never approve of anyone. I knew it.
“…Especially from now on.”
“Hm? Is something happening?”
“I can hear the sound of marching boots.”
“…!”
I caught my breath at my sister’s words.
They made me think of the person I was about to meet.
“For nearly a hundred years, there have been only sporadic clashes between minor countries. But I feel we have reached the point where a clash between the great powers can no longer be avoided. A full-scale conflict is near.”
“…I hate that our country is involved.”
“We agreed not to say that.”
This world had known neither a French Revolution nor a Napoleon.
It had, however, experienced an Industrial Revolution and an Age of Exploration. Colonization had naturally followed, and some countries had succeeded at it while others had fallen behind.
Our homeland, the Kingdom of Lunoa, was one of those that had fallen behind, and it hadn’t abandoned its determination to challenge the successful nations and acquire colonies of its own.
Many grievances had continued to swirl throughout the century without a major war.
“…I hate this.”
What right did someone trying to approach a merchant of death have to say that?
Even as I mocked myself for the contradiction, I still despised the approaching war.
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