The eldest daughter, Ean, was practically one of the pillars of the Daylin Family.
She possessed exceptional talent in fire-attribute magic.
“There’s quite a lot of dust in here.”
And her personality was just as fiery.
Not only did she have little consideration for others, but whenever there was something she wanted to do, she would accomplish it one way or another.
Snap!
The moment Ean finished speaking, she snapped her fingers.
FWOOSH!
All the fine dust in Wirn’s room burned away into nothing.
“Sister. You shouldn’t play with fire in someone else’s room.”
Wirn stared at her in disbelief.
He already knew how unpredictable Ean could be.
‘At this point, isn’t she practically a back-alley thug?’
But he hadn’t expected her to be this unpredictable.
‘I can more or less imagine how much trouble the Golden Knight Order must’ve had fighting her at the end....’
Wirn had seen Ean during his previous life as well.
However, it hadn’t been Wirn who killed her.
It had been the Empire’s Golden Knight Order.
‘They said... only ten out of a hundred survived.’
The Golden Knight Order practically symbolized the Empire’s military might.
Yet most of its knights had been wiped out by a single mage.
At the time, the outcome of Ean’s battle against the Golden Knight Order had been something that went beyond merely shocking the other knights.
‘And it was after that... that bastard Berzen became the Knight Commander.’
The battle had also brought changes to the Golden Knight Order.
That was why Berzen, the man who had tried to execute Wirn, eventually rose to the position of Knight Commander.
‘He probably... died in the end.’
But Wirn was certain that bastard had died as well.
He had been the closest one to Wirn when Wirn self-destructed.
And even if he had somehow survived, his body couldn’t possibly have remained intact.
“Our youngest brother’s room has less to look at than I expected.”
After burning away the dust, Ean looked around the room and gave her assessment.
Wirn emerged from his thoughts at her words.
“I’m not particularly interested in decorating things.”
He answered indifferently as Ean stared into the mirror.
“...By the way, I heard you brought me a gift.”
“Ah. Right.”
Clap!
Ean lightly clapped her hands at Wirn’s words.
HUM!
At that moment, a Magic Circle made of flames appeared in midair.
Slide.
Ean pushed her right hand into the flames.
‘A Subspace Pouch? No... did she create that space herself?’
Wirn stared at the space.
At first, it looked like a Subspace Pouch wrapped in flames.
‘She cast an illusion over it.’
However, it was merely Ean’s trick.
Wirn wasn’t fooled.
In his previous life, he had distinguished illusions far more sophisticated than this one.
That even included illusions created by Ean herself.
‘She can already do something like this at fifteen?’
Even so, the level of magic Ean was displaying now was impressive enough to surprise Wirn inwardly.
“Why don’t you use a Subspace Pouch?”
“Hmm? You can tell the difference?”
“The space you’re showing me feels very different from the Subspace Pouches I know.”
“Hmm....”
Ean’s eyes gleamed at Wirn’s answer.
They narrowed slightly, as though she had found something quite interesting.
“Our little brother has good eyes, doesn’t he?”
She spoke with surprise.
She hadn’t expected him to see through her illusion.
FWOOSH!
At the same time, she dispelled the illusion magic that had made it look like a Subspace Pouch.
The real space hidden beneath the illusion revealed itself.
“I didn’t think you’d pass my test this quickly. Began couldn’t figure it out no matter how many times I showed him.”
A blazing spherical object floated before them.
That was the true form of the space Ean had created with magic.
“That’s....”
“It’s a storage space connected to my Circle. It’s far more stable than a Subspace Pouch.”
“It certainly looks that way.”
Wirn nodded at Ean’s answer.
Just as she said, the burning sphere was connected to her body.
He could clearly see the flow of mana traveling from her Circle into the sphere.
‘It’s difficult, but it isn’t impossible.’
Creating a space inside a Circle.
That alone wasn’t particularly astonishing.
‘But I didn’t know this technique was already being used this early.’
What mattered was the timing.
It would be a long time before the Empire managed to put such a technique into widespread use.
This alone was enough to prove how well-versed the members of the Daylin Family were in magic.
HUM!
At that moment, Ean sent mana into the sphere.
FLASH!
Red light flowed from within the burning sphere.
Plop. Roll....
Something dropped onto the floor.
“This is my gift to you.”
Ean picked it up and held it out to Wirn.
But Wirn wasn’t pleased.
Instead, he frowned.
“This is... an egg, isn’t it?”
The gift she was holding out was a white egg.
Wondering whether he was seeing things, he examined it carefully once more.
‘It really is an egg.’
It was genuinely an egg.
“I picked it up near a volcano I visit often.”
“No, wait....”
“And there was only one of them, so take good care of it.”
“Are you serious?”
“What? What’s with that expression? Don’t tell me you think I just picked up some random egg off the street and brought it to you as a gift?”
“Well... I can’t exactly say I don’t. I don’t even know what’s inside this egg.”
“Hah... seriously.”
Ean frowned at Wirn’s words.
“Your dear sister goes out of her way to show you some kindness, and you doubt me?”
FWOOSH....
Small embers appeared around her body.
Each of them contained mana dense enough to burn the room down at any moment.
But Ean didn’t do that.
She still hadn’t told Wirn the true value of the egg.
“You know how hot the lava inside a volcano is, right?”
“Yes.”
“That thing was sitting inside a cave filled with lava.”
“...!”
Wirn’s pupils widened at Ean’s explanation.
An egg inside burning lava?
The thing that had looked like an ordinary ostrich egg suddenly seemed far more precious.
“Thank you.”
So his attitude changed completely.
“Yeah, yeah! That’s more like it!”
Ean burst into laughter when Wirn suddenly began treating her with proper respect.
She felt that going all the way into the lava for her youngest brother had been worth it.
She had ruined two sets of clothes in the process, but Ean didn’t particularly care.
Clothes could always be replaced.
“It seems to be growing by feeding on mana. So you probably don’t need to give it anything else.”
“It eats mana....”
“I’m curious what’s inside it too. If it hatches before I see it again, you have to tell your sister, all right?”
“Understood.”
Wirn readily agreed.
She had given him an egg that had been resting inside lava.
A request like that was nothing.
‘It’s not like I lose anything by telling her. I’ve already gained plenty from this deal.’
Even if Ean had demanded something more—
For example, if she had asked him to pay the egg’s value in money—
he would’ve handed it over without hesitation.
“By the way, are you busy today?”
“...I don’t particularly have anything planned.”
“Really?”
“Why are you suddenly asking whether I have time?”
But Wirn’s mood immediately sank again at Ean’s next question.
He had no idea what this red-haired woman was about to say.
“Well, it’s nothing much....”
“Let’s go out.”
“Pardon?”
“I said let’s go out for a while.”
However, Ean’s request was simpler than he had expected.
***
Wirn left the Daylin Family estate together with Ean.
Then they boarded an ordinary carriage without the family Mark engraved on it and headed toward a nearby kingdom.
If they traveled in a carriage belonging to the Daylin Family, it would cause an uproar.
Especially if the people riding inside were heirs of the family.
“This kingdom is called Ebres.”
And so, they quietly entered the Kingdom of Ebres, which was famous for commerce.
“Wirn, look at that! The cards disappear and then come back! Isn’t that man actually a mage?”
“...Sister. There’s no magic like that. And if he were a mage, he’d be using magic.”
Wirn was dragged around by Ean and forced to take a break in the Kingdom of Ebres.
They visited famous restaurants throughout the kingdom and even watched performances by street entertainers.
They wandered from place to place as though they had truly come here for no reason other than to relax.
‘I never thought a day like this would come.’
Wirn found the situation strangely unfamiliar.
It was something he couldn’t even have imagined in his previous life.
Walking around a kingdom, eating food, and enjoying entertainment like this—
For a hound, something like that had been nothing more than a ‘dream.’
‘This isn’t bad.’
Even though he had lived in the Empire, the one thing he had never been allowed to enjoy was freedom.
But what about now?
Although Ean was dragging him around by the hand, he had never rested this comfortably before.
“You look like you’re enjoying yourself. I knew bringing you out was a good idea.”
While Wirn was blankly gazing outside, Ean returned to the table carrying two drinks.
A picture symbolizing the café was printed on the cups.
“Strawberry and banana. Which one do you want?”
“I’ll have the banana.”
Wirn chose the drink made from the yellow fruit.
Slide.
Ean gave a faint smile and handed the cup to Wirn.
Then she picked up the strawberry drink.
Sip.
She took a light drink.
“Mmm.”
Then she nodded in satisfaction.
Seeing that, Wirn followed her example and took a sip of the banana drink.
‘...This is really sweet.’
The sweetness spread throughout his mouth.
It was far stronger than anything he had ever tasted in the drinks served at the Daylin Family estate.
“How is it? Sweet, right? The family won’t make things like this because they say too much sugar is bad for your health.”
“...That’s true.”
“That’s why you have to drink them whenever you get the chance to come outside. Otherwise, you’ll never get the opportunity.”
After saying that, Ean took another sip of her strawberry juice before setting it down on the table with a tap.
“You did something unexpected during the Hunting Ceremony, didn’t you?”
She abruptly changed the subject.
“I heard that after the duel ended, you headed into the Uncharted Territory. It seems no one knows exactly what you did there, though.”
“I’ll tell you in advance that I have no intention of explaining what I did.”
Wirn answered firmly.
Even if it was Ean, he couldn’t tell her what he had done.
“...Really? Then I’ll just ask you one thing.”
Ean shrugged.
Slide.
Then she leaned her face closer to Wirn.
“The Ogre that was in the forest. How did you kill it?”
She asked about what had happened that day.
“....”
At that moment, Wirn’s gaze turned cold.