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Published at 27th of September 2019 05:47:12 AM


Chapter 22

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It’s finally the long-awaited summer break!

Or not, I’m not that eager for it.

During vacations the school is closed so I can’t study in the library. I did borrow some book, but it’ll be tough to spend summer with just these. Maybe I could say that my scores are pretty bad so I can get Father to make Wolf-sensei teach me again.

“Astrid, how’s school treating you?”

“It’s very fulfilling, father. I have made some friends, and I have been invited to the Round Table, so I had widened my connections.”

I told my father thus to make him not worry as he and I sat around the dinner table.

I’ll just keep quiet about me commuting to the library to convince him that I’ve got a pretty bad grades.

“Hoo, that is a very good thing. I, too, gained friends from the Round Table. It is the gathering place for people from the upper class, so go ahead and make yourself some friends from the Round Table. That personal connections will be useful for you in the future.”

“Y-Yes, that is true.”

I hated the members of the Round Table though. I generally hated conceited nobles, but they even had Freidrich in there on top of that. Usually I’d bring some books from the library and read it in the Round Table, but the high school senpais and even Friedrich are constantly looking at me so I couldn’t concentrate.

Aah, I think I should be done fulfilling my obligation to be present at the Round Table, so I guess I’ll go back to read at the library.

“And? How’s his Majesty Friedrich?”

“T-There is nothing particular happening between me and his Majesty. I do not act rudely towards him, so please do not worry.”

I’m fed up that you kept asking about Friedrich even at home, Father.

“Is that so? I heard from Prime Minister Stefan that his Majesty Friedrich is very interested in you.”

Silviooo! So youuuu are the cause of the leakage of information!?

“I-It’s just their imagination. There’s no way that he would be affectionate to a magic idiot like me.”

“That won’t do. Your future partner must be no other than his Majesty. Our Oldenburg lineage was originally from the imperial family, so we should return to the Imperial Household. You didn’t come to like some other men, did you?”

Dad, you’ve got no delicacy! You can’t ask this to a girl!

“T-That’s not the case, but…even so, it is discourteous for me to go out with his Majesty. A magic idiot like me is not worthy of him. I think a more graceful, modest lady is more appropriate for him.”

“Well, that’s true…You’re uh…”

It’s nice that I could slither my way out of this with my excuses, but I kind of want you to at least deny it. Am I such a barbaric, non-modest girl? That on itself is kind of undesirable.

“Well, you still have years ahead in school. Do your best to become a girl worthy of his Majesty. You have no problems with social position to get close to him after all.”

“Yees.”

Absolutely nein¹! I am refusing it with all my heart!

Well once the heroine comes out and father sees them getting romantic with each other, he’ll give up. Besides, if I recall correctly, the heroine is actually a hidden child of a duke from somewhere, so he probably won’t say anything against it.

“Oh and by the way, Iris is going to come play from next week.”

“She is!?”

Iris is a younger cousin of mine. For a single child that I am, she’s like a younger sister to me.

I remembered about my previous world when she came to play and I did a face dive rushing down the stairs, so it seemed that I loved her that much. She’s two years younger than I am and she possesses quite some mana, so she would probably enroll into the academy too.

“That’s right. That’s why we’re planning to go to a summer home next week together. What do you think?”

“I think it’s very good! I agree to that!”

Uhyaa~! Our summer home is built next to a lake, so the scenery is so beautiful. Not to mention we can go hunting if we enter the forest nearby. It’s a perfect place for a firing range!

…no wait, if Iris is coming, firearms would be bad, huh. She’s still 4 years old, so I think it won’t be possible for her to understand about the dangers of firearms. I’ll have to be sure to put my handgun and shotgun in a place Iris can’t reach. I recalled that we had a suitcase with a lock.

There was a lot of talks in America where children accidentally discharged a gun, so I need to make the necessary precautions. In fact I was thinking of leaving my handgun and shotgun behind, but I there has been monster attacks recently.

I encountered a Gryphon during our hunt, and there was also a Cockatrice in the freshmen orientation camp, so maybe I’ll see something else in the summer home.

“Alright. If Iris’ family had no problems with it, we shall spend our summer in the summer home. It’s cooler over there after all.”

Since this world got no air conditioners, the people rely on magic to create wind flows for cooling. It is merely a stopgap measure though since if you keep using it and spent your mana dry, you’ll die, and I don’t want to die for air conditioning.

Since I’m not good with heat, I agreed to the suggestion of escaping the summer heat by going somewhere cool.

“I’m looking forward to the summer home.”

“Yeah. You should try to forget about magic once in a while.”

As me and father came to an agreement, mother is staring at me with her usual oriental smile.

Did she figure out that I’m planning to bring my shotgun already…?

 

 

And so, we arrived at the summer home.

Although even if I said it’s a summer home, it’s still a pretty huge mansion. I should say I wouldn’t expect less from a duchy.

It’s so coool~! It’s hard to believe that the planet is so hot when I’m here!

I’m telling you, you best go to the mountains in the summer. The seas are fine, but the mountains are way cooler.

“Astrid-onee-sama!”

As I was thinking that way while looking at the scenery of the lake, a cute voice echoed.

Oh my. This voice must be…

“Iris!”

“Onee-sama!”

As I turned around, a little girl charged at my abdomen with all her strength.

Boof!

“It’s been a while, onee-sama!”

“Yeah, it has. We last seen each other on the Yule celebration² didn’t we?”

The girl that buried her face in my abdomen is certainly my cousin Iris. Her full name is Iris Maria von Braunschweig³.

She’s two years younger than me. Her ash-blonde hair is cut neatly like a doll’s, and her charming smile was enough to make me smile just by seeing it.

She’s just two years younger than me but she’s so small that I can’t help but to worry about her.

“I’m happy I can meet with you again, onee-sama! Let’s make a lot of memories over the summer! We can ride a boat on the lake, or we could explore the forest!”

“That’s right. Both options are interesting.”

Seems like Iris is really happy to see me. She looked really excited, so it made me really happy too.

“Oh by the way, onee-sama, where is your fairy?”

“She’s right here. Come out, Blau, meet Iris.”

I pat my breast pocket after Iris asked while tilting her head.

As I did, Blau crawled out with a rather unpleasant expression.

“H-Hello, Iris-sa—”

“Waaahh~! It’s a fairy~!”

Before Blau even finished her introduction, Iris already held the little fairy with both hands and rubbed her against her cheek.

“UWAAAH! THAT HURTSS! PLEASE BE GENTLER IN HOLDING ME! AND PLEASE STOP RUBBING ME AGAINST YOUR CHEEK!”

Yeah, Iris is really interested in Blau. To be fair, for a little child, she’d look like a moving doll, so they’ll definitely be interested. I thought to myself; ah, seeing a little girl playing with a fairy really brings a smile to my face, while I averted my gaze from Blau.

“M-Master! Please save me! This girl is more brutal than a dragon!” said Blau, surrendering as she flailed about.

“Alright then. Iris, please leave it as that. Blau is very surprised by your actions.”

“Okaay…bye bye, fairy-san…”

Blau immediately flew back into my pocket the moment Iris let her go. That’s how much she’s scared of Iris.

“Iris, shall we go greet our mothers and aunts together?”

“Yes! Let’s go together!”

Iris’ family, the Braunschweig, is also a duchy. It’s a duchy at the same level of our Oldenburg house, so I’d prefer to build a friendly relationship with the Braunschweig in case when my house gets taken down.

And when our house did get taken down, I hope father and some soldiers could lead a revolution.

“Onee-sama, I wonder how school is like. Is it fun?”

“It is. It’s full of dangers, but you get to know a lot of new things every day. The library had a superb collection of books as well, and the teachers are also excellent. I also made some friends there.”

“Full of dangers…?”

Iris tilted her head to what I said.

She won’t understand if I told her, but there are dangers hiding in every corners in the academy. There’s a lot of landmines that would explode if I don’t tread carefully. For example, there’s Friedrich, Friedrich, and Friedrich.

“But Iris is your number 1 friend, right?”

“Of course. Iris is my number 1 friend, my cute little cousin!”

Iris asked with a lonely expression, so I gave her a tight hug as I answered.

I was an only child in the previous world, and I still am in this world, so I’m really happy that I got a little sister figure. Iris is cute, she’s honest, she’s cute, she understand my pursuit on sorcery, and she’s cute.

But wouldn’t Iris be going towards a rebellious phase after this…? Once she did, would she not hug me or call me “onee-sama” anymore? That’s a bit sad…

“Onee-sama?”

“It’s nothing. I was just thinking about something.”

Please stay pure as you are, Iris.

“By the way, I heard his Majesty Friedrich is in your class, isn’t he, onee-sama?”

“Y-Yeah. He is, but he’s got nothing to do with me though.”

There’s a certain someone who’s been spreading rumors, huh. I’ll have to find them and remove them on sight.

“I’m a bit worried…if onee-sama gets married with his Majesty Friedrich, you’ll be the next empress, so we won’t be able to spend our time together like this again…”

“Don’t worry, it’s okay. His Majesty Friedrich won’t even be interested in an eccentric magic idiot like me anyways. There’s also a lot more charming girls in the school too.”

Ooh, I finally found someone who’s also against the idea of me getting betrothed to Friedrich. Sasuga my imouto. You really understand me well. Alright, I’ll let you play with Blau later on.

“Onee-sama is charming, you know? It’s fun being together with you, and you can get along with anyone, and you also excel at your studies. That’s why I was worried that his Majesty Friedrich might be interested in you.”

My cousin is really cute. I want to rub her cheeks.

“Even if I somehow accidentally get to be an empress, you will still be my precious little sister and my friend, Iris. That won’t ever change, so you don’t have to look so sad.”

“Thank you very much, onee-sama. I am sure you will be a fine empress.”

Not that I want to be. Or rather, I won’t ever be. The heroine is eagerly waiting for that spotlight after all.

“Alright, let’s go and greet our mothers and aunts. After that we can play on the boat!”

“Yes, onee-sama!”

Haa…I’m being healed just by being with Iris…she’s really the best little sister…

She’ll be entering the academy in about two years, so I have to do my best to show her my cool side as an elder sister!





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