"Hah... Are you an idiot? Who in the world attacks their brother with Spell Arrays?" I couldn't help but sigh. It was only after she calmed down did I let go of her. What she did just now was dangerous...!
Merilin didn't answer my questions. All she did was quietly sit in the floor with her head lowered, not daring to even make even the slightest sound...
"I should first start off by apologising for what I said before... You know, about not making friends. There is no need for me to force you to be isolated from everyone else. It was my bad." I said with a bow.
She didn't seem moved by my apology since the matter at hand was much more serious than that.
Still... my OWN heart calmed down a little after getting that off my chest. A silence enveloped us as I stopped talking. This strange atmosphere was quite awkward, yet my eyes were resolute.
"Am I a monster in your eyes?" I calmly sat in front of her and curiously asked.
Her head raised a bit. However, she didn't look into my eyes. Her face was pale as she brought herself to heavily nod her head at my sudden enquiry.
"Ow!" She held her forehead after I gave her a simple headbutt in return.
"I am not some kind of monster. I'm just your regular rationalist older brother through and through. Don't you dare call this doting brother of yours such a thing like 'Monster' ever again!" This time, upon hearing my casual retort, she lifted her head to glare at me with ferocious eyes.
"Big brother... you... you k-killed someone...! You murderer!" She stuttered as her eyes displayed a firm and immovable will towards me.
"I DID kill someone... This is something I won't deny. You are right call me a murderer, yet wrong about something else... what I did was to protect your life." I honestly explained.
"To protect my life?" She didn't seem to understand what I meant. A sigh left my mouth once more as I looked at her puzzlement. It looks like she thought I killed that young maid for no reason whatsoever.
"The girl I killed was an assassin." I said without beating around the bush.
"An assassin?" Her brows furrowed.
"Basically, that little maid girl wanted to kill you, so killed her instead. Not really that complicated, right?" I said with an 'innocent' smile. She didn't take kind to my way of brushing things off though.
"You didn't have to... do 'that'... to her head." It seemed like the traumatic memory was interfering with her speech as she spoke. Yeah... so she really DID see what happened then, didn't she?
"Of course I did." I patted my chest and said without feeling guilty whatsoever.
"She would have died even if I hadn't killed her. If I restrained her, she would have killed herself to protect the information in her head. A similar situation would have happened if I had decided to knock her unconscious to give her to the household's guards as well." I continued after basing what the young maid's next actions would have been if I was to have spared her instead. Though it looked like Merilin didn't fall for it as her eyes reddened...
"Lies, big brother could've save-" Just as her rage suppressed her fear of me, I interrupted her. Why is she so intent on being such a goody-two-shoes? I have no reason to take risks to capture an enemy.
"And why should I?" I cut her off. She shouldn't feel such foolish sympathy for an mere assassin. Being too good of a person in these kinds of situations could end up leading to one's death most the time.
"It's not right. Big Brother, your wrong... That... Why are you being like this?" There seemed to a mix of fear, anger, sadness, and confusion on her face. This particular side of me was definitely foreign to her.
"Like what? What's wrong with killing enemies? Or did you expect me to lecture that psychotic maid until she gave up her ways?" A rhetorical question laced in cynicism left my lips as I held in a laugh of ridicule... I shouldn't be amused, but it was hard NOT to laugh once I heard something so fictional~
How could someone who had never killed anyone before understand what it's like to live according to the laws of the jungle? What it's like to take the lives of others for one's own happiness?
I don't feel like I did anything wrong...! I only picked my happiness over that of the assassin's. I chose to protect my family over any pride or morals I may have had. The choice is simple after all...!
I looked at how she curled up before hiding the expression on her face with her legs and shook my head. Then I patted her head to comfort her in her distress. This was all I could do for her...
"I COULD have 'saved' that assassin girl if I wanted to. I now have so many abilities at my fingertips that even you wouldn't be able to imagine...! If I wanted to save her: She could have survived... but I still showed her not even a bit of mercy." I said with clear ruthlessness in my gaze. One look at my murderous eyes was enough to know that I would've do the exact same thing if given the second chance.
She lifted her head and looked into my eyes with another look I couldn't really understand... She mustered up her courage after sorting her feelings and asked something I wish she hadn't...!
"Was it to protect me?" She grasped my sleeve and pitifully asked in a pleading manner. A pain arose in my heart as I saw her tears but I steeled myself enough to decisively shake my head.
I've already come this far to create a truly genuine relationship... I don't want to lie to her. I don't want my current family to fall apart through needless lies just like my last one.
She may hate my answer, but one day I'm sure there'll be a time... She'll definitely understand!
"Maybe it WAS to protect you, or maybe I murdered her out of pure hatred for trying to ruin this life I've put so much effort in 'perfecting'." A darkness arose in my heart as I remembered how absolutely incensed I was after knowing that maid's goal.
This was my true reason for killing that assassin instead of capturing her. There WAS no greater plan about investigating the assassin's goals... just baseless speculations I used to justify myself...!
Merilin gazed at me. Her eyes seemed to be waiting for me to tell her I was joking, that I was still the same big brother she grew up with all her life... The one who would heroically protect her if things went bad. It was too bad that I'm not an 'ideal' brother...
"Surprised? Did you think I was going to get weak-kneed and let a potential threat to our lives get away?" I turned my head and immediately made an excuse. The truth is ugly, but it is something she'll have to face and overcome in the future. Maybe she'd be happy if I indulged her fantasies of a perfect world where everyone fight for the greater good, a world where everyone's selfless and kindhearted...
However, how could I give her such an unrealistic impression of the world around us?
Right... giving her hope that such a world actually existed would probably solve every one of my problems, but such an outcome would only give her the most momentary of joys...
I'm not going to lie to her about what I felt. This decision of mine really is too cruel. In fact, it could be called a reckless gamble, one where losing would equal to her pushing me away.
It's a reckless gamble... but at least I got a back-up plan! I'll use my Horn of the Moon God to seal some up of her memories if she wasn't able to cope with reality. There's I have no other choice... It would be cowardly and downright scummy to mess with my little sister's memories in such a way, so I really hope she doesn't force my hand. Please don't reject me...
No wait, maybe I shouldn't have been honest....! I mean, it's not like the relationship I had with the siblings of my previous life was THAT bad, right? I feel like she should let me off since at least I'm TRYING to be honest with my feelings here.
Maybe doing this wasn't bad... Mother and Father were probably overreacting...! That is most likely the case. Okay, gotta use my Moon Mana to infect the nerves in her brain first, then I'll seal her memories.
"Big brother..." The hand that was slowly edging towards her head was suddenly held be the sleeve, a move which stopped before it could touch her. My eyes dilated as I was regaining my composure...
What had just overcome me...?
"Yes?" I was awoken from my dark thoughts by her firm voice. I don't know how long she was silently pondering for but the look in her eyes showed matchless resolve. I retracted my hand backwards...
"I understand." These two simple words took a giant weight off my chest.
"It's good that you do." I sighed in admiration. She had already surpassed all of my expectations while I was busy panicking in how to clean up this messy situation if anything was to go wrong.
Thank goodness! Wait...!
"Ah...!" I let out subconsciously after getting slapped straight across my cheek. Merilin... Slapped me...?
"Big brother, you're a bad person! I hate you so much!" She shouted before running away in tears. I was dazed for a moment while I covering my cheek but quickly recovered my mental faculties.
Wait... I have to follow her! I have to patch things up no matter what...!
I got up and ran out the door in pursuit. Merilin weaved her way past the different servants who were cleaning with tears in her eyes as icicles formed on her feet. Her steps were hard to catch since she was using Water Aura to improve her dexterity. It was almost like her body was water itself as she slipped by then as if the floor was a frictionless surface.
Okay, it doesn't look like the worst case scenario occurred... I'll have to refrain from doing something as stupid as brainwashing...! It's an easy solution to this problem, but also the worst one!
Plus, she may have noticed my intentions...
I underestimated her intuition! As expected of my sister.
"Oy, Simon... Why the hell are you bullying your sister?" A tall giant of a boy my age stood in my path along with a few other young maids and butlers. A heroic tone that held no prejudice came out of his mouth. Well... I think it sounded that way anyway.
I am finding it hard to remember this idiot... is it because I can't see this kid as a threat to me?
Well... since he looks like he wants to stir up some trouble, he better be ready for my a little bit of punishment. Wait... there seems to be something familiar about this guy... have I met him before?
Nah~ It doesn't matter right now anyway, I'll ponder on who he is later...
I mean, you'd think he wants to righteously protect my sister from my 'bullying' if one was to take account of his words alone. Well... That's it wasn't for the fact that his expression was blatantly showing his ill-intentions, as if he was scared someone wouldn't recognise his ulterior motives.
"I have no time to play with you." My eyes were cold I decided to boost my speed using magic. The little maids and butlers were surprised by how I unexpectedly charged straight at them.
[Support Skill- Light Clad!]
[Skill Overlay- Cognitive Drive!]
[Skill Overlay- Weightless Skeleton!]
I decided rush past using any openings in the crowd with extreme speed but it looked like about two of them who specialised in Wind Aura were able to react in time and grabbed at my arm.
I wasn't in the mood to play with these kids since it didn't matter to me what their true intentions were anyway. The slow world in my eyes allowed me to come up with a counter easily.
[Martial Art- Revolving Twister!]
I spun my body and intercepted the one of the little kids who were about to grab my arm with my hand before using the spinning motion of my body in order to throw the kid flying behind me. The other two weren't in any better shape as I did the exact same thing another two times in succession.
A domino effect occurred as the crowd of kids who weren't able to react to my sudden counter and fell on the floor in a funny way after catching the ones I had thrown at them using martial arts.
They must have noticed my unintentional smirk and small laugh that came from seeing them fall since some of them went ballistic... using all sorts of movement techniques to keep up with my speed. I thought I would be able to catch up with Merilin in moments using my augmented speed, but it seems the Arts and Spells I taught her backfired.
[Water Art- Icicle Skating!]
A layer of ice formed under her feet as she used her Water Attribute to skate along the corridors with speed that was no slower than my own... As expected from an ACTUAL prodigy of magic!
I myself was a reincarnated individual so I couldn't truly be considered a prodigy at magic. All I had was a different perspective on magic and high intelligence coming from my past life.
I'm sure those around us would be seeing a strange scene of Merilin being chased her brother while that same brother was being chased by an angry group of young servants in utter shock! This is starting to become one hell of a headache...!