Vol 1 Chapter 13: Looming Shadows

What is this book? This can't be the real story of the Hero, can it? This is just Mira propaganda!

Such was my reaction when I finished the picture book Marina gave to me. Sure, it was just a book for kids, but the portrayal imbalance between the two heroines was so obvious that I couldn't help but laugh at it.

The two heroines were Mira and Milicis, and they were the companions of the Hero in his journey to defeat the Demon God. Oh, his name was Arthur by the way. You know, like the legendary King Arthur back in my world. What a funny coincidence.

By the way, as you would expect from these kinds of stories, they both ended up falling in love with the guy, making them love rivals to each other. Ah, the love triangle between the mage and the cleric. Now that’s a classic trope right there.

So far, I would have no problem with that. The Hero getting a harem? Totally realistic. What kind of girl wouldn’t want to bed the famous Legendary Hero? I wouldn’t be surprised if he also had dozens of princesses and female knights all wanting to have his baby. Such was the perk of being the most famous person in the world, not to mention being the literal savior and all that.

However, what I took issue with was the portrayal of Milicis. This book unabashedly displayed her as this jealous, overly clingy, pathetic girl that couldn’t function in the slightest without the Hero by her side. She was clumsly and incompetent, always bumbling around in her fights and ending up defeated, only for either Mira or the Hero to save her (really, if this were an adult doujin and not a children’s picture book, she would’ve been raped so many times, from demonic tentacles to the random bandits they met in their journey). There were no redeeming qualities in her whatsoever. She was sanctimonious, arrogant, and worst of all, she had small boobs, especially compared to Mira, which she always whined about in her monologues.

Speaking of her, she was clearly portrayed as the preferred partner to the Hero. She was intelligent and competent, and the author only emphasized that even more by giving her a pair of glasses to go with her older age and her mature body (big boobs ahoy!). She would act as his mentor and guide of sorts, and they would cooperate with each other so well, with the Saint being the clear third wheel in their relationship.

Now I understood why Marina called this book “amusing”. She too must think of it as a cheap propaganda to extol how much better the Magocracy is compared to Milicis’ followers.

Though I had to say, even if Milicis was clearly designed to be unlikeable, I still found her adorable. She always tried so hard to steal the Hero’s attention from Mira after all, and I was always weak to those kinds of girls. The drawings of her were pretty cute too.

Well, enough about that for now. I stored the book into my bookshelf. Maybe I would read it again later, just to laugh at it even more.

Eh? How about Marina’s panties, you ask? I hid it, of course, just as she had told me to.

Why don’t you just hand it over to Renee if you don’t like them? But that would mean ratting out Marina! I am not sure if Mother would like it if she starts giving me her dirty panties like this.

Isn’t that just an excuse though? Y-yeah, I suppose it is…

Oh fine! I’ll admit it! I’m a big pervert, alright?! It’s always one of my more depraved fantasies to steal a pretty girl’s worn underwear and take a deep sniff of it, just to know how she smelled. When I was younger, and could get away with it, I had to tell myself not to crawl into my parents’ room and take a sniff on Renee’s dirty pair. I had sworn to myself that I would become a new and honest man after all.

But now, I am given an even better chance to do that! Marina’s panties were in my hands and she was perfectly willing to let me do that! I-I mean, that’s what she meant by using them to remember her, right? Surely, she can’t just mean for me to carry it around like they’re a pair of handkerchiefs instead?

However, even with this golden opportunity, I couldn’t bring myself to do it fully. I only gave them a little sniff from a distance, before hurrying to put it away like she instructed. Even then, I already smelled the pleasant odor of her that I was familiar with, from when she hugged me or when we slept together. She’s already at that age where she started going through puberty after all.

She’s my big sister, goddamnit! I can’t be lewding her like this!

Funny how when you wanted to lead a straight and narrow life, you had girls throwing themselves to you like this. But when you were a pervert so desperate for a girlfriend, no one even batted an eye on you. Not that I was complaining, of course. I liked being able to befriend pretty girls like this. Aah, I can’t wait until I get older and finally be able to do that with a cute girl!

----

One month had passed since Marina’s departure. The air was getting colder as we slowly approached winter. As usual, at every single year, Father started gathering firewood to be stored and used, as when winter started, there would be barely any in the wilds. And, as a knight in charge of protecting the villagers, he would also gather enough to be given to those too poor or too weak to gather enough firewood on their own. To him, his job wasn’t just to beat bandits or monsters, but also to do as much good as he could for the village. And I genuinely admired him for that.

This year, however, he had help. Sherry, with her super strength, could lug around large logs back home with no problems whatsoever, just like Father. She too helped with the cutting process, as she could do it like it was nothing.

I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous towards them. There was nothing I could do to help them after all.

Speaking of Sherry’s strength, one day, Father decided it would be a good idea to challenge her to an armwrestling match. To my surprise, he actually managed to win against her (though not without shattering the tree trunk they were using as their table—Damn, that was scary). You might think that’s an odd thing to say, since he was a fully grown adult with large biceps and muscles after all, but the more I witnessed Sherry’s power, the more I believed that there was truly no limits to it. That match proved me wrong however.

Or so I thought, as when Mother saw what was happening, she demanded them to do a rematch. They obliged, but before they started, Mother whispered something to Sherry’s ears that I couldn’t quite catch. I believed Sherry responded with a bewildered look, but she quickly covered, closing her eyes for a few seconds before opening it back again.

And then, she won. Somehow she did. And Mother’s face turned pale as she witnessed it. She quickly left before I could ask anything of her. I asked Sherry, but she too refused to talk about it, only throwing an angry glare at me instead. I asked Father, and he just shrugged, saying that Sherry suddenly became much stronger in their second match. And of course, he quickly added that he wasn’t really trying seriously, and that if he went 100%, there was no way she could’ve won.

Sure, Dad. I could take your word for that.

Mother’s facial expression bothered me, so I went to ask her about it. But she refused to say anything. Aargh, it was frustrating! I always hated it when my family kept secrets from me like this!

The matter was quickly forgotten however, when Mother, with her face as bright as what I imagined a fairy queen would look like, announced that she was pregnant.

I was going to have another sibling.

----

Marina

When I heard the news from Hugo’s letter, I choked on the tea I was drinking.

I couldn’t believe it! Mother was pregnant?! That meant Hugo and I were going to have another sibling!

Thinking about it, it was quite the miracle that Mother wasn’t pregnant sooner. I knew how much Mother and Father had their passionate nightly sessions after all. Well, I myself preferred less siblings than more. I couldn’t imagine living with nine other siblings for example. Everyday would be noisy and hectic, and as the oldest, I wouldn’t be able to rest in the slightest.

Hmm, do I want a boy or a girl? Another cute little brother like Hugo would certainly be nice, but a cute little sister would be refreshing as well. Hmph, knowing Hugo though, he would win over her heart in no time at all. That boy… He would totally be popular with the ladies once he grew up.

“Hey, whatcha’ reading, ‘Rina?”

I groaned internally. There she was again. My new annoyance.

In front of me stood a grinning red-headed girl. She wore a black and purple witch outfit, complete with the tall pointy hat. Really, weren’t wearing such tall hats an annoyance? They said that it was tradition for female mages to wear hats like that. Well, not me though. I wasn’t going to wear any tall witch hats anytime soon.

Without hesitation, she snatched the paper away from my hands. “Ooh, what’s this? A letter? From who, hmm? Your lover?” She giggled.

“My little brother,” I replied with a clearly displeased look. “Now please return it to me.”

"Aaw, you really like him, huh? You have such a happy face when you read the letter after all! For you, Ms. Grump Grump to smile like that, wow, it's such a rare sight that I thought I was dreaming for a sec there!"

This noisy little girl was the younger sister of my tormentor. I believed Alincia was her name—I didn’t really listen when she introduced herself. She just entered the academy this year, and immediately she came to me and bugged me to no end. No doubt her big sister put it up to this. She was in her final year after all, so she might have more tasks assigned to her by her teachers. Unlike her sister however, she was just that, noisy. She didn’t really actively bully me like her older sister did.

I took out my wand. And, without a chant, I flicked it forward, flinging the letter back to my hand.

“H-hey!”

A subtle application of wind magic. I was never in the common school of thought that magic had to be all flashy and big. Little things like this actually required more control and finesse than just throwing a gust of wind at your opponent.

No wonder only a few actually attended alchemy classes. It was classified as optional by the academy, so only those that were really interested in the art would attend. Which was few, as alchemists were in general—quite unfairly, I believed—looked down upon by the mages of this kingdom. Only the non-mage folks had any respect for them, since they had to depend on them for their medicine (and other necessities), especially since there were no Milicis priests around. Ever since their last conflict a hundred years ago, all forms of Milicis worship were to be outlawed inside the magocracy’s territory. And thanks to the country having several Grandmaster-level mages around, the Holy Empire hadn’t dared invading. And the two countries being separated by sea certainly didn’t help matters either. I was pretty sure that just a single Grandmaster-level mage could sink an entire fleet of ships with their spell.

Other countries didn’t have the same luxury however, like my Marchen Kingdom, so we had to allow the Milicis devotees to open their churches, whether we wanted to or not.

Well, personally, I disagreed with the magocracy's decision to ban Milicis churches altogether. Their clerics really helped in keeping the masses healthy. Just a few years back, there was a plague that devoured this land. With so little alchemists, and no priests, so many people died from it. Or so I was told from my books.

I stood up, ignoring the shorter mage entirely. I had already finished my dinner, so there was no reason for me to stay here at the cafeteria. Not to mention that I had to start writing my own letter to be sent back home.

I gave another glance towards Alincia as I left. Of course, she still insisted on chasing me, so I kept on ignoring her. She would tire eventually.

Yep, if I’m going to have a little sister like that, I’d certainly rather have another little brother instead.

-----

For the next nine months, I kept the thought of my unborn sibling on the back of my head at all times. I simply couldn’t wait until next summer, where I could return and hold him or her in my hands. I still remembered how cute Hugo was as a baby. I suppose this was what you would call “motherly instinct”. Well, there was just something about holding a baby in your arms—something that I couldn’t quite put into words. Happiness, serenity, contentment, joy? All that seemed to apply.

Though they said that too much of that might make a girl prefer younger men though. Ever since Alincia discovered the letter, she would often mock me about how I had a “brother complex” and how I would marry him if we weren’t siblings. What a silly accusation. As his big sister, I simply loved him very much. That’s all. It’s natural for a big sister to want to hug and cuddle their little brothers, right? She wouldn’t know, of course. She didn’t have any male siblings after all. And besides...

He’s going to marry Sherry in the future. I just know it.

Well, Sherry’s a good girl. I’d rather have her as my sister-in-law than some other girl that I know nothing about. Especially when there are so many predatory girls going after younger boys these days. Yes, that’s right. I had overheard them—upperclassmen girls talking about how there were so many cute boys in the first year, and how they thought of snagging a couple and teaching them “all sorts of mature stuff”. Hmph, I didn’t even need to know what they meant by that.

Those kinds of girls were exactly the kind of girls I had to keep my dear Hugo away from. He was so cute I could just imagine their reaction if they ever saw him. Predators! All of them!

And so I wasn’t really that surprised when a rumor surfaced that one of them was practicing necromancy in secret.

Necromancy. The vilest branch of dark magic that existed out there. Like the name suggested, it was a magic art about the manipulation of corpses and the spirits of the dead. It would also be the branch of magic that you would learn if you wanted immortality. Usually humans, since we were the race with the shortest lifespan after all.

Naturally, it was completely banned in Milicis lands, with the punishment of being burned at the stake, but even here, where we could actually learn some dark magic and not be prosecuted for it, necromancy was still a forbidden art. After the Necromancer King's attempt at conquering Mira 500 years ago, which got so bad the Council at the time had to swallow their pride and ask the Holy Empire for help (after all, their priests and clerics worked really effectively against the undead), necromancy was completely outlawed in the magocracy.

Now, I wasn’t sure how the Necromancer King did that—threatening a kingdom with several Grandmaster-level magicians. I had yet to find any detailed accounts on said history unfortunately. Perhaps the books were in the Forbidden section in the library. They said that any books about necromancy would be stored there, only accessible to students with an explicit permission of a teacher. Though perhaps the special students like Merinda could take out any books they wanted. Hah, wouldn’t it be funny if she’s the necromancer.

Personally, I thought of necromancy as quite the disgusting art. There were only a few things less evil than desecrating the dead and enslaving them for your own purposes  Imagine if you saw your dead father or mother as huddling, rotting corpses, controlled by some depraved dark mage that just wanted power. Even if I could actually cast dark magic, I would never in a million years touch necromancy.

...Hmm? Oh, that’s right. I hadn’t told you that I couldn’t cast any dark magic in the slightest, had I? I suppose my parents’ assumption that I was a genius that could cast any magic was wrong after all. We actually had a teacher of dark magic here in the academy and he already declared that I didn’t have any talent for it whatsoever. Of course, said teacher would never touch necromancy with a ten foot pole. He just taught less gruesome and more “proper” dark magic, like shadow magic and blood magic (though I was pretty sure the latter was still pretty gruesome).

And speaking of subjects I wasn’t good at, I was never that great in alchemy either. Thankfully, no one here really cared here if you weren’t any good in the subject. Most students only learned it to be able to make basic mana and health potions, maybe also some anti-poisons and the like, and any concoctions they needed to perform summoning pacts. No one cared for making bombs or gunpowders and the like. They said that’s more of a dwarf thing, fighting with magic tools like that, and who needed that when they could just cast fire through their spells?

I didn’t hear anything more about this rumored necromancer until a few months later, where the news broke that the student was one of the scholarship students, and that she had run away before she could be apprehended by the authorities. Not to mention how she had an affair with one of her professors. And by that, I meant her straight up giving him her body in exchange of access to the necromancy books in the library. Thanks to the special enchantments put in place on the restricted section, you couldn’t just steal or even read them willy-nilly. You would need a form of magical authorization first.

This country never believed in destroying forbidden knowledge like the Holy Empire. Instead, it would just be hidden away from the eyes and ears of the public.

Naturally, said professor was immediately fired and kicked out of the academy. Good riddance.

To my surprise however, Merinda herself came to me and told me these news with a smirk on her face. And she didn’t even bring her underlings with her.

“Ha, what a joke. Of course that balding bastard would be vile enough to lust over his students like that. No woman ever wants to be with him so he has to settle on his own student!” She declared, referring to the teacher. “She realized her skills in alchemy were useless, so she turned to the dark arts. Like the scheming whore that she was, she seduced him to give all his knowledge of the dark arts to her, including necromancy.”

Ah, if I remembered correctly, she was always beaten by her in the alchemy. Always second best below her in both written and potion-making tests. In that sense, she could be called a star student. Yet since it was just alchemy, she never became famous from it.

Hmm, don’t tell me that she gets bullied by her as well… just like me...

“Hey, wipe that look off your face! I’m still mad that you hide the fact that you can already cast a Master-level spell, you know!”  She pointed at me. “What, you think you’re going to sneak behind me and pounce after my position when I don’t expect it? Hmph, what a coward. Just as you would expect from a girl from a backwards country like Marchen.”

“That’s odd,” I replied with my usual calmness. “I thought you don’t want me showing off. So I don’t.”

“S-shut up!” It was a hit. She was now clearly flustered. “Y-you dare speak back to me?" She pushed me to the wall, as she liked to do. "Let me tell you that I've mastered my second Master-level spell! That still makes me better than you! So you should just be a good girl and listen to me!" Urgh, she was loud, louder than usual. She pretty much screamed right in front of my face.

I remembered how her little sister said to me that she wasn't a bad person, and that she just wanted to be friends with me. Frankly, I couldn't see that at all.

“Hmph.” She backed off. “Anyway, I just thought I’m going to warn you.”

“Of what?”

“Why, of the accolades I will soon obtain.” She puffed her chest proudly, making her outrageous breasts bounce. “I will catch that necromancer girl and bring her to justice after all. So you better start to cry yourself to sleep as you will never surpass me after this!”

And with that, she left me, laughing like a mad witch in the process.

So she would be part of the hunting party that chases after her? Hmm, I suppose if you’re the granddaughter of one of the Council members, you can just be assigned like that.

Well, whatever. I don’t really care if she becomes even more famous than she already is. All I care about is studying magic. That’s what I’m here for after all.

Little did I know that it would be the last time I saw her alive.

Perhaps I would’ve been nicer to her if I had known otherwise.

-----

A/N:

Wow, that was longer than I planned it to be.

Foreshadowings ahoy! Also, here's an image for Alincia. Without the broom.