IPMB 08

Chapter 8

Louise Whisel.

As befitted a jaguar, the head of House Whisel had an impressive running speed.

He said that he had been searching the entire capital of Delphiam since dawn in order to find Kallion Winyak, and that just a little while ago, he had faintly sensed Winyak’s mana downstream along the Delphinue River.

So he had run all the way here.

But I looked down at the jaguar I was riding with a thoroughly unimpressed expression.

“Are jaguars naturally bad at using their sense of smell?”

[Quit talking nonsense. If you’re going to be a nuisance, get off.]

Louise Whisel sounded annoyed.

Was he seriously sulking just because I’d ridden him for a while?

“You’re more narrow-minded than the previous head…”

[What?]

“Nothing.”

Kirges and Whisel both had their roots in the Delphiam Empire, so they encountered each other more often than the other Transcendent families did.

The previous head of House Whisel’s transformed form had been a lion. He hadn’t shown much interest in me, but he’d let me ride on his back a few times.

So he definitely couldn’t have disliked me that much.

He favored Alphien more than me, but I was the only one he ever let ride on his back!

Ah, I miss the heads of the families.

I wonder how everyone has been doing since I died.

My master, Head Regina… I wonder if she’s been healthy.

“…Sigh.”

I sighed as I reminisced about the past.

This wasn’t the time to get lost in old memories.

I gently scratched the black jaguar behind the neck.

“Try smelling again, Lord Head. If he’s not here, let’s go straight to the Delphiam Imperial Palace. Somehow, I think the more likely place is the palace rather than here… huh?”

A tingling sensation ran through the ring finger of my left hand, like static electricity.

The activation word of the spell rang out inside my head.

[Rosienne.]

It was Kallion calling my name.

The location of the activated spell flowed vividly into my mind.

It was directly beneath us.

I immediately abandoned all the thoughts I’d had up until then and slid off Louise’s back.

Then I jumped down into the dark sewer entrance.

“How old are you exactly that you can manage to get lost in the capital?!”

I found Kallion a short distance from the sewer entrance, and the moment I saw what he looked like, I immediately began scolding him.

“Where did you sell off all your guards? Why is the heir of Winyak wandering around a foreign country alone without so much as an escort? What were you thinking?!”

Of course, saying that the heir of Winyak needed an escort sounded rather strange in itself.

But Kallion was a special case.

My brother still needed someone to look after him!

Overwhelmed by my momentum, Kallion began cautiously watching my expression.

“S-sorry… Rosi, were you worried?”

“Do you seriously have to ask that?! How on earth did you end up down in this drainage channel?!”

Even in the slums where I’d lived until I was nine after being reincarnated, it had never smelled this much like shit!

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Fortunately, Kallion looked fine at first glance.

Other than his clothes being more disheveled than when he’d left last night, there was nothing—

I stopped mid-thought in horror.

Wait. Isn’t that the most important part?!

His jacket was gone, presumably given to someone else to wear.

The hem of his shirt was hanging untidily outside his trousers, with a couple of buttons undone.

His hair was messily disheveled, as though someone had thoroughly ruined it.

On top of that, his reddish-brown eyes were filled with an unstable energy, and the skin beneath them was red, as though he hadn’t slept a wink.

With my heart pounding anxiously, I grabbed Kallion by the sleeve and pulled.

“What happened to you from last night until now?”

“……”

“It’s okay. Tell me. I won’t tell anyone.”

Kallion didn’t answer.

He simply looked down at me in silence.

I waited patiently.

Even if I was his beloved younger sister, it probably wasn’t easy to talk about something like that openly.

At least, assuming something truly horrible had happened to him.

It felt like several minutes passed before Kallion finally opened his mouth.

“He grabbed my arm without permission, so I firmly told him I didn’t like it.”

“And then…?”

“But he wouldn’t stop… And when he dragged me all the way down to this secluded place… I struck him in the vital spot.”

Exactly as I’d instructed him.

Kallion glanced down at the knight collapsed at his feet.

“Then he ended up like that…”

The man was practically pulverized.

Naturally, my expression hardened as well.

I’d been wondering whose son was lying facedown over there all this time.

So he was an attempted sexual assailant!

Kallion hesitantly continued.

“I managed to knock him down somehow, but he wouldn’t get back up. And I didn’t know the way out… So I was waiting for someone to come.”

“That’s all? Nothing else happened?”

“For now.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the soft jelly-like creature that was my brother pulled me tightly into his arms.

Then he rubbed his cheek against the top of my head with a giggle.

“I was getting worried because I had no idea how much time had passed. Then I heard Rosi’s voice. I called out just in case, and you really came.”

“Of course. I told you I’d come if you called.”

“Yeah. Thank you, my treasure. As expected, you’re the only one who comes looking for me.”

That’s right.

Who else do you have besides this big sister?

I patted him with a sigh.

Then the knight lying at our feet groaned painfully and began to twitch.

I looked down at the piece of trash who had nearly devoured Kallion with contempt.

His uniform and the brooch on his chest were enough to identify him.

I’d even seen him on my first day in Delphiam.

He was the captain of the Delphiam Imperial Guard.

Kallion moved closer to me and whispered softly.

“I did well, right?”

“Of course. You did great, oppa.”

Now it was time to take care of the aftermath.

That part was my job.

I suddenly pointed toward the entrance and screamed.

“Oh! What’s that?!”

“Huh? What is it?”

While Kallion looked in the wrong direction, I swiftly carved a runic symbol onto the man’s forehead.

“Rosi, there’s nothing there.”

“Uh-oh, I must’ve seen it wrong.”

Perfect.

Done.

I pretended nothing had happened and grabbed Kallion’s hand.

“Let’s go now. Someone else will come collect this man.”

“Should we? But he’s an imperial knight. We should at least send him back up…”

“Someone like that isn’t a knight. If we go back and report that the emperor’s knights tried to harm the heir of Winyak, who do you think is going to be torn apart?”

It wasn’t as though we needed to worry about offending Delphiam.

Still, if we carelessly meddled and he ended up officially listed as missing, I’d only feel uncomfortable about it afterward.

Lord Oen told me to behave myself.

So I merely hypnotized him.

The effect should be certain.

He wouldn’t dare go anywhere near Kallion again!

I hurried along with Kallion.

There was no way I could let our soft, squishy jelly stay any longer in such a narrow, filthy place reeking of sewage.

“Come on. Let’s go back, wash up in some warm water, and get some proper rest—”

[Having fun, are we?]

Before I could finish speaking, a scornful voice brought me to a halt.

The beast’s body, which had been concealed in the darkness, emerged beneath the dim light.

Before I could even blink, its form changed.

The young head of House Whisel, Louise Whisel, with his black curly hair and dark skin, glared at Kallion.

“Winyak’s energy is vibrating that strongly from inside there. And you’re saying nothing happened? At least say something that makes sense.”

Winyak’s energy?

I instinctively turned my head.

Deep inside the sewer…

“Uh…”

I’d been so preoccupied with Kallion that I hadn’t noticed it.

I let out a bewildered sound.

There really was something faintly detectable within the darkness.

“It seems like… sword aura?”

I murmured absentmindedly.

Then, when I raised my head and looked at Kallion, I noticed that his reddish-brown eyes had become emotionless as he stared at Louise Whisel.

“……!”

A chill ran down my spine.

Sword aura.

Winyak’s signature transcendent ability.

It was the unique power of Winyak, in which the energy of the stars was infused into the blade and amplified and converted into a new form of energy known as sword aura.

Even the disciples of Winyak could acquire it if they worked hard enough.

However, compared to the power wielded by the direct descendants of Winyak who had received the blessing of the stars, the results achieved through acquired learning were pitiful.

In other words, the heads and heirs of Winyak were the most skilled swordsmen with sword aura on the entire continent.

Lord Oen, of course, was one.

And Kallion also knew how to wield sword aura.

So there was nothing strange about him using sword aura against the captain of the Delphiam Imperial Guard.

And yet, the reason the back of my head suddenly felt cold was…

Kallion, why does he look like that?

I was rendered speechless by Kallion Winyak’s emotionless face.

He was a boy who normally carried a gentle curve around his eyes or lips.

Sometimes his eyes smiled.

Sometimes his lips smiled.

Sometimes both smiled together.

Whenever that happened, I could feel that calling him the incarnation of an angel wasn’t merely an embarrassingly excessive compliment.

But right now, I couldn’t possibly attach that sacred title of angel to him, not even as empty flattery.

I hadn’t even known Kallion could glare at someone like that…