Chapter 23: 15

Well, a simple drawbridge can be made right away. I have the logs I just cut from the Demon Forest anyways.

Thinking about that, I went near the moat and jumped over it.

“…Wait!”

As I jump over the moat, someone calls out to me from behind.
I turn around to see Aria and the others standing on the other side.

Did they want to come with me?

The place where I put the logs was far away, so since it couldn’t be helped, I decided to build an instant bridge with another magic.

“[Soil Manipulation].”

I use a spell to manipulate the earth, and build a bridge to the other side of the bank.
Aria stands there still.

What now?
Didn’t you want to cross it?

“Ooh~! Awesome~!!”

Aria didn’t try to move at all, but Reno rushed across the bridge and ran towards me.

“Magic is really amazing! Lain nii-chan, please teach me magic too!!”
“Eh? Don’t want to. Sounds annoying.”

It’s not that I mind teaching, but magic is something like an exclusive right of the privileged class now.
So teaching without permission is simply asking for trouble.

“Eeh~, it’ll be fine. Please?”
“No. I’m not discussing this with you.”

I said so and walked towards the Demon Forest.
After that, Reno kept approaching me, and persisted that I teach her magic.

***

I began walking close to the forest, but there were no signs of monsters approaching.
Though it would be better to go inside to make sure, I thought it would be dangerous to step into the revitalized forest, and stopped myself.

Another reason was that Reno kept pulling my clothes and never left.
There were many ways to get it done alone, but when you have to protect someone as well, the difficulty rises quite high.

“Hey, Lain nii-chan, just a little. Just a little should be fine right?”
“I said no. Teaching even a little is as annoying as teaching all of it.”
“Just the tip. I’m fine with just the tip!!”
“…Where did you learn that phrase.”
“??”
(Did she seriously say that without knowing what it means?)

Even after dinner, Reno kept clinging to my leg and persisted that I teach her magic.
Even while learning from Aria where I’ll live from now, and even while eating food, every second word she spoke was to ask me to teach her magic.
Including my first life, this was the first time I’d seen someone urge me so desperately about something.

Kids really are amazing.
Any shame and manners are thrown away, if they could achieve what they want.

To be honest, this tactic is very effective for me.
It’s getting a little annoying, so I begin thinking that it’s okay to teach Reno magic.

I don’t teach it because what happens afterwards would be annoying.
But if the situation where I didn’t teach was even more annoying, I would begin to think it’s fine to teach her.
Because of me, the Demon Forest was rumbling, so I didn’t have the option of leaving the village to escape Reno.

“Reno! Enough already!”
“But, Kili-nee…”
“Lain is also troubled. If you won’t stop being selfish then-“
“-Alright.”

Reno mutters in a small voice to block Kili’s line, then lets go of me and rushes out of the dining room.
That day, I didn’t meet Reno after that.

***

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I was reading a book in the men’s room which had ten beds.
This seems to be the room where the men of this village stayed in, but since I was the only man here, it became exclusive to me.

The room was quite dusty, probably because it hadn’t been used for quite some time, but I managed to do something about it with magic.

Magic really has too much variety.

*knock* *knock*
“? Come in.”

Someone came to my room late at night.

“I’m sorry for visiting at such a time.”
“Kili, did you need something?”

Kili enters my room.

She was a little surprised, seeing the state of my room.
Though that is to be expected.
A glowing ball of light floats in the air, and there were many things lying around which she’d never seen here before.

She approaches me with caution.

“Well, have a seat. None of the beds have owners, so you can choose whichever you like.”
“… Yeah, you’re right.”

Kiri sits on the bed next to the one I’m using.
She takes glances at me as if I had done something wrong.

She then makes up her mind and raises her head.

“I actually came to apologize about Reno.”
“Reno?… Aah, about how she kept insisting I taught her magic?”
“Yes. I’m sure you must have gotten sick of it, right?”

I feel unsure when she puts it like that.
She was only being a bit selfish, and compared to the hyenas that came and rubbed against me when my mom died, this was nothing.

Also it didn’t feel bad getting hugged by a cute girl.

“… I wanted you to stop her earlier, but I wouldn’t say it was annoying.”
“Sorry.”

Kili makes a dark expression.

“We used to have an older brother. He died a while ago, but since then Reno had almost stopped being selfish.”

Hearing such heavy words, I purse my lips.

“She thinks if she could use magic, she might have saved him. Lain’s back today reminded us of our big brother, and she may have thought that he finally came home. He was always the one who protected Reno… I couldn’t bring myself to stop her, after seeing her being so energetic after so long.”
“…..”
“I’ll tell her not to be selfish like that again. I’m sorry for today. Good night.”

Kiri says so and leaves the room.
I felt that I could see something shining at the edge of Kili’s eyes.

After hearing the door close, I looked around the bed with no one sitting on it anymore.

This bed probably had someone laying on it, till a while ago.
That someone was Reno’s older brother.

Weak things die very easily in this world.
I was reminded of such an obvious thing.

“Well, maybe I can manage some annoyance.”

I mutter to myself, as I go inside my bed, and turn off the light in the room.

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