Chapter 41: How did you meet my brother? ( 1 )

Aisha’s POV

…

Before she knew it, Aisha had been teleported to a terrifying palace. Soldiers were pointing their weapons at her and her mother. Luckily, mother managed to soothe things over. During their time in Shirone, Lilia, with the servants of the palace, continued training Aisha to serve her brother and helped her in various ways. And for Aisha…

She was completely skeptical about this person calling her brother. Being able to use Intermediate-tier magic at three and becoming a King-tier Water Magician at five? One tutors the daughter of the region’s liege lord, and the other becomes a B-rank adventurer? None of that made any sense.

Aisha thought that her mother was exaggerating too much just to coerce her into serving them. Then there was that. Mom’s little treasurer box. She always told her not to touch it. However, Aisha being Aisha, she took a peek. Panties. Girl’s panties. Judging by the size, a pretty young girl’s panties at that. Urgh.

Judging by how much her mother paid attention to her second brother, the box most likely belonged to him. But then again, that too was quite strange. While her memories of that time were quite vague, her second brother was the same one that locked himself up inside the room all the time.

Aisha remembered him as the nice older brother who let her ride on his back. She even remembered drawing a magic circle for him… Not that it was effective, but still, he left quite an impression. At least he didn’t seem like a pervert. Perhaps she really shouldn’t judge him for his looks after all.

But that wasn’t the point. Anyway, the point was that she was currently following a young man. He was tall, and while she could only see the green half-cape, he seemed to be wearing a white shirt and black pants. He was holding a strange stick that she presumed to be a staff.

He turned a few corners and immediately caught her standing in the middle of the place.

“Are you lost, little one?”

The tall man with purple eyes looked at her and said it with a soft smile.

“I-uh-um…”

Aisha stared at the man. She didn’t know what to say. She was going to turn heel and run, but the man’s next words stopped her in her tracks.

“You don’t happen to be Aisha, do you?”

“How?”

Aisha turned back in surprise. The man wasn’t there anymore. Rather, he was right behind her, kneeling in front of her.

“Where’s your mother?”

“There she is! Capture her!”

At that moment, two guards rushed at them. Aisha did not see what happened, but both guards fell to the floor immediately. As more guards came and surrounded the two, the young man held her up on his left arm. Her body was covered under the green cape on his left shoulder.

“Aisha, darling. Can you close your eyes for a second?”

He said, staring at her. For some reason, she did.

“Argh. What is this?!”

Panic sounds echoed as quickly as they stopped. When she opened her eyes, they were somewhere else.

“We’re safe now.”

He said as he lowered her from his arm.

“My name is Aisha Greyrat! Thank you very much!”

“I’m glad you feel that way. Setting that aside, Aisha, is your mother being held captive in that big castle?”

“Ah, that, yes.”

“I see.”

He said. He was in a bit of deep thought. But the kneeling man looked at her with a smile and told her.

“I’ll go and get your mother out.”

Huh? Aisha stared at the smiling man.

"But—"

“The letter. You’re sending it to your father, right?”

How did he know?

“Ah, perhaps it was for your brothers then?”

He said. It didn't seem like he knew much about the details.

“No. Not my brothers. I can’t ask them for help.”

“…?”

He blinked in confusion.

“Is there a reason not to?”

“Reason! Sure! My mother told me about my brothers in great detail.”

Aisha said. Then she started to vent all her thoughts about her perverted brothers, how much she hated them, and how much she refused to serve them. The man’s expression was strange.

“Could you have been mistaken? After all, both could have been your eldest brother’s… doing.”

“That’s not possible. From what I know, the box was definitely made by my second brother.”

“…”

“And you know what I found inside? Panties!”

“… I… see…”

Hm? Was she imagining it, or was his face twitching?

…

Laurel’s POV

…

Damn it, Rudeus! You pervert! Not only did you ruin your own reputation, but you also managed to ruin mine as well.

I lamented over the past. I sealed Rudeus’s unholy treasure into an iron box and told Lilia to keep it away from Rudeus. I didn’t know I’d end up like this?!

Whatever the case, it seems that the two were really captured by the prince guy. That means that neither is currently in danger. I doubt the teacher is there, so most likely the letter I send would reach that prince. He’d be welcoming me with open arms, not knowing he was inviting a man-eating tiger.

“By the way, mister, you never told me your real name.”

… I feel like if I told her my real name, my image would be mud on the streets. So I thought of the next name on my list. Lul-No, wait, Sylphie brought that cat to our house every day. Having the same name as the cat would be suspicious.

“Mister?”

“Ah, my bad, I was thinking about something else. My name is Timaeus.”

Wait. Actually, why didn’t I name Timmy Timaeus? That would have sounded a lot better. Damn. Sorry, Timmy, your master was foolish.

“Ooh! Mister Timaeus, is it? How cool! I guess you can use summoning magic and stuff, right?”

“Well… When you put it that way, summoning magic is among the spells I know, I guess.”

After all, I have 200 ravenous caterpillars in total. They weren’t as fat as the first three or even close to the few that came from the previous batches, but they do have their uses. And that’s gathering mana and serving as instant communication.

I’m not sure how it works, but the third caterpillar, Mica—short for Magical Intelligence Caterpillar A—currently in my hands with Timmy, is capable of using unknown means to contact its kin.

I didn’t know caterpillar communication, but when looking at it with magic, I could see one flashing and the other responding, so I’m assuming it’s some sort of caterpillar Morse code. Whatever the method was, the mana I had to pay for it to work was crazy.

“Mister Timaeus?”

Oops, side tracking.

“Yes?”

“How come you know my name?”

“Ah, well, your parents and I go way back. I guess you could say I’m part of the team that searches for people affected by the Displacement Incident, you see.”

…

Aisha told me what had happened in the past six months. In short, despite being earlier than the novel, things were exactly the same as in the original scenario. That aside, Aisha’s surprisingly smart and cute. Despite only being three and a half, Lilia taught her well. It was so well that I was afraid I couldn’t answer any of them, but Aisha was so smart that we never ran out of topics.

Strangely enough, I found myself genuinely enjoying my conversation with my little sister so much that I realized that I had already entered the main base. The subordinates were staring at me like crazy, but luckily Aisha’s attention was on me and she was tired, so I put her to bed.

Just to be sure they don’t spill the beans when I leave for Lilia… I turn to my slav—I mean, subordinate… I think I should learn how to watch my words in front of Aisha from now on. Radiating intense dark mana, I gave them the death stare.

“Not a single word or I’ll stick your head at the top of the castle. Got it?”

“Yes sir!”

That should keep things under wraps for now.