I Was Abandoned Because I Was Told I Had No Talent, but Four Incredibly Strong Yet Clumsy Older Sisters Took Me In. Even the Sword Saint and the Great Sorcerer Insisted on Me Being Their Top Disciple. As a Result of Raising Me in Such an Overprotective Way, My Ultimate Talent Finally Awoke. - Chapter 8

Broken Barrier, Broken Past

The barrier covering the eastern town looked like a giant living creature when you got close.

The thin blue membrane stretched and shrank like it was breathing, and every so often lightning-like flashes ran across its surface. Inside the membrane you could see rows of houses and people moving around, but no sound came through at all. The trapped people were calling for help with silent voices.

“…It’s the leftover residue from a magic accident.”

The usual smile had disappeared from Master Meltya’s face as she looked up at the barrier.

“The caster is already gone. Only the magical power is left, frozen without any purpose. …I’ll undo it.”

Master’s voice was quiet, but I knew her hand was trembling slightly.

“Hey. You planning to do it alone?”

Master Reizel called out from behind her.

“Yes♪ This is my specialty, after all.”

Master Meltya didn’t turn around. She answered with a forced-sounding smile in her voice and placed both hands on the surface of the barrier.

“I’ll trace the magic circuits and reverse the flow. It’ll take a little time♪”

Blue light spread out from her hands.

Controlled magical power carefully and delicately rewrote the structure of the barrier. It wasn’t destruction—it was gentle, beautiful magic, like untangling knotted threads.

—But after a few minutes.

Master’s hands suddenly stopped dead.

＊

(…Ah)

Meltya’s vision warped and twisted.

The blue membrane of the barrier that should have been in front of her vanished, and instead a lavish stone hall appeared.

『—Run! The grand mage has gone berserk!!』

『Hii…! Someone, help—!』

Screams. Shouts. People running in panic.

Collapsing pillars. A swirling vortex of blue magical power burning like flames.

Standing at the center was herself. Endless magical power poured out of her own body, destroying everything around her without distinction.

(No, stop, please stop—!)

She tried desperately to control it, but fear and panic only made the magical power swell even more. Her own hands were shaking.

I’m going to break it again. Everything I touch breaks—!

＊

“Master!?”

My voice pulled her back to reality.

A tremendous amount of blue magical power was bursting out of Master Meltya’s body. The ground at her feet cracked, and a strong wind swirled around her.

“…Get back, Rut!”

Master Reizel drew her sword and stepped forward to shield me. Riene’s face went pale as she backed away too.

“—No, stop, any more than this…!”

Master Meltya’s voice was shaking. Her unfocused eyes stared into empty space as she tried to clutch her head with both hands—.

I shook off Master Reizel’s attempt to stop me and dashed forward.

Into the storm-like magical power.

“Rut!”

The pressure was so strong it felt like I couldn’t breathe. My skin burned with pain.

But I didn’t stop.

I grabbed Master Meltya’s trembling hands tightly with both of mine.

“Master, it’s okay.”

I shouted as hard as I could so my voice wouldn’t get swallowed by the wind.

“I’m right here! You’re not scary, Master!”

Her shoulders twitched.

Her unfocused purple eyes slowly turned toward me.

“Ru… Rut-kun…?”

“It’s okay. You won’t break anything. Your magic earlier was really beautiful. It was gentle, like you were carefully untangling something. —So it’s okay.”

Maybe the warmth from my hands reached her, because the trembling in Master’s hands slowly, little by little, began to settle.

The magical power that had been raging like a storm quieted down like it had been a lie, returning to its original gentle blue light.

“…Rut-kun’s hands are warm, aren’t they.”

“They’re covered in calluses, though.”

“Fufu…”

Master laughed while crying.

Then, still holding my hand, she turned back toward the barrier once more.

The blue light spread out again.

This time it was calmer and more certain. Cracks spread across the barrier’s membrane, growing bigger—.

—With a crisp snap.

The huge blue membrane covering the sky shattered with a sound.

Fragments of light rained down like snow, and the red glow of the setting sun poured into the town.

The people who had been trapped all cheered at once.

Master Meltya collapsed right where she stood.

She seemed to have used up all her magical power and couldn’t stand.

“…I’m sorry. I almost broke it again.”

“You didn’t break anything. You saved them, Master.”

I crouched down beside her.

“I want to be able to use magic like that too someday. Your magic was amazing.”

When I said that with a smile, big tears spilled from Master’s eyes.

She cried like a child, without making a sound.

I panicked and, without thinking, blurted out,

“Mel-neesan, don’t cry.”

The moment I said it, I realized. Nee-san. I had just called Master “neesan.”

Master Meltya—Mel-neesan—stopped crying for just a second.

Then the next moment she burst out crying even harder than before, letting out a loud wail.

She clung to me and squeezed tight as she cried.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry♪ I’m just so happy… so happy…♪”

She was laughing while crying. Crying while laughing.

Master Reizel walked over and lightly flicked my head.

“…What are you doing making her cry?”

“Eh, is it my fault!?”

A little distance away, Riene had turned bright red and was looking away.

“Wh-what is this atmosphere…!”

My two masters and one companion.

On the edge of town bathed in the setting sun, we stayed like that for a little while.

＊

Around the same time.

Far away, at the observation post of the temple church.

One of the countless magical power measuring devices let out a shrill warning sound.

The needle had swung all the way to the end.

“Large-scale magical power reaction observed in the borderlands! Type: Dispel!”

“What’s the estimated rank!?”

“It-it’s grand mage class…! No doubt from the waveform!”

The recorder’s face changed color as he hurriedly wrote up the report.

—None of them yet knew that this wave would eventually throw their fates wildly off course.