Volume 3 Chapter 92: Continuing That Day with My Sister

In a haze of drowsy consciousness, I slowly opened my eyes.

The first thing that came into view in the dimly lit room was the familiar ceiling above me.

Upon confirming this, a smile naturally crept onto my face. The relief of having made it back safely washed over me as I began to check the condition of my body.

Hands, fingers, legs—there didn’t seem to be any abnormalities.

But still, this time was truly exhausting.

As usual, the sleep provided by White Road doesn’t seem to heal my body at all.

Running around without any rest, taking a severe beating, super-healing myself with divine artifacts, and pouring every ounce of strength into survival.

Even now, having just woken up, my body screamed for rest, urging me to lie back down.

Yet, I didn’t feel bad.

“I’m back, Mar-chan.”

I greeted my beloved softly, slowly sitting up and taking a look around.

I wondered how long I had been out this time when—

“…………”

I froze.

“Um…what’s going on here…?”

Judging by the darkness outside, it was likely nighttime.

And yet, my room was packed with people.

They were all sitting silently, watching me without turning on the lights.

Was this…a horror scene?

In my not-so-large room, White Road and Spirit Wind members were seated tightly on the tatami mats that had somehow appeared while I was out. I couldn’t help but think it looked like a scene from a ghost story.

No, I get it.

I’m sure they were worried about me and stayed to check on my condition.

I’m deeply grateful, really. It’s not every day people care enough to sit by your side like this, even taking time out of their lives for someone like me.

But why didn’t anyone say anything when I woke up? Why were they just silently staring at me in the dark?

It’s terrifying.

Also, the room is way too crowded.

This place isn’t that big, you know. It’s cramped. Aren’t you all uncomfortable?

“Um…”

Someone, please say something.

“Haa… That’s why I told you. The whole fishing rod thing wouldn’t work out anyway.”

While I was still overwhelmed with confusion, Mina, who was leaning against the far wall, let out a deeply exasperated sigh.

When she looked at me again, she gave a faint smile and shrugged her shoulders.

“Good morning. These guys were trying to see whose name you’d call out first when you woke up. Since Milis said you’d be waking up soon, everyone decided to wait in your room.”

She explained the bizarre horror-like situation in the simplest terms.

I see. Are they idiots?

No, sorry, I know I shouldn’t think that, but are they idiots?

First of all, I don’t understand how the conversation even led to such a plan. What happened while I was asleep? Not that I want to know.

Also, what if I didn’t call anyone’s name? Why is it just assumed I’d call out to someone right after waking up?

I mean, sure, I did call someone’s name, but still.

“Haa… Good morning, Mina. Thanks for explaining.”

Letting out a small sigh, I returned her greeting.

In that instant, everyone’s eyes shifted toward Mina. Both she and I flinched in unison.

What? What is this?

“What? What’s this about?”

Mina mirrored my reaction with a strained expression, which made perfect sense. Any normal person would do the same.

Meanwhile, I didn’t miss Letto-kun and Kreis quietly slipping out of the room by the door without making a sound.

Letto-kun had probably confirmed that I was awake and deemed his mission complete, leaving as quickly as he could to escape the awkward atmosphere.

As for Kreis, he likely thought, “I’m the kind of guy who knows how to read the room.” If he truly could read the room, I wish he had stayed to help.

“So shameless… Forcing senpai to call out your name… How utterly shameless of you as a woman.”

“We agreed, didn’t we? Nobody would say a word until someone’s name was called. I was holding back so much, and yet… Hey, why’d you cheat?”

“Mina, I can’t defend you on this one. We’re going to have a talk later.”

Fiona, Noel, and Elle fired off criticisms at Mina one after another, leaving her looking flustered as she stood up in protest.

“No, hold on! He called out to that fishing rod first, didn’t he?!”

Exactly. I called out to Mar-chan, didn’t I? Why is everyone acting like that didn’t happen? What do you all think of my partner?

“……………Trash.”

Sierra spoke in a cold voice.

For a moment, I thought she was addressing me, and my heart skipped a beat. However, her gaze was fixed on Mina. It didn’t seem like she was calling Mar-chan trash, at least.

That said, if she was calling Mina trash, that’s still a serious problem in itself.

“Mina-sama…”

“W-What…?”

Sophie, who was sitting close to Elle, stared intently at Mina and spoke in a calm, quiet voice.

Mina swallowed hard, visibly uneasy.

“Tererere~…”

“That’s enough of that already!”

For some reason, Sophie started humming a strange melody, only for Mina to stomp her foot on the tatami and interrupt her.

As their noisy back-and-forth continued, I turned to speak to the Manager, who had been smiling at me the entire time.

“Manager.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“I’m quitting.”

“Nope. I’ll never let you go.”

Damn it.

I tried to sneak that in during the chaos, but she responded with a terrifying smile. How am I supposed to quit this job? My life might be doomed.

But, well…

“Noil…”

I doubt I’ll ever regret reeling in the Sealed Soul Orb.

When I looked at her—Noil—who had been glancing at me with tearful eyes, I couldn’t help but think from the bottom of my heart that it was worth it.

“Tesea, how’s the situation outside?”

“…!”

As if she couldn’t hold back anymore, Tesea suddenly leapt into my chest.

It hurt—a lot. My body was in terrible shape.

My body, which had been pushed to its limits, cried out in pain from the impact, but there was no way I was going to collapse or cry out in front of everyone. I’m a cool guy who knows how to read the room.

I gritted my teeth and tried to smile calmly, but the Manager was barely suppressing her laughter, so I was probably failing miserably. I must’ve looked ridiculous. Later, I’ll make her eat something spicy to get back at her.

“Thank you…!”

But since Tesea didn’t seem to notice my struggle, I decided to let it go.

As sweat trickled down my forehead, I gently patted her head.

“Onii-chan…!”

I couldn’t help but wonder what was up with the whole “Onii-chan” thing.

◇

One day, I woke up to find I had gained a little sister.

I doubt there are many people in the world who’ve had such an experience.

While I was asleep, Tesea somehow became a member of the Arlens family. I have no idea how it happened, but it did.

However, while it was surprising, I had no complaints or objections. I had always thought of Tesea as a younger sister, and in truth, she really is Sierra’s sibling.

I had considered what Tesea’s status would be after leaving the Floating City Pharmament. If she was fine with this arrangement, then there was no issue.

When I asked Sierra if she had explained things to Father, she replied indifferently that she had forgotten to send the letter. Since it clearly wasn’t something one forgets, she probably didn’t care much. If I left it to Sierra, the letter would likely never be sent, so I decided to do it myself.

Well, explaining things to Father could be done casually. He would probably laugh uproariously and accept it without issue. Perhaps this was a good opportunity to write him a letter for the first time in what felt like forever.

As for how long I had been asleep this time—it was apparently about ten days. A new record.

Considering how much I had overexerted myself, it wasn’t surprising. And with that much time having passed, by the time I woke up, all the post-incident cleanup had already been completed. How wonderful.

First, regarding the Floating City, it had completely disappeared. Everything stored inside it—divine artifacts, journals, everything—was gone.

Even the white cloth that Tesea and Alice had worn and the small airship we used to escape vanished over time.

For that, I couldn’t help but feel apologetic toward its creator. If possible, I would have liked to preserve it as proof of his life—but no, let’s not dwell on that.

It might seem selfish, but I truly believe the Floating City’s disappearance was for the best.

For Tesea, especially, it was undoubtedly the best outcome.

So, I choose to believe that this was the right decision.

Moreover, his legacy still remains in the world. While the items in the Floating City are gone, the Soul Orb series is occasionally discovered across various regions.

Perhaps the divine artifacts are manifestations of strong residual thoughts from humanity’s past—someone’s deep desire for them to be used. Just like the Creators, he might have felt regret that the Soul Orb series didn’t gain much popularity.

Maybe that’s why, once they come into someone’s possession, they no longer vanish.

If so, the divine artifacts found today might be those that were underutilized in the past or never had the chance to fully function. But that’s just my amateur speculation. I have no intention of studying the mysteries of divine artifacts—nor do I have the intellect for it. That’s a task for researchers to solve someday. Probably.

Speaking of which, there was one thing we managed to bring back from the Floating City.

A single page left behind by Lilia.

Despite everything else disappearing, Tesea has been carefully preserving that one page.

It made me think that human emotions might be far stronger than we give them credit for.

The news of the Floating City’s disappearance spread across the world in no time.

For some reason, though, the story became that it was accomplished through a large-scale operation led by Elist.

The narrative claimed that Spirit Wind spearheaded the effort, gathering elites to bring it down.

Nowhere in that tale were White Road or Tesea mentioned.

It was as if our existence had been deliberately erased.

The truth had been twisted to suit us so perfectly that it felt almost unnatural.

I wondered if Elle had taken it upon herself to handle the situation, so I asked her. She responded with a faint, tired smile and said, “Who knows how it ended up like that?”

There was no hint of deceit or evasion in her demeanor, and there was no reason for Elle to lie. It seemed even she didn’t know the truth.

If Elle wasn’t behind it, the next suspect would be the Manager—but there’s no way she could orchestrate something this significant. At least, I’d like to think it’s impossible. No, it must be impossible.

After all, the Manager is human too.

For a moment, I considered Alice, but if it had been her, she would have undoubtedly taken all the credit for herself.

So, in the end, I truly have no idea.

One thing I do know is that it’s best not to dig any deeper into this matter.

My instincts were screaming at me to stay out of it.

Pursuing this would undoubtedly lead to trouble—trouble so unpleasant that even my cursed instincts recoiled at the thought.

If the situation is convenient for us, there’s no problem.

I decided to follow my instincts.

Everyone was safe, and we could continue our lives as usual. That was enough.

Well…to be precise, Alice wasn’t entirely unscathed.

She had fallen ill and was bedridden.

As a frail Creator, she had pushed herself far too hard and ended up with a fever due to the strain.

According to Elle, her life wasn’t in danger, but I couldn’t help but worry a little.

When I suggested visiting her, Elle strongly insisted, “That won’t be necessary. I’ll pass along your regards.” So, I left Alice in Elle’s care.

Alice will probably be fine, but for her to be bedridden longer than me—it must be tough being a Creator.

Next time we meet, I’ll thank her for her efforts—without letting her get too full of herself.

Anyway, everything was already resolved by the time I woke up. This major incident, which began with my abduction, had come to an end.

Frankly, I don’t want to do anything else for now. I’m taking a break. Absolutely.

Ah, there was one last thing to do—show Tesea around the capital.

We’ll go around enjoying delicious food, and as the fashion leader I am, I’ll help her pick out some clothes. That’s the final task.

Or rather, calling it a “task” might be inaccurate since I’m looking forward to it too. I’ll bring Sierra along as well.

But before that—

I lifted the mug of ale that had been placed in front of me.

For now, it’s time to continue where we left off.

The welcome party for Sierra, which had been ruined before.

And now, it’s also a welcome party for Tesea.

The venue, of course, is our Sumibitotei.

Unfortunately, Master is still missing, but this time Letto-kun and Kreis joined us. Well, I sort of dragged them here.

It seems the place had been reserved just for us. There were no other customers in the store. I don’t know how much was paid to arrange this, but it had all been prepared during the few days I spent resting after waking up.

Well, it’s the Manager’s money, so that’s fine. Or maybe it was Elle’s money.

Either way, I didn’t pay a single lens, so I don’t know. I also have no idea what kind of deal they made with the restaurant owner. But he welcomed us warmly. Probably.

I’ll just choose to believe that.

I glanced at Sierra and Tesea, seated beside me.

One sister with an expressionless face and the other with a beaming smile.

“Cheers!”

And with the Manager’s voice, we clinked our glasses together.