During the nearly two-year-long journey, when did Airn feel the most comfortable?
There was nothing to think about. It was when he was coming from Durkali to the central part of the continent.
When he first went out on the journey, he was nervous because everything was new, but after Judith and Bratt joined, it became fun and crazy.
And they also had Kuvar, who would make sure that they weren’t uncomfortable.
On the other hand, when it was just Lulu, Ilya, and him too, it wasn't weird because Airn slowly learned stuff.
Why?
‘Well…’
Airn glanced to the side.
He was smiling slightly.
However, now someone whose feelings and thoughts he couldn’t comprehend was walking next to him.
‘I am so nervous.’
He smiled as he met eyes with his sister. It was strange. When he went with Ilya, the atmosphere wasn’t the same as now.
It was more comfortable and relaxing. That is, of course, apart from the fact that she was concerned with Ignet.
However, even when they were just walking now, he was strangely on alert with Kirill.
It felt like he would have to bring up some topic to avoid such an atmosphere.
“…”
Lulu, who was usually the mood maker in such situations, was also silent now. Of course, Airn understood it. Considering the personality of his younger sister, it was better for Lulu to be cautious.
But in that case, it was entirely up to Airn to loosen up this atmosphere….
“Brother.”
“Huh?”
“Did that necklace change?”
“Hm-necklace? Ah!”
Flustered by her sudden question, Irene took it out from his backpack.
It was the necklace that Kirill gave to him before the subjugation. However, it wasn't as good as before. The moment he faced the clown, it shattered, unable to stand the strong magi.
For that reason, Airn was currently wearing the necklace of five spirits that he received from Tarakan.
“Hm, I see.”
"Sorry. It was a gift you gave me, but I treated it too harshly…”
“No. it wasn’t something else but that devil. Rather, it is great that you are healthy and unhurt.”
“Thank you, Kirill.”
“Still, it is unfortunate. I wish you had told me first.”
“…”
“Honestly, I wanted you to tell me about it since I came to Rabat, so I waited for a while. I thought it would have been better if you mentioned it first."
Airn, who felt embarrassed, tried to take off the necklace of five spirits.
However, Kirill shook her head.
“No, it suits you. Keep it on…it is fine.”
“Huh? Ah….”
"I am not just saying it. I like the unusual design, and I have a feeling that it will be more helpful to my brother than the other thing."
“Re-really?”
“Yes, truly.”
“I see.”
Airn nodded his head.
Lulu and his younger sister said the same thing. If the two sorcerers were saying it, then it had to be good.
Once again, the necklace felt more mysterious.
However, he couldn’t stay immersed in his thoughts.
Swosh!
Kwak!
“Kirill?”
“Uh? Griffin? Why?”
Seeing his sister who suddenly summoned the Griffin, Lulu and Airn were perplexed.
It was only a day ago that she said that she wanted to take a leisure trip.
And especially since the city was nearing, there was no need to summon it now.
It was clear that this would only draw other people’s attention.
However, Kirill’s subsequent words answered Airn’s thoughts.
"Even if we go leisurely when traveling, we should be as glamorous as possible when entering the city."
“Huh? Why?”
“Those people have such a level of ability? Is what we need to show to the people to keep them at a length from us. To avoid unnecessary arguing.” 1
“…”
“Why? Is it not so?”
“T-that, Kirill.”
Airn was desperately trying to dissuade his younger sister.
Now he himself was a veteran mercenary and traveler. He was going to find a place to stay and not worry about other things, and he would try to find a good restaurant with a good atmosphere.
Airn was sure that he would be able to handle it, even if an argument broke out this time.
“Hm, what?”
Whhh-
After listening to her brother with a strict expression on her face, Kirill reverse summoned the Griffin.
And she moved ahead with the words, 'I will trust you.'
Looking at her back, Airn sighed. Lulu patted on his shoulder.
‘She has really changed.’
Still, it wasn’t that he didn’t like it. Rather, it was a different kind of fun than when he moved with his friends.
Airn, holding Lulu in his arms, followed Kirill.
‘I don’t like it.’
Kirill Pareira, a disciple of great sorcerer Skina Keaton, made everyone uncomfortable.
And the reason for that was her brother.
It wasn’t a big deal.
Perhaps it was an exaggeration to call him a veteran traveler, but Airn led the party more smoothly than she had expected.
However, there were little things in the middle.
Like apologizing to the guy who bumped his shoulder first.
And another thing that happened was that even though the food delivered was changed due to the store's mistake; he said it didn't matter.
Of course, she knew that this was her brother’s personality.
However, from Kirill’s point of view.
As a woman who kept seeing her brother suffer since childhood, the current situation was irritating.
‘Is my personality right?’
She didn’t pressure others because she was capable or strong.
She just made sure that other people didn’t offend her. It was like that even when her brother went out for the first time.
As she looked at the eldest son of Pareira, who didn't change despite all this time, she felt relieved, but along with that, she also felt her stomach boiling in rage.
'I should hold it in, though.'
Kirill controlled herself.
She knew.
It wasn't easy to change a person's innate nature and that her brother was doing his best.
Most of all, he was trying to match Kirill’s mood.
In such a situation, she couldn’t say that she didn't like it. Unlike before, she was now an adult, and so was he.
But.
“Can I join you?”
“…”
One of the vulgar men at the table next to them spoke to Kirill, which didn't appease her.
“I don’t remember telling you to join.”
“Haha. Sorry. But there is no plac…”
“I am with a companion. He went to the washroom.”
“Isn’t taking one seat fine then?”
“His seat was the one where you are sitting.”
"Uh? You speak rudely, but it is so attractive. Lady, can I know your name? Ah, I am…"
The white-skinned man introduced himself. And then he introduced his family.
Kirill, who looked at him, thought.
‘We should have just made our entrance on the Griffin!’
She remembered when she was in the Cesar Duchy.
While her older brother was in trauma after what happened, she was also restrained because of it. She was the only disciple of a famous Sorcerer. Yet, despite having such a great teacher, there was always ridicule that was directed at her.
Back then, in order to get her brother out of that sorcery barrier, she didn't care about their words.
‘Not anymore.’
Two years ago, her brother broke the barrier on his own.
Not just that, he was reborn as a more reliable figure than anyone else. And his swordsmanship had grown to a point where sorcery seemed like an added bonus.
It was bittersweet that he didn’t need her help, but a great sense of joy awakened in Kirill.
She couldn’t hold back any longer.
There was no need for it.
It didn’t matter if she was going to kick people and pay them back twice for what they made her go through! Not anymore.
As soon as she returned to Cesar Duchy, she taught a lesson to the people who insulted her and shut them up, and Skina Keaton loved that part of her.
And as time passed, she was now an adult.
There was no one who could flirt with Kirill in Cesar Duchy.
‘Despite enduring this much, I still need to face this?’
Crack.
The corner of the wooden chair was ripped. Because Kirill’s grip was enhanced with sorcery.
The anger and irritation she had been holding back since the start of the day made her power stronger. Lulu thought that an earthquake was happening.
“Yah! Run!”
“Huh? The cat is speaki…”
Lulu warned the man, but the man didn’t care.
He felt intrigued that a cat could talk, and he also wanted to speak about the cuteness of this blonde woman who seemed angry but held back.
He was in a situation where he couldn’t hear anything around him. He liked it.
A thrill that only those on the top could enjoy!
It was the moment when the drunken man raised his hand for a drink.
Thup!
“Uh?”
Swosh!
A blonde young man appeared from nowhere and took the man's hand. And quickly pulled him out of the store.
“Uhhh?”
“How dare that bastard take away our young master like that?”
The escorts who were a little further, moved. Some who knew the man’s background, clicked their tongues.
The stories of this bastard creating trouble every day was no longer new news to them.
However, after a while, the young master came in with a meek attitude and uttered words completely different from what the local people thought would happen.
“Sorry!”
“…”
“I won't bother you anymore and will disappear!”
“I am sorry!”
“Sorry!”
The man and the escorts disappeared after those words.
In the midst of the silence, Airn returned to the table and said to Kirill.
“Sorry. I should have come sooner, but I hesitated and then stop…”
“…”
“Since I spoke to them, they won’t bother you anymore… Uh? Kirill?”
“… I need some fresh air.”
“T-that…”
“I am not chasing after them, so don’t worry; I just want air.”
Saying that, Kirill Pareira left the place.
Airn, who watched her, asked Lulu.
“Did I do something wrong? Should I have come sooner?”
“Don’t know…”
The black cat shook her head. Even Lulu, who was an excellent sorcerer, couldn't understand Kirill.
Airn sighed. Because he knew what she was like.
Also, apart from that, he didn't like that man's behavior, so he ended up threatening him to an extent that wasn't usual.
However, those were just his thoughts and not Kirill’s.
It was when Airn, who was worried, got up.
“For now, I, I will go.”
“Will you be fine, alone?”
“Yes. I like Airn and Kirill. And I hate fights. I’ll take a good look and relieve Kirill’s mood and come back!”
Saying those words, Lulu walked out. And then quickly walked to the alley where Kirill’s scent lingered.
However, as she got closer, her speed reduced.
Before turning into the alley, Lulu tried to puff up her chest and make herself seem confident.
Good, now enter.
Was what she made up in her mind.
Whoo!
Kirill suddenly approached and hugged Lulu.
“Lulu.”
“Uh? Uhu? Ah?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?’
“W-what?”
“About my brother.”
Phew, after taking a breath and exhaling, Kirill burst into a smile she had been holding back.
“Why didn’t you tell me that he turned so cool?”
“….”
“Uh? Really? For real, huh? Why didn't you tell me? Lulu!"
Lulu opened her mouth with a blank face. She was a cat who spoke the human language, but she wasn't a human, so she couldn't tell what was happening now.
But Kirill didn’t care.
She recalled what her brother just did, and all of his actions on their way here.
‘I never thought he could do something like that.’
The brother in Kirill’s memory was kind and good.
But more than that, most of the time she had known him, he was in deep depression and seemed empty most of the time, so she had always felt that he was just something that she had to protect.
Sigh, she exhaled and hugged Lulu more strongly.
"Lulu, Lulu, Lulu! Tell me about all the things which happened while you were traveling!"
“Kuak, cough, let me go, Kirill…”
“Okay, are you good now? Now…will you tell me everything tonight?”
“Didn’t I tell them to you last time?”
“Tell me again. It seems like there aren’t a lot of things I heard; there could have been things you missed, right?"
“Ah, okay.”
Lulu nodded impatiently.
It was a much better development than she had expected, but she knew that tonight was going to be tiresome.
“Phew.”
After dinner with his younger sister, who seemed more blunt than usual, he took a night walk, and Airn went to his room and fell into thought.
He wasn't worried about his sister. Because Lulu said that Kirill was fine. It looked like she was hiding something, but it was not something that he had to worry about.
“Phew.”
Airn exhaled and closed his eyes.
And then, at some moment, he remembered the advice Joshua Lindsay gave him.
‘Be careful not to get caught up in the flames of Ignet.’
Right.
Airn who mumbled that recalled all the rumors.
Ignet Crescentia, who had a sun-like momentum, makes those who aren't in their right minds bow to her, and her fire spreads in the hearts of those who think they are equal to her.
And the moment that illusion breaks, one would realize. The fact that the flame that had spread all over the body, was just making them suffer.
‘Basically, it meant there was no talent comparable to Ignet on the continent.’
But he didn’t agree with it.
And that thought wasn’t based on himself.
Ilya, Bratt, and Judith. He thought everyone who had been with him till now was talented enough.
However, he knew what Joshua meant.
Hadn’t he seen it himself?
The image of Ilya, who was engulfed in the flames of impatience while chasing after Ignet.
'… perhaps, her brother, Carl Lindsay, had been the same too.’
Thinking, Airn shook his head. He had to focus on himself.
‘How am I currently?’
Airn’s spirit was hotter than before.
The spirit of improvement, struggle, and belief that had suddenly blossomed made his heart burn.
When asked if it was a bad choice, Airn would shake his head.
Compared to the days when he was a prospective trainee who wielded the sword like a puppet and with a cold heart, he felt that he was much, much better now.
‘But… it is also true that the flame is getting hot.’
Airn recalled some of his relationships from the past.
Charlotte, Victor, and Grayson.
Not all of them would have been that way in the first place. They would have developed themselves through a healthy flame and mind.
However, there was a high possibility that the spark of impatience had popped up, and their emotions of self-doubt had destroyed them.
After all, a decent spark wasn’t a bad thing.
The strong energy of metal was a problem.
The energy of fire, too, is a problem if it is too strong.
And that is the most important part.
In other words, what he had to pursue now was to make sure that the fire in his heart didn’t go out of control…
‘It is about taking care of myself.’
If so, how was he supposed to control the fire?
How should he extinguish the fire which could destroy him? How should he restore the balance and nurture the healthy flame?
He didn’t know what it was before, but now he knew.
“Through water.”
Airn, who mumbled that, followed the teachings of the Five Spirits Divine technique.
Keep them at a length – This basically means to not let people get close to them or to maintain a distance emotionally as well as physically with people.↩
