Ch. 20
Chapter 20. Isn't Protecting One's Sister Just the Natural Order of Things!
What a... pathetic mage.
Where has all your so-called honor as a mage gone?
Looking at the shameless girl before him, Yan could hardly connect her with the angelic figure he'd just seen a moment ago.
In this corner of the library, where radiant light and towering bookshelves intertwined like a piece of art, the other party had truly brought out tea and snacks to entertain them.
So Yan, Giselle, Restia, and Cidy sat around the table together, sipping tea.
Cidy's cute little nose twitched. She cleared her throat with a deliberate ahem, as if resetting herself.
"Mmhm—well then, I won't tease you anymore. The reason I invited you here wasn't to punish you, actually!"
She smiled at them with that "surprised? bet you didn't expect that!" kind of look.
And yet—
"I knew it."
Yan said flatly, wearing a face that screamed You're way too easy to read.
Beside him, Giselle and Restia froze.
Wait—
‘Weren't we brought here to be punished?!’
The two girls clearly hadn't realized Cidy's real intention at all.
"Eh... what kind of tone is that! Don't tell me my 'plans' were really that obvious?"
Cidy looked at Yan with a hurt expression, a little aggrieved.
She honestly thought she had been hiding it well—keeping up the “dignity” and “aura” of a strong mage. 【Completely oblivious】
Why was it that this brat, who didn't even look that old, showed not the slightest bit of fear?
Wasn't a normal child supposed to tremble in terror before her "authority"?
"If you don't get to the point, we really will leave."
Yan said, sounding bored.
"W-wait! Wait, I was wrong! I admit it, okay? Just don't go!!"
Cidy panicked instantly.
Though undeniably powerful, she wasn't some malicious villain.
If she wanted, she could have just forced Yan into submission—
But because she held true to her principles, she kept suffering loss after loss before him. At this moment, Cidy suddenly felt like she must have owed this boy an enormous debt in a past life.
Why else would she be stuck putting up with that gloomy face of his?! Aaaaaahhh!
On the outside, she smiled sweetly. Inside, she'd already cursed "MMP" more times than she could count.
Yan, whose body was already half-risen from his chair, sat back down again.
The corner of his lips curved ever so slightly—before vanishing a heartbeat later, as though it had never been there. Not a single flaw left behind.
The truth was, he'd never actually intended to walk out. He'd only been probing, testing where her limits lay.
And since she was willing to tolerate this much from him—!
It made Yan even more cautious, but at the same time, it put to rest his worries about personal safety.
It seemed that on him—or rather, on them—there was indeed something she very much desired.
Unconsciously, Yan had already pieced together most of her intentions. Step by step, he was closing in on the “truth”.
As their exchange went on, the flow of the conversation gradually shifted toward Yan's rhythm.
"Phew~! Enough about my own business. Even if that's important to me, what you did back in the village—using magic recklessly—that is something that needs to be addressed."
Cidy suddenly said with uncharacteristic seriousness.
Her face tightened, her voice taking on the tone of an elder admonishing the younger generation.
At once, Giselle and Restia's faces stiffened nervously.
—Wait. Didn't she just say she wasn't going to punish us?!
"Magic isn't meant to be used against your companions. I want you to remember that. Both of you are geniuses with talent far beyond the norm. I don't want to see you lose yourselves in power and stray down the wrong path."
Cidy raised a finger sternly, her mind drifting back to her own days of study.
If not for meeting her “teacher” back then... perhaps she would have been completely consumed by her own "hatred."
Her young face carried a faint trace of sorrow. To reach the seventh tier, to become a Saint Magus at such a young age—her life had truly been one of real “hardship and tribulation”.
Yan's eyes widened just slightly.
... He could tell. This girl was genuinely admonishing them from the heart.
‘Magic isn't meant to be used against your companions.’
Yan thought to himself.
He didn't really know what the personalities of famous mages in this world were supposed to be like.
But the girl before him—at least as a mage, her character was something he could respect.
"As long as those brats don't come looking for trouble again, I've no interest in 'playing around' with them."
Yan said calmly.
He knew the girl was deliberately steering the conversation, trying to wrest back control.
But since her attitude wasn't bad, he chose not to expose her.
After all—
He wasn't some 'devil.'
"Just playing around, huh...? You really are strange. You don't look that old yourself, but you act like you're the same age as me—and you don't show the slightest bit of fear."
Cidy looked at him curiously.
Whether it was the 'magic' she had just displayed, or the pressure she had unleashed, even adults with some backbone would've been shaken.
But this black-haired boy wasn't.
If she hadn't confirmed that his soul and body matched perfectly, she might have suspected some 'ancient monster' had possessed this child's body.
A dangerous glint flashed in Cidy's eyes—!
Hmph. If it really had been some old monster, she certainly wouldn't be standing here all cheerful and friendly.
"You really are amazing, though! To stand alone against so many “Conjurer” descendants. But why didn't you run? I saw it, you know. You took quite a few punches back then."
Cidy asked brightly, curiosity shining in her smile.
Yan drew in a long breath. The amount of information hidden in her words was enormous.
So... she had been watching when he clashed with those people.
But from when?
The only thing he could be sure of was that she must have been observing from afar. If she'd been hiding on the scene itself, the 【Simulated Star-Creation Map】 would never have failed to react.
Suddenly, a faint smile crossed Yan's face. "Hah? If you're asking why—"
Though the smile looked pure, something about it made Cidy's heart skip, as though she could sense a trace of ridicule.
"Running away all the time doesn't earn anyone's gratitude. The strong bullying the weak—that instinct has long been carved into our very bones as humans. Admit it. It's the flaw most people share.
Because you're weak, you run. Because you're weak, you cower in the corner, trembling and crying. But if that's all you do—unable to act, afraid to try anything—how is that any different from livestock?"
With words so sharp, he stripped bare the truth of the world itself.
Cidy's body trembled.
The boy didn't deny the flaw of human nature. He didn't even deny that the same weakness might exist within himself.
But it was precisely because of such flaws—because humans carried with them joy, anger, sorrow, and laughter—that they were alive.
"But you'll end up battered and scarred that way. That time... it was for Giselle's sake, wasn't it? I saw it with my own eyes. Even when you had plenty of chances to dodge, you still charged forward to protect your sister. It was... very admirable."
Cidy's lips curved into a gentle smile, her gaze serious as she affirmed him.
At that moment, the girl suddenly looked... reliable.
Her words of encouragement left Yan quietly surprised.
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(T/N): MMP stands for “mā mā pī” or “mā mā pào” — which literally means “your mother’s…” and is used like “f* your mother”** in English.