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Axel seemed oddly proud of being called “sensitive,” letting out a small, smug cough. But his expression quickly darkened as he looked down, avoiding my gaze.

“I always thought there was another culprit,” he said quietly. “I never imagined you were dead, though… but then again, neither did ‘those guys.’”

He didn’t need to specify who “those guys” were—I knew exactly who he meant. The only people who might have stood by me, who had no family and was alone in the world, were the other members of the expedition that defeated the Mad Dragon.

“Then we should contact them right away—”

“No.”

Axel cut me off abruptly, shrugging his shoulders.

“If you want to do that, do it yourself.”

“…How? You just told me not to use magic.”

“That’s your problem to solve.”

“Why are you so difficult now, even more than before…?”

Wasn’t this supposed to be a somewhat touching reunion after all this time? Why the sudden change in attitude?

“Who told you to go to the battle site alone and get caught up in all this? You should have contacted us when you first noticed something strange. If we had gone together, none of this would have happened.”

Axel stood up from his seat, looking at me with a blank expression as I blinked at him in disbelief.

“You’re a black mage who loves to do things alone, so handle this on your own as well.”

Having said his piece, Axel turned to leave the room without looking back. In the past, I wouldn’t have cared if Axel left or not, but now, I desperately needed his help. In this child’s body, I couldn’t even write a proper letter.

“Hey! How am I supposed to do this alone?”

I quickly ran after him. But with his long strides, I had to practically jog to keep up, which inevitably led to disaster.

“Whoops!”

My short legs got tangled up, and I went crashing forward. The loud thud as I hit the floor was more embarrassing than painful, and my face flushed with humiliation. I scrambled to get back up before Axel could see, but the look on his wide eyes told me he had witnessed the whole thing.

And then, I felt something trickling down my nose. I wiped it with my hand and saw it smeared with red.

“Oh… a nosebleed…”

Even as I muttered in confusion, blood continued to pour from my nose. I instinctively moved to pinch my nose to stop the bleeding, but before I could, a rush of wind brought a blur of white into my vision. I quickly realized the white was Axel’s shirt.

Just as I registered this, Axel took off his coat and wrapped it around his hand, pressing it firmly against my nose.

‘I can’t breathe!’

I instinctively started breathing through my mouth, staring at Axel as I did. His focus, however, was entirely on my nose, determined to stop the bleeding. His golden hair fell softly over his forehead, brushing against mine and tickling me.

As I reached up to rub my forehead, Axel, without breaking his focus, issued a stern warning.

“You’ve got blood all over your forehead too.”

“Gasp.”  

It hit me—my hands were covered in blood! I froze in panic, and Axel, amused by my reaction, let out a quiet laugh.

“Even after dying and coming back to life, some things never change.”

“And you’ve only gotten more ill-tempered with age.”

My voice came out nasally because of how tightly he was pinching my nose. The first time I met the members of the expedition, I was 16 years old. We spent three years together hunting the Mad Dragon, and then another eight years had passed since then. So this guy, who was the same age as Greslin, had aged quite a bit too.

‘He must be 27 now.’

Seeing him as an adult felt a bit strange. We hadn’t seen each other at all after defeating the Mad Dragon, so there was a noticeable difference between the Axel in my memory and the one standing before me now.

Noticing my gaze, Axel cleared his throat and roughly wiped the blood from my forehead.

“It’s not possible to contact them right now.”

“Huh?”

“I’m talking about the others from the expedition. Servian is in the Red Desert looking for materials. We probably won’t be able to reach him for at least three months.”

“And Bael?”

Since Bael was the one who had recognized me as the Saint, getting in touch with him seemed crucial.

“Bael entered a hundred-day prayer ritual two months ago. He won’t be available for another month.”

During such rituals, priests shut themselves away in the temple, completely cut off from the outside world, so there was no way to contact him.

“And Kirke…”

As soon as Axel mentioned Kirke, I shook my head.

“We’re not contacting him. It wouldn’t do any good.”

“Well…”  

Axel trailed off, agreeing with my assessment. After the Mad Dragon was defeated, Kirke’s father, the emperor at the time, abdicated the throne to him. The emperor had promised to hand over the throne if Kirke succeeded in slaying the dragon, but the truth was, the emperor hadn’t expected the expedition to succeed.

The expedition had been made up entirely of teenagers. Axel and I, at 16, were the youngest, while the oldest, the Spirit Sorcerer Servian, was only 19. The emperor had sent us off to battle the Mad Dragon, likely expecting us to fail and die in the process. It was a political maneuver to appease the public, who were criticizing the emperor for doing nothing while the dragon rampaged. Sending his beloved son, Kirke, was meant to show that the emperor was willing to make a sacrifice.

He had essentially sent Kirke to his death.

But against all odds, that ragtag group of teenagers managed to succeed.

When Kirke returned as a hero, the emperor was forced to hand over the throne, though it was clear he did so reluctantly. The emperor, still a vigorous man even after abdication, seemed determined to find any excuse to take the throne back from Kirke.

Involving someone with a bad reputation, like me, a black mage, would only harm Kirke in his current situation.

“So then…”

What was I supposed to do now? My plan to gather the old comrades and discuss how to deal with the Mad Dragon had fallen apart, leaving me feeling lost. I blinked at Axel, who finally let go of my nose and gave me a once-over. Fortunately, the bleeding had stopped.

“For now…”

“For now?” I echoed.

“Go get cleaned up. What in the world are you doing, looking like that?”

“…”

“And those rags you’re wearing—throw them out. It’s painful just to look at you like this.”

“…Hey, it’s your household that dressed me like this!”

I snapped back, feeling indignant, but Axel, surprisingly, didn’t argue. Instead, he nodded in agreement.

“True. That’s also my responsibility. As my ‘sister,’ it’s my duty to ensure you’re properly attired to match the dignity of the Elpinard name.”

“S-sister?”

“Why? That’s what you are, isn’t it? Or am I wrong?”

Legally, he was right. But hearing Axel casually refer to me as his sister was so unexpected that I was left gaping in shock.

“As your ‘brother,’ I’ll make sure you uphold the family’s honor.”

“B-brother…”

I couldn’t even finish the word. Just imagining myself referring to Axel as “brother” made my skin crawl.

“Don’t bother. It’s ominous. I’ll just stay scruffy.”

“That won’t do.”

Axel gave me one of his rare, elegant smiles—the kind he only showed when he was plotting something—and handed me his coat.

“Use this to keep your nose from bleeding again.”

* * *

It seemed Axel’s orders were as swift as the wind. Soon after, three maids appeared and, with impeccable manners, began the task of cleaning me up. Normally, only one maid was assigned to take care of Reshia, but that maid was nowhere to be seen now.