Chapter 144: Tag

While Selena proudly puffed out her chest and all, I have a lot of questions for her now. The terms [Creation] and [One that Produces]. Selena said she was the [One that Produces]. Just from how it sounds, then the one that fabricates? Since [Dream Fabrication] is named that way, I might not be that wrong.

Still, my questions were unable to reach her.

「Um, you……」 「Selena! I finally found you!」 「Ah, Jason! 」 「Don’t “Ah” me! Forgive us for the trouble. Come on, class is going to start soon, let’s go.」 「Mmm, I don’t really need them though…… Bye, big sis! See you later!」 「Ah……」

Just when I was about to ask her, what seems to be a boy from class D took off with her. And before I could try following them, the earth attribute professor immediately arrived after and, as the boy stated, the classes quickly started.

Thanks to this, I ended up attending class while still preoccupied, causing the professor to be then annoyed by this. Completely locked onto me, he had the nerve to maliciously ask me for the method to make autumn flowers bloom in this season of spring, so I then filled the still empty crop field with some flowers similar to dahlias and pansies in full blossom, but I’m not to blame.

After class, I went to find Selena and that boy Jason that dragged her away as they seem to have attended the same class, but I couldn’t find them anywhere. With that being the case, I tried visiting class D’s classroom, but even there Selena was still nowhere to be found. Just as I was thinking of what to do, the boy called out to me.

「Umm, you are Miss Lily, right?」 「Yes, that’s right. And you are Mr. Jason, correct?」 「Yup, as you say. Here, this is from Selena.」 「A letter? For me?」

With how Selena was back then, I never imagined her to be the type to make use of something as roundabout as a letter. For now, I’m pretty curious about what’s written, so I thanked Jason and opened the letter on the spot.

『To my beloved big sis, I skipped class to play with you. There’s a lot I want to do, but let’s start with playing tag! From Selena.』

Seeing this short message, I ended up feeling exhausted. How should I say this… Skipping classes just to play with me? Are you really my little sister? I have absolutely no read on her. Or rather, “let’s start with playing tag”? Does she intend to play more?

「Um, this is……?」 「Hm? Ahh…… that’s just like her. She suddenly disappeared mid-class, so I hurried to find her, but that’s how it is, huh?」

As I asked Jason about this, it seems like Selena snuck out in the middle of class. By the time he returned to their classroom, Selena was there casually waiting for him, and left the letter for him to hand over to me if I came looking for her.

「Would you mind if I… ask about Selena? She calls me her big sis but, while I’m ashamed to say this, I was only made aware of her existence very recently…… 」 「Of course, if you’re fine with me. Ahh, forgive me for the late introduction. I’m Jason Porphyra Frazer. While I am of a purple peer household, as I’m a second son, barely have any authority. 」 「Thank you for the courtesy. My name is Lily. While I am treated as a guest magician of the Iglesio household, I am a red folk sorcerer, so please casually call me Lily.」

According to Jason, he found Selena collapsed and nursed her back to health. While he was born with a weak constitution, ever since Selena stayed with them, his body quickly became healthier, resulting in him being able to achieve his wish of attending this academy, something he almost gave up on.

Taking a little peep on Jason’s current health condition, it looks like he has a serious genetic issue, which causes a stagnation in the flow of life essence and is manifested in his body as his previous weak constitution. It’s likely that Selena sucking out his excess life essence cleared this stagnation and resulted in the improvement of his health.

「For me, she is my lifesaver. If she has any desires, I would gladly grant it to her. Even if it’s my own body, you see.」 「That’s…… I see.」

From how Jason said that, I’m sure that he knows what Selena and I, since I didn’t deny being her sister, really are. Unlike Urania and the people of the Iglesio household, I have no idea if I can trust this individual before me.

Still, somehow, I feel like Jason is someone I can trust. The fact that his life essence isn’t clad in unpleasant malice unique to people that are scheming about something should be enough to back this feeling of mine.

As something suddenly caught the corner of my eye, I look outside the window and see the girl I’m looking for, Selena, waving both of her hands at me. Out there is a small garden park with a hedge maze and there in the middle of this maze is Selena.

「Here I am! Come and get me!!」

Saying so, Selena runs inside the hedges. She really is seriously planning on playing tag with me. I’ve left Sola and Tebby to manage today’s training session. Lately, Hermie has caught up with them, so excluding me, the three of them are the top three. I’ve also told Urania to go back to the dorm ahead of us if she’s not training today. Because of that, I have a lot of time.

「Forgive me, Mr. Jason.」 「No, I’m glad to have chatted with you. Please go play with her.」

Jason might be something of a guardian to Selena. Probably like how Urania and the house of Iglesio are to me.

「Let’s have another chat sometime, a less rushed one this time.」 「Of course, I’ll be looking forward to it.」

I couldn’t be bothered to take the stairs down, so I put my foot on the window frame and jumped outside. Underwear? Can’t be seen. I’ve reproduced an absolute protection with magic.

「Haha, they really are sisters……」

Jason said so, somewhat taken aback, but I pretend not to hear it. If I stay as a modest young lady, I won’t be able to sufficiently handle this willful child.

「Ehh!? You can do that!?」 「You’re not going anywhere!!」

As I landed before the hedge maze’s exit in one go while she jumped out of the hedges only a short distance away from me, Selena yelled so. I chase down Selera who’s running at full speed with all I have, but the distance between us shows no sign of closing up at all. Rather, it just keeps on increasing.

「Come and catch me~! Ehehe~」 「W-wait!…… How far……! Are you… planning to go…..!」 「Who knows? Kyahahaha~!1」 「Ah, dammit all!」

Even as I’m dead exhausted, I continue chasing down Selena, my mirror image little sister. Unlike me who’s more of the brains-type2, it seems like Selena just loves to move around. Despite us having the same face and the same body build, Selena’s physical abilities are vastly greater than mine.

Of course, it’s a different story if I use magic, but I feel like I’ll lose if I do that. While it still doesn’t feel real to me, I somehow feel like, as the elder sister, I can’t allow myself to lose to this self-proclaimed little sister. Though this is just a case of us having a different specialty.

「Haah, haah…… Wait… a bit!」 「Eh~? I don’t wanna!」 「”I don’t wanna”?…… You little-!」

Why did it end up like this? I wonder to myself while pursuing her. Selena appears to be the type that acts on instinct, so she’s awfully free-willed. She acts on what she thinks and can move exactly the way she likes. The moment she entered the forest, her movements completely changed into something different. She can climb cliffs and jump from tree to tree, so without the use of magic, I don’t think that I can ever catch up to her.

Just as I was considering the use of magic, a tentacle suddenly ambushed me from my flank.

「!? A roper!?」

Why is a roper like the one we subjugated at the sacred mountain in this kind of place? At the very least, I’m sure that dangerous monsters such as ropers didn’t exist here back when I surveyed the area. This forest doesn’t have that much mana too, so it’s extremely unnatural for this monster to suddenly spawn here.

「Tsk!」

Before I could think, I quickly cast “Freeze”. I’ve already fought with this monster, so I already know how to handle it. Still, there’s not just one of them. 4, 5, no, there’s even more. I can’t trace their life essence, but I could never mistake their disgusting presence. These monsters suddenly appeared on the path where Selena ran through.

「Geez, what a pain……」

Now I have another thing I’ll have to ask of her. Still, getting rid of these ropers while chasing Selena is going to be extremely annoying. What to do.