“Dear brother, I would like to ask you a few questions…”
I knocked and entered my brother’s room. He was inside, taking some medicine.
“Ah, dear brother… Is that potion…?”
I didn’t expect my brother to be…
I couldn’t get rid of the unpleasant feeling in my heart.
“Oh, this? This potion temporarily amplifies magic power. It was given to me by the Dark Guild.”
Does that mean my brother…?
As if he had no ill will, he began to brag about the efficacy of the medicine.
Who is this person talking to me in front of me right now?
I seriously think about that.
I don’t understand why my brother would take something like that.
That’s why I can’t connect my brother and such medicine in my mind to the point that I am not sure if the person in front of me is really my brother or not.
“Why would my dear brother take such a thing…?”
“Such a thing? Such a thing, you say?
“D-dear brother…?”
I asked him why he was using that medicine, and his expression, which had been so good-humoured until a moment ago, turned to anger.
“How can you, a genius, know what I feel? You, who can bloom icy flowers without medicine, don’t know what it’s like to have no talent, do you?”
“That’s not…”
“I’m the eldest son, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t make a single ice flower bloom without medicine! So why are you so much more talented than me when you don’t have to take over the family? That’s crazy! Why does it have to be you and not me?”
“B-brother!”
“Ah… Sorry. I’m sorry, I’m so distraught. But you understand how I feel, don’t you?”
“…”
I couldn’t say a word back to my brother, who asked me.
◆
“So, may I ask why you called me here? I’d like to get back to my master as soon as possible, so I’d appreciate it if you hurry up.”
I had been thinking about what I should do alone since then, but several days passed without finding any answers, and I found myself clutching at straws as I called Bridgette to the back of the school building, where no one was around.
“B-Bridgette-san, can you exercise the magic of ice magic called [Blossom Frost]?”
“Ah, that one. I saw the master use it the other day, and he taught me.”
Saying that, Bridgette-san made a few ice flowers bloom without chanting.
“I still can’t do as much as the master did back then, though. It may be shabby after witnessing his magic, so ten concurrent ones are the limit for now… If this is what you wanted to hear, may I go now?”