Sword, Magic and Academic Society

"There’s a saying, \'What\'s a barbeque if it\'s not something you\'ve cooked yourself.\' Barbeque isn\'t just about taste, it’s something more precious than that."

And no, that something precious wasn\'t the heat regulation, but the grilling experience itself. —Alright, there was a plus, too. I could have them all engrossed in some unfamiliar task so that they would forget what they were talking about and I’d be able to shepherd the flow of conversation. Two birds— I mean, grilled meat with one skewer.

"Aw heck, there goes Allen and his Allen-ific words. More importantly, what do you think, oh-so beloved brother of senpai? Are you not bubbling with emotions after hearing the hidden side of the incident?" (Fey)

Well, to start with, why are you all making such faces as if you’ve just heard a top-tier drama? I don\'t think you need to look so moved. If that part already surprised them, would they bang their head after hearing how comical the true reason was?

We were talking about my sister after all. The game window would have just notified it like "Opponent irked Sis Rose" and "Sis Rose thrashed them like they were stress relievers".

"Well, comment is it?... Despite how it is for you, you really don\'t need to take the matter to heart at all, Furie-senpai. It\'s as simple as punching because their face demanded it. And she also didn\'t have any particular interest in the Royal Academy, so she just came back. Isn\'t that right, elder sister?"

I hurled a confirmative glance at my elder sister\'s way, who broke into a chuckle after hearing what I said.

"Ufufu. I knew we would be in sync, Allen-kun! There\'s nothing that you don\'t know about me~ It’s a real pickle, Fu-chan just doesn\'t want to accept the reasoning no matter what, you know~"

Hearing the conversation between me and my elder sister, Furie-senpai paused to look at us with wide eyes and then cackled in laughter, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Ahaha! I\'m glad I met you today, lil\' Len. Perhaps I can forgive myself even for a bit, with your words. Right, feel free to contact me if you\'re stuck somewhere with dynamic power concepts, magic tools, or magic engineering. I’ll definitely have time for you."

Then she winked and further added.

"But can you believe it? How can someone believe her when she goes on to say something like \'Dragreid\'s noble school is closer to home (viscount territory) so maybe Allen-kun will come to hang out with me or something, so that\'s lucky! Tee-hee~\' after casually giving up on the Royal Academy?"

"Goodness, you finally believe me!... Though Allen-kun never came to Dragreid… Anyway, so how do you girls see Allen-kun?"

"B-B-B-But you sure look closer than friends. Maybe, I hit the bullseye? And that there is someone special? Ohohoho."

And despite my efforts, the conversation still came back to where it started like a boomerang.

◆◆◆

"Wow, so belittling the Royal Academy runs in their blood… Like brother, like sister… You’ve really shown me a different side of the world. But I’m afraid to disappoint you, esteemed sister, Allen and I are just normal classmates. For now."

Fey\'s feline-like eyes shone as she hurled provocative glances at elder sister\'s way.

"I\'m also polishing myself to become someone special, venerated sister. Allen-san\'s first partner is going to be me, and that\'s absolute."

Jeu trailed after Fey, her gaze ablaze with a resolve that matched Fey\'s, as she delivered her statement straighter than the straightest pitch in a baseball game.

"You idiots?! What happened to your noble\'s etiquette of reserved speaki—"

I jumped in to shut them up, but elder sister\'s rocker punch was already hurling in my direction. I hurriedly used my body-strengthening magic, but it couldn\'t stop the blood from spraying out.

Damn, I still couldn\'t sense when the heck she channeled her mana.

“Strange, you should have been able to stop this one, right, Allen-kun? Ah, don\'t tell me you\'re so infatuated with them that you did it without thinking. I knew I couldn\'t believe in you. Anyway, I\'m going to have a girl\'s only chat, so keep quiet and wait here for a while.”

Elder sister left behind these words and invited the two inside the house. But then, they suddenly came to a halt at the entrance because—

“It sure reeks here… Just what kind of research can result in such a rotten smell?”

Fey muttered while pinching her nose. I sighed.

“Because it isn\'t. Welcome to the sloppy mess of my sister\'s life. Smells like she hasn\'t even thrown out the kitchen garbage. Come, Manager. It\'s time for you to take the stage.”

I patted Kate\'s shoulder.

“.........The hell it’s my time to shine.”

◆

Afterward, everyone moved to open all the windows in the house to disperse the smell and took command of cleaning it.

Elder sister did say she could do it by herself, but as someone who has no cleaning sense, there was no way we could leave it to her unless we wanted to keep waiting for eternity.

We boys took command of the kitchen, living & dining room, bathroom, and washroom— basically the first floor.

The girls took command of my sister\'s research room and bedroom on the 2nd floor.

Fey and Jeu were just about to call in the personnel of their Marquis families on standby to clean up the mess, but I stopped them in the nick of time. Could you imagine, calling the handpicked individuals of the two esteemed Marquis families just to clear the trash of the house of a hick impoverished Viscount?

If it somehow got out… It would be like we were picking a fight with the noble society.

“Seriously, I don\'t get your reasoning at all. But hey, then why do you think it\'s alright for us to throw out the trash instead? Well, I\'m not complaining though.”

Or so their mouths ran, but they still moved to help out. I could hear their ‘ga-ga’ giggling from the second floor.

…What happened to the insects? These habitats were practically their heaven, after all.

“Al is Al, but I\'m sorry you had to help out in dealing with the trash, Leo.”

“...Hey-hey, why is it alright for me?!”

Ignoring Al, who had completely become the gag character of the group, Leo answered.

“I really don\'t mind. Sora’s breakfast has trained my nose against the smell, and I also cleaned my room by myself after moving to the general dormitory, which in fact has led me to new discoveries.

Cleaning my room for inspiration is one of the household chores that I’ve come to like… And this is the first time I’m doing anything like this in a friend\'s house. In other times when I visited my friend\'s house, there would always be the shadow of their parents lingering around in a half-baked attempt to get some information.

You might claim yourself to be a poor viscount family but I’ve never heard of anyone actually leaving their children on their own without any house helper at all, to the point that the house was such a mess now.

Anyway, what I\'m saying is that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I might never get to experience again. It\'s truly a lucky situation for me.”

Leo grinned and said so while scraping off the murky black slimy substance from the sink.

“......Dude, did you lose some screws in your head?”

“Haha. Well, I guess it\'s just a matter of perspective. You might never understand when this is an everyday, normal life for you. By the way, why did you not dodge Rose-senpai’s punch earlier? I believe you should have been able to.”

Ho-ho, I knew he would catch on.

“Well, I had made her quite angry by ignoring her letters, after all. I at least need to take a punch from her to somehow appease boiling magma-like anger. Just for the record, that punch was merely a feint. She would have followed up with a more impactful punch if I had stopped it.”

I had just answered Leo when someone called out from the stairs.

“Oh~, so Allen-kun managed to trick me? Your big sister is so happy to see you growing into such an outstanding person. You know, don\'t you think we haven\'t warmed up enough yet after so many months of absence? Alright, let\'s play our usual little game.”

Ah, Crap! I completely forgot my detection magic is unusable with Fey’s peeping prevention magical tools. And from the look of it, she completely heard everything I said down to every word, and I didn\'t notice her coming down at all.

Just as I was frozen on the spot, Leo joined the fray, grinning.

“Can I be your playing mate, Rose-senpai? Let me help out in relieving your stress.”

Unsurprisingly, even my elder sister was stunned.

“Eh, huh?! You\'re… Leo-kun, right? I’m not actually good at holding myself back so it\'s not good for you, truly. You’ve already helped out in cleaning, so let this slide. I don\'t think it\'s a good thing if I injure you on top of that.”

“Actually, I prefer you don\'t pull your punches at all. Even Furie-senpai, the top graduate of the Royal Academy, vouches for you as someone even more talented than her. I definitely can\'t miss this chance.

And of course, I swear on my name as Leo Zatsinger that no matter what happens, the responsibility will lie on no one but me.”

Stuck in a dilemma, elder sister turned to glance at me.

…It\'s Leo, after all. I was sure he could manage. I mean I brought them precisely so that they could take some of the punches in my place. Heck, Leo was the one I had the highest expectation for to turn into my tank (punching bag). And what more could I say when the fish himself had taken the bait?

Zero obligation, zero elevation, after all! Alright, tag you\'re it, my dear friend Leo!

“Elder sister, I have never won against him. So you can be relieved.”

“Ehh!? I didn\'t know that?! Someone even Allen-kun can\'t win against. Well, alright, just for a bit—”

Elder sister\'s words trailed as she jumped from the stairs and towards Leo without any cue. Her movements were even sharper than when she threw that rocket punch at me.

“Hhrrrgh!”

Leo barely managed to avoid it but at the cost of losing his posture. —Uh-huh, it\'s game over if you show even a single opening to my elder sister.

The next instant, she was behind Leo, performing a low roundhouse kick that smoothly swept away Leo\'s legs right below his ankles.

That was my sister for you. A martial arts monster. I mean, it didn\'t matter what his body-strengthening output was when he couldn\'t bring it to use after getting thrown off their feet.

From the side, just as Leo was about to slam onto the floor, elder sister\'s fist came flying at his right cheek.

Though, Leo was wearing a baffled expression. Maybe he still couldn\'t understand how he got thrown off guard or why his nose was bleeding.

I saw that coming. Even more so, I was surprised at why I wasn\'t surprised at the result. She really didn\'t pull her punches, huh?…

T/N - Rip, Leo-kun. The (losing) fight between Leo and Rose will continue in the next chapter. Don\'t ready your Popcorn though, it will be short. Also, be ready for a spot moment.