NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 106
106th Episode: Winter Break (2)
About 8 hours after the train departed from Aligieri Town, it had finally stopped at its destination, Silver Town Station.
It was only natural for a city developed on the side of the Empire and involved in the construction of the magical train to have a station.
Now, it seemed like there was no need to use carriages anymore, as both students and many people used the magical train.
While we were having a brawl with golems during the finals, the higher-ups were conducting the train opening ceremony.
– The lady has arrived!
– Princess, welcome!
– You’ve already started winter break. Congratulations!
Cheers rang out from every corner of the street.
As soon as the residents saw Jenny coming out of the station, their eyes widened in excitement, and they greeted her warmly.
“It’s so nice to see you all.”
In front of Silver Town Station, where snow was falling thickly, Jenny beamed at the residents and basked in the joy.
Just yesterday, it felt like the Silver Age had prevented proper conversation outside, but now she could be seen to have grown somewhat.
Jenny gazed fondly at Radon and Mary.
“Arrived!~ Nice to see you, Silver Town!”
“It’s a place we visit often, so don’t get too excited now, Mary Ryudshiel.”
As Mary bounced along, stepping on the piled-up snow that had fallen from the station, Crona pointed out her goofy demeanor, and something was flung toward her face.
“Catch!”
“Eek!”
A fist-sized snowball came crashing into Crona’s forehead. As Mary gathered the snow neatly piled on the ground and threw it at Crona’s face, she erupted into laughter.
“Bwahaha! Bullseye!”
“Ugh! Are you challenging me right now?!”
Crona shook her head, brushing the snow off her face, which had flushed red. Whether it was due to the cold hit or embarrassment, her expression was crumpled like a weirdo.
Mary chuckled derisively at the sight.
“Pfft. What? Are you trying to challenge me? Do you think that silly wrist and your reflexes can even land a hit?”
Mary’s voice, once childish, suddenly matured into that of a witch.
“Well, we won’t know until we try! I’ll hit you back a hundred times!”
Having completely lost her reason, Crona began stacking snow she found scattered around her into a white castle.
So oblivious to her surroundings, she even shamelessly stole a snowman made by nearby children, claiming it was a good weapon.
“What kind of toy fortress is that? Looks like it would crumble with just a poke.”
“Prepare yourself! Mary Ryud…!”
Bang!—
Just then, the white castle suddenly collapsed. The queenly Crona found herself buried under piles of snow without even being able to escape.
The castle was not sturdy enough to withstand a single kick from Luska.
“Quit fooling around and come here.”
“But…!”
“Come on.”
“…Yes.”
Crona shrank back under Luska’s beastly glare, unable to utter a word.
While she dealt with Crona, I took care of Mary.
“Hey! Are you ready to challenge me too?”
Mary looked at me with glowing eyes, filled with eagerness. It seemed she interpreted my invitation as a declaration of war, but that was far from it.
As I pulled out a worm-shaped jelly immediately, Mary’s eyes sparkled like stars.
“If you behave from now on, I’ll give you one piece at a time. Got it?”
“Understood! Big brother!”
My voice sounded like a kindergarten teacher’s, and Mary’s demeanor shifted as she bowed like a polite subordinate.
She was difficult yet easy to handle. But what’s with the “big brother”?
“Guys! Hurry up and get on!”
At that moment, Jenny called out from in front of a carriage parked a distance away.
The knights from the Chain Silver family, anticipating the appearance of the princess, had prepared a carriage in advance.
As expected from a carriage arranged by high-ranking nobles, it was spacious enough that even five people could fit without feeling cramped.
As the carriage smoothly crossed the town, it arrived at none other than the Chain Silver Mansion. This was my second visit since summer vacation.
“Is this… the noble family I’ve only heard about?”
This was the first time for Luska to visit, and she kept turning her gaze around.
As if welcoming the return of the princess, servants and knights lined up neatly, clearing a path. Observing Luska struggle to adapt to the mood, Jenny subtly remarked to me.
“It seems this atmosphere is new for Luska.”
“Of course. Given that she grew up in a different environment than us, it would be strange if she didn’t feel out of place.”
Luska, typically cold-eyed, appeared rather nervous. Though that was still her true self, after all.
In the mansion’s yard, several maids and attendants were trimming the grass and maintaining the trees in preparation for the party.
As we walked, taking in the sight of their careful preparations, we finally opened the mansion door.
The first floor of the mansion was adorned with pristine white marble tiles and a brilliantly shining chandelier.
Feeling the grand atmosphere that was different from the outside, Luska shrank back once more.
“Radon! Come on in!”
“I’ve been waiting long.”
To my surprise, the ones waiting inside were none other than my parents: Rotas Crawler and Skilla Crawler.
And behind them stood a towering presence that exceeded their height by quite a bit.
When did they get to the point of freely coming and going in this mansion? Anyway, as a son, I began with the formal greeting.
“Mother, Father, I’m back! But how did you two end up here…?”
“You’ve heard that a party is being held in two days, right?”
“So we’re here to help a bit.”
Our family and the Chain Silver family were bound by a sort of contract, so helping out was only natural.
Luska and Mary observed my parents with attention; they were realizing who Radon’s parents were.
Then who was the giant behind them? Dressed in attire that resembled construction site work clothes… an uncle? Brother?
“Nice to meet you. I’m Crona Delaware.”
“I’m Mary Ryudshiel! Nice to see you!”
Crona and Mary greeted my parents, each showcasing their own personalities. However, Luska swallowed hard, hesitating to introduce herself.
“Nice to meet you. I am Luska Mad Eye, Radon’s roommate.”
Bowing her head, Luska greeted my parents politely. I didn’t think just being a roommate would carry that much pressure.
“Oh! So you’re the new roommate of our son. Nice to meet you.”
“Yes…”
Feeling special about Luska being my roommate, both my parents shook her hand.
Luska, trying hard to hide her awkwardness, then extended her hand toward the giant behind us.
“Nice to meet you, Radon’s older brother.”
“…”
What? Older brother? Ah… now that I think about it, that makes sense.
I tried my best to understand Luska. Crona and Mary showed no signs of discomfort.
“Brother… huh… pfft!”
But only Jenny, who knew everything, was busy stifling her laughter while covering her mouth.
Seeing that made me laugh uncontrollably, and the giant’s face turned sour.
“…”
“Wait… is he not your brother but an uncle?”
Luska, taken aback, corrected her title only to realize it didn’t change anything.
“Unc… uhh!”
The difficulty of Jenny’s laughter level had just ramped up.
Despite her best efforts to cover her mouth, the sound of her laughter was overwhelmingly apparent to Luska.
“What’s so funny that you’re laughing like that?!”
“Pfft… pfft!”
“Do you really want to die?!”
Spinning around to face Jenny, Luska screamed angrily.
With the situation already awkward, it made sense that she’d get mad with Jenny laughing next to her. Finally, unable to watch any longer, I reassured Luska.
“It’s not a problem. He’s indeed your brother.”
“Really? But why…?”
[Declining Erosion Rate: -6%]
[+600 Credits]
Her brother’s (?) expression still appeared quite displeased.
Just then—
Bang!—
Suddenly, the body of her brother burst forth in a plume of white smoke. As the smoke cleared, his true appearance was revealed.
“Nice to meet you! Surprised you, right?”
“…?”
A little girl who looked cute and younger. As Luska stared at this unexpected sight, she wore a dazed expression and asked in a defeated tone.
“So you… weren’t really…?”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Amy Crawler, Radon Crawler’s sister. Happy to meet you.”
“….”
Luska seemed completely frozen, as if her soul had ascended. The idea of an older brother when she had mentioned a “sister” was frankly absurd even to me.
Wasn’t that akin to the kind of outrageous demands we get from bad apples asking for two portions when it’s really one?
[Declining Erosion Rate: -70%]
While Luska awkwardly shook hands with my sister, she felt immense disbelief. Nevertheless, her mouth barely managed to move.
“What’s going on here?”
“It’s transformation magic. When Amy transforms, she’s called a son instead of a daughter. Right, son?”
“Yessir! Father!”
Amy proudly declared, mimicking a soldier, her shoulders puffed out in an awkward show of masculinity.
Seeing the young girl trying hard to seem masculine was an odd sight.
“This means we’re now siblings instead of just brother and sister. Hohoho.”
“Well, we’ll head out now, so have a good time with your friends. Radon.”
“When you come home later, you have to tell me fun stories, okay, brother?”
With that, my family left the mansion after saying their goodbyes.
As they departed, only Jenny and I greeted them casually, while everyone else was left in visible shock as if they had been caught in a storm.
Among them, Luska seemed most affected, and as Jenny and I patted her shoulders, we reassured her.
“You don’t need to take it so seriously. That is just how families are.”
“Yeah, by the time you meet them during the break, you’ll get used to it in no time.”
“…”
Luska still didn’t open her mouth easily.
Even now, she only wore a blank expression of disbelief.
*
In the garden behind the Chain Silver Mansion lay a vast expanse covered in snow. At that moment, Gerard, the master of the house, walked through the snow, reminiscing about the days he had once walked alongside his late wife.
It felt quite bitter, reflecting on how things had once been, but he was not alone anymore.
“Am I too early?”
“It doesn’t matter. Having a friend from a similar generation beside me makes the solitude feel less oppressive.”
“That remark, if viewed from a different perspective, might sound quite unusual.”
The man joking with Gerard was none other than the Master White Tower, Taily Ryudshiel.
Taily was Gerard’s friend, having been the first to arrive at the party.
“Reporting in!”
In that moment, a knight named Tranche dashed across the flowery pathway, saluting with a fist to his chest.
“The lady and her friends have just arrived at the mansion.”
“Who came as friends?”
“Crona Delaware, Mary Ryudshiel, and Luska Mad Eye.”
Luska? That was a new name I’d never heard before among the students. However, given that it was during the party, it seemed she had been invited as a student.
I questioned how she had obtained an invitation.
“And Radon Crawler. That’s all.”
So that friend has come too. Given that his family was being hosted in Silver Town, it made sense.
Moreover, Gerard himself was starting to familiarise himself with Rotas, the head of that family, so no reluctance was felt.
“I’ll go see them shortly, so you may leave now.”
“Yes!”
As Knight Commander Tranche departed, Taily asked with a bewildered expression.
“Did you just say Crawler?”
“Indeed.”
“Isn’t that the family rumored to have a bad reputation? They’re quite notorious for overworking neighboring residents.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Those in the know are well aware. Even if you try to refute it, it all sounds believable because of the trouble caused by that family head.”
I was already aware of that much from my previous investigations. As we were no longer distant to each other, it was only necessary.
“Is it any wonder that the branch family, Layered, managed to chase away all the Crawlers to reclaim their household position? Quite an extraordinary family with an incredible reputation.”
“The Layered family must also have received an invitation to the party. Hmm…”
“I know all about it. That you’re looking after the Crawler family in this town.”
Being in the position of overseeing the members of the Crawler family, there was a possibility of encountering the branch family, Layered.
But Rotas would also have guessed this. It seemed a slight warning would suffice.
“Word has gotten around to where you are, huh?”
“No, it’s just that during last summer vacation… my daughter called out Radon Crawler’s name, so I only did a bit of digging.”
“That’s how the connection came to be.”
“And that friend Radon… I definitely want to meet him in person.”
“Are you possibly fond of him?”
Taily exhibited a significant smile. It felt unnatural to already like someone without even having met them yet.
“Last time, my daughter developed a new magic at the academy and showed it to me. But, surprise! The moment it got caught, I saw a vision of muscular men devouring her.”
Taily then praised his daughter. What an impressive mental breakdown magic she created.
Yet after that, she grew so furious that she erased the magic from existence. For one like the Master White Tower, it was a relatively easy task.
“Thanks to that, I’ve developed a bit of a trauma. Since that time, I never let anyone in when I shower or bathe. So I asked Mary why she developed that magic…”
To which his daughter replied that her friend Radon had inspired her.
“Radon Crawler… Radon Crawler… Hahaha! I must treat him with utmost respect when I meet him.”
“Just don’t torment him too much. It’s about time for a grand ceremony.”
“Don’t worry. I assure you, it won’t be as rough as you think. Hehe…”
Taily Ryudshiel wore a somewhat sinister smile.
Though Gerard was unaware of the detailed background, he worried for the boy named Radon.
He was well aware of how furious Taily could get just by looking at that glance, having been together for 30 years.
“By the way, have you found anything out?”
“…”
The wind grew a bit chillier. The flowers covered in snow stirred slightly.
The two of them, who had been laughing moments ago, wore increasingly somber expressions.
“Seven years ago, the Lycantrope who killed your wife is still out there, right?”
“…”
“Thus far, we have been unable to uncover the truth.”
Silent disappointment lay heavy in Taily’s response.
Gerard mourned with all his family, having counted them among his close friends who had shared the same generations.
Even after seven years had passed, pursuing that culprit was only natural.
“However, we have come across some surprisingly remarkable outcomes.”
“…?”
“Do you recall the Nine-Tailed Fox Incident that occurred in Aligieri? A mysterious demon appeared there and caused a great uproar by maiming King Talema.”
At the time, Talema was on par with Gerard’s sword, taken down without a fight. Their concern over the demon’s identity extended even to the royal family.
Curiosity was a human trait, which inevitably led to the analysis of the traces left by the demon.
“Finding the demon’s footprints was certainly no easy feat. Not only must its traces remain there, but they vanquished any mana detection. There were even doubts as to whether it was a being before it became demonkind. If we hadn’t managed to recover the branch from the tree that the demon wielded, we wouldn’t have made it.”
What had rendered Talema crippled was neither a divine weapon nor high-level magic. It had merely been a strike from a twig. What the witnesses present had seen had become quite the common tale.
Had it been a sword, they would’ve gathered it for analysis, yet who would pay attention to something as shabby as a twig?
The tattered, crumbling branch was painstakingly recovered from the Magic Federation and entrusted for analysis at the White Magic Tower.
“And with the aid of the Archive borrowed from Aligieri, we managed to analyze it, though barely.”
Though the mana within the twig had long since faded, it still appeared devoid of any traces.
Still, with the Archive’s power to bend time and space, every effort had been made, and that gamble proved successful.
It took a mere 0.1 seconds, but… they managed to at least turn back the tiniest bit of the demon’s power that had struck the twig.
“If we had failed, that branch risked being obliterated along with the timeline. It was our sole clue.”
“So… what does this have to do with the Lycantrope?”
Swallowing hard, Taily answered that question.
“Seven years ago, the magic that had been imbued in the Lycantrope… and the minute energy detected from that twig are identical.”
The air grew colder, as though the wind itself bore a chill.
Though the sun had not yet set, the garden showed no signs of brightening.
Under the gray sky, only the remnants of the past remained intertwined.