Sister, Don't Marry That Guy

19.

“Yes?”

“No, my brother, he is a genius.”

“Yes?”

“No, he is a genius.”

His gaze briefly turned to the hallway, and only after looking at the empty space from left to right, he turned to face the little girl again.

There was even a hint of glee on his face.

“He may even be the genius of the century.”

“…”

“I have never seen anyone, but one, in my life with such talent.”

Reinante said nothing, but Laiya could very easily figure out who he spoke of.

Kyle Blackwinter.

My first brother who will later kill me for being weak.

If there is one among the BlackWinter family who possessed infinitely great talent, there is only Kyle BlackWinter. In the future, he will become stronger beyond measure.

“The reason I’m saying this is because I’m lacking and I don’t know how deep the knowledge that the other possesses.”

[T/N: He’s saying he’s lacking because he can’t say for sure who’s smarter.]

Laiya stopped her train of thought and raised her head at the simple words of the knight.

A calm face was visible under the setting sun.

“You are a fine knight.”

“Yes?”

“They say that a knight who admits his shortcomings is a knight who can improve further.”

Rainante’s expression became strange. 

It was a look that the little girl couldn’t easily interpret.

He was silent, then asked her where she had learnt of such a phrase, to which the little girl confessed.

“In a book. I read quite a few books, I tend to have a lot of spare time on my hands.”

Well, I did see it in a book. 

The book.

The book known as the ‘original novel’ which foretold the story of this world.

“If possible, be stronger in the future so you can help me next time.”

As I said, there will be a lot of hard work ahead of us. I got Roy, my third brother, the little black puppy, on my side, but it isn’t enough yet.

“What next?”

“Rainante being here as my guard is temporary, yes?”

They walked on without another word.

After a moment of silence, Laiya spoke once more. 

“I hate people who stay with me and then leave to go back.”

I have a lot of greed, you know? You don’t know how much greed I possess in order to have the desire to live?

[T/N: She means that in order to have the will to live, she needs to have greed to fuel her determination to go on no matter what she faces.]

After that, their conversation ended, there were no further replies from the knight at her side.

* * *

“That means you have a talent for magic.”

Theodore, the wandering wizard who told me I had a gift for magic, was never the type to talk empty words.

Since he was a person who played an active role as a wizard in the future of the novel, Laiya knew to take his words seriously and decided to find a way to explore this newfound path.

It just happened that I have gained a library pass.

Rainante, who had been following behind Laiya without a word as she navigated her way to the library, glanced at her and then turned away.

“I didn’t know that you didn’t even know where the library is situated.”

“I know the general location, I just didn’t know exactly where it is.”

“Isn’t that the same as not knowing…”

Today, instead of saying that Rainante had stuck with her on her way to the library, she should say that it was Ruben who decided to stay at the third training arena to teach Roy BlackWinter.

Although Ruben seemed to be overly flustered when interacting with Roy and herself, he was still a chief knight, thus his ability to teach was excellent.

His skills as an individual are also outstanding.

It’s interesting when I think back. It takes two different talents, one’s own skills and the ability to teach, to pull off being a great person and to teach your skills to others.

Ruben and Rainante were both quite gifted at teaching.

Or is it that our black puppy, Roy, is a unique genius and excelled even at the hands of mediocre teachers?

[T/N: Meaning her brother’s ability to learn is so outstanding that even if the knights can’t teach well, he’s still learning well.]

Well, I originally thought like that, but when I asked brother Roy, he said they taught him well. 

Her little black puppy may not have liked the two knights who interrupted his time with his sister, but he would not lie about the standard of their teachings. 

Rather, the massive gap between his and their strength seemed to light a fire within his heart, burning it bright with a newfound competitive spirit. 

Yes, yes, little brother. Let’s grow up positively from now on.

No matter how gifted Roy may be, it would take a long time to beat the two knights, who were among the most elite knights, and were one of the best.

Even growing up in the meantime was a benefit to Laiya’s goal.

“It’s not my fault that I don’t know. What if the mansion is unnecessarily large and that’s why I can’t find it? My legs are so short.”

Even so, she trudged on, claiming her innocence to Reinante as she light-heartedly complained.

But, in all honesty, I do have the habit of arriving at someplace other than my intended destination.

The world calls this ‘glitch in directions’, or more commonly known as directionally challenged, but Laiya wouldn’t admit so willingly.

But so what, I can eventually find what I’m looking for well enough in the end.

So let’s compromise and call it intermittent.

[T/N: Intermittent — On and off again, meaning she sometimes can and sometimes cannot find what she is looking for. She balances herself out.]

Soon after, the little girl arrived in front of a large door with the knight Rainante.

The Library known as the Gate to the Skills of Life.

It was something I had never read about before in the novel in detail.

Though, she did remember there was a scene where the main character wondered why the BlackWinter family had such a magnificent and huge library even though they were masters of swordsmanship.

On that point I agree.

A sword is fundamentally a weapon focused on crushing, and to hold such a huge library for such an apex family that didn’t contain swordsmanship didn’t make sense.

The view through the door was even more spectacular, Laiya turned her head to and fro, taking in its glory before entering.

“Sir Rainante, do you remember the plan?”

“Yes, I remember.”

Rainante stood like a man nailed to the ground, he wasn’t going to follow her in.

“Rainante will stand in front of the library, and if someone tries to come in, come in and let me know.”

The library was packed with numerous collections, but it was not a space that was allowed for everyone to enter as they wished.

If you have the qualifications to enter here, there is a high probability that you are a vassal close to the BlackWinter Lords, or a direct descendant or collateral descendant of BlackWinter.

Either way, they were people who didn’t like me.

There’s absolutely nothing good about running into each other.

Especially in a situation like now where she didn’t have the power to protect herself.

Still, it’s nice to have an alarm system watching out for you.

That’s what she planned to use Rainante for now. Rainante and Ruben were temporary knights sent to protect her; they would soon leave. So it wouldn’t be too bad of her to use them like this.

“Then I will go.”

“Yes, please go in, Princess.”

After a polite nod, Laiya BlackWinter went inside the library, it wasn’t long before the admiration flowed through her.

If she thought that there were a lot of books in the library of their house, it couldn’t be compared to this one.

Wow, how many floors does this have?

From above, the columns of books lined up until they disappeared with the distance. The ceiling reached out for the sky, and somehow, her feet took her across the building.

How can you experience what you read in a book and compare it to seeing it with your own eyes? Right now, it feels like a 4D experience!!!

Laiya gawked and admired her surroundings for a long time, when she felt a presence near her.

Turning her head, she saw a man standing not far away holding a cart.

He was an old man with a benevolent impression splattered across his face.

“Um, excuse me, dear one. This old man was deaf and did not hear the sound of the young lady coming in.”

His voice sounded hoarse with age, but it  held a soft tone befitting of the man managing this library.

“Do you have a pass?”

“Ah, yes, here it is.”

She took out the pass given to her by her second brother.

Surprisingly, the old man took out a cane from thin air and brought it to the pass.

“It has been confirmed. This old man was a bit taken aback because it was the first time he had seen this young lady in this library.”

“Ah…”

“Heh heh, is this wand strange?”

The old man held out his cane to Laiya.

“It is late to say hello, but I am the librarian called Kalidupen. I am in charge of managing this library.”

“Huh?”

The little girl startled like a cat thrown into water suddenly. She felt as if her hair was standing on end.

“What is wrong?”

“No, no, nothing is wrong.”

She hurriedly corrected the words that came out of her lips. 

“I am Laiya BlackWinter.”

This time the old man made a face of surprise.

With his reaction, she was able to hide her immediate surprise. 

Wow! Now this is a surprise!

I was surprised by the sudden appearance of the main character’s adventure companion.

The main character of the original story came to the BlackWinter family to learn swordsmanship when he was young, but was kicked out at once.

The main character did not give in to the disappointment of being discarded and took on any dirty work he was given and to move forward where he soon met his companions. 

One of them being the person known as Kallidupen, the same person who now stood before Laiya.

“Oh my, you are the Princess of BlackWinter. Please forgive the rudeness of not recognizing you right away.”

“No, it is alright.”

“Looking at your bright blue eyes, I wondered if there was a precious BlackWinter person I didn’t know about… This old man really acted unsightly.”

“No, it’s okay.”

I can’t be okay, I can’t be okay!

She gulped.

As for this person…

“Ah, it seems you’ve been watching the wand for a while, but this wand is the disguise. If you do this, it changes.”

“…”

“It becomes a sword.”

He is a magic swordsman. 

A person who can use both magic and swordsmanship.

I remember his character possessing this skill. 

As an ordinary swordsman, Kalidupen, who had been steadily improving his skills, met a wizard one day and woke up to a desire to learn magic.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough talent to satisfy his desire.

Nevertheless, he did not give up, and when he finally became an old man, he found a way to put his swordsmanship and weak magic talent to good use.

That method… To become an assassin.

This person was the one who opened a new paradigm of assassination as a magic swordsman.

[T/N: Paradigm meaning a typical example of something. So he became a typical example of what a magic wielding assassin swordsman should be like.]

But why are you hiding and playing here?

According to the book, he met the main character while working at the stable of the BlackWinter family.

“Oh, are you surprised?”

“Oh, no, no… I, er…” 

The way he uses magic is completely different from that of ordinary wizards.

That is, to use magic as little as possible because he had no talent.

For example, with a small dagger, using basic magic such as sound blocking magic and magic that kills is a much more powerful method of killing. 

Being strangled with a rope and assisted by magic used by blocking the air in the person’s throat is also a powerful method.

Both of which did not use up much magic ability. 

As a person who devised bloody methods just by hearing it, he later met the righteous original protagonist and washed his hands clean of his old profession.

After that, he used his ability to catch monsters or help on adventures.

Laiya felt like throwing up her hands and rolling her eyes in frustration. 

This wasn’t the only thing that surprised me.

You don’t seem to be avoiding me, huh?

Whoever saw her in the mansion would look at her with a squeamish look and desperately avoid any interaction with her.

But I didn’t feel that kind of rejection from this man at all.

“I find it strange that a staff can become a sword.”

“It helps a lot in times of emergency. Are you interested in how it works?”