Sword, Magic and Academic Society

The next day.

"You're here, Dearest Sister! Good day to you!"

We had just arrived at the tower when Natalia-san came forward to greet us. She had been absent during breakfast, so I had been curious, but it seemed she had arrived here first. 

Unlike her first appearance, where she had been gracefully upholding the title of Dosperior, her current expression had crumbled to give a full-face smile as she gleefully waved her hand.

"G-Good morning, Natchan. How are your injuries?"

"I am in prim-proper shape! Well, there were apparently three or so broken ribs, but they're all back in shape by a recovery spell from the priest!"

......Needless to say, my sister and Natalia-san had faced each other in the martial art hall afterward.

It was so absurd that I didn't bother to watch the subsequent situation, but I did hear the summary during breakfast.  Apparently, my elder sister went all wham without any limiter and swept Natalia-san like a rug until she couldn't stand. 

"But must I say, she had caught me by surprise. While there is still room for improvement in technique, that knack for martial arts is, well, not losing to even Cecilia, I guess? A simple spar had become a life-long lesson for Natalia, this is for sure," such was the commentary from Freya-san as she recounted the details plainly, and a... ruptured expression covering her face. I would be lying if I wasn't repulsed by that sight. But Natalia-san's hackneyed act had me even more repulsed frankly. 

And my sister was never the less. What the heck Natchan was supposed to mean?

'It's like I have found a younger sister,' my sister remarked, and exchanged the greeting with a refreshing expression. 

Meanwhile, my ears picked up some buzzing from knights around. Apparently, Natalia-san had personally boasted about the details of yesterday's spar to the knights in the perimeter of the tower. 

«So she's the daughter of Cecilia-sama, Rosalia-sama, who senselessly beat down Natalia-sama...»

«It's unbelievable that she managed to beat down Natalaia-san with bare fists when Natalaia-sama had a sword.»

«It's what Natalisa-sama had illustrated herself; that Rosalia-sama's movement and technique are in the realm of mysticism. The gulf is so endless Natalaia-sama can't even bring her to feel jealousy.»

«After looking at that innocent, graceful expression, you wouldn't believe that she's the same person who knocked down Natalia-sama until she fainted.»

«I heard from Dean-dono, that Allen-sama said he is the silly one, and his elder sister is the wise one among the siblings.»

«I wonder if I can ask for a punch too for commemoration...»

Oi, you there. Did you just say you want a beating because of the joyful reunion?! 

Moving on, after our initial greeting, we made a round to the grave of our grandfather, Vardi-san, located in the outer garden of the tower. The grave was a simpler one, with a cuboid engraved with Vardi-san's name placed there. We offered black flowers pre-arranged by our mother.

"...The grave's structure is quite different from what we see in Rovenne territory or Royal Capital huh."

There were no set standards for graves in the kingdom, but the most common ones that could be found were cross-shaped ones. From what I had gathered, offering there were made by white flowers.

"...I didn't expect you to be curious about them, since you used to hate the grave visit. What you see there is the culture originating from New Starlight teaching, and they've the biggest followers in Yuglia. However, the Dosperiors follow the teaching of Old Starlight teaching. To be precise, we believe in the core of Syd, the god that governs destruction and the future. They've quite a number of branches."

In the old teaching of Starlight, there were three major gods—Rafmara, the god of creation and past, Venus, the god of harmony and present, and Syd, the god of destruction and future—that were revered. Among the three major gods, Venus, the god of harmony and present, had the  largest faction, pushing her as the supreme deity among all. Albeit, even surpassing them, New Starlight had cemented its position throughout the kingdom as the largest religious group. 

Though expanding on topic, It's believed that sub-humans, also labelled as devil, had been devotee of destruction god Syd, so he hadn't had much of popularity even in the present time.

I shifted my gaze to the grave once again. It was the norm for gravestones to be carved with  deceased favourite remarks, but apparently it was Vardi-san's will—he had said 'I wouldn't be there when the path for the future is paved. Just my name is enough on my gravestone'—that it was kept simple. Also, his will was conveyed by the Godorfun-sensei after the war.

Well, I wasn't much of a devotee myself, and while we were connected with blood, I had never met him. So I’ve never really been able to find much meaning in the act of visiting graves.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

But, at least I could say he had pitted himself against the adversaries for our peaceful future. An appreciation wasn't lost, so I offered my prayer while rousing the wind magic for my grandfather that I never got to meet.

The gust of wind drifted upward, spreading the scent of spring's flower and grass around us. 

"Thank you... Allen."

My mother murmured her appreciation. Freya-san also performed an old-fashioned knightly bow toward me.

...I had rather wished to meet you when you're alive, Grandpa.

◆

The Tower of Rabeldin was a true power spot, radiating a mysterious wave of life energy.

It was the sensation so similar to what I had felt when I first held the magic stone of Meadow Mara, my first hunt, albeit that was a mere fragment of energy than what I had been feelight at present.

"...It feels almost like it's alive. Particularly with the strong waves of energy coming from this tower."

Feeling the ripple of energy even more clearly on my skin as I approached the tower, I couldn't help but comment. My elder sister chimed in with a giggle.

"Fufu. I didn't expect you to feel the oddity while not being an Artificer. This whole thing is like one big magical tool."

Seeing the amusing expression on her face, I checked out others, but they all had a 'huh?' puzzled expression. ...Ugh, seems like a topic to be treated cautiously. 

Maybe it was because I had lived in a civilisation apart from having any connection with magic, so my senses were more prone to catching the waves of mana.

"...Well, I was just reading the wind, so I kinda felt it."

I adlibed my way with random phrase, and took my entry inside the tower. That said, this was up to where my father and Schord, or the attendants, could follow up. But as it stood, my father was more than happy for not requiring the inside visit. Instead, he was curiously  eyeing the trees and flowers in the garden—since this place was owned by a Marquis, the garden, also dubbed as cemetery, had exotic flora. He seemed like he couldn't get the wait to be free and take a tour.

My mother was going to accompany him it seemed. She did have the qualification, but that's what she had decided. 

"Let's proceed inside then."

So said Freya-san, placing her hand atop the jewel embedded in a pedestal beside the entrance. 

Promptly, a pale glow covered the door and with a rumbling sound, it opened inside. 

"Oh~? ...I wonder what mechanism it works. Can I try it, Dear Grandmother?"

My sister sought permision with sparkling eyes. 

"Yes, of course. But do be aware of its speciality; the door is opened only when there's enough bloodline connection with the Dosperior family. Vardi and I were cousins, so Celia clears the threshold sufficiently, but... I may not be so sure if you can pull it."

Freya-san gestured as she once placed her hand on the orb, closing the gate.

Receiving the permission, my elder sister followed the same course of action and channelled her mana into orb. Albeit, to no avail.

"...I had allowed it intentionally to be frank. We had past precedents to take examples from. Dosperior's blood may run thick in Cecilia's vein, but the offspring very rarely would have been able to achieve it when father had not a bit of traces of Dosperior blood. This has been one of the primary reasons why Dosperior family focuses on preserving bloodline. It's all so that if moment arrives, they can fulfil the role to—"

*Rumble* 

The heavy sound of friction reminded of its history spanning to several thousands of years ago.

"So, it's something like that? Or not, I think this is it."

My elder sister quietly murmured to herself and fiddled with the majestic magical door as if it were a toy.

"D-Dearest Sister, have you perhaps grasped the p-principal behind it?!!"

Everyone held their breath, waiting for my sister’s response.

My sister tilted her head thoughtfully, then closed the door again and threw her hand in defeat.

"Nope. Not at all."

I pushed her aside and placed my hand on the orb embedded in the pedestal, infusing it with my mana. But the door remained cold still.

"Ughhh! …Haahhh!!"

I mean, alright, I had also wanted to be the part of 'only the chosen one can open the door' group, but as if mocking me for having the thought, the door never answered my call.

"*Huff* *Huff*...How in the world can you open it if you haven't even understood the principle, sis!"

I glared back at my sister. 

It just reminded me of the vain effort I had put in my practice to conjure fireball. The world is cruel to the talentless...

"Err, well I don't think I can explain it properly. ...Simply, our mana is merely a rope that links us to the device. What it actually does is read the information from our mana organ. So, by suppressing the dominant mana signature, i.e. of the father, the device would only read the mother's mana signature, thus opening it... or so I guess."

I repeated the procedure from the last attempt. Took a mouthful of air, and... hurled my doubt at her, my eyes opened wide.

"..............What the heck is the dominant father's mana signature?"