“It’s been a while, Nerha.”
Three silhouettes were walking in from deeper inside the training grounds. Since this was a facility mages rarely had any business using, the purpose of their visit was highly likely to be none other than Nerha himself.
The one at the front waved at Nerha as if greeting him warmly.
“Hah, congratulations on getting out alive. Did you at least get something out of it?”
“...”
Nerha did not reply and silently looked at the other man.
Seeing the Radeus family’s distinctive silver hair mixed with brown, he was clearly from the clan. But since the brown was darker than the silver, he did not seem to be from the main direct line with succession rights. More importantly, the other side knew him, but he had no idea who they were.
Nerha frowned and spoke bluntly.
“Who are you?”
“W-What do you mean, who am I?!”
Judging by how instantly he flared up, it seemed they were already acquainted.
“I’m Beker Radeus! It hasn’t even been that long since we last met, and you’ve already forgotten me?!”
“Hmm!”
Beker Radeus, huh...
Only after hearing the name did fragments of memory about him begin to surface. None of them were particularly pleasant.
‘The guy next to him was definitely named Zekron. The one who stuck to Beker like a brother.’
As for the massive brute standing behind them, Nerha had no memory of him. Judging from the fact that his hair was an ordinary dark brown rather than silver, he wasn’t of Radeus blood, probably a subordinate of one of the two.
Before Nerha could dwell on it further, Zekron Radeus, who stood beside Beker, snorted and sneered.
“Hah! I thought you went into that underground cavern to kill yourself, but you somehow crawled back out alive. You’re really lucky.”
“Did you come here just to pick a fight?”
“Obviously. Why else would we bother coming all this way to see you?”
Nerha stared at the two of them with a slightly dumbfounded expression.
‘They’re so shameless it’s actually throwing me off.’
Now he remembered clearly.
Beker Radeus. Zekron Radeus. They were the same age as Nerha, collateral branch members, yet promising talents who had earned a certain degree of recognition within the clan. And above all, they were the ones who had relentlessly bullied ‘Nerha’ since childhood.
‘Even if they’re collateral, they were acknowledged for their talent, so of course their treatment within the clan would be different.’
In a family where talent and achievement determined one’s worth, Nerha had been a complete weakling and a loser…Until now.
“So? A bunch of grown men went out of their way to come all the way here just to start trouble?”
The ways Beker’s group bullied Nerha since childhood had been varied.
Sometimes they would secretly beat him up, sometimes they would deliberately challenge him to magic duels just to trample him, and other times they went as far as spreading pseudo-curses with animal carcasses and other excessive, malicious pranks. It was far too vicious and cruel to be dismissed as childish bullying.
“Haah...”
Nerha let out a low sigh.
Their harassment was not born of mere malice alone. There had always been one of the main-line brothers backing them from the shadows, which was why they had been able to torment Nerha for so long without consequence.
“So, did Brother Bamel send you again to mess with me?”
At those words, Beker’s expression stiffened slightly.
“What, you knew?”
“Of course I knew. I just couldn’t do anything about it before, so I let it slide.”
“Huh? So you’re saying you can do something about it now, that’s why you’re not letting it slide?”
“Exactly.”
As Nerha looked at the dumbfounded Beker, he slowly rose to his feet.
In terms of raw physical ability alone, it would be difficult to handle even one of them. But a fight wasn’t decided by physical ability alone.
‘I’ll give them a light beating.’
Even though it wasn’t his own experience, the memories and emotions of ‘Nerha’ made his fists tremble and his teeth grind, filled not just with resentment toward Beker and Zekron, but with murderous intent.
Seeing Nerha like that, Beker and Zekron let out mocking laughs.
“Hah, are you really trying to start something right now?”
“You’ve never beaten us even once, as a man or as a mage.”
Beker stepped forward and stood directly in front of Nerha.
“I was going to let Baston handle you, but I’ve changed my mind. You’re getting too big for your britches, so I’ll step on you myself.”
“...”
By Baston, he must have meant the hulking brute standing behind them. Probably meant to be a disposable pawn, just in case.
Nerha calmly examined Beker’s stance.
‘It’s a mess.’
Whatever his ability as a ‘mage’ might be, it was obvious at a glance that he had nothing to do with martial training. He had a solid, well-fed build, sure, but that was all.
Even without using mana, Nerha’s current body condition was more than enough to subdue them.
‘No need to drag this out. Just like you said, I’ll step on you lightly.’
Just as Nerha was about to reach out…
“What the hell do you think you’re doing right now?!”
Bark!
A sharp, piercing voice rang out from the entrance they had come through.
At that voice, everyone present froze in place.
Feeling the force contained in it, Nerha’s eyes widened slightly.
‘...Impressive?’
When he turned his head, he saw a girl with silver-brown hair who looked a few years younger than him, standing there with her eyes blazing.
“T-This is bad!”
“Neia?!”
Beker and Zekron immediately lost their swagger.
The girl called Neia walked toward them with a cold expression.
“You two. I told you that if you ever bullied my brother again, I would never let it slide. Did you forget already?”
“N-No, it’s just that...”
As she lightly extended her hand forward, an enormous amount of mana began to swirl above it.
Whoooooosh!
‘Incredible. Both the quantity of mana and her control over it. Far beyond what’s normal for her age.’
Of course, comparing her to Chloeia would be an insult to her, but it was impressive enough that in a few years, she might very well reach that level.
Maintaining that state, the girl glared at Beker and Zekron.
“If you don’t want to die, get lost.”
“Y-Yes!”
Nod nod!
Apparently, the difference in strength was obvious. The arrogance they had shown toward Nerha vanished, and they hurriedly retreated with their tails between their legs.
Thus, Beker, Zekron, and even the brute called Baston withdrew from the scene...
“...”
“...”
Only the two of them remained, and an awkward silence settled over the space.
But it didn’t last long. The silver-brown-haired girl neatly adjusted her hair and glared at Nerha.
“The butler came running in a panic, so I wondered what was going on, and you’re still getting pushed around by trash like those idiots?”
At the word “butler,” Nerha’s gaze shifted behind the girl. Near the entrance, Samir was standing with his head bowed, holding the clothes Nerha had changed out of in both hands.
‘I thought he’d be hiding somewhere since I couldn’t see him, but he’s got more guts than he looks.’
Not simply enduring because he was weak, but choosing to observe and look for a way to break through.
While Nerha was mentally revising his evaluation of Samir upward, the sharp voice rang in his ears again.
“Where are you looking? Are you trying to ignore me?”
“You’re...”
“You’re what? What is it? Did you forget your little sister’s face after being stuck underground?”
That couldn’t be.
No matter what, he couldn’t forget that face.
The girl before him occupied a large part of Nerha’s memories.
“It’s been a while, Neia.”
Neia Radeus. The youngest among the eight direct-line heirs with succession rights in the Radeus family, and ‘Nerha Radeus’s’ biological younger sister. The only sibling who shared the same mother, Rozelia Radeus.
Neia dispelled the threatening mana storm and shot Nerha a glare.
“I heard you broke that seal and came out, so I had a bit of hope... but that vacant look on your stupid face hasn’t changed at all.”
“Has it?”
“That’s not the point! You idiot! Moron!”
Faced with his younger sister’s sudden barrage of insults, Nerha didn’t quite know how to respond and fidgeted awkwardly.
“How long are you going to keep living while getting pushed around by trash like that?!”
“...”
“Don’t tell me you forgot the promise. No, don’t tell me you’ve given up?”
“...”
‘The promise.’
The reason Nerha had never stopped training, even after being judged as having no talent, even as his standing within the clan dwindled day by day.
Yet, despite inheriting Nerha’s memories, he had no recollection whatsoever of what that ‘promise’ actually was.
Even so, he couldn’t very well admit that outright.
“A promise should be kept. No matter what it is.”
If he was going to live on as Nerha Radeus, then bearing the weight of his burdens was only natural.
“Good. At least it doesn’t look like you’ve given up.”
At Nerha’s resolute words, Neia’s expression softened somewhat as she nodded.
“If you’d said you gave up, I was planning to kill you with my own hands.”
“...”
No matter how pretty she was, she really was a member of the Radeus family through and through.
He wanted to ask what the promise was, but if he did, it felt like that mana storm she had just dispelled would come roaring back at him.
“Did you come to see me?”
“I was planning to visit tomorrow, but I didn’t expect to run into you like this. Elder Rozia is waiting, so we have to go right away.”
It seemed Neia, too, was receiving private instruction before entering the training institution. And judging by the fact that she was being personally tutored by a clan elder, it was easy to guess how high the expectations for her were.
Neia glanced around the training facilities in the practice hall and nodded, seemingly satisfied.
“Still, it’s nice to see you’re still making an effort.”
“Is it?”
“I’ll keep trying to keep the promise too, so you better never give up either, brother.”
“...Yeah.”
Unaware of what was going on inside Nerha’s heart, Neia turned away with a prim little expression and disappeared off somewhere.
“Haah.”
His feelings were in turmoil.
The promise…He still didn’t know what it was, but every time he thought of that word, ‘Nerha’s’ emotions made his chest ache. And just as Neia left, and Nerha was about to finish up his training and head back…
“They gone?”
“...Beker?”
Out of nowhere, the supposedly departed Beker, Zekron, and Baston suddenly reappeared right in front of Nerha.
Beker cleared his throat and glared at Nerha.
“Ahem. This time, it’s a special order from Young Master Bamel, you see. The situation’s a bit different from usual.”
“So?”
“Normally, we’d back off nicely, but this time, we’re going to make sure we stomp you into the ground.”
“Hah.”
Nerha let out a hollow laugh. If nothing else, they were persistent to the point of being impressive.
But more than that, this was the moment Nerha needed something, anything, to vent the emotions he couldn’t quite bring under control.
He stepped toward Beker and smiled coldly.
“Fine. I could use a good stomping of you bastards to work off this shitty mood.”
