Take Care of Yourself, Oniisama!

Seeing the boy chant the spell for fireball over and over again repeatedly, practicing by himself, the maid shoved him aside hatefully.
Being an unquestionable member of the clan, and a person with enough ability that allowed her to work here, the boy was nothing but a subject of envy.
It had already been two years since the head of the household brought him into the main house, yet the boy showed no signs of awakening to fire magic.
Although he possessed the blood of the head who was said to be the greatest in history, the boy hasn"t inherited even an ounce of his power and only invoked frustration.

His talent was inferior to everyone else, and yet he was allowed to live in the main house which elicited her jealousy.
Him being able to learn fire magic under such an optimal environment only furthered her jealousy.
But, above all else―――him being the elder brother of the girl who was blessed with greater power than everyone else was the breaking point.
Thus, she treated the boy roughly.
However, there was no one in this mansion that would condemn her for such behavior.

"Origa-sama will be pa.s.sing through here now. Please get lost, Gilford-sama."

The boy who had fallen onto his backside looked up sluggishly, had a blank expression on his face likely due to fatigue.
―――It was a state of exhaustion from overuse of mana.
Because he kept pouring power into a spell that wouldn"t activate, his mana had likely been depleted.
As for the young lady herself, she merely gazed at her step-brother with her calm copper eyes before giving a small sigh.

"You"re an eyesore, onii-sama. Why not go outside and meditate? You might even be able to use a bit of magic."

She pointed outside the window expressionlessly, as thunder crackled about and torrents of raindrops pounded the ground.
She was his younger sister, but it was an order from a powerful member of the household who was regarded as the next head.
Being an incompetent brother, he was unable to refuse, and the maid watched in pleasure as he walked towards the door leading to the courtyard with downcast eyes.

Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I"m sorry, so sorry, Gil-sama!
I am truly very sorry. He"s still only 10 years-old, so he"ll definitely catch a cold being outside in such a heavy storm.

But I promise, this act is definitely not meaningless.
Coming into contact with the natural elements of magic is a direct method of training. If it"s fire then handle fire everyday, if it"s wind then climb up a mountain and spend a day in the wind, if it"s earth then touch the soil in a cave.

By doing so, one can gradually increase their affinity with the magic.
I also spend several hours of my time each day keeping the fires responsible for maintaining the barrier around the house burning to increase my own affinity.

However, Gil-sama"s apt.i.tude is for water, while the Rujil House is a clan of fire mages.
There aren"t any natural waterfalls or lakes in the premises, so it"s an environment completely unsuitable for water magic training.
That aside, although there are individual difference, since they are born into this fire clan, everyone definitely has an apt.i.tude for fire.

Thus, no one would even consider that Gil-sama was only compatible with the water attribute.
In our clan as long as one held even the slightest bit of apt.i.tude for fire magic, all their other apt.i.tudes would be sealed in order to nurture and improve their fire attribute bit by bit but……
The Rujil method of specializing in one type of training at the cost of all others is actually the factor inhibiting Gil-sama"s growth for water magic.

In that case, one might think why not just explain Gil-sama"s apt.i.tude and have him immediately leave the household instead?
That would be because my previous life"s common sense doesn"t apply here.
If I just outright announced this to everyone, Gil-sama would likely be accused of deceiving the clan and executed as an imposter.
……Well, what to say, it"s that sort of typical harsh world depicted in light novels.
Therefore, I must nurture and hide Gil-sama"s apt.i.tude at all cost, while becoming Rujil House"s next head as quickly as possible and free Gil-sama.
At this rate his life will be in real danger!

Furthermore, there"s so much water pouring down right now!
There"s no other choice but to force him to touch it!
……But, I really am very sorry.

"Keika, tea――"

Feeling depressed, I shook my head to dispel a sigh that nearly leaked out and instead asked the maid for tea.
Seeing the maid staring coldly into the courtyard as if she were looking at an annoying bug made me quite anxious.
Ah, this was a pattern in the light novel too.
Locking the door to the courtyard and leaving him outside even though Gil-sama had collapsed.
What happened afterwards was truly terrible.
Hahhー, it"s such a rare opportunity for Gil-sama to train, but in his current exhausted state he won"t be able to last for long.

"Yes, Origa-sama, I will prepare it immediately."
“……Also please bring onii-sama to the training grounds before dinner, I will be instructing him."

With this, he should be taken in from the rain after two hours or so.
After that I will have to do something that can only be described as abuse but since I can hold back, it is at least better than the situation in the light novel where he wasn’t given medicine even if he catches a cold. Probably…

I caught a glimpse of the maid"s face contorting in irritation upon hearing the word "instructing" and leaked a tiny sigh.
I know that Gil-sama"s position is rather complicated but…..arghh! Even though it’s the world in the light novel human relationships are so annoying!

After finishing afternoon training, I was notified by the maid that father would be dining with me for the first time in quite a while.
Usually, we only ever meet in person for one or two minutes during New Years for greetings.
What kind of whim led to this, surprised, I quickly changed my clothes and proceeded towards the dining room, but there was yet another surprise, Gil-sama was also seated at the table.

Having Gil-sama together with us is incredibly unusual, remaining composed I also sat down while in thought as dishes were placed onto the table one by one.
Perhaps because he usually wasn"t given such luxurious food, Gil-sama was overly-conscious about his manners and didn"t really touch the food.
Feeling that I should serve as an example, I began to slowly eat.
Father smiled pleasantly as he looked at me and onii-sama from across the table, while swirling a gla.s.s of wine in his hand wordlessly.

I am not good at dealing with this person.

Although she wasn"t a character that I particularly liked, as a woman I felt sympathy towards my mother who had to live such an unfortunate marriage life.
But regarding father, to be honest rather than seeing him as a father, the feeling that I someday must surpa.s.s him is even greater.
Even before the matters of infidelity and so on, isn’t it harder to not be bad at dealing with someone you will eventually clash with?

But, there is one thing about him that I can definitely trust.
Although I"m unsure if I have any other step-siblings aside from Gil-sama, I do know that none of them will be appearing in this light novel regardless.
In other words, there will be no one else suddenly joining in later on.
I mean, although our direction was different, with me being hailed as the prodigal child of fire, and him being known as the grand water mage in the future, it would seem our bloodline is quite high in terms of magic apt.i.tude.
If two or three more people like us were to suddenly appear, it would be very difficult for me to handle them all, so I"m rather relieved.

While we silently ate our food, father"s wine gla.s.s was refilled many times over.
I can’t tell what he was thinking from his expression, but he finally spoke when dessert was served.

"Gilford, I"ve received your report, you should spend more time training. Also I believe it"s about time to have an instructor teach you how to properly wield a sword."
"……Yes, father."

I watched silently as father bluntly implied his incompatibility with magic nonchalantly, perhaps noticing my gaze he then turned towards me with a smile.
The dark copper eyes that were similar to mine narrowed like a predator.

"By the way, it seems you"re working quite hard, Origa."
"Yes, I am trying my best so that I may become a magician who can support the country and the Rujil House, as soon as possible."
"Is that so?"

This is the cla.s.sic role-model answer, “Origa”‘s line that I consciously say often, along with curving my red lips into a smile.
He then turned his gaze towards the gla.s.s of wine, but the pressure from the low hum of his voice had me pinned down.
A heavy heat suddenly permeated throughout the room.

"I wouldn"t really recommend "that" way of handling things."

I felt my heart freeze over at once.

―――Aah, it came.
The words I didn"t want to hear the most.
As expected, this man realized what I was doing to Gil-sama.
Would someone knowledgeable enough be able to tell I am secretly training Gil-sama in water magic?
Just how many people, have realized this?
Did someone report it to father?

"……What could you possibly mean? I train everyday in according to the contents recommended to me by father."

If father the head of the household has realized, the fate of Gil-sama who does not have the qualifications to be part of this fire clan is as good as sealed.
His fate will be an unrelenting tragic death unbefitting of a protagonist.
Such an ending cannot possibly allowed for this story.
There is no way such a change to him and this light novel can be allowed.
In that case, even if it"s father, even if he"s the head of the clan, even if I"m no match for him now, if he gets in my way…

Matching my feelings, the candles in the room flared greatly.
Gil-sama noticing the change in my mood looked over in confusion, I ignored him and continued directing my gaze towards father.
Each and every move, I couldn"t afford to overlook it.
Preparing myself to escape at any moment with Gil-sama.
The person himself who was receiving my hostile glare gave a fleeting glance to the sudden change in the candles on the table.

"Very well, if you think you can nurture that talent, then go ahead and do as you like."

Father spoke in a taunting manner as he closed his copper eyes, and the overflowing heat in the room was immediately dispersed.
The head of the household had said he would overlook this―――with his word, Gil-sama"s safety was as good as secured.
The fact that this moment ended without conflict is already a blessing.
I slowly exhaled and eased my emotions, reducing the flames down to normal.

"If you do surpa.s.s me, at that time your free to do whatever you please, although there will be some restrictions."
"Yes, I understand, father."

Although I have talent, I am lacking in terms of experience.
No matter how overwhelming my talent is, at this moment I cannot compete against my father.
The thing father, who is hailed as one of history’s greatest, has, which I lack is――――experience.
Thus right now is not yet the time.
But one day once I overcome that weakness.

*Kushun, a small sneeze resounded through the chilling bloodthirsty atmosphere.
I had completely forgotten his existence and as I looked over, Gil-sama was looking down with a frightened expression on his face due to the atmosphere.
Ahh, I could only sigh.
This is depressing.

―――It seems he really did catch a cold in the end.

Take care of yourself, oniisama!
―――I will bring you medicine and warm milk later!