It took a while for Rainil to calm down. In the end, I held both his hands and chanted “Calm down, calm down~” in my mind, and his near-rampage mana somehow settled. Totally Tarli god vibes.

Even after, Rainil—with fully dilated pupils—muttered, “Heh… heh heh… I’ll personally send that woman and the mage to hell with extra care. No, killing them quickly won’t do. I’ll make them regret ever being born with everything I’ve got.”

A little scary.

He’d been so shocked that I was his real sister he’d completely blanked on how horrific I looked when found in the forest. His rant against Juliane Flockhart and company gradually turned self-loathing.

“I really… what have I been doing all this time, spacing out? If I’d found Nagi sooner…”

“Nii-san… Maybe you should rest a bit?”

At my concern, Rainil—who’d been pointlessly brooding—turned to me deadpan.

“It’s unfair that you only drop honorifics with Soleil.”

“Let’s have proper conversations?”

Sieghart, who’d barely held back rampaging Rainil and looked exhausted, glanced over.

“I think it’s unfair too.”

“Even Sieghart-san!?”

I normally use honorifics with older people.

But the two grown men kept whining “Unfair, unfair” like kids, so I ended up giving in.

(It’s fine… honorifics are annoying to think about anyway. …What even are adults?)

This country’s adulthood is eighteen, but physical maturity doesn’t guarantee mental maturity. Soleil muttered with cold eyes, “I guess I can only approve the captain’s muscles after all,” but I didn’t quite get it. Lack of maturity and lack of muscles shouldn’t correlate.

Oswald cleared his throat.

“Getting along is great. …So Nagi can use healing magic. That surprised me.”

They discussed my enrollment at the magical academy, so I left with Soleil for now.

Reddington Court, as the Mage Knight Order headquarters, is protected by palace-level defenses across its vast grounds. Triple shields constantly active—no unauthorized person can even peek inside.

For now, I’m protected as: kidnapping victim + key witness in mana-child trafficking + vice-captain’s sister. The order members don’t know yet. Isaac will announce to the whole order eventually, but no need to hide from those I meet before then.

“Nagi-chan, Nagi-chan! Can I introduce you to my classmate first!?”

The moment we left Isaac’s office, Soleil asked with max excitement. I tilted my head.

“Classmate… the tall boy in the same uniform as you?”

“Yeah, him. He looks super intimidating and grumpy, but he’s not a bad guy!”

She gave a big thumbs-up. If she wants to, I have no reason to refuse. I nodded; Soleil grinned and started walking.

“His name’s Seiad Jenks. He’s always been super dexterous—his hobby lace and embroidery are sellable quality. You should see them sometime!”

“…Wow, looking forward to it.”

The boy who seemed to laugh only at high-level jokes and whose facial muscles slacked off a lot—his specialty is lace knitting and embroidery. Gap moe is definitely rampant in this country’s Mage Knight Order. Wonderful.

“He loves cute things and has great fashion sense too. If you ever need style advice, ask Seiad—he’s reliable. I consult him all the time!”

“…I see.”

Seiad the fashion king.

Remembering how he’d looked at me coldly like “What is this filthy creature” at our first meeting, I gave a vague smile. Even as this world’s Saintess, my Japanese desire to avoid waves will never disappear.

(Well… a cute-things lover and neat freak would totally “avoid” the me from back then. Unavoidable circumstances. I’m clean now thanks to the bath, so hopefully forgiven.)

We arrived at an indoor training facility bigger than my middle school gym—brand new impression. Soleil and Seiad had been training here until Isaac’s call.

A fortress-like stone building behind the noble mansion-style main house—pretty surreal. And there were four such massive facilities. Isaac’s wallet must be insane to own all this privately.

Overwhelmed by the scale, I followed Soleil lightly to one building. She placed her palm on a square stone panel by the door. It glowed briefly, then the thick door vanished silently.

(Hyo!?)

It didn’t slide left/right or up/down—it literally disappeared. I froze. Soleil turned and laughed.

“Training buildings use mana authentication. Entry needs approved mana like now, but exiting is just pushing the door.”

“Amazing… I was shocked. Um… is it okay for me to enter?”

Isaac said I could explore anywhere inside Reddington Court. But training facilities feel off-limits to outsiders.

Soleil nodded casually.

“This is a situation-response combat simulation building with virtual space arrays. No matter how much you wreck inside, the gallery is unaffected—safe.”

“Yeah. Zero idea what that means.”

Deadpan answer. Soleil grinned mischievously.

“You’ll get it when you see. Come on, come on! Current scenario: rainy dusk, lone medium-sized berserk magical beast appeared. Clear conditions: eliminate beast or reach safe zone. Seiad’s on solo scouting, so evade attacks and reach safe zone to end.”

Pulled by Soleil’s hand, I stepped inside—vision darkened instantly.

A huge cube glowed faintly in the center. Inside floated a dim forest scene.

(Woa… ah…)

Like a full-3D ultra-HD movie theater.

A cloaked figure dashed through pouring rain forest at unbelievable speed. Chasing from behind: a massive monstrous beast.

Jet-black tiger/panther-like muscular body, huge bat wings, glowing red eyes, saber-tooth fangs. Its wide-open mouth fired continuous fireballs with crackling sounds.

(…Not a movie, right?)

The cloaked figure dodged fireballs nimbly, twisted, and aimed left palm backward. The charging beast unnaturally stopped—its hind legs frozen to the ground in ice.

“Seiad excels at water and fire magic. Gather atmospheric moisture under the beast, then reverse fire magic to drop temperature fast—boom, immobilized. Ah, he reached safe zone—ended.”

Soleil said casually, but seeing real fantasy combat for the first time left me speechless. I stared at the scene. Suddenly everything brightened. The cube vanished; empty space held only a boy in athletic wear matching Soleil’s.

He’d been repeating clench-open motions with his left hand toward the beast. Noticing us, he paused briefly. Hard to tell if surprised—zero expression change.

Expressionless somehow looks angry. Especially on a cool pretty boy.

I shrank back, randomly wanting to apologize, when Soleil called casually.

“Good work, Seiad. Listen listen! Nagi-chan is Vice-Captain Rainil’s real little sister! Captain looked unusually tense—I thought something huge happened, but total shock!”

Bright smile, instantly spilling my background. Seiad’s eyes widened slightly—he stared at me.

(Oof… stared at by cool pretty boy…)

Super uncomfortable.

If I weren’t already lovestruck, this might be heart-fluttering. But my pretty-boy flutter quota is fully sold out to Sieghart. Just sweaty awkwardness—when Seiad nodded slightly.

“Good.”

(…Huh?)

What’s good? Confused by the unexpected reaction, Seiad continued expressionless.

“Vice-Captain Rainil searched for you forever. I respect him. So for him to work happily like a workhorse from now on, I’ll make you as cute as possible with everything I’ve got.”

“…What?”

First half: fine. No surprise a fellow order member knew Rainil searched for his sister.

But second half—how did we get here? I tilted my head hard. Soleil complained to Seiad.

“Heyyy, Seiad— Nagi-chan’s confused!”

Soleil suddenly went full class-rep girl mode. But Seiad wasn’t the type to fluster from that.

“I don’t discriminate by gender. But guys who deliberately scar a girl’s face are irredeemable trash with no right to complain about getting kicked in the nuts. On the flip side, girls who weaponize fake tears make me want to kick their faces, so please don’t.”

“O-okay…?”

Soleil recoiled more. He thinks scarring girls’ faces is taboo but fake-crying girls’ faces are kickable. Seiad continued flatly.

“But separate from my personal feelings, it’s simple fact: Young guys’ morale skyrockets seeing cute girls dressed cute. That’s just how guys are—can’t help it.”

“You rambled a lot, but basically you just love cute things, right?”

Half-lidded Soleil tsukkomi’d. Seiad nodded casually.

“That too.”

“Straightforward much.”

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