Joint Practical Evaluation Interlude (1)

Thanks to the Trial of Frost, I was able to decipher Isaac's fragmented memories that remained in my mind.

Isaac and his elder sister, Eve Ropenheim, had different biological fathers.

Isaac's mother fell in love with Baron Ropenheim, having been swooned by his romantic courtship, and even had a baby with him.

However, she and her child were abandoned by Baron Ropenheim, the sole reason being that her pregnancy was unsightly. Basically, he didn't like how she got fat because of the child in her womb.

As such, she was exiled to a shabby house in the countryside and subsequently gave birth to their daughter, Eve.

For Isaac's mother, who was lost in sorrow and the futility of her situation, Eve was her sole reason to continue living.

Then, she met a commoner, which led to the birth of Isaac. As a result, Isaac's mother found another reason to live.

I could remember the backstory of Isaac's birth, but anything specific about the past, such as his childhood, was completely blank.

I couldn't remember where Isaac's father disappeared to, nor how Eve Ropenheim reunited with her biological father, Baron Ropenhem…

Of course, I'm sure it's not a very happy story to hear.

'Anyway.'

No matter how trashy Baron Ropenheim was, what kind of mental trauma Isaac's mother endured, and who Eve really was, that was an Isaac problem, not a me problem.

My problem laid in the present. So let's try to summarize the current situation.

As mentioned before, given Eve's safe arrival here, the messenger from the fourth gate must have lost its ability to properly function.

Therefore, the academy staff would be coming to this cave to replace both the messenger and the professor.

In conclusion, there was no time to relax here and play around.

"Y-yeah! That's right! I'm his elder sister!"

Eve's arrogant shout came out awkwardly.

Before Kaya could say something, she broke out into a cold sweat…

I slipped my index finger to my lips, signaling her to remain silent.

Kaya, who was still in shock, managed to regain her reason.

It seemed as if my silent instruction to stay quiet had been delivered properly,

'First of all, if I correctly deduced what this elder sister said earlier, then…'

Eve did not know the specific circumstances of what Kaya and I did.

Moreover, she did not see the frog demon's territory but was able to see Kaya's blood magic. It meant that she was most likely quite a distance away from Milo the Yearner.

That meant…

'She must have been outside the hole that I made earlier.'

The mana of Dark Kaya was at a level where even Eve could accurately sense it.

As such, I should just gaslight her into thinking that she was mistaken because of Kaya's immense magical prowess. It would be ideal to gloss over this matter using this as an excuse.

"And also, who do you think you're treating as a demon right now?"

"…Huh?"

I put on a calm expression and looked down at Eve from a close distance.

By the way, this elder sister is hella nervous.

"Kaya has a rare and strong element. Earlier, she saved me by destroying a trap that I was almost caught in. I appreciate the reason you stepped up to help me, but don't accuse or insult Kaya. Now, go back. You haven't even cleared the fourth gate yet."

"That, how did you know…?"

"Did you think I wouldn't notice that you were tailing me?"

Eve hiccuped in shock.

"The timing doesn't match after all. It doesn't make any sense that you were able to clear the fourth gate so quickly while reaching all the way here as well. Why did you even follow me?"

"W-well… It couldn't be helped… Uh, um… I was just trying to help! Yeah, I was helping you! If you fell in danger in a place like this, if I didn't step forward and help, you would be in big trouble! After all, you're w… e… ak…?"

I don't think I'm weak enough to be protected by a level 87 though…

Eve's voice slowly died out. She probably spat those words out and realized soon after that 'That ain't it Chief'.

Anyway, it wasn't too hard to notice that she was genuinely concerned about my well-being, even among the careless and argumentative words she used.

'She seems nice on the outside though.'

I wonder why her relationship with Isaac became so twisted.

For now, I should quickly finish the current conversation.

I brushed past Eve without answering, pretending to have nothing more to say.

"Kaya, let's go."

At this, Kaya followed beside me.

"Sir Isaac, could you please give me a chance to make up for my wrongdoings with your elder sister…"

She pleaded with a whisper. Her desperate expression was mournful.

Unfortunately, however, I could not afford to listen to her plea at the current moment.

As wind magic lifted us up, we left Eve behind and went up the hole.

As we did so, I glanced sideways at Eve.

I was met by a pair of sunken eyes.

[Eve Ropenheim] Psychology: [Feels a sense of guilt towards you.]

…I'll figure this out later.

I briefly considered having a conversation with Eve while pretending I had partial memory loss.

'There probably isn't a need for that.'

Isaac's life story started as someone born into an average family of commoners and ended as someone who took his own life. Wherever Eve was in that story, it was certain that she did not play a good role in it.

"Isaac!"

At that moment, Eve called out to me.

"After Mom passed away… what happened to you in those two years?"

She must have had many questions after following me today.

'That's pretty understandable.'

Isaac was someone who was the weakest, even in his childhood, but he suddenly showed up in the most prestigious academy on the continent and even showed skill that was far above average among his peers.

Well, the answer wasn't that difficult. I didn't even need to think about it.

"Nothing happened."

"…"

Isaac studied to death in order to be acknowledged for his theoretical excellence. As a result, it allowed him to enter M?rchen Academy and major in Magic Theory.

As such, he probably only studied in the two years he hadn't met Eve. He would have isolated himself from the world and only lived by burying himself in books.

And next to him, during his darkest moments, Eve wasn't there.

At the end of that short conversation, Kaya and I started to ascend up the hole once again.

We started to head towards the fifth gate when Kaya started pleading with me with a pitiful expression.

"Sir Isaac, could you please turn back time just once…? If it's Sir Isaac, wouldn't it be easy to do so…?"

[Kaya Astrea] Psychology: [Depressed because she ruined her first encounter with her sister-in-law.]

…Sorry, that would be difficult to do.

* * *

"Sigh…"

The reunion with my younger brother was absolutely dreadful.

Eve was alone and lost her thoughts.

She was certain now. It may seem unbelievable but Isaac's mind, body, and ability to handle magic were all different from before.

He was just a lacking boy who was bullied by the children in his hometown for being useless in magic.

The Isaac who had always been weak to his very bones was nowhere to be seen.

Now, only a reliable and talented young man could be clearly reflected in Eve's eyes.

'Perhaps…'

He must have endured all kinds of sorrow and managed to mature, using his heartache as a stepping stone.

After their mother had passed away, Isaac abandoned his shabby house and disappeared to live alone.

As such, Eve was only able to reunite with him today because both of them were academy students taking the same evaluation.

Eve couldn't even begin to imagine how much blood, sweat, and tears it took for him to change so drastically.

Her heart squeezed painfully and her throat choked with tears. To Isaac, Eve was someone who couldn't even play the role of an older sister properly,

While Isaac improved himself alone through so much grief, Eve had done nothing for him.

Instead, all she did was put a nail in her younger brother's heart, hurting him even greater in his time of suffering.

Eve let out a deep sigh.

"But…"

While feeling despondent, Eve looked up at the hole, It was high up from the ground where she stood.

"How do I get out of here…?"

The cold reality drew Eve out of her thoughts.

She had overused her wind magic while chasing after Isaac and had even attacked Kaya, so her mana was already depleted.

She should've bore the shame and asked Isaac to carry her out too. Eve regretted it already.

* * *

[Status] Name: Isaac

Lv: 82

Gender: Male

Year: 1st

Title: Eager First Year

Mana: 12000/12000

– Mana Recovery Speed (B)

Autumn had begun to show. The streets of the academy were filled with students wearing uniforms that were gradually becoming thicker.

The cold season was already creeping closer. It was not long before the Floating Island would appear.

Before that, I wanted to be strong enough to ensure that I could successfully solve the problems regarding the Floating Island.

If nothing happened any time soon, I wouldn't have to worry about the bad ending, so I could train in peace.

"Hooo."

Boom—!

Crash–!

The academy training grounds.

I was eliminating demonic illusions with elemental magic.

Now that I have outgrown the title of the weakest, no student tried to have a useless quarrel with me over my skills.

On the contrary, more students seemed to admire me while I was training. It seemed like my performance with Zhonya's Staff was quite the spectacle to see. It honestly made me feel vain as my shoulders stiffened with pride.

The results of the joint practical evaluation landed me in 30th place, thus passing the exam. Considering the time it took me to kill the frog demon, my performance was a lot better than I expected.

'Though I did use some tricks.'

Of course, my game knowledge played a big role.

If I had taken the evaluation purely based on my own skill and without any game knowledge, I would have placed in the middle of the pack or, at best, in the middle high.

I felt sorry for Kaya. I was sure she wanted to beat Luce.

However, she just smiled and let the matter go, saying that her desire to win couldn't be compared to the peace of the academy.

The one drawback was that Eve Ropenheim got a bad impression of her because of their brief conflict.

Whenever there was talk about Eve, I could see tears glistening around Kaya's eyes.

She said it was the first time in her life that she wanted to turn back time so badly.

Incidentally, she asked me if I was hiding my identity from my family as well, so I vaguely confirmed her suspicions.

She must have been surprised that my elder sister, Eve Ropenheim, was so unexpectedly ordinary.

Kaya's parents were a swordmaster and a genius wizard so I guess she was looking forward to seeing how extraordinary my family would also be.

In addition.

'How long is Isaac's elder sister going to follow me around?'

After the joint practical evaluation, Eve hadn't spoken a word to me.

However, when I occasionally checked my surroundings with [Clairvoyance], I could easily witness her stalking me. I didn't think she was currently at the training ground though.

I was pretty sure that we would have a conversation sometime in the near future.

'It bothers me…"

On the day my journey to defeat the Evil God comes to an end…

It was not known if I would return to my original world or remain in this world.

Of course, I was only human so there were certainly times when I missed my family back in my original world.

Therefore, I had a selfish desire to get closer to Eve, the only blood relation I had in this world.

'I guess I don't need to try to that extent though.'

I don't even know Isaac's childhood at all.

What kind of relationships Isaac had, the specifics behind how he got along with Eve, and what memories he had…

However, that didn't mean that I wanted to start digging into Isaac's past.

It wasn't too late to worry about such things after I took down the Evil God.

For now, in order to defeat the Floating Island, I needed to focus on my training with several times the efficiency I usually had.

And so, I trained every day.

Even when I got a nosebleed, I did not stop practicing my magic,

I asked Dorothy to use buff magic on me so that I could forcefully recover my condition and train again and again.

I applied what I learned in classes and books into repetitive practical training.

I even rationed my sleep time and as I trained like crazy….

Ten days later, the accumulated fatigue overlapped.

Collapse.

In a moment, I suddenly lost consciousness.