The Stellar Sister Takes the Lead – IV

"Ugh." Stella flopped into her bed face first and grumbled. "Stupid Onii-chan. Making his baby sisters work so hard..."

Norn staggered into the house behind Stella with a weary smile. "Even so, that was fun, wasn't it?" She tossed a bag filled with magic stones off to the side and said, "It's the first time we went adventuring with Big Brother."

"If it's going to be like this it's going to be the last. Ugh... I'm so sore." Stella flipped back around and stared at the ceiling.

It was her house. The one that she was given as the 'Hero.' Looking around, the mountain of gifts she was given had been replaced with three chests.

Stella wasn't sure exactly how they managed it, but she was sure that those glowing magical chests were definitely holding all of her things like a portable inventory.

Still, she could think about that later. For now...

Stella sat up and said, "Hey, Onee-chan?"

Norn walked over to a refrigerator (when did that get there?!) and pulled out a water bottle. After opening it to take a drink, she sat back down and said, "What is it, Stella?"

Stella decided to ignore the refrigerator that definitely just popped into existence and instead looked at Norn. "What do you think Onii-chan will do in the future?"

Norn blinked and tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

Stella spun around to sit on the edge of her bed and started kicking her legs. "Onii-chan is super strong. The strongest in the world. And he's already a Demon Lord... so do you think he'll decide to become god or something?"

She wouldn't be surprised if he did. Onii-chan was super ridiculous and apparently already had one god as a mortal enemy, so...

Norn laughed.

Stella frowned and said, "What's so funny?"

Norn shook her head. "It's nothing. Just..." She laughed again and said, "Big Brother Rui? A god? He's nothing like what they say Saint Milis or the other gods are like, right? Even if he's super strong, I don't think he'll be much different in the future. If anything, I think he might just be playing around a bit more with Big Sis Eri and Sylphy."

"...Yeah. You're probably right."

Norn sipped on her water and then said, "Why did you ask, Stella?"

Stella sighed. "It's just..." She frowned and said, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Onii-chan was the main character. And he was a cheat main character too. Even so, Stella was supposed to be the hero... How was that going to work out?

Was Onii-chan going to have a big villain arc? Or-

"Isn't it obvious?"

Stella blinked. "Obvious?"

Norn smiled and said, "Right! You're our baby sister, so you can just do whatever you want! And then when Mommy and Mama Lily come back, you can surprise them with how cool you are!"

Stella stared at Norn.

Norn stared back.

Stella rolled her eyes.

"W-What?" Norn looked confused and said, "Did I say something weird?"

"No. But be careful, Onee-chan. At this rate, you might become a muscle-head swordsman like our Dad."

Norn huffed and said, "I won't! I'm much smarter than Dad and Big Sis Eri."

"It doesn't have to do anything with how smart you are... but alright." Stella hopped off her bed and said, "Now... since you said I should do whatever I want..." She walked over to grab a few magic stones from the bag and said, "I've always wanted to try alchemy..."

-RNG-

"Alright everyone." I looked around and said, "Are we all here? Got everything we needed?"

A few days had passed since we arrived at Dedoria village. In that time, Stella became a hero, got a new puppy called Leo, and made some new friends in Sena and Toni.

At the same time, Eri got to catch up with Ghyslaine to hear news about her family. Sylphy too, since Laws and Rose ended up near the same place.

My kids, Ena, Eos, and Roland, also managed to spend some time off catching up with each other as proper siblings. Not sure exactly what they did, but they were a lot less awkward around each other at least.

...I think I overheard something about Cliff at some point, but I decided not to dig too much into it.

Anyway, it was a brief trip, but it was time to get going. And because of that, everyone had gathered in the middle of Dedoria village for our takeoff.

Well, kind of. We were going to be teleporting most of the way there, but that was kind of like a flight, right?

Stella rolled her eyes while tugging three floating chests behind her. "Stop procrastinating and get us out of here already, Onii-chan." She looked off at the distance and said, "I'm sick of seeing nothing but water and rain."

Norn nodded from beside Stella and said, "It's been nice meeting everyone in Dedoria village, but I think we should get going. We're meeting Aisha and Miss Roxy now, right?"

Eri adjusted her sword and then glanced back towards the village chief's house.

Sylphy noticed and said, "Are you missing Miss Ghyslaine already, Eri?"

"N-No!" Eri turned her head back and said, "I'm just worried that she'll beat everyone up! You saw how much her brother didn't like her, right?"

While those two chatted, I activated my Clairvoyance and started up the calculations for the transport. As I did, I said, "Ghyslaine is a grown adult, Eri. She'll be fine. And besides, some people only learn lessons the hard way."

Sylphy giggled.

Eri blushed and said, "And what's that supposed to mean?!"

"That Ghyslaine's brother needs to get punked around a bit. Now everyone here? Miko?"

Miko stopped eating a cup of ice cream and raised her hand. "I'm here!"

"Kids?"

Eos waved at me with Ena and Roland next to her. "We're here, Father."

"Stella, all your elemental buddies and new doggo present?"

Stella groaned and said, "Just hurry up already, Onii-chan. We're all here. And even if we weren't, stop acting like you couldn't just come back and grab whoever was left."

"Hey. Just wanted to be a responsible adult since I'm the only one here."

And wasn't that a terrifying thought. Really made me wish Mom or Mama Lily was here. Laws and Rose would be great too.

Well, that's why we're heading to see Master Roxy, so...

"Alright. Then..." I shifted my gaze to the Beast Race villagers peering out at us from outside my transport circle. Then I looked over to Ghyslaine who was... giving me a thumbs up? Ah, that was probably because Gustav was looking listless and Ghyslaine's brother was staring at me with blank eyes.

Eh. Nothing new.

I shifted my focus back to everyone for a bit to make sure we really weren't missing anyone. And then I focused on our destination and nodded. "Here we go. Next stop, Ranoa Kingdom!"

Mana started to swirl around us, letting off dramatic white and gold light.

The moment that happened, gasps echoed from all around us. And sighs echoed from the people near me.

"Dammit, Onii-chan." Stella glared at me and said, "Do you have to be so overdramatic all the time?!"

"It makes life fun and puts people off guard, so yes. Now try not to throw up when we get there."

"What do you- blergh"

-R.M-

The Ranoa Magic Academy, situated in the city of magic, Sharia. Sitting at her desk, the current headmaster of the academy paused in the middle of reviewing research notes. She quickly glanced at the various magical tools sitting on the shelf used to measure and track down spatial distortions before frowning. "Did I imagine it?"

It was a split second. For a moment, she thought she saw a distortion in time and space on the outskirts of the city. But nothing was out of the ordinary. And the detectors for the hidden god weren't active either.

"...Hah." Roxy sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Maybe Aisha was right. I should take a break..."

All of this stress managing the Magic Triumvirate and dealing with the politics around the Magic Guild was starting to take its toll.

Not to mention all of those annoying suitors. Seriously.

Roxy ran her hand through her long blue hair and said, "Is it that hard to find someone competent to help with my work?" She grumbled and said, "Maybe I should just grab a man off the street and dump my work on him? Hah..." She placed her head down and said, "I miss Rudy. I bet my genius student would be able to sort all of this out no problem."

-RNG-

I paused, feeling a shiver run down my spine.

"Big Brother Rui?" Norn looked at me and frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"...No. But, uh." I ran my hand through my hair and said, "I'm properly disguised right now, right? Brown hair, green eyes?"

"Yes...?"

"Weird." I tugged the collar of my shirt and muttered, "Why do I feel like a noose just got tossed over me then?"

"...Big Sister Eri will be mad if she hears that after your promise for the wedding ceremony, Rui."

"Ahaha... That's probably it then."

"..."

"...Don't tell your big sisters?"

"Only if you make me hot chocolate."

"Deal."

[author] Wanted to add insert pictures this chapter, but currently in place with limited bandwidth. We'll drop those next time.[/author]