Learning from an instructor (1)

"Huh?"

I stared at them with a blank expression, carrying a stiff smile on my face. I couldn't quite distinguish if they were trying to pull off a bad joke or genuinely didn't intend to create such a tense atmosphere.

"You..I..."

Collapsing to my knees, I could feel a warm liquid streaming down my cheeks, falling from my eyes. As the panic inside of my body vanished, my body involuntarily relaxed, thus losing all my strength in my body.

"She's crying, mother! What have you done?!"

My brother's voice sounded upset as he rushed over to me, trying to cheer me up.

"I..I don't know!"

Mother sounded panicked, not knowing what to do, as she looked around, waving her arms around.

"Darling, what have I done wrong?!"

"I don't know, honey!"

Both of my parents didn't know how to react to my tears, and honestly, I didn't either.

Frankly, I wasn't sure if they were even my tears or Weiss'. Still, no matter whose it was, I was sure that Weiss at least had an influence on the emotions that I just felt.

"It's alright."

In a calm voice, my brother reassured me, wiping the tears out of my eyes.

***

***

You know, while Weiss possessed the characteristic [Ice Queen], I really doubted that she was actually one.

The sole fact that her parents sent her out of the mansion was enough to make her cry was the only evidence I needed.

Anyway, after my emotional breakdown, I discussed everything with my parents and they decided to send me off to a sword art instructor in the Empire.

The land of the Azelios' was located somewhere far in the west, almost being on the edge of the empire, where it was always snowing.

Sighing, I leaned my head out of the window of the carriage, watching the snowy landscape fade into the far distance.

"You seem to be sad."

My brother, who was chosen as a temporary escort for me, said as he crossed his arms.

"I guess so. It's my first time leaving the mansion, after all."

Immediately after I said that, the realization hit me.

I didn't actually know if it really was the first time I let the mention, so I could have just exposed myself.

Glancing at my brother from the corner of my view, carefully observing how he would react to my slip-up.

"It's not your first time, though?"

"I...Is that so..?"

I said, my voice carrying a nervous undertone as I spoke.

Fortunately, my brother didn't react to that, all that much, just releasing a short hum, before also looking out of the window.

"Well, you were little back then, so I guess you just forgot, huh?"

"...surely that is the case."

For the rest of the journey, we didn't talk much with each other. Both of us just silently stared out of the window, watching the landscape as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

After around five days' worth of traveling, we finally arrived in the empire.

Surprisingly, we weren't attacked by any bandits or monster hordes on the way, but I wasn't the main character, so the chances of such a thing happening probably weren't as high as I thought.

"We are finally there."

My brother stated the obvious when the carriage finally came to a stop. Immediately, I kicked the door open and jumped out into the wilderness.

Sitting in that carriage for almost 5 days straight had killed my back and my butt wasn't very well off either.

No, precisely, my whole body felt sore, not just these two parts.

"You seem energetic."

Flake said to me, when he left the carriage, watching how I stretched.

"I just think that it feels great to be able to move again."

While I never was a fan of sports or unnecessary movement in my past life, during that 5 days inside the carriage, I gradually came to understand the people who did.

Not being able to move for an extended time fucking sucked.

After a while of stretching, I felt great again, and with my newfound energy; I turned my attention to the empire.

My eyes widened as I determined the rough shape and structure of the walls that were in front of me.

They were huge.

Not like normal huge, but like the Chinese wall type of huge.

"Wow."

A sound of admiration was released from my lips only by the walls of the empire.

"This is nothing."

My brother laughed at my reaction before giving me a pat on my head. He grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him as we walked to the entrance of the empire, completely ignoring the carriage driver or the guards that tried to talk to us.

He stopped for a moment, as he locked eyes with one of the guards.

"If you try to follow us, I'll kill you."

Flake whispered In a raspy voice, real killing intent neatly hiding beneath his words.

"Y...Yes sir!"

Quickly saluting, the guard's body turned stiff, seemingly fearing for his life.

I couldn't blame him, though. I would be too if I were in his position.

Glancing at my brother, who turned back into his usual emotional state again, only a single thought shot through my mind.

Scary.

"Let's go Weiss."

Snapping me out of my thoughts with his voice, my brother spoke again, flashing me a faint smile as he did so.

I was startled for a split second, but pulled myself together almost instantly, before nodding in response.

"...Yes."

Instead of just blindly following him, however, I turned my head around, looking at the faces of the guards and the carriage driver.

With worried expressions, they watched us from behind. Although they were ordered by my father to be the ones to take care of us, they felt too threatened by Flake to go against his orders, thus staying behind and watching us disappear in the distance.

Trying to reassure them by giving a small thumbs up, I turned my attention to Flake again, getting lost in thought, as I scanned him.

While Flake was a scary person, I really wouldn't call him a bad person. He just had his priorities straight and his current priority was spending time with me.

I couldn't help but find his affection toward me to be weirdly endearing.

Looking at his face now, his cheeks did seem very cuddly, almost as if they were just asking to get pinched.

Closing my eyes, I nodded in approval. I had recalled some memories of my elder brother in the past and compared to him, Flake was a thousand—no, a trillion times better.

Admittedly, it wasn't hard to be a better brother than my previous one, but Flake just blew all my expectations of an older brother out of my mind.

He was just that much better.

Or should I rather say younger brother? I was older than him, after all.

Well, who cares?

I'm not Ren now, but Weiss, so I should just live as Weiss and try to ignore my past life as much as possible.

It was no good recalling those unpleasant memories.

"Oh, there's an ice cream shop right there."

Flake's voice broke me out of my thoughts. He pointed over to a small shop on the side of the street.

"Do you want some?"

"Surely."

Yes.

I nodded in an approving manner.

He certainly was the better brother.