Episode 6-30: The Family and the Mage

“Geez! I told you so!”

“I-I know, but for Estia to actually bring home a boy as a friend…”

Estia’s mother flailed her arms, completely flustered as she looked at Igni. Observing this, Igni felt a sense of conviction: Yeah, they’re definitely related.

“U-um. Nice to meet you. I’m Estia’s mother. Thank you for always looking after her…”

“Not at all. The pleasure is mine. It is I who should be thanking Estia-san for everything she does.”

Igni brought to the fore every ounce of etiquette he had cultivated during his days as a noble. While there are cases where a man without manners can be popular, this clearly wasn’t one of them.

As Igni bowed politely, Estia’s mother went into a full panic.

“Wh-what should I do? I haven’t bought any sweets or anything!?”

“It’s fine! I’ll handle it!”

“R-really? Well then…”

Practically pushed out by Estia, her mother scooped up her dropped bags and scurried off toward another room in a flurry. Rita followed right after her, leaving the room as well.

Thus, Igni and Estia unexpectedly found themselves alone.

“S-sorry about that. My mom is just…”

“She’s a wonderful mother.”

“Y-you think so?”

“Yeah. I can tell how much she loves you and your sisters.”

When Igni said that, Estia gave a shy, tickled sort of laugh.

“Still, I can’t believe she came home at this hour… she’s usually much later.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. Normally, she doesn’t get back until after sunset. Quite often it’s after the youngest has already gone to sleep.”

“And you take care of everyone until then?”

“Yes. But Rita helps out with the younger ones too.”

“…To take care of your siblings and still maintain your spot as the top student—that’s incredible.”

“I-it’s just luck. A total fluke… really.”

Igni suddenly thought that if Elina heard that, she’d probably faint from the shock.

Perhaps embarrassed to be talking about her grades, Estia cleared her throat softly and changed the subject.

“Anyway, I wonder what she meant about the Royal Capital being dangerous?”

“The thing your mom just mentioned, right?”

“Y-yeah. We haven’t heard anything, have we?”

“Nothing was said at school, at least…”

Estia’s house was on the outskirts of the capital. It was possible information was just slow to reach them, but despite having been at the academy until moments ago, they hadn’t heard a peep about the capital being in danger.

Even if Estia had left early, Igni had stayed behind with the Student Council to handle the cleanup. If something was happening, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to hear about it then.

“Maybe I should go ask Mom for more details.”

“Good idea. If she can tell us what happened…”

The moment Estia opened the door to go look for her mother, her sisters came tumbling into the room in a heap.

“Whoa! Uh, crap!”

Rita was the first to speak. However, she was pinned under the third and fourth daughters—the twins—and couldn’t move. Beside them, the fifth daughter toddled over to Igni and climbed right onto his lap.

“O-oh?”

“Igni, play.”

“A-ah. Sure, I don’t mind…”

Her hands were already clutching several toys. Furthermore, since she was sitting on him, his escape route was completely blocked.

A master strategist…! Igni thought, looking down at the girl who appeared to be about three or four years old.

“What are you doing?” Estia asked Rita quietly.

Visibly breaking into a cold sweat, Rita began to spin a faltering web of excuses.

“N-no. You see… the snacks! Yes! We were just deciding when to bring the snacks in…”

“And is that something that requires everyone to huddle together in front of the door?”

“…T-that’s…”

I see, so Estia is the type to calmly corner people when she’s angry, Igni noted—a new discovery. The people around Igni were usually quite expressive, so they tended to get angry with a lot of emotion. This might be the first time he had seen someone get angry so quietly.

“I-I’m sorry…” Rita apologized, looking defeated. The twins sitting on top of her bowed their heads as well.

“Everyone? What’s going on?”

Estia’s mother arrived, and Igni thought the scene would descend into further chaos, but she ignored the pile of children entirely and turned to him.

“Igni-kun, will you be staying for dinner?”

“No, thank you for the offer. I’ll be heading home before then.”

“Really? But they say it’s dangerous to be outside for a while.”

“…What exactly happened?”

Did one of the Vampires manage to escape? No, if that were the case, the security would be much tighter.

As Igni asked the question with curiosity, she replied:

“Apparently, mages are being attacked indiscriminately. And it started just a little while ago.”

“”Mages are being attacked?””

Igni and Estia locked eyes and tilted their heads simultaneously. What could that mean? They hadn’t heard anything about it.

“I heard it was like a serial attacker… Since I’m not a mage, I was able to come straight home, but the mages at my workplace were assigned guards from the Knight Order.”

…The Knight Order?

Igni’s gaze sharpened. For the Knight Order to be assigned to protect mages, something serious had to be happening. At the very least, it wasn’t something that would happen for a mere common criminal.

“Do they know what the attacker looks like?” Estia asked.

“Well, they say it’s someone with blond hair who uses the 【Light】 attribute.”

Unfortunately, that information alone didn’t narrow it down much. Blond mages who used light magic were common enough in the Royal Capital.

“Did you two hear anything at school?”

“No.”

“Nothing at all.”

“Hmm. I see.”

As Estia’s mother spoke, Rita—who was still pinned under her twin sisters—spoke up.

“Mom! Igni-san is strong! Even if someone like that shows up, he’ll just beat them back!”

“Y-yeah. That’s true. If it’s Igni-san…”

Estia joined in, gazing at Igni. Igni gave a firm nod to reassure them.

“Don’t worry. I’m strong, after all.”

“Exactly! Igni-san even won the last ‘Tournament’!”

Hearing Rita’s words, a stray thought crossed Igni’s mind—Fray was also a blond mage with the 【Light】 attribute.

[End 201]