Marina
Urgh, stupid Hugo! Sherry this Sherry that! You’ve stopped asking about your sister entirely and all that you care about now is her! Wow, Sherry’s so amazing! She’s so strong and fast! I want to beat her! How about your big sister, huh? Don’t you think she’s amazing too? Don’t you want to beat her too?!
Such were the thoughts that sward in my mind after I received yet another letter from my little brother. Lately, he had been sending more and more letters. But instead saying stuff like how much he missed
or asking
how my lessons went, now all he cared about was his magic training. Did he just think of
as his free tutor? Hmph!
Yes, I was upset. I was jealous. The attention I used to be showered with—now he’s giving it more to Sherry.
Now, Sherry’s a good girl. A completely fine one, in fact. She’s cute, she’s a hard worker, and she definitely cared for him. But I'm also cute, I'm also a hard worker, and I also care for him! So why is she the only one getting all the attention?
Argh, this only worsened my already bad mood further.
Why was I having such a bad mood, you might ask? To answer that, I would need to return back many months ago, when the news arrived.
The news of rinda Salamander’s death.
I was never really privy of the details, but apparently, she was taken off-guard by the necromancer girl and killed in the most cowardly manner. Sothing involving poison.
I rembered how said necromancer girl was quite adept in alchemy. In fact, I believed she was the very best in the subject in her year. So I imagined using her alchemy, she had concocted a lethal poison that ended her life.
When the news broke, there was naturally an uproar, not just in the academy, but outside as well. After all, rinda was the granddaughter of one of the Council mbers.
There were demands for the necromancer girl’s family to be hanged for her cris. However, it was soon discovered that she had no family left. All of them had perished in the plague that struck around fifteen years ago, leaving her a complete orphan.
The bla then fell to her alchemy teacher. At the very least, he wasn’t executed. He was simply banished from the Magocracy. As for the already fired dark magic teacher, he actually got that punishnt. Execution by lightning mages.
I didn’t know whether the Magocracy would send its agents to hunt after her beyond its borders, as I heard the necromancer had boarded a ship to cross the ocean. I suppose it would depend on how much the other Council mbers saw this incident as an affront to its authority. Not to ntion her grandfather wanting revenge for his dead granddaughter.
All I knew however was that Alincia was completely heartbroken by the whole ordeal.
-----
I was present in her burial. In fact, everyone in the academy ca. It was a massive funeral, and she was treated as if she was a fallen hero. I heard even the Council mbers ca, though I didn’t get a good look at any of them. It was only natural for a granddaughter of soone in such an important position would have a funeral as lavish as this one. Not to ntion that it was also a funeral to her followers, who had co with her to chase after the necromancer. It wasn’t just a single murder.
To think that just one girl—not that far of age from —could accomplish such a terrifying feat… just how skilled she was in the acts of murder… and how did she get the knowledge in the first place?
Her eulogy was all good of course. No ntion of bullying
or any other students. I didn’t mind though. I wasn’t even angry at her now. She was dead—her lifeless corpse was going to be buried beneath the ground of this cetery. Holding grudges to the dead just seed silly, in my opinion.
I left her a bouquet of flowers. And a little prayer, for her to be able to rest in peace.
I have forgiven you. So you can rest now, rinda Salamander.
----
With her gone, I imdiately noticed a massive transformation in my academy life.
The girls and boys that normally kept their distance away from
all this ti—now they acted normal, even nice towards . No longer would I have to wait until the teacher assigned
soone to work in a class project with. They would co to
on their own.
There was only one thing. With rinda gone, they were no longer afraid of befriending . I was no longer the black sheep marked by her to be teased and tornted with.
Sad to say, I couldn’t really see them as other than acquaintances. You might think of
as arrogant, but I would never want cowardly friends like them that just quivered and bent their backs in front of a clear injustice.
If it were my dear Hugo, he would have defended
from the start, of course.
Speaking of the boys, so of them were clearly aiming for more than just friendship with . I wasn’t sure why. I wasn’t particularly beautiful or anything. And I wasn’t a wizard nobility either.
One of them, however, was particularly consistent with it. He would hound
every day with his presence, asking for
to teach him magic or help with his howork. And to make matters worse, he actually reminded
of my dear Hugo. He was a Hobbit, you see. And if you knew how Hobbits worked, they couldn’t really look older or get taller than a 10-year old human boy or girl.
I knew better than to be persuaded by his boyish charms however. Before rinda died, he was actually her fiance. They were already scheduled to marry the mont they graduated. He too belonged to a powerful wizarding family. Unlike rinda, it was his grandmother who sat on the Council.
For him to suddenly approach
like this, there must be so ulterior motive behind it. And I believed I might have an idea on what it could be.
Magic bloodline preservation.
The prominent theory of magic inheritance stated that a marriage between two powerful mages would produce children with even greater talent in magic. That was why children of powerful wizarding families would only marry other children from equally powerful wizarding families. With rinda gone however, I might have actually beco the most talented mage in the entire academy. I assud that he, or to be more accurate—his grandmother, most likely—decided that he had to marry
instead, and produce powerful heirs that would make even greater mages to expand the influence of their family. His grandmother was a gno, and just from that, you could already expect that his family, the Marjoram, to be quite the unconventional one, at least compared to the other wizarding families. Most of the folks there seed to care about the title and respect of being part of the ruling families, so they would only marry their children to other ruling families. But the Marjoram, they seed to welco marriage outside of the family, or outright leaving the Magocracy together to beco adventurers and such. His uncle was one such person. He married a demoness when he travelled to the demon continent, and ever since then, he had lived there. And he wasn’t disowned for that. Perhaps the demoness he married had powerful magic abilities that satisfied the grandmother. And of course, her daughter, who also was a gno, ended up marrying a hobbit, and that led to her grandson becoming a hobbit, inheriting the genes of his father. There was no such thing as a half-gno half-hobbit, only which blood was more dominant, and that would be the one who got inherited. I could imagine her not being so pleased that her grandson was a hobbit instead of a gno. The latter tend to be more attuned to magic after all.
Vera Marjoram, the legendary Ice Snake Witch. She earned that title after she overthrew and destroyed one of the ruling mage families and replaced them with her own. It was a victory not just done through her impressive feat in magic, but also through politicking with the other families. Before they knew it, a gno was already amongst them, sharing the sa table in the Council. That never occured in the entire history of the Magocracy, ever since it was founded by Mira a thousand years ago.
With that kind of person scheming in the shadows, I knew that her grandson was not to be trusted either. He never really liked
as a person. He simply wanted my womb for his seeds. That’s all.
If only he didn’t remind
so much of Hugo, I wouldn’t be this annoyed with him. And Hugo himself didn’t help matters, as lately he had been asking all sorts of things about magic, just like him.
All that for Sherry… he really is fond of her that much, huh?
I sighed. I knew I shouldn’t be selfish, wanting to monopolize him all for myself. He’s growing up after all. He’s already seven now this year. Before I knew it, he would already be a fully grown man. And then he would have a lover for real. He would coddle her and give her all his attention. And knowing him, he would definitely have a lot of fun with her in bed as well. He would have no ti whatsoever for his older sister anymore.
And if this continues… Sherry would definitely be that lover…
Aah, it would be nice if I can have my own lover too...
----
“Hey, Marina! Surprise hug!”
As I was returning back to the dorms from my classes, I was suddenly assaulted from behind by a familiar redheaded little girl.
“Oh, Alincia. You almost gave
a heart attack there.” I smiled, turning around to face her.
After her sister’s death, we had grown much closer than before. It all started when one night, as I was just about to sleep, she suddenly ca to
with tears in her eyes, demanding that I would sleep with her.
I obliged. I would be cruel and heartless not to do so.
She cried herself to sleep that night, dampening my nightgown considerably with her tears. But I didn’t mind in the slightest. Instead, I told her to let it all out. Without her sister, it seed I was the only one that she could pour her heart and soul to.
I then learned the horrible state of her family, about how her father and mother had eloped when they were young, leaving them to be raised by their absurdly strict and demanding grandfather. As the first daughter, rinda received the most pressure from him, as he wanted her to be his successor, and not to beco like his useless daughter who had run away. He demanded her to be able to cast at least three Master-level spells before she graduated, and to be the number one student in all subjects.
It was clear to
then why she beca a bully in the first place. Anyone would snap if put under such pressure.
If only I had known, then perhaps I could have eased her burden a little.
And so, ever since that night, I treated Alincia as a true friend. Perhaps even more, as I started to see her as a little sister of sorts. Quite ironic, considering that back ho, I actually had an actual little sister.
“Good afternoon, Big Sis Marina!”
Our mont was interrupted however when the hobbit boy I was talking about made his appearance. He was about as tall as Hugo, but with a black hair instead. And of course, like most Hobbits, he was barefooted. He seed to have shaved his feet though. Hobbits’ feet were usually hairy after all.
“Do you have anything to do for the weekend? Then how about you co to my house? I promise we’ll have all sorts of delicious food there!” he said with his usual easygoing smile.
“Hey, get lost, hobbit boy! Marina has already promised to go to town with ! She got no ti for the likes of you!”
As usual, Alincia imdiately showed her dislike towards him. She could get away with all sorts of rude comnts towards him, thanks to her status. Not that he seed to mind any of them though.
“Oh, Alincia! You can co too if you want!”
“Hmph, who wants to co to your house?” She showed her tongue towards him. She really was still a kid after all.
“Also, how many tis have I told you to stop calling Marina like that?” She’s not your big sister! You’re the sa age as her! Stop pretending to be younger than you really are, just to seduce her with your boyish looks!”
I sighed. Alincia still thought that I had a preference towards younger boys, just because of my attachnt towards Hugo.
The hobbit boy, however, opted to ignore the young mage entirely, resuming his talk with
instead. “Grandma wants to et you, you know! You know who she is, right? No one would ever miss the chance to et with her personally!”
There it was—his grandmother making a move towards . No doubt she would try to befriend
and influence
to marry her grandson in the future.
“I am sorry, Tom.” I told him with a calm yet serious look. “I already promised Alincia that I will go with her.”
He didn’t respond imdiately. Instead, he switched his strategy, giving
the saddest, most pathetic puppy-eyes that he could muster. I flinched. Even though I already encountered this strategy a few tis before, it still made my heart ache. He really was adorable when he did so, and he imdiately made
guilty for rejecting his offer.
I quickly regained my composure however, keeping my cold expression towards him.
"Well, that's a sha…" He looked away with a defeated look. "Grandma is looking forward to your visit too…"
"So, how about next week instead?" He grinned.
I could only sigh once more. Thomas Marjoram, or Tom for short. He was the grandson of the infamous Vera Marjoram, the Ice Snake Witch. Just like his grandmother, he wasn’t the kind of person that would give up quickly. No matter how many tis I rejected him or gave a cold shoulder towards him, he would co back with that sa cheery smile like I was really his older sister. It was honestly sowhat unnerving, especially since I knew the smile was most likely just a front he put up for
to lower my defenses.
In the end however, I never took any of his invitations. I managed to resist until the very end, until it was ti for
to return back ho at the end of my second year.
Still, I couldn’t help but be nervous about the matter. Eventually, people like that would drop their pretence of civility and beco more forceful in making
do what they wanted. If his grandmother asked
to co in an official manner, I imagined there would be nothing that I could do to reject her invitation.
Well, I put the matter on the back of my head. No sense in thinking about academy stuff when you’re having your holiday after all.
Aaah, I can’t wait to see little Erika! I bet she’s even cuter than Hugo when he’s a baby!
With those thoughts in my mind, I took the long carriage ride back ho.
----
Just like last year, I was greeted by a hug from my little brother Hugo. Now this was what I wanted—a genuine love and affection, not a false one like that hobbit peddled. I hugged him tightly back, taking a big sniff of his nostalgic scent.
If it’s him, I could cuddle and hug him as much as I wanted after all.
I then got to see my little baby sister, Erika. And my heart nearly lted from the sheer adorableness that she exuded. She's like an angel! My little angel! Aaw, look at her reaching out to my chest! Sorry, Erika, but if you’re hungry, you have to go to Mother’s instead.
The next day, Hugo asked
to help him with his magic training. Naturally, I had expected this. It was all he talked about after all. It wouldn’t be Hugo if he just gave up midway through. Instead of just obliging right away though, I felt I had to act a little selfishly towards him first.
“Hmph, that’s all you care about, don’t you? Sherry this, Sherry that—you don’t even ask about
anymore in your letters!” I said with a huff, looking away from him as I folded my arms under my chest.
I knew that it was childish and unreasonable, and that there was no way Hugo had stopped caring about
like I insinuated. But I felt I had to let it out, or else the feeling would just fester inside my heart like poison that would taint my relationship with him and with Sherry even more.
And besides, it’s always fun to see Hugo’s panicked expression.
To my surprise however, instead of furiously making excuses for himself and denying my accusation, he instead gave
a heart-piercingly sad expression on his little face.
“S-sorry Sis, I-I’ve been a bother, haven’t I?” He looked down. “I kept asking you all those questions yet I never asked about how you’re getting by, so far away from ho at the academy on your own…”
T-that expression… I-I couldn’t bear it anymore! It was far different from the puppy eyes that hobbit liked to pull off on ! This was the real deal! To ignore it would be to stab my own heart with a knife!
I imdiately rushed over and gave him a deep hug, apologizing for teasing him like that.
I really can’t win against my cute little brother after all…
----
A/N:
I’ve been thinking about the third harem mber and my current urge is to make her the proud warrior type kind of character. Maybe an archer of sorts. Any ideas?
And here’s how our new hobbit boy looks.
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