Siblings

TRAY B-4 Training Area.

It had been three weeks after Akzel came to TRAY. It was a fairly pleasant morning with cool weather and lukewarm sunlight. A perfect rest day, in other words.

Surrounded with greenery amidst the dorm walls, Akzel and his dorm mate, Drowey, were honing their newly-learned advanced level skill «Synchronize».

It is not a particularly difficult skill to learn as it has very low requirements. Most of the combat mages have a weapon in their hands. To make full use of it, synchronisation with their mana is an absolute must.

Akzel's dorm mate threw him a juice can after their training was over and sighed. "Wow. I never really expected a so-called 'simple' skill to be that difficult."

Akzel smiled bitterly. "Seniors say that this is only the beginning. No wonder people would rather become a business merchant than an elite mage…"

Drowey's expression similarly sank but soon moved on to another topic.

"That reminds me. Aren't you from the main branch of the Falter family?"

Akzel nodded. Drowey looked a bit surprised as he exclaimed. "No wonder you have such high stats and amazing comprehending power! Bro, don't get me wrong but isn't it a necessity of all high-ranking nobles to become at least a 4th Circle Advanced Mage?"

"Not necessarily if you don't become one of the leaders of the family. Especially, if you don't have enough talent."

Drowey wondered for a while. "Which means you have siblings?"

"Mhm. Three in fact. One brother and two sisters. Ah..that reminds me…do you know where B-11 and B-5 dorms are located?"

"Yup but why?"

"My siblings are staying there. Care to come? I assume you don't have anything else to do, right?"

Drowey got up. "Wow. That escalated fast. Let's go then."

The two of them chatted as they made their way to the B-11 dorm.

***

B-11 dormitory.

Unlike high school and university dorms, dorms at TRAY are not separated by genders. The main reason being a heavy penalty if anyone, regardless of gender, seeks to barge into someone else's room without permission. In other words, the institution encourages or supports relationships no matter how unhealthy it may be but it should be consensual.

In a certain room, two young women of about the same age were throwing tantrums at each other.

A red-haired fair woman exclaimed. "Darn sis! I hate this!! Why do we have to become Advanced Mages to lead the family!?"

The other woman who has about the same facial features but looked a bit older also cried out. "I know right! Dad could have just sent a few cousins of ours instead of us!"

As they were throwing tantrums at each other, the door-bell suddenly rang.

Stopping their conversation, the younger one went in front of the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me. Can you open it?" A voice came from the other side.

Feeling a bit surprised by her voice, she opened it.

The owner of the voice was of course, Akzel. Finding his youngest sibling, he greeted awkwardly. "Well...Hello. Long time no see, Myren."

Myren looked at him for a while. "Yeah… who's this?" Her eyes lingered around Akzel's dorm mate, Drowey.

"Ah.. He's my dorm mate. Since I'm new here, I brought him along. Is there any problem?"

Myren shook her head. "Not really."

Akzel's relationship with his siblings is very complicated. Being the eldest son of the family, he often took care of them when he was little but as time passed, they grew apart due to personal interests. But it was not to the point of having bad blood or any kind of hostility.

Akzel's eyes wandered around the hallway when he finally asked. "Where is Sophie?" Sophie is the oldest girl in the family.

Myren sighed. "She is in her room. Anyways, you guys sit here for the time being. I'm bringing some snacks." She took them to a relatively big hall room with plain but exquisite decorations all over.

She was about to go when Akzel suddenly stopped her. "Is it a problem to call Sophie? I have some things to discuss with her."

"She is in room 117. Make sure to knock before you enter." She dumped the work on her brother and went to prepare some snacks.

Hearing the latter part of her sentence, both Akzel and Drowey shook their heads and laughed lightly.

Akzel reached the room and knocked lightly. Getting no response, Akzel again knocked the door more two times. This time, Akzel's face turned weird. 'Should I enter? Wait!! Isn't this the same as stepping on an open landmine!? But what should I do? Ah. Wait. I can do this.'

While knocking the door repeatedly, Akzel took out his cell phone and started recording the knocks in this camera.

Few seconds later, he tried to open the door and unsurprisingly, it was unlocked. 'I wonder if she is asleep… she shouldn't be mastur-'

His train of thought stopped when he saw a young woman of about the same as him sitting in front of a small PC with large head sets on her ears playing an unknown game.

Seeing this, Akzel felt extremely awkward. Not because it was hard for him to accept the fact that he can't imagine his sister playing a video game at her age but rather, it concerns the genre itself - Otome Games.

Noticing that his sister didn't yet notice him, he breathed a sigh of relief. Closing the door quietly, he said in a loud tone. "Sophie!! Are you there!?"

Why didn't Akzel use this skill previously? Obviously because his nosy-attitude and short-mindedness has no bounds.

A while later, his sister, Sophie opened the door with slanted eyes that clearly said - "I'm annoyed."

Seemingly taken aback by his elder brother's sudden appearance, she opened her mouth. "When did you arrive?"

Akzel scratched his head. "It's been a few minutes. Anyways, I have something to discuss with you... hm. Can we talk?"

"What is it?" Sophie went to the point; still harboring annoyance towards her brother for destroying her peace(?).

"I heard that you are one of the Senior Assistants of Lord Bidorel. Isn't that right?" Akzel asked with a thoughtful expression.

In TRAY, there are over 500 professional instructors and lecturers. They all are basically either 2nd Circle Mage, High Demon General or Grand Warriors. Two ranks above them are Lords. They can be called the peak existence of TRAY.

Coming to the point, Sophie is one of the Senior Assistants of Lord Bidorel, who excels in alchemy.

Sophie's face showed puzzlement. "Mhm. What about it?"

Akzel asked another question. "Did you have an invitation card for the birthday banquet arranged by Lady Silver Witch?"

"Ah! Yea, but how do you know about it?"

"Don't give me that strange look. News has already spread."

"Uhh… why? Do you want to plan to go?"

"Yes!"

"But I planned to go with Myren…"

"Did you tell her about it?"

"No… I suppose."

Akzel flashed a radiant smile. "Then, I don't see any problem there."

Sophie's gaze showed hesitance but that hesitance soon disappeared by his following words. "Otome games are indeed popular these days, aren't they?"