Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[Eon's POV: ]

"Haaaa…"

And just like that, we are back to the academy dorm.

"Don't be like that. We will go back for a bigger vacation after this semester ends as well."

Rein was trying to console me that it was alright and that Anna would be fine even if we couldn't meet for a while.

But, I'm not concerned about that at the moment.

"She only cried for three minutes, Rein."

It was not a bad thing, but it was not a good thing either. My little innocent sister was growing a little too quickly.

"You are one bad brother, Eon. How can you be sad that your sister only cried for 'three' minutes while sending her siblings back?

Did you want her to cry more? Is that it? You like seeing Anna cry, huh?"

She knew I did not mean it like that as well as what I wanted to say. She knew me enough to know what was going through my mind, that's why she was just trying to cheer me up with her dumb things.

"She was enjoying the game yesterday as well, Rein…"

Usually, a day before our departure from the house, she would be sad. She would also be cooped up in her room, preparing herself for the send off.

She did not like being without us, even though she had realised we would not be with her all the time in the future, she at least showed her sadness.

But now, as if she had become an older person, she was playing with us happily when we were going to leave just the next day, and even when sending us back, she did not act like a child as she was supposed to.

"It was only a few months ago that she was a pure happy child. A normal child that enjoyed herself and played with everyone with that bright smile."

Children are amazing. But seeing my own little angel growing up was not something as simple as I had hoped it to be.

"Eon…"

Rein shook her head, grabbed my head with her two palms, and turned it in her direction.

"The fact that someone as amazing as her has been like a normal child until now in that house is the most surprising thing."

When I came back from the great forest, she was still a little girl six years younger than me.

As a little six year old back then, she had only ever heard about me, and yet she had admired me.

There was nothing special about me. I was not as amazing as she believed me to be.

I was lacking, I was not strong, I cried more than most children. I was constantly in pain all the time, I could never be the kind of big brother that a young child like her needed… I tried my best, yes, but that did not make me anything special.

Everyone tried, everyone was working hard for the things that they wanted to achieve, protect, and create.

My circumstances were just different.

I was not there for her a big part of her initial years and I was not there to see my mom and dad either.

"Think about it… Carla, a child sword prodigy that started wielding a sword ever since she was five, Alf, a magic prodigy that cast his first spell when he was four… being in a family that was not normal in any way, being there and seeing all those people while possessing all that dormant potential and powers, feeling their emotions constantly, and listening to the stories about a heroic big brother that saved them from a freaking Demon."

Her blue eyes and long black hair shining under the moonlight were distracting me from her serious expression.

"Have you ever thought about how she was so normal for all these years?"

But I understood what she wanted to say.

"Her inherent limitations on one side, have you thought about why she was able to be the cheerful normal girl that she is?"

I know she did not have the answer to that question either. But she was asking me.

And I did not really have the answer to that same question either.

"You don't know, do you?"

The familiar dorm room and this balcony, these winds, this familiar night sky and the new semester that will start tomorrow… Even though we have been here for so long, this somehow feels different.

"Rein I wasn't there-."

"You don't have to give me the same excuses, darling."

She was smiling at me, knowing full well what was going through my mind after hearing that question.

"Well…"

The world was changing.

After the grand conference, only after a few days, many nations announced new policies that they would be implementing.

Some states that were going through conflicts stopped their battles, Lakmer opened its closed doors and the trade routes, announcing a new joint venture with the surrounding states.

In the east, new exploration opportunities were announced and in the north some old policies were taken into the process of reevaluation.

'There was no great news about anyone with the demonic cult's connection being affected in any manner.'

Strangely, everyone was doing what I wanted, even following some dumb stuff that I knew they would not understand at the moment.

Some things that were announced by them were ambiguous, while some were so shocking to the general public that most already guessed a Grand conference must have taken place.

'That kind of simultaneous and parallel events were a direct indication of the Grand conference, and it was intentional from our side.'

We gathered, we talked about them, and they would know by now that we knew about them as well.

They would be confused if we know just enough to cause any problems to Their plans, or not even enough to know what they wanted us to know.

'Unless we were still missing something, or someone, they wouldn't know about anything that had been discussed in that conference.'

And, just the thought that all of it was happening because of me, someone that wasn't even there for his sister when she was growing up so finely, I couldn't help my frustration.

"Mom looked after her even with her work, dad was there and so were my aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

They were there with her, for her, and it was thanks to them that she grew up so nicely."

The reason she was so cheerful and bright was mostly because the only things that she had seen in her lifetime as an infant and in her early childhood was happiness, smiles, laughter, joy and all kinds of positive emotions. Discover hidden stories at empire

"She's a sheltered child. It wouldn't even be wrong to say they had looked after her much better than any of us."

I wasn't there, the only hope they had was the ring my mother just happened to give me, and a device that indicated if I was alive or not.

There were a lot of things mom had to do after she got her everything back.

She had an entire fortress to build that wouldn't be hindered by even the strongest of enemies.

I know how hard she worked. I know how she handled everything by herself and yet managed to spare enough time to be with Anna.

In the first few years, the most critical time of a child's life, she was there for her every time Anna needed her.

She would have pushed off her duties to the rest of them to look after her work, her business, and she would have much more than what she has right now.

But she did not want that.

Her baby needed her and she was there for her. And when she couldn't be there, dad was there for the baby… and when he couldn't be there either, Carla, Alf, and the others took care of her.

"Everyone was there for her and she grew up to be a cheerful child with all of them present."

I wasn't one of those people.

I came into her life much later… At least, I came back to my home many years later.

"By the time I came back, she was the little cheerful angel that we see right now."

A bitter smile appeared on my face as I looked at that high starry sky…

"But then I came, and started spoiling her."

The rest of them loved her as well, but they knew our relationship was a little different.

She was practically the most important part of my life. And that was not going to be changed.

"She got new friends, started wanting to be like us freaks, and got into trouble with her failed awakening."

I was the reason she was in trouble back then… and perhaps I'm also the reason she is growing up much faster than she should have.

"It has nothing to do with you, Eon."

"Perhaps. But then again, she was happy when I wasn't here, right?"

"She wasn't as happy as she is with you here, dummy."

"But she started wanting to be like the rest of us when I got here.

I spoiled her, I inspired her, I became the cause that made her want to be a better version of herself, and I don't like it."

I wanted to see my cute Anna act like the child she was! She didn't have to act all grown up and understand that we would come back soon!

"You… dumbass."

Is it wrong to want to see her keep acting like a child?

"You were fighting demons when you were much younger than her… and you want her to act like a baby when she's about to turn ten?

Some great big brother you are, man."

"I'm greedy."

And I don't think that's a bad thing.

Besides, the new semester is starting tomorrow.

The real competition was going to begin…

'All of us captains had to start taking out our greedy sides.'