Translator: Yonnee

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Chapter 44 – Her Sister’s Last Trace

“Sister! Duke Cassius!”

As Sierra hurriedly pushed away Cassius, he glared at Abel, who was walking towards them cheerfully with a bottle of the tracking potion in one hand.

“…What’s going on?”

Sierra talked to Abel then even as her whole face was bright red. She could still feel Cassius’ deep gaze on her from earlier.

‘Crazy, you’re crazy, Sierra! Why were you swayed by the atmosphere…!’

Before her mind could be filled with only Cassius again, Sierra turned to Abel, who skipped closer to them.

“Right, what’s going on, Abel.”

The fact that he stopped them from kissing like lovers even though they weren’t lovers, Abel smiled broadly and waved to them.

“I found a trace!”

Sierra’s eyes widened at the unexpected words. She hurried towards Abel at once, half forgetting what had happened just now.

“Where is it?”

“A small cabin in the west!”

Abel pointed a finger in that direction.

“Okay, let’s go! Come one, Cassius!”

Sierra looked urgently at Cassius, but then suddenly froze because she remembered what happened between them.

‘Come to your senses, Sierra. What’s more important is to resolve this misunderstanding once and for all.’

Cassius’ deep gaze was still on her, yet right now, her priority wasn’t him, but it was to find her sister.

* * *

All three of them trudged towards the cabin in the west, with Cassius and Able on each of her sides.

The old log cabin looked strangely tranquil, as though it wasn’t a place where her sister had been.

They carefully searched around the log cabin before passing through the gate. The yard and the windows were covered in frost for the most part.

“There’s nothing suspicious here. Let’s go inside right away. We can do that, right?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

“I’ll open the door now.”

Sierra grabbed the doorknob without giving a chance for Cassius to react or disagree with her.

But as she opened it, Abel, who was whistling cheerfully behind Sierra, shouted aloud right then.

“N-No!”

“Huh?”

“Sierra!”

Cassius suddenly shouted as well and reached out to her, and Abel was saying something under his breath as he looked at her.

“S-Sister, there’s—around you…!”

Only then did she notice that there was a blue light covering her as she held the doorknob. Cassius tried to grasp her shoulder tightly, while Abel reached out to her as well, astonished.

“Sister! O-O-Over your head—!”

Abel couldn’t finish what he’s saying, Cassius’ hand over Sierra’s shoulder was suddenly pushed away as white smoke wrapped over her body.

Before Sierra could even process what was happening, Cassius reacted quickly and tried to pull her into an embrace, however, the smoke got to her first.

Sierra was so surprised that her body froze completely, but she managed to open her lips to mutter in surprise.

“What… Just what is…?”

However, her voice disappeared and only an echo remained.

Sierra was engulfed.

A huge storm of mana was conjured from thin air, and it was hard to believe that all this mana was inside this small cabin.

Sierra opened her eyes wide, but there was no way to stop this.

While trying to get through the fog, she waved her hands in a hurry.

‘Wait. I think I’m fine… right?’

Strangely enough, it felt like the storm was protecting her rather than attacking her. Then, when she took a deep breath, the storm suddenly stabilized.

At that moment, the whirlwind surrounding her stopped. A wave of relief came over her, but soon after, Sierra was jolted into action once more.

The hurricane-like storm surrounded her again, but she couldn’t escape it.

‘What is this? Just what is going on?’

The whirlwind wrapped around her even more than before, but Sierra was surprisingly calm. This whirlwind wasn’t attacking her. Rather, it felt like a cozy cloud. And…

‘I can hear something.’

At that very moment, it was like a hallucination. She heard her sister’s voice.

“Sierra.”

How could she have forgotten that she was here for her sister? She suddenly looked around, but she could only see the cozy cloud.

“What? Sis, are you here?”

But the voice that she heard was but an echo. Sierra’s shoulders drooped as she looked around.

“Nothing… What the hell?”

Sierra smiled helplessly at the absurd situation. The energy that surrounded the cabin seemed to have been released, and…

“Sierra!”

Cassius stood in front of her, his sword unsheathed and with an expression that made it look like he was facing a demon. As a sword master, he seemed to have solved the spell placed on the cabin through his sword.

“Cassius.”

Sierra became calm once more, relieved that they could enter the cabin now, but Cassius rushed towards her. While checking her physical condition and every corner of Sierra’s face desperately, he whispered with a low voice.

“I thought I was going to lose you again.”

All that happened to her was that she heard her sister’s voice. Sierra was in such good condition that it was embarrassing to see him fuss over her like this.

“No… I’m fine.”

She patted Cassius on the shoulder, then she felt drops flow down on the shawl over her own shoulder.

He must have worried for her a lot because he was crying now. Cassius didn’t raise his head, embracing her for a long time. All he wanted was to feel Sierra’s warmth.

* * *

“It’s good that we’re able to go in now, right?”

Sierra looked around inside the dilapidated cabin and spoke cheerfully, but Cassius replied.

“No matter how I look at it, the person you’re looking for must be dangerous, Sierra.”

She shook her head when he saw his narrowed eyes.

“She’s a good person.”

“Th-that’s right!”

As Abel responded, Sierra had a subtle smile on her lips as she looked around. Just like the exterior, the interior of the cabin looked strange as well.

It was a simple place with a kitchen on one side, then there was one bed with a desk beside it. Just looking at it would make one think ‘Isn’t this just a tool shed?’ because of how empty and small it was.

It really didn’t seem like her sister, who liked going to fancy parties, would have stayed here…

“Abel.”

“Yes, Sister.”

Sierra stared at Abel, then raised her chin.

“This place couldn’t be where Si—”

She bit her tongue before she could finish saying ‘Sis’, hurriedly shutting her lips when Cassius gave her a curious glance.

“No, uh, Hanael’s mom. That person’s trace disappeared, so that means she teleported.”

Sierra’s eyes sparkled. As their gazes matched, Abel hesitated when she looked sharply at him, and then to Cassius.

“Cassius, can you sever the barrier outside the cabin that’s made by the magic tool?”

She needed to talk to Abel while Cassius dealt with the barrier.

“…Sierra.”

“Please. I’ll leave it to you.”

He was reluctant to leave Sierra’s side because of the whirlwind incident just now, but Cassius eventually stepped outside, surrendering to her wishes.

As soon as he left through the door, Sierra walked closer to Abel.

“What do you think that was? What’s going on?”

“Let’s search inside first, Sister. I’m sure Miss Amil left some clues behind.”

Abel was surprisingly sharp, given the fact that he had failed to be a guard of the magic tower. Sierra nodded then hurriedly searched inside.

They searched the kitchen first, then split up with Sierra going through the bed and Abel taking charge of the desk.

As she checked the bed, Sierra frowned because there didn’t seem any clues there—but suddenly, after searching the desk, Abel exclaimed. Sierra’s ears prickled like a meerkat.

“What did you find?”

“Well, um… Sister…”

Sierra hurried to Abel’s side with just one step because the cabin was so small.

“There’s a coded letter that Miss Amil wrote, but I can’t read it.”

“What? A coded letter?”

“Yes, Sister. If you look at the handwriting, it looks exactly like hers…”

Sierra winced as she looked at the envelope. There was a strange expression on her face as she took the letter roughly, thinking that this whole situation might just be one big joke.

“What’s wrong, Sister?”

Abel looked curiously at Sierra’s hardened expression.

“Can you read it?”

“Hmm…”

Should she say that she knew how to read it or not? Sierra, who grabbed the coded letter, stared at Abel with trembling eyes.

“…I know how to read it. This is a code that I made with her.”

In fact, if such a letter appeared using that code, the first instinct one would think was that this was either forged or a trap. However, as soon as Sierra saw it, she instinctively knew that her sister was really the one who wrote it.

‘We came up with this code when we were young, so this couldn’t have been forged. It’s clear that you wrote this with me in mind as the receiver.’

If ever something serious happened to her sister, they decided that she would send a letter with this code. Sierra bit her trembling lips as she opened the envelope.

「 Hi, Sierra. If you’ve received this letter, that means you must have come looking for me. 」

‘What is this?’

‘Hi Sierra,’ the letter says. It really was a letter addressed to her, predicting that she would come here. Of course, it was something that her older sister predicted well because she knew Sierra’s temperament, and how Sierra would have definitely come looking for Amil the moment her patience snapped…

Sierra bit her lips tightly.

“It’s a letter my sister wrote for me.”

“Huh?”

As she looked at Abel’s surprised expression, Sierra sighed deeply. Then, she looked down at the letter with a puzzled expression on her face, which eventually stiffened as she read more.

「 By the time you’ve read this letter, I may not be in this world anymore. 」

The handwriting was really her sister’s, but what was written was so unbelievable that Sierra couldn’t accept it.

‘Not in this world? What does that mean?’

Sierra’s face darkened, and Abel continued watching her, perplexed.

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