Page 93

Looking at the old mansion that was my birthplace and filled part of my childhood, I saw some thin branches of plants that seemed to have lost their vitality and could not survive the winter.

The dense forest that was the nest of monsters was now filled with empty snow and a dry expanse of frozen ground.

"It makes me feel like an old girl when I see the expanse of the mansion and the dense forest that was part of my childhood," in a low and melancholy tone, I looked around me and found drops of water coming from the melted snow.

"The air still feels cold but winter is slowly leaving after feeling the warm air. This makes me not know how to respond after taking a long vacation that I forgot about the mansion where I was born," I lamented the rocky ground covered in thick snow and kicked it.

Kaasss...

Kraass...

My head which was filled with nostalgic thoughts after returning to my hometown was suddenly hit by a small snowball that landed on my face.

Kraass...

"Onee-sama! Do you want to play snowball war too?"

I immediately glanced at the source of the snowball attack that hit my face. It came from my twin step-sisters who were playing around using snowballs thrown from their hands.

A child’s game that was carried over into teenage girlhood.

I briefly wondered if my thinking had developed in a better direction while spending time on a long family vacation studying magic books and practicing attack techniques from one of the high-level adventurer parties that happened to pass by our vacation spot.

I immediately crouched down and grabbed a handful of snow that had been formed into a ball with both of my hands.

My body received a signal from one of the snowball attacks that was aimed at my body.

I immediately tilted my head and saw a snowball flying past me.

Passss...

When the snowball that passed me shattered and fell to the ground filled with piles of snow, I immediately threw a fist of snow that had formed a snowball at Alice.

"Do you think you can easily hit me with a snowball?" I said while throwing a snowball at Alice.

The throw I did was quite slow because I could already measure my strength level so as not to overdo it.

For the past few years, I have been busy with the Quest given by my Goddess through the Yurification System mechanism.

An unusual Quest that always appears when a condition has been met.

Driven by my Goddess’s request and the tempting Quest completion reward, I have always been carried away in carrying out the Quest I was given.

That has made me add Linked Rituals with other Maids and several village girls who have been part of my unforgettable childhood. Parting from the village that had been the place where I grew up until I became a teenager made me sentimental when I left the village.

In that brief sadness, Alice and Alyssa reminded me of Marquess Rommel’s territory. A place where we should be as one of the nobles who were given a task to lead one of the territories that had been given by the King and Queen of the Aurora Kingdom.

After so many years of vacationing and taking care of the territory from a distance, now the Marquess Rommel family has returned to the territory that should have been led directly by my father.

Paass...

My snowball hit Alice’s face.

Her facial expression smiled as she received the counterattack from my snowball that was moving quickly towards her.

"Onee-sama, you cheated when you threw it at me without telling me first!" Alice shouted while putting on a happy expression.

"Alyssa, you also suddenly attacked Lily-nee. It’s only fair when Lily-nee retaliates with a surprise attack without warning," said Alyssa who was preparing several snowballs that had gathered around her feet.

"Now, it’s my turn to attack you two directly!" shouted Alyssa who suddenly stomped her magic staff and chanted a magic formation that formed a golem from a pile of snow to throw snowballs around her feet.

Powww...

Poowww...

Pooww...

A barrage of snowballs from Alyssa flew towards me and Alice.

Using Sakura Dash and Sakura Vanish, I immediately disappeared from Alyssa’s attack path.

Paasss...

Paass...

Passs...

"Aw! That cheating Alyssa! We didn’t use magic but you used magic!" Alice received a snowball attack from the snow golem that Alyssa had just created. Alice’s body which was covered by warm clothes was slowly covered by white snow that piled up into a giant snowball.

Bammm...

Paaanngg...

From within the pile of giant snowballs that covered Alice’s body, a defensive magic formation was created by Alice. Using the pile of snowballs that became a giant snowball, it was successfully changed by Alice into a defensive wall made of white snow.

Paaammm...

Pammm...

Alyssa’s repeated attacks and the defensive formation used by Alice became a competition to survive the snowball attacks.

I was now standing on one of the tree branches covering my entire body with a thin presence like an Assassin peeking from the shadows. The ability that I just learned a few years ago brought me to one of the Maid girls who had a hidden talent in the form of surprise attacks and silent attacks.

My presence which was as thin as the wind and had disappeared from the range of Alyssa’s continuous attacks allowed me to relax watching my twin step-sisters who were playing around using magic formations.

Their magic skills were far above Mama who was one of the greatest witchs in the Aurora Kingdom. The talent that came down not far from Mama made me a little jealous because of their magic skills that were able to use magic elements as they pleased.

What about me?

Let’s just say I was one of the unique cases where the magic elements that I used worked but were difficult to interpret in the logic of magic that runs in this world.

My magic training together with Alice and Alyssa had made me a witch who was able to use a sword like a magic staff.

I once asked my Goddess about this but the answer I got was that I had become the first Mage Swordgirl in this world.

Difficult vocabulary and my lack of understanding in interpreting the words of my Goddess had made me lost in my self-training.

Besides, what kind of witch uses a sword as a magic staff?

Doesn’t that mean that my main weapon until die is the sword forged by Mio?

Using the same sword to cast a magic formation, feels like throwing dirt at Mio who hates magic.

I once talked about this matter to Mio and she just stood there in a daze. It seems like making the sword forged by Mio as a magic staff was a mistake.

Should I buy a second sword specifically used for casting magic formations?

Woosshhh...

Baammm...

Baanngg!!

"Hum? Why is there an explosion sound in the snowball war?" I muttered after hearing the explosion sound coming from the snowball war between Alice and Alyssa.

Still maintaining my presence as thin as the wind and a silent voice, I immediately peeked through the gaps in the tree trunks to see the snowball war between Alice and Alyssa.

A shocking scene appeared before me.

A castle wall made of snow and an army of snow golems were fighting each other. Various magical energy formations were scattered in the air, showing off my twin step-sister’s magical prowess.

"Just give up Alyssa, you will never be able to break through the castle wall forged by the magical energy in every drop of melting snow!" Pointing her magic staff at the wall of her snow castle, Alice strengthened the defense of the wall by injecting her overflowing magical energy.

"What are you talking about, Alice? I can easily destroy your snow castle with a single attack from a giant snow golem throwing 10-ton snowballs!" Alyssa responded to Alice’s arrogant challenge of her snow castle’s unshakeable strength.

"..."

"..."

I saw a scene of an unusual snowball war like this.

Compared to a snowball war, this looked more like two witches attacking and defending each other.

Baaammm...

Bannngg!!

The sound of an explosion occurred again, it came from the explosion of Alyssa’s giant snowball that hit the outer wall of Alice’s snow castle and did not waver from the attack.

"Zoe, if you think about it, don’t they look like monsters playing around?" I asked Zoe.

Zoe who was tucked into my hair to withstand the cold air of winter slowly came out. Her dark butterfly wings had shown their presence from behind the white snow that contrasted with the color of her butterfly wings.

"Compared to them, you are much more of a monster, my Master," Zoe replied as she perched herself on my shoulder.

"What is it this time? Why am I much more of a monster than them?" I replied as I observed Zoe’s butterfly body that had risen from its winter hibernation.

"My Master, have you forgotten that the sword technique you performed did not use any magical energy? Even top-level adventurers do not know what tricks you did and what kind of training you underwent to reach such a level of sword technique."

"Uhh, what should I answer when I have never trained at all?"

"That’s what makes you a monster… Oh! Speaking of monsters. So there is someone who dares to approach two monsters fighting each other."

"Huh?"

When I turned my face again, I could see a girl walking towards Alice and Alyssa.

"Gosh, isn’t she a reckless girl? Should I save her?"

"My Master, do you want to add more girls to fall in love with you?"

Ignoring Zoe’s words, I immediately headed towards the careless girl.