Leading the young lady I picked up astray, making her the happiest girl in the world!

Erika squeezed Charlotte's hand with wide eyes.

"It must have been hard for you. Keep doing your best! If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know! I'll do my best to help!"

"T-thank you very much...?"

Charlotte was bewildered, but she nonetheless nodded timidly.

"Err... aren't you going to kick me out or something?"

"What? Why?"

"That's because... my background is very suspicious, you know?"

"But, brother believed you, didn't he?"

Erika nodded her head as a smile appeared on her face.

"Then it's fine. Brother may be as such but his sense of smell to spot a bad guy is just like a dog's."

"If you're going to praise me, then be more direct with your compliments."

Allen could not help but glare daggers at Erika.

"It's been about a year since I've met him but he is still the harsh as ever brother, exceedingly good natured Allen. I'm relieved to see that he has not changed one bit."

"So, what did you really want?"

"Well, I won't beat around the bush then. I am here to bring my brother home..."

Then, Eruca suspended her words, hugging Charlotte tightly.

"I don't care about that! I find Charlotte adorable, too! So, I'm going to teach her all kinds of mishiefs too!"

"Right... are you staying by any chance?"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Naturally. In any case, I'm here to survey this region as well."

"Survey, huh?"

Eluca smiled at Charlotte, who had her head cocked to the side.

"Well, you see, I am a magical tool apprentice engineer -- the raw material of the magic division."

"Raw material...?"

"Well, in short, magical tools are made using the bones and skins of monsters. That's why I travel around the world collecting materials."

"There are many different types of magical tools. Some are just ordinary tools with magic in them, others are made more powerful using materials from demons, and there are some that are spontaneously created... so on and so forth."

Erika gave a rough explanation, but Charlotte's eyes had only darted about,  flustered with all the information. It seemed, her knowledge on magic was very sparse.

"Do you, by any chance, don't know anything about magic?"

"Well, only if it's accessible... I'm sorry, I am not educated."

Charlotte's shoulders drooped.

She had mentioned before, she was only taught to manage a household and perform domestic chores hence, she would never have had a chance to learn magic.

Eruka smiled at her, as if to cheer her up.

"On the contrary, now there's something for me to teach you! Brother is also itching to put his past experience to use, right?"

"Past...?"

"Sure, sure. I'm fine with this arrangement for now."

Allen sighed with a light wave of his hand.

Then, he stared at Erika.

"You're welcome to stay. But you teaching Charlotte mischief? Hah! Don't make me laugh."

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean!"

Erika frowned, but Allen lifted the edge of his mouth and laughed fearlessly. Standing behind Charlotte, he patted her on the shoulder.

"If there's anyone who can teach Charlotte the best about mischiefs, then it should be me and not you who have just met her!"

"What--?!"

"Huh? What?"

Charlotte glanced at the both of them alternately with wide eyes. Erika, however, glared at Allen with steam coming out of her head.

"There are certain pleasures that only a woman can teach another woman! I'm going to enlighten Charlotte with all my techniques of mischief!"

"Nonsense! I spend every waking hour thinking about the mischiefs I'm going to teach Charlotte! You're no match for me!"

"What in the world is this about...?"

Charlotte, in the middle of it all, just tilted her head, but the siblings continued to glare at each other. Both of them knew that arguing further would not get them anywhere.

"Then... let's make it a contest."

"Heh, I've missed it. It's been a while since we've done something like this."

They both thrust their fists out... at each other.

"Let's see who can teach Charlotte the mischief better... it's a competition!"

"Sounds great!"

"What's happening..."

Snow Cat here, I'll be picking up this series from now on (until the end hopefully)!!!