Side Chapter 1 : Exusia Struggle

One day, my parents brought home my older sister. I wondered why they named her after me, but I enjoy having an older sister, so it's fine.

I really appreciate her, especially when she pats me on the back for a job well done. I often try to do things that will earn her praise.

Today, both my sister and I are taking Patron firearm training. Once we finish, I can get a license to carry a gun.

My sister’s weapon looks cool; it can shoot multiple times, and she hits everything accurately. When I tried using the same weapon, my aim was all over the place, so she chose a lighter one for me.

I also met some new friends: Mostima and Alisia. Alisia is a bit strange because she never calls me by my real name. While I like the nickname she gives me, I still appreciate the name my mother chose.

Today was another happy day, but Alisia is going with Pastor Ruciel again, which makes me wonder why. Then another girl joined us and introduced herself as Fia. She mentioned that she is Liberi. While we were talking, Alisia returned to Pastor Ruciel, but he walked away, and Alisia joined us for lunch.

Mostima then asked Alisia if she knew about Originium Saint, which made her choke on her food. This convinced Mostima that Alisia must be Originium Saint, and I became curious. I asked Mostima instead, but Alisia shoved a piece of bread into her mouth, silencing her.

"Lemuel, Originium Saint is the title recently being talked about in the dark alleys where the girl is curing Oripathy."

Hearing that amazed me since Alisia is almost our age, yet she is already curing Oripathy, which I had heard has no cure.

Isn’t it normal to express your thoughts openly? Most of us Sankta communicate through empathy, but Alisia rarely does.

Instead, she speaks directly to people, which tends to surprise them. Perhaps she is just a quirky child.

One day, Alisia did something unusual. When she uttered a word I didn’t understand, a light suddenly appeared, and she became naked. Although I couldn’t see her body, I knew she was naked.

When the light faded, she was wearing clothes I had never seen before.

(That was so cool.)

I rushed in, asking her to lend me the wand. Instead, she handed it to me, saying I could use it however I liked. I tried to replicate what Alisia had done earlier, and my clothes changed too.

Feeling amazed, I asked Alisia to make one for my older sister as well. She agreed, but I was puzzled as to why my sister’s outfit was different from mine.

To make matters worse, her outfit looked cooler than mine, so I asked Alisia to change it. However, she refused, explaining that once she finished setting the wand, it couldn’t be altered. Instead, I requested wands for Mostima and Flammetta, who had just barged in.

Although we looked great, Alisia seemed exhausted; she lay down after creating the last wand.

Looking at my mid-exam results makes me feel sad. I'm barely studying, and my reflexes aren’t great, so how is it that my score is lower than Alisia's?

We both often play around and rarely focus on our lessons, so why am I the only one at risk of failing the exam?

When I asked Alisia about it, she simply

replied, "Well, while I do play around, I keep a memo of the important stuff. Besides, I'm more adept than you when it comes to art control."

Her response frustrated me, prompting me to ask my older sister for help.

When I explained why I wanted to start studying, my sister just laughed lightly. I didn't speak to her again until she offered me an apple pie.

With renewed determination, I managed to score well on the next exam, but Alisia still outperformed me, leaving me to wonder what goes on in her mind. As for my older sister, Mostima, and Flammetta, they excel in their studies, so I don't even try to compete with them.

At least I can use the same gun as my older sister. However, when I decided to adopt her weapon, she chose to switch to something else instead.

She claimed it was to support me, but I know she was just bored of marching with me and Mostima.

In the end, I mimicked my sister's movements, and I did well in training, though I still can't match Alisia, who somehow uses art to move faster than I can.

Today is the final exam before our graduation, and I feel happy because I managed to acquire a weapon similar to the one my older sister always uses. However, the others received different weapons, as the final exam after four years of training was designed to familiarize us with weapons other than our usual ones.

In despair, I looked at the scores, which showed that I was in dead last. Although I tried to move as I usually do, I had a relatively easy time since the weapon I used was primarily suited for long-range battles, unlike my older sister, Mostima, who excelled in close-range combat.

When I voiced my concerns, Flammetta explained that my older sister knows how to manage her ammunition well, while I was reckless, wasting ammo on missed shots and becoming an easy target.

This realization depressed me even more, as I was the only one repeating the year.

To make matters worse, we were all going our separate ways: Alisia would be leaving with Cardinal outside the town, and Mostima and Flammetta were joining a squad under a guy named Andoain, whom I find suspicious. Unfortunately, no one seems to share my concerns except for Alisia.

That’s why I am determined to come in first in the next exam so that Alisia will make me my own custom weapon. I plan to make a lot of complicated requests to teach her a lesson for leaving me behind.

However, I forgot the exact day of Alisia's departure, and only later did I hear from my older sister that Alisia had already left the town.