Recently, strange rumors about Daniel started drifting into Diana’s ears.
The siblings were from a rural area where their parents had passed away early on.
Daniel, who used to be shy, always following his older sister, Diana, calling out “Sister, sister!” And the reliable big sister, Diana.
They always spent time together in their village, but as Diana took the entrance exam for Aios Academy on the village chief’s recommendation, their time together began to diminish.
During the vacation, when they could only meet outside, Diana was somewhat relieved to hear that Daniel would be transferring to the academy as a third-year.
But then, out of the blue, rumors started swirling that the kid was a trashy troublemaker, hitting on girls.
At first, she didn’t believe it, of course.
He wasn’t the type to think he was handsome like Ares, flaunting it around the girls. Besides, he was so timid that he could hardly speak to girls except for Rin or his sister.
Whoever spread those weird rumors better watch out, she thought, because she’d make sure to give them a few punches.
Yet recently, she couldn’t deny the cold sweat trickling down her back as she witnessed a certain scene.
“What the heck is that?”
Lunch hour.
Most fifth graders were usually busy preparing for their graduation exams, sweating over their meals, but for Diana, who planned to get a job related to the Dragon’s Boundary after graduation, it wasn’t a huge problem.
Using her body more vigorously than expected suited Diana quite well.
Anyway, she was staring blankly at Daniel in the cafeteria, surrounded by various girls.
At first, she thought it was just a coincidence, but as this happened once, then twice, then thrice, she realized this was a serious situation.
‘Is the kid suddenly releasing pheromones or what?’
Or did he learn something from Ares?
Though it was a busy time, she couldn’t ignore it as an older sister, so Diana McLean grabbed her notebook and pen.
[Case.00: Ares Helias]
“Hey you bastard!”
Kicking the door open, Diana stormed into Ares’s room, swinging a wooden sword with a vicious demeanor.
Surprised by Diana’s sudden appearance, Ares, who seemed to have been studying, jumped up.
“What, what’s wrong, sister?”
“You taught our Daniel how to pick up girls, didn’t you? I told you clearly! If our Daniel goes down a weird path, it’s your fault!”
The prime suspect for tainting Daniel, Ares.
Diana was already convinced that Ares had influenced Daniel, but Ares shook his head, trembling.
“N-No! It’s the other way around! I’m not hanging out with girls anymore! It was Daniel who charmed the girls following me!”
“……What?”
Daniel charmed the girls who liked Ares?
That was shocking for Diana.
Although Daniel didn’t show it, she thought it was reasonable to give up on Rin for a sudden fascination with an elf.
But to say he took Ares’s fish from his pond?
“No way. I emphasized that to Daniel! A man should love only one woman!”
Even though she recalled telling Ares several times not to end up like him, who was always surrounded by girls in the village.
“That’s not true! I also don’t know why he suddenly changed like that!”
During this vacation, Ares had been hit pretty hard by Diana often under the pretense of training, so just seeing the wooden sword made him tremble.
It didn’t seem like he was lying.
“Hmmm.”
Diana turned around and headed for her next target.
[Case.01: Rin]
Diana found Rin in a secluded area of Aios Academy.
It seemed like she was handling magic, as dark energy was subtly rising around her, which disappeared immediately when Diana approached.
“What were you doing?”
Frowning at the strange energy, Diana asked, and Rin smiled slightly in reply.
“I was doing some intelligence gathering.”
“Uhm?”
Diana didn’t quite understand what she meant, but it wasn’t all that important, so she hesitated to speak, wondering if this was the right approach.
From what Diana observed, Daniel liked Rin, and Rin liked Daniel.
Though Ares had intervened at times, Diana thought they would end up together, and she was satisfied that Rin was definitely good enough to be Daniel’s wife.
However, now that Daniel had developed feelings for an elf, Rin’s love could be counted as a loss.
“Is something wrong?”
Seeing Diana not saying anything, Rin asked kindly, smiling with consideration.
Watching that friendly, considerate smile made Diana feel it was truly a pity that someone like her was overlooked as Daniel’s gaze turned toward a busty elf.
“When we were at Yggdrasil, he promised to protect me no matter what and hugged me! Kyaah!”
While Rin spoke animatedly, Diana found herself frowning, thinking that Rin just wanted to brag to someone.
“Wasn’t that trip to Yggdrasil because Daniel was meeting an elf?”
She had heard Rin went with him, but now the conversation seemed to take a weird turn.
“Yes, that’s right. I think Daniel likes Eris.”
“……Am I not understanding something correctly?”
Diana struggled to keep up with the flow of the conversation, but Rin continued chatting away without a care.
“Plus, at the hotel in Bethel, we shared a bed because I was scared. It was nice sleeping together after such a long time…”
“Wait a minute!”
Diana’s head felt like it was going to explode from confusion.
[Case.02: Eve, Tana Krista]
Daniel’s friends from his hometown were Rin and Ares, while his close friends at the academy were Eve and Tana.
Those two could often be seen at a café in front of the third-year dormitory.
After a simple introduction as Daniel’s sister, they bustled around, making a seat for her and bringing drinks, showing their polite demeanor.
They seemed like decent kids upon first impression, so Diana cut right to the chase.
“I feel like strange rumors have been spreading about our Daniel lately, so I wanted to confirm a few things.”
At Diana’s words, both of their faces stiffened. Thinking they might know something, she pressed them further.
“Do you know anything? It seems like his relationships with girls are complicated.”
“Oh, that’s it.”
“I thought it was because of this incident.”
“This incident?”
When Diana looked at them with a strange expression, the girls shook their heads and answered while sipping their drinks, appearing relieved.
“Daniel’s relationships with girls are indeed a bit complicated.”
“A bit? Not only Rin, but also Sen and Elise are all in the mix…”
“Yes?”
“Cough, never mind.”
Eve shot a glance at Tana, who awkwardly sipped her drink with a straw.
‘Eve might seem delicate at first glance, but she actually has guts.’
Being up close, the atmosphere felt different from watching her from afar. She had a cute, small animal-like feeling yet held inner convictions.
That was a perfect example of inner strength.
“But don’t worry, Daniel is single-minded. That’s a bit annoying, though.”
“Right, single-minded… annoying?”
Eve quietly chuckled, swirling ice in her drink with a straw.
“But if you think about it differently, isn’t that good? In the end, choosing one person means focusing solely on that person. Once you become that one person…”
“What are you talking about?”
Diana asked incredulously, pointing at Eve, while Tana whispered with an awkward smile.
“She’s been running wild recently. She’s usually a good kid, so she’ll be back to normal soon.”
Hearing Tana’s hasty excuse, Diana decided to leave the area.
[Case.03: May Plov]
“Hmmm? I don’t smell any cigarettes.”
Once upon a time, stepping onto the rooftop made her wonder if this was really the academy due to the heavy stench of smoke, but now only a refreshing breeze brushed her nose.
There were a group of students who looked like troublemakers gossiping among themselves.
‘Are they in third year?’
Recently, she heard that a certain kid had been dominating all the delinquent students in every grade except the graduating fifth-year.
She didn’t know their name, though.
“Hey, kids, do you know a guy named Daniel?”
“Yes? Well, we’ve heard of him.”
Since they were wearing fifth-grade uniforms, the delinquents initially looked a bit intimidated.
But it didn’t last long.
“Come on, why are you scared?”
“Right? It’s hilarious.”
“Yes, we know him. Who are you, lady?”
One girl approaching grumpily threw attitude as if the weaklings always acted tough around someone else.
“I’m Diana McLean, Daniel’s sister.”
After introducing herself, she intended to give them a stern talking-to, entwining a twisted smile with a fist, but…
“Yikes!”
“M-McLean?”
“Daniel’s sister? S-Sorry!”
The delinquent students immediately bowed their heads in apology.
Diana was rather taken aback by the sudden change from their earlier arrogant demeanor.
“What has my brother done?”
Curiosity piqued, she asked, and the girl who had just been antagonizing her responded quickly.
“No, he’s been helping us quit smoking and getting us involved in school volunteer work… It’s a bit awkward since he’s so close with May.”
“May?”
Diana, like a detective snatching evidence from a conversation, demanded more details.
The underworld queen of Aios Academy, May Plov, was rumored to be close to Daniel.
It seemed that May liked Daniel enough to share all kinds of trivial anecdotes.
“But doesn’t it seem like girls have been flocking to Daniel lately?”
“Isn’t he hanging out with Elise and Sen? He’s not exceptionally handsome, which makes me jealous.”
“But weren’t they originally just following Ares?”
“Yeah, but Ares seems completely abandoned now. Kind of feels sorry for him, though.”
“Why feel sorry? It’s just the end of his harem play. Speaking of which, those girls have pretty light bottoms.”
“Is there something oddly charming about commoners from the countryside?”
“But didn’t May like Ares?”
“Hey, May is different. May has a reason to make someone fall in love.”
As they continued to chatter about Daniel, Diana nodded along, curious.
“Reason to make someone fall in love?”
The group, startled by Diana jumping in, hesitated, but just then…
“Huh? Didn’t you say you were going to the city today? What are you doing here?”
A girl with chestnut short hair, sucking on a candy, appeared.
May, having seen Diana once in Daniel’s room, was taken aback and quickly lowered her head, removing the candy from her mouth.
“Oh, sister! You’re here!”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
What? Conquer the school with a fist?
Queen of delinquents?
Underworld queen?
‘You’re out!’
How dare someone like her even think of putting her hands on our gentle Daniel!
