Marina
Urgh, stupid Hugo! Sherry this Sherry that! You’ve stopped asking about your sister entirely and all that you care about now is her! Wow, Sherry’s so amazing! She’s so strong and fast! I want to beat her! How about your big sister, huh? Don’t you think she’s amazing too? Don’t you want to beat her too?!
Such were the thoughts that swarmed in my mind after I received yet another letter from my little brother. Lately, he had been sending more and more letters. But instead saying stuff like how much he missed me or asking me how my lessons went, now all he cared about was his magic training. Did he just think of me as his free tutor? Hmph!
Yes, I was upset. I was jealous. The attention I used to be showered with—now he’s giving it more to Sherry.
Now, Sherry’s a good girl. A completely fine one, in fact. She’s cute, she’s a hard worker, and she definitely cared for him. But I’m also cute, I’m also a hard worker, and I also care for him! So why is she the only one getting all the attention?
Argh, this only worsened my already bad mood further.
Why was I having such a bad mood, you might ask? To answer that, I would need to return back many months ago, when the news arrived.
The news of Merinda Salamander’s death.
I was never really privy of the details, but apparently, she was taken off-guard by the necromancer girl and killed in the most cowardly manner. Something involving poison.
I remembered how said necromancer girl was quite adept in alchemy. In fact, I believed she was the very best in the subject in her year. So I imagined using her alchemy, she had concocted a lethal poison that ended her life.
When the news broke, there was naturally an uproar, not just in the academy, but outside as well. After all, Merinda was the granddaughter of one of the Council members.
There were demands for the necromancer girl’s family to be hanged for her crimes. However, it was soon discovered that she had no family left. All of them had perished in the plague that struck around fifteen years ago, leaving her a complete orphan.
The blame then fell to her alchemy teacher. At the very least, he wasn’t executed. He was simply banished from the Magocracy. As for the already fired dark magic teacher, he actually got that punishment. Execution by lightning mages.
I didn’t know whether the Magocracy would send its agents to hunt after her beyond its borders, as I heard the necromancer had boarded a ship to cross the ocean. I suppose it would depend on how much the other Council members saw this incident as an affront to its authority. Not to mention her grandfather wanting revenge for his dead granddaughter.
All I knew however was that Alincia was completely heartbroken by the whole ordeal.
—–
I was present in her burial. In fact, everyone in the academy came. It was a massive funeral, and she was treated as if she was a fallen hero. I heard even the Council members came, though I didn’t get a good look at any of them. It was only natural for a granddaughter of someone in such an important position would have a funeral as lavish as this one. Not to mention that it was also a funeral to her followers, who had come with her to chase after the necromancer. It wasn’t just a single murder.
To think that just one girl—not that far of age from me—could accomplish such a terrifying feat… just how skilled she was in the acts of murder… and how did she get the knowledge in the first place?
Her eulogy was all good of course. No mention of bullying me or any other students. I didn’t mind though. I wasn’t even angry at her now. She was dead—her lifeless corpse was going to be buried beneath the ground of this cemetery. Holding grudges to the dead just seemed silly, in my opinion.
I left her a bouquet of flowers. And a little prayer, for her to be able to rest in peace.
I have forgiven you. So you can rest now, Merinda Salamander.
—-
With her gone, I immediately noticed a massive transformation in my academy life.
The girls and boys that normally kept their distance away from me all this time—now they acted normal, even nice towards me. No longer would I have to wait until the teacher assigned me someone to work in a class project with. They would come to me on their own.
There was only one thing. With Merinda gone, they were no longer afraid of befriending me. I was no longer the black sheep marked by her to be teased and tormented with.
Sad to say, I couldn’t really see them as other than acquaintances. You might think of me as arrogant, but I would never want cowardly friends like them that just quivered and bent their backs in front of a clear injustice.
If it were my dear Hugo, he would have defended me from the start, of course.
Speaking of the boys, some of them were clearly aiming for more than just friendship with me. I wasn’t sure why. I wasn’t particularly beautiful or anything. And I wasn’t a wizard nobility either.
One of them, however, was particularly consistent with it. He would hound me every day with his presence, asking for me to teach him magic or help with his homework. And to make matters worse, he actually reminded me of my dear Hugo. He was a Hobbit, you see. And if you knew how Hobbits worked, they couldn’t really look older or get taller than a 10-year old human boy or girl.
I knew better than to be persuaded by his boyish charms however. Before Merinda died, he was actually her fiance. They were already scheduled to marry the moment they graduated. He too belonged to a powerful wizarding family. Unlike Merinda, it was his grandmother who sat on the Council.
For him to suddenly approach me like this, there must be some ulterior motive behind it. And I believed I might have an idea on what it could be.
Magic bloodline preservation.
The prominent theory of magic inheritance stated that a marriage between two powerful mages would produce children with even greater talent in magic. That was why children of powerful wizarding families would only marry other children from equally powerful wizarding families. With Merinda gone however, I might have actually become the most talented mage in the entire academy. I assumed that he, or to be more accurate—his grandmother, most likely—decided that he had to marry me instead, and produce powerful heirs that would make even greater mages to expand the influence of their family. His grandmother was a gnome, and just from that, you could already expect that his family, the Marjoram, to be quite the unconventional one, at least compared to the other wizarding families. Most of the folks there seemed to care about the title and respect of being part of the ruling families, so they would only marry their children to other ruling families. But the Marjoram, they seemed to welcome marriage outside of the family, or outright leaving the Magocracy together to become adventurers and such. His uncle was one such person. He married a demoness when he travelled to the demon continent, and ever since then, he had lived there. And he wasn’t disowned for that. Perhaps the demoness he married had powerful magic abilities that satisfied the grandmother. And of course, her daughter, who also was a gnome, ended up marrying a hobbit, and that led to her grandson becoming a hobbit, inheriting the genes of his father. There was no such thing as a half-gnome half-hobbit, only which blood was more dominant, and that would be the one who got inherited. I could imagine her not being so pleased that her grandson was a hobbit instead of a gnome. The latter tend to be more attuned to magic after all.
Vera Marjoram, the legendary Ice Snake Witch. She earned that title after she overthrew and destroyed one of the ruling mage families and replaced them with her own. It was a victory not just done through her impressive feat in magic, but also through politicking with the other families. Before they knew it, a gnome was already amongst them, sharing the same table in the Council. That never occured in the entire history of the Magocracy, ever since it was founded by Mira a thousand years ago.
With that kind of person scheming in the shadows, I knew that her grandson was not to be trusted either. He never really liked me as a person. He simply wanted my womb for his seeds. That’s all.
If only he didn’t remind me so much of Hugo, I wouldn’t be this annoyed with him. And Hugo himself didn’t help matters, as lately he had been asking all sorts of things about magic, just like him.
All that for Sherry… he really is fond of her that much, huh?
I sighed. I knew I shouldn’t be selfish, wanting to monopolize him all for myself. He’s growing up after all. He’s already seven now this year. Before I knew it, he would already be a fully grown man. And then he would have a lover for real. He would coddle her and give her all his attention. And knowing him, he would definitely have a lot of fun with her in bed as well. He would have no time whatsoever for his older sister anymore.
And if this continues… Sherry would definitely be that lover…
Aah, it would be nice if I can have my own lover too…
—-
“Hey, Marina! Surprise hug!”
As I was returning back to the dorms from my classes, I was suddenly assaulted from behind by a familiar redheaded little girl.
“Oh, Alincia. You almost gave me a heart attack there.” I smiled, turning around to face her.
After her sister’s death, we had grown much closer than before. It all started when one night, as I was just about to sleep, she suddenly came to me with tears in her eyes, demanding that I would sleep with her.
I obliged. I would be cruel and heartless not to do so.
She cried herself to sleep that night, dampening my nightgown considerably with her tears. But I didn’t mind in the slightest. Instead, I told her to let it all out. Without her sister, it seemed I was the only one that she could pour her heart and soul to.
I then learned the horrible state of her family, about how her father and mother had eloped when they were young, leaving them to be raised by their absurdly strict and demanding grandfather. As the first daughter, Merinda received the most pressure from him, as he wanted her to be his successor, and not to become like his useless daughter who had run away. He demanded her to be able to cast at least three Master-level spells before she graduated, and to be the number one student in all subjects.
It was clear to me then why she became a bully in the first place. Anyone would snap if put under such pressure.
If only I had known, then perhaps I could have eased her burden a little.
And so, ever since that night, I treated Alincia as a true friend. Perhaps even more, as I started to see her as a little sister of sorts. Quite ironic, considering that back home, I actually had an actual little sister.
“Good afternoon, Big Sis Marina!”
Our moment was interrupted however when the hobbit boy I was talking about made his appearance. He was about as tall as Hugo, but with a black hair instead. And of course, like most Hobbits, he was barefooted. He seemed to have shaved his feet though. Hobbits’ feet were usually hairy after all.
“Do you have anything to do for the weekend? Then how about you come to my house? I promise we’ll have all sorts of delicious food there!” he said with his usual easygoing smile.
“Hey, get lost, hobbit boy! Marina has already promised to go to town with me! She got no time for the likes of you!”
As usual, Alincia immediately showed her dislike towards him. She could get away with all sorts of rude comments towards him, thanks to her status. Not that he seemed to mind any of them though.
“Oh, Alincia! You can come too if you want!”
“Hmph, who wants to come to your house?” She showed her tongue towards him. She really was still a kid after all.
“Also, how many times have I told you to stop calling Marina like that?” She’s not your big sister! You’re the same age as her! Stop pretending to be younger than you really are, just to seduce her with your boyish looks!”
I sighed. Alincia still thought that I had a preference towards younger boys, just because of my attachment towards Hugo.
The hobbit boy, however, opted to ignore the young mage entirely, resuming his talk with me instead. “Grandma wants to meet you, you know! You know who she is, right? No one would ever miss the chance to meet with her personally!”
There it was—his grandmother making a move towards me. No doubt she would try to befriend me and influence me to marry her grandson in the future.
“I am sorry, Tom.” I told him with a calm yet serious look. “I already promised Alincia that I will go with her.”
He didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he switched his strategy, giving me the saddest, most pathetic puppy-eyes that he could muster. I flinched. Even though I already encountered this strategy a few times before, it still made my heart ache. He really was adorable when he did so, and he immediately made me guilty for rejecting his offer.
I quickly regained my composure however, keeping my cold expression towards him.
“Well, that’s a shame…” He looked away with a defeated look. “Grandma is looking forward to your visit too…”
“So, how about next week instead?” He grinned.
I could only sigh once more. Thomas Marjoram, or Tom for short. He was the grandson of the infamous Vera Marjoram, the Ice Snake Witch. Just like his grandmother, he wasn’t the kind of person that would give up quickly. No matter how many times I rejected him or gave a cold shoulder towards him, he would come back with that same cheery smile like I was really his older sister. It was honestly somewhat unnerving, especially since I knew the smile was most likely just a front he put up for me to lower my defenses.
In the end however, I never took any of his invitations. I managed to resist until the very end, until it was time for me to return back home at the end of my second year.
Still, I couldn’t help but be nervous about the matter. Eventually, people like that would drop their pretence of civility and become more forceful in making me do what they wanted. If his grandmother asked me to come in an official manner, I imagined there would be nothing that I could do to reject her invitation.
Well, I put the matter on the back of my head. No sense in thinking about academy stuff when you’re having your holiday after all.
Aaah, I can’t wait to see little Erika! I bet she’s even cuter than Hugo when he’s a baby!
With those thoughts in my mind, I took the long carriage ride back home.
—-
Just like last year, I was greeted by a hug from my little brother Hugo. Now this was what I wanted—a genuine love and affection, not a false one like that hobbit peddled. I hugged him tightly back, taking a big sniff of his nostalgic scent.
If it’s him, I could cuddle and hug him as much as I wanted after all.
I then got to see my little baby sister, Erika. And my heart nearly melted from the sheer adorableness that she exuded. She’s like an angel! My little angel! Aaw, look at her reaching out to my chest! Sorry, Erika, but if you’re hungry, you have to go to Mother’s instead.
The next day, Hugo asked me to help him with his magic training. Naturally, I had expected this. It was all he talked about after all. It wouldn’t be Hugo if he just gave up midway through. Instead of just obliging right away though, I felt I had to act a little selfishly towards him first.
“Hmph, that’s all you care about, don’t you? Sherry this, Sherry that—you don’t even ask about me anymore in your letters!” I said with a huff, looking away from him as I folded my arms under my chest.
I knew that it was childish and unreasonable, and that there was no way Hugo had stopped caring about me like I insinuated. But I felt I had to let it out, or else the feeling would just fester inside my heart like poison that would taint my relationship with him and with Sherry even more.
And besides, it’s always fun to see Hugo’s panicked expression.
To my surprise however, instead of furiously making excuses for himself and denying my accusation, he instead gave me a heart-piercingly sad expression on his little face.
“S-sorry Sis, I-I’ve been a bother, haven’t I?” He looked down. “I kept asking you all those questions yet I never asked about how you’re getting by, so far away from home at the academy on your own…”
T-that expression… I-I couldn’t bear it anymore! It was far different from the puppy eyes that hobbit liked to pull off on me! This was the real deal! To ignore it would be to stab my own heart with a knife!
I immediately rushed over and gave him a deep hug, apologizing for teasing him like that.
I really can’t win against my cute little brother after all…
