Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 19
Chapter 19: The Sibling Promise
After that, when she went down to the first floor, Shiori, who had logged out, pointed out that she was drenched in sweat, so Sora ended up taking a bath before dinner.
However, as I was in the midst of puberty, my sister felt that it would be immoral for me to wash my body as a young girl, so she came up with a suggestion.
“Is it okay? From now on, I’ll be giving you baths every day, so you have to wear a blindfold and let me wash you without looking.”
“Don’t you feel like you’re losing something important as a person, my dear sister?”
“Shut up. Or can you wash your own body by yourself? Can you take care of yourself properly like I say?”
“…Yes, I’m sorry. I’ll leave everything to you, my dear little sister.”
So I gave up, blindfolded myself, and took a bath with my own sister for the first time in years.
I’m sure the last time I took a bath with her was when Shiori was in the third grade of elementary school.
We naturally stopped taking baths together when she got to the fourth grade, so it’s been five years since we last did so.
I took off my clothes myself, but maybe because I was blindfolded, I naturally focused on the sounds of my sister taking off her clothes, and it made me really uneasy.
I’m not a pervert, you know!?
While feeling restless and wondering who I’m even making excuses to, I was led by the hand from the changing room into the bathroom.
There, I was lightly showered all over and then guided by Shiori into the bathtub.
After warming up for a while, when I got out, Shiori led me to the washing area, and from there—
For some reason, I can’t remember anything.
Strangely enough, the moment my private parts were touched, my memory seemed to disappear in a shock.
When I came to, I was already out of the bathroom, and I used the towel that was handed to me to dry myself.
Then, while receiving explanations about where each piece of clothing was meant to go, I dressed myself.
“…But, my dear sister, while I appreciate you bringing me boxer shorts, isn’t the top I have to wear a bit skimpy?”
“Huh? It’s a sports bra.”
“A bra… do I really have to wear it?”
“Of course you do! After all, big brother has beautiful breasts, so you have to wear something like that!”
“Oh…”
?Big brother has beautiful breasts?—when you put it like that, it sounds like a ridiculously powerful phrase.
Will any man ever hear such words in his lifetime?
When I was given permission to remove the blindfold, I saw in the mirror a girl who had just bathed and looked refreshed.
Looking again, from any angle, she was undeniably a beautiful Russian girl.
If someone like this were walking around town, wouldn’t they attract an enormous amount of attention?
In her short-sleeve top and shorts loungewear, Sora gazed at her reflection with admiration and gave a twirl.
“Am I too much of a beautiful girl?”
“Yeah, yeah, we know that too well, so let’s have dinner.”
With Shiori, who looked exasperated, pushing her from behind, Sora left the bathroom and sat down at the dining table where the meal was already set.
Tonight’s dinner was beef stew, French bread, and a lettuce salad that Shiori had prepared in advance.
Sora, who had been quite hungry due to various circumstances, finished the meal in no time and then cleaned up the dishes before taking a breather in the living room.
This was where the second sibling meeting of the day with Shiori began.
“I heard all the details from Shino onee-chan, Is my brother really that into being the center of attention?”
Curse you, Master, you told her everything.
Sora, who was made to sit in seiza on the living room sofa, faced Shiori, who was also sitting in seiza with her arms crossed and a cold, piercing gaze.
“No… it’s not like that.”
“But you fought with Kuro-chan and even used the ability of a ?Enchanter?. The people online are all abuzz about it, you know?”
“Y-Yes…”
“And you were clearly seen when you used the enhancement magic skills, like when you used that buff that made your whole body glow.”
“Well, I didn’t notice, but it seems I was glowing faintly. This is troublesome.”
“It’s already clear to some people that you’ve acquired a skill that no one else has yet.”
Wow, the skill analysis team of Astral Online is quite impressive.
From the faint red and blue light covering the entire body, they deduced:
?Isn’t it a skill that enhances both attack and defense??
Having been seen through, it was easily discovered by another ?Enchanter? of skill level 5 that the ?Lightning Attribute Enchantment? I had wrapped around my right hand was indeed a support magic skill.
Furthermore, it was also figured out that my attack skills, based on the intensity of the weapon’s glow, were likely ?Sonic Sword II? and ?Strike Sword II? of proficiency level 20.
To deduce all the skills I used—that’s quite impressive.
By the way, when I checked the internet on my smartphone, the usual article had been published.
The title was “The Two Princesses Who Crossed Swords,” and it was written with great enthusiasm and detail by the author Rinne about the ?Silver Sword Princess? and the ?Black Princess?.
Additionally, this time there was an interview included, and the [Sword Princess] shared her thoughts on future aspirations:
?Why did you choose to be a ?Enchanter???
?To prove that among all professions, the ?Enchanter? is the strongest.?
This was something I had never heard before.
The only player who conducted the interview was Rinne, who claimed to be a VR journalist at that time.
So it seems she did indeed write a misguided article.
Moreover, the article altered the responses given during the interview—quite a mischievous personality.
“But, I have a feeling you might say something like that, big brother…”
“Baka, no matter how much of a fool I am, I wouldn’t say something that would provoke other professions like that. Ouch!”
Suddenly, her cheeks were pinched hard with two fingers, forcing Sora to stop arguing. Leaning in, Shiori’s lips turned down in a pout as she began to speak.
“Big brother can do whatever you want, but try not to worry me too much.”
“…Yeah, I got it.”
It seemed Shiori was worried about me getting caught up in chaos.
Most of this situation is my own fault, but I need to address the content of that article and hold her accountable.
That woman, since she’s a friend of Kirie, I let my guard down, but this time I absolutely won’t forgive her.
I secretly resolve to confront her about the article.
Once freed from the cheek pinching, Sora conveyed one thing to her displeased sister:
“I want to tell you one thing too, Shiori.”
“…What is it?”
“Could you please stop playing this game?”
At those words, Shiori frowned.
“Could it be that if the ‘remaining life’ that Shino onee-chan mentioned reaches zero, we’ll lose our characters?”
“Yeah, I hope it’s just an unfounded worry. But if it turns out to be like what happened to me, there’s a possibility that if the remaining count reaches zero, we might ‘die’ in reality.”
“Big brother…”
“I’m sorry for saying this, but I’m going to continue. Right now, the only chance we have of me turning back into a man is to defeat the Demon Lord in that game.”
“If that’s the case, then I’ll fight too. I wasn’t the only one trained by Shino-onee-chan. I’m the world’s strongest disciple too.”
“Shiori…”
She took both of my hands and looked at me with a deeply sad expression.
“You haven’t told Shino-onee-chan or Shinji-kun that you’ve become a girl in reality, right? Don’t try to handle everything on your own like ‘that time.’”
“…I understand. Then promise me this: even though you have plenty of fate count left, don’t die too much in the game.”
“Yeah, got it.”
I can only hope that this is just an unfounded worry of mine.
With that thought, Sora stood up and headed back to her room to return to that world once more.