I Was Reincarnated As The Older Brother Of A Villainess Destined to Die, So I Want To Change The Future By Raising My Younger Sister With My Own Hands. I Am The Strongest In The World, But My Little Sister Must Be The Cutest In The World - Volume 4 Chapter 12.1
Youdai: A Desire for Strength
The timeline for this story is somewhere between “As a Sister (Part 8)” and “The Kidnapper (Part 4).”
…..
My name is Youdai Breygadda Kurumira. I’m just an ordinary commoner from a rural village at the foot of the mountains.
At first glance, I might seem like an average person, but I have a secret that I haven’t told anyone.
My secret is that I have memories of my past life. Inside my head, I carry the memories of a teenage boy who lived in a country called Japan.
With this knowledge, I realized that my situation in this world was eerily similar to the isekai stories that were popular in my previous life. Furthermore, I had magical talent, and I even had a cute childhood friend. In other words, I had a high probability of being the protagonist of this world.
For someone who had been nothing more than an ordinary high school student in my past life, the idea of potentially being the protagonist was exhilarating. Despite the challenges of living in a remote village and losing my parents shortly after birth, I had endured it all, thinking that these hardships were stepping stones to overcoming the difficulties that would face a protagonist. Of course, I had also trained extensively in magic. Learning new skills and abilities that didn’t exist in my previous life was incredibly enjoyable.
However, an event occurred that brought me back to reality when I was getting too carried away.
I’ll never forget it. When I was eight years old, despite being forbidden by the adults, I ventured into the mountains with my two childhood friends.
I had thought that with my magic, I could easily handle any magical beasts. That was my mistake, my arrogance. We were quickly cornered near a cliff, and Marina, one of my friends, even came close to a life-threatening situation. Fortunately, a passing adventurer saved us, but without that stroke of luck, Marina might have died.
I deeply regretted my actions. My world was not a story, and I had been dangerously overconfident. I had forgotten that one wrong step could lead to someone’s death. From that moment on, I resolved to work hard and never let my guard down so that I could protect everyone.
Nevertheless, amid this period of reflection—or more accurately, around the same time—I experienced one positive outcome.
That outcome was the chance to see the face of the princess of our territory.
The princess was a beautiful girl with dazzling golden hair and passionate crimson eyes. She perfectly matched my preferences in terms of appearance. Additionally, she was a kind girl who helped heal the villagers. I wanted to get to know her better. She was undoubtedly the heroine of my story!
However, I was stopped by the village chief. It seemed that a simple village child like me wasn’t allowed to approach the lord’s daughter. It made no sense to me. We were all children, so why couldn’t we be friends?
In the end, I could only watch her from afar. But there was still a chance. After all, when I turned fifteen, children from all over the country would gather at the academy. By then, if I had become strong enough that social status didn’t matter, I could have my chance. I had originally set out to become strong to protect everyone, so it was a win-win situation. I’ll do my best!
????????
Several years passed, and we enrolled in the academy.
Since the incident in the mountains, I had been training diligently without growing complacent. Thanks to that, I reached a level where I could compete with teachers at the elementary school level, not to mention my peers. With this level of skill, I was sure I could aim to be at the top of the academy!
These were successful years, but there was one thing that bothered me. Ever since that accident in the mountains, Marina had been acting strangely. She seemed to space out more often, occasionally muttering nonsense like “White-haired Prince,” researching fairy tales and legends, and even started collecting clippings of articles about the local lord. Her obsession, especially with the local nobility, was getting out of hand. It was quite concerning, especially since I had treated her like a little sister all these years.
And my concern was validated when something happened. Marina, who had been daydreaming as usual, got involved with some nobles when I briefly looked away. It was despicable for a group of men to surround a girl like that! Since they were nobles, they were probably scheming to take advantage of Marina’s beauty. I couldn’t allow my childhood friend to be treated like that!
Even if they were nobles, they couldn’t do whatever they pleased with commoners. Commoners had rights too, and even if I raised objections, the nobles showed no signs of remorse. So, I challenged them to a duel. It was a common practice in situations like these. I was going to protect Marina!
Since the opponents weren’t particularly skilled, the duel ended quickly. As compensation, I made them apologize to Marina on the spot.
Originally, I had intended to demand that Marina never approach them again, but I had a change of heart. Marina had an idealized view of the nobility, and I wanted to shatter that illusion and wake her up.
However, this choice turned out to be a huge mistake, as I would soon discover the next day.
The following morning, as I headed to school, I heard a shocking rumor. It was said that Marina had become the mistress of a nobleman.
I rushed to confirm this with her.
In the classroom, I found Marina and an unfamiliar maid.
The presence of the maid was essentially confirmation of the rumors.
“What’s going on, Marina!?”
“W-What’s wrong, Youdai-kun? Why are you so worked up!?”
As I confronted her, Marina blinked her eyes innocently.
Despite my frustration at Marina’s apparent lack of understanding of the situation, I realized that my approach had been too abrupt.
Taking a step back and taking a deep breath, I asked again, “There are rumors that you’ve become a nobleman’s mistress. What’s going on?”
“Oh, that thing,” Marina replied casually.
How could she remain so calm about this? The rumor of her being a noble’s mistress was tarnishing her dignity.
With a furrowed brow, I waited for her explanation.
What came next, however, was an unexpected revelation.
“I entered this relationship willingly, so don’t worry about it.”
She said it as if it were no big deal.
My cute little sister was a noble’s mistress?
The vision of Marina suffering at the hands of that noble flashed in my mind, and I felt a sudden dizziness.
But I couldn’t collapse here. Marina must be being threatened by that noble in some way. She was engaged in conversation with the maid, but that was irrelevant. I would help Marina right now!