Chapter 79: She’ll Always Be His Little Sister

The red explosion that had appeared in the middle of the wheat field slowly spread in every direction before finally shooting high into the night sky.

*Boom!

The red light burst in the air, scattering thousands of glittering magic particles. But before those particles could fade, several other explosions followed from different directions.

This time, golden-yellow and green lights started popping up too, decorating the night sky with a breathtaking view.

Mira, watching it, tilted her head a little.

"What...?"

The three colors kept exploding and spreading through the air, but their movements didn’t look random. The magic particles started gathering and forming a certain pattern.

Before long, all the lights slowly arranged themselves into huge letters across the sky.

『HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIRA VEYRON.』

"..."

Mira read the words several times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.

The golden-yellow, green, and red lights decorating the words kept shimmering, while tiny particles around them drifted like stars adorning the night sky.

Mira was still staring at the sight, a little confused.

Then, suddenly all the lanterns that had gone out lit up again.

That made Mira flinch, and she turned around on reflex.

But the sight in front of her made her stop in her tracks.

Over there, a lot of the people she knew had gathered.

Evelyn and Elysia stood not far from Aunt Potato and Aunt Centipede. There were also the Guard Uncles along with a few village hunters, the Village Chief, Alistair, and Randolf.

They were all smiling at her.

But Mira’s attention went straight to the person standing right in the middle of them.

"Big Bro..."

Elias was holding a birthday cake with the one hand he had. A warm smile was on his face as he looked at his little sister.

Mira still didn’t fully understand what was happening. Her gaze moved from one face to another before landing on Elias again.

Then everyone gathered there shouted at the same time.

"HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY, MIRA!"

Mira didn’t answer right away. She just looked at all of them, her eyes slightly wide.

Slowly, the things that had been making her uneasy all this time started to connect.

The village being so quiet, no villagers outside their houses, Evelyn and Elysia suddenly disappearing, even all the lanterns suddenly going out.

So all this time, they’d been preparing a surprise for her?

The red Energy wrapped around her right hand slowly faded, and the Scythe she was gripping disappeared with it.

Mira then lowered her head a little. Tears started gathering at the corners of her eyes before finally spilling down her cheeks.

She’d tried to hold back her tears, but this time it was so hard.

"Big Bro..."

Unable to hold in her feelings anymore, Mira ran straight toward Elias.

Seeing his sister coming, Elias’s smile grew even wider. He raised the cake he was holding a little before opening his mouth.

"Happy birthday, Mi—"

*Thud!

Before Elias could finish, Mira had already slammed into him pretty hard.

Elias lost his balance and was sent flying backward until he finally fell to the ground with Mira clinging tightly to him.

Meanwhile, the birthday cake Elias had been holding flew up into the air too.

"WOAH! THE CAKE!"

Aunt Centipede, seeing it, moved her hand right away. A burst of Magic shot out and caught the cake before it hit the ground.

With a small flick of her magic, the cake landed safely near her.

*Phew~

"That was close."

Aunt Centipede let out a sigh of relief as she looked at the cake she’d saved.

Meanwhile, Elias was still lying on the ground with Mira hugging him so tightly.

"Ugh... Mira, you..."

Elias grumbled at first from the impact. But when he noticed his shoulder getting wet with Mira’s tears, he dropped the idea of complaining.

"Big Bro..."

Mira’s voice sounded muffled because her face was buried in Elias’s chest. Both her arms were still wrapped tightly around her brother, like she didn’t want to let go.

Elias then used his right hand to stroke his sister’s head.

Feeling her brother’s hand on her head, Mira only hugged him tighter.

"Hu... Sniff... I thought... something happened to you guys..."

"Haha! Sorry for scaring you."

"I wasn’t scared!"

"Alright, alright..."

’She won’t even admit it.’

Elias stroked Mira’s head again. He didn’t try to tell his sister to stop crying, or hurry up and get off him.

After all, Mira had just gone through a night full of worry. Elias could understand why his sister was reacting like this.

’It feels like just yesterday she was still a little girl who followed me everywhere. I can’t believe she’s already seventeen.’

Elias looked at Mira’s hair, still under his touch.

He knew his sister was growing up and slowly becoming able to take care of herself. That was a good thing, of course. But a part of him still couldn’t get used to the fact that one day Mira would have to live her own life.

’But if letting her be independent is for her own good, I can’t keep spoiling this girl forever.’ Elias thought with a small snort.

Around them, the people who’d been watching the scene smiled too.

Aunt Potato smiled at the two siblings, while Evelyn and Elysia looked happy seeing Mira’s reaction.

"Well, looks like our surprise worked," Alistair said.

"Worked? Just look at Elias now. He didn’t even get to finish his birthday greeting," Aunt Centipede replied, glancing at Elias still lying on the ground.

A few people burst out laughing at her words.

Elias himself could only smile faintly. He really hadn’t expected such a forceful welcome from his sister, but seeing Mira finally smile and cry in relief made him not mind it too much.

After a while, Mira finally lifted her face a little from Elias’s chest. Her eyes were still wet and her cheeks looked red from crying.

"Big Bro..."

"Hm?"

"Thank you..."

Elias went quiet for a moment before smiling again and stroking his sister’s head.

’Looks like it’ll be hard for me to not spoil her.’

"Happy birthday, Mira."

But that warm mood didn’t last long.

"Hahaha! Alright, now it’s time to drink!"

One of the Hunter Uncles suddenly shouted, raising a cup of liquor.

Before he could finish his sentence, his head got smacked hard by Aunt Potato. A bump even popped up on his head right away.

"Idiot! Why are you thinking about drinking right away?!"

The uncle rubbed his sore head and looked at Aunt Potato, not accepting it.

"But why?! Parties are all about drinking, right? Besides, why am I the only one getting hit? The others have been drinking too!"

He then pointed at a few of his fellow hunters gathered not far away.

Aunt Potato followed his finger. But when she saw a few empty beer barrels lying on the ground, the smile on her face slowly changed.

A vein showed on her forehead, while one corner of her lips twitched.

*Burp~

"Oh? Ah~ It’s you, Aunt Potato."

"Wanna drink too?"

"Come on, let’s have a contest! Whoever can drink the most wins!"

Instead of feeling guilty, a few of the hunters offered her a drink with relaxed faces.

Aunt Potato then walked up to them.

"Alright. Let’s have a contest..."

She clenched her right fist. Golden-yellow Energy started wrapping around it, making the people who saw it feel uneasy right away.

"But this isn’t a contest of who can drink the most."

Seeing Aunt Potato’s expression, the Village Chief gulped and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

*Gulp.

"Oh no..."

He could already picture what would happen next.

"Come on, everyone, we’d better get away from here and gather in the field. Bring the food, let’s just move to the field."

The Village Chief immediately signaled for everyone to move. A few villagers who understood what he meant started moving away from Aunt Potato.

Elias, still on the ground, turned toward the crowd too.

But even before everyone could get away...

*Boom!

A loud explosion suddenly shook the area behind them, followed by a chorus of cries of pain.

"AAAAAARGH!!"

"What are you do— aaargh!!!"

"H-help me!"

"Here! Drink more until your bellies burst!"

Elias could only smile bitterly with cold sweat as he watched Aunt Potato beating up the Hunter Uncles.

’I’ve never seen this side of Aunt Potato...’

"Come on, Mira. Kids shouldn’t watch violence."

He easily scooped Mira up in his arm and walked toward the wheat field.

* * *

With everyone’s help, the wheat field, which still had some wheat left, turned into a simple party venue. It wasn’t as fancy as the parties of the nobles, but everyone there didn’t care about that.

With a few of Aunt Centipede’s Magic Talismans, the place that had been dark became much brighter.

And from those Magic Talismans, Elias also learned something new: the color of a Magic Talisman could be changed just by changing the color of the Rune written on it.

The result was Magic Talismans giving off golden-yellow, blue, and red light at various spots.

On the other side, a few people started enjoying the party on their own. The Guard Uncles and Hunter Uncles were having a drinking contest.

Aunt Potato and Aunt Centipede had started cooking, with Mira helping.

Elias had told Mira to just sit still since it was her birthday, but she was stubborn and did whatever she wanted to do.

The Village Chief and Alistair were just chatting, wooden cups in their hands.

And on another side, there was Buka, eating a huge amount of meat all by herself. There were even several plates already piled up on her table.

Elias, seeing that, could only be amazed. Her body was small, but it seemed her appetite followed her true body.

Elias’s gaze then focused on her white tail, wagging back and forth.

"She seems happy."

"Who seems happy?"

Feeling breath brush against his ear, Elias shivered all over and suddenly went stiff from the sensation that appeared out of nowhere.

He turned around and faced Evelyn and Elysia, who were each holding a glass of drink and looking at him.

"Is something wrong, Elias?" Elysia said, looking at Elias with her flat face, like she hadn’t done anything wrong. Even though, in truth she hadn’t done anything...

"Fufu... how cute~" Evelyn said with a small laugh, holding one of her cheeks with her palm.

Realizing the two of them were messing with him, Elias could only smile wryly, not daring to retort even though he was a little annoyed.

"Haha.... nothing..."

’Lately those two have been getting weirder and weirder...’

* * *