Sixteen years—that was how long she had been living in this new world now. A world where she had found a second chance, a world where she could be considered worthy of love. It's under no underestimation that so far, she had been glad she was offered this chance.
Marilyn could now be counted as a young lady, having already gone past the necessary criteria to be deemed as such, just two years shy of young adulthood. Her appearance had turned from adorable and innocent to much like that of a beauty, just like her mother.
She was even said to have exuded that passionate aura that her mother had. She was not sure if it was the truth or not, but Anna's lady friends said those words themselves whenever they visited. So perhaps it was true.
But right now, her happiness had found something else to focus on, as for the past year or so, she got to reunite with her older sister again.
"It's been so long…" she said, walking down the hallway from her bedroom to the main room of the manor. She was wearing a rather unbefitting set of clothes for a lady, but one that fit her as a mage-in-training.
A cloak and a set of combat clothes of sorts—now all she would need would be a staff, which Robert promised to get for her 17th birthday this year, which is exactly one month before her entrance to the Royal Academy in the capital of the Kingdom of Albion, the city of Leandon.
Speaking of academics, the Royal Academy of Albion was her target school for studying. It had been the dream of every potential talented person in the kingdom…nay, the entire world, to study in this place. It was one of the most prestigious academies for future magical career prospects in general, just not for pathfinder candidates, who were the equivalent of adventurers in this world.
Helena had been studying there for around a year or so and had recently entered her second year as a student, following the path of her dreams: becoming a knight.
Marilyn suspected that once she got to the academy itself, it wouldn't take very long for Helena to graduate; the school ran on a four-year system, eight semesters in total when counted.
"I wonder if we should head out to the hidden glade again later this evening. That was a nice memory for me." She said, remembering that warm thought. It's basically a tradition to visit it every half year together.
Helena always had something new to discover there too, like an old log cabin that was hidden in a tree line some time ago near the meadow.
But speaking of Helena…
"Sister! It's so nice to see you again!"
Marilyn had just arrived at the end of the hallway, her silver eyes very much focused on the emerald eyes of her sister, who saw her and smiled.
Marilyn ran up to her and hugged her tight, much like how the ordinary younger sibling would.
"Can't believe you would actually visit us!" she said to her.
"You know I would consider myself a bad sibling if I didn't, right?" Helena responded, chuckling as she went.
The two of them separated from each other, and Marilyn got a good look at her sister's attire. It had pieces of dwarven-enchanted armour all throughout; she could sense their magical craftsmanship engraved within those platings. They were quite strong…very strong.
Helena also seemed to have holstered a sword as well, much like ones she tended to see in those comics her older sisters liked to read—stories of knights and the heroes of old. It was quite the popular genre for fantasy books, though she guessed it was more akin to historical fiction than actual fantasy, because of how fantastical this new world was to her.
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But in any case…
"So, how's life been treating you, my dear little sister?" Helena said to her, a bit sing-songy in her tone.
"Oh, uhh, training has been good. Father said I'm surpassing him in no time! But the practice duels had been…" She was once again hesitant to answer.
"Disastrous?"
"Y-yeah…"
Ever since Robert ran out of things to teach her, despite Marilyn's immense potential, her actual battle skills had been a bit lacking. Her father, in short, was quite terrifying in duels despite him not wanting to hurt her that much. She had only won a couple of times by catching him off guard in the dozens of duels she had with him.
At this point, she felt a bit sorry for the fields that were used for the practice duels more than anything. At least she knew how important battle instincts were and how much she underestimated them in battle.
And through their battles, Marilyn had also found value in exploiting weaker spells and combine them to gain an advantage. Fast-casting them makes them quite the unexpected obstacle. But it wasn't enough to bring down her father in combat.
"But u-uhh, how's life been treating you?" Marilyn would ask back. "A-anyone that interested you?"
"Huh? Oh! It's been going well, very well. In the top five throughout the semester, of the whole academy too! Bethany's training really paid off!" she said. "But no one interested me, despite them basically squandering to get to me. Trust me, they are desperate."
Marilyn laughed it off sheepishly. Throughout the years, Helena had been increasingly getting more…extroverted, to put it nicely. She had become a very tough woman to behold too, borderline tomboy if it weren't for her knowing her private self as a bit girly.
"Anyways, where's Mom and Dad?"
That too—her use of words had become more casual since her time in the academy. It was evident enough in both her letters and remote contact through the equivalent of smartphones in this world, Tomes. And aside from communication, apparently Helena said it could also be used to quantify a person's power through a grading system of sorts.
Of course, it's only used as a summary and not the gospel of truth. Battle intelligence had and shall remain as far more important than power, but that was a nice thing to know for her.
One could say that using the term 'Tomes' would be confusing, however, and it was at first for Marilyn, but the magical books of this world used the term 'Grimoires' instead. Truthfully, that sounded much cooler than tomes or spellbooks.
"Well, Father has been a bit busy at the village, and Mother is currently heading downstairs as we speak. But looks like I arrived first, hehe," said Marilyn. "Bethany is currently running an errand at the village too with Father, but feel free to make yourself at home! It's an entire month of no studies after all."
"This one month of a study-break would probably be very short, I reckon," she said. "But we should totally talk more about your magic studies. I've been getting into that wizard mood recently."
"Oh, uh, sure! You don't have any aptitude for it though?"
"Why would I need one to be curious about magic? You asked about sword fighting all the time despite having no interest in pursuing it!" Helena retorted.
"Blehh…" Marilyn stuck her tongue out in jest, causing her older sister to laugh.
But her words were kind of true. Marilyn only really asked about sword fighting for the sake of bonding with her, and while the knowledge was useful, the same logic could be applied to Helena's proposal as well. Helena might actually get more use out of it though the more Marilyn thought about it, because simply she does not have any interest nor discovered potential with the sword, while Helena could actually use the knowledge in fighting mages.
"Anyways, meet you at dinner! Sounds good for you?"
"Yeah, I have to meet Bethany at the village anyhow, so it'll take a while before I get back."
"Reeeaallly? What's the occasion?" Marilyn asked her.
"I...am not sure actually. She just told me that there's something she needed me for there. It's probably important if she's that insistent."
It was the truth. Bethany had contacted her through Marilyn's own Tome that was given to her at her 8th Birthday, whilst Helena's Tome was given to her at the age of 10. Her tone was urgent, and there was no context involved as to why she's that way when Marilyn attempted to ask her.
She chuckled. "Well, good luck then, don't let any of the boys there touch you. If one does, report to me."
"Got it. Just don't kill them, please."
Helena snorted before deciding to walk to her room. "No promises…"
Truly, for the past 10 years of her life, Marilyn had been happier than she ever was. And as soon as Helena walked down the hallway to her room, Marilyn decided to leave the manor afterward, flying out towards the neighbouring village she was sent out to go to.