Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 167

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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When I covered my ears in distress, Papa and Serena seemed to have agreed to exercise restraint, lowering their voices.
“Your husband is so heartless. He left you sick and alone, saying he had to go work, and sailed off with that gas mask.”
“I thought he was a decent fellow, but he’s utterly useless. I won’t belabor the point, but what about switching to that Largol fellow who plays piano? He seemed to adore you. I could tell even when we first met that day.”
“I instructed Glen to go work quickly. He would have been angry if he’d remained here instead. Besides, Lucilucil and I are friends. It’s not like that between us.”
As I explained myself regarding the two of them, Papa puffed out his cheeks and grumbled while Serena’s eyes widened. The woman, whose mouth had been agape as though witnessing something unbelievable, placed her hand on my forehead to check my temperature, then spoke with exasperation.
“Are you still not in your right mind? Does it hurt terribly? Or are you perhaps a fool?”
“Why would I be a fool? I hear constantly that I’m clever.”
“No. You’re a fool. An absolute idiot.”
No, if you’re going to insult me, at least pick one. Why must I be a fool, an idiot, and an absolute buffoon all at once?
As I coughed and protested, Serena gasped and laid me down, draping a blanket over me and pushing warm air toward me. Then she took the towel she’d brought, frosted it with a thin layer of ice, and placed it gently on my forehead.
“Rest for now. I bear some responsibility for your condition….”
“It’s not ‘some’—eighty percent of this is Serena’s responsibility.”
“You wretched child, even your words are infuriating.”
“But it’s the truth.”
As I continued to talk back, Serena twisted her entire body as though she desperately wanted to pinch and tear at me, barely managing to compose herself. Wait—did she say I slept for two days straight? This is serious. I had a proposal regarding the frozen sea anemones.
“Magnificent Serena. After hearing your conclusion to keep freezing the sea anemones, I’ve been thinking of something.”
“You’re talking about work in this situation?”
“Well, ice-attribute mages are generally ice-cold personalities, aren’t they?”
“….”
The towel cooling my forehead instantly froze solid. Ah, it’s freezing! Why are you suddenly trying to freeze me?! I’m already a patient!
“You wretched child. Why are you suddenly picking a fight?”
“But it’s true, isn’t it? All ice-attribute mages have serious cool-guy syndrome. Even Serena pretends to be cool while remembering every insult and taking revenge for it.”
“How could you possibly know that!”
After living in the True Magic Tower for several years, you naturally come to understand these things. Anyway, that’s not the important part right now. I realized that if we utilized the ice-cold nature of ice-attribute mages, we could reduce the maintenance costs of the frozen sea anemones.
For example…, yes, like an arcade punch game machine.
If we installed a device to measure how frozen the sea anemones were, recorded the measurements numerically, and assigned someone to keep track, we could cut costs by exploiting ice-attribute mages’ characteristic tendency to act cool while harboring jealousy, narrow-mindedness, and fierce competitiveness.
Moreover, wouldn’t it be entertaining to see the power of one’s magic quantified in numbers?
As I laid out my idea and asked Sage if it was feasible, then asked Serena how interested she was, both gave me positive responses.
“Well, we could certainly measure how low the temperature goes and how large an area gets frozen.”
“Hmm…, if I knew where that place was, I’d want to go see it.”
See? I told you it would be fun. Moreover, if we continuously accumulated points for freezing the sea anemones, announced the cumulative contributions once a month through a ranking system, and gave prizes to top rankers, ice-attribute mages with cool-guy syndrome from all across the nation would flock there.
If we manage it well, we won’t even need Alein to dispatch mages. We’ll just take the funds from Cerepia and Largol and call it a day.
As I continued laying out my plan while breathing eagerly, Sage and Serena exchanged a peculiar look.
“Is there any way we can bring this one to the True Magic Tower? We should confine him as soon as possible.”
“The thing is, he’s still only third circle, and losing him would be a significant loss to the Alein Kingdom.”
“This wretched child should never have become a mage….”
What? Why are you like this? Why are you trying to take away my only remaining hobby? Don’t do that. I’m sad. My only joy in life is magic training.
I was coughing and trying to voice my opinion when Serena pressed medicine into my mouth and made me swallow it down with water. She insisted I eat first and rest more, so I closed my eyes.
Strangely, despite sleeping for two days straight, I wasn’t hungry at all. When I murmured about this in confusion, Papa apparently mentioned something about forcing liquid nutrition through a glass tube directly into my esophagus….
…What exactly did you all do to me while I was sleeping?

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After sleeping another day and waking, I still wasn’t hungry. Liquid nutrition. Glass tube. Esophagus. Various words came to mind, but I decided not to press for details. It was terrifying.
Besides, after sleeping for four days straight, I’d rested plenty and recovered my strength, so I decided to return to Alein.
I needed to handle the anemone problem as well, but everyone would have gathered by now—I had more pressing matters to resolve first.
The issues with Asterion, the regression, and the corrupted Excalibur.
Serena said that if she could just encounter the sword, she’d be able to tell whether the Masked Woman was responsible for this. First, I needed to guide her to the basement and exchange information with her.
Perhaps I’d need to explain everything Leon and I had experienced so far. I steeled myself for the possibility that I might have to tell Serena and Papa things no one would believe, but how could I even begin…? My chest felt heavy. Terribly heavy.
Papa would certainly be upset that I hadn’t told him until now, and if Father found out about this…. He’d collapse backward. He’d definitely faint from the shock. Then what would Mother do to me? The thought made my skin crawl—I didn’t even want to imagine it.
Just thinking about Mother made my fingertips tremble uncontrollably. While solving the regression problem was important, I wanted to die gracefully. Not Mother. If Father collapsed because of me, I absolutely couldn’t let Mother find out.
Perhaps because of these thoughts, when I arrived in Bienar, I didn’t call for a carriage. Let me ride the surface tram home instead.
I wanted to show Serena how much Alein had developed, but I also wanted to return home as slowly as possible. I needed time to prepare myself mentally.
Besides, Glen had already taken all the luggage, servants, and Capo’s group when he returned, so I could board the tram lightly with only the Magic Tower people and Aster.
Papa was being criticized for rapidly developing a country that was supposed to grow slowly, but that wasn’t my concern—I simply noted that the tram had more delays than expected.
Five minutes outside is just five minutes, but five minutes waiting for the tram feels like an eternity. I really need to increase the staff at the Surface Tram Company.
Upon arriving at Rocksburg Station, I leisurely viewed the statue of Aster with his head cleanly severed, then walked at a leisurely pace until I reached our home. Good, that’s enough mental preparation. Now I need to guide Serena to the Annex Basement and settle this once and for all.
Though I’d gotten up from bed, walking was still difficult, so I had either Karl or Quill—the gatekeeper—bring a segway and began guiding the way. If we passed the Main Building and continued down the path, wouldn’t we arrive at the Annex where our Asterion lives?
I explained to her that there was a sword stuck in the basement there with chains tangled around it, then I focused on our home’s Annex.
“….”
That…, our Annex…, had always been rather dilapidated, but….
“You troublesome child. What’s supposed to be here?”
“Well, that is, until just a few days ago, Leon was living here in this Annex.”
It existed. Now it doesn’t.
It had completely collapsed. Unable to find any trace of its original form, I stood there stunned when I heard someone calling me from far away. Looking toward the main path leading to the Main Building, I saw the heir to Duke Edanelli…, no wait, she’s the Duke now. It was Dorothy, the Duke Edanelli.
“It seems we need to understand the situation first. Would you be staying at Sage’s residence?”
“No. I need to examine this place more carefully. I have things to discuss with the kid too.”
“What do you mean ‘kid’? How old am I?”
“Then are you an adult? You haven’t even lived half as long as I have.”
I see…. Papa hadn’t even lived half as long as Serena. I’d acquired yet another useless piece of information.
“And leave the girl here too. She can do that thing, right? That thing she was doing—
‘Die, William Brown!’
—that.”
“Huh?
‘Die, William Brown!’
You need that?”
“Yes. You said that sword is in the basement. To clear away the building debris here, we’ll need—
‘Die, William Brown!’
I figured it might come in handy.”
Certainly, Die, William Brown! would obliterate the building without leaving even dust behind in a single strike, but the problem is that everything around it would shatter into pieces as well. Our estate walls, the avenue trees, expensive objets d’art, and so forth.
We’re already facing astronomical costs just to rebuild the Annex Building. When I cautiously asked about my money concerns, Serena assured me not to worry—she could control the Aster Aura herself. She said that if mana drain is possible, then mana control is child’s play, but I honestly had no idea what she meant by that….
“What does the Aster Aura have to do with mana control?”
“Don’t they teach kids these things anymore?”
Serena was startled and turned toward Sage. And when Sage responded with an equally shocked expression, saying “I don’t know either, old lady,” I bit my tongue in embarrassment.
…I just realized something—is it possible that brain-attribute mages have a personality trait of bringing trouble upon themselves?
“Listen up, you little brats. An aura, fundamentally speaking, is this:”
Where’s my notebook, where’s my notebook! I thought Serena was about to spout more nonsense, but incredibly crucial information was flowing out as naturally as water.
First, the force that people commonly call Swordmasters use is called an aura. Since humans can generate an aura upon reaching a certain level whether they train with swords, axes, or bare-handed combat, the term “Swordmaster” is technically incorrect—the proper term is “aura user.”
I’d already heard this from Aster and Jack before. Recently, the trend is to collectively call anyone who uses an aura an “aura user,” regardless of their primary weapon.
“And an aura, you see, is something created by those who possess absolutely no affinity attributes. You could call them non-attribute mages, in a sense. When mana cannot find a compatible attribute from the external environment, what happens? It turns inward—toward the body itself, right?”
Oh, oh, so aura is a mutation born from mana. And it can strengthen the body, wrap around weapons and be used, or be fired as a beam like Aster or that rose-throwing person, right?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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