Chapter 832

While riding the unicorn back to the barrier, Ima-ra sat quietly in front of me and asked various trivial questions.

According to Hersela, in recent years, instead of having proper conversations, she would glare at me with sharp eyes or throw sarcastic remarks close to venom before leaving. But her behavior now was completely different.

Perhaps she knows her life is in my hands?

Hersela, who usually has no sense of tact, seemed to have misunderstood something, as Ima-ra’s attitude was incredibly smooth.

“Is that flame from earlier the power of sorcery?”

“Yes. I obtained it while exploring the strange ruins scattered in the west… or rather, dungeons.”

Despite being a typical Ka`har who despises sorcery so much that she ran away the moment she found out her mother was a sorceress, she showed nothing but curiosity towards the fire rune I used.

“I heard you established a kingdom called Hestela and became a Khan. What happened during that time?”

“Well, it’s quite a long story—”

As I summarized and embellished the events I had experienced, she listened intently, her eyes sparkling like a child hearing a heroic tale.

“What is that in your mouth…? Herbs…?”

“It’s a magical cigarette, one of the specialties of the west that clears the mind. Want to try one?”

“Um… yes, okay.”

Showing interest in the cigarette I was holding, she tried to follow my lead.

“Here. Inhale the smoke deeply, then exhale it mixed with your breath.”

“Huuu—Cough?! Cough! Hack! Cough! Cough…! What is this?! Is this poison?!”

Choking on the harsh smoke filling her lungs, she coughed like an asthma patient, even shedding a few tears, making me burst into laughter.

“So… what about the issue of the heir?”

“Heir? There is none. I have no plans to have one in the future. If the lack of an heir is a problem, I can always adopt one.”

She even asked personal questions like who my husband would be.

“I see. There isn’t one…!”

Her lips curled up slightly at the thought of not having an heir, as if she was planning to use her blood relation to me as a pretext to aim for the position of the next king or queen mother.

Well, considering that the bloodline of Ai-shan Gi-or is a minus factor in the western kingdom, her ambitions were unlikely to bear fruit.

—

What awaited me upon returning to the barrier was the worried complaints of a pink-haired girl who should have been volunteering at the clinic at this time.

“Ha-shal-leur unnie!”

Seeing me, Rana hurriedly ran up to me and stopped. Having heard that I had gone out alone for reconnaissance, she seemed to have been waiting for me near the castle gate.

Anyway, her worry was excessive. I wasn’t going to war, just scouting the grasslands for a while. What danger could there be?

“I heard everything! You went off alone again doing something dangerous…?”

Rana sighed in relief at my unharmed state but, as always, began to advise me to avoid dangerous actions… until her eyes met Ima-ra, who was sitting in front of me.

“Uh… unnie? What’s that Ka`har in front? A captured prisoner? She must be a prisoner, right? Then we should hand her over to the interrogators—”

Perhaps mistaking Ima-ra for an enemy prisoner, her eyes held a strange hostility.

“Ah, this is my half-sister Ima-ra. She abandoned Ai-shan and came to Hestela seeking asylum.”

“Whaaaat? Your sister?! You have a sister, unnie?!”

Rana was so shocked she pointed at Ima-ra as if her soul had left her body.

“A half-sister, though.”

Come to think of it, I hadn’t told her about my half-sister. Since I had never even seen her face, I hadn’t felt the need to explain.

If it were Hersela, maybe, but to me, Hersela’s sister was like an NPC that never appeared in the game—a setting that didn’t even cross my mind.

So how could I have explained? Even I only remembered Ima-ra when Hersela mentioned her.

“A sister… a real sister…!”

So Rana’s shock was understandable. She probably never imagined I had siblings.

Still, her reaction seemed a bit excessive. Her finger trembled as she pointed, and her mouth gaped like a goldfish. It was a more intense reaction than when I returned injured.

“Unnie? Who is this rude child?”

In fluent Eastern language, Ima-ra turned her head and asked me with a slightly sharp tone. Perhaps Rana’s pointing was somewhat unpleasant, as her brow furrowed slightly.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t told her about Rana either.

While I had summarized my experiences on the way back to the barrier, the story was long enough that personal matters like having an adopted sister were omitted.

Well, I can explain now.

“Ima-ra, this is… Rana Median, a healer who worships the sun. She’s like a sister to me. Since she’s about your age, I hope you can get along.”

“…Huh? A sister-like bond?”

Ima-ra’s face twisted strangely.

It was as if her father, who had promised her a sibling for her birthday, had brought home a half-sister of unknown origin.

“Why do you have another sister when you have me…? Did you want to cut ties with me?”

“What…?”

It was a bizarre accusation.

Wasn’t it Ima-ra who had cut ties? Even though things had gotten complicated and she ended up clinging to me, two years ago, she was sending assassins after me.

If I hadn’t possessed Hersela’s body and Ima-ra hadn’t discovered Meiharin’s true identity, we might have remained enemies forever, and she would have been eliminated by Hersela.

“Cutting ties or not, if you hadn’t run away from Ordos, we wouldn’t have met again—”

“Unnie, was I just a replacement…? No, right…?”

Just as I was about to answer Ima-ra’s absurd question, Rana’s question cut me off.

I stopped and turned to Rana. Her voice alone conveyed her shock and dismay.

“A replacement? What are you talking about? That’s not possible. If I had considered you a replacement for a sister, I wouldn’t have given you the Median surname.”

So, I bent down and stroked Rana’s head, comforting her in a warm tone.

“Unnie…!”

Rana, as if moved, smiled and clung to my leg.

Climbing onto the leg of someone on a horse, even if it was stationary, was incredibly dangerous. So, I lifted Rana and placed her on the back seat of the saddle.

The Cascador, now carrying three people, lifted its head slightly and rumbled.

Being a spirit beast, it could easily handle the weight of three people. It even seemed to enjoy it a bit. How annoying.

“Let’s go back. We shouldn’t be doing this in front of the castle gate.”

“…Okay!”

Rana nodded and clung to my waist.

With my two sisters in tow, I rode towards the command barracks of Berengeiria.

The girl with twin tails leaning against my back. The pink-haired girl hugging my waist.

It might have been a scene worthy of being called “flowers in both hands,” but to me, it was just embarrassing.

After all, how would it look to others to see three people on one horse? Far from elegance, it was more like a clown show.

The knights and soldiers looking at me with complex, strange eyes, as if they had encountered a pink pony enthusiast, gave me a clear answer without words.

—

Finally arriving at the command barracks after enduring the awkwardness.

After briefly explaining to the commanders that the Ka`har girl I brought was my sister seeking asylum, I took my two sisters, who were tightly holding my hands, to the commander’s room—my room—and plopped down on the sofa.

“Haah…”

Feeling ten times more tired than when I fought twenty sorcerers, I leaned my head back against the sofa and lit a cigarette, looking at the ceiling.

Leaving Rana and Ima-ra with the promise to talk later, I took a break.

While I smoked, Rana and Ima-ra silently glared at each other.

Ima-ra glared at Rana with a venomous expression, and Rana stared back at Ima-ra as if she were a monster.

Though they quickly changed their expressions when they met my eyes…

The cold hostility was so palpable that it was impossible not to notice their mutual animosity.

‘…Looks like they won’t get along.’

Is it really that bad…?

I couldn’t understand why they were so upset about having another sister. As someone who never had siblings, it was hard to comprehend.

Well, since they couldn’t communicate, all they could do was glare at each other.