I rubbed my head ruefully.

“Ara, to forget such an important thing……..Geh, it sounds exactly like something I would do so I can’t even really act ashamed…...Well then Raina, shall we start training-Urk”

I was starting to stand up from the couch when Aaron and Adrian each grabbed one of my arms and pulled me back down. Aaron punched me in the gut, further ensuring my immobility as I was forced to wheeze for air.

“Wait! You can’t just walk off after saying something like that! Explain yourself!!!”

Recovering my breathing, I wrenched my arms out of their grasp.

“Hmph, you could have just asked nicely, you know…..”

They answered simultaneously.

“No, we couldn’t have.”

Hmmmm, I suppose they are right…….

“As I said, I’m not actually Aaron’s twin brother, I was abandoned by my birth parents because I was blind….Ne, Adrian, what do you think would be the best way to shame your parents?”

Best to get some good information before Adrian might decide he needs to protect our parents from my revenge…..

“Hrm, I suppose the best way would be to somehow embarrass them in front of the entire court….But wait! Why are you suddenly turning the subject to my parents, you still haven’t really answered anything about you not being Aaron’s twin…..Do you know who your real parents are?”

“Hmm? Embarrass them in front of the court…..it definitely is a generic answer to shaming nobles…..I’ll see what I can add to spice it up though…….Hmmmm, yeah I do know who my parents were, I was aware when I was first born, Adrian, I’m your older brother.”

There was a Very long silence. Suddenly Aaron shot up from the couch.

“YES!!!!!! I can see the family resemblance now that I’m looking for it, so it’s true!!! WAHOOOOO, I’m not related to the evil training monster that hypnotized me into being completely fixated on him for years!!! I’m so happy *cry*”

I tapped Aaron’s arm to signal him to turn around and then smiled very sweetly up at him.

“Congratulations, you just earned yourself a special training regime~”

I felt him slump to the floor, satisfied, I turned my attention to Adrian, he was as stiff as a statue.

“Y-you’re my older brother? But I heard he died shortly after birth from an illness…..though I can definitely see my parents abandoning you because of your blindness…….”

Hmmm, Adrian definitely had a clear picture of what is parents were like…..My thoughts were interrupted when Adrian suddenly hugged me.

“I’ve always wanted a sibling!”

T-this seems a bit out of character from what I know of Adrian’s personality…..he should be more of a cool, mature type that isn’t prone to sudden displays of affection….As though he had read my thoughts, Adrian hurriedly jerked away from me.

“S-sorry, it was just terrible having to grow up as an only child to those kind of parents, I hate them…..”

I patted Adrian on the head.

“Well, if you hate them so much, how would you like to join Big Bro in getting some revenge~”

Aaron suddenly pulled me away from Adrian, eh? Could this be a fit of jealousy? But I thought I got rid of the hypnotized obsessed Aaron….

“Adrian, listen to me, it’s better to be alone than to have this guy as your broth-Urk!”

Nope, not jealousy. I punched Aaron in the stomach, stopping him mid-sentence. I smiled happily.

“Aaron, your training has been upgraded to another difficulty, if you don’t work Very hard, it’s almost certain you’ll die~”

Adrian tugged on my sleeve hesitantly.

“You said something about revenge?”

I could practically feel the excited sparkles in his eyes, heh, he must really hate his parents…..My grin widened.

“Yeah, I want to make them pay for all that they’ve done~”

Adrian’s grip on my sleeve tightened.

“What do we need to do first? Can I help!?”

“The first thing we need to do is confirm their belief of my complete uselessness!”

Adrian’s grip loosened in confusion.

“Eh? How will that be revenge? It will only feed their self-righteous arrogance...”

I flicked him in the forehead.

“Fool! Before revenge, we must build the best stage. By heightening their arrogance, it will create a higher and more painful fall! This is the basics of the basics of mischief-making!”

“I-I see…..Then how are we going to do that, B-Big B-Brother? *blush*”

Ah, adoring little brothers are so cute……

“We’ll take the entire school for an ultimate training session deep in Mistwood forest, and have me act like a weak gopher whenever your parents see us, ehe, it’ll be hitting two birds with one stone~”

Zale suddenly spoke up.

“How deep are you planning to take them? Mistwood forest is classified as a unique danger area, as the magical beasts increase in level the deeper you go in, I heard a rumor that the four kings made an expedition there when they all reached Void level a few hundred years ago, and even at that level of power, they didn’t make it to the center….…..”

Oho, sounds like an interesting challenge~ It sounds like there might be something very interesting in the forest center…….

“Ne~ Don’t worry, I’ll only take them to the area where high level middle rank beasts and low level high rank beasts show up! Hey, Arvid, tell the students and Dagda teachers to start packing!”

“Got it Boss~”

I stood to rise, but Zale suddenly appeared in front of me and grasped my shoulder.

“Wait a sec, there’s no way the students can handle high level middle rank beasts at their current level! Much less any kind of high rank beast!”

I patted the hand on my shoulder reassuringly.

“Don’t worry, by the time I get there, they will be~”

There was a heavy silence.

“Don’t you mean we?”

“Nope! I’ll be the only one physically traveling~”

Aha, I can almost feel their confusion, I don’t even need to see their faces to know they’re very amusing right now~

“Ehe, don’t worry about the details for now~ Go get packed. Ne~ Arvid, pack my bags for me, mostly with my poor clothes, I need to prepare for the journey, also, get those other trinkets I asked for ready~”

I slipped away from Zale’s grasp and walked out of the room, leaving a several stunned statues of people behind me~

Ehe, it’s been a long time since I’ve used THAT to train my toys…….

Well, it is a special world~

………

Two Hours later:

I finished scratching the last line of the intricate circle into the dirt of the training field and leaned back, stretching my slightly stiff back.

“I forgot what a pain it was to draw this…...Eh, the resulting toys will be worth it~”

The circle complete, I placed a hand on it and began channeling mana into it. The earth beneath my fingers began to warm. My tail tapped me slightly on the shoulder, I turned my head slightly to the side to acknowledge it.

”Ah? Are you already done with that other circle I asked you to draw?”

It waved happily in affirmation.

“Ne~ Misty, did she do a good job?”

“Yes Master, just like the memory you sent both of us~”

The ground beneath my hand suddenly flared with heat for a moment, then any trace of heat vanished, the spell was set. I gave a tired sigh and flopped on the ground. My body felt like a sack of bricks, in order to complete the spell at my current level, my ki and mana cores had to be drained of power. I had already calculated that this would happen, but I always forgot what being drained of power felt like. As was usual when I drained myself of power in reincarnations, small smile graced my lips, at this moment, I wouldn’t be able to even lift a finger to defend myself if someone attacked me, yet this was the time that I was overcome with an addicting sense of peace and accomplishment that I had come to love over the years….Void suddenly nudged my face with his nose, breaking me out of my thoughts.

-Papa, are you ok?-

I groaned, the moment was over, and began pulling power from the air.

“Void, you just ruined a wonderful feeling…….Eh, for some reason I don’t feel like strangling you…..be thankful, my old age must be catching up to me…..But I suggest you leave me alone next time, if you value your life~”

My body was starting to revive under the outside energy I was dragging in, and I dragged myself to a sitting position.

“I’m going to have to wait a bit before opening Adrian’s Special portal…...Oh! It seems like the students are coming”

My cat ears had caught the early onslaught of curious chatter and pattering footsteps. Oh, right! if I want the gopher act to work, I had better hide! Struggling to my feet, I moved quickly away from the circle, my legs slightly wobbly. (Author: Aha, like a penguin!)

I managed to make it to the outer wall just before the students began to flow out of the double doors. Phew~Just in time……

Their nervous voices filled the field as more and more students filed into the field.

“What’s going on?”

“Why were we suddenly told to pack our bags?”

“Has something bad happened?”

I felt Raina, Adrian, Zale, and Aaron slide next to me. Adrian nudged me slightly in the shoulder.

“So Big Brother, how’s this going to work?”

“Ah, Raina, I want you to guide the students into the big portal that will appear soon, it leads to a special training dimension, which I like to call the toy factory~ I use it whenever I want to strengthen up a lot of people so they can do something more interesting!”

Raina suddenly hugged me.

“Oooh, a new kind of training area, sounds fun!”

C-can’t breath! My head was buried in her chest, but that wasn’t the problem! Raina’s hug was squeezing the air out of my lungs……..I could feel bright spots spark to life in my mind, Ara? Is that a tunnel? Oohh, there’s an interesting light at the end…….Wait! No, I recognise this! It’s often referred to as a sign of passing to the other side! In other words, death! I began to rush towards the light, death is said to be the greatest adventure! True death the one thing I’ve never been able to truly reach!

Suddenly, the light vanished, Raina had released me…...I collapsed to the ground, ah…..it feels so nice and dark here, I could stay here Forever, who cares about dying! Though Death herself is kinda hot….Not that it matters since she’s turned me down every time I’ve asked her out…..Uuuuuuu, staying in the dark is the best thing to do…..A brick suddenly shot out of the wall I was slumped against and smacked me in the back of the head.

“Ack! What was that for!”

I heard Arvid give a relieved sigh.

“Phew, you were starting to drop into that dangerous depressed state you told me about Boss”

“Ah! You’re right, I almost did it again, didn’t I Arvid! Thanks~”

“Anyway Boss, you had better activate the portal soon….”

Ah, right…...I focused on the portal and snapped my fingers. I felt it flare to life. Aaron nudged my leg with his shoe.

“You were just acting really weird for a moment…..whatever, should we go in the portal too, Bro?”

He was probably referring to our whole little group.

“Ne~ Everyone except Adrian, I have something special prepared for him!”

I felt them all begin to trundle away, and Adrian crouched down next to me.

“You prepared something special just for me Big B-Brother? What is it?”

“Acting lessons!”

“Eh?”

Adrian was clearly confused by my words, I decided to explain further.

“You see, for one to become a lowly gopher, it is essential to have a bully! I’m going to have you play that part~”

Adrian poked my shoulder

“But I don’t want to bully you!”

I thumped his head lightly.

“You won’t Actually be bullying me, just pretending to, it’ll be fine~”

“I-I see…...”

It took about an hour for the entire school to file through the portal. I pulled myself to my feet and walked over to the portal, where Raina was waiting for me. I tilted my face up at her and grinned.

“Have Fun~”

I could feel the excitement buzzing around her as she nodded firmly, the movement sending a slight breeze against my face. Then she too vanished through the portal. I placed a palm against the portal, the energy buzzed at my touch, but my hand didn’t pass through, the special spacial dimension was tied to me, so I was unable to enter it. The buzz grew stronger, and I felt the portal begin to contract. My hand began to burn as the magic began to fuse with my palm. After a long agonizing minute, the portal was gone, I traced a finger over my right hand. A miniature version of the giant magic circle I had carved into the ground was now etched into my palm.

Adrian was standing behind me and I turned to him.

“Now it’s your turn!”

The smaller circle was much easier to power, and I was soon bidding Adrian farwell. A thought occurred to me, and I grabbed Adrian’s arm, stopping him just before he entered the portal.

“Hey, why do you hate our parents so much? I know they’ve given me more than enough reason, but as their heir, they should have treated you well.”

Adrian flinched at my words.

“I-I wasn’t exactly perfect heir material when I was a kid, you’ve seen how I act all cool and collected, right? Well, when I was younger, I was…..a lot different. My parents weren’t happy about this……..so they decided to beat it out of me.”

Rage. It boiled up inside me. I pulled Adrian to me in a tight hug, he was shaking slightly, and it only served to make me angrier. No one is allowed to mess with my toys, in the past, present, or future. I took a deep breath and shoved my burning fury down, storing it away for later. When I spoke, my voice, though a little sharp, was as cheerful as usual.

“Adrian, the base set up of the plan is going to stay the same, but instead of just humiliating those disgusting worms, I’m Going To Take Every Single Thing They Have And Demolish It Right In Front Of Their Eyes.”

Adrian pulled away from my hug.

“You’re the best older brother I could have ever wished for!”

Then he stepped through the portal and left me alone in the training field. I fused the smaller circle to the back of my right hand, then tilted my head back and clenched my fists.

I WOULD MAKE THEM PAY!!!

“B-Boss, are you all right? You’ve got a Really Scary aura right now.”

I took another deep breath and shoved away my infuriated thoughts to focus on the things I needed to do right now.

“I’m fine Arvid, I just HATE when people hurt my toys……...Hah, but it’ll have to wait for a bit……..Arvid, do you have my luggage and those things I asked for ready?”

“They’re all ready to go at the front gate., I also have a arm brace ready so I can come with you, it’s the smallest thing I can fit in now…..Here, put it on so I can make sure it fits.”

I held out my hands and felt a metal arm brace drop lightly into my open palms. I slid it on over my left hand, and it molded to my arm, metal plating slid to cover the top of my hand, and smooth metal strands wove over my palm, the metal section on my fore arm fit snugly. I flexed my hand, checking to make sure the brace didn’t hinder any of my movements. Satisfied, I smiled. I totally see bashing this into that arrogant Redsword guy’s face, even though I can’t see…...

“Eh, this was an excellent work of craftsmanship Arvid~”

The arm brace hummed happily and Arvid’s voice rang easily from it.

“Aha, thanks Boss, I made it from some high quality ore I found in the school’s top tier craft department, it can hold up against almost any attack, so you can use your left arm to block attacks without any worry.”

Hmm? This school had a craft department? Eh, it might be an interesting source of materials….Leaving the training field, I walked quickly through the silent halls of the empty school. My bag was at the front gate, right where Arvid had said it would be. Ten rings were laid out on the ground beside it. I slid each of them on, and grinned as I felt weight press down on my body until I could barely stand. Gravity rings, one of my favorite kind of training materials. I would need to build up strength in order to accomplish what I wanted to do.

I pushed the gates open and left the school.

As I began to trod through the sand, a horrible thought occurred to me. If I was returning home…….that meant I would have to deal with those abnormal parents again!