"Hmm? He looks like he should be...fifteen, right?" Helen replied.

"Nope!" Thera grinned.

"Sixteen?"

"Nuh-uh!" Thera shook her head.

"...seventeen? I give up, dear, how old is he?" Helen asked, watching in amusement as the face of her husband twisted with held-in rage.

"Hahah! Well, counting today.." Thera looked at Kael. "It's been less than a day and a half." She said.

"What?" Helen didn't quite understand.

"It has been two nights, one day, and half a morning, to be precise." Thera nodded. "I was right there, when he came into existence."

"What do you mean by that?" Sir Malcolm, Thera's father asked, his warped expression becoming serious and stern.

"Um...I may have made a fairly substantial mark in the history of magic?" Thera replied. "Teacher Rothema said that no one has been able to do it before...that is...making a magic clone of myself..." her words became quieter as her parents eyes widened in shock.

"Thera, what are you talking about? A clone? This is clearly someone older than you, with a separate appearance. Moreover he is a male!" Sir Malcolm pointed out.

"I believe her." Helen replied.

"What? But Darling, this is clearly strange-" Sir Malcolm turned back to Helen.

"You've neglected the fact that their eyes are the same color." Helen pointed out. "Moreover, Thera wouldn't lie. She may leave out a lot of things that will get her in trouble with me, but she will not lie."

Thera felt cold sweat develope on her back. So this is what you think of me, mom? Am I only a troublemaker in your eyes?! She thought inside her heart.

If her mother could have heard her hearts cries, she'd have laughed and said: of course you're a trouble-maker; but you're MY troublemaker...But, of course, Helen could do no such thing as hearing internal conversations and thoughts.

She continued "Besides, something important like this, we'd only need to confirm with Rothema later, so why don't we hear her out without interrupting, hmm?"

It came out: Mom's infamous smile-that-is-scarier-than-the-demon-king. Sir Malcolm's words withered in his tongue as he shut his mouth and nodded.

Helen turned her head back to Thera. "You were saying?" She prodded.

"R-right...so...because we were travelling on the road, and Master Thales had to mislead a group of miscreants to prevent us from being bogged down on our way to the contest. So he had me disguise as a man while I was traveling, as two girls were a target, but a girl under protection would limit the number of potential kidnappers. The disguise, made by Rothema, is what he looks like." Thera answered Sir Malcolm's question.

"But, he doesn't just look like a boy. He is one. I used a drop of my blood as the baseline, but I did make a few changes. Originally, he couldn't live too far apart on account of his magical existence being unstable, and needing to be ressupplied with martial spirit. But we found out that he was able to recharge by eating food just like you and me..."

"And why did you need a clone?" Helen asked.

"This...it's because...I wanted to show that I could win both in the magician's contest, and the martial contest. But, as we learned not long ago, his existence became more and more necessary..."

"Why?" Helen asked.

"Do you remember the hades fever incident back when I was four?" Thera asked.

Kael stepped forward. "We already know it was deliberate. But the mastermind...appears to be someone from the magician's council. Hades fever isn't a mana-resistant illness. Hades fever is a foreign mana from a fallen star."

"I also think that it is partially due to this new mana that I was able to create Kael." Thera added.

"...So, how do you want us to treat Kael, dear? What is your intentions?" Helen asked.

"What?" Thera asked, surprised.

"After all, if this is true, you're the very first person to do such a thing." Helen explained. "Magicians have tried for years to create a physical magic clone. But, during research, the question came up about how they should be treated. After a grand debate, everyone agreed that the magician who succeeded would be able to decide their fate."

"In that case, I want you to treat him as my big brother!" Thera replied. "He knows everything I know. Since he looks different from me, no one will suspect he is a clone. We also get along very well. So, I have decided to treat him as family."

Sir Malcolm's anger had pretty much entirely abated. "Well..if you had asked us to treat him as your fiancee, I would have definitely refused."

"Of course not! He has my family's bloodline running through his veins. Fiancee would decidedly be out of the question. Think of him...as the person I would have become if I were born a boy instead of a girl." Thera replied. She knew her father had always wanted a son, despite the fact that he loved his daughters dearly.

Sir Malcolm and Helen exchanged glances, and nodded.

"Well, it looks like we'll be having two new additions to the family then!" Helen's smile reached her eyes as she beckoned Kael forward.

"Come here and let me take a look at you, Kael, my son." Helen reached her hand out to him. For the first time in Kael's short existence tears fell from his eyes. Now that they had a family, neither Briar was willing to give it up.

"What a lucky woman I am!" Helen laughed. She hugged Thera and Kael to herself. "My daughter wins the magician's contest, and I gain a son who also won the martial contest!"

"Well, because I can do everything that he can, You could say that I won both!" Thera said, looking for more compliments from her mother.

"That's no good, Thera. If you're going to treat him as your brother, then you can't steal his achievements!" Helen scolded, flicking Thera's forehead. "Kael's win is Kael's win. Thera's win is Thera's win. Got it?"

"Ouch!" Thera covered her forehead and nodded obediently. "G-got it. Sorry, Kael. You won the martial contest." After all, she had given Kael permission to become his own man. It was just that, in the heat of the moment, she had wanted to impress her parents more.

Kael smiled knowingly. "Ah, but didn't you fight in all the martial battles before I arrived? Everyone says it was me who won. But I know the truth. It was mostly your own efforts. Thus, I think we can both agree that we won the martial contest together, right? At least inside the family."

Thera beamed brightly and nodded, as she joined the group hug, which was completed when father joined in as well.

--------------------

In the greeting room, Margie had just finished being introduced to everyone. There was Master Thales, whom she already knew; Madam Rothema, whose fame had already gone down in the history books; Helen, her new apprentice; Sir Arthur Pendrag, whom she didn't recognize; Rien and Karu, who were once more petting the captured cat, Yuki. The maid Rebecca had arrived with some tea and light snacks.

"I must admit, when you sent me the structure design for your flying house spell, I was quite surprised! Magi are known not to propagate their personally made spells so easily to those who are not their students." Margie admitted with a smile.

"Call it a thank you for seeing an interesting creation of yours." Rothema chuckled.

"Huh? A magic item? I haven't really made many magical items aside from....ah, you mean Thera's magic bag? It's a cute design, right~?" Margie smiled.

"Indeed it is. Unique in design and function as well." Rothema admitted.

"Hmm? Function? Is there something that I am not aware of?" Margie asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Yah! Briar-nee's magic bag is so big on the inside! It can even hide kitty inside to play peekaboo!" Rien said, speaking bluntly.

"WHAT!?" Margie exclaimed, standing up. "Wait wait wait...what? The magic bag I made can carry living creatures?"

"Were you not aware of it?" Rothema asked.

"Not at all! We were studying a magic formula from an ancient ruin. Seeing that the magic inscription was similar to a magic bag, we made one in order to compare, but it seemed to function just like an ordinary magic bag so..."

Margie sat down, visibly shocked.

"...So you gave your sister what appeared to be a regular magic bag, huh. Well, you could say that certain folks would dearly love to get their hands on that thing once they know of it." Thales sighed, and placed his cup down.

A magic bag like Thera's was indeed dangerous. Being able to transport living things, one could easily infiltrate a place with an army, poisonous beasts, kidnappings, illegal slavery rings: everything would be so much easier with Thera's magic bag.

"Have you made any more of them since then?" He asked.

"...No. When our research turned up seemingly fruitless, we were moved to help out another research team." Margie replied softly.

"Then it ends here. No one is to speak of this again. Margie, do tell Thera not to get in the habit of carrying around Yuki in that bag of hers." Master Thales sighed.

"I do believe I heard my name?" Thera poked her head into the room.

"Ah! Yes, we were discussing that present I gave you for your birthday..." Margie phrased delicately.

Oh, the voice-changing scarf? I gotta hand it to you, you did a really good job on that! It came in really handy when I was in disguise." Thera smiles happily.

"Ahem! Not that one." Margie coughed, looking towards Thera's magic bag.

"Aish. They told you, huh." Thera made a face.

"She needed to know of this. It is imperative that we take proper precautions that sort of bag doesn't land in the wrong hands!" Master Thales pointed out.

"More like, the more you talk about it, the higher likelihood there will be that someone who shouldn't will come to know about it." Thera pointed out.

"...An astute observation." Rothema chuckled.

"Oh, by the way, Mom wants to see you upstairs." Thera said, tapping Margie on the shoulder. "There's a new family member you have to meet."

"WHAAT!? SHE'S HAD THE BABY ALREADY!??" Margie exclaimed as she less-than-gracefully sped up the stairway.

"No, wait that's not it-AH! Careful at the top step! You might (THUD)

....trip...."

Thera had called after Margie only too late. The dreaded falling and striking of the humerus bone was unable to be averted. Thera winced as Margie sat on the top step, holding a rather painful left leg. There would most definitely be a bruise from the fall.

"Oof. Yup. Same old Margie! Always clumsier in a fluster." Thera sighed.