Elder Brother
“Takumi-san, may I talk to you for a little?”
While relaxing in our room at the Ruven house, Rebecca-san over.
“Yes, of course. What is it?”
“Velio-san—my son who usually stays at our fief has arrived, I would like to introduce you guys to him.”
Matthias-san and Rebecca-san’s oldest son, Granvelio Ruven-sama. Wald-sama’s older brother. He is the one to usually manage the Ruven territory instead of Matthias-san who works at the castle.
“Hey, so you are Takumi, I see.”
A man resembling Wald-sama walked into the room after Rebecca-san.
His hair was of the bright brown color and his body-type was somewhat thinnish, so they are not so similar you would mistake him for Wald-sama, but the way they carry themselves are especially alike.
Even though he apparently just arrived at the Capital, he took the trouble to come and greet us.
“I am Granvelio. Nice to meet you.”
“How do you do? I am Takumi. Sorry for the trouble, I should have been the one to go and greet you…”
“No, I was the one who wanted to meet you as soon as possible, so you don’t have to mind it.”
When I apologized, Granvelio-sama smiled cheerfully. He’s oozing with kindness.
“”Wald-sama~?””
Allen and Elena looked at Granvelio-sama’s face in wonder.
“They look similar, but that’s not him. This is Granvelio-sama. Wald-sama’s Oniisan.”
“”Onii~chan!”
“Correct, Oniisan. Will you greet him?”
“”Yeah!””
“I am Allen!”
“I am Elena!”
“”Hello~””
Discovering that he was Wald-sama’s older brother, Allen and Elena greeted him cheerfully.
“Hello. It’s good to be lively~ Ahh, you can call me Velio.”
“”Velio-sama~?”
“Without ‘-sama’.”
“”Velio-sa~n?””
“N~ a bit more intimately.”
“”Nniyu~?””
“You are calling my mother ‘Obaasama’ right? In that case, wouldn’t I be Ojisama then?”
“”Oji——”
Velio-sama was trying to correct the way Allen and Elena address him with his utmost effort, but——
“Nonono! Allen, Elena, wait a moment!”
“”Uniyu?””
I stopped Allen and Elena who were on the verge of saying “Ojisama”.
As expected, I can’t have them call Granvelio-sama who is only a little older than me “Ojisama.”
I mean, I was also reluctant to have them call Matthias-san and Rebecca-san “Ojiisama” and “Obaasama.”
“How about Oniisama or Velio Niisama instead?”
“Ohh! That sounds nice. That’s something my real little brother would never call me himself! Allen, Elena, quickly, try calling me like that.”
As simple “-san” wasn’t allowed, I tried proposing the sibling way.
Granvelio-sama was greatly pleased with that.
“”Velio Nii~sama?””
He immediately had Allen and Elena call him like that.
“I see, this is something fresh. I somehow understand the reason you wanted the children to call you ‘Obaasama’, mother.”
“Isn’t that right? Gee, so adorable!”
Granvelio-sama seemed to be satisfied. He’s now understanding of Rebecca-san’s delight.
“Well~ as I thought, children are just cute~”
“Right! Velio-san, you can have as many children as you like!”
“Hahaha. The first one is yet to be born, so saying as many as I like is being too hasty, Mother. Well, if Almeria does her best, I wouldn’t mind that many~”
Listening to his conversation with Rebecca-san, I sense that Velio-sama is quite an indulgent person.
He will surely spoil his children together with Rebecca-san in the future.
“Errr… have you not come together with your wife, Granvelio-sama?”
“Ahh, Almeria—my wife is unfortunately not feeling well after the traveling, so she’s currently resting. She will have dinner with us, so I will introduce you then.”
“Yes, please do so.”
If I am not mistaken, the Ruven family’s fief is… to the west of the Capital. It should be between Shirin and Bailey. I don’t know accurately, but wouldn’t it take at least a week of travel by carriage? Of course, you would get exhausted from that~
“By the way, Takumi-kun. You can call me Velio.”
“… Yes, Velio-san.”
“Hmm, I will compromise.”
By the way, I tried calling him “Velio-sama” in a casual matter, but he would either not recognize it or correct me.
Then, at dinner.
“I am Granvelio’s wife, Almeria is my name.”
“It seems that I got tired because of the long journey in a carriage after a long while. But, I became much better after resting for a little.”
What a young-looking woman~ is what I thought, but Almeria-san is apparently only twenty-three years old. She’s apparently the younger sister-in-law to Wald-sama who is twenty-six this year.
“…… Ugh.”
After we finished the introductions and the food was carried in, Almeria-san suddenly felt nauseated. It seems that her condition is not at its best just yet.
“Almeria!? A, are you all right!?”
Velio-san stood in panic, rushed over to Almeria-san’s side and patted her back.
“”Onii~chan.””
“What is it?”
“”Stomach~””
“Stomach?”
Then, while watching Almeria-san, Allen and Elena patted their bellies.
“N~ belly, huh~…——Ah!”
Thinking what they could mean while looking at Almeria-san, I felt magical power coming from Almeria-san’s abdomen.
“What’s the matter, Takumi-kun?”
Matthias-san looked at me who cried out all of sudden in wonder.
“Matthias-san, I can feel magical power coming from Almeria-san’s abdomen.”
“What!?”
“Is she perhaps… pregnant?”
The magical power was similar to Almeria-san’s but different, so I could only conjure that she was with a child.
“My!”
“”… Eh?””
Hearing my and Matthias-san’s conversation, Rebecca-san immediately reacted in delight, while Velio-san and Almeria-san were dumbstruck.
“Ta, Takumi-kun, are you saying the truth?”
“That’s surely it! Almeria-san’s symptoms look like a morning sickness too!”
Velio-san who came to his senses tried to confirm with me one more time, but Rebecca-san who was now convinced started calling for a doctor to check up on Almeria-san.
“First of all, we should move Almeria-san to somewhere she can rest…”
“I, indeed.”
When Velio-san left with Almeria-san in his arms, Rebecca-san followed them cheerfully.
“”Hungry~””
As we kept sitting down because we couldn’t follow, Allen and Elena began singing the song of hunger… well, we were about to have dinner, so it can’t be helped.
“… We probably should have dinner as planned.”
“… Indeed.”
“”Can eat~?””
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“”Let’s eat~!””
The Father-in-law Matthias-san also hesitated to follow after them, so he answered to Allen and Elena’s song of hunger.
We quietly had our meal while the Ruven family became busy instantly.