On the other hand, sharing a meal with Nanami had overwhelmed Ristia with emotion, since this was the first time she had ever shared a meal with a girl younger than her. Ristia had only ever eaten with her parents or her elder sisters. She was always on the receiving end of their love and comments of how cute she was, but she was never the one giving the love. Hence why... she had interests. Interests that said, I want to be a big sister! I want to dote over a little sister! She had been prioritizing that so much that she didn’t have a real concrete idea about how she wanted to go about actually getting a little sister. However...
“Lady Ristia, your cooking is stupendous! Amazing!”
Nanami was so innocently complimenting the meal Ristia had prepared, which was so cute that she couldn’t even stand it. I want to protect this girl. I want to turn her into my kinswoman and spend the equivalent of forever with her. Those emotions were practically bursting from her chest. The feelings overwhelming her made her realize all at once, Ah, shoot... This is probably how my big sisters felt about me. Ristia also figured that if she could feel such bliss with Nanami now even though she wasn’t her little sister, she would probably be in even more bliss if she were.
I want a little sister. I want to make Nanami my little sister. Sweet Nanami, become my little sister! Ristia thought, putting the emotions trapped in her heart into words and almost letting them fly out of her mouth, but Nanami was offering to show her to town to repay Ristia for saving her life. She even offered up her own blood if Ristia needed it. Nanami was returning a favor to Ristia. At this point, if Ristia had actually asked Nanami to become her kinswoman, the girl would probably obediently and instantly reply, “If that is your wish, Lady Ristia, I will gladly do so,” and become her little sister. But... that wasn’t right.
What Ristia wanted was a girl who would fawn over her older sister earnestly, not a girl who was playing the part of a little sister out of obligation. That’s why I can’t find it in me to ask her to become my little sister, Ristia thought, swallowing down her sister-seeking request. But that didn’t mean that she was giving up on making Nanami her little sister; she was going to expend as much effort as she could to make certain that Nanami would offer to take that role on her very own. Ristia kept her decision to herself as she watched Nanami gleefully eat her meal.
──2──
The following afternoon, Ristia and Nanami made it to a spot where a city enclosed by stone walls was visible in the distance.
“Lady Ristia, the city you see over there is the one I live in, Sistania!” Nanami was ecstatic. She gave off the impression that she was a docile and introverted girl at first, but over the past two days, she had become a lot more exuberant. She just wasn’t adoring her as an older sister, but worshiping her like an angel, which was a source of discontent for Ristia... but Nanami wasn’t quite picking up on that.
I’m glad that she’s adoring me, but it’s not supposed to be this way! Ristia thought, unable to help herself from lamenting her situation.
In any case, the two girls managed to reach the entrance of the city. That was when an older man dressed like a knight performing visitor checks came up to them.
“Welcome to Sistania, Young Miss. What brings you to this city?”
“Saving people!”
“...Pardon?” The soldier looked dumbfounded at Ristia’s unhesitant response.
“Like I said, I’m here to save children in need.”
“You’re... seriously saying that?”
“Lady Ristia is an angel!”
“Angel? What in the... Wait, Nanami? My word, you’re actually safe!” the man exclaimed, running over to Nanami.
“Ooh, it really is you, Nanami. Thank goodness. So you were safe after all. Everyone was worried since the reconnaissance team didn’t come back on the day they were supposed to!” Nanami bit her lip and hung her head in regret. The soldier made a doubtful expression in response to Nanami’s shift in attitude. “Speaking of which, where are the other members?”
“...Everyone was killed.” Nanami’s words took the man’s breath away, but his expression soon tensed up to brace himself.
“...What happened?”
“Monsters were living in that labyrinth. One by one, everyone was picked off. The only reason I’m alive is thanks to Lady Ristia here.”
“’Lady Ristia’? Well, I’m not sure what you mean, but I’m glad that you’re safe, regardless. I’ll go ahead and contact the guild, so you just hold tight, okay?” The soldier said, running off somewhere. Ristia watched him do so, pointing her eyes over to the streets visible from the other side of the gate. Lining the main street were buildings of stacked stone. Even in comparison to the humans of Ristia’s generation, they hadn’t made much progress. In fact, it seemed as if they’d regressed. However, the scale of the city was overwhelmingly larger than any city that Ristia knew of.
“This city sure is huge~”
“Believe it or not, it isn’t very large as far as cities go.”
“Wowie, humans truly have grown in number, I see. So how many people live in this city?”
“I’ve heard about twenty to thirty thousand.”
“That sure is a lot to me~” Even if the human lifespan was a century long, they would produce two to three hundred people per generation. Half of them might be girls, but by my calculations, that means there are easily a thousand candidates to be my little sister in this city! Ristia thought to herself. At the same time, she formulated a plan to find herself a little sister in this city.
“Nanami, I have a request.”
“Please, leave it to me.”
“Right, but I haven’t told you anything yet. It’s not good to accept a request when you don’t even know what you’re going to be asked, you know?”
“It’s no problem, Ma’am.”
“It is a problem...” Ristia let out a slight sigh.
Not asking Nanami to become her little sister was the right option. At this rate, if she were to pretend to be her little sister out of obligation, the situation would have been unsalvageable. Instead, she planned on not rushing her relationship with Nanami, taking her time and building up their bond little by little.
“So, what would you like me to do for this request of yours?”
“The request is in regards to my identity. I’d like you to keep it a secret from others as much as possible.”
“But why?! You’re asking me to hide the fact that you’re an angel to everyone, Lady Ristia?!” she blurted out in a scream. Ristia was bewildered by Nanami’s reaction.
“I’m sure you already know, but I’m not an angel, okay? But that’s not the point. What I want you to keep secret is the fact that I’m a True Blood. I want to live as a normal girl.” As a result of letting Nanami know that she was a True Blood, it scared the girl and made Ristia promise not to make her a kinswoman. Ristia considered that a failure, which was why she wanted to behave like a normal girl—a normal, human girl—making sure that her true identity was kept a secret until she built up a relationship of trust.
“Live as a normal girl, Ma’am...?” she said, almost as if she wanted to ask if that was even possible.