4 – Genius (3)

Felix was silently suppressing his rage.

‘Now that it’s time to leave, it seems he sees nothing that holds him back.’

To suffer such humiliation at the hands of the youngest, who had never even resisted before.

Enduring the throbbing pain in the back of his head, Felix glared at Esther.

He was always so passive and timid.

Having meager talents compared to the other siblings, Esther was always easy prey for Felix.

There was a bottom even to the bottom.

Felix didn’t possess any remarkable talent either, but he was superior to Esther.

-Hey, trash!

-I’m amazed we’re even family. You can strut around calling yourself the Star of Tristi when you can’t even master basic magic?

-Don’t introduce yourself as being from Tristi when you’re outside. It’s embarrassing.

-Vermin!! Cripple!! Stay at the bottom forever!!

Whenever Felix tormented Esther, the other siblings watched the spectacle and laughed.

“You’ll end up weeping at this rate.”

“A fitting fate for trash like her.”

“My sentiments exactly.”

Only Haniel refused to join in the torment.

“Felix, stop it this instant.”

Birds of a feather, they say.

It was almost laughable, siblings from the same womb taking sides, but to Felix, Haniel was no Ester to be trifled with.

Her magical talent was the real deal.

Compared to Etilla, the academy’s once-in-a-generation prodigy.

Smart, wise, and possessed of a gentle yet powerful charisma.

If not for her sickly constitution, she would likely hold a position even higher than Uriel’s now.

Still, all Haniel could do was just that much.

The frail Haniel wasn’t always by Ester’s side.

Felix indulged in his feelings of superiority over his sister.

Usually indifferent, his older siblings would always show interest when he bullied Ester.

His own pathetic existence became obscured.

Ester was rock bottom.

A stepping stone for him to stand upon.

That fact would remain unchanged, forever.

Or so he believed…

“The mana environment necessary for the recreation of Hellfire was researched at the 531-FR lab thirty years ago. In areas where mana of a special property, produced during the decomposition of highly condensed mana, is distributed…”

Just what am I witnessing?

Why does Father regard her with such interest?

Why is she meeting Father’s expectations?

Why are my siblings listening intently, eyes wide, to Ester’s words?

Ester Tristi is insignificant.

Ester Tristi is incompetent.

Ester Tristi *should* be a more worthless existence than Felix Tristi.

It felt like a dream.

“Ester… such a remarkable one?”

‘Unbelievable…’

“…That concludes my presentation.”

Only after thirty minutes did Ester’s presentation finally end.

Knowledge so profound, it seemed impossible.

Everyone present, even Haniel, found Ester’s explanation difficult to grasp.

“…….”

Silence fell over the room.

Porto wore a look of satisfaction.

“Yes. Splendid.”

Ester had received praise that Felix had never known.

A blatant anomaly.

Porto took a deep breath.

In a voice chillingly subdued, he addressed Felix.

The reason he’d placed Felix’s turn after Ester’s.

“Felix.”

“Yes….”

“You are at 0%. You brought a complete and utter fallacy. What you presented couldn’t even ignite a match, let alone recreate the very fires of hell. A preposterous equation.”

Felix felt his heart plummet.

“B-But how… I, I was certainly introduced to a flame magic scholar of the Fire School by my second brother…”

Jefer subtly avoided Felix’s gaze.

“B-Brother!! You certainly promised to share the answer with me!!”

“Did I? My memory is becoming rather… hazy.”

“How can you do this!! It is not as we agreed two days ago!!”

Felix’s reputation was not favorable.

His skill and talent were superior to Ester’s, but his personality was so awful that even the servants working at the manor didn’t particularly like him.

If the reputation of the people living together in the mansion had plunged to the bottom, what would it be like outside?

He possessed neither martial prowess nor magical aptitude, and so, he’d paid a considerable sum to Jefer for the answers.

But what Jefer gave Felix was paper filled with a completely wrong answer, more worthless than blank paper.

“A-Father… I, I have been wronged!!”

“Credibility and reputation, and the discernment to judge those around you—these are also qualities necessary for the Lord!”

The thunderous command crashed down.

Felix trembled as Porto’s rage washed over him.

“Among all the children gathered here, you, Felix, are the only one to produce a zero percent result! You, who should be drowning in shame, dare to raise your voice with such confidence!?”

“F-Father!”

“Drag him out of here at once!”

Porto summoned the soldiers waiting outside.

‘I’m a failure…? Am I to be sent to the battlefield like this…? To fight those monstrous demons, just to die on the front lines…?’

Felix reached a point beyond rational thought.

His gaze drifted, naturally, to Esther.

From the depths of his heart, malice and hatred boiled, fueling his fury.

“Esther!! You!”

Felix lunged at Esther.

“You, of all people! How dare you!”

His voice, laced with venom, startled even his cold-blooded brothers.

“Die!”

Felix reached for Esther’s neck.

Though his skills were insignificant compared to Kennes and Uriel, he was a man strong enough to break the neck of the frail Esther.

“Esther!”

Haniel’s scream pierced the air.

『Initiating automatic protection program.』

『This will execute actions that allow the subject to function optimally in the current situation, and nothing further.』

Felix’s vision spun in an instant.

Esther had used Felix’s own force against him, flipping him neatly onto the floor.

The movement was flawlessly executed.

“Oh…”

“That went in perfectly.”

Uriel and Kennes murmured in admiration.

“…”

Esther looked down at Felix.

As though, not even worthy of conversing with, like some insect.

“Ah, aah…”

Felix’s outburst ended there.

In a flash, guards descended and dragged Felix away.

This was less the treatment of a scion, more akin to wardens escorting a criminal.

Porto watched his son recede and then spoke.

“Ester.”

“……”

“Why have you concealed your strength until now?”

Ester maintained silence.

For a long while, no answer returned to him.

Porto struggled to interpret Ester’s silence in his own way.

And the conclusion he reached.

‘There was no reason to reveal it until now.’

The confidence that, if he so chose, he could seize the seat of the head of the household at any moment.

In this very head of the house chamber, Tristi’s most likely successor had been born.

The stars gathered here glared at the newly emerged rival.

‘I thought the succession would be a battle between Kennes and myself, but this is unexpected.’

‘…Could it be he endured all this to firmly imprint his image as a successor onto Father today? A frightening one.’

Ester Tristi gazed at the ceiling.

‘Christ, what a shock.’

These days, AI performance is really good.

Nearly gave me a heart attack.

*

As of today, the Tristi s*xtuplets became quintuplets.

Brother Felix was dragged off to the hell that is the battlefield.

Frankly, I thought it was poetic justice.

It felt like the bully who had tormented me endlessly was plummeting into oblivion. Exhilarating, beyond words.

‘Past me, are you watching?’

Felix, whom you hated so much, has vanished from the Tristi manor.

“Ugh, energy-drained…”

All that bickering with Felix, and the conversation with Porto, it really took a lot out of me.

And to top it off, I received some unsettling gazes from my siblings when I left the Family Head’s office, unknowingly weighing down my shoulders.

Honestly, who knew this would become such a big deal?

And I certainly didn’t expect Nob AI to be this high-performing.

“Still, I’m really glad I didn’t become a soldier…!!”

I didn’t have any grand ambitions.

Unlike my other siblings, I had no intention of becoming the Family Head.

I just wanted to live a leisurely life in the manor, forever eating away at their coffers.

Nob AI’s potential was limitless.

Seeing how quickly it solved those difficult magical problems, I could probably trade with wizards using it.

If I got involved with scholars researching difficult subjects like mathematics or science, maybe I could become rich enough.

“Young Master.”

“Dalpi.”

Dalpi was waiting for me in front of my room.

“You don’t have to tell me anything about what happened in the Family Head’s office.”

“Oh, really?”

Well, Felix was rather boisterous.

Even the servants working outside the manor were peeking through the windows.

I don’t know who got the highest score on the heir test, but they definitely knew who failed.

“I have a question for you, Young Master.”

“Hm?”

“Have you been dedicated to acting like a fool all this time?”

Honestly, I might not trust other people, but I could trust Dalpi.

The only person in this manor I could confidently say was on my side was this impudent maid standing right in front of me.

I could probably tell Dalpi about Nob AI.

“Ah, about that…”

Before I could open my mouth, Dalpi held something out to me.

*Swish-*!!

I looked at the neatly unfolded newspaper.

Words swam into my vision.

『Justina Monthly – February Issue』

『Millennium Problem Torturing Mages Finally Solved!! And the Solver is None Other Than a 15-Year-Old Boy From Triste!?』

I blinked.

“Huh?”

Just what am I looking at here?

Could that possibly be… about me…?