The Slippery Mage

Cornelia is enraged. She's now facing her parents and she's screaming loudly at how horrible they are and people start gathering to listen to the commotion.

"What the hell were you thinking!? Selling Julian as a slave? I never ask for it! I know I was stupid to never realize it but you should have told me if we have financial difficulties! I can help! But you ignored Julian and never care about him at all. From now on, I won't consider you as my parents again. You will take care of the debt yourselves. I will leave with Julian. Never claim yourselves as my parents again."

With that, Cornelia walks away from her parents who are begging her to stay. She's their only way out of poverty. That's what they believed. But Cornelia doesn't care as she's walking away from her parents to me. Or to be exact, to Julian who is hiding behind me.

"Let's go," Cornelia says as she grabs Julian's hand. I sigh and follow them.

That event was in the game as well so I know what she would say. It was if the protagonist helped her find her brother. Though she said more in reality now because she knew more than in the game.

That's why right now, after we're out of everyone's sight, I'm scolding Cornelia.

"What do you mean by taking Julian with you!?"

"Of course it's to raise him properly. I will raise him well," Cornelia replies.

"In the academy dorm?"

Only then Cornelia realizes how spontaneous her action was. Does she really think that she can get Julian to stay with her in the academy? And she's currently enjoying her time in the academy as well making friends over there. She hasn't done anything to get money believing her parents could handle it.

How? Her parents were farmer. What did she think to believe that they can pay the rent?

"So… I guess I didn't think much. What to do now?" she asks.

"With how stupid you are, quitting the academy is the wrong option. And you can't bring Julian into the academy. How will you raise him?" I ask.

I toned down how I speak so even Julian can think that this is something he's involved in and he can think about it clearly. What will the siblings do?

"…I don't have money and it's Dahlia. I should start going adventuring and that means I have to cut the time hanging out with my friends. What about you? Can I rely on you? We have… similar circumstances, right?"

And here it is. Relying on a stranger she just met yesterday. Even though I have leaked the truth that I'm also a reincarnator, we haven't talked about it at all because I want to see how she's doing things.

As an adult overseeing a teenager, this is bad. But in this world, I think this is fine. I'm split between those two because her reaction means that I can force her to follow my order once she becomes dependent on me. That isn't bad knowing what her talents are.

Right. I should focus on survival first. How she becomes an adult in the future is not important to me right now.

"I can help but you must know that if I do, then you will have to follow everything I say. I know about this world more than you. It's the truth that I will explain tomorrow when we have time. What do you think?" I ask.

She has to make the decision herself. This way, everything will be her responsibility. She's with me because she chooses to instead of me forcing her to. She needs to know that herself.

And by with me I mean becoming allies. Because of how I see her, I can't even imagine of being romantically attracted to her. Also, because I was an adult in my past life, I feel like it will be much safer for me to be with someone older than twenty. So anyone under twenty is no good for me. I can only think of them as immature children.

"Fine. I just realized yesterday that this world is not like the one I knew," Cornelia says.

"That's wrong. The world is exactly the same as the novel you read. It's just that the novel doesn't cover the entire world. Just the story of some characters who probably don't matter much if we're talking about the world itself. Well, I don't know about the protagonist because I haven't met him. Just know a book can never cover the story of everything that happens in the world the book is written about," I say.

"You're right. I wasn't thinking straight even though my mental age is already in its 30s nearing its 40s," she says.

She's eighteen now. So she really was a teenager back in the previous world.

"That doesn't mean anything if you were never an adult. There's a huge difference in responsibility between a child or a teenager and an adult. You're not an adult just because your mind is old. You're just a kid twice," I say.

I'm the same. I'm a kid twice. But there's a time when I was a responsible adult but she was probably never becoming one. She's probably a teenager or maybe in college at most before she died.

"Then I'll handle the two of you. I'll give you two options I can think of right now. First is to let Julian stays with my parents. And that means you won't be able to visit him often and you can't keep your promise to raise him," I say.

"I think I'll pass on that. Seeing you relying on your parents, they shouldn't be as horrible as mine. But if possible I want to stay with Julian as much as possible," she says.

"Even the second option is difficult for that to happen. Because in the end, you need to get a way to gain money. We can talk about that later. The second option is for us to find a place to live together. Personally, I don't like this one," I say.

"Why?"

Because she's pretty. And it has been half a year since she attended the academy. She's popular with boys. And that means I will be the target of their hatred if we live together. Even if I can endure it, annoying things are annoying.

"With our existence already and the many things we have done, we have strayed far enough from the original storyline. Just you attending the academy alone has already changed the future," I say.

This is the excuse I prepared beforehand. Though it's true that she changes the original story from the novel, this is still pretty much in line with the story in the game.

I don't think I have made it strayed from the story so much with what I have done. Mostly it's just the side stories and not the main story.

Well, I hope it will be okay.

"…I realized today that things can happen with just the smallest thing I did or didn't do. I neglected my own brother and that was a mistake I shouldn't do. Also, I think it will be better if I stay with you since you seem to know a lot more about this world than me."

Finally she makes her decision. I can't blame her because I gave her the options. But this is fine as well. Even if I end up making some people hate me for it, survival is number one.

"Sigh… I'm gonna make a lot of enemies. But whatever. Then, you will still stay in the academy dorm for a while and during your free time, become an adventurer and increase your rank as much as possible. C-rank is enough but if you reach the same rank as me, B, that's fine as well. Being a B-rank adventurer allows me to build a clan with other adventurers. I'll stay with Julian until we can make a clan together. When we finally create our clan, you can move in. It's normal for clan members to live together. I'll get a place in Dahlia and try to find other clan members. You should also look for talented individuals from the academy. Well, let's go back to Dahlia first and continue our conversation tomorrow. If we return now, with the speed we used when we travel here, we will reach Dahlia before it's dark. Unless I increase the speed," I suggest for us to go back first.

"Nope! Not faster than that! It was so scary! I understood then why you asked if I have skated before. But I was never a fast skater! We'll use the previous speed. Also, please hold my hand while we're traveling," Cornelia begs.

Understandable. I thought girls love it when they travel with my slip magic. Though the only girls who enjoyed it were just Natasha and Sabine. As for Rosalinda and Duchess Johanna, they vomited when they experienced it once and never said that they liked it.

Seems like Cornelia can't handle thrill ride. Or at least a ride that fast. She's good enough to not vomit after all.

"Then let's go back. But I'll increase the speed so you will get used to it if we're going to stick together for a long time. Also, Julian enjoys it if we're going faster. Don't ruin his fun," I say.

And she screams almost the whole way back to Dahlia. Meanwhile, Julian is happy. Whether it's because there's no more scary parents for him or it's because of the travel, that doesn't matter.

At least I already have Cornelia promising me to work together. That's good.