My new life in this world was packed with everything that would make any fantasy nerd lose their mind.
Magic.
Dragons.
Monsters.
Ancient kingdoms.
The whole fantasy package.
And yet…
I spent three hours every day hanging upside down from a tree.
Because of that bastard.
My so called older brother.
The same brother who had looked at me with such disgust in his eyes a few years ago.
I will never forget that look for as long as I live.
Like what the hell.
Was I some disgusting thing stuck to the bottom of his shoe or something?
Bastard.
Maybe I should've hated him for it.
Maybe I did.
But even if he was the biggest asshole among assholes…
He is still a damn beast when it comes to magic.
One of the so-called Blessed Ones.
Blessed by the Goddess of magic herself.
While ordinary mages spent years learning a new spell--or sometimes years just learning the very basic of magic--
This bastard had been born with what was basically a cheat code.
A spell many would take months of hard work to learn but he does it all in just a few weeks.
Sometimes only a single week.
How is that fair.
" Brother, can you let me down now, please?"
The only way he'd ever let me down was if I sucked up to him like some clueless little kid.
" My friends will be here soon. Please, brother. My head starting to hurt from all the blood rushing to it."
" sigh…"
Did he just say the word "sigh" out loud?
" Here I'm, trying to teach my younger brother some magic, but all he wants to do is play around with his friends."
Teach me what, you bastard?
You're not teaching me anything, you ass.
You're just bullying me.
" I feeling a bit hungry, so I'm gonna get something to eat. It was nice hanging with you, baby Ivan."
Wait.
" Brother! Get me down first!"
That bastard.
The spell would wear off in an hour or so.
" Ivan!"
Huh?
" Hey, Ivan!"
Oh. It's Rosalind.
" Your brother walter was here, huh?"
" Yeah."
" Come on. We have to meet up with Thomas on the way to the market."
" You say that like I actually want to be up here."
As if answering my complaint, I happened to glance toward the house.
Walter was standing at the window.
He looked me dead in the eyes.
Then, with a smug grin spreading across his face, he snapped his fingers and dispelled the spell.
"Agh!"
Thud!
Instead of the smashing face-first into the dirt, I crashed into something much softer.
"Ooof!"
A second yelp followed mine.
My vision spun for a moment before finally settling.
Rosalind was lying beneath me.
For a few seconds, neither of us said a word.
"..."
"..."
Then her face turned bright red.
"IVAN!"
WHACK!
A fist slammed into my shoulder.
"owww!"
" get off me, you idiot!"
" I didn't do it on purpose!"
Rosalind shoved me away and scrambled to her feet, dusting off her clothes while avoiding eye contact.
I looked up.
Walter was practically dying of laughter.
Our eyes met.
He gave a thumbs-up.
One of this day.
Just wait I will--
I will kill him.
" Come on. Thomas must be waiting for us."
" I hope you know I didn't do that on purpose."
" Yeah, I get it. It's not like your brother gave you thumbs-up or anything that."
" Wait. Rosa, really I didn't--"
" Yeah, yeah, I get it already."
She kept walking, still not looking at me.
I stayed behind for a second.
…This day is getting worse by the minute.
" Found you…"
"huh?"
" Come on. Hurry up, Ivan!"
" Coming!"
The hell was that just now?