A story that happened before Ryu Xanastre was born.
Long pink-colored hair and a pair of clear blue eyes were Sara Astalle's distinct features.
She was pretty, and everyone in the village could recognize her at a glance. But not because she was famous. Instead, it was her older sister.
"Hello Sara, you look beautiful today, just like your sister."
"Hazel's sister, will you be a maid like your older sister?"
"Wow, Sara, you have a good skill. Did you manage to learn that from your big sister?"
"You should be a good girl like Hazel, okay?"
"Look, Sara, your older sister already learned this when she was your age, so you should learn this too."
So on and so on.
Hazel, Sara's older sister, was known for being a skilled and beautiful woman. She was a fast learner and a competent lady. She helped many people with their problems, so Sara constantly followed and admired her.
She was praised for excelling at work and being promoted to head maid at a young age.
Most males were in awe of her presence, primarily because of the Astalle family's gorgeous blue eyes.
Since Sara was young, she was usually compared to Hazel, but honestly, she wouldn't care. Rather than being upset, she was genuinely pleased. Hazel was her role model, her big sister.
One time, Sara, alongside her parents, they visited Hazel at work. There, she learned many things about Hazel.
The older sister, who has a feminine and gentle demeanor, somewhat became fierce and commanding while directing the maids with preciseness. Sara's eyes gleamed.
"Wow! My sister is so cool!"
Hazel, who was in her work mode, incidentally moved her head to the side where Sara was standing, noticing her.
"S-S-Sara?! Mom? W-What, what are you doing here?"
She exclaimed in a panicked voice.
Sara blinked a few times. A fresh sight came before her. The sister who she knew appeared to have a different personality.
When Sara focused her sight, she saw how her older sister covered her flustered face and thought.
'My sister didn't want to be seen like this? But she was so cool!'
Sara then decided.
"Big sister! I want to be a maid!"
"What?"
She repeated in a louder voice.
"I want to be a maid like you!"
"Why?"
"Because it's cool!"
Hazel's eyes went wide. She responded in a somewhat relieved voice.
"...I see."
'Is she relieved? Did she think I would hate her?'
Sara believed that she would never hate her older sister.
Another good news after this, Hazel never held herself in front of Sara again. She stopped pretending to be a calm older sister and even started to scold Sara whenever she made terrible decisions. Sara might have regretted it, but it was already too late.
"From now on, I'll train you hard until you would never mention wanting to be a maid again."
No, Sara did regret it.
***
Scrub... Scrub... Scrub...
Three years have passed since Sara started maid training. She pushed the wet rags from side to side as she cleaned the floor of their house.
She was left alone with her parents since Hazel married the guard commander of the Southbourne town last year.
'I miss my big sister.'
Sara wondered if Hazel remembered her since her older sister hadn't visited after getting married. She felt lonely.
Even though she kept nagging for her parents to let her visit Sara in Southbourne City, they only scolded her.
"Hazel already has her own life."
'Is that bad to miss my older sister?'
Afterward, Sara heard about the news of Hazel being pregnant. Her eyes gleamed as she thought of it as a good reason.
"Is my sister pregnant? Then, then can I be the nanny?"
Sara fervently begged. Approvingly, they couldn't agree more with the idea.
10 years old when Sara became the nanny of her own nephew.
The first time she saw Ryu, she had this weird feeling that she couldn't describe. He got uncommon black hair but not that rare, and he also inherited the gorgeous blue eyes of her family.
Time flew by, and the weird feeling Sara had just gotten deeper. Whenever she saw her older sister focusing more on the new kid than her, she disliked it.
When Sara first came to Hazel's household, her older sister had changed so much that she didn't even hug her anymore—maybe once or twice, but not as often as it used to.
While taking care of her nephew, Ryu Xanastre. She found out that this child was odd. He was too intelligent. All kids in the neighborhood couldn't even compare. He was so quick-witted that she always found him sneaking to read books that even she couldn't comprehend.
'My nephew is weird.'
There was a time when Ryu abruptly produced a fireball. Sara remembered screaming and passing out for hours, seeing as it almost accidentally burned one of her favorite dresses. She even told her sister about it, but Hazel didn't believe her. She was frustrated.
From that moment, Sara gave up. She stayed silent and just went with the flow. As she already knew that her sister didn't care anymore. The kid that was the product of their love couldn't compare to someone like her.
Around two years passed when Sara became a nanny. Ryu was already capable of talking and walking without a problem.
A genius indeed, they say.
Also, Sara noticed Ryu began to do more studying than before. Like someone in a kind of rush. At that time, she wondered why.
'But, what problem would a baby like him have?'
They talked, played, and made Sara cooperate with Ryu's experiments. She learned new things beyond the common sense of this world. But not hating the idea alarmed her the most.
'Am I enjoying this?'
Then Sara became an adventurer. She, who didn't even know how to kill a living chicken, just had her first mock battle, knocking someone unconscious with the help of her nephew's magic.
All the stress she had accumulated for years was released when she won. She felt her body become lighter, astonished.
When Hazel learned about the adventurer license, Sara got scared. But she still decided to tell her everything.
Sara realized how much pleasure being with her nephew, Ryu. She told her older sister that she wanted to become an adventurer. To her surprise, Hazel accepted and even asked her husband to teach her swordsmanship.
All the things Sara did with Ryu and all the things they will do in the future. She couldn't imagine how excited she was.
This was when she decided to improve herself at every opportunity given.
So that she could always fly wherever she wanted. In her heart, a dream was created.
'I need to work harder!'