The Sun Prince - Re:Zero OC

"Selian!"

Hearing the familiar gruff voice resound from outside the door, I clicked my tongue in annoyance before answering him.

"What is it!?" I asked.

"Hurry up with that piece! A good longsword gets a lot, ya know! And I might just have a buyer!" Rom shouted back.

Damn that old man.

"I'm almost done, so just give me a second!" I returned.

Fucking hell, did he think it was easy to repair such a ruined blade?

Sending him a swear under my breath, I returned to the task I was occupied with.

Pressing my hand against the edge of the old sword, its blade chipped and coated in a thick layer of rust, I sent more mana into the weapon with the clear image of a clean, beautiful sword in my head.

"El Varanis," I then said, keeping my focus as the magic slowly began to do its work, the rust shedding as the metal began to morph under the glow of my Yang magic.

Unlike my other spells, I needed quite a bit of concentration for this one, as well as actually chanting the spell to use it properly.

But that was fine.

After all, this wasn't a spell I planned to use in combat, unlike the others, so even if it took a lot of focus and time, it didn't really matter.

And with the others, or at least most of them, I had come up with them myself, so there wasn't even a chant to use.

I did wonder about how chanting worked, but I had yet to receive an answer, and at this point, I didn't really care.

After all, as long as I was able to be strong enough to defend myself and Felt, that was fine.

But still… it was a bit sad.

"Why is my beloved Yang magic being used like this?" I mumbled with a pout.

I was supposed to be a renowned genius, dammit… and here I was, restoring items that Rom had picked up from who knows where to sell for a good profit in the slums.

All those hours of practice and causing tutors headaches with my advanced skills… all just to be used for this.

Well… at least it made things better for all of us.

Eleven years had passed since I took my sister away from the royal palace and into the slums of the capital, and in that time, life had been… good.

Yes, good was one way to put it.

While we lived in the slums, Felt and I still had quite the good quality of life, mostly thanks to me doing the cooking, and Rom giving us a good cover story about being our adopted grandfather.

But honestly… at this point, I doubted that we needed it anymore.

After the first year of uproar, the news of the two of us getting kidnapped remained in the hearts of many as a tragedy of the past, and the knights had since stopped their intense search for the lost royals.

But that didn't mean I could get complacent, hence my golden hair having been dyed blue.

I could do the same with Felt, considering that she also had red eyes and golden hair, which were the signature physical traits of the royal family, but I think we had embedded ourselves in the slums for long enough to not arouse suspicion.

As I finished fixing up the sword, I heard the door of my room open, as a very familiar twelve-year-old girl walked in, her hands resting on her hips in her usual pose.

I really do wonder where she got that from.

"Hey, Big Brother! Guess what?" she asked with a smirk.

"What is it, Felt?" I said, lifting my head from my work as I released my control of the spell.

"Hehe~ you that curious?" she said with a smirk.

I mean, not really. I only asked because you told me to.

Of course, I had been the one to watch this little brat grow up, so I knew that saying that would only lead to a tantrum.

Such were the so-called 'troublesome teens'… though my inability to properly scold her was probably a factor as well.

"I got some great stuff from an idiot in the town square! Really, you would think he would be better at bartering! Hahaha," she chuckled happily, walking over to me.

"Just be careful. It's not good to make enemies," I said, wrapping my arm around her in a hug. "A young, cute girl like you would be valuable goods, you know."

"Hah. Like they could catch me," she said, lightly squeezing me in return. "Besides, even if they did get me, you'd just come get me, right?"

"Of course I would," I said, tightening my grip on her.

She began to squirm in my grasp, but to no avail.

"I will always come to save you… but still, I want you to be strong enough to defend yourself," I said, my tone growing serious as I began to rise to my feet.

"H-Hey, wait a minute! I just got here, you know? A-And I bet you're tired too, right? Here, how about we go and grab some grub, huh? How does that sound?" she said, begging and pleading.

But unfortunately, the agenda for the rest of the afternoon had already been decided.

"I think there's something else we could do to pass the time," I returned, turning to look at her. "Something much more useful… don't you think?"

Her eyes were wide in fear as she continued to struggle, trying her best to escape from my grasp.

Yeah, she definitely knew what I meant.

It was training time.

Usually, at this point, she would try to run away, only to be caught by me a moment later, but thankfully, she had decided to skip that step by waltzing into my grasp right away.

How sad… for her, that is.

—

As Felt twisted her body, slashing towards me with her short sword, I watched as the blade sped towards me with enough speed to make the air shriek.

How dangerous.

I guess I really did make her angry with that takedown earlier, huh?

Twisting my wrist, I twirled my spear upward just in time to block her strike, stepping away as I warded her to the side, a gust of wind billowing past my face as she came to a stop.

"You're getting better at using your Divine Protection. Well done," I praised her.

I still wasn't quite sure what exactly it was, but to put it simply from what I had observed so far, Felt's unique power, her Divine Protection, allowed her to move at high speeds and easily climb up walls and seemingly ignore the air resistance around her, all while releasing a gust of wind in her wake.

Quite useful, but also limited to improving mobility, which could be dangerous if she got overconfident.

But with these training sessions, I was pretty confident in removing any arrogant thoughts she would have due to her strength.

With our training, I had tried to see if she could tap into any other powers related to it, such as releasing blades of wind, but it seemed her Divine Protection was limited to enhancing her agility and speed.

But still… that was more than fine.

As long as she learned to use it, that is.

"It… haa… it doesn't feel like it when you can match my speed so easily, dammit!" she shouted, stomping her feet in anger. "So unfair!"

Well… it wasn't as if speed was everything, and even then, I could match up to her speed by simply using my mana-enhanced strength, and I could go even faster if I used my teleportation spell.

As I learned more about the world, and the magical elements that governed it, I began to think about what my 'Yang' element actually meant.

I mean, the other elements, such as wind and fire, were pretty easy to understand. Fire was fire, which extended to energy, and wind was wind, which extended to external control of objects.

But with mine… that wasn't the case.

Yang was the element of light, allowing me to cast simple spells that lit up a room, as well as shoot concentrated beams of light with Jiwald… although I wasn't as good at that one.

But I also realized that the Yang element also governed 'connection'. A very mysterious attribute.

It was this aspect of 'connection' that allowed me to repair objects, as well as allow me to cast very basic healing magic.

And most importantly… it allowed me to teleport by 'connecting' myself with wherever I wanted to go and simply letting my mana take me there.

Such a technique wasn't normal.

If not for the skill required, then for the pure amount of mana that was needed to perform it, it could be said that I was one of the few people in the kingdom that could use it.

The cost of mana, it was… astronomical. So much so, that it was practically useless in combat for anyone else, as they would only be able to use one spell before being limited to pure martial abilities.

But luckily for me, I had a Divine Protection of my own.

Throughout my days practising magic, and enhancing my body with mana, I had not once run out of it. And when I looked deeper, I realized that I was unconsciously siphoning mana from the atmosphere, while also using spells with more efficiency than what was normal.

The Divine Protection of Mana… at least, that's what I called it. 

It wasn't like it had a name, and since I planned on keeping it a secret, I wasn't going out of my way to find out.

But while I was constantly using it unconsciously, I had not once actively used it by my own will.

I wonder… was it even possible?

I had tried more than my fair share of times, seeing if I could pull the mana from the atmosphere into my blade, just like how the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint was rumoured to work… but to no avail.

Ah, well… while that would be cool, it wasn't really needed.

"Oi. What're you smirkin' about?" Felt said, giving me an annoyed frown as she brushed off the dirt from her clothes.

"Nothing," I said, a playful smirk forming on my lips. "Just thinking that I don't need to try too hard."

Her eye twitched, and with her grip tightening around her short sword, she once again raced forward, aiming to give me some payback.

Unfortunately, she was quite predictable when she got angry.

With my hand brushing away her strike, I swung my spear behind her legs, sweeping them out from under her as she began to tumble off-balance, right into my arms.

Tightening my arms around her in a hug, I heard her sword clatter to the ground as she began to struggle in protest.

"L-Let me go!" she shouted.

"Never," I replied, squeezing even tighter.

It… was about that time, wasn't it?

The time I fulfilled the Dragon Stone's prophecy… or rather, the second part of it.

But when I think of separating from her, when times had been so wonderful like this, I can't help but have second thoughts.

"W-What's this about… Brother?" she asked, her tone turning concerned.

Was I showing some of my feelings on my face?

I really shouldn't… it's not like I deserved to anyway.

But at the very least… I knew that Felt was strong and smart enough to defend herself now.

Even though I had always been there for her, she could survive on her own, and she had Rom here too.

Besides, even if I was supposed to be separated from her, I could still watch over her when I could.

So maybe… it really was time to leave.

Besides, if enough time passed, and no danger seemed to be present, I could always come back to her… even if she ended up hating me afterwards for leaving her out of nowhere.

Thinking about that, I could only squeeze tighter.

—

Putting the last of my good clothes, which didn't amount to a lot, into my bag, I then tied it up before throwing it over my back.

I was packing light, which was easy due to not having many possessions.

All I needed was my spear, some extra clothes, some travel supplies, and some money.

As for what I would do with it… well, time would only tell.

And so, with the gentle moonlight shining through the boarded up windows, I began heading downstairs.

"Oi. Selian."

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

Of course it wouldn't be so easy…

"Hey, Old Man. What are you doing up at this hour?" I asked.

"I love my day naps, kid. More importantly…" his words trailed off as he looked at my bag with a frown. "You're really going, huh?"

I turned my head downward.

"I told you I would, remember? This shouldn't be a surprise," I said, avoiding his gaze.

Dammit… why did I have to feel the guilt now?

I had already made up my mind.

"Yeah, I know. But still… it's quite weird, for such a lovin' brother like yerself to just get up and leave," he said, taking a swig of what I assumed to be alcohol. "The little Felt ain't gonna be happy."

"Yeah… I know… but I have my reasons," I said.

The prophecy… those damn instructions…

I had followed them blindly, even I would admit that.

It felt natural to, though.

After all, it had saved this nation and its people many times, and as for Felt and me, I believed that my strength was enough to keep us safe and happy.

And it has.

But now that we were separating… I couldn't help but question it.

"Having second thoughts, kid?" Rom asked.

Was I?

It felt that way, didn't it?

Taking a deep breath, I eventually found the strength to shake my head.

"No…" I said. "I already promised myself to do this. And there… there must be a reason."

There has to be, right?

Why else would it tell me to do all of this?

"Hah. A reason, huh? Well, even if I would hate to have yer magic go, I won't stop ya. Yer quick as a whip, and strong as hell, so I bet you'd do fine out there," he said before taking a drink and releasing a large belch.

Nasty…

"Ah, that's the good shit… anyway, I don't care about ya leavin', kid, but that's not the same for Felt, is it?" he said. "I'm not tellin' ya to stay for her, but I think we both know it'd be bad to just up and leave outta nowhere."

…I already knew that, dammit.

I already knew that it was cowardly to leave like this.

But imagining how she would react… I just felt sick.

I didn't want to be hated, but at the same time, I would prefer that to her agonizing over me.

But was that really true?

I didn't know.

I didn't know what the hell I wanted, or what to do.

And so… I ran.

Like a coward.

"Oi… Brother…"

But I guess fate wouldn't let me be a total coward today.

Looking over at Felt, who had walked out of her room's door, I felt my lips twist into a grimace at her expression.

She looked sad, a little angry, but most of all… confused.

"How… how much did you hear?" I asked.

"A lot, but… but that's not important right now!" she said, her foot stomping against the ground as she glared at me. "You… what do you mean, you're leaving?"

Hearing her voice crack, and seeing the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes, I found myself locked in place.

Should I comfort her? Should I run?

I… I didn't know. But if there was an option that felt natural… then, of course, I wanted to make her feel better.

So, walking towards her, I tightly wrapped her in another hug, not feeling her struggle against my affections like she usually did.

"W-Why are you leaving?" she asked, her voice muffled by my shirt. "Is it… because of me?"

"No. There's no way that's the case," I said, instantly shutting such an idiotic idea down. "There's a reason… and I'd stay with you if I could… but I need to go."

I felt her tremble in my arms, and a moment later, she shot her head up to look at me.

"Then why!? Why would you go!?" she asked.

"Because there is a reason… it's something I have been planning for a long time," I said, my tone gentle.

"A reason… what kind of reason would make you leave?" she asked. "Aren't we happy here? Together?"

I could only offer her silence as an answer.

If she truly wanted to know, and actually pressed me for an answer, then I would absolutely tell her everything.

About our heritage, about the Dragon Stone, about the true me… but I had a feeling that she didn't care about all of that.

She was a simple girl, after all.

"Fine then. You have to leave, that's fine. I bet you want to see the world, get a girlfriend, and fight a lot of monsters, don't you? You're a man, after all," she said with a nasal voice as she began stepping on my toes.

I wanted to say that it wasn't like that, but I knew that shutting up was the better choice at the moment.

"But… I'm coming with you," she said firmly. "We've always been stuck together, after all."

Now that… was the one thing I couldn't allow.

The whole reason for me leaving this place and having us live in the slums all these years was to keep that prophecy fulfilled, after all.

So to go through all that anguish and have it be for nothing in the end as I abandoned the prophecy… that was one thing I couldn't do.

Yes… that was right.

I had already done so much, and made such hard choices… I couldn't turn back now.

"No," I said sternly. "You… can't come with me. I'm sorry, Felt."

I felt her tense up at my harsh tone, something I only use whenever she did something that could get her hurt, or when she needed a serious scolding for another reason.

She… she knew I was serious.

"I need to go alone, and you need to stay here, with Old Man Rom. It… it just has to be this way," I said, rubbing my hand through her hair.

I would still be checking in on her to make sure she was fine, but I would keep that to myself.

I had a feeling it might hurt more if so… not to mention that she might get reckless if she thought I was always there with her.

We stayed locked in each other's arms in silence for a few more moments before Felt finally spoke up.

"So… you're really going," she said, a hint of acceptance in her voice.

I was surprised that she wasn't fighting this any more.

But then again… I think she knew that this wasn't something I was willing to budge on.

"Yes… I'm sorry," I returned. "But… we will see each other again. I promise."

We stayed like that together for a few more moments before Felt eventually moved my arms off of her.

"If you promise… then I guess that's fine… but… umm…" her head then turned down, seemingly embarrassed. "Can you, uhh… sleep with me tonight? Ya know… for old time's sake?"

Oh? What's this?

We hadn't slept together in… what was it, three years at this point?

Back when Felt had decided she wanted to be a 'mature girl'… and also when she stopped being afraid of the dark.

But for her to act so meek, a complete opposite to her usual boisterous personality… well, I really wanted to tease her, but I think that wouldn't be very nice of me to do, considering the circumstances.

"Of course," I answered.

Besides… before I left, I would like to spend some more time together as well.