Tart finishes serving the food and stands back behind me, as usual.
　As for me, I'd like to eat with him, but it's not always easy to show the other servants, and this is what we had to do in Touahade.

The main dish for breakfast was dried fish soup.
　There was a lake in the territory, and while farming, the lords would catch river fish when they had free time and earn some money by selling them dried for preservation.
　I prefer this one for soup as the flavor deepens when dried.
　The dried fish soup that Tart prepared is one of my favorites.

I've never seen that fish before, rogue. What kind of fish is it?
'Lunanmas. It's good, and it's big and filling, so I often eat it in Touahade.
Yeah, it smells good.

When Deere saw the soup with the large fillets in it, she was impressed.
　Lunammas grow to about fifty centimeters in length, which is why they are so beloved, as they can provide enough for a family meal.

'Let's get on with it. "Let's get on with it. It's much easier to understand a dish when you eat it than when you have to explain it to yourself.
'Yes. I look forward to eating it.

Let's savor the meal Tart made for us.

◇

Breakfast begins.
　The dried trout soup is excellent as you can imagine.
　It has a very good broth.
　Combining it with dried mushrooms and the broth increases the flavor many times over. It is the Tauahade style to add a little lemon juice as a secret ingredient to bring out the flavor.
　Large fillets of meat and root vegetables are strewn about, making it very satisfying to eat.
　This was originally my mother's specialty, and she passed it on to her tart.

While enjoying the soup, I spread freshly made butter made from goat's milk squeezed in the morning and eat the bread.
　The fresh butter was so much better than ordinary butter. The first time I tasted butter made from freshly squeezed milk, I was impressed.

And the bread itself is delicious.
　The secret to this bread is that it is made with soybean flour.
　They squeeze the soybeans to get the fat to make lecithin, an ingredient for cosmetics, so there is a lot of soybean waste left over.
　It would be a waste to throw it away, so they feed livestock, use it as fertilizer, or, more recently, mix it with wheat to make bread.
　In this way, the bread contains the flavor of the soybeans and is crispy. Plus, it saves the family budget by saving wheat.
　It's starting to catch on with my lords and ladies.
　To quench your thirst, the juice is made from apples that are in season now.

Dried trout, goat's milk butter, bread with soybeans, and apples are not exactly luxurious ingredients, but they are all the bounty of Touahade, and they all shine when cooked to their fullest potential.

I like the city's extravagant food, but Touahade's food is better for my palate.

'Delicious, as usual, Touahade's rice is simple and delicious.
'Touahade is that kind of territory. That's why I like it.

Living with the earth.
　I'm not extremely wealthy, but I think it's a rich place.
　Just as we are running out of food, my father opens his mouth and says, "Let's talk about the future.

He says, "I'll tell you a few things about the future. It's not going to be easy for Dia to live as Dia Vicone.
'Yeah, I can see that. I've been on the run for treason, you know.
'That's why I've prepared a new name and register here. Claudia Touahade. You will live as a rogue's sister.

Dia's expression hardens.

'Well, I'm sixteen. I'm two and a half years older than Roug, and I can't believe I'm your sister.'
I understand that. But it's the only family register we can prepare. It's not impossible to prepare a new one even now, but the improvised one will always fall apart when it's examined. In that respect, Claudia's family register was prepared fourteen years ago, so there are no rags.

There are several patterns that can be imagined as to what this family register was made for.
　Most likely, when I died, there was a candidate to take my place as a successor, and the family register was prepared for him.

There is one woman in the branch family with outstanding talent. I'm not as good as her, but she's good enough to take over Touahardé.
　...It doesn't feel good to prepare for my death, but such shrewdness is typical of Touahade.

'But wouldn't it be strange if I said I was fourteen years old?　They won't suspect it.

Her mother pats Dia's shoulder as she mumbles anxiously.

'It's okay. You're short, you have a baby's face, even your breasts are small, and if you're anything, you can afford to be twelve years old!
''Well the way you put it, it hurts me soberly. I mean, I'm over forty and I don't want someone who looks like a teenager to say that to me!
'It comes from that kind of family. But it's not all bad. At my age, all my friends around me are having a hard time with their skin and health and all that, but it's easy for us.

It's very convincing to have an oddly young mother.
　........In fact, my mother is jealous of the fellow wives around her. Perhaps Dia might not be much different than now, whether she has a child or reaches forty.
　Vicone's blood is, in a way, even more amazing than magic.

'I'll grow up properly!　And I'm a little bit taller and a little bit bigger than I was last year!
''Hmmm, you shouldn't expect it. I was the same way....

My mother speaks with the spare time of someone who has been there. I'm sure she had her own difficulties.

Gosh, can I go on with my story?

My father coughed to bring the attention back to himself.

.........By the way, my mother is unusually young and my father sometimes has a hard time with it.
　Both my father and mother do their best to avoid parties, but there are still parties that they must attend, and when they do, they take my mother, who is too young, with them, and they look at her in a strange way.

I've been called a pedophile behind my back. Well, since I'm with my young and beautiful mother, I guess that's within the acceptable range.

It's a good thing that I have another reason for making Diah the fourteenth. In this Alvan Kingdom, from the summer of fourteen to the summer of sixteen, magicians are required to attend the Royal Knight Academy. Nobles are compulsory to attend, and ordinary people are admitted by those with magic power who wish to attend.
'The Royal Knight's Academy in the Kingdom of Alvan. I've heard of it.

Since it was famous to a certain extent, it seems that even Deer of the Soonger Kingdom knew that name.

I'm sure you know that military power depends on how many magicians you have. ........But just having magical powers is not enough to be useful. The ostensible goal is to train all the magicians so that they can be counted as a fighting force in the event of an emergency.

Magicians are strong.
　They can easily break the necks of ordinary soldiers with their bare hands, and if they swing their swords, they can cut their armor in half.

But even so, an untrained amateur cannot wield that power satisfactorily.
　That's why we spend two years training all magicians.
　For the Kingdom of Arvan, whose standing army is small in size, and who collects most of their war potential from the entire country in the event of an emergency, it is of great significance to train the magic holders and keep them in a usable condition.

''The ostensible reason is that there's a backwards reason, right?
I'm not sure I've ever heard of the same thing. It's a good thing that they only know the small world of their own fiefdom and have been educated as such by their parents. That's why I'm gathering all the noblemen's children from all over the country to meet other noblemen of the same age to expand the world and at the same time educate them on the idea that they should serve the country. We started this five years ago, but it's already starting to have an effect. At least the new generation is able to think of things from different perspectives than the old nobles.

It was created five years ago, and this system was probably rather mainly designed for the latter.
　The aristocrats do whatever they want because they have been raised in an environment where it is natural to do so.
　If we don't change the fundamentals of it, we won't be able to do anything about it.
　I don't trust the current royalty very much, but this measure is great.

'I see, so the aristocracy is compulsory, and the general public is only allowed to do so if they wish. And I have to be a fourteen because if I'm a sixteen, I'd be ignoring the school that was supposed to be compulsory.
'Your answer. Fourteen would be enough to get you into school this year. You and Lugue can go study next month.

And although my father didn't tell me on this occasion, a brave man my age appeared.
　He will surely appear at the school.
　As an alumnus, you can easily get close to a hero.

For two years, you'll be able to analyze his powers as much as you like. If you become a friend and get close to him, he'll take you by surprise as much as he can.
　To be frank, I don't think there's anything to gain by going to the academy now, but I'd be willing to go along for the sake of killing a brave man.

'All right. I'll be Lug's sister. But it's a bit of a shame because I've always wanted to be a rogue's wife someday.

Dia smiles sadly at me.
　My father nods his head.

'That's the thing, why would you have to give up your marriage to be a brother and sister?'
What, what are you talking about?　We're brother and sister. There's no way we can get married.
What do you mean by that?　That's normal in the Kingdom of Alvan, right?

My mother was tilting her head in the same direction.
　It can't be helped, let me add to that.

''Dear, the top priority in the Alvan Kingdom is to create magic holders........To put it bluntly, the magic holders are almost exclusively nobles or their branch families. And welcoming nobles from other families is a high hurdle in its own right. There are some nobles who can't do that. In that case, there's a case where you can get connected with a magician born from a commoner, but it doesn't work out that way.
You mean, if that's not enough, then we'll be siblings?
...well. There are many other patterns of paying gratuities to low-status, money-hungry nobles and inviting them to return when they have children, though they won't marry.

Dia's face is red and pale and in trouble.
　Well, I think I'm blown away, too.

For the nobles, it's their duty to make the next generation of magic holders.
　That's why, if necessary, they create children, whether they are siblings or parents and children, and if they can't even do that, they hire a nobleman who is in need of money to create children for them.

Without this, it is impossible to maintain a family line with magical powers.
　It is likely to cause problems because the blood is too thick for such a thing, but it's not a problem because magicians are rarely born with diseases.

''Ugh, I'm happy for you, but it's kind of complicated.
'In our case, it's a good thing we're not blood related. The other thing I care about is other people's eyes, but in this country, there's no one to care about. We don't need to tell people we're brother and sister in the first place until after we're married.

Eventually it comes down to that.
　It's rather hard for me to avoid Dia for that reason.

'All right!　Then I don't mind.

It's quite a bit of a throwback. But I'm glad you're happy with it.
　My father nodded with satisfaction.

'Then you are now Lug's sister and my daughter. You can call me Dad.
Then you can call me Mother!
No, that's a bit of a tall order.

Thus, Dia became my sister.

'I can teach you about assassination techniques as well, if you are in direct line with Touahade. 'Teach him, Lugue,' she said. I could teach you, but I'm going to the Knight's School next month, and I can't bear to throw you out after a month. A rogue could teach you over there.
Very well. I'm going to take responsibility and teach Dear the art of assassination.

Even though she's a lover and an existence that needs to be protected, she's even more uncomfortable when it comes to her sister.
　........The school is a place where young males with s*xual desires like monkeys gather.
　We'll have to protect Dia from the devil's hand.
　No, that's not enough. Let Dia acquire the ability to protect herself.

I'm going to be heading to the school in a month's time.
　We have to buy a lot of things.
　The three of us will head to Murteu and do some shopping.
　We should be able to get everything we need there, and I have to go over there as Irg.