I am back – Chapter 131

Even if it’s the first time meeting or if you’ve only known your friends for a short while, it’s usually easy to get close quickly if they’re friends with long-standing buddies.

If your friend is the same age as you, there’s a good chance they’ll also be around the same age, so you can skip the formalities and just get comfy with each other right away.

Even if you’re not the same age, it’s not a big issue. I’m younger than my older sister, and my companions are also younger than her. My sister didn’t seem too uncomfortable switching to a casual tone with my friends.

And my companions, who hail from Irrelaysia, belong to a culture that doesn’t put much weight on age differences. You could say it’s somewhat akin to European culture.

Of course, the way you treat someone can change depending on their level of authority. If someone has superior knowledge, holds a higher social class, or belongs to a different lineage, it’s normal to speak more respectfully. Surprisingly, this world has a lot of nuanced respectful expressions similar to Korea.

However, even if there’s a slight age gap, it’s common to drop formalities and just go with calling each other “you” and “I” if you’re friendly. The fact that Kalia, who is two years older than me, and Dana, who is the same age, both easily switched to casual speech speaks to this. It’s because we’re a heroic party geared up to face the Demon King, so there were no hierarchies among us.

As for Pia, she naturally uses polite speech towards everyone, so it’s not odd that she’d call my sister in a respectful way.

“I actually thought your ‘sister’ was referring to a bond by blood?”

“…Huh?”

But saying that doesn’t mean our cultures are exactly the same or that it’s easy to understand and accept.

“Oh, of course, I didn’t think she was your biological sister. Regardless, it would be weird for siblings to marry. It’s not that easy to maintain such a close relationship.”

Kalia added that with a faraway look in her eyes.

…Come to think of it, Kalia has an older brother, Louis. While Kalia, the leader of the Knight Order that contains every kind of human character, hardly treats people with undue pressure, the noble Louis, who carries the family’s bloodline, was the true embodiment of the ‘blue blood’. It felt like he’d bleed a different color from red, like someone living in another world.

Although he never displayed an overly oppressive attitude, his casual demeanor towards his ‘subordinates’ was astonishingly intriguing to me. Of course, there are people back in my world who carry themselves as though treating their subordinates is a norm, but the way Louis behaved was something entirely different and foreign from ‘power abuse.’

Anyway, since they have such different dispositions, Kalia probably made that expressive face for even suggesting ‘marriage between siblings.’ Even if we set aside the fact that he’s her brother, he’s still an unfathomable guy.

“However, there are often cases where ‘brother-sister’ like relationships end up in marriage. Especially among close relatives who grew up together. Or in cases of adoptions.”

“Did you think I was a noble?”

I exclaimed in surprise.

No matter how much I pondered, I had never thought of myself as a noble. In terms of behavior, I was extremely akin to a commoner. I had learned dining etiquette but never really put it to practical use.

“No, that’s not it…”

As I expected, Kalia didn’t think that way.

“Actually, marrying among relatives mostly happens among nobles.”

Pia, who was munching on a snack while listening to our conversation, chimed in.

“Is that so?”

“Yes… It’s not that there’s a huge reason behind it; it’s just that nobles have fewer opportunities to integrate their interests within the same family. Unless it’s in a place where the bloodlines can’t spread too far in a small town, in the city, people usually meet at work and get tangled up there.”

And Pia added,

“And… not every noble does this, but there’s a saying that marrying too closely can lead to physical issues.”

She stated it so casually.

“Hmm…”

Kalia found it hard to refute that, as if she had lost her words.

In fact, that’s not entirely false. There were those kinds of cases on Earth too. It wasn’t just that they weren’t good-looking; they also often had poor immune systems.

To survive, different genes need to be spread within the same species, and blending those genes has allowed offspring to adapt to nature… that’s the logic of evolution. In that sense, continuously reproducing within the same gene pool only reduces variation, making it increasingly difficult for the human body to survive in diverse situations.

Even without a deep understanding of such intricate scientific knowledge, it is clear that people recognized problems that have repeated over generations.

“Indeed, incredibly smart and healthy people sometimes give birth to individuals with incredibly poor learning abilities who are also weak.”

Dana remarked.

“Hmm.”

Kalia’s family, the Leusvia family, was a duke’s house, and rather than trying to maintain bloodlines, they actively valued drawing in individuals from outside families to make allies, thus it was unlikely for genetic problems to arise; however, it didn’t mean there were no cousin marriages, and that seemed a bit uncomfortable for her.

Well, given that Kalia was clearly raised as a noblewoman in her childhood, hearing such statements might be a bit prickly for her.

“Here, it’s against the law for anyone within eight cousins to marry… so even if my sister and I were actual siblings, we wouldn’t have been able to marry.”

“Is that so?”

Well, that’s right.

I’m not sure how it works in cases of adoption, though. I only skimmed over the topic of cousin marriage in class, so I didn’t know the legal details.

“If that’s the case, why do you call Ayun ‘sister’?”

“Oh, that’s because…”

As I answered, I looked at my sister.

My sister seemed awkwardly smiling, as if unsure of how to respond.

“Um… here, it’s common to use such terms for close friends. There are many other titles too, but when those titles aren’t appropriate, there aren’t many left aside from titles for siblings.”

My sister explained slowly.

In scenarios like a senior at school, you can just call them that. At a school or hospital, you can add ‘teacher’ if needed, and if you’re not quite friendly, you can attach ‘-ssi’ to their name and use polite speech.

But in a relationship where they’ve met just as people and there’s an age gap, and they’re close enough to speak casually, the titles you can choose from boil down to ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ mainly.

Yet calling each other by their names feels a bit awkward.

“…Is that so?”

Kalia frowned slightly and then thought about it, asking with an extremely serious expression,

“Then should I be calling Ayun ‘sister’?”

“Uh…?”

Upon hearing that question, my sister suddenly looked taken aback.

Although she was younger than my sister, she was still bound to feel a bit odd hearing respectful speech coming her way.

Setting looks aside, Kalia somehow… had such a presence about her.

Just because she didn’t treat others with undue pressure doesn’t mean the noble aura disappeared. She was both noble and had a soldier-like bluntness in her tone that made casual speech seem a better fit for her.

To be honest, it was a peculiar way of talking that’s rare to see in reality; however… maybe it’s because Kalia isn’t the one speaking Korean directly, but it’s translated speech.

“Oh, right! When in Rome, do as the Romans do!”

“Uh?”

This time, I blurted that out.

Pia was reciting such a familiar saying from this world, raising one hand as she did.

“Oh, I taught you that.”

I wondered what I was thinking, but Dana seemed to have figured it out, saying,

“Then, what should I call Siyun? Brother? Sister?”

“…”

Seeing Pia agonizing over titles made me feel a bit unsettled.

Well, I had called my sister ‘sister’ for a while during my childhood, but…

Pia probably said it without any particular emotion, but from my perspective of having transitioned from male to female, it stirred up all kinds of indescribable feelings.

“…”

And Arna remained silent, simply listening to our conversation.