Edea: Hero Summoning Conspiracy

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Felicia von Lichtenstein; a name that was only known as the younger sister of the famous first princess of the Zweifel Kingdom.

Unlike her talented sister, Felicia did not show as much talent compared to her overly popular sister, Alicia. Instead, the instructors that overenthusiastically trained her hard for the benefits of raising a genius that could be comparable to Alicia had suffered multiple headaches.

"Felicia!!" a familiar voice immediately startled the young princess.

She immediately hid the sword in her hands behind her back and faced the direction the voice came from.

Kazuya found the reflexive action of this little girl cute but held back the urge to laugh. Instead, the smile he had once worn turned into a neutral expression as he had already noticed the agitated mana of the person who approached.

"Big sister…" a bit of fear as well as surprise was felt by the little girl as she saw Alicia arrive.

She had heard that her sister had suffered an injury. Felicia never expected to see the big sister she never dreamed of ever coming close to being reduced to sit in a wheelchair.

"What are you doing here? I thought you said that you had no interest in learning swordsmanship?" Alicia questioned her little sister in a stern tone while stealing a glance towards Kazuya.

"(What is this girl looking at me for?)" Kazuya kept a straight face and ignored Alicia's arrival by opening one of the books he brought from the library.

"(This guy!!!!)" Alicia's temper flared up as there were no longer signs of the expression he had been showing earlier.

"Father was in a meeting so Felicia went there to recover what I left behind the last time Felicia was here…" the little girl that referred to herself by name did not know why her sister's mood was worsening by the second so she answered her as best as she could.

"When Felicia found it, Felicia also found a person who cleaned Felicia's friend! It turned out to be that this person is the hero-sama!" she excitedly told the story of how she met Kazuya.

"It's not that Felicia does not like learning about the sword like sister did but… the teachers are bad! They are not like Uncle Zwei and Uncle Elrich! Those bad teachers only care about Felicia being like big sister!" she found the courage to say something she had shared with Kazuya not too long ago.

"Felicia knows almost all the stories of the heroes that were called to Edea so Felicia asked this new hero-sama to see what Felicia needs to do to improve!"

She finished her story under the strict gaze of Alicia whose mood was continuing to worsen because of the unchanging attitude of Kazuya.

"(If this is how you want to continue treating me…)" an idea appeared in Alicia's mind after seeing the genuine admiration this naïve little sister of hers seemed to have been holding towards Kazuya.

"?" Kazuya noticed a sharp glint in the Alicia's eye which reminded him that she had been up to no good.

How can he not be familiar with this look? This was the look she gave him whenever she caused him problems.

"Did you also know that the hero-sama over there is also the person who put your elder sister in this wheelchair?"

"!!" The little girl was shocked to hear this as she turned to look at Kazuya who had been silently reading a book behind her.

"The first princess is not lying. It was indeed me that caused her to be attached to that chair." Kazuya raised his face to look at the little girl.

"(You want to fool my sister? Not on my watch!)" Alicia grinned.

"Yet, it was also me who treated the injury I caused and provided a method of recovery that none of the healers in this city had been able to provide." Kazuya followed up.

"Uncle Zwei also said so himself in our meeting earlier; this person is not very talented when it comes to fighting. This hero-sama has chosen the path of supporting from behind rather than fighting in the frontline." Alicia ignored Kazuya's words and tried to use it to make her sister look down on him.

"(This girl is trying to stir up some trouble…)" Kazuya glanced at the grinning princess for the first time since she arrived.

The mention of Zwei talking about him in a meeting with Alicia and the king was one way of making him doubt the old butler's intentions. It was too bad for this princess that he had no intentions of hiding his current intentions in the first place as he had not shared any information to the Eberbach camp that he did not want to be known.

"This is also true. I indeed have taken an interest in pursuing a role that is more supportive than combat focused." Kazuya turned back to Felicia.

"Although being summoned here has improved the overall condition of my body, I strongly believe that I should focus on what I have always been good at rather than switching to an unfamiliar role."

"Before I came to this world, my condition had been bad enough that slight strenuous activities would cause me to be out of breath. Though that is no longer the case after I came here, I have gauged my physical condition to have been improved to the level of a normal soldier in this world."

"That upgrade is not even close compared to the responsibility that this world is trying to place on my shoulders. This is why I have decided to focus on my own specialties. I believe that my talents would be of better used this way."

While Alicia took this chance to stir up some trouble in her favor, Kazuya also made use of this chance to make his stance clear.

"This is why you have chosen the wrong person to help you with improving your swordsmanship, Felicia." Alicia showed a triumphant look towards Kazuya.

"That statement is somewhat incorrect." Kazuya turned back to Alicia with the same expression.

"Oh? How am I wrong?" Alicia's eyebrows twitched at his claim.

"A person who stands behind combatants does not simply stand there doing nothing." Kazuya closed the book he was reading and placed it aside.

"I use both my impeccable eyesight and…" he used his forefinger to point towards his brain.

"In my case, my improved eyesight has observed several of the people training both at the duke's place as well as here in the palace. Their forms, maneuvers, capabilities are all inside here." He tapped his head confidently.

"While I may not be gifted physically, when it comes to combat techniques, all I need is to see it in the most ideal form. This may not be of much help towards myself since I am not capable enough to face a combat type head to head but, the same could not be said if I have someone on my side who has, at minimum, close to or equal capabilities as the opponent."

"Though I indeed may not be qualified to teach the little princess here swordsmanship, she did not ask to be taught. She merely sought some advice on how to improve."

Kazuya did not plan to accept such a request at first. It was only after he took a good look at this little girl that he decided to see what she had been capable of.

Felicia may not have been comparable to the current Alicia but, what Kazuya had observed was that this little girl's potential was very similar, if not better than his former princess party member.

"What a bold claim!" sneered.

"Don't take my word for it. You can ask the old butler. Ask him, how many times the slave you have graciously given me was able to beat the opponent that was reputable enough to be your rival in their numerous spars after following my advice." Kazuya gave Alicia a mischievous grin.

Both sisters were surprised by Kazuya's words. Even though Felicia did not understand who Kazuya had been referring to when he said 'slave', both of them understood that he meant Sodina Eberbach when mentioning someone who had been reputed to be equal to Alicia when it came to talent.

"Slave?" asked with a curious glance.

"Some knight named Julia Dis… taste… or something like that." Kazuya intentionally acted to not remember Julia's name.

"Big sister Julia!?" Felicia was shocked.

She wondered where the knight who had always stood near her elder sister was after seeing the current state Alicia was in. It would seem that something major indeed happened that she was not informed about.

"You should ask your elder sister about that. It will be up to you if you follow the advice I gave you to improve yourself, little princess." Kazuya stood up and handed her the stuffed animal before giving her a head pat.

"You can take advantage of this time and ask Zwei-san for his help as he is currently assigned to the capital to look after me. I believe he has been instructing Sodina personally so adding you to the list should not be too much of a bother." Kazuya turned and walked towards the direction of the library.

He passed by Alicia and treated her as if she was air.

���You…"

"Oh, right. I will give you an important piece of advice as well as prove it with actual evidence." Kazuya smiled towards Felicia.

"Do not look down on people who play roles that are not combat related. Do not forget that I am an one of the people who despite me being from a world that lacked mana… Even if I decided to go take a more supportive role…" Kazuya then acknowledged Alicia's presence by turning towards the beautiful girl sitting on the wheelchair.

He slowly walked behind her wheelchair and grinned before whispering to her ear in a soft voice..

"Made one of the most talented young people in this kingdom into a cripple."

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