Q: Who created Ember?

A: Unknown. But it is possibly not created through the hands of humans.

- - -

I was reviewing my second failed attempt at making pizza when I heard the knock on the door. Then the door opened.

"Julies, I don’t know what the point of knocking is if you are going to barge every time," I said in annoyance, carrying the tray with the failed pizza on it into the drawing-room. Well, at least I would have some to share.

"Good evening, Brother." a feminine voice greeted me as I entered the room, with a cheerful smile on her lips.

Other than Julies, there were two more individuals in the room. A girl with identical red hair and pupils, though hers was far less lustrous than mine. Still, it was enough to know she was from the same lineage as Scar. An escort knight with a stoic expression stood by on her back.

“I didn’t invite them inside.” Julies said impatiently.

I sighed, shaking my head. For one thing, I knew they would come sooner or later. Well, let’s get it over with then.

"Good evening to you, too." I greeted her back with the most brilliant smile I could muster. "Sweet little sister and Sir Lorne."

My little sister raised an eyebrow at my greeting, while the knight, Sir Lorne, bowed his head a little and remained with his same stony expression.

Lily was about sixteen or seventeen, with pale olive skin, crimson red hair, and an ember-heart that asked for every attention it could get.

I could guess her name so easily, as Scar only had one sister at that age and she was quite annoying at times. Lily looked quite heroic with the red armour and the sword in her waist, but my gaze moved to the other person next to her.

It was the knight in his prime, similarly dressed in battle armour and with a sword on his back. He did not look heroic like the teenage girl, but I better not underestimate someone who came as an escort with the young lady of the Emberheart family.

I frowned slightly as I stared at Sir Lorne. I remembered him; Lorne was one of the best Knights they had in the family with a few others. Though he had not reached the level of Grand Knight, he was still well known in the circle.

Lorne was as stoic as it was described in the book, but he appeared cool in his own way. He is one of those characters that appears cool even when they are doing nothing. Look at me. I'm so cool that I don't even need to open my mouth.

Both of us exchanged a glance and nodded. Seriously, I love this guy.

“Boss, what do you have there?” Julies asked, eyes glued to the pizza I’m holding.

"Something I made to keep me occupied," I said, as I motioned for them to take their seats. Some stress-eat while I stress-cook.

“It did not turn out as I had wanted," I muttered under my breath. "I could not get the desired form of mozzarella, but I guess this will suffice for now. This world really needs some upgrades in culinary and cuisine.”

“What are you talkin’ about?” Julies asked, coming closer to me while the other two kept on standing.

“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. "Please make yourself home, little sister, Sir Lorne."

Lily gave me an odd look, as if something was wrong with me. Well, that means I succeeded.

Julies brought his nose above the pizza to suck in a few breaths of its odour. "Smells odd, yet delicious," he said and gave me a look. "Since when can you cook, Boss?"

I noticed even Lily was staring at me, wanting to know the answer as well. Well, Scar was never really a cook, so finding me with home-cooked food was really odd, especially since there was no one else who could’ve made it, but I played it cool, dismissively, like it was nothing.

“It was one of my many excellent traits,” I said with a brilliant smile. For one thing, Scar was never humble. I gave the tray to Julies shortly. the pizza was already sliced up, so he could prepare with it easily while I deal with them. “Julies, will you mind serving it to our guest? They have come a long way, after all.”

“Well, of course,” Julies said and got inside with the tray.

“I am not here to eat whatever you made,” Lily said without wasting time.

“Sure,” I said and took a seat next to the fireplace. “But it's bad manners not to offer something.”

Lily snorted. “Since when do you care about manners?”

“Fair point.” I shrugged and shouted, “Julies, make it three. My sweet little sister has some problem with her bowels.”

Lily glared at me. In otaku culture, Lily could be called a Tsundere, though she didn't love her Onii Chan—Scar. And most particularly, they were barely half-siblings.

Their father had quite a few offspring. Among the few, Lily stood out as one of the prodigies. She should have been in the academy, but Lily was more of an adventurous type, and the academy held little for her. Still, like any other member of the House Emberheart, she had trouble keeping her emotion inside.

“So, what do I owe this pleasure?”

Lily clicked her tongue and looked at Lorne, who handed her a scroll with the family’s insignia on it. A decree.

"I am going for a hunt," Lily said, approaching with the decree in hand, "and Sir Lorne is employed as an escort, but before that, I’m here to collect something that doesn't belong to you."

I took the scroll and looked at her. “So you came to take my dignity?”

"If you have any," Lily sneered back, with clear contempt in her eyes. "Big brother, it's been quite a long time since we siblings looked up at you. You are not who you used to be. Tell me honestly, what have you done in the last one and a half years other than being a disgrace?"

I ignored her words and opened the scroll to find what I had feared. It was the decree from their father to give away the ancestral sword to Lily.

Julies returned by the time I finished reading, holding three plates with slices of pizza on them. "Why does the atmosphere of the room feel off?" he muttered, and his eyes drifted off towards the decree in my hand. "They came to take away something again, huh?" The short, bald fella shot glares at the two guests.

"Well, of course, it is for the sword," I said, with no emotion on my face. I stood upright and held my hand out to take the sword decorated on the wall near the fireplace.

The scabbard had the mark of a flame sign in it—the insignia of the Emberheart family. It was the founding sword of the family. It held great meaning to hold the family sword as the heir. Mostly, the holder of the sword was decided as the next Lord of the house.

Originally, Scar was the current owner of the sword, but events escalated, and Scar, being the prodigal son, was thrown off the family, losing every bit of connection with the family.

Lily’s eyes beamed. “Brother,” she said, “you should just give up now; you have already disgraced the sword enough.”

"Funny," I started, "You just said I disgraced this sword. How can a sword be disgraced? It's just a tool, little sister. I acknowledge it's best at what it can do, which is to kill. However, it's nothing more than a tool. Now, how do you disgrace a tool? All I did was not put it to use."

Lily’s face turned red, while Lorne’s stoic face broke finally as he gave me a surprising gaze. They really did not consider swords as their tool, but as their lifeblood, so hearing something like this was odd for them.

"Either way,” Lily snarled, “it does not matter. I came prepared. I already got permission from Father and came with the decree. You can't do a thing about it."

"Of course, you come prepared; If you hadn't, it wouldn’t be you, would it?" I said, and I rested my buttocks on the chair once more, the sword on one knee, and the plate of pizza on the other, no anger or other emotion visible on my face.

"But you'd be gravely mistaken if you thought I'd give up the sword so easily," I said with a slight smile.

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