Chapter 132: Deep Affections

His father said that people lived in order to love someone. Bruder believed his father’s words when he was a child. Bruder grew up wanting to protect his beloved father, his mother and his younger sister.

At that time, his world was complete. Nothing was in vain. Bruder believed that this world was full of love. He even believed that he had to love other people as well, like his neighbors.

However, Bruder knew that something was not right somewhere in his heart. He just did not see it because he did not want to see it. Bruder ignored the warning sounds of his heart and kept looking away.

The existence of love was too heavy for a mercenary or other person whose business was to replace a person’s heart with gold coins. How could Bruder live with this sentimentality when he tried to deprive someone else of his or her treasures?

Bruder tried to live in harmony by combining his mercenary job with the teaching of his father, who loved other people sincerely. Because of his choice, Bruder ended up losing everything in the end.

A man whom he called his best friend robbed his father, mother and sister’s lives, and even his own life. This person ruined his life. Bruder remembered what his father had entrusted to him at the end of his life.

Painful. It felt truly painful. His father spoke despite the difficulty to breathe.

His father should not have entrusted his words to Bruder. He had to witness that horrible moment in his life. Bruder suffered, he cried without stopping. Still, he wished that his father never told him those words. It would have been much easier if his father had just died peacefully.

Bruder should have told his father. “Humans do not live in order to love someone. They are just living with inertia.” As a filial son, Bruder was supposed to say those words to his father. Nonetheless.

「…I am truly sorry. I want you…to be happy… Ve…I leave her in your hands.」

—

Bruder remembered his father’s last words while staring at the shadow of the spear-axe pointed against him. All he had was a fleeting, crumbled childhood.

「Will you surrender? Or are you going to refuse?」

A woman’s voice echoed in the hollow. The voice that came through her armor echoed with a distorted tone. However, her clear voice made Bruder realize the goodness of her growth. She was no longer a fragile child.

“Ah, good. I’m relieved, and I’m so happy. I’m sure that you are happy right now. I am glad that you grew up surrounded by love. I can see that you matured happily up to this point. Originally, I wanted to let you go, Vestaline, my beloved sister.”

Bruder’s eyes narrowed. After a long absence of alcohol, his gaze fell upon Vestaline in a strangely sharply way.

Bruder only had one regret. “If you only didn’t call the man who took everything from us as father…”

“I would have died without causing any trouble to this world if you just didn’t smile to that man.”

Bruder’s cheeks moved in a strange way. His skin quivered as he created a distorted smile. He always pretended to be someone who behaved confidently. That was one of Bruder’s special skills. His spirit returned when he felt his frightening emotions. The needles stuck to his skin.

“My strange employer, Lugis, must be watching me from some place. I will show him. A deep and beautiful affection of love.”

「Such disgusting words…The one who gives up is the one who loses, have you not heard about that? Stop behaving like a merciful woman.」

The space distorted on that moment.

Vestaline swung her spear-axe straight at Bruder, twisting even his sight. There was no mercy or confusion. It was not a strike destined to kill or tear the opponent apart. It was a fierce blow destined to destroy him all.

Bruder could not even swallow his own spit. His heart was about to fall into the hands of the god of death. There was no doubt about it. However, Bruder was waiting for this moment.

His brown hair shook. Bruder’s body moved as he was about to receive the blow.

Bruder tried to shoot a long needle from his fingertip. It did not tear the space forcefully like Vestaline’s spear-axe. Rather, it was much quieter than a whispering sound.

Still, that long needle had the ability to take a human life. If that long needle pierced a vital point, that person would easily die. A momentary intersection between a roaring spear-axe and a silent long needle.

The spear-axe aimed at the enemy’s skull, and the needle aimed at the unprotected neck. A crucial moment where someone would die.

There was no time to take a deep breath amidst the flash of offense and defense strikes. Ah, Bruder showed his teeth. He never thought that he could do this much with a swollen arm.

…The tip of the long needle cut meat.

Blood spilled. The long needle certainly pierced Vestaline’s flesh.

However, was it substantial?

The time it took for Vestaline to make a decision after seeing the needle should have been less than a second. Bruder surely fired it at her neck. He was certain of it.

However, Bruder’s long needle pierced Vestaline’s left wrist. Bruder’s aim and speed were not rusty. His visibility was no bad either, and his fingers had a perceptible sensation.

However, Vestaline was quicker than his ability. That alone prevented Bruder’s final blow.

A sound hit Bruder’s ears. Vestaline’s spear-axe was approaching him soon.

“Ah, I see. I cannot stop it. No matter what I do. I won’t be able to stop it now. Even if I use my entire body to run, I won’t be able to dodge her attack.”

“How pathetic. I could not prevent my enemy from using my sister. Now I will die here. Truly pathetic.”

“I could not fulfill my father’s last wish, I could not relieve my mother’s remorse, nor could I pull my sister Vestaline out of that long nightmare.”

“I did absolutely nothing good in the end.” Bruder finally closed his eyes. “This is fine. I don’t care anymore. I lived by inertia. In fact, an insect such as myself actually managed to live up this far. Putting some effort in life was actually too far-fetched for me. After all, this was a reasonable ending for me as a drunkard.”

“I could not accomplish anything in the end. I did not live a worthy and honorable life. My will to live was also not great. I was nobody.”

Nevertheless, his sister Vestaline had everything he did not have. She seemed to have a beloved father, she had subordinates, and she had the proper lifestyle to be happy. Even if it was just a lie, it would be happiness too if she continued to be deceived until the time she died.

Suddenly, Bruder remembered his strange employer. This employer was a young man named Lugis.

Lugis was a strange human being. He was strangely friendly but excessively impulsive. Bruder thought of Lugis as someone reckless and impolite. Lugis’ attitude angered Bruder sometimes.

“Oh, well, I wonder why. I am not sure. Still, I didn’t dislike him.”

Bruder felt something weird. “It felt like a strange fate. Probably.” Bruder muttered deep inside of his chest, hoping to meet him again but in a different way.

The impact struck Bruder’s slender body.

The wide-brimmed hat on his head bounced off from his brown hair and fell into the bloody ground of the hollow alley way.

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