episode_0176

Marvin’s brows furrowed. His dark mustache and thick beard contorted, and his disheveled hair trembled with surging anger.

I had never actually seen an animal called a ‘lion’. But I had seen how fearsome that animal looked from the emblem engraved on a knight’s shield.

…His face was like a lion’s.

Though there was no sound, it was as if he was baring his teeth and snarling savagely at me.

It was a strange feeling.

I had tried my whole life to avoid facing this face. But now, I was deliberately provoking him, wanting to incur his wrath.

What on earth had I been so afraid of all this time?

“Ha, haha!”

Marvin began to laugh.

He looked down at me with an incredulous gaze, then swept his rough hand over his face.

“…I committed a sin? That’s truly ridiculous.”

He muttered to himself once, then clenched his fist with a loud *thud*.

“You’re the sinner, Ritsu. Did you think I wouldn’t know? You arbitrarily made a contract with Sir Kintop without consulting us, and then suddenly fell off a cliff and died, which is why Breezedon started to collapse! And now what? *I’m* the sinner?!”

*Whoosh!*

Marvin swung his fist and slammed it down on the table.

*Crash!*

With the sound of wood splintering, the table collapsed on one side.

As the atmosphere grew hostile, Ruyef stepped forward and shielded me.

Marvin’s booming voice echoed in my ears.

“I cherished you, Ritsu. Because you were the great and respected Village Chief-nim’s son! When they said you were dead, I mourned and buried you. And that’s not all, is it? The moment I saw that devilish woman who killed you and burned down the village in Gordburg, I chased her down to get revenge for you!”

He pointed a thick index finger at me, spitting out droplets of saliva.

“But then you suddenly just show up and what…? You call me a ‘sinner’ without even a word of thanks? Are you telling me I’m wrong, you goddamn bastard?! What makes a fresh-faced, ignorant young pup so brazen?! Get out here now! Don’t hide behind Ruyef, answer me if you have a mouth!”

Even as immense fury poured over me, strangely, my heart only grew colder.

Perhaps it was because there was no warmth left in my chest to begin with.

“You are the ones who destroyed the village.”

“What did you say?”

“Even though Tia wasn’t the one who killed me, you were the first to suspect her.”

When the Village Chief-nim died, and I fell unconscious, the people, confused by the sudden calamity, all looked to Marvin. He was young, vigorous, and the best at his work.

Marvin then appointed himself temporary Village Chief and singled out Tia as the cause of all this chaos.

Tia protested her innocence from beginning to end, but he wouldn’t listen. He used only rumors circulating and malicious accusations mixed with jealousy as evidence, punishing Tia as an example.

Tia was just a ‘girl’ with a quiet voice, she had no family to protect her, and above all, bad rumors were circulating due to her involvement with Ruyef.

Marvin began to slowly wear Tia down, thinking it would be better if he could quell the village’s chaos by exiling such a controversial child. Harassment continued to the point where she couldn’t endure it without leaving on her own, and soon a great fire broke out in the village.

That calamity… was not caused by Tia.

It was the villagers’ collaborative work that drove Tia to her limit.

“Father said that everyone in Breezedon was one family. But did you… treat Tia like family? Instead of embracing and understanding that child who had nowhere to turn, didn’t you rather corner her?”

Fosao had thrown me off the cliff.

The people of Breezedon had thrown Tia off the cliff.

So, to me, the two were… ultimately the same.

There was no difference whatsoever.

“Marvin. If a crisis comes to you, will you push your wife and son off a cliff in the same way to survive?”

“You… you son of a bitch!”

The moment the topic of family left my lips, Marvin, utterly enraged, lunged forward.

But his rough fingers couldn’t reach my neck.

*Thud!*

Like a sturdy shield, Ruyef snatched his arm and blocked him with his body.

Marvin’s eyes darted sideways.

“Ruyef. Let go of me.”

“……”

Marvin’s restrained arm and Ruyef’s bulging, sinewy grip seemed to be still, yet…

*Crack-crack-crack-!*

Inside, a tremendous force clashed against itself.

Marvin spoke with a sinister voice.

“I warned you, you cowardly brat. Step aside if you don’t want to die.”

“I apologize.”

Ruyef briefly apologized.

“I also don’t want to hurt Uncle.”

“These bastards…!”

Marvin ground his teeth. At the same time, he swung his left fist.

*Whoosh!*

It was a flash of speed, invisible.

All I could perceive was the sound of that immense force cutting through the air, flying towards my friend directly in front of me.

But Ruyef was faster.

He had already ducked his head, dodging Marvin’s punch, and then punched him in the face.

*Wham!*

“Gah!”

Marvin clutched his jaw and staggered backward.

He wiped the corner of his mouth with his hand, saw the blood, and his nose bridge crumpled in rage.

“You basstard-!!”

The burly carpenter leaped up with all his might, tackling Ruyef.

The two men tangled and fell to the ground together.

*Thump!*

*Rip!*

It was an incredible brawl.

As the strongest man in Breezedon, and the second strongest, began to fight, all the surrounding furniture started to shatter.

Ruyef’s blonde hair and Marvin’s brown hair.

It was as if two male lions were ferociously biting and fighting.

“Cough…”

However, the victor was decided faster than expected.

Marvin lay pinned beneath Ruyef, panting with an incredulous expression.

Just a moment ago, he had demeaned us as ‘brats’.

But neither Ritsu nor Ruyef were brats anymore.

Just as no lion dies as the leader in this world, and no king reigns forever.

Marvin’s strength could not remain unchanged.

Even his forearm and fist, which seemed unbreakable, ultimately had to yield to a younger, stronger, new force.

Ruyef spoke.

“Stop now. It’s unsightly.”

“……”

Marvin, who had been silent for a long time, finally closed his eyes.

It was humiliating, but it meant he wouldn’t resist.

As soon as Marvin was released, he coughed violently and wiped his bleeding lips.

“…Get out. I’ll write you a travel permit, so both of you disappear from my sight. Now!”

“Furthermore, please return the money to Ruyef.”

“What? What nonsense is that? I… I don’t have any money to return.”

“Yes, you do.”

“What… are these things just plain robbers?!”

“Calling us robbers. How brazen.”

I silently looked down at Marvin, who was breathing with an exhausted face.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know you kept the compensation money Sir Kintop intended to distribute to the villagers?”

“……!”

“That money belongs to the people of Breezedon. Not to a ‘mere soldier’ of Taledon.”

His complexion stiffened, turning pale.

His gaping, dazed mouth, as if he had seen a monster. At the same time, his beard trembled, all his faults exposed. And his eyes, realizing he couldn’t defeat us by force or by words.

He was truly an old, ugly, toothless lion, decayed and worn.

I slowly walked over to Marvin, who was slumped on the floor.

And passing his vacant eyes, I leaned close to his ear and spoke.

“Aunt Olivia will be back soon, wouldn’t it be better to do it quickly before ‘what happened between you and Merid’ comes out of my mouth?”

My words were like magic.

Marvin began to rise with a creaking sound, as if vitality was being forced into decaying bones. And with a distraught expression, he frantically wrote out the travel permit.

Once finished, he opened a trunk and wildly scooped handfuls of piled gold coins into a pouch.

*Clink.*

Although I hadn’t specified how many gold coins, it seemed there were easily over two hundred gold coins in the pouch.

He said, “…Here.”

Unlike his stoic voice, Marvin was pleading with me. With desperate eyes, begging me to take this and silently disappear.

I picked up the travel permit and handed the money pouch to Ruyef.

Our business was done.

Leaving Marvin, whose hands hung limply, behind, I walked out of the house.

A little while after I took Marie, who was waiting outside, and started walking, Aunt Olivia’s voice was heard from behind us.

“Honey? What are you doing?”

I looked back.

Aunt Olivia, unaware of anything, held a newborn baby in her arms. She worriedly asked her disheartened husband what had happened, repeatedly.

But Marvin didn’t answer.

It was the first time I had seen a man I once feared yet respected look so miserable.

…But Marvin was lucky.

He should be grateful for the rest of his life that even after ruining my and Tia’s lives, it ended with such a ‘minor cost’.

Two innocent lives rested upon his own.

I decided this was enough for my other revenge.

The place where I truly needed to sharpen my blade was not such a flimsy place.

***

We decided to stay in Taledon for a day.

The people of Breezedon had become freemen, and for some reason, Tia’s warrant had been lifted. So we no longer had to avoid people’s eyes and could act much more freely than before.

Still, vigilance was key. I remained in the inn as much as possible to plan our next move, entrusting external activities entirely to Ruyef and Marie.

When night fell, Ruyef returned.

“I paid back the money I borrowed from Aunt Lily.”

When we first left Taledon, even a single coin had been desperately needed. We had three mouths but only one loaf of bread, and I even wondered how we would share it.

But now, after paying back Aunt Lily’s loan, there was still a pouch full of gold coins left.

The more extra money, the better. It could be useful for unexpected situations, but more than anything, having money meant being able to save a lot of time.

With that thought, I had taken as many gold coins as possible. But after hearing that Tia had headed to the Charrak Mountains, all that money I had painstakingly collected became useless.

That place was a mountain range as rough and complex as Dragon-z.

For me, who had many hills and difficulties to overcome, this heavy gold coin pouch was nothing but a burden. Dried foods that could be carried lightly would be more helpful.

My worries deepened.

“Ritsu.”

“Hmm?”

“What I’m about to say might be a little apologetic for you, but I still want to say it.”

Though we hadn’t traveled for that long, in such a short time, Ruyef and I seemed to have guessed what each other was thinking.

What he wanted to say.

And what I was thinking.

I realized it the moment our eyes met.

“You want to stay?”

“…Yes.”

He nodded silently.

“I heard from Aunt Merid. Everyone is hesitant to return to Breezedon. Perhaps… it’s because there’s no one to lead them, like you or the Village Chief-nim. So, if not now, there won might not be another chance.”

I knew.

The Ruyef I knew… was not the type to leave these villagers, who were like his own family.

I knew he wanted to save them all, even if it meant becoming the Village Chief himself.

Ruyef spoke with a resolute voice.

“Ritsu, I will rebuild Breezedon.”