Ch.129Acknowledging NPC. (2)

If you skip a day of sword practice, it takes 50 days to recover that day. A swordsman only puts down their sword when they’ve lost what they must protect, or after death.

You, who taught me those words, certainly didn’t have a face consumed by anger and hatred.

Unlike now.

“…You’ve put down your sword. I realized it every time we clashed. After obtaining that skill, you never once practiced swordsmanship, did you?”

“*cough*…”

Jack said he had recently sparred with Rey, and that Elder Jim’s sword was slower and less sharp than hers.

It was hard to believe, but he actually demonstrated the technique of parrying the master’s sword with his bare hands right before my eyes, and I had no choice but to accept the truth.

[After drawing your sword, the first exchange always goes to the opponent. However, cancel that first exchange itself… do you not understand if I say it that way? Well, completely stop the first exchange. Think of it as erasing the first attack and inserting the next one. Like a feint, you understand? Anyway, doing this naturally releases the slowdown on our side. Once released, if you immediately pursue, you’ll be faster.]

It was somewhat difficult to understand. The master’s sword was fast, and I needed to interrupt my attack once before continuing with the next.

Honestly, I didn’t think such an absurd thing was possible, but I saw it.

The moment when he ducked his head to avoid the sword, he clearly stopped his outstretched fist in mid-air, withdrew it all the way back to his waist, and then continued his attack.

And there was no reason why I couldn’t perform this technique myself.

“Tell me. Why, why did you go this far?”

“How pathetic. I wanted to make you realize, even if it meant hurting a fellow elf…”

“That’s exactly it!! Why did you try to inflict those wounds on beastkin rather than elves?!”

Elder Jim, fallen to the ground after my outburst, looked up with eyes full of hatred. Yet somehow, I felt that hatred and anger were directed not at me who had cut him down, but at Jack—at humans.

“I never told you.”

“Yes. You never told me anything.”

“…I had a younger sister.”

Elder Jim began to explain.

Before he took me in, he had a younger sister who was older than me. She too was an elf who wished for harmony with humans. She occasionally brought beastkin to Siltra—beings who merely resembled humans but lived in nature with underdeveloped intelligence—and worked toward harmony between humans, elves, and other races.

But he only supported his sister’s hope without actually helping her.

“…And then, my sister fell into a trap set by humans who enslaved other races. She saved a beastkin but was herself kidnapped by humans.”

“…No way.”

“*cough* Let me be clear, I didn’t harbor hatred toward beastkin because of that. What use would there be in hating innocent beasts who merely resembled humans and were victims themselves?”

Elder Jim continued his story. His sister, who was immeasurably stronger than he is now, was defeated by the strange strength of humans who were fighting off demon invasions at the time, and for hundreds of years, there was no contact from her.

But for elves, hundreds of years isn’t such a long time. Elder Jim thought his sister would someday return with more beastkin, so he educated the beastkin she had brought, trying to transform them from beasts into people, teaching them how to live in the forest.

And so, he took me in as his disciple… and continued doing so until I began traveling the human world.

“I was foolish. If there was no contact for over thousands of years, I should have gone looking for her myself.”

He had simply made the beastkin his sister brought more human-like, thinking that someday when his sister brought more beastkin from elsewhere, he would show her the sight and say, “Look how I’ve advanced what you started.”

He thought he would have trivial conversations like, “Do you know how much trouble I went through with these beast-level people you brought?” That was all he had in mind.

“No way. No way, did I…”

“Yes, among the half-elves you brought back from human countries… and among the enslaved elves, there were those who knew my sister, and they told me.”

The story of his sister who was raped and bred as a female for thousands of years to bear human children.

The half-elf children were born with only the “bad traits” of both races, and they didn’t even know the face or name of his sister who was their ancestor.

And then.

“When you were working to abolish the slavery of elves, beastkin, and demonic races among humans, the humans, thinking they could no longer keep that child in their hands, eventually…”

They treated her as a toy they would lose anyway, and after having their fun, they killed her. They made the weakened female elf, who had given birth to hundreds of children through rape, fight monsters they had captured.

After saying this, Elder Jim coughed blood while laughing. Yet that laughter sounded like a curse, and his eyes showed only increasing anger and hatred.

“…Haha. What do you think? Even now, is my hatred, my anger wrong? Can you say that my plan to enlighten the ignorant was wrong?! *cough*!!”

Now that I know the source of his hatred, I consider his question about whether I can blame him.

It was about 2,000 years ago when I mastered swordsmanship and traveled human countries, using force to rescue enslaved elves and abolish the slavery of elves and beastkin in various nations.

However, his sister had been kidnapped long before that, and she died before I could rescue them. Those who actually conveyed this fact to him were the ones I had rescued.

But still.

“Even so! Directing your hatred toward later generations who aren’t the humans who tortured her, and using beastkin as sacrificial lambs cannot be justified…!!”

“No, no. Green Dol, that’s not right. In my opinion, that’s not it, and you shouldn’t say it like that.”

A voice I knew well interrupted me from inside the cave.

A handsome beastkin with mixed white and black hair. Jack, carrying Miho on his back, came outside.

He looked at me, then at the fallen Elder Jim, and spoke.

“Hey, Green Dol doesn’t have a younger sister, right?”

“…What?”

“Then Green Dol shouldn’t say such things. And you shouldn’t deny his anger either.”

Jack, suddenly seeming to suggest that Elder Jim’s words and actions until now were justified, knelt on one knee before Elder Jim.

“The hatred, loathing, and anger you feel toward humans—you’re allowed to have it. I, who have a sister, acknowledge it. It’s legitimate.”

And he took the hand of the fallen, immobile Elder Jim and spoke with eyes full of sincerity.

*

As I was carrying Miho, whose body still couldn’t move properly, outside, I could tell through my veteran ranger’s detection skill that Green Dol had already won.

“…I had a younger sister.”

Learning that this rapist bastard was a brother like me made me so angry that I almost forgot about the weakened Miho behind me and wanted to rush out to crush his head.

But his subsequent story completely changed my emotional state.

“It’s legitimate. You’re allowed to hate humans. No, rather, is this all? Are you some kind of saint or something?”

All I can say is “I’m sorry on behalf of those fucking humans.”

If Ira had suffered the same fate as this elf’s sister, I wouldn’t have bothered with any talk of enlightening anyone.

I would have unconditionally joined the demons’ side and devoted all my efforts to tearing apart every single human on the continent without leaving a single one alive. I’m serious about this.

“*cough*… What on earth are you saying…?”

“In short, I’m saying I’m sorry on behalf of those fucking humans.”

But still.

“Even so, you should have taken it out on humans. Why take it out on innocent beastkin?”

If I had met this elf first and heard his story first, I would have helped him take revenge on the humans who killed his sister and their descendants. I’m serious about this too.

A brother who has a sister began to hate those who caused his sister’s terrible end, which he only heard about from afar.

This is definitely legitimate. Even if someone says it isn’t, I’ll insist it is. Even if a judge says it isn’t, I’ll clench my teeth and stubbornly maintain that it is.

Now that I understand this, it makes sense. The Demon of Wrath surely planted its seeds in the hearts of elves with such feelings, manipulating their hatred and anger.

Damn, all of this is the fault of those fucking humans and demons.

“Human, you… what exactly…”

“I’m also a brother with a younger sister. And I’m the kind of human who wouldn’t mind making everyone—my own kind, city, country, continent—my enemy for my sister’s sake.”

“……”

“So. What you tried to do to the beastkin is unforgivable, but I affirm your anger, hatred, and loathing itself.”

I have no intention of whitewashing what he tried to do and has been doing.

My mental washing machine isn’t a high-end model from a major company like Samson or HelG, and even now, thinking about how he tried to rape Miho makes me wonder if I should stomp on his groin one more time while he’s still alive.

But for a brother with a sister, this level of anger, hatred, and loathing is definitely legitimate. And.

“Green Dol, who doesn’t have a sister, shouldn’t deny this with logic and facts after hearing this.”

“You… right now.”

“And you, couldn’t you have asked sooner? If you had such a terrible past, you should have tried harder to listen to your master’s story.”

“……”

Instead of drinking at gambling dens and hanging out with beastkin, or running away because stubborn elves were frustrating, you should have tried harder.

If you were just an ordinary elf, Elf #1, I wouldn’t be saying this. But you’re an Elder, right?

You’re this person’s disciple. You should have tried harder to listen, to ask him to tell you.

“…Heh, hehehe…”

“Huh?”

“…Master?”

As I was verbally beating Green Dol, who was armed with logic and facts, using only brother-logic and emotional arguments, the fallen Elder Jim suddenly started laughing.

What’s going on? I’m a bit worried.

“…Damn it. Hum… no, fucking humans. Yes, hehehe… *cough*!! Ha, if I had met you first instead of Green Dol… perhaps I wouldn’t have gone this far.”

No, no. That’s not right. If you had met me first, you would have gone further, not less far.

Instead of doing bad things to beastkin, you would have been cutting off the heads of the descendants of those fucking humans who killed and raped your sister—oh, they must have died of old age by now—and feeding them to monsters while having fun.

“Hahaha…! Ha! Ha, ha. *cough*… Human, your name is…?”

“I think I mentioned it several times earlier, but you really weren’t listening? Jack. Former ranger, adventurer Jack.”

“…Right, Jack. Jack, is it? Yes, that’s a good name.”

The blood flowing from Elder Jim’s mouth began to increase in volume.

Well, it’s clear he doesn’t have much time left. His visible HP is 11, down from over 10,000, so even if I gave him a potion right now, it’s questionable whether he’d survive.

Of course, even if there was a way, I have no intention of saving him. Affirming him and holding him accountable for his crimes are different matters.

“…My sister’s name was Er Moon.”

“Really? Was she pretty?”

“…Pfft, of course. She was more beautiful than the Miho you’re carrying.”

“Is that so? My sister’s name is Ira. She’s the prettiest sister on the continent, incomparably more beautiful than Miho on my back.”

“…Hehe. My sister was, *cough*…! the most beautiful in the world.”

“Then my sister is the universe.”

As the situation suddenly shifted to boasting about our sisters, I could see the light in his eyes gradually fading.

It’s almost over.

“*cough*…! Jack, tell Miho… I’m… sorry…”

“…I’m listening.”

Miho, whose body still couldn’t move freely, turned her head on my back and quietly spoke to the dying Elder Jim.

“…Even if Jack talks like this, even if you apologize, Elder, I won’t forgive you.”

“…Yes, I’m… sorry.”

After apologizing once more, he quietly died with his eyes open as his HP reached 0, and I released his hand and stood up.

When we go to Siltra, it seems I’ll need to update my hit list. Game bastards aren’t the only bastards out there.

As the battle ended in front of the cave, we…

– Grooooowl…!!

“…Phase 2?”

Damn it, can we please just get some sleep already!!!