The Reason for Revenge

The old man calmly replied.

“What~ Revenge? Owner, what on earth are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry if you want to hide it, but I already know everything. Aren’t you preparing to overthrow the Republic that abandoned you?”

“…Well, this is something.”

Although he wasn’t one to fail to control a single emotion.

This was the first time for such a case, so he was very flustered.

‘What is this? That expression as if seeing right through me.’

Those half-closed eyes and.

Even the mystical energy flowing from his body.

The old man instinctively felt.

‘I shouldn’t tell lies.’

Telling a lie that would be exposed would only make the other party uncomfortable.

Above all, wasn’t he someone capable of completely blocking the surrounding mana without a single preparatory movement?

Mind reading might be a very easy thing for him.

“It’s a story I’ve never told anyone. But you’ve seen through it all along, haven’t you?”

“……”

“Kekeke, alright. I’ll explain everything.”

To no one.

Not even to Greg, he had never revealed this deep and dark story.

Taking another sip of alcohol, the old man opened his mouth.

“But before that, would you listen to my story?”

It wasn’t his usual gruff and rogue-like voice.

It was a cultured and serious tone.

People often compare a person’s life to a book.

A newborn child writes down future stories on empty pages.

And an elderly person with years of experience is like a thick book filled with densely written text.

Someone’s life is written with a winding and eventful story.

And someone else’s life is written with a smooth and easy story.

The theme could be romance, tragedy, or a thrilling success story.

From that perspective.

The old man’s life was like the four seasons.

“My name is Julius Mardius Kaidel. I was born as the only son in a prestigious family that ranks among the great nobles overseeing southern Heikel. I was lucky.”

His life began with a warm spring.

Born as the only son of a prestigious noble family, he enjoyed wealth and power that would not envy the king.

Although the Kingdom of Heikel had been in turmoil for decades due to incompetent kings and princes who had ambition without ability.

The south, ruled by the Kaidel family, was peaceful.

His childhood was full of happy memories.

“If only I could go back, I’d like to return to those times.”

The old man’s story passed through the warm and gentle spring.

And entered a hot summer.

He met his love, married.

Had children and lived happily.

He inherited the title of Count at the age of twenty-five.

The territory was peaceful and the family was happy.

But happiness didn’t last long.

“Stupid bastards always think they can win unconditionally when starting a war.”

The long succession dispute came to an end.

The third prince was victorious.

The third prince, who inherited the name of the wise king Estel, ascended to the throne.

All the people expected the chaos to end, but.

The king didn’t live up to his name.

Estel III was the worst tyrant.

He repeatedly raised tax rates and colluded with a small number of nobles to shake the very foundations of Heikel.

In the chaotic political situation, the king’s position gradually narrowed.

Estel III chose war to seize the initiative.

Ignoring the situation of the Kingdom of Heikel, which shared borders with the Holy Spirit Realm to the west, Kragent to the northwest, and Sergaphilt to the northeast, he committed the madness of invading all three countries simultaneously.

“War. That terrible war took everything from me.”

The heat of the intense summer days cooled.

And a chilly autumn arrived.

Estel III, who confidently said he would conquer the Holy Spirit Realm, proudly marched west with his army, but.

He lost all his main forces with just one defeat.

The king fled faster than anyone else.

And enemies poured into the empty south.

“Our family was said to be a prestigious swordsmanship family and the great lord of the south, but how could we stop the main force of the church’s holy knight order?”

Holy knights were human weapons that were difficult to stop even with the full power of the entire kingdom.

The result was obvious.

The prosperous south was devastated by looting and massacres.

The Count Kaidel family fell.

When he returned to his territory.

The Count’s wife and children, who hadn’t been able to evacuate in time, had become cold corpses.

“So I vowed revenge. Yes, the first revenge was aimed at the Obiec royal family.”

Although a lord who didn’t take responsibility for his vassals should rightfully pay the price.

Estel III rather pushed Count Kaidel with false accusations.

• The entire southern region of the kingdom has been devastated due to your negligence! How dare you utter such nonsense as to hold me responsible!

  That day, he freed himself from the obligations of nobility by abandoning his title.

  He allied with revolutionaries to fight against the corrupt royal family.

  Finally.

• The era of tyrants is over!!!
• Wooooah!!!

  As Estel III’s head fell, revenge seemed to come to an end.

  “But the vacuum left by the royal family was bigger than expected. The system didn’t stabilize, and as the conflict between the remaining nobles and the revolutionary faction continued, the chaos didn’t stop. No one imagined that the absence of a ruling entity would lead to chaos throughout the country.”

  “So it led to a new civil war.”

  “Yes, civil war. Or I’m not sure if it’s right to call it a civil war.”

  He put down the empty bottle and said.

  “Looking back now, it was nothing more than a selection process. Senate Speaker Burgo’s selection process.”

  Duke Selud, a branch of the royal family.

  Senate Speaker Burgo Selud.

  He sided with the revolutionary faction during the conflict between the revolutionary faction and the noble faction.

  When the revolutionary faction split into the parliamentary faction and the citizen faction, he sided with the parliamentary faction.

  He had never once stood on the side of the losers.

  “By the time I came to my senses, it was already too late. The citizen faction had been pushed out of the mainstream and was purged all at once by Burgo.”

  Comrades falling like autumn leaves.

  The cooled heat of revolution.

  And the emptiness that followed.

  The old man’s life entered winter.

  “If I held out, more comrades would just die. So I ran away.”

  He built an inconspicuous cabin in a remote mountain and went into seclusion.

  However, he still harbored a burning desire for revenge in his heart.

  “And foolishly, I tried to pass on my desire for revenge to a child.”

  “Why didn’t you do it yourself?”

  “I couldn’t bear to see more people die.”

  There were quite a few who survived the purge and lived quietly.

  But if he showed himself again and.

  If the flames of a new revolution spread.

  “Countless blood would flow again. Blood was shed while driving out the Obiec royal family, and blood was shed again while eliminating the noble faction. I didn’t know how much more had to be shed before it could end. I was afraid of that.”

  Ethan clicked his tongue.

  He ran away saying he could no longer bear the deaths of his comrades as he got older, but.

  ‘And then you try to put such a heavy burden on a young child?’

  He had already guessed to some extent through the character story.

  It must have been a plan to infiltrate Greg into the Republic and bring it down from within.

  Since he was so talented, Greg’s advancement in the puppet army would be a sure thing.

  ‘But that’s not good.’

  Because the fate of ‘Grand Marshal of the Republic’ given to Greg was designed to end in tragedy no matter how it was twisted.

  Ethan didn’t want that.

  “So, owner. You asked if I want revenge?”

  “I did.”

  “I do. Of course I do! When my fallen comrades appear in my dreams every night screaming for help, how could I easily give up on revenge?”

  It was as Ethan expected.

  ‘Then I should gradually present the proposal I prepared…’

  But then.

  An unexpected answer came out of the old man’s mouth.

  “But you know what? I’m going to give it up after all.”

  “…Pardon?”

  “You’re right, owner. Revenge is something I should do myself, not something to pass on to a kid who isn’t even involved.”

  ‘Suddenly?’

  “I was a terrible adult. Making a girl live as a man for her whole life, and trying to use an ignorant kid for my revenge.”

  ‘Greg was… a girl?’

  [The World Tree’s root makes an expression of disbelief.]

  [‘Destruction’ laughs, saying it’s interesting.]

  [‘Maintenance’ defends you, saying th-that can happen too, why are you discouraging the user!]

  The old man rubbed his face dry and.

  Sighed and said.

  “Hey, owner. Shall we go out for a walk?”

The mansion’s front yard and surrounding area where the fierce battle took place were surprisingly clean.

It was the result of Borka’s magic, Kenny’s golems, and the special forces members’ cleanup abilities combined.

Not a single bloodstain could be found.

Of course, there was one thing they missed.

“Ponya! Let’s head back now.”

“Just a moment. Where did it go?”

Ponya searched around, remembering the creepy spear the monster was holding.

But it had long since disappeared without a trace.

It didn’t come out even when she rummaged through the green puddle where the monster’s corpse had melted.

“Where did it go?”

“What are you looking for?”

“There was a spear that ugly thing was holding earlier. I wonder where it went-“

“That?”

The place Hwaryon pointed to was the empty space behind Ponya.

The floating spear briefly looked at the children and then quickly disappeared.

“Wh-What was that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yawn~ The cleanup is all done. I’m going to bed.”

As Borka with a sleepy face went in first.

“Oh, come to think of it, me too.”

“Mmm. Me tooo.”

Only then did they realize how late it had gotten.

Ponya and Hwaryon, feeling sleepy, said ‘I don’t know~’ and returned to their rooms.

A while later.

When Ethan and the old man came out for some fresh air.

Only the night air filled with a faint scent of grass remained.

“I-I did it!”

The self-proclaimed genius scientist Peniola giggled with her whole body lightly bouncing.

Although the monster had failed, she had just completed the device to remotely control the spear given to it.

“If I can just take care of the target with this!”

Perhaps she might be able to attract additional investment opportunities.

Unable to be abandoned by the big spender, she controlled the spear with the feeling of making a last-ditch effort.

The little ones visible in the distance.

“So those are the culprits.”

She gritted her teeth.

But she didn’t aim directly at them with the spear.

There was a high possibility of having difficulties eliminating the target the moment they recognized the spear as aggressive.

You can’t give up well-cooked meat just to eat a small snack, can you?

Peniola waited.

And finally.

“So it’s that old man.”

She spotted an old man with spiky hair and a young man walking out.

And.

Using all the magic power and evil energy stored in the spear.

She accelerated and rotated the spear so fast it became invisible.

“Die!”

He came out with the house owner to get some fresh air and clear his mind for a moment.

It didn’t seem like a conversation to have in the messy basement.

Coming out under the moonlight, he glanced at Ethan.

‘His expression remains the same.’

He said he would give up on revenge.

He also said he wouldn’t use the kid anymore.

But the owner’s face was still subtle.

‘Does he want something more from me?’

The old man hadn’t lied.

He sincerely decided to do so and said so.

But why?

“Hey, owner.”

“Yes.”

“Did I make some mistake?”

“Pardon?”

‘He’s making an innocent expression as if he doesn’t know anything.’

It seemed like a signal to figure it out on his own.

So while he was pondering deeply.

“!”

The old man noticed a strike filled with tremendous killing intent.

It was too late to dodge.

But he couldn’t die like this.

He twisted his creaking body as much as possible…

• Crack crack crack!!!

  “?”

  The pitch-black spear flying towards the old man.

  As it grazed above Ethan’s head, it distorted along with space and disappeared.

  “Damn, this happens again.”

  “Wh-What just…”

  “Oh, this?”

  Ethan casually checked his shoulder.

  It was an indifferent gesture as if trying to brush off crumbs that had fallen.

  “The effect is good, but it’s a skill that activates automatically if there’s any hostility. It’s probably because of mosquitoes. It happened in the yard last time too, tsk.”

  ‘Mosquitoes?’

  The old man was at a loss for words.

  A strike that even a great expert would have been pierced through the heart by if they hadn’t noticed early.

  Ethan comparing it to mere mosquitoes.

  “Oh right, what were you saying just now?”

  Such an attitude from Ethan.

  Seemed very overbearing to the old man.

  He was expressing indirectly that ‘This kind of attack is no more than summer mosquitoes rushing at me.’

  Gulp.

  The old man swallowed and clutched his head.

  ‘I see, you want me to spill everything!’

  What thoughts he had harbored in the past.

  What kind of arrogant attitude he had treated him with.

  He took it to mean confess everything without leaving anything out.

  “I have committed a great sin. I’m truly sorry.”

  “?”

  Ethan unexpectedly ended up receiving the old man’s confession under the moonlight.