episode_0065
by fnovelpia
That day was another ordinary day.
I was happy, even though I occasionally saw the remains of war from afar in a village far from the capital city of Demeria.
I liked this simple town where everyone got along well with each other. I never thought that this happiness would disappear anytime soon.
“No, you’re leaving already, Liam?”
“Oh, today is the day my brother comes.”
“Really? Then there’s nothing I can do.”
That day was the day my adventurer brother returned to our village.
My brother was quite famous in our town.
It was because he was the first adventurer born in the village, but he also played a role in protecting the village by delivering the supplies requested by the villagers without complaint and dealing with monsters.
I respect my brother. I want to be someone like him who can protect and be kind to everyone.
I opened the house door loudly.
Crunch!
“Brother!”
“Oh, Liam, it’s been a while. But how come you’re still the same height?”
“Ugh…Did you buy me a present?”
“You weren’t waiting for me, you were waiting for a gift.”
“No…girl?”
“Lies.”
Why doesn’t happiness last long?
“It’s a bombing!!”
“Do, run away!!”
“Evacuate the children and women first!”
bang!
“Liam, close your eyes! And don’t open them!”
‘ah…’
Why didn’t I close my eyes then?
While my brother was forcibly carrying me and running, all I could see before my eyes was my parents dying in the burning, collapsing house.
Blood flowed from my brother’s lips. But he ran anyway.
Tadadot!
However, his brother’s running speed could never be faster than the magic that the wizards fired.
Boom! Kwaang!
“Ugh…”
“Tongue, bro!”
“Take as much as the Lord will be pleased with!!”
“There it is! Grab it!!”
“Liam run away!!”
“No, you can’t go!”
“When you go outside, my colleagues will be picking up people. If you tell anyone there that you are my brother, they will give you a ride somehow.”
“If hyung doesn’t go, I won’t go either…”
My brother took out the sword he had on his waist and shouted at me.
“Go quickly!!”
The first and last scream I heard from my brother, who had never screamed before, is still vivid in my mind.
“Liam, you’re an adventurer. Let’s meet again alive.”
“…”
I knew that was a lie, but when I saw my brother’s bitter smile, I couldn’t help but run away.
After that, with the help of my brother’s friends, I was able to escape from my favorite town. That’s how we arrived in the capital.
I ended up going to a daycare center.
It was a reasonable excuse that my safety could not be guaranteed due to my nature as an adventurer. I also said that I would enter the orphanage without being stubborn.
-Your older brother always came to this daycare center, so they’ll probably treat you well.
-Yeah, other places have them do experiments with kids, but that won’t happen here.
-Then… I’ll see you later when I grow up. Then… No. Anyway, I’m going.
Liam sighed as he crouched in a corner of the playground where many children were playing.
‘What good is a daycare center no matter how good it is?’
Now I have nothing left.
The memories of that day come back vividly, as if someone had recorded them.
Among them, when I abandoned my brother and ran away.
The dozens of spells that fell in front of my brother made my whole body tremble with fear.
“Are you okay?”
“…”
Then, a young angel appeared in my sight. Her name was Blondie.
At first, I didn’t give it much attention. It was because I was afraid of losing it again.
But I couldn’t help but give my affection to her as she kept talking to me.
And I couldn’t help but fall in love.
After a few years, I was completely acclimated to the orphanage.
Although sometimes in my dreams, I would see my brother grabbing me and asking why I abandoned him, and my parents’ eyes burning to death.
It was natural karma to receive their resentment.
That’s why I endured it.
I know this is nothing compared to the suffering they have endured.
That day too, I had just woken up from a nightmare. Now, the scenery and words were familiar.
There’s no need to struggle to overcome it unnecessarily. The more you do, the deeper and more painful the wound will become.
It would have been much better to suffer like this for so long.
I left the bedroom.
“Saint Blondie is missing!”
“First, five of you will stay here, and the rest will go find me and Blondie.”
“Okay.”
“…Wait a minute.”
Saint Teresa looked at the entrance to the room.
“I guess I don’t have to go out. For now, I’ll just go out and come back.”
“Huh? Someone of your age…then I’ll just…!”
“I’m fine, so you guys stay here.”
***
-Saint Blondie has disappeared.
If I hadn’t listened to those words, I wouldn’t have suffered like this.
I ran out of the orphanage and ran to a place in the back mountain that only Blondie and I knew about. Thinking back, I don’t know what confidence I had to run there at that time.
There was only one thought in my head at that time.
‘I’m going back with Blondie quickly.’
And when I arrived at that place, I could see Blondie crouching in the distance.
“Ugh…Mom…Mom…”
No matter how far away I was standing, I could still hear her crying in my ears. But.
Why am I hiding behind the tree?
Why don’t you come and comfort me?
I felt something strange in my heavy heart.
I looked at Blondie again.
“Mom…don’t throw me away…sob…please.”
And then he hid behind the tree again. And then he realized the sad feeling in his heart.
I couldn’t comfort her.
The abandoned and the abandoned.
They were clearly a different breed of people.
How could a child who had abandoned his own family comfort a child who had suffered so much? I didn’t dare comfort her.
But I knew that all of this was just an excuse.
I clench my fists. I am weak and feeble. And I am a coward.
I’m a coward who can’t approach the girl I like who’s crying.
I hated myself so much for being so pathetic.
I leaned the back of my head against the tree and looked up at the sky.
The bright sky made me look even more miserable.
“Blondie was crying here.”
While I was blaming myself for not being able to do anything, for some reason a nun appeared here.
I was surprised for a moment, but then I quickly left the place in relief. With a promise to myself that I would definitely become someone who could protect her.
“Eww!!”
“It’s okay.”
Blondie, who had been crying in the saint’s arms for a while, gradually calmed down as time passed.
Blondie wiped the tears from her reddened eyes.
“Oh…I’m sorry.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I suddenly disappeared, so it must have been hard for you to find me…”
“Um… Fortunately, an angel guided me, so I was able to find it easily.”
“Angel? Who is that angel…?”
The nun looked at a tall tree and smiled.
“That’s a secret.”
“Then please keep my crying here a secret.”
“Of course.”
***
“Get out of here, you bad guy!!”
‘You promised to be brave.’
So, I came here without telling my brothers and sisters.
You came with Blondie!!
Please move! Legs! Please… please…
He hit his leg with his fist several times, but unfortunately, his leg was no longer his.
My trembling legs fell to the floor. Get up, you idiot!
While I was getting angry at my legs, time unfortunately passed quickly without understanding me.
The villain spoke to Blondie.
“Bad guy? The one who really messes up this world is the bitch behind you.”
The villain raised his fist.
Surprised by the sight, Liam reached out his hand to the villain instead of his motionless leg.
Liam could actually use magic. It’s not that he didn’t use it, he just couldn’t.
Every time I proceeded well according to the method taught by Sister Cecilia, in the end, the trauma from that time came back to me and the magic was broken.
That’s why I kept asking my older sister Cecilia for another way to vent my anger, pretending I couldn’t use it. No matter how pathetic it looked, I wanted to avoid having my trauma brought up.
But in the end, there was no other way.
All the problems happened right before I cast my spell. There was no way to avoid them.
Liam was anxious.
But it couldn’t be late any longer.
Liam controlled mana just like Cecilia said.
-Save me! Please save me!
-Don’t leave me! Let’s go together!
.
.
.
“Ugh…”
I somehow managed to catch the scattered mana and move it from my heart to my arm, and from my arm to my hand. But this was the critical moment.
Unlike when he only heard voices while controlling mana, a phenomenon appears in front of him right before he is about to use magic.
-Liam, you ended up abandoning everyone.
-You’re still alive and well, leaving me behind.
It was exactly my brother’s appearance.
I closed my eyes tightly and shook my head.
“No…No…”
-Do you think you can deny it?
-Are you going to abandon everyone and live happily alone?
-What a shameless little brother you are.
‘Ah…as expected…I wasn’t meant to be…’
I was a coward who couldn’t do anything.
What’s with the vows…you’re weaker than Blondie.
It would have been easier if I had just died with my brother back then.
The flow of mana gradually weakened, and the phenomenon that had been tormenting Liam disappeared.
In the gap, a new phenomenon appeared.
-are you okay?
That was the image of the angel I saw when I first came here.
I couldn’t let that smile go away again.
I never wanted to see someone I loved disappear from this world again.
But what if it fails again? Before you could worry about that, Liam was already casting his spell.
-Who are you to be talking about other people’s smiles?
-Do you think someone like you could do that?
.
.
.
Ignoring my brother’s words, I went from my heart to my arms, and from my arms to my hands.
And I barely made it to the final spell cast.
however.
It is said that misfortune comes in succession.
Liam, who first moved mana to his hand, noticed that the final stage, magic, was not being created.
Why…no.
I can’t give up like this.
Liam’s mind was set on a firm resolution, but suddenly, like a flash of lightning, a word came to mind.
-I think it would be a good idea to try to overcome it.
Overcome…I’ve been avoiding it all along. Because it was comfortable.
But it cannot be protected just by being convenient.
I took a deep breath.
-Liam, you should have died then.
This is not my brother.
I already knew. My brother wasn’t the type of person to say something like that.
-Liam, you are our enemy.
It’s all me. It’s just the guilt from back then that’s eating me up.
-Die die die die die die die.
Overcome it as my brother said. If you can’t, accept this pain and protect it.
There was no need to worry about how Brother Logz knew the secret that he had not told anyone.
Brother Logs is a person who is also acknowledged by Sister Cecilia.
The advice to overcome that I heard from that person.
It was enough to give him courage.
Liam once again put the words to Logz.
“Overcome it.”
If I can protect Blondie, I won’t lose to anyone, whether it’s an illusion or not.
“Ugh…Please come out!!”
Logs wouldn’t have known.
That one word I said carefully that day.
-Tsk, okay, you win.
That he gave birth to the second wise man of this country.
pop!!
“Who else?”
“Get off me, you scoundrel.”
“Ha… Those little kids are all acting up. But no matter who dies, the saint’s despair is the same.”
The villain made a face of displeasure.
Pot!
And stood right in front of Liam.
“She can’t protect you here, so you’re the first one.”
“Liam, no!!” / “Liam, run away!!”
Before the voices of Blondie and the Saintess reached Liam’s ears, the villain’s fist had already flown towards Liam.
Clang!!
“What is it?”
The villain was suspicious of the defensive formation that had formed in front of him, other than Liam. He then turned his attention to the identity of the one who had created the defensive formation.
“Wow… It immediately destroys the defense line made with half the mana.”
Logs, who had been walking away from Liam, let out a voice of admiration. But it was definitely not a joyful voice.
“Ha…this guy and that guy…”
The villain clenched his teeth and spoke to Logs.
“You think good is good just like other guys…!”
Pot!
Logs, who had closed the distance between them in an instant, spoke softly.
“I’m not feeling well, so I’ll be brief.”
Okay!
“Don’t preach to me.”
The villain’s head fell to the floor with a thud.
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