Younger Brother

Meanwhile, the First Regiment moved to capture the last scheduled monster.

The silhouette of a colossal monster stood tall upon the dead land.

Thanks to the monsters that had spread like a plague, few remained to guard their mothers.

‘This one should go smoothly too.’

There was nothing unexpected on the battlefield, and their condition and morale were at their peak.

Olivia intended to march straight on and crush the colossal monster.

“Chief of Staff! Stop!”

At that moment, the commander of the magic company shouted urgently.

“What is it?”

“A powerful force is gathering around the colossal monster!”

“Force…… What kind of…….”

She wondered what kind of force it was, but Olivia soon sensed it for herself.

Anyone who could sense the currents of the battlefield could clearly feel the menace.

As the commander had said, the force was moving around the colossal monster.

It drew in white clouds, gathering them together and growing denser.

The sky over the area instantly became gloomy.

“W-What…….”

The army that had been advancing like a breaking dam faltered.

Even those who used weather magic could not make clouds gather so quickly.

“A-Are the demons casting magic?”

“Everyone, take defensive positions! Prepare for an attack!”

Everyone assumed it was some kind of magic wielded by the monsters, but Olivia knew otherwise.

She had seen clouds of that shape before.

The clouds gathered and gathered until they rose like a mountain, as though the sky were their ground.

“No way……”

Rumble……!

The sky’s roar shook the earth.

Kwoooong!!!

A bolt of lightning struck down toward the colossal monster.

A pillar of light cleaved through the monster’s torso and blew it apart.

Everyone was stunned by the astonishing sight.

Some called it judgment upon evil, while others called it divine punishment.

Olivia called it a catastrophe.

Where the colossal monster had stood, a creature of similar size now stood on four legs.

Though filthy flesh and rising white steam obscured it, even those seeing its silhouette for the first time could recognize it.

A pair of wings and a long tail.

A long snout and two pairs of horns stretching toward the sky.

Dark-blue scales that could easily be mistaken for Iorga’s at a glance.

But unlike the Aspect of Water, lightning wrapped around its entire body.

That alone was enough to tell them who it was.

-Kwahahahaha!!!

The Lightning Dragon, Storeus.

The most aggressive of all the dragons had descended upon this place.

-Godfrey, that damned bastard! He said something had been troubling the Empire, so I thought it would entertain me, but it’s just a small fry!

He pressed down on the egg the colossal monster had been carrying with one claw and laughed as though he were enjoying himself.

The soldiers who had been advancing looked bewildered by the situation.

“I-Is he protecting us?”

“It seems that way…….”

The image of red scales standing tall atop a lonely mountain suddenly came to mind.

Carried away by that feeling, someone began the chant.

“Long live the dragon!”

“The great power protects us!”

Those who knew nothing about Storeus began to praise him.

“You stupid bastards! Can’t you all shut up?!”

The commander of the knight company shouted, trying to stop the rising wave.

Those familiar with his infamy tried to stop them, but it was already too late.

-Hmm?

Their praise caught the dragon’s attention.

When his eyes turned toward the temporary alliance, everyone felt a chill.

-Oh, there are still some fellows worth amusing myself with.

He grinned, raised his upper body, and lifted a hand toward the sky.

Crackle!!

Two bolts of lightning grew larger and larger until they were clutched in his hands.

“W-What is that?”

“All the monsters are dead, so why……?”

To answer those who could not grasp the situation, Olivia shouted at the top of her voice.

“The entire army, defensive positions! All mages, activate protective magic at the front!”

Only then did they realize the truth.

Storeus was an evil dragon that threatened humanity.

An evil dragon showed no mercy, even toward small fry.

Everyone formed ranks and entered battle formation.

The lightning in Storeus’s hands became two spears.

They were known as Storeus’s Judgment.

Each spear possessed enough terrifying power to turn an entire kingdom into ash.

And he was about to throw two of them at a single army.

His intention to annihilate them was obvious.

-Let’s see if you can withstand this attack, hmm?

Storeus noticed something among the group.

Amid that crowd of armor, he saw a striking figure with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Her beauty, renowned for being exceptional, was famous even among dragons.

-Hah! Olivia! You cute little puppy! So you were there!

With a hearty laugh, the terrifying lightning spears dispersed into the air.

The dispersed electricity made everyone’s hair stand on end.

-I can’t lay a hand on an army that has Olivia in it, now can I! It’s a shame, but I suppose I’ll be off!

Storeus spread his wings and entered the thunderclouds.

As his figure disappeared, the clouds scattered and the sky returned to its original color.

The dragon had arrived like a storm and vanished like a storm.

He was worthy of being called the Aspect of Storm.

The soldiers had spent only a minute in that situation, yet their faces looked ten years older.

Cold sweat streamed down Olivia’s face as well.

But it was not because of Storeus.

It was because of the one who could set the Lightning Dragon in motion.

‘The Emperor…….’

Godfrey Arken, known to the world as an incompetent emperor.

Only he could move the Lightning Dragon and control him.

Olivia clenched her teeth.

The extermination campaign she had thought would be a smooth stepping stone would no longer proceed according to her intentions.

* * *

Immediately after the Beginning of Spring Festival, the sudden monster disturbance came to an end.

The encirclement formed by the monsters collapsed completely, and news of victory came from every direction.

Isabella compiled the battle results and reported them to Ferda.

-There were 6,253 troops in all, and 220 were counted among the dead.

“That’s an impressive result.”

-Indeed. Even after taking every factor into account, this result cannot be ignored.

Pride showed in Isabella’s voice.

It was clear that she was a member of Valdrova Castle and the administrator of Hestia Village.

Of the dead, 170 belonged to the Far Eastern Alliance led by Consilius, which was an average figure.

Most of them had died during the first battle—that is, while the monsters had gathered near the mothers.

‘This will further increase the value of tactical infantry.’

Tactical infantry certainly offered excellent value for money.

They might cost a little more than spearmen, but they were vastly superior in terms of training difficulty and deployment, so they could be kept as reserves without being out of place later.

The news was welcomed not only in Ferda’s domain but throughout the surrounding area as well.

-And we’ve also heard from the Pascal Merchant Guild and Halim.

“Why from Halim?”

-They said that we had worked hard for a month, so they wanted to offer festival supplies as a gesture of consolation. They said they would provide two days’ worth of festival supplies and two months’ worth of food.

There are no allies more dependable than that.

He had expected it from the Pascal Merchant Guild, since they were all in the same boat, but he had not expected Halim to take care of even that.

“Tell them I said thank you. You must be tired, yet you’re working so hard, Administrator.”

-Meaningless toil is the hardest kind. I’m enjoying myself now, so I’m fine. Please be careful and return safely to the very end.

Enjoyment.

Yes, even outside the tent, most people were in a festive mood.

The reason it was only most people was that Count Nazarov’s son and his underlings were not.

They must have been dreading having to explain how he had leaped into danger like a moth to a flame.

Aside from anything related to him, the results of the battle were cause for nothing but joy.

‘That’s how it should be…….’

Yet there was someone who felt no joy despite having nothing to do with Dmitri.

Ferda turned his gaze toward that one person.

Luri stood in a corner of the spacious tent.

Her expression was so businesslike that those around her probably had not noticed, but Ferda was different.

He could sense the concern in her heart.

“Luri.”

“……”

“Luri?”

Luri started and raised her head.

“Yes, did you call?”

“You were staring blankly.”

“……I’m sorry. I had something on my mind. Is there something you want me to do?”

“Please make me a cup of tea. I’ll be sleeping soon, so chamomile.”

“Yes.”

As instructed, Luri brewed some chamomile tea.

Her expression as she looked down at the tea seemed even more sorrowful.

‘She was like that when we met again.’

Luri, who had gone ahead to the designated point.

She had not gone into detail and had simply answered that she had failed.

Just as a demon had crawled into Hellus’s mansion, there had been a demon at the place where she had been.

And it had been Gokma.

It had been a situation in which failure was inevitable, and she had not been particularly disappointed by that failure.

There had been something more than the simple stigma of failure holding her captive.

There had certainly been another story Ferda did not know.

“Lord Ferda.”

While she waited for the tea to steep,

she finally managed to speak.

“What is it?”

“……It’s nothing.”

And then she closed her mouth again.

Ferda did not leave it at that.

“You may tell me.”

“……”

Ferda waited patiently for her to speak again.

But Luri quietly continued pouring the tea and showed no sign of opening her mouth.

“That’s enough.”

Ferda lifted his cup as he spoke.

“If you don’t want to talk now, don’t say anything.”

“I’m sorry…….”

“There’s no need to apologize. As long as you’re safe, that is enough for me.”

“……”

“If the time comes when you want to talk, you can tell me then. For today, think it over slowly.”

At those words, a slight sense of resentment rose within Luri.

You didn’t have to add that last part.

It made her mistake his words for a promise that he would wait for her at any time, rather than for an expression of indifference.

Even though she knew it was a misunderstanding, Luri opened her mouth.

“Lord Ferda…….”

Because if the moment came when she collapsed, she wanted to lean on this man.

“Have you ever had a younger sibling?”

“A younger sibling?”

He was the third son in a family of three sons and no daughters.

“I didn’t have any younger siblings.”

“I had…… a younger brother.”

She spoke with difficulty.

“Back when I was still a mortal, like the other Dragon Spawns.”

She was speaking of a past she had never told anyone.

* * *

Dragon Spawns were commonly called the children of dragons.

That was because they regarded dragons as their fathers and obeyed them absolutely.

In truth, they were bound even more tightly than ordinary families, and their bonds were stronger than those of elves.

However, they had not actually been born from dragons.

Some were human, some were elves, and some were orcs.

Since anyone with intelligence could become a Dragon Spawn through the ascension ceremony, their appearances varied according to their races.

Luri had been an ordinary child who lived the miserable life of the lower class.

Back then, she did not even have the name Luri, nor did she have silver hair.

When Luri was born, her birth was greeted with a baptism into a curse rather than joy.

To the lower classes, any child who was not a son—namely, a daughter—was a burden that would eventually leave them.

Luri’s father was especially sensitive about that.

He constantly said things like, “Why raise someone who will become a burden instead of a worker?”

Whenever she put a spoonful of food in her mouth, she was met with her father’s tongue-clicking and contemptuous gaze.

The reason she had been able to survive was that she had her mother.

She had been a hard-won daughter, and her mother had been devoted to young Luri.

Luri followed her mother around and tried to prove her worth by begging in ways that aroused people’s sympathy.

But the change came all at once.

Luri’s mother gave birth to a son.

When a boy who could carry on the family line was born, her father smiled for the first time, while her mother’s attitude instantly turned cold.

Neither her father nor her mother gave her any affection anymore.

In the end, after being treated like a freeloader, she was sold to an orphanage before her younger brother had even turned one.

Her family had abandoned her.

She was depressed for several months from the grief of losing her family, but the situation was not bad.

No, it was actually good.

The director treated Luri exceptionally well.

His care healed the shock of being abandoned by her parents.

Luri followed the director like a father.

However, that did not last long. As she grew older, Luri encountered an uncomfortable truth.

The orphanage was actually a child auction house.

The children’s potential was graded, and the treatment they received varied according to their grades.

Luri was at the very top of the A grade.

It meant that she was intelligent and attractive enough to have the potential to be sold to a noble household in the future.

The director had poured money into her not to raise her, but to turn her into a product worthy of that price.

A sense of betrayal surged within her.

All his words about viewing her as a daughter, as a human being, had been lies.

What kind of father sees his child as money and sells her?

She made a vow.

Rather than live as someone’s doll, she would live as a human being in the gutter.

Luri escaped from the orphanage.

The director was furious and organized a search party, but she narrowly evaded them and successfully slipped into a kingdom.

Without a single penny to her name, she made a home in a corner of the kingdom’s sewers.

Though it smelled and the floor was hard, it was more comfortable than anywhere else.

Having lived on such unforgiving ground, her personality naturally grew rough and hardened.

When Luri was twelve years old,

an uninvited guest came to her comfortable home.

Thinking it was a mad beggar, she gripped a sharp blade tightly as a threat.

However, what appeared was not what she expected.

A boy much younger than herself stood there, even though she herself was twelve.

His nose was running, and his entire body was covered in bruises.

Even Luri, who considered herself miserable, felt that calling her own condition pitiable would be an indulgence compared to the boy’s wretched state.

The boy sniffed and asked,

-Sis, do you have anything to eat?

If another beggar had said that, she would have screamed at him to get lost.

But the moment she saw his eyes, Luri was overwhelmed.

They held a pure light that could not be found in the gutter.

The incongruous light, so out of place in such miserable circumstances, made Luri think,

I have to protect this child.

The feeling a mere twelve-year-old had toward a boy she had just met was responsibility.

Luri pulled the boy into her home.

She shared her food, gave him a change of clothes, and covered him with a blanket.

Her comfortable home grew narrower, but it also grew warmer.

That was how Luri became the older sister of a boy she had just met.

For the first time, she truly understood the meaning of the word family.

Luri did everything together with her younger brother.

They went out to beg together and rummaged through trash cans.

With another mouth to feed, hungry days became more frequent, but on the rare days they ate their fill, that happiness kept them going.

One day, when they left the gutter to wander in search of food, Luri and the boy saw someone around their age.

Unlike them, who could not escape the back alleys, that child was walking along the main street.

One hand held his mother’s, while the other held something delicious.

Seeing that, an inexplicable sense of inferiority and misery welled up in Luri’s chest.

-I wish we could eat things like that too.

The innocent boy tightly held Luri’s hand as he said that.

Those words gave Luri a dream.

She vowed that one day, she would let her little brother live like that.

Luri wanted to become an adult quickly.

Once she became an adult, there would be more things she could do, and she could save money.

If she saved money, she could live in a house with a roof instead of in a gutter like this.

Once she had a dream, tomorrow somehow no longer seemed so painful.

Because someday, she would be able to look back on this time as nothing more than a memory.

But that dream was shattered to pieces.

A war had broken out.

No, it was less a war than a one-sided extermination.

That day, Luri and most of the kingdom’s people did not know

that the king of the castle they lived in had insulted a dragon and touched its reverse scale.

Hundreds of Dragon Spawns flew in without warning and descended upon the kingdom like a meteor shower.

The sturdy walls crumbled, and the houses went up in flames.

It took only an hour for the kingdom to become a wasteland.

After running blindly from the deafening roar, Luri opened her eyes to see a ruined land.

The smell of ash stung her nose, and her chest felt hollow.

Luri looked down at her arms.

That was where her younger brother should have been.

But there was nothing there.

It was strange.

In her memory, she had been embracing her younger brother at the very end.

Luri called out his name.

She desperately cried out the name she could no longer remember.

When there was no answer for a long time, she got up and searched through the rubble.

They had been together, so he had to be somewhere nearby.

But all she found were fragments of collapsed walls and gray ash.

There was no sign of her younger brother anywhere.

After moving until her breath caught in her throat, Luri’s mind swirled with questions.

Her younger brother had disappeared, so how had she survived completely unharmed?

If they had been holding hands, they would have lived and died together.

That meant Luri had let go of her younger brother’s hand.

Then when had it happened?

When the meteors and lightning had poured down?

When she had been dazed by the screams and scorching heat?

Or when the rain of rocks had fallen immediately afterward, leaving her disoriented?

Then she erased all of it from her mind.

When it had happened did not matter.

Luri had survived alone, and her younger brother had vanished without a trace.

Though she had thought she cherished and cared for him, when faced with death, she had coldly become a stranger to him.

She was no different.

From her parents.

From the orphanage director.

From herself.

They were all equally selfish human beings.

-I’m…… sorry.

She said it to her younger brother, who no longer even had a form.

-I’m sorry I survived alone…….

Having failed to fulfill her responsibility, she became literally hollow.

Having lost a part of her life, she simply waited for death.

But death did not come.

Ironically, it was a dragon who took Luri in.

A middle-aged man with silver hair.

He smiled brightly and shared some of his blood with her.

The silver-haired middle-aged man performed the ascension ceremony on the spot, improvising it as he went.

-From now on, I shall call you Luri. Forget your painful past. Think only about how you will live from now on.

Her empty emotions were filled once more by the middle-aged man’s smile.

The ascension ceremony was a ritual of forgetting the past and moving forward.

It made her forget her original hair and eye colors entirely, and discard the meaning of all her past memories as though they had been nothing more than a dream.

Yet even in that ceremony, which required her to cast everything away, Luri kept one thing in her heart.

Responsibility.

The responsibility she had felt when she took in a boy from the gutter became her pillar.

That responsibility was now directed toward Silverwind.

Luri thought,

She would use her mistake as a stepping stone and live for this great being.

Luri decided to become a warrior.

And another hardship began from that moment on.