#747 (Patreon)

Dave (4)

His younger brother took his hand.

"You’re still here."

His voice sounded as if he could barely breathe.

All Unbending Knees could do was hold his hand tightly instead of answering.

"Hehe... I'm, I'm glad, glad you came. I thought you couldn't come because you were busy."

Unbending Knees remained silent.

There were times he had sworn silence, but even before that, he had nothing to say.

As his brother said, he was never able to stay by his side.

Always busy with the cause of reclaiming the rights of the Red people... No, he distanced himself from his brother under the excuse of being busy.

That fact made him hate.

"Brot, th, ther... Do you remember...? Us, our childhood home?"

The garbage dump located on the outskirts of First Step.

That was the home of Unbending Knees and his brother.

All that existed there was poverty and discrimination, crime and disease, and alcoholics.

His father was also one of those alcoholics.

"I played with you a lot back then, it was, it was fun... right?"

No, it was not fun at all.

That place was boring, and all that existed was his alcoholic father's violence.

The only reason he played with his brother was that there was nothing else he could do.

If he didn't, he thought he might really go crazy.

As proof of that, after their father died and he was taken in by the village chief, gaining the opportunity to do other things, he immediately lost interest in his brother.

Because learning black magic and fighting for the independence of the Red people was much more valuable.

He firmly believed it was more valuable and meaningful than playing with his dull brother.

That fact made him hate.

"Strangely, I vividly remember, Brother... Yes, old memories. I remember the chief, Strong Lily, Smiling mouth brother and Ten Fingers."

His brother was talking about memories with them.

Memories of the chief who took them in, of the strong Lily who led the tribe as the chief's daughter, of the outstanding trickster Ten Fingers, Unbending Knees, and Smiling mouth brother who played the role of the older brother.

But now, it all meant nothing.

They all died during the Red people's independence struggle or in the process of summoning demons and were no longer in this world.

Only his brother and he survived from the tribe.

Just the two of them.

That fact made him hate.

"Hehehe... It's amazing. I was definitely a fool, wasn't I? Right? I can't even remember things well a few days ago..."

His brother suddenly laughed.

It wasn't wrong.

Unbending Knees' brother was a fool.

He wasn't a complete idiot, but he had a strangely poor memory, wasn't good at anything, and had no talent for black magic.

He kept him around so that the tribe would stay together, that was the reason.

Because of that, all the tribe members found him somewhat annoying, and he was the same.

Even when he came looking for him with concern, he didn't respond and pushed him away.

‘Brother! It's okay—’

Before summoning the demon, his brother approached him with concern, but Unbending Knees pushed him away without responding.

When he recalled those memories, Unbending Knees hated the world once again.

He wished he could have answered when he could move his tongue freely.

Now, he can't even do that.

What's so hard about that?

"...."

Now, all he could do was hold his hand.

He couldn't even say the words "It's okay" or "I love you."

It was hateful.

"I should have, I should have done this earlier. Then, it would have been better. It would have helped others and brother..."

It was hateful.

It was hateful.

It was hateful.

Unbending Knees hated all of this.

Being deceived by Pan and summoning a demon, the tribe's destruction, being interrupted while fighting for freedom, and the current situation where he can't speak—all of it was hateful.

It was so hateful that he didn't even know what he was hating anymore.

He just hated and despised everything.

He wanted everything to burn.

Just everything.

Including himself.

Did that emotion flow through his fingertips?

A grave voice he had never heard before came from his brother's mouth.

"Brother... So, you can do it now. I've done everything I wanted to do. Talking with you. Hehe... So, Brother, you can do it, I don't hate you."

"...."

"It's something you need to do, right? You need to get revenge, don't you? We need to leave evidence that we were alive, don't we?"

"...."

"So you can do it. Really... you can do it."

His brother, who was once very shy and scared, affirmed it for the first time.

Unbending Knees, who was shaken by hate, anger, and resentment, felt something break, and let go of his brother's hand, reaching out toward his neck.

It was hateful.

Splash...

The bed where his younger brother was lying was being pressed down gradually, and only the sound of choking echoed.

It was hateful.

Every time that happened, Unbending Knees tightened his grip even more. Through a mouth that made no sound, something was said.

It was hateful.

For a very, very long time.

It was hateful.

***

Kuuueeoooong━━!!!

A gigantic dragon covered in blood-red flames flew through the darkened sky, relentlessly spewing fire.

Ironically, the dragon's fierce flames burned the blackened sky, dispelling the darkness.

Although the darkness was quickly covered by flames again each time, the dragon did not stop burning the darkness.

Kuuueeoooong━━!!!

"This, this can't be······."

One of the paladins watching the scene muttered in a confused voice.

It was understandable. The dragon was once a symbol of disaster and was similar in reality.

As a living calamity, it had taken countless lives and was exterminated under the leadership of the Archiver.

Even though a considerable amount of time had passed since its extinction, it still bore the images of disaster, chaos, and evil.

However, that very dragon was now striving to bring light to a city plunged into madness by burning the darkness that tainted the sky.

Even though the Holy laws had disappeared, the paladins who had been taught by the Holy Prosperity Office all their lives could only find the sight bewildering.

"I don't know what it is, but it's not bad."

But confusion didn't necessarily mean something negative.

Confusion literally meant a disordered and chaotic state, with no inherent positive or negative connotations.

This meant it could be seen as good or bad depending on one's perspective.

Some paladins tried to view it positively.

After all, following Prince Albert's radio broadcast, the madness that had tainted the city was washed away as the dragon appeared in the sky.

The madness that indiscriminately killed orphans and prostitutes under the name of judgment, and even invaded the paladin headquarters.

If the dragon or anything could eliminate such madness, it wasn't bad.

"Y-yeah! It's not bad."

"We checked the streets, and the orphan hunts have stopped. People are evacuating."

"Evacuating? To where?!"

The paladins who were watching the city's madness began to relax one by one and assess the situation.

Although the situation hadn't significantly improved yet, everyone felt it was better than before the telegram.

Except for one person.

She was none other than Joanna, who had visited the paladin headquarters to support the paladins who had lost the Holy laws—she was tied up.

"······."

Unlike the other paladins, when she saw the fire dragon burning the darkness, her face became even paler than before.

More so than when people in madness hunted children and women.

That was to be expected because she knew very well who the master of that fire dragon was. The presence of that fire dragon meant he had come to the capital, and the thing Joanna was most worried about was about to happen.

‘Can you handle the truth?’

A conversation she had with Burnt One flashed in Joanna's mind.

Oliver fainted to save First Step and the conversation he had with the demon.

As the demon's fleshly voice flashed through her mind, Joanna staggered.

The paladins who saw her looked shocked and supported Joanna.

"Are you alright, Lady Joanna?"

They called her Lady Joanna, just like they would call a regular paladin. It was her request.

At first, they called her by grand titles like savior, saint, or child of an angel, but Joanna asked them to unify the titles to "Lady." Well, it wasn't important right now.

What was important now was not the title but the current situation and Oliver's presence in such a situation.

Overall, it was the worst.

They had anticipated something like this, but it started too early, and someone who absolutely shouldn't have come arrived.

Once again, the conversation with Burnt One came to mind. That harsh truth.

Recalling that conversation gave her a headache again, but more than the headache, fear engulfed Joanna.

"Lady Joanna······?"

A voice worried about her. Joanna responded.

"How is the situation outside right now?"

"Ah, the city has regained some stability for now. The senseless killings have stopped, and everyone is evacuating following the guidance."

"Guidance?"

Joanna asked back. She wondered if there was a force capable of that amidst the chaos.

"Hard to believe, but the Kel rebels are using fire-mediated spatial teleportation magic to evacuate the citizens."

The paladin spoke as if she didn't believe it even though she was the one saying it.

For those who knew a little about the history of Northland and the allied kingdoms, and the Kel rebels that arose from that history, it was a completely natural reaction.

A situation that was hard to believe even with their own eyes.

However, it was undeniably happening, and fortunately, Joanna believed it just by hearing, not by seeing it herself.

"I see. That's a relief."

"Yes······."

The paladin responded in a voice that crept with embarrassment.

It was only natural that it should be the paladins who dealt with such a situation, but they were unable to do so at all. No, beyond being unable to do anything, they even prepared for angry citizens to attack.

However, a more humiliating fact was that they blocked Joanna, who was trying to go out to help people for fear of losing the remaining hope.

Even the attendants who followed Joanna, including the paladin from the capital branch, opposed her moving to the extent of risking their lives.

One thing, she did not regret this choice itself.

Not noticing the royal conspiracy that had taken hold with the puppets, and being unable to properly respond to it was certainly a shame, but more importantly, it was about the safety of Joanna, the child of an angel.

If something were to happen to her, the Path of the Father Church would truly come to an end.

From that perspective, the paladins intended to suggest to Joanna.

They proposed using the fire-mediated spatial teleportation magic currently being used by the Kel rebels to go out of the capital.

They hoped that securing safety was better than fighting within this catastrophe with the child of an angel.

However, before they could continue speaking, Joanna spoke first.

"Let's go to the royal palace."

"What?!"

"Now is the right time. There are no more citizens lost in chaos, and people are evacuating. This means there are fewer people who will be caught up in the battles. Now is the best time to move."

"That's a good point. But······!"

A paladin from the allied kingdom branch strongly opposed.

Now that the Holy laws had disappeared, Joanna was the only proof that the Path of the Father Church had not been abandoned by the gods.

If something were to happen to Joanna, the faith that had maintained order for the longest time in human history might truly disappear.

That meant the efforts of the current and previous paladins, including herself, would have been in vain.

It was nihilistic. A fearsome nihilism that made her flesh tremble.

Feeling that nihilism, the paladin tried to oppose it somehow. But it wasn't easy.

Joanna's gaze was too firm. It was as if she had found a reason she absolutely had to go in.

"Uueek! Uueek-!"

Joanna and the paladin. While they were confronting each other's intentions, another paladin vomited blood and gnashed his teeth.

As she approached the shocking sight of him coughing up blood, another paladin nearby urgently said.

"Don't worry. It's not blood being vomited."

"Then?"

"Uueek······. The water turned to blood. That's what he spat out."

"Water turned to blood?"

A story she'd heard somewhere.

Just as she was about to recall its source, frogs poured out through the spilled water bottles that had turned to blood.

Not only from the water bottles but also from teacups, bathtubs, ponds, and even fountains, a swarm of frogs emerged, trying to cover the ground.

Using that scene as a backdrop, Joanna asked.

"Do you still think I shouldn't take action?"

The paladin couldn't answer.