Rumble.
A cloud of thick dust rose once.
Two men with enormous builds stood facing each other. In their hands were sharp blue swords.
“Temar. Get a hold of yourself. What are you doing?”
A heavy voice called Temar, but his reason had already flown away, and it seemed he did not recognize the man.
Bulging muscles writhed beneath thin clothes.
Geloman, holding a brutally massive greatsword, stood firmly blocking his way.
It had been this morning that Temar lost his reason.
***
‘Ragniel doubts our loyalty.’
Temar thought one of the reasons Ragniel had come to doubt their loyalty was because of his own attitude.
Yes, looking back, he had acted in ways unbefitting the position of a Hero. How could a Hero, who had to put the kingdom, the king, and the greater cause first, who always had to be “honorable,” look only after his younger brother’s safety?
Temar’s head throbbed, so he stayed in his room for a while. Even when he wanted to see Ren, his heart was too disordered with guilt for him to go find him.
He fiddled with his shortly cut bangs and recalled the memory from just before he left for Media.
It was surely an affectionate and warm memory.
So why did his chest hurt?
‘What conversation did we have before that?’
But when he tried to recall it, only the blood-soaked land of Media came to mind.
Temar remained quietly holed up in his lifeless room.
After losing an entire day, Temar only rose when he saw sunlight shining through the small window.
He could not feel the passage of time, to the point that he could not guess how many days had passed since he returned to the royal castle.
With an exhausted mind, Temar looked for Ren.
He had thought many things, but the thought that came to him when he saw the sunlight was only that he had to see Ren.
“Good morning, Lord Temar!”
“Good morning, Lord Temar.”
While walking down the corridor, Temar answered each greeting that sounded like a round song and thought.
Today, let us spend time together quietly. I will take Ren for a walk, eat something delicious with him, and treat him kindly. I will do what Ren likes, and put Ren first. For today alone, I will become Ren’s “big brother.”
But Ren was not in the room.
“Ren. Where are you?”
Was he playing hide-and-seek? Temar blinked and searched Ren’s room without hesitation.
They were brothers who knew each other well. There were no secrets they hid from each other, just a brotherly relationship where they loved and trusted each other. So searching the room was fine.
As Temar searched the room, he realized Ren’s belongings were gone.
“Who...... Lord Temar?”
Jepeto, who had entered through the open door, met Temar’s eyes.
“Ah, Doctor.”
Temar put down the object he had been holding and approached Jepeto.
“Where is Ren? I do not see him in his room.”
There were many things to do with Ren. Temar, who had decided to be only his younger brother’s brother for today, felt hurried.
Even as he waited for Jepeto’s answer, he kept glancing around the room. As though searching for a hidden Ren.
But even after a long while passed, no answer came.
“Doctor, what is wrong?”
“Lord Temar....... Please listen without being startled.”
Words telling him to listen without being startled meant there was startling news.
“Yes.”
Temar answered bluntly. What startling fact could there be?
“It seems Ren has left the kingdom.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Even at Jepeto’s words, Temar remained calm. Seeing that reaction, Jepeto felt a little relieved. Previously, when danger had come upon Ren, Temar had lost his reason and gone berserk more than once or twice. Jepeto had seen all of that from beside him, so he had been worried about Temar’s reaction.
Somewhat relieved, Jepeto was finally able to speak in detail about Ren’s whereabouts.
“He has not returned to his room for several days, so I also asked at the ducal house, but he was not there. From what I heard from Lord Luman, Ren left of his own will......”
Jepeto carefully continued, watching his reaction. Jepeto himself had also been shocked by what he had heard from Luman. It had felt as though he had been told he was an adult Ren could not rely on this time either, someone who had failed to give that much trust. Ren had once again gone off alone to solve whatever problem it was.
“Is that so?”
“Are you all right?”
Temar asked back calmly. Somehow, his reaction was strange. Jepeto was tense in case Temar might cause a disturbance, but such a thing did not happen. He nodded with a calm face.
“I am all right.”
And Temar left the room just like that.
His heavy, thudding steps shook the corridor.
Temar left the palace and crossed the garden.
There was no time for this. Since he had to go back to Media again, he had to hurry and spend time with Ren.
Do what Ren wanted to do, eat together what Ren wanted to eat.
For today at least, as Ren’s brother......
Ren left of his own will......
Temar stopped dead in the middle of the garden.
He stood still and blinked. The eyes glaring into empty air were bloodshot.
The maids and servants passing through the garden tried to speak to him, then hurriedly turned around and moved away.
His head pulled stiffly, and tinnitus rang briefly in his ears.
That cannot be.
A dry, bewildered laugh burst from Temar’s mouth.
There was no way he could simply leave his older brother behind and go.
Ren was not that kind of child. He was not a child who could leave his brother behind.
He was his younger brother who cried, “Big brother!” and followed him with both eyes and ears. A younger brother who sobbed even at a brief absence and clung to him, telling him not to go. Could that child leave him behind?
It was impossible.
He will come back by evening.
The sneer that had stayed at his tightly closed mouth scattered, and Temar’s face became stern.
When Ren returned, he would scold and teach him for going out without saying a word.
As usual.
But even after the sun fell, Ren did not return. As though possessed, Temar went to find Giselle. As though he had known Temar would come, Giselle calmly answered him when he asked without preamble.
“Is it true that Ren left?”
His mouth felt dry after he spoke, and he felt strangely uneasy.
“Temar, surely you have not forgotten what I told you. Ragniel is doubting our loyalty.”
“Did that child truly leave on his own?”
Giselle nodded.
“Why?”
Temar’s eyes flashed with suspicion. Facing a gaze like a sharpened blade, Giselle answered.
“He must have left because he wanted to leave.”
“Leaving me behind?”
Temar muttered.
“Is there any reason your younger brother must not leave your side? Temar.”
Giselle asked, looking at his dazed face. His words dug into Temar’s chest like a dagger.
Toward Temar, whose face was twisting with confusion, Giselle warned quietly.
Do not be caught by personal feelings, and go to Ragniel.
Temar, chased out after being dismissed as a guest, headed back to Ren’s room.
Perhaps because he had heard the fact that Ren had left, the room felt even colder than earlier.
The only object Ren’s hands had touched, at least, was the rocking chair that someone named Veron had supposedly given him. He placed his hand on the handle of the rocking chair.
“Ren left?”
Could that be possible?
Temar fiddled with his bangs. Ren had cut them for him.
He had returned after slaughtering the villains who threatened the kingdom. And yet the younger brother who should have been waiting for him was gone?
“......”
And Temar realized.
That he had been waiting for Ren. Waiting for Ren to throw open his door and come to him first.
Waiting for him to welcome back, in a bright voice calling “Big brother!”, the self who had returned from that terrible place.
That he had been waiting from the moment he took his first step away from the royal castle, toward Media, toward that land, until now.
But Ren was not here.
It was a fortunate thing.
Temar thought with a head heavy from headache.
It was a good thing. Since there was no longer any need to worry about his younger brother, he only needed to worry about the kingdom.
Temar took up his sword and put on silver armor.
“Lord Temar? Where are you going?”
Departure is tomorrow, is it not?
Leaving behind the puzzled servant’s voice, Temar walked through the royal castle.
And, while walking without hesitation, he ran into Geloman. It was just before he left the royal castle.
“Everyone, go inside. Do not let anyone come this way.”
“Yes!”
Geloman sent away his subordinates and stared at Temar.
In his vivid blue eyes, it was clearly visible.
The enormous killing intent hidden beneath a perfectly normal face.
The storm raging in those dark brown eyes, and Temar’s energy swollen taut as though it were just before exploding.
“Temar. Where are you going? It is time for an audience. And we must finish preparations to leave at dawn tomorrow.”
“I have business to see to, so I will see to only that and go.”
He nodded, as though accepting Geloman’s words, but that was a miscalculation. Temar tried to pass Geloman just like that.
“With you walking around in that state, it is the same as having a bomb with the safety pin pulled loose roaming around. Stop.”
In the still air where not even the wind blew, a strange current could be felt.
The air touching the skin slowly heated.
“Are you saying you will settle this by instinct?”
Geloman had no choice but to draw his greatsword. A rampaging Hero was difficult even for another Hero to stop. Since it was the final outburst, burning all life, its power was more than three times greater than usual.
