Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Eight: Aftermath
Still bound and wrapped up like bagworms, they were handed over by Julius to Tristan. Though Thor objected, Karen used potions to heal their injuries, so setting aside their tattered state, they returned unharmed.
The bagworms who had been unconscious woke up when the potions were sprinkled on them, and once they realized they’d been handed over to Tristan and their lives had been saved, they shouted at Thor.
“Crimson Thunder, remember this! When we return from the dungeon, we’ll hunt down your siblings and parents, even if we have to search every blade of grass! We’ll tear the men limb from limb! And we’ll violate the women to our hearts’ content!”
“That would be me.”
“Guh—”
Karen reflexively kicked them, but Tristan looked off in another direction, pretending not to see.
“These guys say stuff like this. It’s only natural to think we can’t let them live, right?”
“Maybe we really shouldn’t let them out of the dungeon, Thor?”
“I think so too.”
Behind Karen, Sepl and Thor plotted the complete annihilation of the bagworms—or rather, the Royal Guards.
Karen found herself forced to consider it as well. If she were the only one targeted after their release, that would be one thing, but when she considered the possibility that people around her would also be targeted, she couldn’t afford not to deal with it. These were men who had already declared they would involve the innocent Karen.
“Once we finish the dungeon investigation, I promise to bring these men to justice and have them receive proper punishment. If you were to dispose of them yourselves, it would leave lingering resentment and cause you that much more trouble, so could you please entrust their disposal to me?”
Thor looked at the respectfully speaking Tristan with jaded eyes and said:
“Even if I believe your words, what if these guys get let off easy and lay a hand on my sister? Can I slaughter your entire clan then?”
“Th-that’s…!”
“Don’t spout convenient nonsense when you can’t answer immediately, you carefree noble.”
Although she understood it was hypothetical, Karen was shocked by her brother’s extreme statement as she watched Thor’s cruel smirk from the side.
When he spun back toward Karen, he was back to his usual self, his eyebrows softened.
“Sis, sorry for scaring you, okay? I didn’t want to get you involved like this.”
“No, it’s fine. I might end up involving you too, Thor.”
“Well, you’re the woman who’s gonna become the greatest alchemist! Feel free to involve me all you want!”
“Ahaha…”
This was the tall tale Karen had been telling regularly since long ago so as not to worry her brother.
Thor was an adorable little brother who wholeheartedly believed and took seriously Karen’s words: “I’m the woman who will become the greatest alchemist someday, so you don’t need to worry about anything and can do whatever you like.”
When she first said it, it had been an offhand remark to keep her brother from worrying. But now, she was actually reaching for it, and it was nearly within her grasp.
“Well then, guess we should kill them after all.”
Thor completely dropped his smile again and drew his war hammer closer.
Seeing the war hammer respond to his hand, Tristan made a strained face and hurriedly intervened.
“P-Please wait!”
“I wonder why you’re protecting them so much. Could they be family or something?”
When Sepl said this in exasperation, Tristan choked on his words.
“They are relatives, but that’s not why I’m protecting them. Rather, I’m ashamed that I share even the slightest blood connection with such fools.”
“Hey, what did you say!?”
“Be silent! Do you want to die right now!?”
Glared at by Tristan, the Royal Guards sullenly fell silent. They at least seemed to understand their lives were on the line. Tristan turned his gaze away from them with a bitter expression and said:
“Precisely because they’re relatives, I can predict how their families will trouble you all if they’re executed by lynch here.”
“I’ll just cut them all down, so it’s fine.”
“—That’s right. If you all, who are B-rank adventurers, were to become enemies with my house, it would be us who’d be troubled, not you.”
“Then you understand it can’t be helped, right?”
Thor raised his war hammer. Karen couldn’t stop her brother either, unable to think of a way to prevent what would happen after letting them live.
But if possible, she wanted to stop what her brother was about to do. If things continued this way, he’d be treated as an arrogant adventurer—hated and resented for being strong.
As Karen watched while holding her breath, Julius grabbed Thor’s war hammer and stopped him. Thor turned his glare toward Julius.
“You know what these guys tried to do to my sister, and you’re still stopping me, Julius?”
“I know full well. I’ll take these men back to the nobles’ camp. There, I’ll challenge them to a duel. This would be better than you doing it yourself, wouldn’t it?”
“Is there any point in doing that?”
“Losing one’s life in a duel is unavoidable. Isn’t that right, Tristan?”
“Yes… Death through a duel to protect one’s honor as a noble would be understood as natural by those outside the dungeon as well.”
“Huh?”
Seeing Thor withdraw his war hammer, the rolling Royal Guards clearly looked relieved. With faces that suggested their lives had been saved, they didn’t seem to dream that they would lose their lives in a duel afterward. They appeared to think Julius’s words about challenging them to a duel were merely an expedient to get through this situation.
“Mr. Julius, these people—”
“Karen, I’d like you to stay here and enjoy your reunion with Thor.”
Interrupting Karen’s words as she tried to ask what exactly he intended to do, Julius smiled brightly.
He was trying to push something through with a sweet smile. Lately, Karen often felt rebellious toward such smiles from Julius, but now she felt it would be better to swallow her words, so she nodded.
“Understood.”
“Stay here until I return, Karen. But if you find me frightening, I’ll send someone else to fetch you.”
“Why would I find you frightening, Mr. Julius?”
“…Even if you can’t guess what I’m about to do, you should have seen how I fought earlier—weren’t you frightened?”
“Your fighting style? You mean how careless you were to lose to Thor?”
“It wasn’t carelessness—I was just stronger, Sis!”
Looking down at Karen, tilting her head while being protested by Thor, Julius smiled wryly.
“Right—you’d only seen me defeated, so there was no reason to fear me. Then, if I came back and you found me frightening, please tell me so.”
“Whatever you do before returning, I don’t think I’ll feel scared or anything like that.”
Though she had a vague idea of what was about to happen, Karen wouldn’t find Julius frightening.
“That’s only because you don’t understand me yet, Karen.”
Julius whispered to Karen, then left the adventurers’ camp with Tristan, taking the Royal Guards with them.
“Why is Mr. Julius so sure I would be frightened?”
“If anything, Thor’s the scary one. Gahaha!”
“Sepl, just because I used to call you ‘uncle,’ you think I’ll forgive anything you say?”
“I think Little Karen sees me like a real uncle, so she won’t let anything happen to me!”
“Guh… It’s unfair to use Sis like that!”
“Hey, don’t hit me—that seriously hurts!”
While feeling warm watching Thor and Sepl roughhouse like old times, Karen turned her gaze toward the direction Julius had gone and thought of him once more.
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