Tuunri’s voice grew louder and louder.
“You’re a hypocrite too! Who do you think you are coming here!”
“Stop it, Tuunri.”
“Don’t even call yourself his brother! While the kid was starving alone, you were probably enjoying banquets! With your great human kind!”
“I said stop it! What changes by doing this now!”
Jabel shouted. Tuunri’s heartbroken sobs echoed through the underground.
“…”
D’Élysée couldn’t say anything. He just stood blankly, staring at the tent where his brother had stayed.
“Come this way. There’s more to talk about.”
The Orc Chief took the dazed D’Élysée outside the area. One arm wasn’t enough, so he pulled the large body with both arms.
“By the way, for someone comparable to the previous hero, you lack caution.”
The Orc Chief said, supporting the stumbling D’Élysée.
“Don’t you know not to approach strange outsiders carelessly? All the demons are on edge. Be grateful that you’re Egru’s brother.”
“…”
“I express my deepest condolences. He was an uncommonly excellent kinsman. He surely went to a good place.”
D’Élysée’s steps suddenly stopped.
“…The body.”
“I had something to say about that.”
“…”
“I have another purpose too, but. Follow me. Let’s talk while walking.”
The Orc Chief now walked ahead of D’Élysée, continuing his explanation. D’Élysée’s steps, slowly following, were terribly heavy.
“Including you, there were a total of three visitors today. Right after the first one left, Egru was found dead.”
D’Élysée’s hand suddenly gripped the Orc Chief’s shoulder. A deep blue gleam swirled in his pale green eyes.
“Keep listening. Although I had my suspicions, Egru’s physical condition hadn’t changed at all. He just wasn’t shivering from the cold anymore, with his eyes closed.”
“…”
“He introduced himself as someone from a family close to the Imperial Palace. Perhaps because of that, he said it would be dangerous to take Egru away, and that he would bring medicine that might help.”
The Orc Chief shrugged.
“We heard nothing after that. The second visitor took Egru away. He wore a bronze mask and was quite forceful. I was planning to bury him in our kin’s resting place, but he took the body away as he pleased.”
“…”
“And lastly, there’s you.”
“You demons…”
D’Élysée started muttering blankly.
“You’re all alive and well, so why did this happen only to my brother?”
“How unsightly. Are you suspecting us belatedly?”
“…”
The Orc Chief stopped walking and stared at D’Élysée. But soon he sighed and looked straight ahead again.
“If war breaks out like this, we’re both in hot water. Hatred only breeds more hatred. This massacre will be the spark for war. I don’t want to say such transparent things at a time like this, but I am a chief of a country after all.”
The Orc Chief started walking again.
“I’d like to solidify relations with the Papal Headquarters. All my current communication devices are out of service, so I’d appreciate if you could contact my home country sometime. That’s all I ask.”
“…”
“As soon as I return to my country, I’ll summon the demon army. If the Papal Headquarters sides with the Imperial Palace, we’ll be facing each other again after 400 years. If it comes to that in the end.”
The Orc Chief patted D’Élysée’s shoulder.
“Go easy on me when we meet next time.”
***
Dawn light touched the Papal Headquarters grounds.
“D’Élysée! Where have you been running off to lately? What on earth are you doing out every night!”
“…”
“I was looking for you all night because I had something to say! You weren’t anywhere! How can the Commander be absent so often?”
D’Élysée turned to look at Gavin with dry eyes. His pupils were dilated, his gaze weak and blurry. But Gavin, not noticing this, darted his anxious gaze around.
“Anyway, that’s… How should I explain this.”
After clearing his throat for a while, Gavin scratched the back of his head.
“I have something to tell you about your brother. I think I should mention this.”
“…”
“Actually, I was planning to tell you after some time had passed. Because of the recent massacre incident. Sigh, my thoughts are a bit complicated too.”
Gavin pressed his slightly tired eyes.
“But I don’t think I was wrong. I did the right thing. Just one favor.”
“…”
“I hope you’ll listen to me well. You know, when you tried to persuade me before, I didn’t listen properly. I was swayed by those who could hardly be called parents. I still regret it to this day. If you hadn’t been there for me then, I really don’t know what I would have done…”
D’Élysée brushed past Gavin.
“D’Élysée!”
Gavin grabbed his arm without hesitation, stopping him.
“You’ve been strange lately, you know? Trying to leave in the middle of conversations. I’m really worried.”
“Not now. Now is…”
“If something’s wrong, just tell me. That’s what friends are for.”
“My brother.”
D’Élysée gritted his teeth and muttered.
“Is different from your parents. Don’t equate them again.”
“Yeah, I thought so at first too.”
Gavin’s hand gripping D’Élysée’s arm tightened.
“I thought that the parents who came looking for me, though very late, would be different this time. But they weren’t. You saw it with me back then.”
D’Élysée shook off Gavin’s hand and snapped.
“I warned you.”
“You’re really deeply into this, aren’t you. I understand. I was like that too.”
D’Élysée only left Gavin’s sighing behind. His attitude suggested there was no value in exchanging more words. But Gavin calmly rummaged in his breast.
“First, take this.”
D’Élysée had to stop walking again. Something that could never come from Gavin’s possession had appeared.
“What are you doing? I said take it.”
Rustle.
What Gavin handed over was a check. A piece of paper worth 300,000 gold coins. The blank check he had written for his brother not long ago.
“Why do you… have this…”
“I saved your life.”
As D’Élysée readily took the check, Gavin continued confidently.
“Actually, I followed the demon hybrid that day. I wanted to get your check back. This isn’t that important though.”
Gavin approached D’Élysée’s side confidently.
“Calm down and listen. That half-breed calling himself your brother clearly showed signs of addiction. It’s obvious since he went straight to the guild with the underground gambling den as soon as he got the check. You think that’s all?”
“…”
“He seemed to be close with a nasty nobleman too. Chevery Randall, was it? Without needing to look into it much, he’s famous for bullying the lower class.”
“Chevery Randall…”
D’Élysée muttered.
“So Chevery Randall went to find my brother again.”
“He was clingy with me too. Repeating such low-class behavior is why families fall.”
Gavin clicked his tongue.
“If he willingly approached someone like Chevery Randall, he must have been desperate for money. I know that type well.”
Gavin was of noble birth. The deeply rooted sense of superiority in his unconscious had somehow transformed into conviction.
“I don’t like categorizing people either, D’Élysée. But everyone has their own kind they fit with. They end up meshing with their own kind.”
Silence fell between them. Gavin took the long silence as a kind of acceptance.
“You thought well.”
Gavin patted D’Élysée’s shoulder.
“I believe you can see what I see. You’re just avoiding facing it directly. Like my past self. I don’t want to judge rashly, but that’s how demon hybrids are. There’s a reason they’re called half-breeds.”
“How was it?”
“What?”
“On the way back together.”
“Ah―.”
Gavin interpreted that D’Élysée was asking about himself.
“I don’t know. I just recited some of our past. Honestly, I thought he might hide the check, so I stirred his conscience a bit. About fighting in the orphanage, and our life-or-death situations in the dungeon.”
A sudden sneer crossed Gavin’s lips as he answered lightly.
“You know what’s funny? He was crying his eyes out while listening.”
“…”
“He acted well till the end. As if he cared for you deeply. Frankly speaking, if he really cared, shouldn’t he have thought about returning the check first? He just didn’t want to give back the money he’d already received. Just trying to get by with third-rate acting…”
“I don’t know my exact date of birth.”
“…What?”
The blank check crumpled uselessly in D’Élysée’s hand.
“I don’t know when I was born. Neither does my brother. So we chose birthdays for each other.”
“Hey, you’re still…!”
“When I was young, I was often sick. For my brother, who had no time or money to spare, I must have been the worst burden.”
“Right! You’re right! That’s why he abandoned you! I could clearly see his act trying to sweet-talk you now!”
The pale green eyes silently stared at Gavin, who was ranting. It was an icily indifferent gaze.
“I don’t know what you think you saw, but you didn’t see anything.”
“What?”
“He’s not someone you can presume to judge.”