Chapter 58: Chapter 58

Leonard quickly stepped between the two.

"What, what are you doing! You two! Both of you, put your swords away!"

Ran and Armand remained unmoved. The air froze cold.

Leonard swiftly assessed the situation. The cause of the incident was Armand.

"Armand! What are you doing right now? Why did you pack your things and come out?"

"He drew his sword first."

"Huu, all right, just calm down for now."

Leonard cautiously approached Ran.

"Ran. Sheathe your sword first, and let's hear what he has to say, okay?"

"No matter the reason, unidentified persons are to be executed on the spot. I'm just following orders."

"Haaa, you hard-headed bastards."

Armand put away his sword. He bit down hard on his lip. No matter what, taking down Ran and getting past him was realistically impossible.

"I really thought about this seriously, and I think I have to stop here."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I really want to become an actor. I'm going to join a theater troupe."

Leonard's pupils trembled. He and Armand had grown up together in the Zima family since childhood. They were, in effect, true brothers.

"So, you mean you want to leave the family now??"

"Hey! Leonard! Why are you being so dramatic? Is our relationship going to change just because of this? We're brothers, nothing changes that. We're brothers, I said."

"? So move aside for me, will you?"

For some, it's a fleeting moment, for others, it's forever.

A relationship may brush past one person, but for another, it's a bond they stake their very life on.

Relationships are cruelly relative.

Just because time has passed together does not mean the meaning left behind is the same for everyone.

Nineteen-year-old Leonard was still too young to fully understand that gap.

"My mission is to bring everyone back safely. Tell Father yourself after we return. Anyway, you can't leave now."

"Huu, yeah. I figured. I expected this—that someday you'd stand in the way of my path."

"I don't care whether you leave or not. I just hate being nagged."

"You son of a bitch!!"

Armand stomped the ground. The punch he threw sliced through the air.

Ran, merely twisting his body a bit, drove his knee up into Armand's abdomen.

Armand collapsed onto his knees. Even as he tried to stand, his body wouldn't obey. It felt as if his internal organs were all jumbled up inside. Saliva dribbled out.

Ran looked down at the groaning Armand, expressionless.

"Hey, stop making this annoying and go inside."

"You, you, that...?!"

Armand shot up in a desperate rage, squeezing out every last drop of strength. But before he could do anything, his head spun wildly and his vision flashed. He didn't even know how he was being hit.

"Stop! Stop it! Ran!"

Leonard threw his body in front of Ran, blocking him and dragging him far away from Armand.

Armand lay spread out on the ground. Unconcerned, the stars in the night sky shone especially brightly tonight.

"Being, being looked at like that... It was the first time anyone ever did that for me, that older sister, she..."

Leonard was the scion of a fallen noble family. He still remembered the warm touch and love he had once received.

Ran, ever-bright from an early age, had been doted on and loved by the adults of the Church. He continued to receive similar care even now. Above all, he grew up feeling Asriel's warmth.

"? You guys wouldn't understand."

Armand was an orphan from the slums. The 'Zima family' was all he had.

Ironically, other than that, he had nothing at all.

The hounds left the barracks early the next morning. The return point was about half a day's ride away.

All of them traveled on horseback, and by afternoon, stopped to rest.

A shady forest path. They sat together in the shade, quietly eating their rations.

"What happened to your face?"

Corbinian spoke up, glancing at Armand's swollen, battered face.

At his side, Peco awkwardly shrugged his hunched shoulders.

Under his bulging eyelid, Armand's gaze slashed sharply.

"Why take it out on me."

After finishing his meal, Corbinian stood up first. Peco also coughed and left his seat.

Left behind were Armand and Leonard.

Both picked listlessly at their food, unable to bring themselves to eat.

Leonard felt an inexplicable sense of guilt toward Armand. He felt as if he had made a terrible mistake.

'Haah, I don't know what's what anymore.'

Unknowingly, he sighed. Scratching the back of his head, Leonard looked up. Suddenly, the crestfallen Armand stood up.

"Uh, where are you going?"

"I'm going to take a leak, idiot."

With Armand's unusual demeanor, Leonard felt bitter.

"Not going anywhere, damn. Why are you creeping after me like that?"

"Where're you going just to take a piss?"

"Ha, I'm not some damn kid or anything."

While Armand relieved himself, Leonard sat on a tree stump and gazed up at the sky.

The sunlight filtering through the leaves was blinding.

"Armand. After we split up, wanna go south together?"

"South? Why all of a sudden?"

"I heard somewhere that once the war ends, art will flourish again."

Leonard's father had a hobby of collecting paintings by unknown artists. Since then, young Leonard had gradually cultivated an eye for art.

It was only later that he heard said rumor—that postwar, the emperor would use the arts as a political tool to divert public attention.

"So what's that got to do with going south?"

"Imperial art originated and developed in the south. Art, music—even theater."

"? Theater? Does theater count as art?"

"Of course it does, idiot. Art is a noble culture now, but soon, the time will come when everyone can enjoy it."

Armand felt a heavy weight settle in his chest.

He pulled up his pants and spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"Yeah, right. A hayseed from Orvik like you will make it just fine in the south, huh?"

"I can get by anywhere. Anyway, by then—"

The sound cut off Leonard mid-sentence. When he turned his head, Armand's body was already keeling over.

His movements were quicker than his realization. Leonard caught the collapsing Armand in his arms.

An arrow was lodged in Armand's left eye.

Leonard shouted at the top of his lungs. He had to alert the other brothers.

"Hang in there! Armand! Stay with me!"

Normally, one would locate the enemy based on the direction the companion fell. Leonard's reason failed him. With shaking hands, he shook Armand.

Armand thrashed, clutching at the eye impaled by the arrow. Half his face was soaked in blood.

"Cocky little bastards. Let's wipe them all out!"

The bushes rustled, and enemies emerged from within. A group of about ten surrounded them.

'They're Falstein scum.'

They wore the same uniforms as the Falstein elite reconnaissance squad they'd annihilated yesterday. They had not been wiped out.

Their father's warning came to him belatedly: never let your guard down.

"Le, Leonard. Run. Hurry, run!"

Armand squeezed out his words. Even his remaining eye was red with blood.

Leonard ignored him. With his free hand, he drew his sword.

Firm conviction swallows even instinct. Even in a life-or-death moment, it does not waver.

Family members do not need to question what they mean to each other.

Leonard had once lost such a family. Back then, he was too young. That's why he couldn't protect anyone.

This time, he decided he would.

"Don't think you'll die easy, brat."

A burly enemy approached. He was unarmed. He intended to capture both, get information through torture, and then take proper revenge.

He thought Leonard, with his boyish face, was easy prey. But Leonard's swift sword sliced off one of his legs in a chunk.

One of the watching soldiers grimaced.

"Don't let your guard down. These aren't ordinary brats. Anyway, there are more up ahead, so let's finish quick."

He raised a hand. All around, bows creaked as they were drawn.

Leonard put down his sword. He wished that the last thing he saw would be his brothers' faces, not his enemies'.

"Le, Leonard. Please don't."

The sound of arrows splitting the air, a scream, and the shouts from behind engulfed Armand's consciousness.

Ran opened his previously closed eyes.

At the time, Ran couldn't understand Leonard's death. That's why he had not been able to offer a prayer of salvation for him.

Leonard had shielded Armand's body and taken the arrow in his place.

'Now, I think I understand a little better.'

Ran recalled the brothers who died protecting him.

First was Peco, then Corbinian, then Eden.

In the end, he had taken on even Leonard's share upon his shoulders.

Sparks flew from the campfire. Following the map Armand left him, he had come north without a plan.

'If my calculations are correct, I've barely broken through the encirclement.'

There was still time left until dawn. For now, Ran decided to let Iel sleep.

"Ran, aren't you going to sleep?"

Ran's eyes widened. He thought Iel was already asleep. Between the flickering shadows, he caught a glimpse of Iel's face.

"Ah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

Iel was huddled up in a blanket that Camus and company had given her.

"I've had so many questions. I've felt stifled all this time since I never had a chance to ask."

Ran, who had been poking at the firewood, stopped and looked at Iel. In the girl's eyes, the firelight flickered softly.

"Why are you helping me?"

The question was a simple one. But Ran had many things he wanted to ask as well. He felt he needed to hear her answers first.

"Before that—how much do you know?"

"Pardon? What do you mean?"

"Hmm, put it this way—"

He couldn't bring himself to ask, 'Do you know you're the vessel destined to seal the calamity?' The phrase 'vessel of calamity' lingered uncomfortably in his mind.

As Ran hesitated, el spoke up in his stead.

"You mean, do I know whether I'm some sort of vessel or whatever? I've heard a little bit. Honestly, it was all new to me, so I don't really know."

"? I see. Just one more question. How did you meet the bishop—no, Zima?"

"He rescued me when I was kidnapped."

Ran's eyebrow twitched. He hadn't heard anything from Zima. There hadn't been time.

"I've never been outside the mansion in Igraine. That day was no different—I fell asleep as usual in my room, but when I woke up—"

Iel curled up. Just recalling it filled her with fear.

There was still time, so Ran said she didn't have to talk about it if she didn't want to.

'Kidnapped from inside the Igraine mansion...?'

Igraine's outer walls were as solid as Gerinhild's. The mansion itself went without saying. There must be tangled, complicated circumstances at work.

"Now, will you tell me? Why are you trying to help me?"

"I'm not helping you."

It was not a duty he bore as a priest.

It was something more fundamental.

If Asriel truly created or allowed the calamity, if he turned a blind eye to the chaos it wrought in the world, then he was not a god of mercy, but a god of chaos.

Ran wanted to face the truth. He was ready and willing to accept it.

"It is for my own sake." Dıscover more novels at N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

A pale dawn light spread.

Perhaps exhausted from the journey, el did not wake.

Ran gazed at the sun rising through the rugged ridges. Below the hill, the sea of trees stretched endlessly.

The mountain's landscape defied common sense. Some compared Mount Astana to a demon realm.

Ran unfolded the map again.

There was a spot marked "Tohore Village" close by.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=