Chapter 448

“It’s good to see you, son, and I mean it.”
“Me too.”
Cain laughed. His eyes blurred slightly from the wry smile.
Technically, he wasn’t my father, but I missed him just the same.
I looked him up and down and raised an eyebrow.
“But why do you look so healthy?”
It wasn’t an empty promise. Cain’s body was better than it had been on life support. His skinny limbs were thicker, and his slumped shoulders were broader. He looked almost as healthy as me, except for the discolored skin.
“The blood of the giant you saved worked well, I’m almost back to my glory days.”
Cain flexed his arms playfully. The bulging biceps were sculpted and sharp. He was so different from the dying man I’d seen in the world. I’d expected him to be a bit of a jerk, but I didn’t expect this.
“That’s great, but we’d better be sure, right?”
“Hmm? What does that mean?”
I pulled a glass vial from my coat pocket. Abel’s blood, which I’d packed earlier, was bubbling in the vial.
“That’s—ah.”
Cain arched an eyebrow, understanding the meaning. He hesitated for a moment, perhaps because it was his brother’s blood, but eventually he took the bottle and took a cool swig.
One sip. Two sips. Three sips and the bottle was empty.
Wiping the corners of his mouth, Cain slowly murmured.
“Wow–this is where things could have gotten better.”
“Wow.”
I curled my mouth in admiration. Steam rose over Cain’s skin. Even I could feel him growing more alive.
As a radical remedy, Abel’s blood seemed to have a definite effect. His pale skin was slowly regaining its original color.
“That’s great, that’s what it takes to be a savior.
Pure admiration surged through me. It was a power unlike that of the Bald King or the Source-Absorbed Abel. It was as if the inner workings that had been superimposed from the distant past had once again entered a golden age.
Cain said.
“There are so many things I want to ask you. I know some of it from Elsia, but it’s hard to believe without hearing it from you.”
“Me too.”
I was one of those people who had a lot of questions.
Elsia had sent me to a place I knew, but even so, I couldn’t fathom how she’d gotten into Akasha’s abyss.
This was going to be a long story. In the distance, I could hear Alicia sobbing as she was reunited with her baby birds. I was the first to ask a question.
Not far away, a voice sounded panicked.
“Cain— how could you—.”
We turned our heads almost simultaneously. Abel was staring at Cain, his upper body barely raised. Inside his cloudy eyes, a complex mix of fear, disbelief, and joy swirled.
Cain stared at his brother for a long moment, then spoke up.
“Abel. It’s been a while.”
“Surely—you must be dead.”
“You look like you’ve been trampled by a herd of hippos. How are you?”
Abel did not answer. Cain slowly approached and helped him to his feet. He looked back at me and asked for my pardon.
“Ronan. I’m sorry, but do you mind if I talk to my brother first, because I don’t think our conversation is really appropriate here.”
“Make yourself comfortable. There are definitely too many people here.”
“Thank you, this shouldn’t take long.”
Cain smiled. With a compassionate gesture, he brushed away the aquatic vegetation and mud from Abel’s body. Abel stood frozen, unable to say anything.
Cain, who had pulled the twig out of his hair, was the first to speak.
“You are my brother after all, what happened to your pants?”
“——How.”
“If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine. We have some work to do with you, and let’s make it as clear as my son healed me.”
“I don’t know what that means—”
Abel was about to say something.
Cain clenches his fists and throws a short kick to the stomach.
Abel’s body bends forward.
“Kaboom!”
It happened in a flash. If I’m not mistaken, there was a definite crack of ribs, and Abel, off-balance and upside down, gripped the ground with both hands.
“Kool-Aid! Kuluk! What the fuck—! What the fuck do you think you’re doing!”
“Well. What does it look like to you?”
With that, Cain kicked Abel in the stomach. With a dull thud, the flying body landed on the water. Ordinarily, this would have been the end of the story, but Cain didn’t care that his clothes were soaked. He darted into the lake and dragged his brother to the shore, floating like a drowned man.
“Huh? I asked you what you think you’re doing.”
“Wait—wait—wait!”
A fist sank into Abel’s face as he spoke. Seeing the broken nose regenerate in an instant, Cain felt free to begin the beating. A merciless barrage of punches and kicks bombarded Abel.
“This guy. You bastard.”
“Bam! Crack!”
“No matter how much you don’t like the situation, stabbing your only kinsman in the back with a sword–is that what you call a man, this Cain?”
“Now, wait, wait, wait, wait!”
Abel screamed and struggled. He tried to resist, but Cain’s strength, restored to its former glory, was too much for the man whose dreams had been lost.
Even the archbishops, including Letancier, were caught off guard by the unexpected development.
“Kyo, the headmaster is—! I’m going to die!”
“I’m not going to die, maybe.”
“Who is that—! Who is that person, and why is he suddenly calling you—”
“My dad, you seem to have a lot of stuff piled up, so let’s just leave it alone.”
I waved off the flying squirrels who tried to interrupt.
The beating was so vicious that no one thought to stop him. Even Kailashis, the lord’s favorite and most loyal dog, remained stuffed in place and watched.
Cain, who had been beating Abel for about five minutes, looked back at me.
“Whoa–whoa–there’s a good one, son, get me a scabbard.”
“What? The scabbard?”
“Right. I’m going to make amends. It’s been a while since I’ve sweated, and it feels good.”
I held out the scabbard like a man possessed by something. Cain spat on my palm. He took the scabbard and admired it.
“It’s good, too. It’s just the right weight, very solid, and one of the best sticks I’ve held in thousands of years.”
“Mur, stop, Cain, stop—!”
To call you by your first name after being beaten like that–whoops, my muscles must have weakened during my confinement in the cylinder. It’s pathetic.”
Cain sighed. He swung his scabbard at a nearby boulder. With a terrifying crack, the rock snapped in two.
Cain pointed his scabbard at his brother and spoke.
“My dear brother, today is the day I will make you human.”
“Go, don’t come near me! Stop!”
“You remember the story of the demigods who tried to become human, and they each gave something precious. A voice–a memory–but you can become a human without giving anything away, don’t you think that’s reasonable?”
“Oh, somebody stop this lunatic, please!”
Abel cried out. But there was no one to help him. The scabbard fell in a cruel arc, striking Abel in the shin. The words Cain so desperately needed to hear came out like magic.
“Oops, brother, I did it wrong!”
“I think so, too.”
Cain smirked. He didn’t stop until the Imperial Forest Rescue Service arrived twenty minutes later. He feared the scabbard might break, but the bibo, forged by the best smiths in the system, held firm until every bone in Abel’s body shattered. Abel’s screams were beginning to die down.
Woohoo!
A giant portal opened above the lakeside and a bearded old man stepped out.
The old man raised an eyebrow at the blood-stained lake.
“Oh my God. What the hell is this—!”
“It’s been a while, Lorhon.”
“—Does the young man know me?”
I waved in greeting. It was Lorhon, dispatched on an emergency call.
He hadn’t gotten into any trouble in this world yet, and he didn’t look like he had dementia.
“You’re the Archmage, you know the drill, right?”
“Uhm, yeah, I guess so—can we just convoy everyone here?”
“Except for one.”
Abel stretched out his index finger and pointed at Cain, who was riding on his brother’s back with his head in the cobblestones. Abel was sweating profusely, and he kept repeating back that everything his brother said was correct.
“I think I know who I look like.
Thank goodness my sister takes after my mom.
The mystical image of the Savior that had been built up in the original world was being shattered in real time, but that wasn’t so bad. Abel and the archbishops cooperated graciously with Lorhon, who came to arrest them. Despite my performance in the Pale Castle, they seemed to have gotten a lot out of Cain beating his brother.
Just before being taken away, Archbishop Alicia bowed her head.
“You owe me. Thank you for saving my girls.”
“Never mind, they were innocent girls in the first place.”
“You’ve got it. Blast that bastard with his fancy technology. I don’t think I could handle it, but—somehow I think you could.”
She chuckled and punched me on the shoulder. It was an odd feeling to be encouraged by someone you’d dismembered in the last parallel world. Lorhon had bound and transmuted all the criminals with magic.
I looked out at the empty lakeshore and said to myself.
“Be nice. Some.”
It was a long and short trip. In any case, this was the end of my troubles with Nebula Clazier. All that was left was Cain and Akasha.
“It’s a good place to have a conversation—.”
I muttered to myself as I looked up at the blue sky. There was just the right spot. It’s been three days, so maybe I’ve gotten what I asked for.
Even though I didn’t think we’d see each other again so soon.
****
That evening.
Acalusia Manor.
“Good evening, Ronan. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”
“I think so, too. Good evening, my lord.”
Adrian smiled. The Acalusian matriarch was still beautiful. She spotted Cain behind me and cocked her head.
“And the gentleman in the back?”
“My father, of this world.”
“Greetings, lord of a great house. I am Cain.”
Cain said yes with worldly politeness. I was horrified to see him kiss the back of his hand.
Adrian covered the lower canal with his fan.
“Gee–how polite of you.”
I don’t know if it was my mood, but my cheeks looked a little flushed.
I opened my mouth to say a modest yes.
“My lord, I’m sorry to cut to the chase, but did it work?”
“It’s ——.”
There was a moment of silence. For a moment, his expression hardened, and I felt an ominous sense of foreboding.
She hesitated, then nodded.
“It wasn’t easy.”