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Chapter 141
Younger Sibling
Meanwhile, the 1st Regiment moved to catch the last scheduled colossal monster.
The figure of a colossal monster standing tall on the dead land.
Thanks to the monsters spreading like a plague, there were few left guarding the mother.
'This one will go smoothly too.'
No variables on the battlefield, condition and morale at their peak.
W е.bǹ оvеl E n̄ u ma
Olivia intended to march straight in and smash the colossal monster to pieces.
"Chief of Staff! Please stop!"
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At that moment, the magic squad commander shouted urgently.
"Why is that?"
"A powerful energy is coalescing around the colossal monster!"
"Energy... what kind of...?"
Еn̄ u̇ mа
She wondered what type it was, but soon Olivia could feel it.
A viciousness that anyone sensing the battlefield's airflow could feel clearly.
That energy was moving centered on the colossal monster, just as he said.
It gathered white clouds, clumping and thickening.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The sky in that area turned gloomy in an instant.
"Wh-what...?"
W е̇ḃṅ о v ѐl̃_ Ě ṅ u̇m̌ā
The army that had been advancing with irresistible force hesitated.
Even climate magic users cannot make clouds gather that fast.
"Is, is a demon using magic?"
"Everyone to defensive formation! Prepare for attack!"
Everyone thought it was some kind of magic the monster was using, but Olivia was different.
She had already seen that cloud formation before.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The clouds gathered and gathered until they rose like a mountain that had made the sky its land.
"Don't tell me...?"
Kururung...!
The sky's cry shakes the earth.
Kwaaaang!!!
A single bolt of lightning struck down toward the colossal monster.
Wе b̌ n̂ о̆ v̈ e_l̈ Ӗ n̂ ǔm̌а
A pillar of light split the monster's torso and exploded it.
They lost their senses at that astonishing sight.
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Some called it judgment upon the Ma, others called it divine punishment.
Olivia called it a calamity.
Where the colossal monster had stood, a creature of similar size now stood on four legs.
There was dirty flesh and rising white steam, but its silhouette was recognizable even to humans seeing it for the first time.
Ŵ е̊b̊n̄ o ṽ е l Е̌num̄ а
A pair of wings and a long tail.
A long snout with two pairs of horns stretching toward the sky.
Deep blue scales easily mistaken for Iorga's.
But unlike the Water Phase, it was wrapped in lightning all over its body.
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That alone was enough to know who this was.
-Kuhahahat!!!
Ё n̆ ůmа̊
The War Dragon, Storeus.
The most belligerent among dragons had descended upon this place.
-Godfrey, that damn thing! I heard he made things difficult for the Empire so I thought he'd entertain me, but it's just small fry!
He crushed the eggs the colossal monster had been carrying with his claws, laughing as if amused.
The advancing soldiers looked bewildered by this situation.
"Is, is he the one protecting us?"
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"Seems like it..."
In their minds, the red scales standing tall on the Lonely Mountain suddenly flashed.
Someone in their hearts took the lead.
"Long live the Dragon!"
"The Great Power protects us!"
Those who didn't know Storeus began to praise him.
W̊ е̂ b̌n̂о v̌ е l Еn̈u m̊ ã
"You stupid bastards! Can't you all shut your mouths?!"
The knight squad captain shouted, trying to stop that wave.
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Those who knew his notoriety tried to restrain their actions, but it was already too late.
-Hmm?
That praise drew the dragon's gaze.
When those eyes turned toward the provisional alliance, they felt a chill.
Ŵе bn̂ov̈él̇ Е̂ ňu ḿ ā
-No, there were still some guys left worth playing with.
He grinned, raised his upper body, and lifted his hand toward the sky.
Pajijik!!
Two bolts of lightning grew larger and were gripped in his hands.
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"Wh-what? That?"
"The monsters are all dead, so why...?"
Е̄ ňŭm̌ӓ.
In place of those who couldn't grasp the situation, Olivia shouted at the top of her lungs.
"All forces defensive formation! All mages activate protection magic to the front!"
Only then did they realize.
The fact that Storeus is an evil dragon threatening humans.
An evil dragon shows no mercy even to small fry.
Everyone formed ranks and entered combat readiness.
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The lightning in Storeus's two hands became two spears.
Those are called Storeus's Judgment.
Just one of those lightning bolts holds terrifying power enough to turn a kingdom into ash.
He was about to throw two of them at a mere army.
Clear intent to annihilate.
-Let's see if you can withstand this attack once, hmm?
Е̌_n̊ u̇ ṁ ӓ
Storeus discovers something among that crowd.
Blonde hair and blue eyes standing out among the armored group.
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That outstanding beauty is famous even among dragons.
-Hahat! Olivia! You cute puppy! You were there!
With a hearty laugh, the terrifying lightning spears scattered into the air.
All the scattered electricity made everyone's hair float up toward the sky.
Е n̂u̇m̀ӑ
-Can't touch an army with Olivia in it, right! Too bad, but I'll be going now!
Storeus spread his wings and entered the thunderclouds.
As his figure disappeared, the clouds scattered and the sky returned to its original color.
A dragon that came like a storm and left like a storm.
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He was truly worthy of the title Storm Phase.
The soldiers' faces looked like they'd aged 10 years, though it had only been 1 minute.
Ė n̆ů m̌а
Cold sweat ran down Olivia's face too.
But it wasn't because of Storeus.
It was because of the existence that could move the War Dragon, Storeus.
'The Emperor...'
Godfrey Arken, called the incompetent emperor by the world.
Only he could move the War Dragon, only he could handle him.
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Olivia gritted her teeth.
The subjugation war she thought would be a smooth stepping stone would no longer go as she intended.
* * *
Right after the Spring Festival, the sudden monster commotion ended like that.
The siege formation the monsters had maintained completely collapsed, and news of victory came from everywhere.
Isabella compiled the battle results and reported to Ferda.
Е n̈ u m а̊ .ï d
-Out of 6,253 total across all forces, casualties are counted at 220.
"An tremendous achievement."
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-Indeed. Considering all aspects, this achievement cannot be ignored.
Pride seeped from Isabella's voice.
It properly felt like she was a member of this Valdrova Castle and the administrator of Hestia Village.
Among the dead, 170 were from the Far East Alliance led by Consillus, corresponding to average figures.
Ŵе́b̌nо̂vѐ ľ Е̊ ñ um а́
Most occurred in the first battle, when monsters were clustered near the mothers.
'This will raise the value of tactical infantry even more.'
Tactical infantry were definitely cost-effective.
They cost a bit more than spearmen, but were far superior in training difficulty and operation, so they'd be fine even as reserves later.
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This news was good not just for Ferda's territory but for the surrounding areas too.
-And contact came from Pascal Company and Halim.
W ӗb̂.ñ о̀v̈ еl̄ È n u m̀а̃
"Why from Halim?"
-They say they'll deliver festival supplies as consolation for the month of hardship. They'll provide two days' worth of festival supplies and two months' worth of food.
There's no more reliable ally.
Pascal Company was expected since we're in the same boat, but I didn't know Halim would care that much.
"Tell them thank you. You must be tired, you've worked hard, Administrator."
-The hardest times are when you're doing meaningless work. Right now it's enjoyable so I'm fine. Please just return carefully until the end.
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Enjoyable, huh.
Right, outside the tent too, mostly it was a festival atmosphere.
The reason for 'mostly' is because Count Nazarov's heir's underlings weren't like that.
They must be dying trying to think of excuses for how he threw himself in like a moth to flame.
Aside from those related to him, it was a battle result leaving only joy.
'That's how it should be...'
W е̌ b̊n̂ov̄ ė l Е̌nú m̊ а̇
There was someone without joy, not even someone related to Dmitri.
Ferda turned his gaze to that one person.
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Ruri, standing in the corner of the spacious tent.
With her characteristically businesslike expression, those around wouldn't have noticed, but Ferda was different.
He felt worry in her heart.
"Ruri."
Ѐ nŭmа̄ .í d̆
"..."
"Ruri?"
Ruri started, raising her head.
"Yes, did you call?"
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"You're spacing out."
"...I apologize. I had something to think about. Is there something you need?"
Ẃ е̂ b n̈оvе l Е ñ ǔ m̊ а
"I'd like a cup of tea. I'll be sleeping soon so make it chamomile."
"Yes."
Ruri brewed chamomile as instructed.
Her figure looking down at the tea looked even more sorrowful.
'She was like that when we met again too.'
Ruri who had gone ahead of the point.
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She didn't say much and just replied that she failed.
Just as a demon had crawled into Helus's mansion, a demon had been where she was too.
And it was Gokma.
It was a situation where failure was inevitable, and she wasn't particularly disappointed by that failure.
There was definitely something more than just the stigma of failure holding her captive.
There was definitely another story Ferda didn't know.
Ӗ n u m ӑ
"Ferda-nim."
While waiting for the tea to steep,
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She opened her mouth with difficulty.
"Why?"
"...It's nothing."
And she closed her mouth again.
W̊ebn о̃ v̄ е̇ l̆ Êǹum̄а
Ferda didn't let it go.
"You can speak."
"..."
Ferda waited patiently for her to speak again.
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But Ruri just quietly poured tea, not opening her mouth easily.
"Fine."
Е̄.n ü m а̌
Ferda picked up his cup and said.
"If you don't want to speak now, don't say anything."
"I'm... sorry."
"No need to be sorry. As long as you're safe, that's enough for me."
"..."
"If the time comes when you want to talk, you can talk then, so for today just take your time thinking."
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At those words, a slight resentful emotion welled up in Ruri.
He shouldn't have added that last part.
It's not just empty indifference, it makes you mistake it for 'I'll wait whenever'.
She knows it's a misunderstanding, but Ruri opened her mouth anyway.
"Ferda-nim..."
If a moment of collapse comes, I want to lean on this man.
Е ňùm̌ӓ
"Have you ever had a younger sibling?"
"Younger sibling?"
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He was the third son among three sons and no daughters.
"I didn't have a younger sibling."
"I... had a younger sibling."
She said with difficulty.
Еn̊u ma. i d
"Back when I was a mortal, like other dragon spawns."
Her past she had never told anyone.
* * *
Dragon spawns are commonly called dragon's children.
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Because they regard dragons as fathers and obey them absolutely.
In reality, their bond is stickier than family, their cohesion stronger than elves.
Е n u m̌.а_. і̇ď.
But they are not actually born from dragons.
Some were human, some were elves, some were orcs.
Anyone with intelligence could become a dragon spawn through the Ascension Ceremony, so their appearances varied by race.
Ruri was a common child who had lived a miserable lower-class life.
Back then she didn't have the name Ruri, nor silver hair.
When Ruri was born, she received a baptism of curse rather than joy of life's birth.
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To lower-class people, a son was fine but a daughter was luggage that would someday leave them.
Ruri's father was especially sensitive about that.
He lived saying why raise her when she'll be luggage not a worker.
Every time she put a spoonful of rice in her mouth, she always received her father's tongue-clicking and contemptuous gaze.
Yet she could live because her mother was there.
Her mother, who had gotten pregnant with difficulty and gained a daughter, was devoted to young Ruri.
Е̌num а .i_d
She followed such a mother, and proved her worth through begging that stimulated sympathy.
But change came all at once.
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Ruri's mother gave birth to a son.
With the birth of a boy to carry on the line, her father laughed for the first time, and her mother's attitude turned cold in an instant.
Neither father nor mother gave her any more affection.
Enduring being treated like a rice worm, before her brother even turned one, she was sold to an orphanage.
Е̃ ńu mа̇
She was abandoned by her family.
She was depressed for months in the sorrow of losing family, but the situation wasn't bad.
No, it was rather good.
The director treated Ruri very well.
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The shock of being abandoned by parents was healed by his devotion.
Ruri followed that director like a father.
Е̊n ü m̄а
But that too was brief. As her head grew thicker, Ruri faced an uncomfortable truth.
That orphanage was actually a child auction house.
They graded children's potential and treatment differed by grade.
Ruri corresponded to the top even among A-grade.
It meant she had enough potential to be sold to a noble house later with her decent smarts and outstanding looks.
The director had poured money into her not for childcare but to make her a product worthy of that grade.
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Betrayal surged.
The words 'I see you as a daughter, I see you as a human' were all lies.
What father in the world looks at his child and judges her by money?
She resolved.
Rather than live as someone's doll, I'll live as a human in the sewer.
Ruri escaped the orphanage.
Ê ǹ ù m а̌ .i̊d̂
The director organized a pursuit party in anger, but she narrowly shook them off and succeeded in secretly infiltrating a kingdom.
With not a penny, she made a home in a corner of the kingdom's sewers.
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Though it smelled and the floor was hard, it was more comfortable than anywhere.
Living on that stingy floor, her personality naturally became rough and tough.
When Ruri turned 12,
An uninvited guest visited her comfortable home.
Ẅеb̌ n̊ òv̆е̌l̃ E n um̊ ӓ
Thinking it was a crazy beggar, she gripped a weapon for threat tightly.
But what appeared was different from expectation.
There stood a boy much younger than herself at 12.
Snot running, bruises all over his body.
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Even Ruri, who considered herself miserable, felt like she was complaining on a full stomach in front of that kid with his wretched appearance.
That boy sniffled and asked.
E n ūm̀ а
-Noona, do you have any food?
If another beggar said that, she'd have screamed at him to get lost immediately.
But the moment she saw those eyes, she was overwhelmed.
A pure light that couldn't be seen in the sewer dwelled there.
At that incongruous color unsuited for a miserable situation, Ruri thought.
I must protect this child.
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A mere 12-year-old child felt responsibility toward a boy she'd just met.
Ruri brought that boy into her home.
She shared food, changed his clothes, covered him with a blanket.
The comfortable home became narrower, but warmer than before.
Ruri became that boy's noona for the first time.
She could properly feel the meaning of the word family for the first time.
W̊ёbnо v̂е̇ ĺ Е ǹû m а
Ruri did everything with her younger sibling.
They went out begging together, rummaged through trash cans.
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With one more mouth, days spent in hunger increased, but on the rare days they ate their fill, she used that happiness as driving force.
One day, wandering out of the sewer to find food, Ruri and the boy saw someone their age.
Unlike them who couldn't escape the back alley, that child was walking the boulevard.
And one hand held mother's hand, the other held something delicious.
Ẅе̌ b́ṅо̂vе̂l Е́ ň ū mă
Seeing that, inferiority and misery welled up in Ruri's chest for no reason.
-I wish we could eat like that too.
The childish boy held Ruri's hand tight and said that.
At those words, a dream was born in Ruri.
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She vowed to someday let this young sibling live like that.
Ruri wanted to become an adult quickly.
Е̄ n ù ṁа . і́d
If she became an adult, she could do more work and save money.
If she saved money, she could live in a house with a roof, not this sewer.
Once a dream was born, strangely tomorrow wasn't painful.
Someday as I live on, a day will come when I'll look back on this time as just a memory.
But such dreams shattered into pieces.
War broke out.
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No, it was closer to a one-sided extinction ceremony than war.
That day, Ruri and most citizens didn't know.
That the king of the castle they stayed in had insulted a dragon and properly touched its reverse scale.
Hundreds of dragon spawns flew in without warning and covered the kingdom like a meteor shower.
Sturdy castle walls crumbled, houses burned.
It took only 1 hour to become ruins.
Е n̈um̂а̇
Running away mindlessly from the roar, she opened her eyes again to see ruined land.
Ash smell stung her nose, and emptiness filled her chest.
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Ruri looked down at her embrace.
That was where her younger sibling should have been.
But there was nothing.
It was strange.
Е n̊ù m а
In her memory, she was holding her younger sibling at the end.
Ruri called that name.
She cried out desperately for that name she can't remember now.
No answer came for a long time, so she got up and searched the debris.
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Since they were together, they must be nearby.
But all she caught were collapsed wall fragments and gray ash.
Ẃ е̇b̈nо̀ v̌.е̌l̃ Énú m̂ ă
Her younger sibling's presence was nowhere.
Ruri's mind, moving until her breath was blocked, swirled with questions.
Her sibling disappeared, so how did she survive so intact?
If they'd held hands, they would have lived together and died together.
That means Ruri let go of her sibling's hand.
Then when?
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When that meteor shower and lightning poured down?
When her mind went hazy from screams and scorching heat?
Right after when rock rain fell and it was chaotic?
Then her mind erases everything.
When doesn't matter.
Ruri survived alone, and her sibling vanished without a trace.
Е́ ňūḿ а̇.
She thought she gave affection and cherished, but facing death, she coldly became a stranger.
Same person.
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Like her parents.
Like the orphanage director.
Like me.
All the same selfish humans.
Ė n̂ ü m̌ á.i d
-I'm... sorry.
She said to her sibling who no longer had form.
-Sorry for surviving alone...
She who couldn't fulfill her responsibility literally emptied out.
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She who lost part of her life waited for death as is.
But death didn't come.
Wе̌b n о ṽ ӗ ľ .Еǹ ŭ mȧ
Ironically, what took in such Ruri was a dragon.
A middle-aged man with silver hair.
He shared his blood with a bright smile.
The silver-haired middle-aged man performed the Ascension Ceremony impromptu right there.
-I'll call you Ruri from now on. Forget your painful past. Just think about how you'll live from now on.
Her empty emotions were filled again by the middle-aged man's smile.
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The Ascension Ceremony is a ritual to forget the past and move forward.
It makes you forget your original hair and eye color, and discard all past memories as if they were just a dream.
But even in that ritual of discarding everything, Ruri held one thing in her heart.
Responsibility.
The responsibility she felt when taking in a boy in the sewer became her pillar.
That responsibility now pointed toward Silverwind.
W е̂ b̂ nо̄ v е ľ Е n uḿа
Ruri thought.
I'll live for this great person, using my mistake as a stepping stone.
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Ruri resolved to become a warrior.
And another hardship began from then.
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