Chapter 84: - Reunion of Sisters (2)

༺ Reunion of Sisters (2) ༻

She was like an elegant orchid blooming with a bright light. The atmosphere around her gave off the feeling that she was so fragile that an accidental touch might snap her.

It was definitely the same face and body as before and... the only difference was probably that her red eyes and the inside of her hair had both turned blue.

That was somehow enough to change her atmosphere entirely, which was very intriguing.

“Hello, oppa.”

“Exceptional.”

Right there and then, my affinity meter for Ran straight-up hit the maximum. Finally, I was called oppa... someone called me oppa instead of Uncle!!1Oppa(older brother)- is used by women toward their elder brother or a close elder male friend in a friendly manner(usually up to ~30 y.o) while Uncle(Ahjussi) is used toward older men (~30+), it’s considered rude referring a young man like that

“You really like hearing that, don’t you?”

“I get told very often that I look old.”

“I figured, because it seemed like you wanted Hua to call you oppa all the time.”

So she was indeed watching all that, huh.

Back in the game, Ran joined the party when the player decided to save Ran. At one point in the story, the player would hear from her that she had been watching all the actions of Hua for the past 3 years.

But in the game, she didn’t talk about her feelings for Hua, who ended up being eradicated after failing to ascend to Hou. And I didn’t get to hear it in the last iteration either because Ran had been the one who vanished back then.

So this was the only chance for me to hear about her thoughts.

“Don’t you resent her or anything?”

“Resent?”

“Because you had your body taken for 3 years, right?”

I wanted the two of them to resolve their relationship.

Both Hua and Ran were good and gentle kids, so I couldn’t help but hope for their happiness. But of course, it was up to Ran whether she would forgive Hua or not.

“At the start, I didn’t like her. Sometimes, I shouted at her, telling me to give my body back,” she said. She then talked about the time when her voice reached no one, and how all she could do was watch someone else control her body.

I couldn’t even imagine just how frustrating and painful that would have been.

“My voice never reached Hua. Sometimes she would talk to herself, but that was never a reply to what I said.”

That sense of guilt that made Hua hear voices in her head was probably a proof of how good-natured she was.

“Have you ever seen someone who’s always anxious? Hua gets frightened by things she can’t see, and she’s scared by things she can’t hear.”

Ran explained that she started to find her sympathetic and pitiful over time. Even though she had her body stolen by her, Ran began to empathize and understand her.

“That’s why I don’t hate her anymore. Hua even decided to return the body to me.”

Looking at the flowers blooming in the backyard, she hopped around and danced with a spin.

“This is the first time in my life that I’m walking and running around like this. I had been lying down on the bed the whole time.”

Ice Yin Constitution. She had the illness where she couldn’t balance out the Yin and Yang inside her body, which therefore made her have an overwhelming abundance of Yin.

“Like this...! And this!”

Hopping around on the spot, she threw her arms wide and jumped around. Those were things that were so normal for most people, and yet it was the first time this girl was experiencing them.

“It is definitely thanks to Hua that I can move like this, because she is using the Yin energy built up in my body. That’s why I decided to look at the positive side of things.”

“That’s impressive.”

“I had a lot of time to think during those 3 years, you see. And Korin-oppa? It’s partially thanks to you as well, you know?

“Huh?”

While passing the credit to me, she hopped her way across and opened her mouth.

“You gave her a choice. You didn’t want Hua to disappear; you wanted her to look for ways to live with me, right?”

“Yeah. I feel like you guys can live in a symbiotic... I mean, whatever it is, I think you can live together. And that’s what I’m hoping for as well.”

“Is that because you don’t want Hua to be unhappy?”

That was probably one of the reasons.

I had failed in many ways in the last iteration. There were many things that I couldn’t do, and among them was Hua.

Looking back, I could perhaps give various excuses as to why I failed in all that I did but... that wouldn’t change the fact that I had still failed.

That was why I wanted to succeed this time around.

“Do you remember what I said to Hua? How you have to give your very best in everything?”

“I do. Hua even wrote that down in a notebook, you know?”

“That’s... quite touching actually.”

Give your very best, learn how to be caring, move other people, become mature and...

“Change the world. That’s what I heard from my master. For me, the starting reason is that I don’t want to miss the things that are in front of me, and I’m trying not to ignore them even if they happen to be just small sources of misfortune.”

Last time, it was because I missed too many of them without even realizing that I had missed them. So this time, I wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t miss them.

“So all I did... was try to pick you guys up. You were out in the rain, so I was just supporting you guys a little.”

“But what if you get your hands full in that process? You got greatly hurt when you were helping us, right?”

“Welp~. In that case, you guys can help me.”

Marie, Alicia and Hua Ran. Not a single one of them was worse than me. They were all amazing, clever, nice, and capable people.

“I trust you. If I have my hands full, then you and the other people will probably help me.”

Together.

Just like Marie and Alicia did, I had no doubt that Hua Ran would help me as well.

Because goodwill had a contagious nature.Findd new stories at novelhall.com

Kindness had the power to create a chain reaction.

“Can you help me out a little? It’s a bit difficult for me to do alone.”

“That’s something you would have to speak to Hua about,” said Ran.

She was pretty much forgiving her and permitting Hua to share the body with her. Even though Hua had stolen her body for 3 years, this girl was still taking Hua under her arms.

“Very mature, aren’t you?”

“I stopped turning older past 14 but... Hua is 3 years old, right? I’ve been wanting to have a younger sister for a long time.”

Technically, she wasn’t wrong but... a sibling sharing one body, huh.

“By the way... if I’m in danger, will you come to my aid in that awesome manner like you did last time, Korin-oppa?”

“Anytime. Call me whenever you need help.”

“I knew you would say that. You’re... so cool.”

Ran took a step closer towards me. After lowering her head, she called me with a whisper.

“Korin-oppa.”

“Yes?”

“I like fish.”

“Huh?”

Hearing that sudden shift in topic, I was tilting my head when Ran slightly raised her head to gaze up at me.

“You see, Hua and I have the same tastes. Whether it be food, music, books...”

“Really? That’s good.”

After staying silent without saying anything for a long time, she brought her face closer to my ears and softly whispered.

“And men.”

Those daggers, which were quite shabby for holy swords, were painted in darkness and were giving off an evil aura of a cursed dagger.

In fact, the method of manufacturing these cursed items that the Old Faith laid their hands on after dealing with the wicked sorcerers hundreds of years ago, was re-framed as Xeruem’s secret skill after the witch hunt and the religious revolution.

It contained a curse of mental aberration. Even though it was a low-grade curse that wasn’t very effective on its own, it was one that amplified itself after being used multiple times.

“One strike per person. We will stab with these daggers. Let’s move.”

Right when Laurent was about to lead forward the fanatics that were ready to sacrifice themselves...

“I don’t think this is a good time for a walk.”

A bold voice of a different person echoed across and halted their feet.

“...!”

“...!”

Laurent immediately lifted his head and turned to where the voice came from. On the rooftop of a building that was close to their destination, the special dormitory, at around 40 meters above ground-level...

“It’s time to sleep so let them rest. They’re tired from all the festival and stuff.”

...A wild beast wearing the robe of darkness was gazing down at them.

He was smiling but the viciousness of his eyes couldn’t be concealed and the dense killing intent and the violent, oppressive aura of a carnivorous beast suppressed them. Even though his tone of voice was very nonchalant like someone meeting an old friend, his eyes were burning as if he would rip them to pieces.

“Accept your loss. What you’re doing now is ambushing the winner after their ceremony of victory. It is neither elegant nor commendable. In fact, that’s what rats would do.”

“Bastard...!”

Despite the nature of the action itself, the fanatics had pride in themselves for doing this so they were enraged by his comment, but none of them stepped forward. They all instinctively realized that fighting against that man here was not an option.

“100 Chargers of the Cross, huh. If you really wanted to go all-in, you should have brought the Templar Knights as well.”

He immediately saw through them. More importantly, how did he even know they were going to infiltrate tonight in secret?

————

A spear came flying from somewhere and landed in the man’s hand as the silver spear then chillingly gleamed under the moonlight. The chargers flinched upon seeing a 2-meter-long weapon suddenly appear from nowhere.

“A, attack...!”

In spite of realizing that he sounded like a third-rate villain, Renault still shouted that out loud. Even the man standing on the roof seemed to have heeded to his call – after jumping up from the building like a high-jumper, he pulled his spear back with the moon behind him.

The spearman flying in the sky pulled his right hand back as the dimensions started to crack around his spear.

Orb of the Grim Reaper.

His mana activated and gathered the demonic mana of the underworld through the orb as the spearman then tossed it with force.

– Kwang!

The javelin struck down and Laurent assumed that the spear would pierce through one of them. There were a hundred of them there and someone was bound to get hit by it.

But what would come after that was more important. After landing on the ground without his spear, the defenseless spearman would definitely be stabbed multiple times with the cursed daggers.

The silver spear flew down in a straight angle. It was one that would definitely take away the life of one of his men...

“Huh?”

It suddenly twisted in the air.

The spear suddenly started twisting and snapping at an unbelievable angle for a thrown weapon as it then drove straight into the ground.

– Kwack!

“...”

“...”

Zero casualties.

He must be incredibly unlucky or something to hit no one with a hundred men clustered in one place, but regardless, the spear ended up in the ground without hitting anyone.

“Hah...”

Scoffs echoed from everywhere. Seeing the nonsensical and unlucky turn of events for the spearman, the Chargers of the Cross mocked him and sneered in scorn.

“You fool. Where do you think you’re throwing that—”

– Boom!

It was then. A shapeless layer of mana exploded out with the spear sitting at the center and traveled faster than they could perceive it. When Laurent came into contact with that outburst of mana...

– Kung!

His heart dropped an inch. It felt like his soul had been sliced apart by that burst of mana.

“Kuk...!”

It was an unblockable attack that didn’t even give them any time to respond but somehow, Laurent remained on his feet. As a veteran with plentiful experiences and as the only person in the Chargers of the Cross that was at the level of a knight, he managed to withstand the feeling of his soul being hacked and sliced to pieces.

“Kuhum...?!!”

Laurent was shocked after looking around. Not a single man was standing behind him.

“What the...”

In just one move, a hundred of them were neutralized.

“Magic?”

“Fainting for non-knights, huh. This is actually not that bad.”

“——-??!”

– Kwack!

The spear traveled down like a mace. Laurent quickly blocked the attack but the turbulent black aura of the spear suppressed him.

“Kuuuukk?”

It was the simultaneous activation of Shura and the Demonic Spear of Darkness. The force behind the attack was so immense that Laurent fell down despite successfully blocking the attack.

He was gasping for breath with his back feeling like it was being crushed when the man walked up and ‘scoffed’ like a longtime friend.

“What’s wrong? Try a bit harder. Go on! You can do it...!”

Suddenly, he trampled down on his face with his boots. Along with a deafening thud, the ground split open.

“I am done with them.”

After kicking Laurent so hard that his face might have crumpled inside, the man, Korin Lork, turned around and gave a shout. In response, Lady Josephine slowly walked towards him.

“I could have dealt with them myself though.”

“There was something I wanted to test out,” I replied.

“You mean that skill just then?”

“It’s great for dealing with weaklings, right?”

“...Anyway, thanks for your work, even when you haven’t fully recovered yet. We will arrest them now.”

Securities of the Academy suddenly appeared from the darkness all around, and began tying up the unconscious Chargers of the Cross.

“Oh right. They have a capsule of poison instead of their right back teeth for suicide, so please get rid of those.”

“...”

There were a lot of things Josephine wanted to ask him, ranging from how he knew about the hole the Old Faith had dug out over a hundred years ago, to the reason why he requested her to observe the Old Faith.

“Huu...”

For now, she just decided to be content with the fact that the boy was their ally and proceeded with arresting the unconscious Laurent.

The moon began to set over the horizon.

Night was coming to an end, and the unending heat of the festival was about to pick up once again.

Footnotes:

1Oppa(older brother)- is used by women toward their elder brother or a close elder male friend in a friendly manner(usually up to ~30 y.o) while Uncle(Ahjussi) is used toward older men (~30+), it’s considered rude referring a young man like that