Chapter 123

Chapter 123: Don’t stay home, please! part

“Come on, Ryu, don’t weep over spilled milk”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ryu replied in between sobs at Luke’s attempt to cheer him up.

“It means, there’s nothing you can do about it, so just get over it”

“It’s easy for you to say! you don’t know how much I loved her”

Watching the scene unfold in front of her, Claire wondered if she did the right thing by showing Ryu the letter.

As soon as he received it, his bright smile turned off immediately and his eyes reddened. He couldn’t even finish reading the letter without crying. Mia reacted fast by waking up Luke, but Bob lived a few blocks away with Veronika and she didn’t want to leave the shop fearing her horns may start to appear again and her succubus nature could be found out.

.....

Luke’s words didn’t seem to reach Ryu in the slightest, if anything, all he said only made things even worse.

“She was my everything! I would have done anything for her!”

“But clearly she didn’t feel the same, she dumped you over a letter, she’s a coward and a bitch”

Luke, the new golden boy of Celarent, acclaimed as one of the strongest adventurers to ever join the guild received a fist to the face from the supposedly weakest adventurer in the whole kingdom. The same man who, unbeknownst to him, had become the laughing stock of the whole city after Lorenzo, who wasn’t his instructor anymore, spread the rumor of him almost losing to a single goblin, punched Luke so hard he didn’t even have time to react.

It didn’t matter how strong he was, it didn’t matter that his skillset was focused on speed and fast reflexes, Ryu’s angry fist got the best of him breaking the wall and making him land in the next room completely unconscious.

“Mister Ryu!”

Sera shouted trying to make him regain his reason, but his madness was too far gone.

It would have been one thing to just be dumped, but the letter Rina sent to him said something that hurt him more than anything he could remember, and he had been on the verge of death many times over the past few months.

In the letter Rina told him that if he was able to read that letter, it meant he was yet to return to Ironwoods. She understood he had his reasons, but she said life is too short to wait on people. If he failed to return over a month, without even sending notice, it meant she wasn’t his priority. All of that he could understand, but what hurt him the most was when she said Rudd had confessed to her and asked Ryu to never come back to Ironwoods, claiming she would already be with her new lover.

His heart shattered to pieces and Luke’s words were like adding fire elemental stones to a campfire. Without intending to, he had reminded Ryu that Rina was already with someone else and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

He felt wronged, because of how many opportunities had come right in front of him and he rejected them all thinking on her. He felt betrayed, because he thought of Rudd like a friend. He felt sad, because he lost his chance with Rina.

Yet, all that paled in front of the anger that consumed him.

Ryu would usually take head on whatever challenge was thrown at him, but knowing there was nothing he could do gave place to the biggest burst of anger they have seen. Still not accustomed to his new body, he didn’t even control his strength leaving Luke an inch from dying.

But he was a hero after all, Luke wasn’t the same petty teen that would complain all day he didn’t get a cheat nor care about him above everything else. And the reason behind that change was the same person that almost killed him.

Despite his weakness, tiredness, suffering and the incompetence of his companions, Ryu would always put up a good face in front of everyone. Even in front of Luke who had been mistreating him ever since they met. Ryu was to Luke what Bob was to Ryu, in other words, someone he admired.

Of course he couldn’t bring himself to say that out loud, but he’s been dropping hints over here and there hoping that Ryu would understand that he was grateful towards him. He also begged Lorenzo to not slander Ryu because that would make things even more difficult for him.

But now, more than ever, Ryu needed him. Regaining his consciousness had nothing to do with his desire to help Ryu, in simple words, heroes were actually hard to kill. But standing up in his wounded state, with less than 1% of his maximum health, and enduring the pain to walk towards the enraged Ryu was an act of friendship made possible only by sheer force of will.

When Ryu saw him getting close his first instinct was to hit him again. Luke, who saw Ryu getting ready to strike again, showed no signs of hostility and kept walking.

Once he was close enough to be in range of attack, Luke opened his arms and hugged Ryu. He held him and pulled Ryu towards his shoulder. Being shorter than Ryu it was a bit uncomfortable, but that feeling made Ryu come back to his senses.

Every part of his mind was telling him it was awkward to be embraced like that by a dude, he wanted to be alone, he wanted Luke to let him go. But there was a warmth in Luke’s gesture, it was as if the bond they been trying to establish all this time had finally solidified and without words they understood each other.

Only when Ryu had shed the last tear Luke let him go.

“Good grief, I thought you were going to propose to me”

Luke mocked Ryu.

“I’m sorry, but you’re not my type”

That short exchange took them back to reality, where Sera and Claire were fainted on the ground while Mia, Mochi and the amarok were exhausted.

“What the hell happened here?”

“You caused this, you let out too much energy and they couldn’t endure it any longer. Don’t worry, they should be fine, just try to control your killing intent next time”

“I didn’t activate that skill”

“It’s not something you activate. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this. Your theory about the relationship between energy, stamina and mana was correct, but there’s more to it. Apparently, Energy can take the form of mana, stamina and health, but there’s always a missing portion that people release on a constant basis.”

“This is helpful and all, but we shouldn’t be talking about this while the girls are still on the ground”

“On the contrary, we should speak about this right now so if you happen to snap again you don’t kill anyone”

Ryu’s face turned white when he noticed how hurt Luke was. Although he knew he did that to him, he couldn’t remember how it happened.

“The energy you let loose is usually harmless, it’s just like the smoke that comes out of freshly cut wood. The only reason there is smoke is because wood can’t be consumed completely by the fire. If you don’t consume your energy it simply stays close for a while before vanishing. But killing intent is different, think of it as a poisonous smoke, people nearby might be intoxicated. While it’s not the fault of the energy, but the form it takes, the more energy you have the more dangerous it is”

“Are you implying that I have too much energy?”

“Fuck, if I wasn’t a hero I’d probably be just like them right now. You can’t use the consider skill anymore, not unless you’re absolutely sure you want to harm your target, also, we can’t have you lose control like that again so try to get a hold of your emotions or you might actually kill someone”

“I’m really sorry Luke, It wasn’t my intention to hurt you”

“I know, but you’re going to pay dearly for that. Tonight we’re going to party all night and you’re buying!”

Luke sounded cheerful and excited, but his face told a different tale. His handsome features were demolished in a single blow and he was still experiencing more pain than a normal person would be able to take without passing out. But what worried him the most was the killing intent, because unlike what he had investigated and experienced before, Ryu’s killing intent was visible to the naked eye.