Chapter 11 Brother

They thought to themselves, then let me know they weren't sure what I meant. "Do you want it dead?"

"Hahaha… Uh, oh, ahem, Sir. I, uh… You have me confused. Oh! Why, but you must be feeling dizzy. Where is my commonsense? With all this blood you have lost."

It was clear to everyone I didn't bleed much at all. So I just kept silent, trying to fathom their intention with my cold gaze. After a silence that felt like ten minutes, a female spoke. "We want the monster dead!"

"That makes up for one enemy, then…" I muttered, sighing.

"Yes!" another person went on. "One monster, one enemy! We want it dead and gone!"

"Two enemies… huh?"

"W-What!? Are there many?!"

"You, beast, too?"

"Pardon me?"

"Want to kill me? Err, the monster, I mean."

"Y-Yes! Absolutely!"

Following that, some people from the crowd—yes, the sea of people still hadn't dispersed, people must have been really hungry—came up to the sidewalk, getting their own opinions of the monster out, too.

Soon, it was as though people thought it a rule to come up to me and condemn the monster out loud. I admonished them for it quite a few times, but they thought that "The heroic monster-hunter who came from far off in the Eastern Empires only wishes for us to be firmer in our exclamations!"

I insisted that no, I didn't want them to kill the monster—or to even wish it was dead as it was pretty much the same to me. But they insisted too, and before I knew it, both the people on the sidewalk and the people of the crowd mingled into a larger sea of people who chanted and encouraged the killing of the monster who didn't know better but to attack such a fine group of people.

Nonchalantly, I ended up slashing everyone down with my sword. The customers should have just run after they were told to evacuate the premises of the restaurant at once because a monster had slipped past the city's defenses and threatened their peace. Like with the Quick Pace skill, it came just naturally to me.

Only different shades of as grave as dark expressions adorned their faces. The monster, still very much living, acted. My right hand rested on the black leather hilt. And the left hand gripped the sheath strongly. Mana. There was magical energy gathering around me. I could sense it. Just like when I performed that quick-paced technique earlier. Except right now, that thick layer of dark bluish mana wasn't wrapping around my legs and feet, but rather on my sword. Mana posed itself in and on my sword, submitting itself to my will.

All of that happened in the blink of an eye. When my sword suddenly let loose, it followed my arms and shoulders, slashing twice. The curved movements were aimed at the sea of people that lay just in front of me. I just had to reach out and grab at them. Or rather, kill them.

I obtained a new skill, as expected. It was an active skill. Chain Attack. Three bluish waves of mana charged forward towards the mass. What followed was a chorus of Thud sounds as everyone fell lifeless. And that was it.

My level increased, too. Was it due to farming killing the mobs? Or to the learning of a new skill? Maybe both. I had the pleasure to be level 39 by now, whatever that number meant, really.

A slow grin crept up my face. Quite natural to me. Seeing the results, I could tell I was no longer weak. Didn't that mean I had the right to live, now? I didn't really know about philosophy or anything, but according to all the info I'd gathered in the twenty minutes that followed my coming into life, I could confidently say that "Might makes right, after all."

"And so… yeah. That Chain Attack's attack range is quite big. Jeez, how so unlucky of you, humans. But how lucky of me, on the other hand. Today is a productive day. All the trash has been taken out. If that's all about my aggressors, maybe I can relax now. Though well, looking around me, with all these dead beasts, is it time to relax…? With the same sword with which you tried to kill me, I did away with you all."

And I stopped my idle chatting there. After all, I didn't want people to think I liked talking to dead people as a hobby. "So? How does it feel, you pathetic creatures?" Now I'd really stop and go back to talking to myself. "Though man, I'm happy enough to be the winner. The feels. Like it." Sheathing back my sword, I hummed a happy tone. "Everything's perfect~" And suddenly breaking into little funky dance moves…

"Wait… what am I still lingering here for anyway? Surely, this isn't all there is about the exploring the outside world, is it?" I stopped my dance and thought a little. Initially, I went out to explore the 'outside' of the world. The outside of the restaurant. "So yeah, let's just go on with the walking, shall we!" I set off down the track again.

Everything was perfect. Today was productive. I was super happy. But only to a point. Before I had time to take off, some more people were arriving at the scene. "Brother!" And I was greeted.

With one quick movement, I brushed my black hair back. The bangs were a bit too long, I didn't want my hair hindering my sight right now. I then tried to take a good look at the intruders—but only then did 'it' happen.

All at once, everything around me started to tremble and shatter. "Hwueh!?" I let out a weird cry. My head started to ache. And I lost my balance. "E-Everything… The world is spinning!" It was as if I was the center of everything, and that everything was wildly dancing around me in circles. It also didn't stop. Far from that. Oh yeah, the earth still was shattering with mighty movements—

Aside from falling down, I had no other option. I silently cursed. Was I taking the world too lightly? What was about that unknown phenomenon all of a sudden? Falling onward, the next thing I knew, someone was propping me up. Two hands were firmly holding my shoulders in place. All thanks to that, I was still up.

"Brother…! Brother!" The voice was faint, yet the talking guy was right in front of me.

Massaging my temples, I frowned up until I was all right. Supposedly. The smarting pain I felt probably went away. What I didn't know at the time, was that the swordsman I dwelled in at present, did in fact poison himself the moment he cut his throat. So even if everything on planet earth shattered and shook with wild, grand movements, it was only in my head.

"Brother? Hey! Snap out of it, what's with you now!"

"W-What's… what was… that?" I looked up at the helping guy, still frowning.

"Ah, my brother," he shook me and scoffed. "What's got into you, eh? Inera told me about the boy…" The man approached my ear and spoke a secret. "Any chance you could… save him?" I wasn't completely listening, though. "Hey, you listenin' to me? You still aren't here… are you? God, seeing you like this, I can only know how much of a hassle that anomaly was. Was it that bad?"

Slowly, I came back to my senses. "What was… all of that? Earth-shattering phenomenon…?" I was scanning around. Nothing broke...? Everything seemed perfectly normal...? But all of it was shattering and shaking only seconds ago.

"Got any wounds? Oh, ow. On the throat? So what was that water elemental thing? Was it really one though? Your daughter says she doubts it. 'It was hardly any known registered monster.' Told me as much. A formless monster… huh? Could be some rare, off-the-charts kinda slime... from deep sea or somewhere. Did it just appear here anyway? I mean, inside?"

"Aaah… You seem to be fine though. Sorry." I could stand up by myself all right, now. "I troubled you. Who're you?"

"Brother—"