Chapter 221 – A Bloody Funeral

The knights who arrived at the northern castle tower slaughtered the remaining demons and caught the demons emerging from the rift.

Sister Celis and I left the castle tower to the knights and headed for the funeral home where Siegfried was to be.

Right in front of the funeral home was Orca and her party members, breathing heavily as if they had just arrived.

“Orca!”

As I waved her hand and called out to her, Orca, who was walking into the funeral home, stopped her and turned her head.
When she saw me, her expression brightened.

“You’re all right! Thank god.”

“We didn’t have too many difficulties. How was the Orca side?”

“We didn’t have too many problems. Except for that centurion or something.”

“Did the orca meet him too?”

“Huh. He was a weirdo with blue skin and a big horn on his forehead. He wielded a bat and performed strange tricks. Thanks to you, Marid was hurt a lot. But me too means you met the centurion too?”

“We were white-skinned ogres. I killed him in a surprise attack, but it seemed like it would be difficult to deal with him head-on.”

Orca frowned.

“That means there’s a good chance that at least one centurion will appear per rift… I’m not sure the others have found it well.”

“Rather than that, wouldn’t the adventure captain be the problem right now? If you deal with the demons and Allen by yourself, plus the centurion…”

“Hey, don’t worry. Have you forgotten who my father is? Even if five people come, you can rip things like Allen.”

Orca waved her hand and boasted.
However, her expression did not brighten as if she was worried.

“I’m not going to stay like this, let’s go in quickly. Perhaps the knights have arrived.”

“That, yes. That would be nice.”

We went into the funeral home.
All the way inside, Orca’s expression was a little dark.
Eventually we reached the inside of the funeral home…

“Her…”

I saw a shocking sight.
The corpses of demons are scattered around. On the floor covered with corpses and blood, no stone, the raw material, could be found.

Several of the large pillars supporting the building were broken or pulled out. One of the pillars was stuck through the ogre’s belly along with the wall.

A red lizardman with wings hung dangling from the ceiling with its head stuck in it, and a 2m tall demon holding a huge greatsword had its head blown off and only blood was gushing out from the cut off section.

In the corner lies a rhinoceros the size of an ogre with a broken horn and an upturned eye. On its side is a large horn that is presumed to be its own.

In addition to that, several more corpses radiating strong energy rolled around.

I could feel it. They are all centurions. He turned his head away from the corpses of the centurions. Among the numerous corpses, you can see the large back of a man standing tall.

A back full of wounds dripping with blood.
The large scars engraved there showed what kind of life he had lived.
Sura’s way.
As a man, I feel a sense of awe.

“Dad!”

He turned his head at Orca’s voice.

“Are you here?”

Siegfried smiled at Orca. Orca was relieved and her expression was about to brighten, but he stumbled and fell down.

“Dad!!”

Orca ran towards Siegfried.

* * *

Siegfried was the son of an employee of a certain trading company.
In this era, being able to read and write and even count is an outstanding ability. His father’s salary was enough to keep a family afloat.

He was always proud of his father.

Then one day.

As usual, he was hanging out with his local friends and bragging about his father. But today, for the first time, a guy among friends laughed and said after hearing his story.

-Hey, this daddy’s nothing special. He says he always cringes at my dad.

Siegfried, who was proud of his father, was understandably angry and had a back and forth fight with him.

At the time, Siegfried was bigger and stronger than the other kids, so he could easily win.

He went home to dinner and boasted to his family about his victory in the fight.

-Good job. The world is a place where you survive fiercely by competing with others. You won the competition with him.

Dad said and stroked his head.
Siegfried was happy.
Until the parents of the child he hit came home.

He began chasing Siegfried for beating his son. Despite the fact that it was the other side that started the fight first.

Siegfried wanted his father to say something to the man.

‘This world is a fiercely competitive society, and your son just lost the competition with my son. You should be ashamed to come and ask me about that!’

He said.

Contrary to expectations, however, the father who heard the story slapped Siegfried on the cheek.
He slowly turned his face back.
My father was bending over toward the other man.

He added ‘I’m sorry’ at the end of every word.

It wasn’t true until later, but the other child’s father was the president of an important business at the business Siegfried’s father attended.

The father he considered the best in the world, the father who told him every day that the world was a competitive society and that he was the winner in the competition.

So he bowed down in front of his son and wife.

For Siegfried, it was a bigger wound than the tingling sensation from the cheek he had been hit earlier.

He saw
The other child looking at him with a triumphant expression. The child also asked Siegfried to bow down and apologize, which Siegfried’s father took for granted.

Pushed by his father, he bowed his head and apologized to the other kid.

To a child smaller than him, weaker, ugly, unable to speak, and unpopular.

It was from then that Siegfried began to yearn for success.

He wondered how he could be more successful than the child’s father.

Once the house is definitely attached. Then what about the head? Unfortunately, he knew that his brain wasn’t that good.
What remains is great size and power.
He just left home and became an adventurer.

There were countless death threats.

Because being an adventurer is inherently a job that is engulfed in all sorts of dangers. It is especially harsh on unprepared youngsters.

However, Siegfried survived by any means. Even if it means taking advantage of a colleague.
I wasn’t ashamed.
Because he just won the competition and he just lost.

He met her when he was on her way to success, taking advantage of everything that was available to her.

Animated film.

The daughter of the general store he frequented.

Her grandmother, who ran her original general store, became ill, so she took over.

At first, even her Siegfried didn’t care about her.

If only he could buy the things he needed, that’s fine. However, as each day passed, perhaps because her face had grown accustomed to her, the number of cases in which Annie attached her words increased, and she even interfered with her purchases.

Siegfried pointed it out, but she didn’t listen.
Rather, she even yelled at her, saying, ‘I’m a regular customer, so I’m just paying more attention!’.

He seriously thought about changing the general store he went to, but gave up because this was the best place he went to.

After a year or two passed like that, the relationship between the two became closer.
The grandmother of the general store, who had regained her health before she knew it, said whenever she saw Siegfried that she would be perfect if she married her daughter.
Each time Annie lowered her head and made her blush.

– Then shall we get married?

I thought that it would be a bad idea to have a family, since we were both married. It was annoying that my co-workers asked me if I was making a family on a fictitious day.
Annie gave a surprised look at his bold words, and then she nodded her head in tears.

The wedding was held and the two became husband and wife.

After becoming her husband and wife, her Annie’s meddling and nagging intensified. Siegfried lived with her ears plugged in, thinking he was married for no reason, and as he lived that way, one day, she said Annie hugged him tightly to his chest.

– I’m pregnant!

Confession of her wife’s pregnancy.
When he heard that, Siegfried was kind of… Bewildered. Even though it is normal for her to be happy when her wife is pregnant.
Still, as her husband, it was normal for her to congratulate her, so she congratulated him.
Annie smiled happily.

Time passed.

Siegfried’s party had an expedition scheduled.
Annie put Siegfried in her armor as if it was natural for her to be pregnant.

– Be careful. Honey.

Annie came out to the front door and saw me off with her smile.
That was the last smile Siegfried saw of her.

When she returned from the expedition, Annie was not at her house.
It’s the first time I’ve seen it, but only the child who looks exactly like her Annie is hugged by her Annie’s mother.
She had no Annie.
She was not in a house, but in a wooden coffin.
Her warm smile, which she always smiled on, had gone cold all over the place.

That day, Siegfried cried for the first time in a long time.
Even at the news of his father’s death, he didn’t feel much emotion from his mother’s letter to see her.
He ran without hesitation, looking only at his success.
He held on to the coffin and wept bitterly like a child.

She missed her smile.
She didn’t care if it was nagging or meddling, she wanted her voice heard.

Only then did Sieg Fried realize that he loved Annie. It was only natural that she was by his side, so he didn’t realize it, and by the time she realized it, it was already too late.

The girl who used to hold her in her arms with a warm smile is no longer there.

All that remains is her old mother and a small child who can be held in one hand.

Even the old mother left without making it past that year, and now it was just him and her child.

-Kyaa~

A child holding his finger and smiling brightly.
The sun she left him for the last time.

Orca.
She is my lovely daughter.

“Dad! Are you okay?! Are you okay!”

Siegfried looked at his daughter shaking his body with disgusted eyes. In my mind, I want to wake up right away and erase the cloud that has been in her daughter’s expression.

But it was impossible.

Because the wounds inflicted by Allen and the demons called the centurion were serious. Not only the outside, but also the inside was badly damaged. It wouldn’t be strange if he died at any time. At least that’s why I’ve endured so far.

I have to say my last goodbyes to her daughter and go.

I didn’t want my daughter to feel the scars of not being able to see the end of her beloved family.

“Say something..! Damn you, nun! Priest! Where have they all gone?!”

Orca shook her head and shouted. Siegfried reached out and stroked her hair.

“Done. It’s useless to come here now.”

“What bullshit is that!”

“It sounds like you’re late, man.”

“What is late! Everyone knows that Dad isn’t the type to die like this?! What are you doing there?! Hurry up and run to the temple!”

“Yes yes..!”

Orca’s subordinate adventurer runs out.
Siegfried laughed.

‘Annie and you are giving me undeserved love.’

There are many things she couldn’t do for Orca.
It’s all because of his greed.
I didn’t want my beloved daughter to feel the humiliation of seeing her father cringe.
She wanted to make me a person who didn’t have to bow her head anywhere.

So, he made her adventure team, raised it, and sent her to her mage tower.
Thinking it was all for her daughter.
As a result, the time her father and daughter could spend together naturally decreased.

‘I was really stupid.’

The first time she realized her strangeness was when her daughter ran out of her tower crying.
At that time, Siegfried scolded Orca and sent him back to the Mage Tower. She didn’t even ask why she ran out or why she cried.
Thinking everything about her is for her.

She shouldn’t have done that.
Rather than pushing her into her tiger den on the pretext of protecting her future, she should have just stayed by her side.

Just like Annie did to him.

Why do I realize this only before I die?
Also, I don’t have a good head. Siegfried smiled bitterly, saying that it was fortunate that he did not go out of his way to use his brain.

“Why are you laughing!? Are you laughing now?! I told you to be so careful…!”

Orca slapped Siegfried on the arm. Tears dripped down his arms one by one.

Even though it was obviously hitting with a weak arm, he felt it hurt more than the demon’s attack.

‘I’ll have to spend the last time with them.’

I don’t know about my bad father, but I don’t want to be remembered as a bad father.

“Can you all go away for a moment? It’s because I want to talk with my daughter alone.”

“What, what?! Do not be ridiculous. Talk to you later All of you don’t go! Come here!”

Orca shouted desperately, but the knights and adventurers one by one distanced themselves from the two.

Among those walking away was a man who caught Siegfried’s eye.

“Hey, you sure said Han Yuseong, right?”

“…Yes. You’re right.”

Meteor stopped.

I remember. It was definitely one of the adventurers who were close to Orca.
No. Was there an adventurer that Orca was close to?
I don’t have it. Then this guy is unique.

Siegfried said with a grin.

“Please take good care of my daughter from now on.”

* * *

“It was already this situation when we came.”

The article made an excuse as if it had nothing to do with it. I roughly nodded. I wasn’t in the mood to listen to his excuses right now.

Looking ahead, Siegfried and Orca are talking alone.

I purposely closed my ears.

I didn’t want to do anything eavesdropping on the father and daughter’s last conversation.

The conversation we have now will forever belong to the two of us.

With a lonely heart, I turned my head and walked around the hall. Every time I took a step, a demon’s corpse was caught at my feet.

‘You made this by yourself. It’s amazing…’

A stench that stings the nose.
I felt it clearly when I made the wolf’s oath.
The traitor’s smell.
The kid hasn’t run away yet.