Chapter 33 – Difference

000

Expensive wine was poured over Eustes’s head.

Her head, shoulders and clothes are soaked in the red color of wine.

It was a disgraceful treatment for the self-restraint of the marquis.

However, if it was his own father who did it, Eusthes had to accept it with his head bowed.

“Stupid! Stupid!”

A man sitting in a chair reprimanding his son in front of him.

Hughes Woodnocker.

As Talcheq said before, the appearance spread to the side.

A face so ugly that one would doubt whether he really had blood in common with Eustes.

Pouting lips, a blunt nose, and drooping eyes.

Most of his hair is missing, and his head is bald, revealing the back of his head.

Its body was also so large that it could use a two-person sofa by itself.

He can see that even that can’t bear his weight and his legs are bent.

That’s why he screams at his son, who usually disapproves of it.

He was nothing but a scolding for returning after losing ‘Rubera’.

“Do you know what kind of existence Rubera is in this family? She alone is worth more than hiring dozens of skillful mercenaries!”

A slave and attendant who was taken in as a child and raised to be used as his own sword.

It was a mistake to place him as an escort to protect his son, who was still far from being able to inherit the family.

“Ha, but father. It’s wrong that he grabbed the sword and didn’t let go…”

“Eustes! Please. She’s a magician! Taking away the sword is the same as taking away the soul!”

As he stretched out his short arm and grabbed it by the collar, Eusthes had to sweat hard to keep his face from frowning at the stench and smell of alcohol wafting from his father.

“Ah, father. But… I, didn’t I come back safely like this! It’s all thanks to Rubera’s sacrifice!”

Shamelessly, when he saw his son trembling with a dry smile, the Marquis seemed to burst into flames.

“Don’t be a jerk! Right now, you’re worth less than ‘Rubera’ and even the scum of the adventurers you accompanied!”

In the end, Hughes slapping her son.

Eustes collapses on his side at the impact, rubbing his tingling face.

“…Kuh…”

Eusthes clenches his fist at his father’s behavior of caring more about one attendant than himself.

Of course I know he sees people only as numbers.

However, when I recall after a long time that that attitude is maintained even in my family.

Eustes felt sick to his stomach.

“… Whoa… Yes. I can’t help it. If that guy died… I have no choice but to find someone in his place…”

Eustes is silent for a while at those words, then suddenly recalls the events of the day.

A black-haired female swordsman who fought the head bear on equal footing.

“Ah, father! I know a good adventurer.”

“…What?”

Eustes says so and talks about a female adventurer whose swordsmanship skills are on a par with Rubera, or maybe she is even better than her.

“Black hair, black eyes. Are you sure?”

“Yes! It was like Rubera.”

“…A runaway slave from the Dark Demon clan? If it were a woman, she wouldn’t have been able to escape so easily…”

Hughes rubbed his chin for a moment to organize his thoughts.

Then, look at Eustes and talk.

“Then you go find her. I’ll see and judge for myself.”

“Oh, I see!”

Saying so, Eustes raises her body and leaves her father’s room.

Hughes looked back at her with her disapproving face, then looked at her letter on her desk.

“I was in a good mood until I received this letter… Tzu-tzu…”

The sentence engraved on the white envelope belonged to the Church of the Saint’s Protection.

001

Baptized in her father’s wine, Eustes first cleansed himself and came out into the city.

The sun had already set and it was night for her, but she had to find the female adventurer as soon as possible.

The monstrous power that comes from a pitiful body.

Her confident gaze and haughty attitude.

Eustes feels her heart pounding wildly whenever he thinks of the woman.

“… It doesn’t look that different from Rubera.”

Her smile comes out of her own accord and she thinks of her future with her.

If you’re looking for an adventurer, it’s probably a guild.

Ask any of her staff and they will tell you who she is.

Thinking that way, if you enter an alley to take the fast route-.

Tboob. Tboob.

With a slow staggering gait.

There was someone walking in the dark.

With clothes worn out here and there.

There were no wounds on the body, but healing magic could not recover physical strength such as ‘energy’.

Ruba, on the verge of her exhaustion, met her eyes with her own master as it was.

“…Young master.”

“Lu, Lubera… Were you alive?!”

Eustes is quite taken aback when he meets Ruba.

Rubera looked at her face and frowned at her.

“It feels like you’ve barely escaped. Ha. What is a magic swordsman… That sword is important, so you’re dragged away as it is?”

“…Sorry.”

Even talking about what happened down there won’t change anything.

Here Ruba thought it best to simply cater to Eustes.

“There is something I need to report to the Marquis. More on that later…”

When Rubera tried to pass by Eustes like that, Eustes grabbed her arm of Ruba.

“Wait! Wait! Wait! Are you going to go to your father like that? He won’t forgive you!”

Eustes dries while looking at Lubera.

He would be lying if he said that he had no affection at all, as he was an attendant who assisted him for a long time.

Now, for Eustes, she did not want her father to know that she was alive.

If she’s alive, she won’t have to call in her adventurer to take her place.

“I’m ready to receive any punishment… It’s my fault for not protecting the young master.”

“No… That…”

Eustes ponders for a while, then changes his expression as if he has a strange idea.

“No! I’m disappointed in you. My father said so too.”

“…”

Eustes looked at Rubera lowering her head and raised the corner of her mouth.

Yes, no matter how good your sword skills are and even if you are a rare class magic swordsman, in the end you are a servant.

You have no choice but to follow the master’s words.

“Therefore… Magic Swordsman Rubera. I will expel you from the Wood Knocker family!”

Eusthes declares, holding up the ring on his hand.

The ring is the evidence of the next head of the family, and it is also a magical tool that governs the various oaths made within the family.

The imprint of the master-servant contract with her is activated.

On the back of Rubera’s hand, the pattern of her outcast was engraved.

“…Yes…? Now, wait… Please wait. Bocchan…!”

A visibly embarrassed Ruba.

She clings to Eusthes’ pants, as if unable to believe the outcast’s pattern on the back of her hand.

“Let go! In the first place… You’re weird! The sword is more important than the owner!”

“That, that’s… Uh, I’ll gladly accept any punishment. As far as expulsion from the family…!”

“That exile is your punishment! Stop bothering me and get out of here!”

Eustes said so and raised the ring.

Then, her spark flowed in her hand of Rubera, her outcast, and separated her from her Eusteth.

A device to prevent harm to the owner holding a grudge against Banish.

Ruba cried as she looked at Eustes, unable to reach her hand.

“I haven’t received what Hughes promised me yet… ! A little more, a little more… !”

Hearing Rubera’s words, Eustes lifted the corners of her mouth as if she had completely lost her affection.

“Haha… I see. You were promised a huge reward from your father…? So that’s right. You don’t have any loyalty.”

“No! That’s what I mean…!”

“Noisy! I don’t want to hear any more! Rubera the Outcast! Forbid you to open your mouth in front of me!”

Dismissed! With a sound, the pattern engraved on the back of the exile’s hand is added by one stroke.

A very unfair contract.

It was simply a contract of subordination in which the exiled person was granted any rights over the exiled person.

“…!”

Ruba couldn’t open her mouth and couldn’t make a sound.

“Exile Rubera! Forbid you to look at the Woodnocker family!”

Once again, strokes are added to the pattern.

Ruba then forcibly turns her head away from looking at Eustes.

“Outcast Ruba! Forbid access to the Woodnocker family’s mansion, and forbid access to members of the family!”

Eustes leaves.

And Ruba was left alone there.

I had no choice but to reach out my hand toward the invisible youngster.

002

Rubera was able to move only after Eustes’ presence had completely disappeared from the surroundings.

When I tried to slowly raise my body, I was in a state where I couldn’t properly control my body due to the loss of strength and mental shock.

When I slowly raised my head, water droplets dripping from the dark sky wet my cheeks.

13 years. In that mansion, he grew up with all sorts of insults.

From the day the happiness of my childhood burned away along with my hometown.

I’ve lived until now in search of only one clue.

No tears flowed.

Just, I was so upset.

How many times does God have to turn his life upside down to be relieved?

An unbearable despair comes over her.

“Because I… I’m stupid…!”

He covered his face with both hands and laid his neck like a child.

Instead of dry tears, the sound of bursting echoed through the back alley.

[… ] Vera… Roo…La…]

Then, I heard a voice calling my name.

When Ruba turns her head towards the place where the sound is heard.

There, his magic sword was vibrating slightly.

“…Barisada…?”

Rubera reached out her hand while calling out the name of her sword.

And the moment you grab the scabbard and the handle of the sword at the same time and try to pull them out.

“Lubera.”

A voice calling to him hurriedly turned his head.

There… A black-haired, black-eyed young man like himself stood there.

A beautiful sword slung across your waist.

“…The dark horse clan…”

Seeing him like that, Ruba stood there blankly for a while, then realized that the voice calling her name had stopped, and raised the sword to her waist.

“…The one of the day. Became a woman, then a man. Which one is the real one?”

Ruba quietly shows hostility.

“Were you noticing?”

“It’s kind of like. But I didn’t think of it as a magic swordsman. You weren’t armed during the day.”

“Ah. I thought I shouldn’t be seen by you, so I hid my sword and ran out.”

To be precise, it was entrusted to Iona for a while.

“What’s your purpose? Are you with Iona Chevalier?”

“Well… You can see it roughly like that.”

“Then… Are you here to kill me?”

Rubera lowered her stance and grabbed the sword.

It was full of will to cut it with Baldo if it came even a little closer.

“I don’t mean to. It’s just… I just couldn’t let it go.”

“Ah… Are you watching? Peeping isn’t a very good hobby.”

“…If you’re crying so sadly, anyone will be bothered.”

Cleon scratches his head.

Did he notice that Cleon had no hostility?

Ruba quietly took her hand off the sword and stood upright.

He looks at Cleon with a neat attitude, as if wondering where he had gone.

“…”

“…”

Silence flows.

Even as Cleon, he had no intention of revealing himself during surveillance.

However… The scene just now was so similar to someone he knew that he couldn’t stay still.

So… I decided to share the story through the opportunity I got at best.

“Are you from the Valley of the Dragon?”

When Cleon asked, Lubera also opened her eyes wide and nodded.

“If you knew about the existence of that village… You, too?”

“…Yeah. But I was surprised. I couldn’t believe there were other survivors besides me.”

To Cleon’s words, Ruba quietly closed her eyes and replied.

“Not like you. I… We are. The day. The day when the golden light fell on the town and everything burned.”

And she quietly frowned.

Eyes closed, as if shaking off a past that you don’t want to recall.

“Some of my clan’s children, including myself, were taken by merchants who fled through a portal.”

“…”

Cleon listened to the story quietly.

“Most of them became sex slaves. They are probably still being abused and exploited somewhere.”

Rubera’s fists were clenched.

It was driven by anger and hatred.

“But I… I was the lucky one among them, because I had the protection spell I received from my mother right before I was captured by the invaders.”

The memory of that day that I can’t help but remember.

A spell used by the mother to protect herself.

And her mother’s death.

Humans leave the most powerful magical energy right before they die.

That magic combined with the spell of protection engraved on Rubera’s body remained as a spell that no one could dispel, and it was imprinted on her.

“The effect was simple: not to be ‘raped’ by the invaders and others.”

“To really keep my chastity, and if someone tries to make me do something obscene, a strong barrier will open and everything will bounce back.”

“Haha. The first one flew backwards and hit his head on the corner. How funny it was.”

Cleon felt bad when he fantasized about adults pouring out their dirty desires on young Ruba.

“Thanks to that, I was not sold as a sex slave, but was taken in by the Marquis and raised as a combat agent and servant.”

Ruba looks at Cleon as if she understands now.

“Marquis Hughes said to me, “If you wield a sword to protect your son and yourself by the year you turn 20… That day. I will tell you about the merchant who betrayed your clan.”

Cleon’s eyes widen at her words.

Could it be that he sincerely believed in those words and followed the Marquis all this time?

As if knowing the true meaning of that expression, Ruba also helps herself.

“Yes. I know what you’re thinking. But I have something I want to avenge even so.”

“…If the target of revenge is not already in this world?”

“…That’s right. Then… There’s no reason to live anymore.”

Rubera looked down at the demonic sword for a while.

Cleon was silent for a moment, then spoke again.

“Now what are you going to do?”

“Same question. The Woodnocker family, my only hope, exiled me, and I cannot go back there by pact.”

What more can you do for yourself?

“Perhaps, if I stay like this until I’m 20 years old and my mother’s protection disappears. Entrusting myself to Changgwan, where the other children are, wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“Such… Stop talking stupid.”

It was Cleon’s sincerity.

“You’re stupid? What?”

“…Everything. Clinging to Marquis Hughes. Taking his own life.”

“…”

Rubera looks at Cleon.

And I see the magic sword hanging from my waist.

Galatea was emitting a soft light as if it were beating.

It seemed that she didn’t like the girl in front of him.

“Your demonic sword has already awakened its ego. How many people did you hurt in the process?”

“…”

“Even so… The tone of worrying about others like that.

Cleon averts his gaze and drops his head.

What she said is true.

He hatched a trick for revenge, and in the process Quon was injured.

As a result, he also cheated on Sasha.

But even so…

Cleon, who doesn’t talk much, said nothing to her.

Just.

‘I don’t want my fellow countrymen to die.’

‘You can also have a new goal.’

Even if you say something like that, it does n’t resonate in her heart.

“…The face that looks really troubled. Whoa. It’s nice to see.”

Seeing Cleon’s face like that, Ruba covered her mouth and laughed.

After that, he looked down at his sword for a while and saw Cleon.

“I need strength too.”

“…Strength?”

Rubera nodded.

“The power to wield a demonic sword freely like you and dominate others.”

“…Are you going to hit Marquis Hughes with that power?”

Then Ruba raised the corner of her mouth but did not answer.

No, the act itself was already an answer.

Cleon thinks.

If she, who is familiar with the marquess family, had the same purpose as them, it would certainly be of great help in the future.

However…

It is a path that hurts the same others as you have walked, time and time again.

“…”

“What are you thinking about?”

After a while, Cleon laughed ‘Ha’.

What were you thinking about

I laughed at my own selfishness.

To think that he was worried about others walking the same path after finishing his revenge.

Since when did you become such a good person?

Cleon shook his head and held out his hand.

“…Join. Me too.”

“…”

“In hindsight, the information about that merchant is something that can avenge the grudge of the entire clan. There’s no reason I won’t help.”

“…I see. Then.”

Ruba grabs Cleon’s outstretched hand.

And just before shaking hands, her body she fell forward.

“Hey, hey!”

Cleon accepted such Ruba in front of him and moved to a place where he could leave her safely.