Chapter 112

「The festival in Uruk?」

When we asked him if we could go to the festival, Kurou raised his voice like I did .

Maa, it was confusing .

We fought the demons, and barely escaped with our lives . Upon returning home, we were greeted by multiple newcomers, only to be invited to partake in the festival with them on the following day .

If it were me, I wouldn’t want to let that group of people stay at my house either .

「…are you going?」

When I asked that, Kurou frowned and sank into silence .

It was an unpleasant place where the guy who killed his younger sister was residing in .

I don’t know why he had yet to exact his revenge up until now, but it would take courage for him to go .

「Do you really want to go?」

「Yes . Amelia wanted to go as well . She, by nature, has a weakness for food . 」

I see, Kurou muttered, and blankly stared into space, just like Yoru did last night .

I sighed .

The hero and the others went to go help with the reconstruction of the town .

Amelia and Yoru went out with Zeal-san .

They went to harvest some things in the mountain, likely due to the increase in the number of people residing at Kurou’s home .

Mountain climbing was still too tough for me, so Kurou and I were left to housesit .

After having put up with the silence for a while, I tried inviting Kurou as well .

I heard about Kurou and Yoru’s encounter and about Kurou’s younger sister from Amelia .

I also had a younger sister, so I somewhat understood his feelings .

No matter how much we fight, even if she said, ‘I hate you’, she’s still my precious family .

Yui and I were born at almost exactly the same time, so we were much closer than normal siblings .

Yui didn’t hesitate in saying that the doctor made a mistake and that she was actually supposed to be the big sister, and she definitely never thought of me as a big brother, even now .

She was extremely unwilling to call me onii-chan .

However, no matter how cheeky she was, she would always be a cute younger sister to me .

If Yui was killed by someone before I returned, I don’t think I would be able to stop myself .

I would use any and every means to make them regret it .

This was my opinion, and I’d imagine Kurou’s opinion wasn’t much different

「…do you want to know why I don’t destroy my younger sister’s enemy even though I know the truth?」

Kurou said that and waved his tail .

I looked at Kurou with surprise .

His eyes that were staring into space had looked directly at me .

However, there was no light in those obsidian eyes .

「I can guess your thoughts when I look into your eyes . You have a poker face, but the eyes speak louder than words . 」

Perhaps it was because his appearance looked to be around the same age as Zeal-san, I sometimes forget that Kurou was someone who had lived for more than a century .

Kurou started talking with a peaceful look on his face .

「There are two reasons . First off, I don’t think that my younger sister would approve of me dirtying my hands with the blood of our brethren, regardless of the circumstances . The second reason is… . 」

He said this, and swung his fist down onto his knee in frustration .

「Because of my age, I can’t fight for a long time . A human might not be able to understand, but the aging of us beastmen happens all at once . There are also many brethren who, one day, became confined to the bed even though they had been moving around energetically the day before . 」

Hee, my voice unconsciously leaked out .

It seems to be an aging process characteristic of the beastmen .

I didn’t know that .

「There are individual differences, but in my case, it was early . Almost immediately after my younger sister died, I gathered information on Gram and this took fifty years . I had come up with a plan, but I aged when I was about to put it into practice . Because I had done many reckless things when I was young, the deterioration began ahead of time . 」

Kurou had a self-deprecating smile on his lips .

It seems that Gram had quite the luck in escaping trouble .

Or, was it that Kurou had none at all .

「Ria’s staff, that was something I made . I had made that for her long before that girl entered the royal family because she would be the Hand of Protection in the future . It is the best staff that I’ve made . It notified me of your critical situation . …I had hesitated on whether to go help you guys though . 」

Which meant that, the ones who saved our lives were Kurou and Ria, huh .

For them to have known each other before she had entered the royal family… .

What kind of relationship did they have?

「There was a reason why I saved you . 」

As I was thinking about the relationship between Kurou and Ria, Kurou said this with a serious expression on his face and looked at me .

He was looking directly at me just like he did a while ago, but unlike before, there was a strange light within those eyes .

I held my breath when I saw it .

「…what . 」

I couldn’t think of what he was going to say to me . I asked this while confused .

The light was still flickering within Kurou’s eyes, as a slight smile floated on his lips .

「…――― . 」