“....”

“.....”

......

A heavy silence was cast upon the room. I was seated on a bench while Brielle was seated on the one opposite to me.

“...What was that...?”

I knew what it was. But I wanted to know why she did it so boldly. It was one thing loving me, it was another kissing me out of the blue. Sure, she was a beautiful young woman but I was still hesitating. She was someone I cared deeply for. I didn’t know she had these feelings for me all this time.

It would be like having feelings for the son you raised. It sounded weird if I phrased it into words.

“That was....um...” Brielle seemed to be at a loss of how to describe what just happened. A determined expression appeared on her face. “It was a g-greeting. They d-do this in many countries. Hehehe.”

I was wrong. She wasn’t determined to be honest at all. Her entire face was red as if she only realized now what she did. Her mouth quivered and her eyes swam around the room.

“Pft...” I couldn’t hold my laugh in anymore. She was just too adorable. “Hahahahahaha!!”

“W-W-Why are you laughing...!” Brielle hit my arms with tears in her eyes. Her expression was full of shame and regret.

I grunted. What the hell? How is she that strong? It was a light slap but it felt like the times I was hit by Arielle but a lot harder.

“S-Sorry for hitting you...” She meekly lowered her head in apology. “Your wounds...Are you okay enough to move around?”

“It hurts just a little.” My arm was broken and my legs were numb from being hit so much so that wasn’t convincing at all.

I looked at Brielle with a smile. How long had it been since she’d been part of our family?

‘Was it ten years? No, a little longer?’

I couldn’t remember but it was certainly a long time ago. I was still a toddler and she was a former war orphan. I was getting used to my life as an Earthling born in this world.

It wasn’t Arthur that was my first friend. Rather, it was her. She might’ve been a servant of our house but she was still a part of our family. We treated her that way.

“Forget about me for now. How did you get here?” It was strange how she was able to travel through such a dangerous mountain. Damian and I had to ride griffins since the forest is crawling with monsters.

“T-That’s not important! Instead of staying here, we need to leave!”

Brielle grabbed my arm and stood up.

“Wait.”

“But everyone is worried–!”

I pulled her into a hug and whispered into her ear.

“I want to at least see my friend settle his score before I leave.” I released her from the hug and looked into her ocean blue eyes. “Will you listen to this one request?”

“....” Brielle averted her eyes and nodded. “...Fine. But we’re leaving right after. This place is too dangerous. Do you know that you almost gave me a heart attack during your fight!?”

Brielle hit my arm which made me grunt again.

“See!? Just touching you makes you squirm like a girl.”

“I’m not squirming...”

Brielle took something out of the bag she was carrying. It was an old grey robe of mine and short pants with a shirt.

‘Isn’t this the clothes I forgot to take the last time I left the village?’

“Where did this come from?”

“I brought this along. Since we won’t have time to finish your preparations for tomorrow, I took your suit to an inn so we’ll have to finish up there. Just look at yourself.”

She gestured at my upper body. I was covered in sweat and dirt. I couldn’t remember where my sweater and robe from earlier flew. Since my fight with Zelda was so intense, chances were that my clothes were burned to a crisp.

All I was wearing was ripped pants. My dick was only covered by torn rags.

Brielle shook her head with a sigh.

“Good grief. Why pack things for battle in the spatial storage and not clothes?”

I scratched my head with an awkward smile.

“Ahaha...I guess I was too fixated on my revenge for a second.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. It sounds like the battle is about to begin.”

I could hear the sound of the people cheering outside. Those nobles were really eager to see a fight, huh. There existed entertainment like coliseum battles in this world. Sometimes it was death matches between slaves or warriors. Maybe our fights today was similar to that excluding the death part.

“Since you want to see your friend’s match, we need to hurry.”

Brielle suddenly put her hands on my shoulders.

“Huh?”

“Since your body is sore, you won’t be able to dress yourself, right?” Brielle looked me up and down. “Strip.”

“Err, Brielle?”

She didn’t answer me and only put her hands on my pants.

“W-Wait!”

◇◆◇

The crowd was already heated since the last battle. They were expecting more from this fight between brothers. The arena floor was already repaired after the mages fixed it using magic. The residual mana from before was still in the air and the damage to the walls was still visible. The last battle was just too intense.

“Your name was Clyde, right~?”

“Wow~! He’s even cuter up close!”

“Let’s not touch him too much, girls. His body must hurt a lot.”

My mouth twitched when I was seated between a bunch of noble girls whose parents were affiliated with the Minerva household. They swarmed me not a second after I came out of the resting area. Since my legs were a little weak, I had to use a cane to walk around. Brielle was seated on my side and glared at the girls around us.

“Please refrain from bothering him. He’s very exhausted after the fight.”

“Oh, come on~ Surely, he can entertain cute girls like us, right?”

“Yeah, yeah!”

“I wanted to talk to Sir Clyde about his excellent swordsmanship as well!”

“Yeah! He was even better than an average knight of the order!”

A bunch of guys came towards me as well. I was swarmed by all of them. I could only lower my head. Being this popular was never my style. Well, it was my fault for being so flashy with my fight.

“You should at least celebrate your victory, boy.”

At that moment, an old woman’s voice came from beside me.

It was that woman with a black robe that was standing next to Indra before.

She looked at me with a smile.

“I’m sure that these girls would be willing to take up the space in your bed. Fufu. They like a strong man, after all.”

I looked at the girls and saw all of them blush.

“Err...”

The woman chuckled at me.

“All of you should take your seats. The match is about to begin. You can bother the boy after it’s over.” The woman shooed them all away. They reluctantly left while glancing at me.

When I looked back at Brielle, I saw a grimace on her face. She looked pretty angry. I hurriedly changed the subject.

“A-Anyway, may I know your name, ma’am? Since you’re Damian’s grandmother, I figured I’d introduce myself.”

Aubrey mentioned how Damian was only alive because of her. Damian told me that if a family member deserts the family then they’d send people after them to kill them. It seemed that this woman stopped all of their attempts.

“Very well. I already know your name, so introductions are unnecessary. My name is Barbara Louis Centra Barfay Minerva.”

“...I see. Your name is a little unique, huh?”

“I’m not from around here. I’m from the Southern continent’s nations.”

“Oh. Which nation?”

“It has already fallen so it’s name is irrelevant. Anyway, are you sure you’re not just an elf who trained for hundreds of years in your magic? What you did back there was something that baffled all of our household’s mages.”

“I’m not an elf...” I smiled wryly.

“Did you get blessed by the goddess, then?”

Even if I was given an opportunity to be blessed, I would never accept it if the one giving it to me was Sol. I would forgive her if she had big boobs but she was just too flat.

I shook my head at Barbara’s question. She seemed to have run out of questions as she just silently stared at me.

“Isn’t it obvious that he’s talented? Why are you so desperate to find out about his origins?”

Brielle spoke up at that moment. I was a little shocked that she spoke to Barbara out of the blue. Maids didn’t necessarily speak when in the presence of her lord and another high ranking person.

Barbara seemed a little surprised as well.

“Well, I guess that could also be it...”

She turned towards the arena. The referee–Roman—was standing in the middle of the arena. He looked towards both entrances leading to the resting areas. I saw Damian come out of one and Aubrey out of the other. The crowd made noise when the two brothers walked out.

I could see Barbara lean forward to observe the two of them. There was a worried expression on her face.

I looked at Damian. His face was filled with determination as he walked towards his eldest brother. The two of them stopped in the middle of the arena.

“As this is a sacred battle between brothers, I cannot intervene. However, if I suspect any of you of going for the kill then I will step forth. The battle from earlier was different as the outsider didn’t have to follow our rules. If he killed Lady Zelda then there was no helping it.”

Roman explained the rules. I looked towards the high seat where the main family was sitting. Zelda was sitting on the floor with only a cloth hiding her naked body. It seemed that they wanted to shame her for embarrassing their family name.

I could see rage appear on her face when the two of us made eye contact. Not only rage but fear as well. That was the same look I gave her that day.

My body trembled. Was it excitement? I got my revenge after so long so the feeling was quite refreshing.

Roman continued speaking.

“Is that alright with you, elders?” He looked at the main family sitting on the high seats. The three wrinkly old men, including Indra, nodded. “The four elders have given their approval so I will intervene only when either of you are near death. Either you give up or I stop the match. Agreed?”

“Yes.”

“Certainly.”

Damian and Aubrey respectively replied.

I could feel the tension in the judging by how everyone held their breaths. All of their eyes were glued to the arena.

“Very well.” Roman swung down his hand. “Begin!”

It was not even a second later that both of them disappeared.

THUNK...!

The entire arena shook when the two of them appeared out of nowhere and clashed with their blades. Damian was using a materialized dagger while Aubrey was using a sword. Their hands moved so fast that I could barely see their arms move.

All I could make out was a blur as the two of them fought. Both Zexel and Indra’s eyes were wide in surprise.

Despite not using aura or any mana yet, the two of them were already that fast and strong. The crowd seemed even more excited than with my battle against Zelda.

“...!”

Aubrey was the first one to activate his aura. This was the first time I had seen such a variant.

It wasn’t red, white or blue. It was an ominous black. Since Damian was a conjurer, he didn’t use aura for combat. Rather, he used black mana to strengthen his body and materialize weapons.

Damian jumped back when he saw Aubrey’s dark aura.

“Shall we settle this little brother?” Aubrey took off his robe and stood in a stance with his sword.

“Bring it, Aubrey.”

Damian summoned multiple flying swords using his mana. A vein popped out of Aubrey’s temple.

“Still as rude as always. Well, I can beat some respect into you."

The two brothers finally started their fight for real.