Chapter 51: The Fallen Brother, the Lost Sister

"……"

A girl stands alone, gazing up at the night sky.

She reaches out toward an unreachable star, trying to grasp it, but her hand cuts through empty space.

"…Brother…"

The one who had been there was family.

The man who cut down their comrade Irine, rallied bandits, and tried to ravage the town—he was her blood-related brother.

"…He was alive…"

She had thought he was dead. She had given up, thinking there was no way he could’ve survived.

"Lev, go ahead of us…"

"Lev-chan, leave this to us and run!!"

Her family had stood in the path of the monster, shielding her.

"…Seek out Grandpa Ressal. Stay safe, Lev."

"Brother…"

She couldn’t let the time they bought with their lives go to waste.

The girl ran. She ran with everything she had.

The monster didn’t give chase. Maybe… maybe it was devouring her family.

The thought was nauseating, unbearable.

So she kept running. Fleeing from that demonic place, from reality itself, the girl ran endlessly.

Eventually, when her strength gave out, when she collapsed to the ground, gasping and sobbing—

Countless eyes emerged from the darkness around her.

Tragically, the place she’d so desperately fled to—

"WuoOoVo!!"

—was the dead zone where the main force of the demon horde had been waiting.

---

"That man was… Lev-san’s brother?"

"Yeah, no doubt about it."

That night—

Karl had gathered all of us for a meeting.

The place was the vigilante corps’ base, the large room that had been assigned to us.

"You mean Ray of the Silent Blade… the leader of yesterday’s raid, right?"

"Yeah. His sword technique, appearance, and behavior—all match her brother. Isn’t that right, Lev?"

"…Yeah."

It was… another headache of a situation.

Lev’s brother had miraculously survived. That alone should’ve been cause for celebration, but…

"To think my brother… ended up among the bandits…"

"……"

Lev was deeply dejected.

Her real brother, alive—and yet now one of the thugs who stripped Ilyu of her clothes and whipped her while laughing.

There was no way she wouldn’t be shaken.

"M-Maybe there’s a reason. I’m sure… there must’ve been circumstances he couldn’t help…"

"And what if there were?"

Trying to offer comfort to Lev, who looked like she might vanish at any moment, I spoke—only to be quickly interrupted by Sakura.

"There’s no such thing as a person who becomes a villain for no reason. It's far easier not to become one."

"Sakura-san…"

"Whether he had a reason or not, he still has to face his crimes. Once you’ve chosen the path of a villain, you’ve got to live with it until karma catches up. So that when it does, it’ll be all the more miserable."

Coming from Sakura—who had once been a villain herself—those words carried weight.

Maybe that was her own way of viewing life and death as a former gang member.

"That said, I can more or less imagine the circumstances, young lady. There might be enough there to at least sympathize with why he had to fall to banditry."

"…I think so too. Ressal’s past situation, Korippa’s administration, and the fate of Lev’s grandfather… it’d be hard not to bear a grudge against the rulers or the people after barely escaping here with his life."

"So that’s why he became a bandit, huh…?"

Ray must have despaired—just like his sister Lev had.

He had lost all family, his hometown had been twisted into something grotesque, and the rulers were people he could only hate.

With everything taken from him… perhaps revenge was all he had left.

"If he finds out that his sister is under our protection, I’m sure Ray will surrender quietly. From what I’ve heard, Lev was someone he treasured enough to risk his life to protect."

"That does seem likely."

"Then we strike while the bandits are leaderless and wipe them out. As for Lev’s brother, we’ll do everything we can to protect him. That’s our plan. Thoughts?"

"…Sounds good to me."

Even Maika, whose body still bore clear rope marks, agreed to Karl’s strategy.

If she wasn’t against it, then it must have a decent chance of success.

"Just be ready in case things don’t go smoothly. Like if Lev’s brother refuses to surrender."

"…Hmm."

"Karl—or maybe in this case, Irine. If it comes to it, do you have the resolve to turn Lev’s brother to ash?"

With a slightly testing gaze, Maika looked at me.

…Could I really kill Lev’s brother?

"If… if it’s necessary to protect the people… then yes."

"Good answer. Knowing your nature, I believe you’ll follow through if you said it."

"I won’t let it come to that…"

To be honest, the thought of having to kill a teammate’s family was unbearable.

But if not doing so meant putting Karl or the others in danger… then I couldn’t allow myself to hesitate.

"And… may I ask something?"

As the conversation was coming together, a cheerful voice cut in with a question for Karl.

"What is it, Ilyu?"

"Well, I understand this might be a bit out of place, but I’d like to ask anyway."

Her usual cheer replaced by a serious expression befitting a nun, she posed her question to Karl.

"Why are we saving only Lev-san’s brother?"

"……"

That question, undoubtedly, could only have come from Ilyu—someone who had only recently joined us.

"Surely there are others among the bandits who also fell into that life due to unavoidable circumstances, not just Lev-san’s brother."

"…Mm, mm…"

"If you, Karl-san, intend to save only Lev’s brother, Ray-san, then isn't that personal bias, not justice?"

At her words, Karl fell silent.

Ilyu had struck right at the heart of it. We wanted to save Ray because he was Lev’s brother.

If he were just some random bandit with no connection to us, we likely wouldn’t even be considering it.

That wasn’t justice—it was personal.

"And what exactly are you trying to say with that?" Sakura asked sharply.

"Forgive me if I made things uncomfortable. I just… I'm very interested in hearing how you all view this."

With a serious expression uncharacteristic of her usual cheer, Ilyu leaned in and looked directly at Karl.

It was clear she believed this was something she had to ask.

"…Yeah, you're probably right."

"Karl?"

"I want to save Ray because of my own feelings. I just… I don’t want to see Lev wearing that sad expression anymore."

"I see."

Karl admitted it plainly.

How did Ilyu feel about that answer?

"Honestly, nuns really are naïve," Sakura muttered.

"…What do you mean by that, Sakura-san?"

"You don’t even know what justice really means, do you?"

Hearing the exchange, Sakura rested her cheek on her hand, looking exasperated.

To her, it all seemed like a ridiculous conversation.

"Justice means doing what’s right, something that everyone can agree on—"

"And that idea of what’s 'right' depends on personal beliefs and values."

"Mm…"

Sakura scoffed through her nose and folded her arms again.

Still looking sideways at the nun, she continued.

"If there are ten people, there are ten kinds of justice. Even bandits have their own sense of justice."

"That can’t be! How can something like a bandit's justice be called justice at all…"

"In fact, bandits can be even stricter about that kind of thing. There's no real law among them, so if they don't follow certain unspoken rules, everyone ends up dead—enemies and allies alike."

It was true that a bandit's justice was probably very different from ours.

But there was a certain image of gangs and yakuza being obsessed with things like honor and loyalty. That probably came from the fact that without some kind of minimum 'manners' in their world, it would devolve into pure chaos.

And maybe, that too was a form of justice—at least for them.

"When your ideology changes, so does your justice. But one thing never changes—what lies at the core of justice."

"The core?"

"Yeah. At its root, justice is always about…"

Sakura’s brown hair swayed slightly.

She traced her finger across her glossy lips and spoke softly:

"…a fierce, burning desire to protect something."

She ended her words with that declaration.

"Justice is born out of personal feelings. Trying to separate justice from emotion is just nonsense."

"Mm… mm mm…"

Hearing that, Ilyu now fell silent.

It seemed even she had to admit there was some truth to Sakura’s words.

"What about you, Maika?"

"Thinking about justice or emotion is stupid. That stuff doesn't matter. But that swordsman—Lev’s brother—he clearly looked strong. I’m all for getting him to surrender and turning him into an ally. Strategically, we’d gain the upper hand."

"Oh right, you don’t have a moral compass."

"What’s that supposed to mean!?"

Maika was the same as ever.

"What about you, Irine?"

"…Let me see. At first, I believed that someone who had fallen into banditry deserved only to be hunted down."

Karl turned to me for my opinion as well.

But my answer was already decided.

"Perhaps that belief was a foolish one. Certainly, those who threaten the people should be shown no mercy—but even so, we should first listen to their reasons before judging them."

There is value in understanding what drove someone to become a villain.

Especially in cases like this one—where someone was forced to fall due to misrule, despite being fundamentally good—there’s all the more reason to act.

If nobles are the reason the people turned to crime, then it should be the nobles who save them.

"Exactly. Even bandits have families. If there are people among the criminals who can be saved, then we should seek a solution through dialogue and try to help them."

"…Yeah."

"Probably, but isn’t that basically what the teachings of the Macro Church are supposed to be about? If the people stray into wrongdoing, don’t just punish them—rethink the policies that led them there."

Huh. Hearing it like that… I guess the Macro Church’s teachings aren’t so bad after all.

"…Alright then, let’s try nudging Ryoga a little. Judging by his attitude, if he captures Ray, he’s likely to lop his head off on the spot."

"Yes. A head is a valuable trophy when it comes to military accomplishments, but it’s easily replaced. If I, as a noble, falsely claim that one of Korippa’s mercenary captains is ‘Ray,’ that’ll settle it."

"Whoa, that’s a surprise. I didn’t think you’d go for shady stuff like that, Irine."

"I don’t like it, of course. But Lev-san is more important."

Alright. At least now we have a potential path to save Lev’s brother.

What remains is to coordinate with the vigilante corps and set up the operation to capture him alive.

If we show Lev to him, he’ll likely surrender without resistance. Capturing him alive shouldn’t be all that difficult.

"Alright, let’s head over to Ryoga’s. Irine, you’re coming too."

"Since I’m in charge of the false testimony, yes."

Everything hinges now on whether we can convince the vigilantes.

That will decide it all.

---

"Oh, it's you two. What do you want?"

"We've got a favor to ask. Are you busy?"

"There's always work, but I'm on break right now. I can at least hear you out."

When we left the room and headed to Ryoga's office, we found him sitting in a corner, taking a break.

Just like he said—he was resting.

"What are you doing all the way over there, Ryoga? Is the corner more relaxing or something?"

"Nah, just a personal thing. Nothing important."

With that, he slowly got to his feet and turned toward us.

Good—if he’s got time, we might as well explain…

"…Hm? Is that… hair?"

"Sharp eyes. Yeah, it’s my sister’s."

The words slipped out when I caught sight of something unusual.

It was a bundle of long hair, lying in the spot where Ryoga had just been sitting.

"It’s a memento from my sister. Don’t touch it. That thing’s like my reverse scale—touch it, and you won’t live long."

"A memento… Then, your sister is—"

"Dead. She was killed."

I see. Considering everything that’s happened in Ressal, that’s not exactly surprising.

Plagues, unrest, bandits running wild—it’s no wonder there were deaths…

"My sister was killed by that bastard… ‘Silent Blade Ray.’"

"What?"

…

What?

"Ray—the man you fought the other day—he’s the one who killed my sister. If I’m being honest, I’d love to gut that piece of shit right now. But damn it, he’s strong. Ridiculously strong."

"Y-Yes… he certainly is."

"If I tried to take him out now, it’d cost too many lives. I can’t let the people in the vigilante corps die just because of my personal grudge. That’s why I’ve held back… over and over again."

Ryoga’s shoulders trembled slightly.

Gone was the cheeky, perverted shorty from earlier in the day.

His face was now twisted into something more akin to a demon consumed by revenge.

"But seeing what you guys could do in that last battle… I was thrilled. I thought, ‘Finally—the time has come.’"

"The time?"

"Yeah. The time to kill that man."

…

………

"With your help, I can finally kill Ray. I can’t wait to hear that bastard’s dying screams."

"R-Right…"

"Heh. It’s almost funny. I’ve talked about justice for Ressal, for the people, for earning the nobles’ favor… But in the end, it was revenge all along that’s kept me going. Pathetic, right?"

Ryoga gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"But don’t worry. I’m not the kind of loser who’d let hatred blind him into making stupid decisions."

"I… see."

"I’ve held myself back all this time. Even when I thought I had a shot at killing Ray, I restrained myself for the greater good. I’m not about to throw that all away now."

With a face close to tears, Ryoga gently stroked the bundle of hair lying in the corner.

"Just a bit longer. Just a little longer, Sayo…"

As he whispered those words and caressed the memento with tender care—

"So? What did you want to talk about, you two?"

"Ah, uh, well… that is…"

Neither Karl nor I could say it.

There was no way we could just come out and say, "Actually, we want to save Ray."