I Am the Hero's Immature Younger Brother

“Geloman.”

Temar raised himself up. When the two men with their enormous builds stood facing each other, a strange tension settled over them.

“How long are you going to keep running away from reality?”

“Running away?”

Temar furrowed his brow. What was he suddenly talking about? Running away from reality? Was that something to say to a person returning to the royal castle after ending a fierce battle?

“Did you catch Luman’s playfulness or something?”

He had just been having such pleasant imaginings.

Temar softened his mood and let out a sigh. His expression relaxed gently.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t pay attention to the soldiers. I was only thinking about myself.”

Come to think of it, the soldiers’ mood had sunk considerably. No matter how heavy the losses were, it was still a war they had won. The enemy nation would not be able to aim for the Setoran Kingdom’s border for some time. The information that there was only one anti-Hero weapon was good news for them as well. The fact that the road of return, which should have been overflowing with joy, was this quiet was largely his fault too. He, who should have encouraged, praised, and led the soldiers, had been thinking only of his younger brother.

“But couldn’t you all do it sometimes? I have a younger brother I need to take care of. A young younger brother who looks only at me.”

Temar moved his lips awkwardly. Pushing some task onto someone else was an extremely awkward thing to do.

‘Yes, I’ve changed. Now I’m going to take care of Ren too, not only the greater cause.’

This must be the attitude Luman had emphasized again and again.

“Do you not know? Or do you want to pretend not to know?”

“......?”

“If you, who should know better than anyone that ignoring the truth does not make it something that never happened, are pretending not to know, then that must mean it is something that hard to endure.”

There seemed, at first glance, to be pity mixed into Geloman’s voice.

“But pretending not to know will not solve anything, Temar.”

“......”

“We have no time to collapse.”

It was not pity.

Geloman was sympathizing with Temar.

Sympathizing with what?

“Do not look away. Hold your place and take what there is to gain.”

“......”

After patting Temar’s shoulder once, he turned his back.

‘Was that the right thing to do?’

Even Geloman, who rarely questioned the things he had done, had no choice but to look back on the situation just now.

He could not leave Temar as he was, when no matter how he looked at him, he seemed not to be in his right mind.

If he truly had gone mad, Geloman intended to show him to Giselle. A Hero with power outside the standard going mad at any time would not be strange, Geloman had thought calmly for a very long time.

Fortunately, to his eyes, Temar had not completely gone mad. He was merely, as ordinary humans did, desperately looking away from a fact difficult to accept. Whether he accepted a fact he did not want to accept or not was entirely up to Temar.

If he truly was suffering from a serious mental abnormality, Geloman would......

‘That is a hasty thought.’

Geloman soon stopped thinking. He was not someone who originally thought for long.

He merely acted according to orders and fulfilled his mission.

If it was Ragniel’s decision, he only had to follow it. Because that was his mission.

And in his eyes, Ragniel had made quite a benevolent decision.

Had he not given Ren freedom? Even if it meant placing a prohibition that would make him impossible to ever see again.

Was it not a good thing, if he thought of the boy living somewhere, smiling brightly?

However, Geloman too would not be able to live while completely forgetting that Ren. But as always, time would sweep away a certain measure of memory.

***

There was a lively energy flowing through the royal castle.

The sad news of the death of a highest-ranking priest had been delivered, but it was only natural that the joy of victory was greater than that.

For the glorious heroes who would return, the royal palace was in the middle of preparing a banquet.

“Phew. I’m dying.”

A maid carefully carrying precious ice frozen solid with magic suddenly sniffed.

“What’s wrong?”

The maid who had briefly set the giant block of ice down and was wiping the sweat from her forehead asked.

“What is it? You’re not a puppy, so why are you sniffing like that?”

Even as the maid asked that, she seemed inwardly curious too, and began sniffing as well.

The maid who had been frantically sniffing scratched her cheek with an “oops” look.

“No, there have been strange rumors lately. I guess even I got influenced for no reason!”

“What rumors?”

“You don’t know?”

“What don’t I know?”

The maid’s eyes went round.

“Oh, right! You don’t belong to the main palace. Then you might not know.”

“What is it, why are you acting like that! Don’t make me curious and just tell me already.”

The maid, already exhausted from hard labor, wanted to rest for a moment too. After checking to see whether anyone was passing nearby, she quietly opened her mouth.

“They say a ghost appears around here lately.”

“A ghost? What ghost?”

The maid gave a snort of laughter, her face losing interest. It was a face anyone could see was mocking.

At that, the face of the maid who had brought it up turned red.

“I’m not saying this for no reason, you know? There are so many rumors that people heard a ghost sobbing around here! They even said screams can be heard every night!”

“That makes no sense. Wasn’t it a person? And if that had happened, someone would have come to investigate. Is the royal palace somewhere just anyone can come and go?”

“You little? Are you saying I’m spouting nonsense right now?”

“That’s what it is! And why are you smelling things? What kind of smell would come from a ghost?”

“Do you not even know they say evil spirits smell like rotting corpses, you?! And this corridor hasn’t been used in quite a while! Do you not even know the office was moved because of the ghost?”

“What is that supposed to mean now?”

When the maid who had been arguing faltered, the maid who had brought up the ghost story put on a triumphant expression.

“You probably don’t know the story about His Majesty previously breaking every mirror there was, either. There’s a rumor that was all the evil spirit’s doing too. If that wasn’t true, why would he have moved his office? Everyone knows, and you’re the only one who doesn’t!”

The maid who had been listening as though accepting her story fiercely frowned at the final words.

“There must have been some other reason! Where in the world are there ghosts!”

“There are! Then come check at night!”

The maids fought for quite a while. Somehow this fight spread into a battle of pride, and unless one of them apologized first, it showed no sign of easily calming down. In the end, they promised to return to this corridor again in the middle of the night, when everyone would be frantic with the banquet, and agreed to move the giant block of ice first for now.

“Waaaaaaaah---!”

A tremendous cheer rang out as though shaking the kingdom.

It was a cheer about three times louder than when they had seen off those departing for the battlefield. The powerful, roaring support they had heard when Ragniel gave his speech had become even hotter with the heat of welcome for the heroes who had brought them the joy of victory.

With the gates of the royal castle wide open, Ragniel, sitting gallantly on the chair atop the great platform, was waiting for those cheers to come closer.

Even though the distance between the castle gate and the royal castle was by no means short, the heat of the cheers that had begun far away seemed to seize the royal castle in an instant.

The nobles were seated on both sides below Ragniel’s chair. Rather than talking about the Heroes returning after winning victory, they looked busy talking about the prophecy.

The fact that a spy from an enemy nation had infiltrated deep into the kingdom was now known to everyone who was in a position to know. Their conversation ran along the line that in order to uncover him, a trigger was needed, but since there was no suitable one, it might be better to put out even bait.

“Perhaps everything has already been revealed, yet someone is keeping his mouth shut.”

At one noble’s words, the murmuring stopped for a moment. Dozens of pairs of eyes turned toward the person standing beside Ragniel.

The one who communicated directly with Sorse was Giselle. The nobles were slowly growing one suspicion. Was Giselle perhaps blocking the meaning of a prophecy already revealed by Sorse?

However, that suspicion did not last long. Because Giselle had never once taken private profit. At most, the private profit he would take concerned Ragniel’s safety.

“The matter regarding the star is still unresolved as well. I wonder if it is time to apply pressure.”

“That is true too. If it is a useless institution, is it not only natural that it should be weeded out?”

The nobles added one polished word after another, subtly looking at Ragniel and Giselle.

Even as Ragniel listened to their conversation, he did not so much as blink. His gaze went far ahead, then returned to the hourglass placed by his fingertips.

“Giselle.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

At Ragniel’s call, Giselle stepped closer. Toward Giselle, who bent at the waist, Ragniel whispered in his ear. Because Giselle turned his head, from a glance, it looked like an angle as though they were kissing.

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