Part 4

Inside a shabby tent, Sliven’s body was bound with ropes.

“Ggh…”

Earlier, he rode using the fastest horse on the village and went to save his daughter alone.

Obviously, he did not stand a chance. Even if you consider his will to save his daughter, it still wasn’t enough to overcome the more than twenty people opposing him. He only lasted five minutes before getting captured.

He was now forced to kneel before Grindat.

“Boss, should we add him to the sacrifices?”

“Yes we should. The more there are, the better.”

Grindat spoke with a cold voice.

Hearing Grindat’s words, Sliven looked fearlessly on Grindat and scowled.

“Where did you take my daughter!? What did you bastards do to her?!”

“There is no need for you to know. Now, take this man away.”

“Yes, boss!”

Grindat looked uninterestingly at Sliven who began struggling futilely. Up until now, no one had ever tried to stop him and this was the first time someone did. But he was disappointed when he found out that it was just at this level.

“Still two more days, huh.”

He recalled the time limit imposed to them. He could not show it on his face but there was anger welling up inside him. Though that would not stop him from doing this.

‘I’ve already decided.’

While renewing his conviction, one of his subordinates hastily went inside his tent.

“Boss! There is a group of people heading our way!”

“How many are they? And how do they look like?”

The subordinate began speaking as if he was nervous.

“There are around four to five people! I can’t tell who or what or where they came from!”

‘If not the knights, then who?’

Grindat got a little nervous earlier because he thought the knights were dispatched by the city already. He felt relieved that it was not the case.

“Another report!”

Another of his subordinate entered.

“There are a total of five people! From their clothes, they looked like adventurers, and low leveled at that!”

“Is that so?”

He thought he could leave it to his subordinates but he felt he should be cautious about this. His subordinates were around level ten while he was in his twenties.

‘One should not underestimate an opponent.’

With that thought in mind, Grindat rose from his chair.

“I’ll go out too. Let’s add these scoundrels to our list of sacrifices!”

“”Yes!””

The three left the tent to meet the people arriving.

“Onii-sama!”

He suddenly heard a shout as he instantly recognized the voice.

‘Tch, why is she here?’

He tried not to look at the person who shouted at him.

“Onii-sama! Won’t you stop with this already?! This really isn’t like you!”

There were five people in front of him. With his sister, there were three females and one male. Judging from their clothes, they really looked like complete beginners.

“I will not stop and there is no reason for me to stop. Simply like that.”

Grindat wanted his cold words to douse his sister’s spirit. She was the one reason why he resorted to this but he would instead want to die rather than tell the truth.

“But onii-sama—!”

“Silence! If you can’t defeat me, there’s no use in talking anymore.”

He could see his sister bit her lips and he wanted to hurt himself because of that. But his reason of doing this was a lot more important than anything else. More so than his reputation. More so than his relations. More so than his life.

The male in the opposing group then made his way forward as if blocking his sister from him. Grindat felt such pain upon seeing that.

“Good! Good! No one can stop me unless my breath draws its last!”

“Is there really no way to stop you from doing this?”

The person protecting his sister spoke. There was a fierce look in his eyes that held strong determination inside them. Grindat immediately acknowledged the threat before him.

“I will let nothing stop me!”

His eyes, too, held the same strength and determination.

Both of them made a single step forward.

The people around them made no move. The four people behind the person in front of him and his more than twenty subordinates just watched the two of them intently.

Grindat knew that if they just use their advantage in numbers, they could overwhelm the group of attackers easily. But upon seeing the eyes of the person in front of him, he abandoned that idea. The people around them looked as if they also sensed his intention for a duel.

“Fire ball!”

Without a single hesitation, he casted his only magic in hand, his most trusted fire ball. It took him two seconds to fully form it and fire it.

The unknown attacker also unhesitatingly charged forward with his right arm stretched out as if catching the fire ball.

“Guah!”

A scream came from the other side. Grindat’s fire ball made a direct hit.

The health bar of the one in front of him instantly dropped by 95 percent. This proved to Grindat that he was facing a low level person.

“What is wrong, what is wrong? Is that all you have?! Entertain me more!”

Grindat abandoned his earlier cautious stance and went full with his offensive attacks.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“I forgot Imagine Breaker is not here.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. Here I come!”

“I don’t get what you are talking about!”

Grindat once again formed a fire ball in his hands and shot it out towards his enemy.

“What?!”

Instead of blocking the magic like earlier, his enemy simply evaded his magic.

‘It hit him easily before, so how?!’

Some form of panic appeared inside Grindat but he did not let it show on his face. His face was still in a smile as he let out countless fire balls.

But contrary to his expectations, the one in front of him easily dodged all his fire balls as their distanced was closed.

“No way!”

There was a punch incoming to Grindat’s face but he could not avoid it as he was still in the middle of casting another fireball. The hit landed perfectly on his face.

“Guh!”

The impact made Grindat lose balance.

Then a smile appeared on his face as he checked on the damage done.

“What is this!? Ahahahaha!!! Just two percent! You can’t stop me like that!”

The person in front of him did not say anything as he just clenched his fist.

“I can kill you with just one hit of my fireball! No chance for you, you scoundrel!”

Him dashing out fireballs and the boy dodging continued on as the punches continued to land a hit on his face while his magic did not hit even once.

Grindat’s previously laughing face turned sour after his HP reached down to thirty percent.

“How can this be!? How can someone like you dodge my fireballs continuously!?”

“I’ve dealt with lots of attacks stronger than this!”

“Lies!”

He could not believe his enemy’s words. If what he said was true, his level should’ve been much higher than Grindat’s already.

The two continued their exchange of attacks until Grindat’s HP reached ten percent.

While panting, Grindat spoke with despair.

“I won’t be defeated! I can’t let myself be defeated by someone like you who understands nothing!”

Grindat’s fireball glowed brighter. His continuous use of it raised its level by one.

“This is the only way I can protect the person most important to me!”

The person in front of him stopped in his charge. They looked towards each other eye to eye.

“What do you mean this is the only way?! You’re just making your sister sad by doing these!”

“You think I did not know that! I already prepared myself for that! Her life is more important than any of that!”

Grindat began throwing out fireballs much fiercer than his previous ones.

“If I stop doing this then that thing will surely take away everyone’s lives! Do you know how I felt when I decided to do this?!”

He began to recall the events two years prior.

Grindat was just out in the woods together with the subordinates by his side now. They were hunting for food for their village. It was at that time when, due to an accident, a powerful monster awoke. One thing led to another as they now chose to offer sacrifices to save the greater good.

“What can I possibly do?! Against such creature, we just did not have enough power!”

“You could have asked for help! There was no reason why you could not have done that before resorting to something like this!”

“What can we offer as a reward?! Our village is just small and poor! We can’t afford the services of others!”

The person in front of him then clenched his arms tighter than ever in their fight.

“There are people who will move even without things such as rewards! If you had just simply asked for help, surely help would have arrived! Believing that people will only move if there’s something to be gained from it, I’ll destroy that illusion of yours!”

‘I would die.’

Grindat immediately thought after seeing the person in front of him.

‘But I guess I deserved it.’

All of the things he did was ever etched within his heart. He knew the gravity of the things he did. The person in front of him would surely be able to solve their village’s problem. This person would definitely get help to settle things.

As his HP dropped to two percent, Grindat looked at his sister while he was falling down from the force of a punch. He at least wanted to see his sister’s image before he died and so he revealed a smile he hadn’t shown for a long time.

Grindat then closed his eyes as he await his end.

…

A few seconds passed by but nothing happened.

“Eh?”

The attack never came. That put him into confusion.

“What are you getting dazed there for?”

The youth asked him while looking at him.

“You still have lots of repenting to do, right? You have to atone for your sins, but more importantly than that, isn’t there someone waiting for you all this time?”

The youth, with a smile on his face, moved his body sideward. That revealed the person behind him.

“Onii-sama!”

With tears in her eyes, Yulia rushed towards him and embraced him.

“W-what?”

With a trembling voice, Grindat spoke.

“You stupid brother! Why are you always like this?! Why do you have to shoulder everything upon yourself?!”

Grindat wasn’t able to form any words as tears began falling on his face.