Bruder's voice drifted through the posh bar. It was a voice that naturally entered the ears of those who heard it and made them salivate. It was a voice with such an atmosphere.

　Lugis, the employer, Vestaline, the steel princess, and the surrounding mercenaries. All of them were listening to the voice of one person, as if they did not even object.

You can find a lot of people who are interested in this kind of thing. However, the mother was not a mercenary, but only a village girl.

　Bruder muttered, his lips moving.

　The woman my father loved soon gave birth to me and became my mother. So it must have been smooth sailing at the time. Even if he had to live as a mercenary, mashing up and crushing the lives of others. You have loved ones, a family, and friends.

　A father who believed in love and seeking salvation could not have had a better ideal. I honestly believe that from the bottom of my heart. In fact, I was happy when I was a child. Everyone loved me and wanted me to be happy, and I was convinced that that was all there was to this world.

　Oh, I was so happy in my life.

　So I wish it had ended there. A few years of life is enough for a person if it is the happiest. In fact, it would be more foolish to live a life of pain in a sluggish and redundant way, wouldn't it? Because happiness is always ready to fall out of our hands.

　Of course, the time of ruin has come.

　The village girl my father loved was not the only one he loved. She was beautiful and kind. I'm told she was adored and loved by many people. And so was his best friend.

　Mordor Gorn, a mercenary, was bought by the nobility and made bailiff of the village. My father was overjoyed at the success of his good friend.

　A few years later, he became a criminal and was thrown into a cold prison.

　He was charged with theft and murder in the village. Well, as a mercenary, it's not surprising that he committed those crimes. We all thought so. 　Of course, that's what I understood.

　The only difference was my mother. And, I suppose, myself. My younger sister was too young to understand what sin was. The only thing she understood was that her father was gone for some reason.

　She was not a person who would commit a crime except on the battlefield as a mercenary, but not anywhere else. He continued to plead his innocence until the end, but there was no way he would be listened to, and the day of his father's execution came.

　I hadn't seen my father for a long time, and he was very exhausted. He was looking at his best friend, who was holding a sword to cut off his father's head, with a heavy heart.

　On the day of the execution, we were in the front row. No, it had to be forced. The family of a sinner bears the end of that sinner on their shoulders. Being in the front row, listening to my father's sobs, listening to his screams, making me realize the sins of my own family. This was one of the rules in the village.

　My father could not die so easily.

　The sword used in executions is rusted to give the sinner immortal pain. A sword like that can't kill so easily. Rather, it would bite into flesh over and over again, cracking nerves and exposing the neckbone to keep life alive.

　Mordor swung his sword down on my father's neck again and again. Each time he lost consciousness, he would pour water on him, interrupting the ritual until he regained consciousness. Until the end of his life, he let him suffer. Mordor's face was covered by his helmet, so I couldn't see it.

　At the end. Finally, when his life was about to end, my father said. With sobs, tears, and spittle of blood, he said.

　--I'm sorry, man. Vestalinu, please.


　.


　I'm not sure what to make of this. It was strange that he had been able to keep it down until now.

　I'm not sure if you've ever heard of it or not, but I'm sure you've heard of it. The hatred in her eyes was not surprising.

　The mercenaries around him, as if sensing his intentions, raise their weapons with a dull glow. The sound of someone's throat clearing echoed unknowingly. Lugis did not say anything. The only thing he did was to sit back and watch Vestalinu's movements.

"...... How far do I have to go with that made-up story?

　Vesterline's voice sounded somewhat shaky. There was a hint of rejection of Bruder's story itself in her voice. But it didn't matter to Bruder. This was no longer a story to be told to Vestalines.

　He just wanted to let out the mud that had accumulated in his chest, the chains of his curse. That was all.

　Vestalinu's voice was not enough to hold her together, and Bruder's voice echoed again.

There was no more room for us in the village. Without anyone telling us to do so, we lived on the outskirts of the village, hidden away in the trees. And the day came, just as I was getting over it.

　Vestalinu's eyebrows twinkled. Vestalines eyebrows twinkled, as if wondering if she should listen to this voice. Vestalynn's throat would not release the voice that urged her to kill Bruder, even though she had already declared that the whole thing was nothing but a mischievous falsehood. While she hesitated, Bruder was uttering a string of words from his lips.




　◇◇◆


　Life in the forest was poor and miserable, but it was still quiet. And then, just as he was beginning to think that life was not so bad, it came. Suddenly, as in the past.

　That day, through the forest, Mordor-Gorn came to their home. Not to renew old acquaintances, of course, but to inquire about my mother's guilt with a squad of guards in tow.

　I couldn't believe it. Not that my mother might have committed a crime. I just couldn't understand or believe why Maldoror would give her such an impossible charge.

　At the very least, Mordor must have been my father's best friend, and he was a close friend of my mother. Although he was single, he often invited me to his house to sit around the table, and he was like a kind uncle to me.

　When he punished my father, I resented him. I was also sad. But as time went by, I realized that perhaps it was because he was faithful to his duties. I believed, and my mother believed, that Mordor was not evil.

　But here she is, about to be accused of an impossible crime. The charges are fraud and adultery. She cheated good people out of their daily bread and sometimes sold their bodies for income, Mordor said coldly.

　It was impossible.

　My mother has never even approached the village on her own since she moved to the forest. Rather, she was hypersensitive to the people of the village, and whenever she went to the village to get a few necessities, she was always accompanied by herself. I don't think he's even spoken to the villagers.

　That's impossible. Such a crime is impossible. So why would you do such a thing?

　Now I realize how foolish my head is. I now understand how foolish my mind was, how it was like a poor sheep that believed everything.

　--I had been deceived. Not just my mother, my father, myself. We were all deceived by this man.

　My father's sins were made by this man. I'm sure of it. At that moment, I felt a gut-wrenching emotion in my belly.

　I'm going to take it.

　He's going to take my father's life and my mother's as well, just like the plunderer Mordor Gorn. I felt a shiver run down my spine and a cold tongue of ice lick my body. I knew that my father had been deceived and tricked. So why is that?

　I didn't want to know. I didn't want to imagine. Yeah, but my brain wanted to understand.

　My father and Moldy, they were so close. And yet... Mordor held an unimaginable grudge or something close to it in his chest. For several years, maybe even longer.

　And yet, Mordor opens his mouth.

"You will spend the rest of your life in prison, repenting of your sins. I'll take care of what's left of her.

　In that moment, I understand.

　It wasn't just his father that this man held a grudge against. It was also his mother. And he's trying to take not only their lives but everything from them.

　That must be the thought behind this man, Mordor-Gorn the Plunderer.


　I'm not sure.


　That was the breaking point for Vestalinu.

"...... Stop it. That's enough. Shut your mouth!

　There was a loud bang on the table. There was a loud thump on the table, and the sound filled the room, followed by a moment of silence. No one said a word. Everyone is keeping a close eye on Vestaline's movements.

　There was only one person who didn't care about her actions.

"Steel princess, do you have any memories of your childhood?

　Bruder's voice is low, like it's crawling on the ground. An irritated voice responds. It was, of course, Vestalynne's.

"Yes, of course. As if to prove that the words you speak are nothing but nonsense, even the image of my father Mordor going into battle as a mercenary is clear.

　Yes, this man's stories are all fiction. Yes, it must be. Because I remember. I grew up watching my father, Mordo, go into battle, his brave back. I grew up watching him go into battle with a big sword. The only thing I remember about my mother is how warm she was. I remembered my father well.

　I remember my father very well." Bruder's voice seemed to lighten up when he heard Vestalinu's words.

"Hey, steel princess. Let's not lie.

　Vestalynne felt her head heat up as if the moisture was evaporating.

　Of all people, this mercenary denied his own glorious memories and insisted that his words were false. That's enough. That's enough. If I kill him now, those annoying words will disappear--.



You've got to be kidding me. By the time you're old enough to remember, Mordo Gorn will have been bailiff general or something. He's not going into battle as a mercenary.

　--Kill this rude man.

　The voice slipped from my throat to my chest. My heart palpitated painfully, and I could feel the pain as if something had been struck into it.

　What is this person saying? What kind of foolishness is he talking about?

　That's impossible. It can't be. Because I'm sure I saw it. Yeah, I must be misremembering. I'm sure that's my father on patrol as bailiff general.

　These endless thoughts swirl around me. What's true and what's false. There was a kind of blankness in my brain that made it impossible to know.

"...... I'll ask you again, Princess Steel.

　And then Bruder's voice sounded. It was as if he was speaking directly to my brain, filling in the blanks.

"Do you really have any memories of your childhood?

　Vestalynne felt a needle, or perhaps a larger and sharper stake, driven into her heart.