Busy as ever, the city Dulfort, lived every day full of people walking from there to here, a center with so many people walking was only possible due to the vast amount of shops.
In the middle of the crowd, a young man wearing dark clothes and a girl who was walking around impressed stood out a little from the majority.
Satoru and Envy, it had taken less than three hours to reach this city thanks to Litchia, who now returned to the city of the dark elves, to continue the plan of destruction of the kingdom.
"Hey, big brother, what are we here to buy?" Envy, not knowing why they were there, didn't even look at Satoru, she was so curious about the landscape of a big city.
"Supplements, and some herbs, the rest is a secret."
"Secret? What would it be in? in? say go!” With her eyes shining, the girl opened a smile of interest and clung to Satoru, nudging him on the cheek.
"If I tell you, it's no longer a secret, now, let's go ahead, we can't take too long."
Ignoring his sister, the young man started walking, as if looking for a specific store, walking, he stopped some people to ask for information, Envy absently didn't even seem to have noticed.
Leaving the central area, they ended up on a less busy street, which still had a steady stream of people, stopping in front of a butcher shop, Satoru turned to Envy.
"Here, I'll go to the butcher shop, you take care of buying the herbs we need."
Taking a small purse of coins and a paper with important items, he handed them to the girl looking as if she saw a treasure.
"Hai, sir!"
Afraid that her brother would change his mind, Envy grabbed the money bag and paper, then hurried off towards the herb shop.
Smiling at the other party's excitement, Satoru looked at the butcher, not needing to say why he didn't want Envy with him right now.
Entering the store on one floor, the smell of meat that permeates the store was everywhere, on the wooden counter, a man with blond hair and a large beard, had visible dark circles under his eyes, his body seemed to have very little of the muscles of yesteryear. A swollen belly was starting to show even though she was wearing an apron smeared with blood.
"Welcome, what can I help with?" A tired voice came from the man who looked at the door, not recognizing the person in front of him.
"I'm thinking of taking a really big trip, I could get as much dried meat as possible." Said Satoru putting 20 silver coins.
Beren looked at the money and was surprised, the figure had more money than he thought.
"It's going to be a very long trip, where do you intend to go?" asked Beren.
It was not uncommon for travelers to buy supplies for days, but the amount Satoru asked for far surpassed anything he had ever seen them ask for.
"A region covered in ash, it must be difficult to find food there." Keeping his tone serious, Satoru saw Beren suddenly freeze, in a cold sweat, he swallowed hard, as if remembering something traumatic.
"Did something happen?" Satoru asked looking at Beren who was with wide eyes.
"N-no big deal," Beren said he left to go to the back of the store to get the jerky.
When he came back, his body was shaking slightly, the person in front of him suddenly looked familiar, but his mind refused to believe he could have survived.
"What is it Beren, are you afraid of something?" Surprised, Beren left the meat on the counter and looked straight into the face of the person in front of him, and suddenly his mind shuddered, his father with his throat cut appearing behind Satoru facing his murderer.
"N-it's not possible… L-like you…"
"I survived? Simple, I killed the knights who came after me, you'll tell me you never thought it was strange that only two came back.”
Keeping his seriousness, Satoru placed his hand on the counter and braced himself as he spoke.
"WHAT HAS DONE TO ME IS NO LONGER ENOUGH, WHY DOES IT DISTURB ME MORE?!"
Screaming in terror, a grown man stared fearfully at the young man in front of him, which made him want to run away and flee the city if necessary, for him, Satoru was the devil himself.
Satoru jumped over the counter without speaking, catching Beren by the collar and then slamming him against the wall.
“Listen, if it weren't for you, fucking traitor, those people would still be alive, Envy would have a grandfather alive, and maybe even Hilda would still be alive! So it's better to look at how you talk, or whatever you've been through your whole life, it won't be anything less than child's play compared to what I'm going to do!"
Completely terrified, Beren tried to free himself, but the monstrous strength of the other party did not allow such a thing, he was completely at Satoru's mercy.
"Now, I came here to offer a deal, so you'll nod your head, if I hear your voice without my asking, I swear I smashed your head on the counter, got it?"
Beren nodded, he wouldn't have the strength to antagonize Satoru even if he wanted to.
“I'm going to destroy this city and all the nobles in the realm, right at the end of the night, and I need several people to do that, among them mercenaries who don't mind going against the realm of being called traitors to the race, you've lived a lot in the slums, will recruit these people and meet me in the same place you used to enter slums as soon as the moon is in the center, in exchange I'll rid you of the hallucinations and nightmares I caused, do you agree or not?”
Disbelieving, Beren looked on without knowing what to do, the other part seemed to be crazier than he, even if these people were recruited, it was impossible to go against the kingdom with only a handful of humans, however, Satoru did not seem to lie, his determination was true.
But what made this absurd proposal tempting would be the release of all the pain, which he was exposed to three years ago, 1095 this number represented the number of days Beren could never sleep properly again without waking up screaming or in the worst of nights throw up in disgust.
Not wanting to believe he would do this, the man nodded in acknowledgment.
“Well, I will be, use this as a bargain, and it means that you will also participate, consider a way for me to know if it's worth it to get rid of the punishment."
Picking up the meat from the counter, Satoru put it in his bag and pulled out a bag of money with all the savings he had. After leaving the store, he found Envy leaning against the butcher's wall waiting for him.
"You took quite a while there." Said the girl, as if she wanted to question Satoru.
"And why don't I go in?" Satoru snapped.
"I don't like the smell of raw meat." Looking disgusted, Envy turned around.
"Here is everything you asked for and where are we going now?" She handed over a bag filled with various herbs.
"Rest, we have to reserve energy for the night, after all, it won't be easy."
"Seriously, sleep? You got so old… KYAAA!" Unable to say any more, the girl received a bang on her head and flinched.
To be forewarned, Satoru booked a room at a cheap inn for a whole day, which came in handy as both he and Envy left their things in a corner and went to sleep.
Or at least it was what it should be, but someone didn't seem to like the idea, Envy suddenly opened her eyes after several minutes, seeing her brother was sleeping against the wall, she got up and put on the belt that carried her daggers, she then put her robe back on and quietly left the room.
She understood everything her brother did to protect her, but some things couldn’t be overlooked, like her grandfather's killer, the one who made her life hell for a while.
Being distracted, Satoru didn't notice when Envy opened the butcher's door, she never forgot Beren since the day she was told that he had called the knights who had killed everyone in the village, including taking her grandfather from her.
Returning to the store, she first circled the place, seeing it had two entrances, she decided she should wait to see where Beren would exit, so when the sun started to set, she heard movement from the back door, as if kept her presence hidden, the man she was looking for looked like a rat slinking through the alleys.
Using what she had learned, she would wait until the best opportunity, so she followed him, but her hatred made her make a foolish mistake, of not being able to hide her presence completely, making her step on pieces of glass that did not cut her, however, it was enough for Beren to listen and turn to check.
As soon as he noticed Envy with a dagger in his hand, her eyes widened and he started running at once.
"Damn you, get back here and fight like a man!" Envy said and started running after him.
Unfortunately for Beren, she was faster with the best disposition, so even though he tried several times to disappear from her sight, he couldn't, to make matters worse, suddenly his back started to burn and the pain erupted when her dagger hit him.
Rolling across the dirt floor of the alley, the cut hadn't been very big even at the bottom, but the shock of being attacked without expecting such a thing made him unsteady.
As he looked closer, the girl's figure looked more and more familiar, until he finally remembered that child whose life he thought he had doomed years ago.
"Do you regret what you did, Uncle Beren?" Envy said with blood in her eyes, picking up her dagger and now wielding both.
"I… I regret it, please finish this soon, I can't take it anymore."
Without even trying to fight the fate that awaited him, the man gave himself up with open arms, as if he had found his savior right in front of him.
"That's what I intend!"
Getting ready to stab the man, Envy had her body seized, suddenly whoever was there was Satoru.
"LET ME GO, HE DESERVES TO DIE FOR WHAT HE DID, HE TOOK MY GRANDFATHER FROM ME!"
"I know, he did something unforgivable, but I was in his head, I practically lived his life, nothing will justify selling people as if they were nothing, but I'm your family, you said yourself, family always helps those who need it.”
"SO HELP ME KILL HIM!" Crying with rage, Envy tried to struggle as much as she could, but Satoru didn't let go until she calmed down.
“Why did you stop her? I deserve to pay for what I did, let her finish." On the ground Beren didn't even make an effort to lift his head, he had given up altogether.
"I'm tired, that's it, I'm tired of seeing people killing each other, even if I'm going to end up doing it, I don't want to see my little sister killing someone, it's my duty as a brother to help her follow a better path that I'm not capable of, and revenge only kills the person in the end.”
Sitting huddled in the corner, the girl was in displeasure, however, she didn't want to go against Satoru, so she walked away. He wasn't stupid, sleeping and disconnecting from the world wasn't a good option so when he heard Envy leaving the room, he followed her and immediately understood what she wanted when she stopped in front of the store.
"You can go, Beren, our agreement continues, we'll see you in a few hours."
"Ah yes."
Dismayed, the man got up, he was envious of Satoru being so mature even though he was so young, he didn't even look like the same boy he had three years ago.
As soon as Beren left, Satoru crouched down and turned his back on Envy to climb.
“Big brother, I…”
"Don't worry about it, we all have bad times, so from now on, you can talk to me whenever things get unbearable, I'll help you forever, that's what I promised, and I'll keep it."
"T-thank you." After climbing on Satoru's back, they returned to the inn, and Envy fell asleep right away.
⊛⊛⊛
When the moon rose to the top of the sky, everything began to line up outside the city of Dulfort, known as the heart of the kingdom of Rhamiam.
A group of 8 humans was facing each other, a group of 13 dark elves, but that only lasted until an imposing figure appeared wearing black armor.
Beside him was a girl with a black mask that covered her mouth.
"Now that everyone has met, let me explain how everything is going to be."
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