Chapter 96: Even Though It Had Been So Peaceful

「Don’t touch my brother! 」
Tina stood in front of her brother in an attempt to protect him. Two ugly-looking guys loomed before them. Not their appearance, but their expressions.

「Shut yer mouth!! 」
What a baddie. No, they’re scoundrels.

And so, I punched those two scoundrels from behind and it’s over. Gave their heads a good beating as hard as I could, but not so sure if it’s safe now.

「Are you alright? 」
「Jean! 」
「Jean Nii-chan! 」
I caught the two of them as they rushed and clung to me while on the verge of tears. I patted their heads.

I’ve been working hard the past few days, so I decided to take a break and visit Dinosso’s house, but met trouble when I 【Teleport】 with the presents I’ve prepared.

Why are there people here without a horse — of course, I exempted myself while thinking that.
Maybe there are others, and they’re with the horses?

Still, she’s an older sister who sticks up for her brother, huh. I’m fully aware that families come in all sorts of shapes and sizes with different kinds of people, but it still made me feel complicated.

「What happened? 」
「 A lot of people suddenly came, and Mom and Dad told us to run away… 」
Tina was doing her best to explain while trying hard not to sob.

So, the house is the primary crime scene, huh. The kids were in the barn, so Madam let them escape while Dinosso dealt with those guys. That’s when Vak got separated and captured, apparently.

The twins’ names are En and Vak. It’s a bit easier to tell who’s who when they’re together, but it’s hard if there’s only one. Based on Tina’s story, she’s with En right now.

「How dangerous. 」
Let’s take those two guys as hostages for now.

「At any rate, let’s return to where your mom and dad are. Just remember not to say a word no matter what happens, alright? 」
I’m slightly confident that I can take them on, but not sure about Dinsso’s situation now, so I want to check it first.

It’d be best if I can leave the kids somewhere safe, but the places you can hide over here are way too few, and it’ll be a pain if there are other scoundrels loitering around. We’ll escape with【Teleport 】 if needed.

We arrive at the scene of a guy stepping on Dinosso in front of their house, and another guy is pushing Madam’s shoulder behind her while holding a sword against her neck. The separated twin Vak is a bit — no, he’s quite far from the two, held hostage by another guy.

Two more guys, so that makes it a total of five, huh. Vak is too far from the other two, so it’ll be difficult to annihilate the bastards all at once. Vak’s closer to where I am right now, though.

「Dammit….urk」
「Yer should’ve just spilled ‘em beans. 」
「Hmpf, that Wolf King Valmour will be rotten at this rate. Resist, and we’ll kill yer kids, ye hear? 」

The man kicked the fallen Dinosso.

「Daddy!! 」

Ugh! Ugh!

I heard Tina scream, so I hastily knocked the two guys who captured Vak since they’re the closest to me. Yeah, no matter how much you warn kids, everything will fly out the window if they see something gut-wrenching. It’s my fault.

「Oh, goodness me.」
I was about to rush towards the other four, but Madam’s bright voice that was totally out of place suddenly rang.

My feet stopped.

Madam, who was supposedly being held back by the sword, had elbowed the man’s sword arm out of the way and firmly stepped on his foot, then she used her other arm to elbow strike him once again. She grabbed the man’s sword with that same fluid motion, and then she hit the man who kicked Dinosso in a flash — well, actually, she knocked him with the sword then skewered the other two in an instant.

Er…What?

「Daddy, Mommy!! 」
The three kids happily rushed over.

Me, rooted on the spot, thoroughly dumbfounded. Dinosso, still lying on the ground.

This is the second time I witnessed somebody being killed, but is this really Madam’s handiwork? Yeah, she really did it, huh. Not sure if they’re carried away from joy that their parents are safe, but those trio ignored the corpses while happily hugging each other.

***

We’re back at the house, and I’m tending to Dinosso’s wounds. Madam is busy packing their things for their escape.

「Looks painful. 」
「Well, I did evade them unnoticed, so it’s not as bad as it seems. 」
「I see. 」
「Yeah. 」

There’s a lot to take in, so I quietly smeared medicine before bandaging him.

「… 」
「…. You probably wanna say something, right. 」

Dinosso bitterly smiled while asking.

「Yeah…Is it okay to say it? 」
「Yup. 」

「I have medicine. 」
「Ugh! Ouch! 」
I suddenly remembered about it after rolling the bandages over Dinosso.

「Sorry for dragging you into this. 」
「I was shocked. 」
「You look like you lost your spirit, after all. 」
That’s because Madam, I couldn’t keep up when you started twirling around and killing people, you know.

Ah, but I don’t hold any ill will against her; it’s like, yeah I understand that it was necessary based on how things were back then. More like the genuine shock you get when somebody died. Her resolve was different from mine — I just knocked people down while thinking that maybe they’ll die from it before leaving them to their fate.

— So, the guys who captured Vak were so far away, probably because they thought they might be killed before they could do anything to the hostage. Me too, I totally can’t imagine myself winning against Madam.

「En has 【Storage 】 」
「Hm? 」
「….has 【Storage】 」
「Hm. 」

Dinosso repeated his words twice.

「….Er 」
「En’s 【Storage 】 is so amazing, you can even put a huge desk in it, even though there’s nothing there but air!!! It can even hold ten sacks of wheat, you know!! 」
「Jean, people with 【Storage】 are super rare, enough for people from the palace to come and drag them away! 」
Dinosso faltered, so Tina and Vak explained in his stead while carrying things.

Yeah, having【Storage 】is really convenient, after all. It’s a bit peaceful if they’re used for doing business, but then, folks can also smuggle all they want, bring all the weapons they want, and they can also reduce the horse load during war.

Still, I can understand where they’re coming from, given that I too have my own 【Storage 】, but Vak’s explanation sounded like it’s a childish mystery. Oh, my 【Storage 】 can store things that are bigger than a desk, you know.