Chapter 102 : Farewell (2)

Jing’s horse, which had sprung forward, collided with the man rushing toward Ria.

“Kuaaak!!!”

The man, kicked by the horse’s front hoof, flew away pitifully with a scream full of pain.

He curled his body while clutching his right leg and gasped for breath.

Not taking my eyes off him, I approached Ria’s horse.

In the meantime, Jing got off his horse and grabbed the man by his collar, lifting him up.

“What do you think you are doing!”

“Let go of this! I am doing what I have to do! I cannot stand by and watch that thing win like this!!”

The man, shouting with a hoarse voice, had a bushy beard as if he hadn’t washed properly since the competition, and the smell of alcohol reeked from him.

He was the man who had been in Group 12 with Idan.

He was also one of the men who attacked me on the last day.

Glaring at Ria as if to kill her, he flailed to escape Jing’s grip.

People surrounded Jing and him, and soon after escaping Jing’s hand, he was bound by the villagers.

“Let go of this!!! Or bring that bitch’s older brother!!!”

Having drunk away his consciousness along with the alcohol, he twisted his body frantically.

Jing snatched the dagger from his hand and threw it on the ground.

“We will have to lock him up until we leave.”

Muttering, Jing kicked his solar plexus hard.

The man inhaled a breath and then went limp just like that.

While Jing was dragging the man away with the people, Ratel grabbed Jing’s excited horse.

Perhaps because it was the first time it had kicked a person, the horse was jumping around, raising its front hooves and foaming at the mouth.

People stepped out of the procession to watch the culprit who caused a huge commotion at an important event.

“I, I thought I was going to die.”

Ria, whose face had turned pale, stammered blankly.

“Since you did not die, pull yourself together.”

Although for a different reason, I was also a little surprised.

Because I thought if someone appeared to disturb the procession, it would be Idan.

Does Idan really intend not to show himself until the end?

I frowned while looking at the road that had become deserted as people left.

“Where did the sword go?”

“Yes? What did you say?”

As I muttered, Ria asked back as if she didn’t hear.

The dagger, the man’s dagger that should be rolling on the ground, was missing.

I didn’t see people taking even that away.

As an ominous feeling reached my head, I hurriedly scanned through the people.

Through the thinned-out crowd, an exceptionally tall man with a black cloak pulled down caught my eye.

In his hand was the dagger Dan had thrown away.

I saw the slowly approaching man push off the ground.

“Ria, get off the horse!”

When I shouted, the man had already approached within a stone’s throw.

I tried to grab the man, but he was incomparably faster than Dan.

The sword held in his hand stabbed the front leg of the brown horse Ria was riding in a single stroke.

-Heeheeheehing!!!

The brown horse let out a cry filled with pain and raised its front legs.

Even before he could pull out the deeply embedded dagger, Idan tumbled backward.

His cloak came off, revealing his face.

He was laughing.

Ria put strength into the reins to at least avoid falling off, but the horse’s seizure, once started, did not stop easily.

Going like this, Ria, who was not used to horses, would not be able to avoid falling off.

It was more efficient to get Ria off the horse than to calm the horse down.

I hurriedly drove my horse behind Ria.

Thud!

However, the excited horse began to struggle more, as if refusing to give up its rear.

At this rate, either the horse or a person, someone is going to die.

Either way, the loss was immense.

I quickly jumped off the horse.

Although they say animals listen well to me, it couldn’t be easy to calm panic caused by a threat to life.

As I approached Ria’s horse, which was continuously raising its front hooves and threatening the surroundings, the creature looked at me while foaming at the mouth.

The creature raised its front legs once again.

“Lord Ran, stay far away! An injured animal has no reason!”

Jing, who returned belatedly, approached to pull me away.

“That’s right, come out! You will get hurt doing that!”

Ria, who was barely hanging onto the horse on the verge of tumbling off, worried about me.

Thinking I was still safer than over there, I reached out my hand and waved it in front of the frenzied horse.

“Calm down, even if you make such a fuss, the wound won’t heal.”

Perhaps finding it absurd that I was trying to persuade a horse that wouldn’t stop snorting, Jing grabbed my shoulder.

“What are you doing right now? Even if you explain such things to a horse, do you think it understands…….”

-Heeheehing!!!

As Jing approached, the horse struggled even more violently.

I pushed Jing, who was only increasing the horse’s wariness, backward.

To be precise, he let himself be pushed back.

“Lord Ran, please step back too. You will really die doing that!”

It will probably be fine.

It was a very small confidence stemming from the fact that I had never seen animals rush to kill me since coming to this world.

“Snap out of it. Being hurt is nothing special.”

Ignoring Jing’s words, I continued to wave my hand.

To say one more word to me, Jing grabbed my arm again.

However, he soon shut his mouth and stepped back.

-Purung.

Because the creature slowly stopped stamping its front feet and began to exhale rough breaths.

At the appearance that looked like it was trying to calm its excitement at a glance, Jing opened his mouth and relaxed the strength in the hand holding me.

I slowly approached the creature and placed my hand on its front thigh, a little away from the wound that was still bleeding.

I felt the creature flinch its hot body again.

I met eyes filled with tears.

“It’s okay. The wound isn’t deep, and even if you are hurt, you won’t be killed or abandoned.”

Whether my words gave a sense of trust, the creature’s trembling slowly ceased.

“What are you doing? Get down quickly.”

I spoke without taking my eyes off her horse.

Ria, who was blankly looking back and forth between me and the horse, snapped out of it at my urging and quickly jumped off the horse.

The horse waited, making huffing sounds, until Ria got off safely.

I took my hand off the creature’s leg and carefully held the reins.

And when I turned around, people’s gazes were focused this way.

Especially Ratel’s expression was quite worth seeing.

As the situation was sorted out, an insane embarrassment washed over me.

Because showing an appearance like an animal therapist communing with an animal in front of people was too humiliating.

I approached the culprit who created this damn situation.

Idan, subdued by people, was looking up with eyes that wanted to kill me.

“What is the reason for doing this kind of thing?”

As if my question was absurd, the guy burst into a hollow laugh.

“Of course, it was to catch Ria. I told you repeatedly, leave Ria behind!”

I stomped hard on the leg of the guy who was resisting.

It was the part he got hit by me during the match.

Even if it wasn’t broken, the pain must be immense.

“You are still talking like that.”

“Kuaaak!!!”

Whether having his injured leg stepped on was painful, the guy struggled.

“You don’t want to keep Ria by your side. You want to ruin Ria.”

If he wanted to catch Ria, it would have been easier.

If he had just begged her with sincerity, or pretending to be sincere, she would have pondered enough.

However, Idan chose the method of attacking her out of numerous ways.

He thought it would be good if she could get a fatal injury.

This is an obsession created by his inferiority complex, not something like familial love.

Strength naturally went into my foot.

“Aaaak!! Stop it!! I said stop it!!!!”

As the force of stomping became stronger, the scream grew louder, but I didn’t really want to stop.

Right before the guy’s eyes rolled back, someone grabbed my arm.

“Please stop.”

It was Ria.

Right, the one who needed to talk with the guy was her, not me.

She nodded quietly to me, and I obediently stepped back without saying much.

Because of that, Ria’s face looking down at Idan was not visible.

However, seeing her gripping her own elbow tightly, I could tell she was trying to act calm this time too.

“What were you going to do if I died?”

She asked with the same voice as when she lied that it was okay not to see Idan.

Idan, who was glaring as if to tear me apart, could not meet her eyes.

“I didn’t intend to kill you. Because you would naturally survive.”

“Still, I might have lost the use of a leg or something.”

“T, then I was going to take responsibility.”

He said, unable to hide his twisting mouth corners.

Although he composed his expression belatedly, it was after he had already shown his true colors.

“Ha!”

At the horrifying answer, Ria burst into a hollow laugh.

“It was true. You really wanted to ruin me.”

“No! I just wanted you to be with me for the rest of our lives. Just like it has been until now, just like that…….”

“In a world where Older Brother is the best, satisfying your sense of superiority, quietly, like that?”

“…….”

Leaving the speechless Idan, Ria lowered her head.

“You know, Brother. I even imagined leaving together if you just apologized. It would be difficult to be like before, but I thought we could still talk together and maybe understand a little more. So…….”

I saw Ria clenching her fist tightly.

“So I thought it would be nice if we could come back to this village together someday, and eat together while talking about old times then, I thought like that.”

“……If you don’t go, we can live like that sufficiently even now. If only you don’t get greedy…….”

Idan muttered.

“…….”

She, who was silent for a moment, took one step back from Idan.

At her appearance getting one step closer to us, Idan’s eyes grew wide.

He must have instinctively realized that something inside Ria had changed.

“Ria, Ria! I was wrong! I won’t do this kind of thing again. So just don’t go! I was wrong!”

Idan began to raise his voice as if her one step was an eternal goodbye.

It was an apology too late.

“No, Brother. There is no need to apologize. Rather, it turned out well. This time, it’s real.”

Ria spoke calmly.

“Because now, any lingering attachment is really gone. There won’t be any instance of me returning here.”

Idan’s face distorted.

“Why, why are you saying such things? Of course you have to return, where do you have to go? You have to live here!”

As if there was no longer any value in answering, Ria turned her body away from Idan.

Her revealed face was distorted with pain more than I thought.

“Let’s go now. Before more people come.”

She said.

Even if it was painful, this time it was not a forced determination.

Because the source of her hesitation and pain was now abandoned here.

***

The four left the village led by the guide attached by the temple.

Although everyone was looking straight ahead, the determination contained in each of their eyes was different.

Though no one noticed that the place where Ratel’s golden eyes were headed was the back of someone’s black head.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep