Exactly, ten people, as expected.
People with bruises and wounds all over their bodies were screaming with gags in their mouths.
Handcuffs and shackles on his hands and feet to prevent him from running away.
“...From now on, everyone, don’t make a sound. And don’t be scared. I’m here to save you all.”
Ryan said, searching through the pockets of the fallen men. After a few searches, he found the keys to unlock the handcuffs and shackles.
“Shh, really. If you scream and get caught, you’ll die before you can even pick up your bones, so be absolutely quiet. Do you understand?”
Fortunately, those who were held captive were cooperative. While Ryan removed their handcuffs and shackles, they all waited, covering their mouths to muffle their cries.
‘Damn, this really sucks.’
People with bruises and wounds all over their bodies were screaming with gags in their mouths.
Handcuffs and shackles on his hands and feet to prevent him from running away.
“...From now on, everyone, don’t make a sound. And don’t be scared. I’m here to save you all.”
Ryan said, searching through the pockets of the fallen men. After a few searches, he found the keys to unlock the handcuffs and shackles.
“Shh, really. If you scream and get caught, you’ll die before you can even pick up your bones, so be absolutely quiet. Do you understand?”
Fortunately, those who were held captive were cooperative. While Ryan removed their handcuffs and shackles, they all waited, covering their mouths to muffle their cries.
‘Damn, this really sucks.’
When he released a boy exactly Vania's age, Ryan almost couldn't help but swear.
Yeah, these people...
Perhaps it was the 'toy' Elliot was trying to bring to Gabriel.
In fact, when Ryan told Vania about his childhood with Gabriel, there was a story he couldn't bring himself to tell due to censorship.
Gabriel Wassenberg was an emotionless man, incapable of feeling emotion for anything but one thing.
He only felt pleasure in torturing living things and hearing their screams of pain.
Gabriel's eccentricities, which began with killing small animals, gradually increased in intensity...
His father was tired of dealing with the corpses and keeping his servants quiet.
In the end, the solution to calm Gabriel's violent outbursts was to periodically place 'toys' in his room.
Ryan figured that the madness would only get worse, if not stop, while he hadn't seen it.
And... that thought was right.
The moment he saw the Wassenberg family carriage entering the temple.
Because he didn't ignore that uneasy feeling, he was able to save these people.
"You can't just go out the front gate. See that mountain path here? Run along that path without looking back. Yes?"
People kept bowing their heads to Ryan as if they were thanking him without making a sound.
“Take this with you. Make sure to take care of the child over there, too.”
Ryan placed a few gold coins in the hands of the oldest middle-aged woman who was leaving last, and stayed until they safely escaped and were out of sight.
And then he turned around to leave.
“Ugh, you got me, damn it.”
He came across a very familiar face.
Dark blond hair. Red eyes.
Among the brothers who resembled their mother and father, the second eldest, Elliot, and the fourth, Gabriel, had the exact same color.
But the impression was different.
Unlike Gabriel, who had kind eyes with droopy ends, Elliot had a fierce expression.
“You... Really? Ryan?”
Even after 12 years, Ryan still wants to hit him.
“Oh, right. Long time no see, brother?”
“Why did it grow so big?”
“The food at the camp was delicious.”
“...”
Elliot's eyes turned to his scattered subordinates.
And the youngest, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, must have sensed that he was seriously hurt, so he came over with a sigh.
"I heard you were released. But why are you here all of a sudden?"
"I don't have a single penny, so how can I make a living? My fourth brother has a lot of money, so I shamelessly came to ask for help."
“Is that so?”
Elliot came closer and lifted the wagon's tarp.
It's empty.
“Did you do this?”
“Yeah. I'm the one who beat the crap out of those guys. My fists just went wild—I can't stand injustice.”
Elliot sighed and pulled a cigar case from his back pocket. He took one out, lit it, and muttered.
“Youngest, if you came here, why didn’t you just quietly borrow money and leave? Why bother me and do all this work? Huh?”
“Is Gabi’s toy now being offered by my brother?”
“Yeah, you little shit... Ha, f*ck. What am I going to do? Our Gabi is extremely sensitive right now...”
Elliot bit his lip nervously and glared at Ryan.
“I can’t kill this thing, really.”
“Why can’t you kill me?”
"I heard that Father is sending you to deal with the youngest children of Windsor Castle, who are all incompetent."
Elliot ruffled his hair nervously.
“Ugh, I'm really screwed? What should I do? Huh, yeah. Think. Let me think about this...”
“Oh, yes. Bye. Oh, wait!”
Elliot grabbed Ryan, took a few checks from his wallet, and stuffed them into his front shirt pocket.
“You suffered in prison for 12 years in my place. Congratulations on your release, youngest.”
“Thank you so much, it brought tears to my eyes.”
"Then."
Dragon's Wrath
In an instant, fire broke out.
A flame that seemed to ripple as if alive clung to Ryan's left hand as if it would swallow it.
“Ugh... gasp!”
A pain that makes you feel like you're going crazy.
Ryan gritted his teeth.
And with his right hand, he held his left forearm as if it were going to tear it off, and endured the fire that was burning his hand raw.
“...”
Elliot took a deep drag on his cigar and stared at the distressed Ryan indifferently.
The smell of burning flesh.
Burning skin and rising smoke.
Ten seconds that felt like an eternity passed by...
The lights went out.
Ryan's left hand was just blackened enough to not be bruised.
“Ugh. Ugh. Haa, ha... Phew. Ugh.”
His vision rolled back on its own.
The pain of burning his flesh was unspeakably horrific. His lips, chewed so tightly to endure the pain, bled profusely.
“You did something like this, so as your older brother, I can’t scold you.”
Elliot gestured to the empty wagon and approached Ryan, who was still in pain, and patted him on the shoulder.
“But our youngest, you have to work to make a living now, so this older brother took care of your right hand. You know that, right?”
“Phew, haa...”
Ryan smiled brightly.
“Damn, I'm grateful.”
"Right?"
...I want to kill you.
Even in this moment, when Ryan was delirious from pain, that impulse gripped him strongly.
I want to kill you. Right now.
Elliot is right in front of him, and he just has to reach out.
In one breath.
He will die without even knowing it.
'No, come to your senses.'
But Ryan forced himself to open his eyes wide and endure it.
Not yet.
Not yet...
“Go now. I put in plenty, so make sure you get treatment.”
Elliot laughed, pretending to tap his front shirt pocket.
“Yeah, huh. Brother... haa, stay healthy, take care...”
Stay healthy.
Next time we meet, you will be in my hands.
Ryan swallowed the words he shouldn't have said with superhuman mental strength and escaped the place while holding onto his left arm tightly.
***
He didn't know what he was thinking as he walked back.
He tore the sleeve of his shirt to cover his charred left hand, and barely managed to keep his gaze fixed on the sight that was about to turn black...
Ryan walked, staggering.
Vania was seen.
The little rabbit sensed Ryan's strange state from afar and ran towards him.
"What's the matter?"
“Haa, hmph...”
The words came out in a blur. It was Ryan's best effort to hold on to his senses.
Vania was taken aback when she saw Ryan gritting his teeth, frowning, and shaking his head sharply.
"Why...?"
Instead of saying anything, Ryan just blurted out.
"It hurts..."
He fell limply onto Vania's shoulder, flinching as if trying to raise his left hand.
Vania's eyes widened as she lifted the hem of his shirt.
“This, this. This. Ah...”
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