Arc 3 - Chapter 15: Words of the Old Lion (2/2)

Normally, Yu would be moved by someone crying in front of him, but strangely, Leoral's crying didn't affect him at all.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... You don't want to be bothered by an old man crying in front of you."

Yurine, like Yu, ignored his crying. She was waiting for the rest of the story.

"And then you failed?"

"Yes, I failed. Nothing went as I imagined. Neither Mora was what I wanted, nor Zodia…" Leoral swallowed and kept his eyes closed for a long time. Meanwhile Yu thought again that he was going to die.

"Religion has become so rotten that not even the enemies of our God have done such damage to it. The Mora is full of scavengers and they exploit everything they find, down to the bone!"

He had spoken so fast that when he finished speaking angrily he had a coughing fit. Yurine poured a glass of water for Leoral from the jug on the table and handed it to him, but he didn't have the strength to lift his hand.

Yu approached and took the glass from Yurine's hand and made Leoral drink the water.

Coughing like he was going to die, Leoral drank the water, took a deep breath and waited a short while to regain consciousness.

"Natalia..." he said. He said the name with such passion that Yu felt his own heart tremble. "I was good friends with her. She was a good person, far ahead of her time. She came from the Witch Academy in Clermont, with Vilonet. She was a well-educated, intelligent woman."

Leoral's misty eyes stared at the ceiling.

"I can't lie, I liked her. I lied... I was in love with her, I loved her, and I found myself thinking about her all the time, even... I even dreamed of leaving the Mora and moving with her to Rolderhelm, so much so that sometimes I thought I was in Rolderhelm. Even in my death bed, I still think of her…"

Yu yawned. "Is it time for a love story now?"

"Of course, at that time I was afraid to confide in her, thinking that she would reject me because I had already turned thirty. Finally, I made up my mind that I would confess my feelings to her after the war was over."

Leoral's tears continued to roll down his cheeks.

"The war is over, but as soon as it was over, Natalia disappeared."

Leoral bit his thin lips, sniffled and closed his eyes for a moment and waited.

His cheeks trembled and he tried to hold back the tears, but it was futile. Leoral started sobbing, and he shouted when the half-elf maid, hearing his sobs, opened the door and came in.

"Get out!"

When the maid apologized and closed the door quickly, Yu felt sorry for her. She was being scolded when all she was doing was looking out for her master's welfare.

"When I met your mother and she told me she were Natalia's apprentice, it was like seeing her again."

At this Yu clicked his tongue. Leoral didn't hear it, but Yurine noticed and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. When he looked into Yurine's eyes, he realized that she was as disturbed by what she had heard as he was.

"I couldn't stop dreaming at that moment. Maybe the dreams Natalia and I talked about the world together hadn't come true, but her apprentice... As her apprentice, Rie could inherit her dreams, our dreams. She, Rie, would perhaps be the one to realize the utopia we dreamed of. I believed we could finally build the heaven we wanted."

"So is that why you helped us, is that why Vermilia supports the Virgo Cathedral?"

"Yes, Neko. For many years I could not find a child to entrust my dreams to, my daughter Cornelia. She's a good girl, but too headstrong. And my son... I'm ashamed to call him my son. I've never seen the good in my stupid son. He's a failure."

Yu became excited when they arrived where he was waiting, listening with Yurine and paying close attention to the words that would come out of the old man's lips.

"I wanted Rie to marry my son and become my daughter so that I could entrust my inheritance to someone trustworthy, but my useless failure was rejected."

Leoral fell silent and didn't speak again. Meanwhile Yu was frozen.

"Is that what this is all about?"

He had a terrible expression on his face. His pupils constricted, his brows furrowed and his teeth clenched. It was the first time Yu's face had ever looked so ugly. If he saw himself in the mirror, he wouldn't believe it was him.

Yurine was experiencing the same shock. She had the same expression when she blamed Yu for her mother's death. If Leoral hadn't closed his eyes, he might have thought they wanted to kill him.

Yu clenched his fists and tried to wipe the expression off his face so as not to make Leoral suspect something, Yurine wasn't even trying.

Meanwhile, Leoral spoke again.

"Of course I'm not angry with Rie. Who would want such a failure as a husband?"

"I… Something like that... Something like that..." Yurine couldn't speak, she took deep breaths and tried to gather the words in her head. "I didn't know such a thing had happened..."

"Rejected at the prom. Maybe your mother didn't think he were worthy enough to tell you. What's wrong?"

When Leoral opened his eyes and saw Yurine's face, his eyebrows rose in curiosity.

All the teeth in Yurine's mouth were showing, her canines were sharper than a human's and her eyes now resembled those of a monster.

Once upon a time, looking at that face had scared the hell out of Yu.

Unable to anticipate Yurine's next word, Yu interjected so that she wouldn't make a blunder here.

"My young lady has some work to do..." He gritted his teeth to keep himself in check next to Leoral. "We'll have to continue this conversation later."

He opened the door for Yurine to come out and waited for her to pass. Yurine went through the door without bothering to return the chair she had pulled out, Leoral talking behind her as she went.

"As long as I breathe, I will continue to support Virgo Cathedral. I wish you to achieve what we have failed to achieve."

Yurine had walked away without even hearing what he said. Yu bowed his head and wished him a good day before closing the door to the room and running to catch up with Yurine.

"Is that why everything we've been through? Everything we've been through because of the pride of a fool? All the pain we suffered..." His nostrils flared wide as he breathed. "All that pain I suffered!"

He came close to death and even died! He had skewers stuck in his body, he was on fire and he was dying again. Then he had to kill an innocent person and then he had to face death again. The night they had found Kigaro, he had been cursed by a demon, and now he was going crazy to find out that it had all happened for some absurd reason!

Yurine was also so angry that she didn't know what to do. She kept opening her mouth to speak, but because of her anger she couldn't get the words out.

Those who saw them and heard their angry breathing looked at them in surprise and whispered among themselves, while Yu and Yurine did not even notice their surroundings.

"I think so hard, think of so many reasons, come up with so many logical reasons, and all because a son of a bitch can't take rejection!"

When they came to Kigaro, a large half-lion moved out of the way and chased after them

"What's with your faces? Did something happen inside? Hey, who am I talking to?"

They both kept walking, ignoring Kigaro's question after question. They didn't even know where they were going, where to go. They were just walking. 

"Cecilus faggot, son of a bitch, just wait... Just wait... I'm going to fuck your sister. When I learn how to use a sword, I'll come and shove it up your ass, you old motherfucker son of a bitch whoreson."

He was so angry that he could no longer talk about it internally.

"Wait, wait, your death is coming... Motherfucker, wait!"

Kigaro and Yurine were the only ones who heard her low words.

"Whose death is coming? Ah, you two are incomprehensible."

Kigaro gave up talking and kept quiet. No matter what he said, he was not going to get either of their attention.

"Son of a bitch..."

At last Yurine was able to speak. Yu didn't want her to use such bad words, but the situation was exceptional enough for him to allow it.

"Son..." Yu opened his mouth again to swear.

"I am your daughter."

"..."

"..."

He was about to cry out of anger when Yurine blurted out four words that first silenced him and then brought a crooked smile to his tense face.

"Idiot! Shut up!"

"I wasn't really talking..."

"I said shut up! Keep walking! Walk ahead!"

Yurine's face was a mixture of anger and shame. It was the first time she had said anything about being a daughter.

Yu stepped forward and the crooked smile on his face grew a little bigger. His eyebrows were furrowed, but the tips of his lips turned up mischievously. He started laughing. His nerves were frayed.

"When I'm so angry..."