LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 223
Chapter 223: My Younger Brother (1)
Yuri looked at Duran with a look of disbelief.
‘So, the real culprit was already caught, and I was being held because they suspected me as an accomplice.’
It was understandable enough.
If it were him, he would have also suspected someone with a prior record as an accomplice.
But there were things that didn’t quite make sense.
‘If the real culprit is caught, wouldn’t it be enough to interrogate them to find the accomplice?’
No matter how tight-lipped they were, if it was the Black Sword Corps, extracting information shouldn’t be that hard.
Yet Duran was personally stepping in to test whether he was an accomplice.
‘No way….’
A single assumption flashed through Yuri’s mind.
‘What if the real culprit is dead?’
That would explain everything.
If the culprit had died and no information could be obtained, they would have had to find the accomplice in this roundabout way.
“……”
Yuri silently stared at Duran.
“What are you looking at?”
Yuri didn’t bother voicing his guess.
‘Sometimes, it’s better to pretend you don’t know.’
There was no good reason to involve himself further by making it known that he had figured it out.
If he was unlucky, it could even tie back to things he had done in the past.
Yuri wasn’t sure how much of Duran’s words were true.
But if what Duran said was correct, that the real culprit had tampered with documents in Duran’s office, then it was certainly similar to what he had done before.
So, in response to Duran’s question, Yuri answered with a blank face.
“You’re letting me go like this?”
“Don’t like it?”
“You’re sending me away empty-handed?”
“What else?”
“Compensation! You’ve got to compensate me!”
“What kind of compensation?”
“You said if I caught the real culprit, you’d meet my demands.”
“Why should I? You didn’t catch the real culprit yourself.”
“Thanks to me, the investigation progressed, didn’t it?”
“What progress?”
“You took me off the list of suspects, so the investigation got easier, didn’t it?”
“……”
“And you’ve got to make up for the time I lost being falsely accused! The others have already gone into the Forest of Beginnings, running around, and I’m the only one being held back like this!”
Yuri’s aggrieved tone as he listed his grievances made Duran frown.
He waved his hand dismissively as if he had heard enough.
“Tsk, fine. I’ll do it, so stop whining. It’s annoying to listen to.”
With that, Duran disappeared along with the other Black Sword Corps members as if fleeing.
Seeing this, Yuri smiled contentedly.
‘Nice!’
Finally, Yuri got what he wanted.
Returning to the path leading back to the Forest of Beginnings, he glanced up at the sky to gauge the time.
‘It’s not too late yet.’
The time wasted wasn’t as much as he thought.
At most, about an hour?
‘If I move quickly from now… I might just make it back with time to spare.’
Just as he was about to head toward the Forest of Beginnings.
“Yuri Holland!”
“Yuri!”
Yuri turned his head at the sound of his name being called from a distance.
“Huh?”
He blinked at the sight of his comrades carrying a person impaled on a spear like a wild boar.
“…What?”
While Yuri stood there dumbfounded, Clarice and Nellie approached him.
“This, this is it, right?”
“This is the hairy Poppy you talked about, right?”
Seeing the person the panting duo laid down, Yuri was startled.
‘This guy?!’
He was taller and more muscular than the boy in his memories, but the face was the same.
Even though he looked ragged and slightly emaciated, he immediately recognized that it was Mucci.
Yuri looked at the two with admiration.
“You guys… where did you find this guy?”
In response, Nellie and Clarice launched into their tale.
They recounted where and how they managed to find the hairy Poppy and so on.
After a while, as they finished their story, they looked at Yuri with eyes clearly seeking praise.
Seeing his comrades like that, Yuri had a great realization.
‘A well-trained comrade is worth more than ten slaves.’
Yuri’s eyes sparkled with joy.
‘Alright, alright, I should reward these obedient pups.’
Having such exemplary comrades would surely encourage the other slaves to act voluntarily.
“You two are exempt from ranking battles for the next two months.”
“Two, two months?!”
“Really?!”
Nellie and Clarice’s faces lit up with joy, as if they had never expected such a reward.
‘The hidden reward for this Dragon Plaque swap….’
‘It was this!’
They were sure of it.
More than the Dragon Plaques or points earned by running around like crazy in the Forest of Beginnings, the two months of freedom they gained by finding the hairy Poppy was the most rewarding.
While Nellie and Clarice were celebrating, Yuri also smiled contentedly at the sight of the unconscious Mucci.
‘With this done… I can leave right away.’
* * *
Boom—!
A small skiff shot forward, kicking up a massive spray of water.
It moved at a speed that no sailing ship could catch.
Duran, who was watching, clicked his tongue.
“So, that’s how he reached the mainland of the Cradle… He swam there.”
Honestly, Duran had suspected Johan Redner.
He believed Johan had the means to transport Yuri Holland from here to the mainland.
But the truth turned out to be so absurdly simple that it mocked his expectations.
‘Even while pushing the boat, he moves at that speed. If he swam alone, he’d be even faster.’
Now that he had finally learned the truth after a year of speculation, Duran couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous it was.
Just then, a woman approached him from behind.
“That brat isn’t even trying to hide it now.”
Duran’s deputy clicked her tongue in disbelief as she watched Yuri vanish with Mucci.
Duran smirked.
“He asked so openly; there’s no reason for him to hide.”
Yuri had asked for two things as compensation for his involvement in the matter.
One was a small skiff.
The other was permission to take a cadet with him.
There were no violations involved, so he allowed it without much concern.
“Hmm… looking at it now, I feel a bit of regret.”
What on earth was he planning this time?
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be something big this time.
Just thinking about cleaning up the mess was already giving him a headache.
“Sigh…….”
With a light sigh, he asked his deputy.
“The autopsy results?”
“No abnormalities were found.”
“Hmm…….”
Duran’s expression hardened.
‘What on earth is going on?’
The recent document theft incident.
Its truth was a bit complicated.
The place where the documents were stolen was not Duran’s tent but his deputy’s.
It used to be Duran’s, but after Yuri had ransacked it once before, Duran had moved, and his deputy had taken over the empty tent.
The culprit had stolen several documents from there… and…
‘Burned them all.’
Then he had stabbed himself in the heart, ending his own life.
Duran recalled the information he knew, and his brow furrowed.
‘None of the clues and situations connect. Not a single piece fits.’
The documents the culprit stole were all trivial and useless, with no discernible connection.
He didn’t even try to flee far with them but burned everything near the deputy’s tent.
And then, he committed suicide immediately after.
‘What does this mean? What was the purpose?’
As the deputy commander of the Black Sword Corps, he had experienced countless situations, but never one so inscrutable.
He couldn’t make sense of the culprit’s motives for committing suicide.
‘This is troublesome.’
It might seem like a minor issue that could be ignored, but he was paying attention for one reason.
The deceased culprit was a member of the Black Sword Corps.
“Hmm…….”
As Duran furrowed his brow, his deputy asked a question.
“How can you be so sure Yuri Holland isn’t an accomplice?”
This case had no clear clues or any viable leads.
There was one connection, however weak, and that was Yuri Holland.
The incident from last year, when Yuri had rampaged through the Black Sword Corps’ garrison.
Yuri might have been the only link to this case.
However, Duran was confident that Yuri was not involved and released him.
His deputy was curious about the reason.
Duran responded in a calm voice.
“Observation skills.”
“Pardon?”
“The only information I gave Yuri Holland was that someone had broken into my office and tampered with documents.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I kept feeding him false information afterward. I took him to your tent, not mine. But the moment he walked in, do you know what he noticed?”
“What did he notice?”
“Everything.”
“Everything…?”
Seeing his deputy’s puzzled expression, Duran elaborated.
“If you were an accomplice in this case and under suspicion, you would have already scoped out the place beforehand, right?”
“Of course.”
“So, if you entered a space you already knew, pretending not to be the culprit, what would your instincts make you focus on?”
“Well, naturally, I’d look at the documents that were the target… Ah!”
“Exactly. Even if you’re pretending not to be the culprit, your eyes would unconsciously be drawn to the documents related to this case. But Yuri Holland, the moment he entered, took in the whole room. In other words, he was genuinely
analyzing the space rather than acting.”
“As he said, to find the real culprit?”
“Exactly.”
That was why Duran had let Yuri go.
Now, with what seemed like the only lead gone, they were back to square one. Duran sighed and ordered.
“Dig deeper into the deceased Black Sword Corps member.”
“We’re already searching thoroughly, but it’s going to be tough. Either the connections never existed, or they’ve all been severed… We’re not finding anything.”
The culprit had been a Black Sword Corps member with no apparent issues.
He was incredibly ordinary, with no previous problems in his conduct or duties—a model soldier.
The fact that he had raided the deputy’s office and committed suicide had even shocked his comrades.
Seeing his deputy’s conflicted expression, Duran spoke firmly.
“Find it. Even if all connections have been severed, there must be traces. Bring me those.”
Though he often appeared laid-back and full of gaps, in reality, Duran was meticulous and ruthless.
Knowing his superior’s true nature, the deputy nodded firmly with a resolute expression.
“Understood.”
* * *
Warmth and the faint scent of burning.
Crackle, crackle—.
Mucci’s consciousness slowly returned as he listened to the sound of burning firewood.
His trembling eyelashes gradually lifted.
“Ugh…….”
As he opened his eyes slightly, a deep sunset glow flooded in.
Quickly regaining consciousness, Mucci blinked his eyes wide open.
However, without understanding the situation, he simply lay there, staring blankly at the sky.
“Ah…….”
No thoughts crossed his mind.
He just thought the crimson sky was beautiful.
But as he realized that he had fainted, he quickly lifted his upper body.
At that moment, a voice reached his ears.
“You awake?”
Mucci turned his head toward the voice.
And there he saw it.
Crackle, crackle—.
Beyond the crackling campfire.
A boy poking the fire with a long stick.
Crackle, crackle—.
With black hair and golden eyes.
Skin so pale it looked white even in the glow of the campfire and a beautifully balanced, androgynous face.
No longer a boy but on the cusp of becoming a young man, he lifted his head toward Mucci and flashed a mischievous smile.
“You wouldn’t wake up even when tossed around. You could say you practically came back from the dead, couldn’t you?”
“Ah…?”
Mucci was stunned by the all-too-familiar voice.
‘…What’s going on?’
Before he fainted, the last thing he remembered was two people bursting in and going wild.
After that, he had no recollection.
Which is why Mucci found the current situation confusing.
“…Am I dreaming?”
Hearing his mumbling, Yuri snorted.
“Dream, my ass.”
Then he lightly waved the stick in his hand, and something flew at Mucci from the campfire.
Thump—.
“Ouch, hot!”
A hot, black object struck his forehead.
Grabbing his forehead in pain, Mucci was sure that this wasn’t a dream.
He murmured in disbelief.
“…Yuri hyung? Is it really Yuri hyung?”
Yuri immediately scowled upon hearing that.
“Hyung? Hyuuuung?”
Pointing his finger incredulously, he continued.
“This snot-nosed brat, how dare you call a senior like me ‘hyung’? Hey! Aren’t you going to address me properly with ‘senior’ honorifics? Huh?”
Seeing Yuri’s rebellious and cocky expression, Mucci felt relieved.
‘It really is Yuri hyung…….’
That familiar swagger and delinquency.
Even though he had grown, that unchanged demeanor assured Mucci that this was indeed Yuri.
With that comfort in his heart, Mucci finally took a look around.
“Where are we, Yuri hyo…….”
“Tsk!”
“…Se, senior?”
Yuri didn’t answer Mucci’s question, instead, he fished out something from the campfire with his stick and threw it at him again.
Thump—.
Seeing the blackened object fall right in front of Mucci, Yuri answered.
“Why do you think I told you to call me senior?”
“……?”
Yuri gave Mucci a sly smile as he looked confused.
“Welcome to the real Cradle, snot-nosed brat.”