The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 218

Protecting the Heroine’s Older Brother – Side Story 9

“Still, the trail leads to the outskirts, so we probably won’t run into Gastor’s people directly.”

Roxana said, trying to reassure Jeremy, and took the lead.

“Oh, you’re right, Roxana! It’s not that I didn’t want to come.”

Jeremy stopped grumbling and quickly followed her.

Then, Cassis casually bumped Jeremy’s arm as he passed.

“You were coming anyway, Jeremy Agriche, so why so many complaints?”

At the same time, his low murmur, audible only to Jeremy, scratched at his eardrums.

Jeremy’s eyes widened instantly.

Of course, he was belatedly realizing he shouldn’t have complained in front of Roxana and was cautiously watching her reaction. But being called out on it by Cassis was a different matter.

His mouth itched to curse, but Cassis was already ahead of him, right next to Roxana.

So, Jeremy glared intensely at the back of Cassis’s head with burning eyes.

* * *

“Roxana, I think that’s Ryzac Gastor over there, isn’t it?”

But life is unpredictable. Not everything goes as planned.

After moving towards the outskirts of Gastor for about two more days, a vast wasteland appeared before them.

Nick’s trail ended there.

In front of the desolate land, a group of people had set up tents and were camping.

There were about 30 of them.

And among them was a familiar face.

“Is Gastor’s land smaller than I thought? How do we keep running into them?”

Jeremy clicked his tongue and muttered.

Roxana also frowned slightly upon spotting Ryzac Gastor.

“The area is barren, so any movement will be noticeable no matter when or which way we go,” Cassis said, glancing around before turning back to Roxana.

“It might not be a bad idea to break through head-on, but if you’d rather avoid Gastor altogether, I can go ahead and lure them in another direction.”

“Hmph, showing off. I’m better at rabbit hunting than you…”

“Jeremy Agriche, you two go ahead and find Nick first.”

Jeremy started to retort to Cassis as usual, but quickly shut his mouth at the following words.

Cassis ignored Jeremy, whose thoughts were always transparent.

All decision-making on this journey rested with Roxana. So, Cassis looked at Roxana’s face as if asking for her opinion.

Roxana looked down at the people in the distance for a moment, then shifted her gaze to the dry land beyond.

Nick had clearly entered that wasteland.

The wasteland, gradually turning red as the sun set, looked harsh and barren.

For some reason, she had a baseless feeling that this was the last place Nick had chosen as his final resting place.

Cassis seemed to have sensed something similar.

Soon, Roxana resumed her steps forward.

“No, let’s just go confidently. It’s a waste of time to go around after coming all this way.”

Besides, if Roxana’s hunch was correct, nothing troublesome would happen even if they ran into Ryzac now.

So, the three of them approached the group of people.

A man who spotted them approaching first went to inform Ryzac.

His narrowed eyes first landed on Jeremy, who had taken off his hood and revealed his face.

“Jeremy Agriche?”

Naturally, he immediately looked incredulous. He looked even more surprised after confirming Roxana and Cassis.

“Lady Agriche and the Azure Noble? Why are you three here…”

“Hey, you should call them Heads of Agriche,” Jeremy said, not missing the opportunity to correct Ryzac’s incorrect title.

“It’s been a while since we met at Yggdrasil [a neutral meeting ground], Ryzac Gastor,” Cassis greeted Ryzac. Roxana also took off her hood and stepped forward.

While Ryzac was too surprised to speak, the man next to him asked, “Ryzac, do you know these people?”

It was the same man who had first spotted the three of them and informed Ryzac.

The middle-aged man was emaciated, as if he had suffered from a severe illness, and his complexion was very poor.

But strangely, his attitude towards Ryzac was more intimate than that of the other people Roxana had observed from afar. That drew her attention.

The man’s face, frozen like a stone the moment he opened his mouth, was also peculiar.

“Please go inside. I will greet the guests.”

The man nodded slightly to the three of them in front of Ryzac without a word and left.

“What brings you here? We haven’t received any news from the Central, so did you come to see me?”

Ryzac asked, sounding somewhat uncomfortable.

“We don’t have much to offer, but let’s go inside and talk.”

“No, we have an urgent matter, so we’ll postpone the proper greetings until next time,” Roxana said, stopping Ryzac from leading them to the tent.

“We’re looking for someone and couldn’t inform you in advance, so we apologize for entering Gastor’s territory without permission.”

“Looking for someone? In that land?”

By then, Ryzac realized that the three of them had not come to see him.

His questioning gaze shifted to the wasteland beside him.

Ryzac had come here immediately after returning to Gastor from the Yggdrasil meeting.

“This area is off-limits. I haven’t seen any outsiders during my stay here… But if you tell me their description, I’ll have our people search for them.”

“Thank you for the offer, but it’s alright. Our search party is enough, so please grant us permission to enter the restricted area so we can search ourselves,” Roxana refused Ryzac’s offer.

Officially, Nick was said to be dead. So, they couldn’t ask Gastor for help in finding him.

Ryzac stared at Roxana and the two people beside her with slightly furrowed brows.

But it wasn’t because he was displeased with them, but rather as if he was thinking about something.

He seemed to be contemplating whether to grant Roxana’s request to enter the restricted area, which she had suddenly appeared and asked for.

Then, as if he had made up his mind, Ryzac’s lips slowly parted.

“…Actually, the person you saw a moment ago is my father.”

The three of them were slightly surprised by the unexpected words from his mouth.

That man, who didn’t resemble Ryzac at all, was his father.

It wasn’t just based on appearance.

In contrast to Ryzac, who exuded a strong aura just by standing still, his father was enveloped in a weak atmosphere that felt somewhat faded.

Moreover, they were convinced after hearing what Ryzac had just said.

The man’s sickly appearance they had just seen was clearly due to the aftereffects of drug addiction.

They already knew about Gastor’s situation, so it wasn’t surprising now.

“This place is a long-abandoned wasteland, originally a land that my father was supposed to develop several years ago.”

“I see.”

“However, due to various circumstances, it was eventually abandoned, and we only recently started working on it again.”

Ryzac paused there for a moment before continuing.

“The biggest reason is that my father’s condition, which had not improved for a long time, has started to recover.”

Of course, the condition he was referring to was the symptoms and aftereffects of drug addiction, as Roxana had guessed.

Ryzac’s father wasn’t originally a hateful person who was addicted to gambling and drugs.

When Ryzac was younger, his father, who worked as a vassal of Gastor, was a respectable figure.

A young scholar, he would often tell Ryzac energetically about how he was looking for ways to turn the barren land that made up 30% of Gastor into a green space.

However, he gradually changed after Badrisa succeeded Ryzac’s maternal grandfather as the head of Gastor.

In the end, he was a pathetic man who felt inferior to his wife, made his family miserable, and ruined himself.

Badrisa had recently decided to divorce him.

The antidote that Agriche had promised to send was more effective than expected.

Thanks to that, the couple was able to have a proper conversation with reason for the first time in a long time.

Of course, it wasn’t something that could be solved by taking the antidote once or twice, so it would take a long time for his body to return to normal.

Ryzac’s father also seemed to have realized a lot from this incident and solemnly accepted Badrisa’s decision.

Although it wasn’t something he had done in a state of sound judgment, he had committed a great crime by endangering the family by even addicting Gastor’s vassals to drugs, so he deserved to be permanently exiled.

However, Badrisa stripped Ryzac’s father of all the authority he had held until now and sentenced him to indefinite exile.

The place chosen as his exile was the very wasteland where reclamation had been halted several years ago.

Badrisa ordered him to re-cultivate the land, which could take an unknown amount of time.

That was the last chance Badrisa gave him to atone for his sins.

Ryzac’s father willingly endured and accepted it.

So, Ryzac accompanied him to see him off and came all the way here.

“We received great help from Agriche this time.”

Thanks to Roxana and Jeremy, Ryzac no longer had to despise his father.

Of course, he couldn’t respect him again as he used to, but the possibility of positive change made the future feel more hopeful.

“Originally, this is a restricted area where the entry of outsiders is strictly prohibited, but you may enter. I will not ask about other circumstances.”

So, Ryzac gave them way without a word.

He owed Agriche a debt, so he could easily grant them this much.

The three of them thanked Ryzac and entered the wasteland, which was a restricted area.

Cassis had an inscrutable expression, whether he knew about the situation between Agriche and Gastor or not.

But somehow, it seemed like he had some idea of the inside story.

However, since he didn’t speak first, Roxana and Jeremy didn’t offer any other explanation.

“Turns out he was a pushover,” Jeremy clicked his tongue, replaying the meeting with Ryzac in his mind.

He was already busy, but Ryzac had unnecessarily droned on about a story he wasn’t even curious about.

Besides, it seemed clear that Gastor’s mess was due to that drug-addicted father.

If that was the case, he should have gotten rid of him sooner. Just like how Agriche decisively dealt with Lant.

‘Hmph, Agriche is much better than those bland redheads, isn’t it? No matter how you look at it, Roxana and I are the only talents among the five families.’

Jeremy shrugged, feeling a distorted sense of superiority that would have shocked anyone who heard it.

Even Roxana would have scoffed at his lack of competitive spirit if she knew his true thoughts.

Anyway, that’s how they crossed the wasteland that belonged to the outskirts of Gastor.

The deeper they went, the more withered trees, sparse weeds, and traces of abandoned sites like the remains of old buildings appeared.

The desolate sandstorm entered their noses and mouths, forcing them to cover their faces with their cloaks.

They sent butterflies [a method of communication or scouting] several times. But no traces were found in the land covered in swirling sand.

Another day and night passed without any results.

It took longer than expected to search the desolate land.

“Roxana.”

Then, at some point, Cassis suddenly called Roxana.

His voice sounded a little different from usual.

Sensing something, Roxana stopped searching the surroundings herself and turned her head.

Cassis was standing still in the distance, waiting for Roxana.

The hem of his cloak fluttered in the hazy wind. His feet were obscured by the rolling sand, barely visible.

The place where Cassis was standing was a ruin covered with broken rocks, rotten tree trunks, and dry grass, almost like a pile of garbage.

Roxana sent a silent gaze from afar for a moment, then approached Cassis.

Before long, Jeremy also stopped searching elsewhere and looked towards the two of them.

Whirr.

The hazy air was partially pushed away by another gust of wind, briefly revealing the shape at Cassis’s feet.

Roxana finally stood before it.

A person with their body half-buried in the sand, curled up small, and closing their eyes as if asleep.

It was Nick, the person she had been looking for.