I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 210

A small orphanage was nestled on the hillside of a rural mountain.

Damian and Ban grew up in this place.

The head of the orphanage, a woman who had lost her son in the war, took in war orphans.

The head was wealthy, and sponsorships sometimes came in. On the surface, the orphanage seemed like a decent place.

*Thwack!*

Except for the fact that the head was a psycho.

“You little bastard! You little bastard! I told you to act like Willer, like Willer!”

Willer was the name of the head’s deceased son.

The only reason the head took in orphans was because she couldn’t accept the fact that her son was dead. So, she gathered and raised substitutes.

The head called all the children in the orphanage Willer.

Both boys and girls had their hair cut short and were made to imitate Willer’s speech and actions.

If they deviated even slightly,

*Thwack! Thwack!*

They were beaten mercilessly.

“My Willer wouldn’t do that! You have to be punished until you become Willer! It’s your fault! Do you understand?! It’s all your fault for not being Willer!”

All the children in the orphanage had scratches on both cheeks.

This was because the head would slap their cheeks alternately during ‘discipline.’ The children’s lips would split, their teeth would fall out, and their cheekbones would be bruised.

“You know I’m doing this because I love you, Willer…?”

After the ‘discipline’ was over, the head would apply medicine to the children herself, whispering sweetly.

The children were terrified, yet they also craved the head’s love.

In this small world of the orphanage, the head was a god. If they didn’t receive love from her, they received hatred instead.

Among the children, Damian was the one who was beaten the least.

It was because he resembled Willer the most.

The head cherished Damian for his innocent behavior and his polite demeanor, born out of fear. Damian also tried to please the head.

And the child who was beaten the most was Ban.

It was because she didn’t even pretend to resemble Willer. Ban openly rebelled against the head and was beaten every day.

“Even if the head beats me all day, I won’t become Willer. No, I can’t.”

As if she wasn’t afraid of the head’s beatings, Ban always shouted, screaming.

“I’m Ban! Not your dead Willer!”

Damian couldn’t understand Ban, who would rebel, get beaten to a pulp, and then do it again.

If she just gave in a little, she wouldn’t get hit.

If she just became Willer, she wouldn’t be in pain.

One day, Damian approached Ban, who had been severely beaten and left in the storage room, and asked her why she endured it.

Then Ban asked him in return.

“You’re the one who should be asking that, how can you live like that?”

“Huh?”

“You’re not Willer, you’re Damian. So shouldn’t you live as Damian?”

Ban grinned at Damian, who was speechless and dazed.

“Even if I get beaten to death, I’ll live as Ban. Just you watch.”

…The girl’s words were cool, but.

The ideal was far away, and the head’s beatings were close. Ban was beaten every day.

Damian secretly treated Ban. The boy had the power to heal wounds. The two became closer.

“Heh heh….”

Every time she was treated, Ban would always act tough.

“Heh heh heh… This much doesn’t hurt at all. The hitting power is getting weaker, head? Or am I just getting stronger?”

Indeed, she was growing much faster than her peers. But, she was still a child.

Even after being beaten to a pulp like that, Ban always pretended that it didn’t hurt.

One day, Damian was curious and asked.

“Why do you act tough?”

“I’m not acting tough.”

“You are pretending to be strong.”

“I’m not pretending.”

With a cloth stuffed in her bleeding nose, Ban grumbled.

“I’m going to become a really strong person later. I’m just acting like that version of myself in advance.”

“……?”

He couldn’t quite understand what she meant. Ban smiled at Damian, who was tilting his head.

“Someday, when you can’t take it anymore… try acting like a strong version of yourself, like me. It might help?”

“Like you, what… ‘Heh heh’ and laugh?”

“Heh heh, that’s right! That’s where you start!”

If I act tough and pretend to be strong like you.

Then, could I become brave like you? Could I stand up to the head, to this terrible world, like you?

Damian didn’t know. He didn’t even have the courage to try.

***

Time passed. Among the children who were growing day by day, Ban grew particularly fast.

Ban became the tallest among the children in the orphanage. Her chest swelled, and the lines of her body changed.

In their childhood, the boys and girls looked similar because their heads were shaved, but when puberty hit, the differences could no longer be hidden.

The girl was steadily growing into an adult.

As her body grew and she became the target of the head’s hatred, Ban took on all the chores in the orphanage. She lived in the storage room and took on all the physical labor.

Thanks to that, she could move around outside the head’s sight.

Just as Damian had a talent for healing magic, Ban had a talent for swordsmanship.

Ban would practice every day with a roughly made wooden sword, making sure the head didn’t see her.

“Heh heh, just you wait. Someday, I’ll use my swordsmanship to crack that wide forehead of the head!”

Even though she was growing day by day, her unique bravado didn’t diminish at all.

Even on the day when Damian broke a cup and she lied that she broke it, and was beaten to death by the head.

“Is my endurance normal? I don’t even feel pain anymore after being beaten all day… Ouch! Hey! Heal me gently!”

Even when the scratches on her cheeks, which were beaten by the head every day, turned into scars,

“They look like cat whiskers, aren’t they cute? Heh heh, hey, not bad, right? They’re kind of charming?”

In this orphanage where terrible days repeated every day.

Ban acted tough.

She played the role of a strong version of herself.

And so, she became truly strong. She didn’t break and firmly protected her name.

Damian wanted to be like that Ban.

He liked that Ban.

***

*Thwack!*

The incident happened when Damian and Ban were fifteen years old.

“I told you to act like Willer, you son of a bitch! Can’t you understand what I’m saying?!”

In the storage room in the corner of the orphanage.

The head was hitting Ban again that day.

Ban wiped her split lip with the back of her hand and shouted.

“Please come to your senses, head! Look at me properly!”

Ban pointed to her body, which clearly showed the curves of a woman.

“Look at my body! I’m a woman! I’m a fundamentally different human being from your dead son!”

“……”

Then the head’s body stiffened.

Ban’s body, illuminated by the moonlight, had already matured precociously.

“So… you’re not my son Willer, is that it….”

The head’s gaze turned lecherous.

“Then I don’t need to treat you as my child.”

“Huh…?”

Ban’s shoulders trembled.

Without hiding her lustful desires, the head strode towards Ban.

“You have to pay for the food and shelter I’ve given you, my dear?”

“Don’t do this, head.”

Ban quickly grabbed a wooden sword from the storage room shelf.

“Don’t come closer.”

The head didn’t listen and approached Ban. The shadow cast by the head’s huge body covered the girl.

“If you take one more step, I’ll hit you with this!”

Ban squeezed her eyes shut and tightened her grip on the wooden sword.

“Please…! Don’t come any closer…!”

With her training and natural talent, Ban’s swordsmanship had reached a considerable level.

If she really decided to swing the wooden sword down, the head would not be safe.

But,

“I don’t want to be Willer, I want to be your daughter Ban….”

Even if he had abused her, even if he was a worthless human being,

The head was the one who had taken her in and raised her. He was something like a father.

Ban couldn’t bring herself to swing the wooden sword. The head, who was right in front of her, slowly reached out towards Ban.

That’s when it happened.

*Thud!*

A young boy, who had rushed in through the storage room door, pushed the head away forcefully and stood in front of Ban. It was Damian.

“Willer!”

The head shouted in a fluster.

“What are you doing, Willer! Can’t you get out of my way?”

“I… I’m not.”

With a trembling voice, Damian spoke.

“I’m not Willer.”

“What?”

“My name is Damian. Da, mi, an.”

Damian looked up at the head and finally uttered the next words.

“And you’re not our father, you’re the head of this orphanage.”

“……!”

Furious anger filled the head’s eyes.

*Thwack!*

The head’s huge hand slapped Damian’s cheek. The head grabbed Damian, whose body was floating in the air, and repeatedly hit him.

“What kind of manners are those to your father, Willer! You are Willer! You are Willer! I’ll fix your manners, properly! From the beginning! Again!”

*Thwack! Thwack!*

Damian was covered in blood in an instant. The head roared and raised his hand high.

“If you can’t be Willer, then just die-!”

At that moment,

*Whack-!*

Ban’s wooden sword struck the back of the head’s head with a resounding blow.

“Cough…?!”

The wooden sword broke in the middle, and along with the wooden fragments, the head’s huge body lost consciousness and fell to the floor.

Ban, breathing heavily, looked down at the head.

“Haa, haa, you damn old geezer….”

Immediately after, Ban turned her gaze towards Damian.

“Are you alive, Damian?!”

Damian, who had collapsed covered in blood, didn’t move. Ban rushed to Damian in a panic.

“Damian, answer me. Please! Damian!”

As Ban muttered with tears in her eyes, a small sound escaped from Damian, who had been motionless.

“……Heh heh….”

“…….”

“I’m fine, don’t worry… Heh heh….”

Damian was smiling with his face covered in blood. Ban, who was drained by that awkward, tough-guy smile, burst into laughter.

“Ah ha, ah haha…! What! Don’t laugh like that! It doesn’t suit you at all!”

“You too, ouch. It never suited you either… Haha.”

“It really doesn’t suit you at all, it’s ridiculous, ah ha ha ha!”

The boy and girl, covered in blood, looked at each other and laughed for a long time.

Holding each other’s hands tightly.

That day, the two regained their names, Damian and Ban, instead of Willer.

And that also meant that they could no longer stay in this orphanage.

***

The two decided to escape from the orphanage.

In fact, they had been preparing for it for a long time, but they hadn’t had a good opportunity. However, since they had knocked down the head, they didn’t know what the head might do again, so the two had no choice but to carry out their escape immediately.

They had tried to persuade the other children to escape as well, but they all refused.

The other children had all already become ‘Willer.’ They were the only two who resisted until the end and found their names.

In the early hours of the morning, when everyone was still asleep.

Damian and Ban quietly stepped through the old, creaking orphanage hallway.

They often saw other servants hired by the head, but they were able to avoid them without much difficulty.

The escape, which they had practiced dozens of times, went smoothly. However, they were blocked at the final stage.

The main gate.

The only way to connect this orphanage to the outside world.

The main gate of the orphanage had a huge old lock on it, and it wouldn’t open unless the head opened it.

Ban pulled out the broken wooden sword and stood in front of the lock.

“I’ve been waiting for this day.”

She took a deep breath and then.

*Whack-!*

She smashed the lock with a single blow.

Looking down at the shattered old lock, Ban grumbled.

“……I should have smashed that old geezer’s head like this yesterday.”

“Let’s go, Ban.”

Damian pulled Ban.

“They must have heard the sound. The head might wake up soon.”

It was as he said.

“Willer!”

As soon as the two broke through the main gate and started running, they heard heavy footsteps thumping behind them.

It was the head. They had tied him up and locked him in the storage room, but he had woken up from the sound of the lock breaking and escaped from the storage room.

“Where do you think you’re going, leaving the house, Willer! The outside is dangerous!”

The head shouted as he chased after the two, who were running away towards the back mountain.

“You are my children! You can’t leave here! Willer! Willer-!”

Covering their ears, the two ran wildly up the back mountain of the orphanage.

Occasionally, once every few months, the head would take the children on a picnic to this back mountain.

However, each time, the picnic always ended at the middle of the mountain.

There was a high fence installed in the middle of the mountain. It was like a double prison fence to prevent the children from escaping.

The head never showed the children the scenery beyond that. To the children who wanted to go to the top, the head would always say.

‘There are terrible monsters living beyond that mountain. The outside world is a hell where it’s hard to even make a living.’

‘Now, let’s go back to our safe home, Willer.’

*Whack!*

Ban’s wooden sword also broke the lock on the fence.

The boy and girl ran at full speed, broke the head’s ban, and reached the top of the back mountain in one go.

“…….”

“…….”

The two stopped breathing.

They were just standing on the top of a small, low mountain and looking down.

The world at dawn was incredibly beautiful. Below the infinitely spreading sky, a vast land stretched out endlessly.

It was the moment when the small and narrow world of the two, the orphanage, was shattered.

“It’s vast….”

Ban said, holding Damian’s hand tightly as he mumbled blankly.

“Damian, promise me.”

“Huh? Promise? What promise?”

“To adventure through this entire outside world.”

Ban smiled brightly.

“To capture this entire vast world in our eyes.”

“…….”

By God, Damian had never seen such a beautiful smile in his life.

Her skin, tanned from doing chores, her short hair like a boy’s, and her cheeks, scarred from being beaten by the head every day.

They were all dyed white by the dazzling sunlight and a smile even more dazzling, and they looked more beautiful than anything else in this world.

“Promise!”

“……Oh, yeah, promise.”

So, without even thinking about the content of the promise, he nodded his head.

Ban, who had grinned, suddenly grabbed Damian’s face with her hand and then,

*Kiss.*

Their lips met.

“……?!”

With a bright red face and wide eyes, Damian froze stiff. After a moment, Ban, who had taken her lips away, shouted triumphantly.

“This was a sign of our promise!”

“No, usually you do a pinky promise…?”

“Heh heh, that’s for kids!”

Ban, who said that even though she was a kid herself, grabbed Damian’s hand and led him forward.

“Let’s go, Damian!”

The path down the other side of the mountain was rough. They didn’t even know where this path led.

“To the end of the world, together!”

Nevertheless, the boy and girl willingly jumped into the outside world.

It was a day at dawn when the sunlight shone dazzlingly.

***

“I don’t know what kind of good dream you’re having that makes you grin like that, but it’s time to wake up, student Damian.”

A blunt voice suddenly flew in.

Damian, whose eyes were twitching, gasped and opened his eyes.

“Did you sleep well, trigger?”

He saw Ash’s face sitting next to the bed, looking down at him with a sulky expression. Damian mumbled blankly.

“Your Highness? Where is this….”

“Your room in the temple.”

Damian was flustered and quickly got up. As Ash said, it was his familiar room.

And,

*Clang.*

There were unfamiliar chains and handcuffs installed on the wall.

The handcuffs were restraining Damian’s wrists. Damian blinked, looking at them in a daze. What is this?

Looking at Damian like that, Ash sighed softly.

“Don’t you remember what you did yesterday?”