Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 21

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Episode 21

Perhaps because of my status as a bastard, no one welcomed me upon arriving at the main family residence.

‘I guess that’s about the extent of the attention directed at me.’

I actually prefer this.

I could greet Uncle without any hassle and head straight to my room.

“Young Master!”

Suddenly, I was embraced!

The nanny hugged me abruptly as soon as she saw me return to my room.

“Nanny, maybe after I’ve washed up? I’m dirty right now. I’ve been outside for nearly a month.”

“……Sob.”

“……!”

The nanny suddenly started crying, leaving me with no choice but to shut my mouth.

“Do you know how much I worried? A tamer, Guisu Mountain, and even the ancient Trial Chamber created by the Clan Lord. Why do you keep doing such dangerous things instead of taking the tests quietly! I was so afraid of what might happen to you……”

With each word the nanny spoke, I felt the strength draining from my limbs.

Only after being held in the nanny’s arms did I truly feel the tension leaving my body.

“Sorry, Nanny.”

“It’s enough that you know. I was really going to scold you severely, but… Welcome back, Young Master.”

Even though I wasn’t her own blood, the nanny always treated me like her real son.

Once she had calmed down somewhat, the nanny wiped her eyes and squinted at me.

“……You do smell a bit.”

“Nanny, isn’t that a bit much to say at this moment?”

“Ahem, I’ve prepared a bath. After you wash up, I’ll prepare a meal. This nanny will use all the skills I’ve been hiding!”

“No, Nanny! Nanny!”

The nanny pretended not to hear me and began preparing clothes for me to change into.

I was just about to enter the bathroom when a sudden thought struck me, and I had to stop.

“Nanny, where’s Aunt?”

Only then did I remember the one person who would have made the biggest fuss in this situation.

Aunt was missing.

The aunt who would have been excitedly chattering away if I had returned.

* * *

Unable to resist the nanny’s insistence that she wouldn’t speak until I had washed and finished eating, it was only after a considerable amount of time that I could hear the story from her.

-Elder Lee Kyung-hwa… is currently in isolation.

I immediately contacted Uncle, obtained a permit, and headed straight to the Law Enforcement Department.

Even after submitting the permit, I had to fill out several documents before I could meet Aunt.

“……You’ve come?”

Seeing my aunt smiling foolishly, I rubbed my throbbing forehead.

“What were you thinking?”

“Sorry. Hehe. Still, it’s good to see you healthy. Wait a minute, though. Just what did you do to increase your magic power so much!?”

“Isn’t that beside the point right now?”

“It’s important! Unless you ate some kind of mystical herb somewhere……”

Lee Kyung-hwa’s eyes widened.

The explosive growth of magic power was immediately apparent.

It felt like I was facing a completely different person after just a month apart.

Even if I had taken a mystical herb, such a rapid increase would be abnormal.

“You haven’t even digested all the energy inside you?! What a waste! No! Sit down. Let’s start right now……”

“Aunt.”

I stopped my aunt, who was starting to run wild again.

As soon as she saw my expression, she shut her mouth.

“Hehe.”

Then she smiled sheepishly, which only made me sigh.

I didn’t know where to begin, as my thoughts were complicated.

‘To think she would go that far for me.’

The reason Aunt was confined here.

It was because she had caused a commotion in the control room against the elders and my eldest brother, who was the acting head of the family.

“What happened?”

“Well, as soon as I heard the news, I was so flustered, so I was going to go find Myung-jung and Tae-hong, but, um, um… coincidentally, all the adults were gathered there… and they were trying to chase me away, and then……”

Although Aunt couldn’t speak coherently about anything not related to magic power, I could roughly understand her after spending some time with her.

Aunt probably stormed into the control room without considering the consequences.

Of course, the security officers and guards would have stopped her, and since Aunt didn’t have the qualifications of an elder, even though she was a direct descendant, the elders would have tried to drag her out.

But the result was three elders and three squads of security officers and guards suffering minor injuries.

Eventually, Aunt was subdued by my eldest brother and was in isolation pending disciplinary review.

It was a result that made me neither laugh nor cry.

“I’m sorry, baby. But I thought those people might have done something strange to you too… I couldn’t control my anger for a moment.”

There were times when the always cheerful Aunt would make a dark expression. Most of those times were related to the family.

‘She said something had happened.’

A sudden curiosity arose, but I didn’t ask. Asking itself could be hurtful.

-It’s you guys! You guys did it! Again! As always!

According to what I heard from the nanny, she had been shouting such things like a mad person and wreaking havoc in the conference room.

“Aunt.”

“Huh? Why? Are you angry? I’m sorry, I said. Calm down… I’ll be sad if my baby is angry……”

“No, I’m not angry. I’m just curious. Why did you go so far? Were you worried that the lineage of the magic power technique we created would be cut off?”

“I, I don’t know either.”

Aunt made a tearful face.

“I just get so angry. I’m worried about the magic power technique too… but when I think I won’t be able to see our baby anymore, I get this feeling like my throat is closing up!”

Aunt made a gesture as if she was choking herself and smiled foolishly again.

I was speechless at those words.

‘Honestly, I haven’t fully trusted Aunt until now.’

I knew that Aunt wasn’t the type of person to betray me.

Aunt was a pure person who only looked at one thing.

But as pure as she was, I thought she would end this relationship without hesitation once her goal was achieved.

A relationship of trust created under a clear purpose. That was about the extent of my thinking.

No, that wasn’t true.

‘…Okay, let’s admit it. From some point on, I had also been thinking of Aunt as someone like Uncle, Nanny, or my eldest brother.’

Perhaps I just needed a reason to believe. I made excuses that my current situation didn’t allow me to believe just because I wanted to.

“Aunt, I’ll get you out of here soon. Please wait a little longer.”

“Huh? No. Don’t push yourself. It’s more bearable than you think! Myung-jung and Tae-hong are taking care of me!”

She really did seem to be doing okay.

It only had bars, but it also had a shower room and a bed.

She had caused a major incident, but after all, she was one of the few remaining siblings of the current family head, and the acting head of the family and the chief manager had intervened, so she would be treated well.

“I won’t push myself. Either way, you’ll be able to get out soon even if I don’t do anything.”

“Huh?”

“Then I’ll be going now. Let’s talk about the magic power technique after you get out.”

“Oh, um… can’t we just do it now? I have so many things I want to hear!”

“I’m a bit busy.”

I chuckled and turned to leave the prison. Aunt waved her arms above her head to see me off.

* * *

News arrived that my father, who had been away for quite some time, was returning to the family.

My father, who disliked grand gestures, said that a welcoming party wasn’t necessary, but the children and Madam Baek who remained in the family went out to greet him.

Woo-woo-woong-

A chartered plane powered by magic power quietly landed at the airfield. A man with a blank expression walked out.

The moment I saw my father, I was shocked once again.

‘…I can’t gauge it at all.’

I unknowingly bit my lip.

I thought I had grown quite a bit from the incident at the recent Naming Ceremony, but I still couldn’t gauge how much of a difference there was between me and my father.

His gait, the aura of a warrior subtly emanating from him.

How much training would I have to go through to see the world as my father does?

“You’ve arrived.”

Madam Baek greeted my father with a slight bow.

“You must have waited long, Madam.”

“Not at all. I have prepared hot spring water, so please wash up and have a comfortable meal.”

“I understand.”

My father moved his feet and glanced at his brothers one by one. Then, for a moment, his gaze stopped on me.

It was a gaze that lingered just a little longer than on the other brothers. But none of the other brothers except me noticed it.

And in my father’s profound eyes, a very slight sense of satisfaction seemed to appear and then disappear.

“I have always said that those who do not fight are not needed in the family.”

All the brothers tensed up at my father’s sudden words.

“But here, only one of my children has a competitive spirit towards me.”

None of the brothers were foolish enough not to understand the meaning of those words.

They just didn’t know who it was.

‘Who is Father talking about?’

‘Is it the eldest brother?’

‘Who…….’

The brothers exchanged glances and couldn’t hide their bewildered expressions.

And that was the same for me.

‘…I suppressed my emotions as much as possible, but he read it?’

I had only briefly gauged my father from a distance.

But my father had read it. It felt like I had goosebumps all over.

I watched my father’s back as he walked away, and then I followed him.

* * *

After taking a short break, my father called all his children to the dining table.

It had been a long time since the direct descendants had sat at the same table.

Most of the brothers were often away from the family due to various schedules, and my father didn’t particularly try to have meals together either.

Moreover, since I was a bastard, it was ambiguous for me to join a gathering of only legitimate children.

Sitting at the dining table with Madam Baek and my brothers like this only happened once a year, on my father’s birthday.

“Report.”

After the meal, my father opened his mouth in a low voice.

He was asking for reports on what had happened in the meantime, or on achievements.

It was something my father did every time he finished his travels.

“Yes, then I will begin.”

It was my eldest brother, who had been acting as the head of the family, who opened his mouth as the representative.

“The fourth took on the task of handling the Class A Gate that opened in Gwangju at the request of the Gimhae Kim family.”

“The reward?”

“We received a portion of the shares in the northern coal mining area. Next, the sixth dealt with the Nightmare-class monster that appeared in Romania. Considering the scale of the monsters, it is an unusual situation, so we are keeping a close watch.”

“Is it that side too?”

“What do you mean by ‘that side’……”

“No, move on to the next one.”

I chuckled as I listened to the achievements of my brothers being listed one by one.

‘Indeed, it’s just like our family. Class A Gate, dealing with Nightmare-class monsters……’

The already grown-up brothers had long since obtained the qualifications of political officers and had even established and were operating their own personal military forces.

They may not have done it alone, but even considering that, their achievements were at an amazing level for their age.

The reports on all the brothers were finished, except for the second and third, who had been away from the family for a long time, and the fifth, who was in secluded training.

“Now it’s the last one.”

And now it was my turn.

My eldest brother cleared his throat and began the report.

“I obtained information that the Tamer would infiltrate Jeokcheong Island, passed it on to the youngest, and the youngest succeeded in subduing him. Through this, we succeeded in protecting Guisu Mountain, the guardian spirit of Jeokcheong Island.”

My eldest brother paused for a moment and continued.

“In addition, the youngest even discovered the hidden First Trial Chamber during the Naming Ceremony. The operating method of the Trial Chamber and the composition of the trial content will be reported separately by the researchers. That is all.”

Silence fell on the dining table.

Some of the brothers frowned uncomfortably, and Madam Baek had her usual expressionless face.

“Son.”

Breaking the silence, my father opened his mouth.

“Yes, Father.”

“Why did you handle it alone without waiting for the family’s support?”

I briefly examined my father.

I couldn’t read anything from his calm eyes, which didn’t reveal what he was thinking.

But I could instinctively tell.

‘This is a test.’

Just for a moment, a time of thought passed.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“Constantly fight, always win, and enjoy the sweetness of victory.”

A different light appeared in my father’s eyes.

“Grandfather’s words.”

“I have only faithfully followed those words. Those who do not fight will only be eliminated.”

“Hmm.”

A different light appeared in my father’s eyes.

Silence came again.

The brothers’ eyes seemed to say that I was arrogant, and my eldest brother’s eyes were as surprised as ever.

“You don’t resemble me.”

“Yes?”

I was taken aback by my father’s unexpected words.

“Was my answer insufficient?”

“No. It was a sufficient answer.”

My father finished speaking and turned his gaze to my eldest brother.

“When is the Naming Ceremony banquet scheduled to be held?”

“Now that Father has returned, we can hold it as early as tomorrow.”

“It’s an event where guests will also be coming, so time will be needed. Three days from now would be good.”

“Yes, I will inform the administration accordingly.”

“Then let’s stop here for today.”

My father slowly rose from his seat. Then, looking at Hwa and me, he said.

“I have prepared good names for you, so look forward to it.”

Hwa’s expression brightened.

I quietly lowered my head.