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Episode 16
The Kodiak group, provoked by Brunhardt, charged at him all at once. However, none of them could so much as lay a finger on him, let alone wield a weapon against him.
“It seems everything is settled now.”
Brunhardt, having slammed all the Kodiak beastmen to the ground, casually brushed the dust off his hands as if it were nothing. His hands, still lightly swaying, held no weapons.
“Hah! As expected of the Iron Heart!”
The guards, who had been watching from a distance as Brunhardt dealt with the Kodiak gang, let out a collective exclamation.
Clap, clap, clap.
One of the guards, clapping like a spectator at a performance, turned to his companion and whispered,
“Doesn’t he seem a little slower than before?”
Though he was of low rank, this guard had once been part of the elite forces led by Brunhardt in the Northern Army.
‘I can’t say for sure, but his movements seem different somehow…’
The guard furrowed his brow, but his colleague scoffed.
“No way, you must be imagining it! Do you know who that is? That’s Brunhardt of the Grizzly Clan—the strongest force even among the bear beastmen!”
Tap.
As if to emphasize the point, Brunhardt lightly struck the ground with the tip of his longsword.
Crack—creak.
The ground split, threatening the Kodiak group. Brunhardt smiled lightly, pointing at the long line that now separated the Kodiak and Grizzly clans.
“Don’t think about crossing this line, young ones. The Grizzlies are still under my protection.”
The Kodiak gang, startled by Brunhardt’s warning, fled without looking back.
Instead of chasing after them, Brunhardt turned to the guards with a gesture.
“You should return as well. The forest’s edge is heavy with poison—it’s no place to linger.”
“Yes, sir! Thank you for your assistance!”
None of the guards noticed how pale Brunhardt’s lips had become from the poison. Unaware of anything, they simply returned to their base.
“Grandpa.”
By the time the guards had left, Letty emerged from the bushes.
“Didn’t I tell you not to follow me?”
Surprised by the child’s sudden appearance, Brunhardt hurriedly picked Letty up and carried her further into the forest.
The poisonous fog thickened near the forest’s edge, posing a deadly threat to young Letty.
“Grandpa, you’re hurt again.”
Even as she coughed from inhaling the fog, Letty couldn’t stop worrying about Brunhardt.
“I feel strange.”
Brunhardt narrowed his eyes at Letty, who was staring at him intensely. He hesitated before speaking.
“That’s strange. There shouldn’t be any visible signs.”
“I can tell everything,”
Puffing up with pride, Letty snuggled into Brunhardt’s arms, gently touching his left hand. The old man’s eyes widened in surprise as the child accurately pointed to the spot where the poison had gathered.
“I thought the panda tribe’s abilities were related to healing, but it seems you have a knack for sensing things as well.”
Brunhardt’s offhand comment made Letty’s small shoulders twitch.
“…I’m just smart,”
In truth, Letty’s acute senses, typical of red pandas, made it easy for her to notice things others couldn’t.
“If we fought together, you wouldn’t get hurt. Why do you always fight alone, Grandpa?”
Letty perked her sensitive ears, clinging to Brunhardt’s chest as she questioned him.
“It’s better for one body to take the hits than for many to be hurt. I’m already old and useless.”
Brunhardt gently patted Letty’s head as he spoke, but Letty frowned deeply.
“That’s a bad thing to say.”
Though different from the usual harsh words Tinker often used, Brunhardt’s words still pained Letty.
“I don’t like Grandpa saying bad things!”
Upset by Brunhardt’s disregard for his own well-being, Letty sniffled.
“I don’t want you to dislike me, but I can’t lie to you either,”
Brunhardt said, smiling at Letty’s reaction. He gently pinched her chubby cheeks.
“I’m really not useful anymore. A warrior’s body loses its purpose once it ages.”
Brunhardt’s words carried the implication that those who were no longer strong had no reason to live, causing Letty’s face to scrunch in frustration.
“Your daughter wouldn’t like you saying that either!”
Realizing that her protest alone wouldn’t stop him, Letty mentioned Alicia. Brunhardt lightly tapped her tiny nose.
“No, Alicia would understand. She believes it’s right for me to sacrifice myself for the clan.”
In truth, Brunhardt bore the poisonous fog alone as penance to Alicia, not to the Grizzly.
“Alicia loved the Grizzly. But because of my arrogance, I allowed the curse of wrath to fall upon us.”
Alicia was the wrath of the Grizzly, born long before Mireil.
The Temple of the Water God prophesied that if Brunhardt, who did not inherit the Grand Duke's title, were to have a child, the final sin of the Seven Deadly Sins—Wrath—would engulf Grizzly. However, Brunhardt chose to ignore that divine oracle.
He believed he could handle whatever wrath came their way.
“But because of that, Alicia died. It wasn’t me but her who had to bear the Grizzly’ wrath.”
Alicia’s young body couldn’t withstand the surging magical power that came with her wrath.
Fragile from birth, his daughter suffered until her final moments because of Brunhardt’s prideful choices.
[Dad, because of me, people got hurt again.]
He remembered the day when Alicia, clinging to him, had sobbed and said those words after injuring others during a magical outburst.
[I don't want to hurt people anymore. Maybe the people were right… Maybe I shouldn't have been born.]
“…Alicia was deeply troubled as she looked at the mansion that had collapsed due to her magic. She loved Grizzly very much, so it must have been agonizing for her to think she was destroying a place that her eyes saw as incredibly beautiful.”
Brunhardt's eyes twisted in pain as he thought of Alicia. Letty bit her lip tightly as she saw the agony filling the old man's faded red eyes.
“So, if I repay the damage inflicted on Grizzly, won't that let her rest in peace?”
Brunhardt had achieved enough merits to build dozens, even hundreds, of mansions to replace the one Alicia destroyed, yet he still suffered from the lingering sense of debt.
Letty frowned slightly at Brunhardt's words, which seemed to suggest he had to live for Grizzly until the day he died.
‘I don’t think so… I think it would actually hurt her heart too much to find peace.’
Letty had never met Alicia directly, but she couldn't imagine Alicia wanting Brunhardt to suffer.
‘If I were in Alicia’s shoes, I would feel even more sorry if Grandpa kept living so painfully.’
But no matter how much Letty repeated the same words, Brunhardt’s attitude remained unmoved.
‘How can I make Grandpa believe me?’
She wished she could bring Alicia to prove to Brunhardt that his way of thinking was wrong.
‘But Alicia is dead. There’s no way to meet someone who has already passed…’
As Letty whimpered, a thought suddenly popped into her head, and she quickly lifted her head.
‘I think I saw a way in the book the fairy showed me!’
“Grandpa, put me down!”
Letty thumped her fists on Brunhardt's chest as he carried her through the forest and into the main building.
“Are you going to walk from here?”
“No, I want to run!”
Letty answered energetically, then jumped down from Brunhardt’s arms and rushed to her bedroom.
“Fairy! Hey! Hurry up and show me!”
Finding the room empty, the child hurriedly unfolded the original book, whose cover was half-burned.
“I knew it! There’s a way to let Grandpa meet Alicia!”
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