I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 6

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 6
The Delpinu River curves gracefully through the heart of the Capital of Delpiam Empire.
Following the riverbank stand the Imperial Palace, the Grand Cathedral, and other landmarks of the capital, earning it the epithet “the umbilical cord of Delpiam”—yet descend to its lower reaches, and a sight utterly divorced from the gleaming capital greets the visitor.
Filth cascaded from corroded pipes in a torrent. A stench so acrid it made breathing nearly impossible permeated the air.
The Underground Sewers were shrouded in darkness. A handful of dimly glowing torches cast murky light across the passage.
【This is tedious.】
【How much longer must we wait?】
‘Your guess is as good as mine.’
The Unknown Boy, comfortably ensconced in shadow, shrugged. The darkness surrounding him rippled with irritation.
Impatient as always. My Guardian Star had never possessed much patience.
Before long, I sensed the presence of the one I’d been waiting for. I opened my mouth slowly.
A monotone voice cut through the rushing waters of the Sewage System.
“How much time has passed?”
In the Sewers where sunlight never penetrated, distinguishing day from night proved nearly impossible.
After a brief pause, someone answered coldly.
“Three in the afternoon. Precisely eighteen hours have elapsed.”
“Oh dear, this is troublesome.”
The Unknown Boy sat atop a Rock Formation in the Underground Sewers, one leg dangling below.
Despite the filth surrounding him, not a speck of dirt marred his gleaming golden hair. He murmured with feigned concern.
“He hasn’t slept a wink.”
“Of course not. The Emperor of Delpiam has lost consciousness, and the Imperial Guard Commander has vanished.”
The other party countered as though waiting for this very moment.
“With all the Transcendent Families gathered, the Imperial Palace wouldn’t dare announce it publicly, but by now the Imperial Household must be in absolute panic.”
“You’re lecturing me now…”
“I’ve heard rumors that the current Wynack Heir’s temperament is uncharacteristic of the Wynack Family. But this—I never anticipated such recklessness. I’m genuinely curious how you intend to navigate this situation.”
Standing below the Rock Formation was a woman with black curly hair pinned up. She gestured irritably at something.
“Should we interpret reducing the Delpiam Imperial Guard Commander to that state as a declaration of hostilities from Abuye?”
Barely concealed exasperation threaded through her dignified voice.
I listened to her words with half an ear while my thoughts drifted to someone else.
A child I’d personally brought from the Slums years ago.
A girl with striking red hair and emerald eyes.
By now, she was likely pale with worry, her feet tapping anxiously.
No doubt she’d been agonizing alone, unable to tell anyone that our precious heir had been completely consumed.
A faint smile played at my lips.
Kalian Wynack glanced down at the narrow passage beneath the Rock Formation where I sat.
Between the wall and the Sewers lay a cramped space, where more than twenty knights were stacked neatly atop one another.
A masterpiece I’d created last night.
If one were to call it my crowning achievement, it would undoubtedly be the portly man sprawled at the very top—the Imperial Guard Commander, the Emperor of Delpiam’s right hand, whom I’d lured away and attempted to abduct.
“The Whezel Family Head is likely approaching this location as we speak. Even for the Wynack Family, facing two Transcendent Family Heads simultaneously borders on impossible. I suggest you come to terms with me here.”
Kalian Wynack listened to the woman’s words in silence, then asked calmly.
“Is this a situation where the perpetrator is threatening the victim?”
“Who’s the victim?”
“Well, a kidnapper wouldn’t be the victim, so I’d say it’s me, wouldn’t you?”
While my counterpart struggled for words at such a startling choice of terminology, the Unknown Boy lightly leaped down beneath the rock formation.
He stepped lightly upon the Imperial Guard Commander’s chest, his slender shadow stretching long beneath the human tower.
“I’m afraid I’m not fool enough to suffer through something I see coming.”
“…I don’t understand what misunderstanding you’re laboring under, but our Emperor is not the trash the rumors paint him to be.”
“Then why did he create a harem?”
Regina Kirges. The current Family Head of the Kirges family furrowed her brow as she met the boy’s crimson gaze.
Those eyes.
‘I’d certainly heard the Wynack Heir was quite a gentle soul.’
Unlike other families who always brought their heirs to official gatherings, Owen Wynack had been particularly reluctant to present his son to the world.
As a result, Kalian Wynack had never once appeared at a continental conference.
Naturally, rumors proliferated. He wasn’t actually his biological son, some said. Or perhaps he was, but he lacked the blessing of the stars. He had no talent whatsoever with the blade.
When I’d subtly posed a question about the heir at the last conference, Owen’s response—delivered with a constipated expression—had only fueled the speculation.
“The kid’s lacking quite a bit. Still a long way from being a proper human.”
Owen had said this while tapping his temple dismissively, then irritably changed the subject.
So I’d assumed he was either a gentle, tearful child unbecoming of the Wynack name, or simply a boy whose development lagged slightly behind his peers.
But what in the world was this? Regina swallowed hard internally.
‘Owen. What kind of monster are you raising?!’
Upon hearing that the Emperor of Delpiam had vanished starting last night, Regina Kirges and Luize Whezel had moved immediately.
Regina had discovered the distinctive crescent-shaped traces of Wynack’s mana at the Lower Stream Mouth before descending directly into the depths.
But by the time she arrived at the Sewers, the situation had already concluded.
Ten knights who had guarded the Emperor directly last night, twenty knights who had been lying in ambush. Every last one of them was sprawled about with their vital points struck.
Moreover, not a single wound marred the bodies of the fallen knights. Naturally, there was no blood either.
In other words, he’d swept through thirty elite soldiers with a single blade strike.
‘Given that they haven’t regained consciousness even after all this time, it seems he mixed in sword energy as well.’
Of course, the next Family Head of the Wynack family, said to have reached the pinnacle of the blade, wouldn’t find such a feat difficult.
Even Regina’s own heir, Alpien, could easily handle thirty grown men.
The Transcendent Families didn’t abstain from the continent’s great and small wars for nothing. The phrase “one against a hundred” was hardly an exaggeration.
So if the fallen knights had all been ordinary soldiers, it would have been natural, but….
Kalian indicated the knights he was standing upon with a tilt of his head.
“Five from Kirges, and three from Whiszel.”
“….”
“Two Transcendent Families conspired with the Emperor of Delpiam to recruit the Wynack Heir. To drag him off to a harem. Why, I wonder?”
If he were truly a man of such tastes, it would be rather threatening. Kalian chuckled softly.
It seemed she’d greatly underestimated this boy. Regina had no choice but to speak.
“We harbored no intention of threatening you. Had you simply cooperated willingly, none of this would have occurred….”
“Why target the heir instead of the Family Head? Ah, don’t tell me it’s because Father isn’t handsome enough?”
“….”
“Bah, that much should suffice. It seems the Emperor of Delpiam has rather exacting tastes.”
Regina noticed the boy wasn’t listening to her at all.
Kalien slowly lowered himself into a crouch. With his pristine shoe, unmarred by filth, he casually trampled upon the Imperial Guard Commander’s chest.
“If that’s not the reason, then…”
As he tilted his head, the crimson light in his eyes shifted its angle.
Those delicate lips, which had barely held a faint smile, began to spread with growing delight.
“What could you be hiding in that harem guarded by three hundred concubines?”
“Little Wynack.”
“Since neither Kirges nor Whiszel can be touched, should I simply abduct the Wynack heir?”
His expression and tone radiated mad delight. The boy dragged his bandaged left hand slowly across his chin.
What lay hidden beneath that angelic visage was beginning to bare its fangs.
Kalien laughed wickedly.
“Perhaps you’ve stashed away some delectable sacred relic?”
Regina’s expression froze cold.
Though it had flashed past in an instant, that child had unmistakably licked his lips.
The madness that flickered across the boy’s face sent chills down her spine.
‘He knows!’
The legacy left by the stars—sacred relics.
Among them, the relic imbued with the power of Wynack’s Guardian Star, “The Judge of Darkness and Chaos,” secretly kept within the Delpiam Imperial Palace.
A sense of dread she had never experienced in all her years as one of the Continent’s foremost transcendents coursed through her spine.
This boy, the little Wynack, had needed only confirmation.
So he had subdued the Imperial Guard Commander who came to manipulate me, leaving him missing, and waited for one of Delpiam’s transcendents to track him down.
All while deliberately scattering his aura about.
To verify against the Family Head whether what lay hidden in the Delpiam Imperial Palace matched his suspicions!

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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