Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 177
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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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Ah, but why do I feel slightly relieved? Is it because it’s a powerful animal that stands out from the realm of common sense? Maybe it’s because I’ve been fighting giant squids and massive sea anemones until now, so a bear seems almost cute by comparison.
Even if the opponent is more than three times the size of a human body and is a beast that can erase a human’s head with a single blow.
“Danger! Your Highness!”
If we send Leon and Jack Brown out, we should be able to handle this much, I calculated, but then she desperately cried out. A bear was charging toward us. Princess Natalie held her rifle steady, aimed at the bear without moving an inch.
It wasn’t fear of her opponent that froze her feet. The princess didn’t take her eyes off the bear charging straight at her. The woman, who didn’t blink once and waited for the distance to close, pulled the trigger only when she was a hair’s breadth away from possibly experiencing death.
Bang!
The bear didn’t die from this single blow, though it was a direct hit. The princess had struck the bear’s head accurately, but due to its thick hide and skull, she hadn’t been able to inflict a fatal wound.
The princess seemed to have already anticipated this. She clicked open the rifle, loaded a bullet, and fired a second shot. As the second gunshot rang out and until the third shot fired, the princess didn’t budge from her spot and never took her eyes off her prey.
The three bullets shot by the princess all hit the bear’s head. And so the bear fell, and the princess was the one who survived to the end.
“Are you alright! Princess!”
The princess hasn’t even taken her eyes off me yet, and that fellow approaches without a shred of fear.
But when the Crown Prince from our neighborhood dismounted his horse and approached, Princess Natalie’s complexion completely changed as she giggled nervously, “Oh my, what a very large bear, how frightening, ohoho.”
I wonder if this is what Lucilucil felt watching the day Lucy trembled weakly in front of Marius. After ruining things with his own hands, what’s with this act of being scared and laughing it off? Does he really think that will work?
We need to get out of here faster than that. The situation is not good.
“What are you talking about?”
Could things get any worse here? More than brown bears, a subspecies of bears, appearing in the Aristocratic Hunting Grounds?
I was going back to scold William for releasing a bear at the Hunting Grounds like a madman, but hearing that the situation was even worse made my blood run cold. How could I ever compensate for putting the Crown Prince of a nation and the Princess of a duchy in danger? Just calculating the rough settlement money I’d have to pay made my vision go dark.
“Look at this, little brother. This bear is already pretty beaten up, isn’t it?”
Wow, you’re right. I didn’t want to know something like that. Thank you for telling me anyway, Princess.
As the Princess pointed out, the bear was already quite injured, and strangely enough, stone dust was crumbling from its buttocks as if it had fallen hard onto semi-hardened cement. Was someone building something? I hadn’t seen any construction when I came up here. This is the Duke’s Private Estate, isn’t it? If a building is going up on my land, of course I should know about it?
“Crash!”
We were discussing various things about the dead bear when we heard that strange cry again. Wait, so that screech from before wasn’t the bear’s sound? Come to think of it, didn’t it cry out with a roar? Just because something roars “kraaang” from a distance doesn’t mean you’d hear it as “kkooeong,” right?
“Your Highness and Prince Anton, please take Theodore away quickly. With the two of you there, you should be able to fend off even a bear on your way out.”
“A bear, you say? Don’t tell me that damn crocodile is actually stronger than a bear?”
Probably.
I have a bad feeling about this. Just like with the giant squid and the sea anemone, this feels completely intense, like some kind of monster from Older Brother that we’ve never heard of or seen before is about to pop out.
First, we need to make sure the Crown Prince and the Princess can evacuate to safety, so we’ll have to hold this place. It seemed Jack and Leon had the same thought—both of them grumbled as they climbed down from their mounts and began stretching.
When even those guys who just stood there gawking while Capo unnie was stylishly spinning her gun around catching bears would step up, it means the opponent isn’t just some cute baby bear level.
“I’ll stay instead. What strength does my younger sibling have to take on this burden?”
“If the princess stays here, who will protect Theodore?”
“That’s…!”
See? I told you my personnel allocation was accurate, didn’t I?
At least until arriving here, there were no particular problems on the road, and even if a wild beast jumped out, it would be at most a bear, so it was manageable at the level of Anton and the Princess.
“I understand. Once you leave here, go straight to Spaland. Since you’ve already taken time off for vacation, you might as well make the most of it.”
“Is a vacation more important to you than the situation at hand!”
“Of course! It’s my precious vacation time!”
Even our Leon hasn’t gotten to see Rohil! This is his first day off in months! He can’t just come back after doing nothing but work!
Besides, you two need to stick together in places where you’ll be more exposed! Go hold hands and jump into a mixed bathing house together! And cause an accident! Make an irreversible mistake and come back! On your way, please take care of the Crown Prince!
“If the princess’s duty is to protect people, then Rocksburg’s duty is to clean up disasters.”
The children had warmed up enough and began drawing their weapons. Leon, following Jack’s instruction, held a light and elegant sword in one hand and a parrying dagger in the other, preparing for both offense and defense simultaneously. Jack performed a refreshing gymnastics routine before gripping his large scythe firmly. Looking closer, Peter seemed ready to fight as well, kicking his hind legs with considerable vigor.
“Come, princess. It would be better to leave this to that woman.”
“But!”
“I will follow the Rocksburg Young Lady’s suggestion and accompany you. Since I’ll get scolded by Mother, please don’t get hurt.”
Yes, go quickly. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for bringing you to such a hunting ground, damn it.
I watched the three of them evacuate with tears welling up in my eyes. Will Brown, you bastard, just wait. When I get back, I’m going to give you a proper scolding.
Who releases bears at hunting grounds where delicate nobles prance about? Who in their right mind unleashes a monster capable of leaving claw marks all over the forest? This is absolutely insane, completely insane!
“Sister, I’m here.”
Yes. Good, you came.
“SCREEEEEECH!”
Leon stood before me with commanding presence as the creature—presumably a pheasant—let out another piercing cry. I felt my chest tighten as I watched the massive ancient tree in the distance harden like stone before crumbling to dust.
Stone… petrification… Ah, so that cement on the bear’s rear end was foreshadowing for this.
Good grief, I didn’t want this kind of causality. How can people exist like this? What if the setting is fantasy? What if even causality and plausibility become fantasy? That would be wonderful.
That would be nice, actually—something like a stone fairy existing, and oh my, my adorable mistake turned the cute bear’s bottom to stone, hehe.
“It’s dangerous, sister!”
So why release a cockatrice at the Aristocratic Hunting Grounds! You insane Will Brown! I knew you were a Brown! Now that I know for sure, please stop this!
The monster—with a chicken’s head, a serpent’s tail, and strange reptilian wings fluttering—spewed smoke from its mouth, causing Elizabeth to stumble and fall with me on her back.
I executed a perfect falling technique, so my elbow was merely scraped, but was Elizabeth alright? Her legs weren’t broken, were they?
“Squawk! Squeak!”
Stone dust scattered where Elizabeth and I had been standing. I felt my spine chill at the thought of becoming a beautiful Rosalite Rocksburg statue, but Peter confidently stepped forward and engaged the chicken-headed creature in conversation.
Wait, could that even be called conversation? It seemed more like body language? Well, a chicken and a rabbit wouldn’t be able to understand each other anyway, right?
In any case, Peter kicked his hind legs repeatedly, then squeaked at the chicken-head in protest while licking his front paws and making his fur stand on end.
Something that sounded like clucking seemed to symbolize the chicken, the strange way he opened his eyes and flicked his tongue seemed to represent the snake, the fluttering motion as if flying represented the wyvern’s wings, and then he made squeaking sounds that resembled laughter.
Though the words didn’t connect, somehow what Peter was trying to express came through so clearly—what was this feeling?
“Jack Brown.”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
“Is he perhaps drawing aggro from the chicken-head?”
“Not quite aggro, but more like he’s mocking it, saying something like ‘you look that way because you have multiple parents,’ I suppose?”
“Generally speaking, that’s what we call drawing aggro. In other words, provocation.”
“I see.”
What do you mean ‘I see’? Aren’t you going to properly educate your pet?
“SCREEEEEECH!”
It’s angry, what do we do!
As the chicken-headed monster fluttered its entire body and spewed smoke, we all grabbed our mounts and bolted. It’s chasing us. Because Peter drew so much aggro, it’s coming after us with murderous intent!
“Leon! Can’t you do that?! Can’t you shoot an aura beam?!”
“What is that, sister!”
“You useless fool!”
“I apologize, sister!”
Why did I leave Aster behind?! He’s a one-shot solution! With Aster, that bastard would be finished in a single blow!
The creature spewed smoke and turned everything around it to stone, making it impossible to approach. Jack and Leon couldn’t fight properly even with the resolve to kill, and here I was struggling just to breathe—so how the hell did William manage to capture this thing alive?
“Peter Brown, charge!”
“Squeak?!”
“Don’t ‘squeak’ me! You provoked it in the first place! You’re the one that pisses it off the most! Now charge!”
“Squeeeeeak!”
Move it, you furry bastard!
I kicked Peter’s rear end hard, and the rabbit closed and opened his eyes at me before charging at the rooster with tears welling up in his gaze.
Jack threw a fit about me sacrificing Peter, but that wasn’t my only reason for doing it.
Perfect. Now was the moment. The rooster was focused on Peter as it lunged for a body slam, its beak wide open to attack—this was my opening.
“Designate range, concentrate, discharge!”
I used electromagnetic force to gather iron dust from the surroundings and detonated it inside the rooster’s gaping beak. With iron particles lodged and caught in its throat, the creature’s condition was dire—it couldn’t even exhale smoke properly, just retching and writhing in agony.
“Jack, take the head! Leon, handle the tail!”
“Yes, yes, understood!”
“Watch me, Sister! The intensity of my aura is the measure of my love for you!”
Right, sure, I got it—now just kill that damn rooster already.
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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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