Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 246

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

I manipulated the gears and slammed down on the accelerator. The tank lurched backward with a thunderous clang and rumble.
“A lady’s refinement, you say? Young Lady, we’re going backward! Backward! Do you actually know how to operate this thing properly?!”
“It’s fine, you fool! I just mixed up the reverse gear a bit! Manual transmissions take time to get used to!”
“If it takes time, what confidence made you grab the steering wheel?!”
“Don’t worry, Lucilucil! I’ve actually played World of Tanks before!”
“What’s World of Tanks?!”
“It’s a game!”
Lucilucil and Jack Brown screamed. They both cried out—had I really gained such confidence from just moving pieces around in a board game? Was I out of my mind? But that’s not it at all! World of Tanks is different! It’s an online game! Of course, it doesn’t actually teach real tank operation either!
I knocked down two trees in reverse, then manipulated the gears to move forward. And I gave Lucilucil an order.
“Rotate the cannon! Aim at the room where the conference hall was!”
“But your brother is still in there! And my subordinates!”
“Those kids already collapsed the Annex Building while playing around! They won’t die from this! Come on, fire!”
“Oh my! How did I end up with such a master!”
“To you I may be a master, but to me you’re my one and only wife! I’m the more pitiful one!”
Stop competing over who’s more unfortunate and just shoot already!
As I urged him on, Jack inserted a heavy shell, and Lucilucil rotated the cannon smoothly, aimed carefully, and fired with precision. A sound louder than thunder assaulted my eardrums. My entire body ached from the recoil shaking the tank’s chassis, but Papa informed me that the shell had scored a direct hit on the conference hall’s window.
As expected of the former Crown Prince of Largol! There’s nothing he can’t do when ordered! My husband is the best!
“Rotate the cannon to full rear! We’ll fire while moving!”
“Haha, hahaha! This is fun! Look at this, Rosalite! Wasn’t it a good idea to buy this toy!”
“Two peas in a pod, you two are!”
Even as he complained, his body was honest—he kept loading shells, so what was he talking about.
Following Papa’s guidance as my eyes, I half-destroyed the Royal Villa and raced toward the Dock. From the sounds of impacts and other noises coming from outside, it seemed the defensive line against Yuri had collapsed all the way here.
“Asterion! You escape! I’ll hold him off here!”
“Hey! What about you?!”
That voice—is that Janet and Asterion? So Janet, who joined our household, has learned to look after Leon. No matter how much we have Magnus in our grasp, if we lose Leon to Yuri, we’re finished.
As a servant of the household and tactically speaking, it’s the right call. She may have rolled in on her own, but we certainly picked a good commander. Lucilucil seems to agree too, chiming in with my assessment and praising Janet’s usual work performance.
While we chatted away inside the tank, outside, Janet and Leon exchanged youthful, shounen manga-like banter, and when Leon climbed onto the tank’s armor with a thud, Janet shouted loudly at him.
“While we’re at it, let me be honest! If you were a woman, I’d have slept with you once!”
“You crazy bastard! Crazy! Bastard! You absolute, crazy bastard!”
Leon broke. What on earth happened while holding off Yuri that made Janet say something so absurd?
Leon quickly entered the corridor where Sage was and clung to me, crying his eyes out.
“Sister, Sister, please save me. There’s nothing but crazy people around me. Nothing but crazy bastards. There are too many obstacles in my life.”
“It may not be much comfort, but your situation is still better than mine.”
“Waaahhhhh!”
I don’t know what happened, but I’ll chalk it up to the fate of a BL novel protagonist. You had it worse back then. Your life was truly savage, tragic, and absolutely absurd.
While comforting Leon, I pressed the accelerator hard. This tank had a history of breaking two transport vehicles at Bienar Port. It was terribly heavy, and there would only be one chance. It had creaked once when I got out days ago, so this time it might actually break.
As I climbed the slope to the Saint Brilliant Lucilucil Ship in one go, I braced myself for the impact that would hit my rear end from the momentary sensation of floating in the air. This would definitely smash the deck. And my rear end would be smashed too.
“Kyaaaah!”
The vessel lurched violently as expected, and with the deck torn open, the floor tilted at a severe angle. I rubbed my undoubtedly bruised backside and spoke to Papa.
“Papa, go to the emergency engine room! The moment Janet arrives, we accelerate at full throttle!”
“Understood!”
“Raise the anchor! We set sail!”
I leaped from the tank and made my way toward the stern of the ship. Aster was already there with all his belongings packed, contentedly tearing into squid legs, while Yuri and Janet had made their way down near the dock.
“Engaging emergency power! Everyone to your stations!”
With the headwind, I lowered the sails and took the helm. As my crew moved into position at my command, the Saint Brilliant Lusilu Ship gradually picked up speed.
“Janet Edanelli! Hold that sword tight!”
“Huh?!”
“Do as I say!”
Let me see… as expected, that Yuri was fighting with a magic sword as a countermeasure against Sage. She was probably even prepared to use it as a lightning rod to divert any electrical attacks. If not for my Predecessor’s advice, I would have planned to have Sage strike down any threats with a thunderbolt. The difference between you and me is whether my Predecessor is within reach or not. Long live my Predecessor!
The difference between you and me is whether the Predecessor is in my hands or not. Long live the Predecessor!
“Electromagnetic conversion! Maximum output! Convergence!”
As I unleashed the spell, Janet shrieked and was dragged toward the Lusilu Ship, gripping the sword. Since the magic indiscriminately pulled all metal, miscellaneous items from the dock and iron stakes came tumbling along, but Leon and Jack knocked them all away before anyone could be hurt.
“Aster Brown! Ready!”
At my shout, Aster stood confidently at the stern. The woman swallowed the squid leg, gripped her sword, and gathered her aura.
Now that I’d safely retrieved Janet, there was only one thing Yuri could do—pile up earth or create earth golems to cross the sea and catch up to the ship.
But as I’ve emphasized countless times, numbers are everything in a fight.
“Go!
Die, William Brown!
”
”
Die, William Brown!
”
An aura beam of incomparable output to Janet’s erupted from Aster’s hand. The earthen mound Yuri had hastily raised with magic crumbled in an instant, and the sea split in two as if torn apart before being swallowed by water once more.
“Magnus! Give back Magnus! You wicked fiends!”
Yuri, who possessed abilities worthy of the title of Grand Mage and could hold their own against Leon in a battle of endurance, had somehow survived Aster’s assault.
Yuri had been successfully separated, and Magnus had fallen into my hands. There was only one thing I could propose.
“I await the loyalty oath from all members of the Cerepia Magic Tower Alliance—that you will never defy the True Magic Tower Master for the rest of your lives! If you refuse, know that your precious Magnus will have no life!”
“Magnus! Magnuuuus!”
I laughed heartily, watching Yuri flail about in the sea. I never expected things to go this smoothly. Once I get home, I’ll cut off Magnus’s hair and send it to the Alliance.
Thank goodness I promised Jack I’d handle any complaints from the Royal Family with his money. How much would it cost to rebuild the villa? Since I’ve made sure not to lose anything in this whole affair, I’m in high spirits, but then Glen gently grabbed my shoulder.
“Rosalite. What was that just now?”
“Eh? What do you mean, just now?”
“That magic. Surely I’m not the only one who was startled? Everyone else knew about it?”
Oh, oh no? Didn’t I tell Glen about it? Somehow, one person after another found out. I naturally assumed Glen would know too…
“Only me. About you, Rosalite… I know nothing at all…”
Hey, that’s quite an exaggeration! How could you know nothing about me? You know plenty of things others don’t—like the location of that mole in a certain hidden place.
As I did my best to console Glen, Jack suddenly screamed and covered his ears. Glen, apparently quite upset, locked himself in the ship’s cabin and didn’t emerge until we arrived at Bienar Port, leaving me with nothing to do but discuss Magnus’s treatment with the others.

◇ ◆ ◇

We’d arrived home, but the vacation wasn’t over yet. So we could shut ourselves away in Jack’s torture chamber and deliberate on how to extract a declaration of surrender.
First, I fitted Magnus with a mana restraint collar. It was the same one we’d used during the Celin incident, so its effectiveness was guaranteed. No matter how composed I usually am, Magnus when he loses his temper is the most terrifying force in the world. I had no desire to accidentally provoke him and end up as a pillar of salt.
Even after securing his oath of loyalty, there could be complications later, so I devoted myself entirely to treating Magnus with the utmost care and respect.
For the hair I’d send as a threat, I brought in Rocksburg’s finest hairdresser and carefully trimmed a lock while having his hair done, then folded it delicately into an envelope to send. As for the finger to follow, I called in Jack and Jang to make a mold.
Jack made the mold, Jang carved it meticulously, and Ram Bart painted it—the result was a replica of Magnus’s pinky finger that looked more real than the real thing.
When hair alone couldn’t shake the enemy, I’d send this instead. Placed in a glass bottle filled with formalin and sent off, the mere sight of it would be shocking. They probably wouldn’t even take it out to verify. That was all I could rely on.
“Ah, but even if it’s fake, won’t Yuri be deeply traumatized? She has such a tender heart.”
“I included a letter saying that if she brings it quickly, the Largol Priest at our house might be able to reattach it. All the Alliance needs to do is surrender immediately.”
“But still…”
Still what! Why make such unreasonable demands in the first place!
While keeping Magnus restrained, I earnestly explained and persuaded him about how terribly our household members had suffered because of Celin. Of course, it was also because I didn’t want to become a pillar of salt. Pillars of salt are frightening.
In any case, Magnus’s kind heart proved quite effective at sympathizing with us, and by now he’d developed enough awareness to lower his guard regarding the lowering of standards in character assessments.
Our appeal had reached a sufficient level. Now I truly needed to find a compromise. Even if I forcibly extracted an oath of loyalty, there was no telling what other stubborn fool might rise up later.
In times like these, consulting the Predecessor was best. Let me seek out the greatest mind currently residing in the Duke’s Mansion—and remarkably, I witnessed in real time the scene of this brilliant gentleman digging in the ground.

Yuri was an idiot. An absolute idiot. Simply and utterly an idiot.

The Predecessor seemed deeply disheartened that his prediction had missed the mark.
“People can be that way, you know. Since that little brat essentially caused Magnus to act, isn’t he practically the mastermind?”
I moved my lips to cheer him up, but it didn’t seem to work. His fountain pen circled through the air, expressing something like the transience of time itself, before settling on his notebook to form beautiful handwriting.

I suppose it’s about time I went.

No, what is that… It’s like those words that the dignified grandmother sings every day, “I should hurry up and die.”

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