Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 51

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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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That bastard’s destruction of my Hamster was merely the beginning.
After having half my monthly allowance cut, Aster seemed to interpret the punishment as permission to slaughter anything I raised from my own funds. He devoured every snake I kept, every bird I raised, and even that grizzly bear—the one rumored to have eaten people—he fought it fair and square and consumed it. The despair I’ve endured is beyond words. To prevent him from eating my pets, I even raised ornamental silk carp with notoriously foul taste, and Hercules beetles that looked nothing like human food. Yet Aster sliced the freshwater carp into sashimi and roasted Hercules over the fire.
After devouring every last limb, all he said was—
“Hey, I don’t think we should keep these anymore.”
Just one sentence.
From that moment on, I decided Aster was no longer human in my eyes.
I will kill him one day. I swear I’ll end that bastard with my own hands.
Many servants at the Duke’s Mansion see the cemetery I’ve arranged behind the Torture Chamber where I worked and assume it’s a memorial for all the people Jack Brown has killed. I stake my honor that this is absolutely false. I harbor no attachment to those I’ve slain. Besides, they deserved their deaths—why would I memorialize them?
Those poor creatures are all pets I raised before Aster devoured them, meeting unjust ends. I vowed to avenge them against Aster and comfort all their spirits. Each gravestone was crafted with meticulous care, cursing Aster with every stroke.
Hamster, Snake-soon, Beloved, Peony, Boitech, Golden, White Lotus, Red-and-White, and finally Hercules.
I will never forget you.
“Damn it…”
Thinking about it again, tears stream down my face.
In any case, fighting Aster and Daiday would only result in mutual destruction, so I planned to grow stronger first before settling the score. But after Aster returned from the Empire with the Young Lady recently, he’s made such rapid progress that my vision went dark.
There was no way to win. Even now, when we fight bare-handed, I lose eight times out of ten. How could I possibly defeat someone who’s mastered aura?
Feeling utterly hopeless and despising the Young Lady for raising that monster, I cursed them both and left home. Which brings me to now.
To be honest, I had no real plan. I harbored ambitions of training outside, becoming incredibly strong, and seeking revenge on Aster, but I had no detailed strategy for achieving it.
At first, I tried training beneath the Waterfall and fought wild animals in the area, but I detected no sign of aura awakening.
I suppose it’s a matter of constitution—some people can master it while others can’t. If Aster alone could achieve it despite learning the same way, then I was doomed from the start.
Since things have come to this, I won’t think about returning. Perhaps I’ll just live in the mountains indefinitely.
Though it’s embarrassing to boast, I have decent craftsmanship. I’ve built a cabin and fashioned tools, so I lack nothing in daily life. The mountains provide abundant food. Living as a hermit for the rest of my life isn’t so bad.
Considerable time has passed since I left home, and I was thinking it might be better for both sides if I didn’t return, when I heard a sound like a pig being slaughtered from somewhere below.
“Kyaaaah!”
The shriek of a wild animal made me look down. A monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail was fighting black-horned rabbits with large tusks.
Both types of beasts were massive, and seeing they were larger than my second Older Brother—who stood over two meters tall—they could truly be called monsters.
So this really is the countryside. The mana is so thick that such monsters appear frequently.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Squeeeak!”
Though the Rabbits outnumbered the Chimera, they were clearly losing to the lion-headed creature. One kick from it sent the Rabbits flying, and those that crashed into trees and broke their necks breathed their last.
…Even accounting for the strength difference, the Rabbits didn’t seem significantly smaller. Why were they falling so easily?
Suspicious, I examined the Chimera more carefully. A blue aura shimmered across its body.
Good grief. Now even wild animals are using aura.
I’ve seen all manner of mutations in this particularly mana-rich region, but a lion-goat using aura was a first. So adventures like this really do happen. I enjoyed reading about them as a child—that novel about a pack of wild dogs defeating an aura-wielding grizzly bear.
“Squeak… squeak.”
Ah. Only one Rabbit remains.
The last Rabbit, drenched in blood, continued trying to charge at the lion-headed monster, but the creature simply scoffed and walked away.
…What was that attitude? As if the Rabbit wasn’t even worth fighting?
Though the Chimera couldn’t speak, his storytelling was so captivating that I found myself deeply exasperated with the lion-goat-headed creature. I climbed down from the tree to check on the Rabbit he’d left behind.
As I dropped down from above, the Rabbit grew wary, but it had already exhausted its strength to fight back. The brown-furred creature, which appeared twice my size, couldn’t resist at all as I examined its wounds, only glaring at me with resentment.
“This much should be manageable.”
With proper medicine and good food, it would heal quickly.
When I patted its rear end approvingly, the Rabbit let out a sharp squeal and began stomping its hind legs in displeasure, only to cry out again as its own stomping aggravated its wounds.
Poor thing. What a fool.
Still, it was endearing. Animals are rather cute when they’re a bit foolish. With that thought, I returned to the cabin, gathered the emergency medicine I’d brought with me, applied it to the wounds, and fashioned a neck collar to prevent the Rabbit from licking them.
The Rabbit disliked the collar around its neck and stamped its hind legs with great emotion, causing its wounds to throb again, and it let out another piercing squeal.
You really are a fool.
Well, animals can be foolish too.
Since the Rabbit was too large for me to carry, I left it where it was, gathered food and placed it before the creature, then decided to bury the dead rabbits.
I’d already made a shovel when I built the cabin. After burying them all, night fell, and I returned to the cabin to sleep.
The next day when I visited the Rabbit, the fruits I’d left for it hadn’t been touched at all. Wondering if perhaps its throat was injured, I opened its mouth to look inside, but found nothing wrong.
Since the Rabbit had fangs despite being a rabbit, I caught a passing deer for it just in case, and the creature devoured it ravenously, crunching even the bones with a cracking sound.
This beast… was carnivorous after all.

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Days passed, and when I went to feed it as usual, the Rabbit was no longer in its usual resting spot. Perhaps it had left somewhere now that it could move again.
I felt a pang of sadness that it left without saying goodbye, but what would a beast know of farewells? That foolish creature probably bolted the moment its wounds healed.
Thinking that I should smoke the wild boar meat I’d caught today for long-term storage, I returned to the cabin, only to find the familiar Rabbit waiting at my door, thumping the ground with its hind legs.
You foolish creature…! You must have found my home by scent!
Reunited with the Rabbit, my only companion in this lonely mountain life, I was overwhelmed with emotion and embraced it. It was so soft and fluffy. The Rabbit let out a sharp squeal as I held it, perhaps because its wounds hadn’t fully healed yet.

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After that, we joined forces and thoroughly enjoyed our mountain life. We gathered fruit for me to eat and hunted beasts for Rabbit to consume. In the evenings, we’d kindle a fire, sit around it together, drink the grape wine I’d fermented myself, and speak ill of Aster.
Whenever I cursed Aster, Rabbit would screech “Kee-ek! Kee-ik! Kee-ek!” as if understanding perfectly, stamping its hind legs and muttering something unintelligible. It would puff up its fur dramatically, roar like a lion, then cry out again: “Kee-ek! Kee-ik! Kee-ek!”
I couldn’t discern the details, but no matter how I thought about it, those sounds seemed to reference that lion-goat-headed Chimera I’d seen back then. So I cursed Chimera with considerable vigor on Rabbit’s behalf.
As I vented my anger and hurled insults, Rabbit nodded approvingly and began licking my head repeatedly. I told it to stop because it smelled, but Rabbit wouldn’t cease.
Since the gesture seemed to convey affection in its nuance, I couldn’t bring myself to scold it harshly. I decided to accept Rabbit’s licking and committed to brushing my teeth vigorously starting the next day.
After about a month had passed and Rabbit’s wounds had mostly healed, I removed its neck collar and threw a party to commemorate its recovery.
Since it was a good day, I descended to the nearby village pasture and purchased half a well-marbled cow. Rabbit uprooted an entire mountain ash tree that I favored, and we shared the berries together.
Starting the day after the commemoration party, Rabbit began mimicking my training regimen.
I’m not sure why, but Rabbit trained with me under the waterfall and split logs alongside me. Eventually, it began sparring with me as well, so I retrieved my beloved chain sickle—which I relied upon to manage Rabbit’s horns—and faced it in combat.
And at some point, I realized the truth: Rabbit had challenged me to these matches because it harbored the intention to face that lion again.
If that’s the reason, then I should roll up my sleeves and help.
I set the chain sickle aside and retrieved Claw instead. Rabbit squeaked in gratitude. Perhaps because the claw-shaped weapon made it easier to imagine the lion, Rabbit threw itself at me with blazing determination and fought me daily until exhaustion claimed it.
Through this cycle of feeding well, training, fighting, feeding well, training, and fighting again, Rabbit’s body had grown to twice its original size.
This creature… it seems it hadn’t been fully grown when we first met.
From eating well, its fur gleamed brilliantly. From Rabbit’s black horns occasionally emanated a humming sound with an eerie quality—I found it fascinating and reached out to touch those horns.
Rabbit immediately bit me, flung me onto its back, and bounded away somewhere. It raced deep into the place where the Crystal Cave existed, stopping at a spot where black crystals were scattered about. There, it began gnawing on them with a crunching sound, then offered me a piece as well.
“I’m human, so I can’t eat rocks, you fool.”
Rabbit seemed to understand the word “fool”—whenever I called it that, it would stamp its hind legs in place with rapid thuds. Then, as if questioning why I wouldn’t eat this either, it poked me repeatedly with its horns before stamping again and resuming its consumption of the crystals.
As Rabbit ate the crystals, a humming sound emanated from its horns—there was clearly a connection.

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Three months after cohabiting with Rabbit—which meant six months had passed since I left home—Rabbit wore a solemn expression from morning and delivered an elaborate speech in squeaks and chirps.
I couldn’t understand what Rabbit was saying, but I sensed that something momentous would unfold today. I hastily donned my animal-hide coat and followed Rabbit.
At the location Rabbit led me to stood that lion-goat-headed Chimera—the very creature that had once slaughtered all of Rabbit’s companions.
“Squee-ek! Kee-ek!”
“Roooaarrr!”
…They seem to be having quite the heated argument!

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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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