Edited by: dragonsam656
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"Allen, tighten your grip on the sword!" Rodney yelled from the sidelines as Allen and Garrick fought. Allen jumped backward avoiding Garrick's attack. Garrick immediately followed his attack with a thrust. Allen swung his sword upward and successfully defended himself, he squatted down and swiped his leg in a semi-circle in order to make Garrick fall down. Garrick understood Allen's intention very well, he jumped up avoiding the attack while swinging his sword downward in a slashing motion targeting Allen's head. Allen stepped a little bit forward strengthening his lower body as he raised his sword above his head, blocking Garrick's attack and pushing him back. Garrick flipped in the air once before firmly landing on his feet. Just as they got back in their fighting stances once again Rodney signaled for the fight to end. Both the boys got into a relaxed position while panting and wiping the sweat off of their foreheads.
Rodney walked up to Allen and asked him to have a talk - alone. Garrick who was standing in some distance away from them looked at Allen and then he moved his line of sight away from him and focused on Ambert who was talking to him (Garrick).
"Hey, Garrick, if you always keep furrowing your eyebrows like that you will have wrinkles when you grow up," Brishen said in an exaggerated tone, slumping down on him and putting all his weight on him. Getting irritated by Brishen's act he shrugged his shoulder, removing his brother's body from above him, and started walking away from them. He suddenly stopped on his track for a few seconds, turning back to look at Ambert.
"Well, are you coming or not?" Ambert realizing the question was addressed to him, smiled while running after Garrick to catch up to him.
"Bye, bye, Allard-nii, Brishen-nii." Ambert smiled and waved them goodbye while running to catch up with Garrick.
"Pfft... He didn't even give you a little bit of face. Brishen, you sure are hated by your brother," Allard made fun of Garrick who was left behind by his younger brother.
"Huh?! What do you mean by that? He is just shy," Brishen retorted.
"Garrick is anything but shy. I mean I can see that you will be jealous of me because my little Ambert is always so cutely following behind me, but Garrick can see that his brother is nothing special at all." Allard said with a smirk.
"Shut up, you idiot." Brishen retorted as he glanced at the other kids on the ground fighting.
"But, since we came here, Ambert has become cheerful and expressive. Back at the castle he used to be all copped up and wasn't as expressive either. I wish that he keeps smiling like that and always be happy." A trace of sadness appeared on Allard's face as he looked at Ambert's smiling face. Brishen, who was standing right beside him, silently glanced at him from the corners of his eyes before shifting his line of sight to Garrick and Ambert in the distance.
"I guess it’s better here with a lot of kids. I wish my little brother too becomes less of a worry head and just enjoy his childhood," Brishen resigned a sigh as he said that.
"Yea," answered Allard who was smiling from ear to ear looking at his friend.
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"Hey, Alli, tell me, am I a bad brother?" Ray asked to Alvian who had wrapped her small hand on Ray's finger, giggling. He looked at her for quite some time before sighing. 'What Arnette said last night was correct!'
(Flashback)
"You want what?!" Melinda asked both surprised and shocked.
Silence dominated the air. "Making Allen quit the way of knight and magic will really help him? How will he be able to defend himself if some problem comes up?" Reind questioned Ray.
Ray looked at his father's face which was looking at him with all seriousness. "I will protect him," Ray answered without any hesitation.
"I see," Reind thought for some time about Ray's before continuing, "for how long though?"
Ray looked up at him with a confused look, not understanding the question correctly. "How long will you take care of Allen?" Reind repeated his question once again.
"What do you mean by that? It's obvious, I'll take care of him..."
Before Ray could complete his sentence Reind interrupted him and completed his sentence for him, "forever? Ray, have you ever once thought about it carefully?" Reind asked.
Ray looked up at him determination in his eyes as he answered, "Yes, I have thought about this for a long time and this is the conclusion I have come to."
"I see," replied Reind as he seemed to be in some deep thought. Silence once again dominated the air until Reind broke it, "Ok, that seems reasonable," Ray rejoiced after hearing his answer, "But before that let me ask you one last question. If that is the answer you reached, is it really the same answer that Allen reached?" Ray's expression of rejoicing changed into one of contemplation. "Well, is it?" Reind asked.
"But this the best decision for him." Ray pressurized.
"Why do you think so?" This time it was Reind who had questioned Ray but rather it was Arnette who was standing on Reind's left side, opposite to Melinda. Ray pursed his lips, contemplating whether he should tell them about that night or not.
Arnette looked at him with a questioning gaze expecting his answer, "I know this the right decision because I have seen him two days back. I have seen how lost he was because he did something which he can never undo. I never want to see him like that again. That's why I think it is the best decision for him."
"Heh... Then do you think Allen will appreciate your thinking and actions?" Arnette asked with a sarcastic tone in his voice. Ray opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find words so eventually, he ended up shutting his mouth. "Exactly! Ray, you're not Allen, you don't know how he will feel if you do that," he said. Ray looked up at him with a look of contempt and a bit of agreement about his statements. "Ray, listen up, Allen killed a person and that fact can't be changed. He has to live with that fact but if you force him to quit training and everything else thinking that it will help him by keeping him away from these things, then you are just forcing him into denial from accepting that fact and moving on from it. He needs to face that and he also needs to move on from that but the way he chooses to move on depends on him. You, me, Melinda, Reind, Lilian, or anyone else cannot make that decision for him. He has to find a way and make a decision for himself." Arnette got down on his right knee and put his hands on Ray's shoulders, looking straight at him with eyes full of care.
Ray, after hearing what Arnette had to say, looked down on his hands with guilt-ridden eyes. With a sad expression on his face, he said in a low and squeamish voice, "But that means I cannot help him alleviate the pain." Arnette who heard that tightened his hold on Ray's shoulders.
"Who said that you cannot help him? You can help him! You can let him know that you are there for him no matter what, you will be there from him always. You can help him find that way." His eyes held warmth as he told Ray that.
Melinda and Reind who were in the room smiled at Arnette's kind and encouraging words as nostalgia overtook them. Ray looked up to face him with determination on his face. Arnette smiled as he saw the look on Ray's face. "Good, now go train. How many sessions have you missed huh?!" Ray hearing that goes back to his emotionless face as he starts to ignore Arnette.
(Flashback ends)
'I never thought that I could see such a cheesy side of Arnette though.' Ray thought to himself with a smile on his face.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Allen has always suffered alone. Even though I'm here to share his burden he always carries it alone. And I too, I never tried to learn more about him. I'm always just there, happy in my own world." Ray talked to Alvian who was not really attentive of what he was saying and was just giggling and playing with him. Ray looked at Alvian's face for some time.
'Will she too be forced to kill someone someday? Will she too lose her innocence? Will she too go through what Allen is going through?' such questions started to pop up on Ray's mind one after another.
A feeling of dread rose in his heart. 'No, I cannot let this happen. I never want to see Allen like that again. I never want to see Alli like that. I have to do something but what? Killing is like a sort of this world. How can I change that?' As he thought about such things for a long time he finally reached a decision. He looked at Alvian's face once again before taking a deep breath. He opened his eyes which were filled with determination and clenched his hands, "Alvian, I going to change how this world works so that you will never have to go through what Allen had to go through alone. I'm going to change this world." Alvian in her cradle just laughed and giggled, happy in her own world.
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(Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Also, I nearly forgot. I turned down the offer from Dreame but even if I had accepted it I would still continued to upload the story here.)