Chapter 22: Do You Think Someone Like You Can

The Reason to Fight

 

“G-Gadio-san, you have a child?”

“No…Didn’t I tell you not to call me “papa” Hallom?” said Gadio while petting the little girl called Hallom on the head.

The man’s hand moved as if he’s too used to doing it, yet perhaps he was denying it because they were not blood related.

“Papa is papa. Mama has acknowledged you for being papa too.”

Hallom puffed her cheeks in rage, to which Gadio responded with a bitter smile, unsure what to do. As he did, a red-haired, crude-looking woman about the same age as he appeared from inside the house.

“Welcome back, Gadio.”

“Yeah, I’m back Celena¹.”

Their exchange look like nothing but that of a married couple, yet seeing that Hallom is not his child could mean that Celena is not, in fact, his wife.

“Don’t you think it’s about time you let her call you papa already?”

“No way. I couldn’t ever apologize enough to Souma if that happens.”

“Not just Souma but Thea too, don’t you think? Seriously, there should be a limit of your sense of duty.”

“…let’s talk about that later. We have a guest at the moment.”

“My oh my” exclaimed the woman, surprised with a face that says “I’ve done it now” as she finally noticed Flamm.

“Sorry for letting you hear such embarrassing exchange. Ah, are you Flamm-chan, perhaps? Gadio talks about you a lot, like how you are so talented.”

Flamm blushed in embarrassment, never thinking that someone she didn’t know would know her well, though she does feel that being called “so talented” might have been too far. All the time during their travels, Flamm’s statuses stayed at flat zeroes and she was unable to use Cavalier Arts at all.

“It wouldn’t be fun to talk here, right? Come on in. Should we lead her to the guestroom, Gadio?”

“This is going to be a long talk, so I’d like just the two of us to talk a bit. Can the two of you go somewhere else?”

“Oh, so that kind of talk, huh. Okaay~!”

“Huuh? Just when I thought I could play with papa…”

Gadio picked up the pouting Hallom and handed her to Celena. A 7-year-old child should be rather hefty, yet the couple handled her as if she was weightless.

Celena’s exposed arm appear to be riddled with scars, perhaps a hint that she is—or was—an adventurer, which could explain her relationship with Gadio being fellow adventurers.

“Okay, okay, papa will play with you later, so for now let’s play with mama, okaay?”

“I’m tired of playing with mamaa! I wanna play with papaa!” Hallom said, innocently saying something mean as she struggled about on top of Celena’s shoulder, something that didn’t even flinch the woman as the two continued heading further into the mansion.

Flamm who was left out—or rather, who couldn’t follow their conversation to begin with—saw the two off, stunned as she saw their backs grow smaller with distance.

“Let’s go, Flamm.”

“Y-Yes…!”

Gadio proceeded into the mansion without even explaining anything, and Flamm, whose pace greatly differs from the big man ran lightly to catch up to him.

Several expensive-looking paintings decorate the guestroom’s walls while an extravagant chandelier hangs down from the ceiling. The sofa was extremely fluffy, with Flamm’s rear sunk way deeper into the seat more than she’d expected, causing her to gasp in surprise. It is by all means a luxury good, but rather than thinking that it was too fancy, she thought that it would definitely suit the Gadio she’s seeing now.

“My original plan was to just hand over the equipment and be done with it.” Gadio sighed as he sat down opposite of Flamm.

“Equipment?”

“The storehouse of this mansion contains the equipment we collected. Some of them are cursed, so I thought you might find them useful.”

“You’re giving them to me!?”

“Don’t think too much of it. There’s no way for us to use cursed equipment anyways.”

“Thank you so much! I shall gladly take you up on your offer.”

Normally, adventurers throw away cursed equipment, though some that houses a strong curse, which are truly rare, would be sold and circulated in the market as a luxury good. Flamm too browsed the stores lined up in the Central District’s main road to look for such cursed equipment sometimes, yet she was still unable to find something that she could be satisfied with, and it’s not like she could easily find a pile of corpses like the one she found in that facility, so Flamm couldn’t be thankful enough for Gadio’s suggestion.

“Still, that’s for later. Haven’t you been wondering about that child and the woman you saw?”

“Well, of course.”

He was living alone with Celena, who was not his significant other, as well as with Hallom, who doesn’t seem to be Gadio’s daughter. Thinking about how complex their relationships are could be enough to cause the young girl’s brain to short circuit.

“Simply speaking, Celena is my best friend…Souma’s wife, and Hallom is their daughter…but six years ago, Souma lost his life to a monster.”

That sentence returned Flamm’s train of thought to working order as she understood the premise of their story. Judging by how Hallom seemed to be 6 years old, it is likely that she had never seen or remembered her real father’s face, and instead she has viewed Gadio as a father figure for as long as she could remember. That was why she called him “papa”, and it is likely that Celena too…

“That Souma you mentioned, is he strong as well?”

“Yeah, he’s even stronger than I am. He spearheaded our group like a leader and fought bravely. This armor and greatsword is actually a memento from him.”

That explained why he kept refusing to wear Legendary items…yet it wasn’t a beautiful story such as wanting to carry on Souma’s feelings, and instead, it was a symbol of sin that he could not bear to forget.

“You were in a team?”

“Used to. There was me, Souma, Celena, Thea, Jane and Lowe. Three of us were S-ranked, and the other three was A-ranked. We believed that no matter where we go, no one could defeat us…we were conceited.”

No, there was no way that it was conceit. The three S-ranked was a menace, and the three others were A-ranked. Without a doubt, it was the strongest team the Empire could have. There are no other adventurers that could match that team.

“This mansion is what remained of that time. We built this place for the six of us to live together, but back in the days we would laugh at how it’s too big and how much it costs.”

“You must have been great friends if you decided to live together.”

“That’s right. Just being with them was fun. At that time I just got together with Thea as well, so that time was really the peak of my happiness.” Gadio said, his eyes vacant as he stared at the well-polished table that reflected his face.

“Got together…you got married?”

“It was pretty rushed though. I bet I really didn’t want to lose to Souma back in the days. Though…just after I said that I will protect her all my life…she died.” Gadio spat his words in self-deprecation. “Six years ago, we took a subjugation quest to take down a large dragon in the southwestern part of the kingdom. We said it’s probably just another dragon so it would be easy. Let’s quickly get it over with and get back home, laughing away as we did. Celena was waiting back here for her childbirth after all…but what we encountered wasn’t just another dragon. There’s a vortex on its face.”

A vortex on its face could only mean one thing.

“…That’s…no way…”

“Same with that Nect boy we fought some days ago, right? Thinking back to it, it must’ve been another one of the church’s research.”

His voice sounds less agitated, but there’s still a hint of anger in his voice. He must have thought that it was nothing but a mutated monster, but now that he learns that it was something crafted by the church, he finally found something to project his anger to.

“We started off by getting swallowed in an ambush and took great damage from it. In an instant, Jane and Lowe were killed. Souma put up a great fight, but he was still minced in his armor, right in front of my eye. Lastly, Thea protected me, and her heart was gouged out because of it…and just like that, I alone survived.”

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That regret remained gnawing at his heart for six years and counting, something that Gadio would surely shoulder for the rest of his life. Even if someone were to tell him it wasn’t his fault, he alone would still find himself unforgivable.

“I barely escaped with my life, and I was welcomed back by the people saying I was a coward, and who could blame them? I really am a coward. I abandoned my team, my best friend, and my wife. I’m nothing but a coward!”

Gadio audibly grits his teeth and clenched his fist tightly. His veins appeared on the back of his hands as his arms trembled greatly. Even for a bit of recompense, he went back to reclaim the bodies and give them a proper burial, but what’s left there was nothing but Souma’s armor and sword. He then proceeds to focus on sharpening up his swordsmanship afterwards, but the void in his heart remains.

Sitting in front of the man, Flamm said nothing. She had known nothing about Gadio except for the bits she knew very recently, it was obvious that she could not find the right words for him.

As she kept searching, what she found was—

“No matter what happened in the past, Gadio-san is still a hero to me. You’re no coward.”

Her words were harmless yet pointless. Flamm felt irritated at her own self for not being to come up with something decent, yet it seemed that her feelings were properly conveyed to Gadio. The man’s expression wavered, and he managed to regain his composure, even if it’s just a bit.

“…seems like I’ve lost myself. My bad. You’re really kind, you know.”

“No, I’m…”

“I do have plans to talk about this to Eterna too, but I just happen to end up talking about this to you earlier. Also, there’s something I’ve got to tell you about the church’s research.”

“You mean what you told me the other day wasn’t everything?”

“I read every single bit of information I found and crammed it into my head, so I thought I needed some time to figure out how all of the information was connected otherwise I won’t be able to explain it well.”

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have enough time at that time. The guards at the cathedral wasn’t easy to sneak by, so it was no exaggeration that he snuck in with his life on the line. Though for him, even if he were to be found, he should be able to shrug off whatever resistance the church knights would throw at him.

However, if that were to be the case, he would be barred from entering the capital again, and Gadio would truly prefer to avoid that. Therefore, quickly and carefully, abandoning pointless thinking, he focused on absorbing every bit of information written in the records.

“Origin cores are spheres that contain the power of the Creator God Origin. The church established three primary research teams to find out a way to use these cores.”

“Three teams, huh. The first one is the Spiral Children, right?”

“Yeah. The church administrative abbreviates it as just “Children”. The other two is called “Necromancy” and “Chimaera”. Just hearing their names gave me the shivers.”

Hearing the incomplete information was enough to send a malicious chill up the girl’s back.

“I couldn’t get detailed information like the research subject and the location of the research facilities, but we can make conjectures from these pieces. First, the Necromancy team deals with research of infusing the cores into a corpse and resurrecting them into an army of the dead.

The first thing that appeared in Flamm’s mind was the research facility she found when exploring the depths of Enichidae with Sarah, where she found a trap in the form of a dead body with a vortex on its face, and it truly left her wondering if that blasphemous tool that uses a dead body as a medium could make countless more.

“The second group, the Chimaera, combine multiple living beings, searching for a suitable vessel for the core. They would use that result to further improvise the core, aiming to create cores that would be suitable with human body.”

“I wonder which group created the monster that attacked your team.”

The dragon might have been dead and controlled, or the dragon might be a creature made by mashing together several different monsters. The two explanation are both very possible.

“The ones who researched with monsters is the Chimaera. I’m pretty sure that dragon is something they cooked up as well.”

In short, the Chimaera is the one group responsible of operating outside the capital six years ago. The research facility around Enichidae seemed to have been abandoned roughly 10 years ago, so it is likely that the Chimaera team was its user. It’s also highly likely that the vortex-faced ogre was one of their creations.

“Um…Gadio-san, do you…want exact revenge against the church?”

“I’d be lying if I say I don’t. Abandoning my friends was a sin I have to bear, but it’s not that I don’t hate that monster that killed them all.”

Currently, they don’t know if the monster that attacked Gadio and his friends are still alive as there is quite the possibility that it might have been disposed already, but the research team “Chimera” that was behind it all is still proceeding with its activities.

“How about you, Flamm? Do you think revenge is pointless?”

In response, the girl shook her head. She imagined if Milkit, her family in her hometown or her precious friends were to be killed. The girl surely would try to kill whoever is behind everything for revenge, just like what she did to Dain’s underlings in Enichidae or Dain himself.

“I know it’s imprudent for me to say this, but…I think it’s promising. Compared to the vague sense of justice or sense of purpose, living for a clear purpose can truly bring out someone’s strength.”

“Right, then you can truly exact your revenge with full power.”

“What are you planning to do if I were to say yes there?”

“I’m sure there won’t be a huge change with me, but I’d more-or-less put it into consideration. At least I’m trying to not show my resentment in front of you.”

As he said, this will not be a huge change for him. However, a slight change in combat can mean a difference between life and death.

With a light push on the back by Flamm, Gadio had gained a newfound strength. It might have been an exaggeration, but it was definitely no mistake.

Finishing their conversation in the guest room, Gadio guided Flamm to another room. Their destination is the warehouse Gadio talked about earlier, where he kept his spare equipment.

Flamm walked alongside him, her reflection shown on the surface of the shining, polished floor. Paintings are still lined up decorating the wall, while the windows were so well polished that one would have to touch them to notice it’s there. Several art pieces such as vases, pots, and bust statues were also lined up at regular intervals along the hallway, and even the doors to each room was so gorgeous that Flamm would mistake it as another work of art on the line.

Just looking would bring Flamm to sigh. She’s sure that the price of even one vase would be enough to buy her a new house.

“We’re going down.”

Following what he said, the two descended a set of stairs. Seems like the basement is in the mansion’s basement, and it would also seem that even his basement was also completely and perfectly furbished.

The closer they get to the bottom, the darker it gets, and at the end, it was so dark that it was nigh impossible to see anything at all.

Gadio flicked a switched on the wall, which then faintly lights up the room, allowing the two to see it in its entirety.

Several wooden torsos were lined up, wrapped in various types of clothes and armor. From dresses to robes, leather armors to plate armor, it contains a lot of equipment of various design and size. Not only that, the shelves too were filled with helmets and tiaras, gauntlets and leg guards, and even boots, brooches and rings to select. From one-handed swords to two-handed, lances, hammers, maces, canes and bows among others; any type of weapons were available, lined up and hung on the wall one after another.

As Scan casually scanned through the equipment, she was shocked to find out that each and every one of the were Legendary or Epic in rarity. She was surprised beyond when she saw the vases. Everything in this room would amount to something way more expensive than the entire mansion.

“This…this is awesome…”

“We’re supposed to dispose the ones we don’t use, but memories kind of become an obstacle to that and we can’t really throw them away.”

There are hints that some of the equipment in the room has been used before. Perhaps his friend and even his wife’s equipment was somewhere in this room as well.

However, what Flamm was seeking is not in this room. It seems that the cursed equipment are all collected beyond the door at the end of this room.

Opening the room, the stench of iron crept through the air and assaulted the girl’s nose.

It’s the smell of blood.

There must be a pile of cursed equipment in this small room. Items similar to the steel gauntlet hanging on her waist, the cursed equipment that won’t ever be clean of blood no matter how many times she tried to wash them off.

It seems that she would need to dive in and search the equipment from the pile of metal scraps no one would normally touch.

“Lowe had the hobby of collecting these, I’m sure it’s full of weird equipment everywhere.”

“He must’ve been a very weird person.:

“The others used to always tell him to dispose it, but I never thought that it would be useful in this way.” Said Gadio, reminiscing. The mansion is dyed with memories that are so blissful that it’s suffocating.

Flamm reached out to the pile of equipment and she started scanning them one by one; from one that was stained by blood, another that the stain resembled a human face, and yet another that caused her to hear strange voices the moment she touched it. She pulled a wry face, but she realized that the work she had to do this time is something that was still way easier than having to search for equipment from a mountain of corpses.

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