Swords, Dogs, and Bones Are All in How You Use Them - 6
I'd come out to meet Rene, only to run smack into some weird pink-haired bitch.
If I'm being honest, I didn't want to get involved.
Who in their right mind sees dog shit on the road and decides to go play with it? Most people just step around it. I was one of those people — except there was a problem.
The dog shit had picked a fight with someone precious to me and was about to get her hands dirty.
I couldn't just stand there and watch that, so I stepped in.
"Bern…! Perfect timing. I actually had something I wanted to say to you!"
Sherin came striding straight toward me. I had a pretty good idea what she was about to try, so I casually rested a hand on her shoulder — then clenched my fist and gave her a light tap in the gut.
"Ghk—?!"
"Aw, how nostalgic."
"Y-You…! How can you hit a woman?!"
"Hit you? This is just the kind of roughhousing we used to do as kids. Oh, wait — come to think of it, you were always the one doing the hitting, and I was always the one getting hit."
From childhood on, whenever Sherin was in a foul mood, she'd come find Bern and use him as a punching bag. Bern had stoically put up with her tantrums, and that was how her personality had turned into the absolute disaster it was now.
Looking at it that way, Bern was partly to blame too.
Nobody expected full-on discipline from a kid, but if he'd just reined her in hard enough back then, the current version of Sherin might never have been born. The time to fix her rotten attitude had been early — and that chance had been missed.
When my own kids came along, I was going to make damn sure their character education was rock solid.
"Anyway, the second I saw you, I figured I was overdue for a turn at the joke. Don't take it personally."
"You piece of trash…!"
Sherin clutched her stomach, writhing in pain. I'd hit her pretty lightly, but apparently it still hurt. I felt no sympathy. That was what she got for neglecting her training.
"B-Bern…!"
"It's fine. She and I go way back — the ugly kind of way back. Don't worry about it."
Rene clung to my sleeve, calling my name in distress. I gave her a few reassuring pats on the head. I wanted to give her more attention, but it didn't look like I was going to have the luxury.
"Who the hell are you? What gives you the right to just show up and take that bitch's side?!"
"I don't think who I choose to protect is any of your business."
"Eighteen years! We were childhood friends for eighteen years! And you're siding with some girl you've known for a few months at most?! How does that make any sense?!"
"It makes perfect sense!"
I threw my arms wide and beamed at her.
Bonds aren't measured in years. If they were, every person on earth would be obligated to stand by their family no matter what — even if that family abused them, murdered people, or turned out to be the lowest scum imaginable.
"Once people get a good look at you, everyone around you is going to walk away."
"Don't you dare! What's wrong with how I look?!"
"You got so greedy for money you went bald. On top of that, your lust and jealousy ran so wild your chest turned into a sheer cliff face. With the way you usually behave, someone clearly put a curse on you."
In truth, every bit of that had been my doing — but I wasn't wrong. If Sherin had been even a little kinder, or shown Bern a shred of gratitude, I never would have gone that far. But looking at the future Rewen had shown me, she was already past the point of redemption.
You could argue it still wasn't too late. I just had zero interest in wasting my time on someone who inspired nothing but disgust.
"Th-This is…!"
"You finally got into the academy you'd been dying for, and all you walked away with was a curse. It's so pathetic I almost want to laugh."
"And you're one to talk, playing bodyguard for some whore!"
"Whore…? Bodyguard…?"
"Yes! The girl behind you! I was shocked she was carrying ten thousand gold — then it turns out it wasn't even her money. So what else could it be? She must have spread her legs for some fat rich old man to get it! And you're just the mutt guarding that slut!"
"Pfft."
The moment Sherin's words hit me, a snort of laughter escaped my mouth.
"What? Why are you laughing?"
"How could I not? You're calling me a fat rich old man."
"What…?"
"If you're talking about the money Rene's carrying, that's mine. She said she was going to buy some ingredients at the market, so I handed it to her."
More precisely, it was money Hades had earned — she'd transferred her entire fortune to me. A lich, she claimed, had nowhere special to spend money anyway. Just like that, I'd become a man of considerable means in a single day. The sum I'd given Rene was a drop in the bucket compared to the total.
When I shared even a fraction of that fact, Sherin shook her head violently in denial.
"That's impossible! You were just some idiot who only knew how to swing a sword!"
"Well… that used to be true."
Bern's dream had been to become a hero who protected humanity. That was the official version. His hidden dream had been to become the sword that protected Sherin. In the end, he hadn't even managed to be a sword — he'd been reduced to a dishwashing sponge. I couldn't accept that ending, so I'd wiped every last one of Bern's dreams from my mind.
His true happiness began the moment he gave those dreams up.
"But after I split with you and started traveling the world, I saw all kinds of things and learned a lot. Thanks to that, I became the millionaire you always wanted to be. And I even picked up a cute girlfriend along the way."
"Hweh?!"
To really twist the knife, I slipped an arm around Rene's waist and pulled her firmly against me. Her face went red as a tomato, and she made a helpless little sound. Lin would have played along with whatever I was doing, but Rene had no improvisational skills whatsoever. That unfiltered, pure reaction only stoked Sherin's jealousy further.
She bit down hard on her lower lip — hard enough that blood welled up.
I ignored it and held Rene even tighter, flaunting what we had. Finally, Sherin couldn't take it. She spun on her heel and bolted.
I couldn't see her face, but I could guess she was absolutely seething.
Ahh, that felt good.
It was like a blockage that had been sitting heavy in my chest for ages had finally cleared out. Who could listen to their ex-childhood-friend's success story and not feel sick about it? I sure as hell couldn't.
Sherin had been ready to dump her childhood friend the second she laid eyes on the handsome, talented Kang Junhyuk. But then Bern started outperforming the protagonist, and her choice turned into a catastrophic blunder. As far as I was concerned, this was pure satisfaction.
Once Hades wraps up her operation cleanly, that'll be the end of it.
I was curious what would happen when even Sherin's last remaining hope got smashed to pieces. I watched her retreating figure and laughed my fill.
"Bern."
"Hm? Mmph—!"
I'd been grinning at the fleeing Sherin when Rene, still in my arms, suddenly kissed me — and shoved me backward. She pushed me all the way into a dark alley before she finally showed her face.
Her cheeks were still flushed crimson. But the flustered look from a moment ago was gone. Her eyes — and even her breath — were hot and charged with something far less innocent.
"That hug just now… I can take that as permission, right?"
"Uh— wait, that's— ngh!"
Rene's tail brushed across my groin. She pinned me against the wall and tugged her top aside just enough to bare pale skin. At this point, there didn't seem to be any other options left.
"Bern…♡"
Even an innocent dragon was still a predator.
At the same time, in a luxury inn within Ainharden.
On the top floor — rumored to have the finest facilities of all — Hades and Kang Junhyuk were alone together.
Normally, a man and a woman sharing a private room meant one thing. Strangely enough, though, Kang Junhyuk was sprawled unconscious on the floor, while Hades was breathing hard, her appearance thoroughly disheveled.
"Hah…! Managed to subdue him somehow."
In Hades's grip was a cracked skull. A thin trickle of blood ran from Kang Junhyuk's head — clear evidence she'd cracked him over the skull with it.
All that's left is the cleanup…
Clap, clap—!
Hades clapped her hands, and a man in a black mask dropped down from the ceiling. Suke-chan, on permanent standby to protect her at a moment's notice.
"Leave him sleeping in this room as he is, and bring the woman I mentioned earlier here."
"Yes, ma'am."
"And don't forget to spread the rumors through the town and the kingdom first thing tomorrow morning."
"Understood."
They must have already gone over the plan, because Hades issued only brief orders to her escort and left the room. She looked ready to leave the inn entirely — then stopped at a window in the hallway and let out a long, heavy sigh.
"Just how long will it be before I earn my lord's favor…"
A lich with a lot on her mind.