“Ah, out of mana again.
That’s it for today.”
I sat on the ground in a duck-sit position.
I wasn’t hiding my abilities or letting Rudy feel superior; I was genuinely out of mana.
Rudy was naturally a bit smug, because his talent in magic was indeed much higher than mine.
His mana capacity seemed infinite, and his magic control was far better than mine as well.
In contrast, his talent for swordsmanship was mediocre, far below my own.
According to Paul, I might become a Beginner Swordsman by the age of six.
This made me quite happy.
I’ve finally found my direction for development.
In the future, I’ll focus on being a swordsman and strive to become a cool and outstanding woman like Oscar.
But the task at hand is to get Rudy out of the yard.
I already have a plan for how to do it.
It might be a bit risky, and I might get hit by Zenith…
though this time it might not be Zenith, but Paul.
Today happened to be a good opportunity.
Paul went to patrol the edge of the village, Zenith went to stay at the clinic, and Roxy was in the village using magic to help the villagers with farm work.
Only Rudy and I were at home, along with Lilia.
Now I just need to get Lilia out of the way.
“Lilia.”
“What is it, Miss Luna?” Lilia smiled gently at me.
She liked me a lot, probably because I usually acted quite well-behaved and didn’t look at her lecherously like Rudy did.
“It seems Master Roxy forgot something.
Can I go and bring it to her?”
Lilia gently patted my head.
Since my starting point was the very kind act of helping someone, it naturally earned her praise.
“I’ll go.
Miss Luna, you don’t know the way through the village.
Before I return, you and Young Master Rudy wait obediently at home.”
“Okay~”
After watching Lilia leave, the operation began.
—Rudeus’s Perspective—
That girl Luna, since she discovered her talent for swordsmanship recently, she’s become a bit carried away.
She’s always getting caught and spanked by Zenith, yet she never learns.
But it doesn’t matter.
I really am afraid of being hit.
It’s a shadow I can’t shake off.
Even now, thinking about those painful memories makes my body tremble.
Furthermore, Luna found out that I’m unwilling to go outside, but she didn’t mock me.
Is this the tolerance unique to people from the East?
Or some kind of life philosophy?
Whatever.
Master Roxy isn’t here today, but I can’t give up on my progress in magic.
It’s not bad to just relax and read books in the house by myself.
“Rudy, want some fruit?”
Luna ran over with extreme energy.
Is she going to climb a tree again?
“Aren’t you afraid Paul will hit you this time?”
“It’s fine.
I sent Lilia away.
No one will know if I climb a tree for a bit.”
Has this girl started using any means necessary just to have fun?
“Sigh~ fine, do whatever you want.”
“I’ll bring a few back for you in a bit~”
After saying that, Luna went hopping down the stairs.
As long as she doesn’t disturb my reading, I don’t care what she does.
I leisurely flipped through the magic book.
Today, I need to review the basic knowledge of Wind Magic.
However, just as I was seriously reading, a scream broke the silence.
“Ah!”
It was Luna’s voice.
Looking out from the window, she had fallen from the tree across the yard.
I rushed to the gate of the yard.
I didn’t dare step out of the house; getting this far was already my limit.
“Luna!”
I saw Luna lying on the other side, silent and motionless.
A large pool of red liquid was flowing out from her head.
At that moment, my heart pounded wildly, and large patches of sweat soaked my clothes.
What should I do?
What should I do?
Panting heavily, I knew what to do.
As long as I stepped out of the house, went to her side, and chanted Healing Magic, everything would be fine.
But, but…
the feeling of fear took the upper hand again, and bad memories flooded back into my mind once more.
I couldn’t move my legs.
I was afraid of being mocked, I was afraid of going out, I wanted to run away.
“When mazinger z is in danger, his brother great mazinger will definitely come to help!”
I suddenly thought of what she said to me that day, and her bright smiling face.
Without realizing it, I had already come to see Luna as a friend.
I’ve already decided to try hard to live again—if I can’t even save a friend, what’s the point of trying!
I don’t want to lose a friend like this again!
Dragging my heavy steps, I struggled to step out of the house.
I actually succeeded.
It was somewhat unbelievable; after all these years, I finally dared to walk out of my own home.
But now was not the time to dwell on that.
I looked around.
Good, there was no one nearby.
But come to think of it, if there were people, they would have noticed the danger Luna was in and called Zenith back already.
I wouldn’t have needed to go save her, and I still wouldn’t have been able to leave the house.
I walked to her side in a few quick steps and knelt down.
I didn’t know the exact extent of her injuries, but anyway, I’ll start with Basic Healing Magic.
“Divine power is the mellow grain, granted to those who have lost their strength…”
Grab!
Just as I was halfway through the healing incantation, my arm was grabbed.
“Hehe, see?
You can come out after all.”
—Luna’s Perspective—
The effect created by wasting a few tomatoes was quite good.
I faked falling from a tree, lay miserably on the ground without moving, and then essentially forced Rudy to come outside.
Plan successful.
I almost felt a Light Yagami smile forming on my face.
However, Rudy’s expression wasn’t great.
He probably didn’t like the feeling of being deceived.
I sat up and reached out to pat his head.
“Sorry, Rudy.
I didn’t mean to lie to you.
I just hoped you could overcome the difficulty in your heart.
Can’t you walk out of the house normally now?”
“I…” Rudy didn’t know what kind of expression to face me with—anger, gratitude, or disappointment.
Yet, it was none of those.
He just seemed a bit incredulous.
“See?
It’s simple.
Once you step out the first time, there will be a second time.”
I used Water Magic to wash my head, which was stained red by the tomatoes, and shook my hair.
“Come on, let’s walk around the neighborhood.”
“Mm.”
I took Rudy’s hand.
His palm was a bit cold and covered in greasy sweat, caused by the tension just now.
He must have gone through an extremely intense internal struggle before forcing himself out to save me.
It was the kindness in his heart overcoming his own fear.
Not long after going out, we encountered villagers returning from farming.
“Hmm?
Are you the children from the Knight’s house?”
“Hello, Uncle.
I’m Luna, the daughter of the Knight Paul.
This is my brother, Rudeus.”
“Hello there.”
The people in the village greeted us very warmly, but Rudy kept his head down and shrunk behind me, his body constantly trembling.
He even tried to pull his hand away to go back.
“Are you okay?”
“I…
I want to go home.”
Well, it seems Rudy’s psychological trauma is only half-healed.
The other half needs to be resolved slowly.
Let’s call it a day for now.
In the following days, I kept trying to get Rudy to have normal contact with strangers.
He was fairly cooperative and would follow me for a walk outside the yard every time.
But every time he saw a stranger, he would become incredibly tense and then run back home without looking back.
Today was the same.
After returning home, he locked himself in his room.
Paul and Zenith thought the two of us had had a fight.
“Rudy, I’m coming in.”
He was shrinking into the corner of the room again, like a turtle.
Well, at least he’s not a porcupine; otherwise, I wouldn’t even have a place to start.
“Um, though it might be a bit presumptuous, I still want to know what happened to you before?
Of course, if you don’t want to say, then forget it.”
Rudy didn’t speak.
The room fell into an eerie silence.
Just as I was about to get up and leave, Rudy spoke in a voice that was a bit raspy from not speaking for a long time…
“Bullying…
I was bullied in high school…”
Then, Rudy slowly told me about his past experiences.
Because he couldn’t stand school bullies bullying others, he spoke up to advise them, but as a result, he became the target of bullying himself.
Those he had helped ignored him.
Eventually, he was stripped naked by the bullies and tied to the school gate for a whole day as a public spectacle, and no one helped—neither teachers nor students.
His photos were spread like wildfire across various school networks, he was given strange nicknames, and he was mocked by others every time he went to school.
In the end, he feared going to school, feared seeing people, feared going out…
and became a shut-in.
He had also tried to do some work at home to earn money, but he gave up halfway every time.
Eventually, he did no housework, did nothing productive, and just wore a foul-smelling tracksuit, dragging his obese body around the house while playing games in constant fear.
He also kept losing his temper at his parents…
“It’s pathetic, isn’t it?
A person like me is pathetic.
In the end, I didn’t even know my own parents had died.
My computer was smashed with a baseball bat by my younger brother, I was kicked out of the house, and I met the end of my life walking slovenly down a rainy street…”
…
I really didn’t know how to evaluate him.
It was indeed quite disgraceful.
Even if he was living off his parents, he should at least have been responsible for some housework to share the pressure with them.
But what would I have done if I had encountered such intense bullying?
Take revenge privately?
Or spend money to find an even darker organization to deal with that person?
I don’t know, because I’ve never encountered it.
“Sorry, I don’t know how to answer you, because I’ve never encountered such things.”
“That’s true.
After all, your East isn’t as perverted as our side…”
Rudy laughed at himself.
He still blamed his misfortune on the country and society.
“Actually, through the internet and other means, I know that bullying isn’t uncommon, but extremes like yours aren’t many.
Occasionally, there are a few children who can’t take it and choose to end their lives hastily, which is a pity.
But bullying is bullying; I was just lucky enough not to have encountered it.
I haven’t experienced what you went through, so I don’t know what I would have done if I had, but you can listen to my story.”
“Your story?”
“Mm, my story.
I was born into a very ordinary Eastern family.
Both my parents were average office workers.
The social structure in the East is different from yours; both parents work.
The family wasn’t wealthy, but not exactly poor either.
My grades were average, I’ve been in love—in short, it was just very ordinary.”
“Ordinary?
I somewhat long for such a life.”
“Yeah, ordinary is good.
Since you’re living again, try to live well.
After all, this family is very nice, isn’t it?”
Rudy lowered his head and clenched his fists.
I knew he had taken my words to heart.