Having promised to go together did not mean that we could leave immediately.
It was only right to ask my parents and the rest of our party for their understanding.
My parents looked as though they did not want me throwing myself into danger, but they did not stop me.
After all, if I lived as an Adventurer, danger would become something I faced every day.
And they could not bring themselves to tell me to turn a blind eye to a friend whose father was critically ill.
I took my parents' hands, smiled gently, and reassured them.
Nothing would happen.
It was harder to persuade my teacher and Anna.
They wanted to come with us, so I had to stop them first.
Having them with me would have been more reassuring, but they were unlikely to welcome even me, so I could not increase the number of visitors.
More importantly, there were things the two of them absolutely had to do.
So, instead of asking them to accompany me, I asked them for something else.
I asked Anna to go to the Adventurer's Guild and request support, while I asked my teacher to look after my family and the children.
We would need support in an emergency, and above all else, the safety of those dearest to me came first.
Emilio and the children were easier to persuade.
They knew well that they should not involve themselves in something like this.
Andrea's mother, my greatest concern, fainted as soon as she heard news of her husband.
She already had a chronic illness, and when she did not wake easily, Andrea decided to carry her on his back.
Once we were ready, Andrea and I followed the men he called his uncles.
After walking for quite some time, we arrived at an ordinary house that was surprisingly neither grand nor lavish. Around forty or fifty members of the organization surrounded it.
We were led inside and came face-to-face with
a man lying on a bed, his face twisted with pain as he ground his teeth.
"Father..."
Andrea stepped forward first and called to him.
When his father saw the son he had been waiting for, his expression immediately softened into a smile.
My chest tingled at that paternal love that tried to show his son only a good face, even in the presence of death.
"You came. This is shameful. To think that, as your father, all I can show you is such a pathetic sight."
"Don't say that. For now, you need to focus on recovering."
"No, I'm sorry, but that will be difficult."
Was that what one should expect of the boss of a criminal organization?
He could have said that he was fine, if only in words, or that he might recover.
But he did not. He firmly denied Andrea's words.
"The blade pierced my organs. This will be difficult to recover from."
"If we go to San Marco Cathedral and get treatment—!"
"Even then, it will not work. The bastard had poisoned the blade as well."
"The priests can detoxify it!"
"There are poisons in this world that even Sacred Arts cannot detoxify. The poison used by those Archipelago pirate bastards is like that."
His voice was so calm that it seemed he had accepted death.
In contrast, Andrea's eyes blazed blue as he heard those words.
"Someone from the Archipelago stabbed Father?"
At the words steeped in rage and hatred, his father reached out a hand.
Though thoroughly agitated, Andrea immediately clasped it.
"You do not need to know that."
"Father!"
"My son, I told you before, did I not? To live freely as you wished."
"...."
"I feel the same even now. And let me add one thing... Do not think of revenge."
Instead of agreeing, Andrea pressed his lips tightly shut.
It was an expression he sometimes showed when he did not want to lie.
Knowing his son well, his father smiled bitterly.
"Even if I say this, a man who will soon die cannot stop one who still lives."
"Father..."
"Still, I have only this to say. My son, live freely, as you wish. Do not force yourself to do anything."
He gripped Andrea's hand so tightly that veins stood out.
As though telling him never to forget, he clearly conveyed his final wish.
After sharing the affection between father and son for a while, he suddenly looked in my direction and asked.
"So, who is this young man who came with you?"
"My name is Jeong Johan. I am Andrea's friend."
He was the boss of a criminal organization, but he was also my friend's father.
And he was a man facing death.
I bowed politely, and he looked at me meaningfully.
"I did not know my hot-blooded son had a cool-headed friend like you... Thanks to that, I am somewhat relieved."
Was he truly an extraordinary man?
He seemed to know every thought I had entertained.
In truth, as I entered this house, I had first counted the people inside from the corner of my eye, then assessed the escape routes.
I had even made plans to subdue the people inside if the need arose.
My decidedly impure intentions had been seen through, but I was not surprised. Instead, as Andrea's friend, I answered his father's words.
"People may become friends because they are alike, but they may also become friends because they are different."
"That is true as well. Then forgive me for asking this upon first meeting you, but may I ask one favor?"
"Please, tell me."
"If this boy ever seems likely to go astray, can you pull him back?"
I looked straight into his eyes.
It was not a request from the leader of the criminal organization that divided Raechia in two, but from a father.
Feeling the paternal love contained within it, I nodded.
"I certainly will."
"Good. I can finally put my worries to rest. Ha ha, what an undignified way to die. Cough!"
"Father! Are you all right?"
"I am not all right, you fool. Do you think a man about to die from a sword wound would be all right?"
Perhaps relieved, he burst into laughter, then coughed up blood.
As the end drew near, his face suddenly improved, and he left his last words.
"Do not forget what I said. And tell Angela I am sorry. I said I would protect her until this one life of mine came to an end, but I will not be able to keep that promise."
"This is no time to be saying that!"
"You foolish son, it is precisely because it is time that I say this. A final message must be left for one's wife."
Having left such final words as befitted a true Aliati, he gave a faint grin.
"Good. I have said all I needed to say. I, Carlo, was born a man, met a good woman, and raised my boy until he came of age. This was a life without regrets."
With eyes that had rapidly grown dim, he gave Andrea his final instructions.
"You, too, live a life without regrets. And if you can, live a very long time and come to the afterlife as late as possible."
"Yes...."
Andrea's restrained voice echoed as he held back tears, but no answer came.
His call for his father, for the Capo, echoed in grief.
But Carlo never opened his eyes again.
***
Should I call it fortunate?
There were no ambitious people or traitors seeking the Capo's position, as I had feared.
That had much to do with the nature of the Brave Brothers.
As one could tell from Andrea's home, which had been more modest than expected, the Brave Brothers were not a group that made profits through crime.
They were closer to a vigilante group formed to protect merchants from other criminal organizations.
Accordingly, the members all had their own regular occupations.
Naturally, they had no reason to covet the Capo's position.
It was a position carrying nothing but heavy responsibility, with no commensurate benefit.
Once I understood that, I returned home relieved.
Afterward, Anna and I helped Andrea hold his father's funeral.
It took a week.
We were finally able to return to our daily lives.
But that daily life could not be the same as before.
"Andrea, what are you planning to do?"
"I don't know."
I asked Andrea, who had returned to Song Dojo after a week, but his answer remained vague.
He was in turmoil.
He felt a fierce desire to avenge his father, yet his father's last words gave him pause.
On top of that, he had a mother he had to protect.
After sending her husband away, her chronic illness had worsened, and she had taken to her bed.
If Andrea died as well, his mother truly would not be able to go on living.
He had no choice but to hesitate.
But it was not as though he could wash his hands of everything and withdraw completely.
The Brave Brothers were wavering.
They could not leave the Capo's position vacant, and the members wanted Andrea to inherit it.
The problem was what that position meant.
As an individual, Andrea could give up avenging his father.
He did not seem to want to, but it was possible.
But Andrea, the Capo of the Brave Brothers, would have to avenge the previous Capo no matter what.
An organization that did not pay the price for a member's blood could not exist.
As though that alone were not enough to trouble him, Andrea also had a dream he had always held.
The innocent promise to adventure together had caught at one corner of his heart and held him back as well.
I could not say anything to Andrea, whose circumstances had become truly complicated.
Anna, who had always picked fights with Andrea, was no different.
"Are you all right? Drink at least this."
"Thanks."
Since the incident, she had been so kind to Andrea that it felt awkward.
Whenever there was a break, she would always come over, offer him something to drink, and keep trying to start a conversation.
Andrea drained the water Anna had handed him in one gulp, then rose while gripping his practice sword.
"I'm going to swing my sword for a while."
"Again? You'll get hurt!"
"Right now, I think I'd rather my body hurt."
Andrea had already swung his sword until exhaustion that morning.
Anna shouted in concern, but I caught her by the shoulder to stop her.
"He wants to clear his head. Let's leave him alone for now. If he really looks like he is going too far, we can stop him then."
"He's already going too far!"
"He's a sturdy guy. Let's watch him a little longer."
At my persuasion, Anna screwed up her face, but in the end, she dropped heavily to the ground.
As though she resented herself for being unable to do anything for her friend in trouble.
I patted Anna's back, then looked at Andrea.
The Ispanian-style swordsmanship that surged like a storm, making use of its mass and length.
The swordsmanship, which suited Andrea's massive build well, looked tremendously imposing. But I could see it.
Just as his heart wavered, so did the tip of his sword.
"It's remarkable that he is still coming to the dojo at all."
"That's true. Sigh... How did this happen?"
"I don't really know either."
Andrea's persistence in forcing himself to come to the dojo despite his deathly expression was part of it, too.
Song Dojo was the place where he had spent his boyhood, from childhood until now.
Perhaps it was an expression of his unwillingness to let go of his boyhood, and the promise he had made with us back then.
That was how he looked to me: someone who could neither do this nor that, but still made sure to come here.
In truth, I was frustrated too.
I wanted to help him somehow, but he refused.
At his father's funeral, which Anna and I attended, he had said it plainly.
'Thanks, Johan. But this is as far as it goes.'
'What do you mean?'
'I don't want to admit it, but... the Brave Brothers are close to being a criminal organization. The Council doesn't recognize them as an organization.'
'So?'
'At this rate, you'll get a foot in this world too. That... really doesn't seem right. You have a dream, Johan.'
I knew.
At least, I knew that once a person set foot in the world of shadows, it was difficult to get out.
The Sword Saint's memories showed as much.
Whether by choice or not, those who became entangled in the debts and grudges of the underworld could not cast off that yoke.
Andrea had no intention of dragging me into that mire as well.
Because I could not bring myself to reject that consideration, all I could do now was watch.
It was frustrating and irritating, but that was all I could do for now.
"RAAAAGH!"
While I was lost in thought, Andrea's swordsmanship training reached its peak.
A massive sword nearly 1.7 meters long kept drawing arcs as it cleaved through the air.
As though trying to sever its master's anguish as well.
I spoke quietly to Anna as she watched him intently.
"I don't know what choice Andrea will make."
"Yeah."
"Still... let's remain friends. No matter what."
"Of course. He's stupid and hot-blooded, and you can't find a trace of sensitivity in him, but he's still my friend."
I smiled at Anna's sullen reply.
I felt the same way.
Just as one of the three friends was agonizing and the other two had resolved to remain by that friend's side,
a man with scars all over his face came to the dojo.
"Young Master."
"I told you, I'm not a young master anymore."
"That is not the problem right now."
"Then what's the problem?"
"The youngest was stabbed. It was those Adoocenum bastards."
A storm that would tear apart the promise we had made under the evening glow began to rage.
In the worst possible form.