For five years I have been honing my skills with the sword, all so could exact vengeance against the man that caused my father’s death.
…And yet as I stare at the man’s lifeless body kneeling before my mother’s grave, I felt no joy… only emptiness.
“Promise me, you’ll live your life and forget about revenge.”
Those were my mother’s dying wish. She made those requests on her death bed while clutching my arm with her boney hand, perhaps hoping that I would forget my desire for revenge.
Back then, to soothe my mother’s soul and allow her to passed on in peace, I agreed to her requests. But just days after her funeral, I was back to my usual brooding self.
..No matter what I do I just can’t forget the hate that was burning inside of me.
Every single day, all I can think of was how I would plunge my sword into that man’s heart…
And yet, even that was no longer possible.
Just like when he left my father to die, he escaped to “save” himself.
“You’re such a coward,” I spat out a curse.
Looking up, I saw dark clouds gathering which indicate that it might rain soon. It reminds me of the time when that man returned alone bearing the news of my father’s death. I think it was about to rain that time too.
That day, that man told my mother and I that he and my father run into a dragon while on a guild mission. Being the stronger and more skilled combatant of the two, my father stayed behind to allow the man to escape so that he could report the incident to the guild, or so he claimed.
I remembered my mother fainting due to shock after hearing the news. I too, was left stunned, and was unable to hear the rest of the man’s explanation.
I know for certain that our world collapsed that day.
My mother and I mourned father’s passing for a very long time. And this was despite the fact that there was no corpse to mourn for.
Indeed, there was no corpse. After all, my father faced a dragon alone. He was either burned by dragon fire till only ashes left or was eaten after his death.
For a time there was not a day that I did not see my mother in tears. I don’t remember crying though. I’m not really sure why. I know that I’m in great sorrow and pain but no tears would come out of my eyes.
It was as if my heart was frozen solid and won’t let me shed a single tear.
…Or maybe it was because of something else.
Maybe it was that time that the seed of vengeance was planted in my heart. It was probably also the time that my respect for that man turned into hatred.
The man was my father’s best friend and I used to call him uncle but after the incident, I started referring to him as that “man.”
I suspected that he left my father to die out of cowardice. I know that he was a coward at heart. After all he once told me that he was very afraid of death.
That should explain why despite facing a dragon, he lived while my father died.
There was also the possibility that he was telling the truth but I’m already passed the point of caring. In order to continue living, I needed someone to blame.
I don’t care if I’m wrongly blaming an innocent person. I needed an outlet for my hatred.
Seek and slay the dragon that killed my father?
...I have neither courage nor strength to fight against a dragon.
Indeed, I’m a coward, and weak which was ironic considering that I called that man a coward.
It’s pathetic.
And yet vengeance was the only thing that I could cling on to.
I needed something to support my fragile self. My mother was not able to give me the support I needed.
…Only by continuing to hate that man can I continue on living.
But now even that “support” was gone.
“What am I supposed to do now?”
With a sigh, I turned my sight back at the man that I used to call uncle. And without realizing it, my left hand clutches the scabbard of my sword.
“Go on, strike!” said a voice in my head, sounding as if the whisper of the devil. “No need to hold back cut his corpse into pieces!”
“Don’t do it!” countered another voice, one of that of reason. ”He’s already dead, let him go!”
“So what if he’s dead?” The devilish voice scoffed at the voice of reason. “Revenge is revenge. Are you really going to waste those five years of training?”
“Only a coward would strike someone that cannot strike back! Ask yourself, are you a coward?” The voice of reason reminded.
The conflict inside my head continued as the two voices argued back and forth. But at the end, the voice of reason prevailed and the hand that was clutching the scabbard so hard to the point that my knuckles turned white relaxed.
“What’s the point of cutting down a dead man?” I murmured before kneeling before him.
Examining the man’s face, I noticed that he looks much older than I remembered. His exhausted-looking face tells a story of hardship. Whatever he did in those five years had leaved its toll on his body.
He also wore a sad smile on his face while staring lifelessly at my mother’s grave, looking greatly saddened and seemingly regretful that he didn’t come back a lot sooner.
Looking down, I noticed that he was clutching a piece of parchment in his right hand. Intrigued, I carefully peeled the paper from his hand before spreading it.
It was a letter addressed to my mother.
Confusion could not help but appear on my face as I look at the letter. It has been two years since my mother passed away. Could the letter have been written two years ago?
Using this as clue, my attention turned to parchment itself. Examining the state of the parchment and the dryness of the ink, I came to the conclusion that the letter was indeed not written recently. One could even say that it was written quite some time ago.
“Could it be that he was only recently made aware of mother’s passing?” I said in confusion. “If so then that would explain his sudden appearance.”
Although I have a lot of question in my mind, the person that could answer them was no longer with the living, as such; I could only turn to the letter for answers.
With that in mind, I started reading the content of the letter.
Dear Emilia,
I finally did it! The dragon is dead!
Reading the opening line of the letter, I could not help but be shaken. I have never expected that he would start with the announcement of a dragon’s death!
“Calm down.” I reminded myself.
Calming my shaken heart, I read the next lines.
After three years of searching, I was finally able to locate the dragon’s lair. And with its location revealed, my revenge can finally start.
Facing a dragon with a human’s strength was nothing but folly. But it didn’t mean that it’s impossible.
With the right method, even a mighty dragon will fall. It’s just that, the price of killing a dragon was not something just anyone could afford… or even willing to pay.
Still to achieve my goal, there’s no price that I’m not willing to pay.
My heart missed a bit after the last line, and bad feeling started rising from the depths of my soul. It was as if something within me was warning me not to read the next parts as I might regret it… and I was right. I did regret reading the latter parts of the letters.
The letter allowed me to gaze at the man’s mind; the thirst for vengeance; the insanity, and the length he was willing to go to achieve his goal.
“He’s insane!” I exclaimed as I read the part where he uses a magic sword and magic tools to slay the dragon.
Despite being an adventurer for just three years, I knew what using those things entails. It’s common knowledge after all. It’s one thing for a magician to use those tools but for others?
It’s no different from suicide!
The man was no magician and therefore, has very little mana in his body. In order to use a magic sword and magic tools, a large amount of mana was needed. This means that he needed another source of energy to use those tools – his own life-force!
“He probably knew that he didn’t have long to live…” I blurted out as realization hit me, “which was why he rushed back so he could see us for the last time.”
Knowing what the man did to avenge my father, I could not help but feel ashamed. I blamed the man for my father’s death, and even call him a coward for running away despite the fact that it’s an adventurer’s duty to report the sudden appearance of monsters as powerful as dragons to ensure the safety of the people.
Seeing that one of them needed to be alive to report to the guild, my father chooses to stay behind considering that he was stronger and therefore, could bid for more time to allow his partner to escape.
I knew this well so too my mother which was why she never once blamed the man for father’s death. And yet I couldn’t do the same and chooses the path of revenge.
To make matters worse my target was not the dragon, the one responsible for father’s death but the man I used to call uncle.
“I’m the worse…”
My sight began to blur and droplets of water pour down on the parchment, drenching it.
Tears?
…No it must have been the rain.
