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Return of the Fallen Volume 2 Chapter 67

Author: Blue_Rat

ch67

Betra stood in front of Mei with her arms spread out in defense.

“YOU FIEND!”

She glared ferociously at Kazuki and prepared to defend Mei at any and all cost but what she didn’t know was that the one she wished to protect was now boiling with rage behind her. Kazuki noticed Mei’s dangerous expression. Ignoring Betra, he tried to calm Mei down.

“Don’t do it.”

Betra though thought Kazuki was directing his words at her and yelled at him in return.

“Don’t do what, get in your way so that you can defile this poor child. You sick bastard. CAL! CAL! COME QUICK I NEED YOU NOW!”

Kazuki didn’t know who Betra was calling out to but he felt a headache coming on. He was just about to explain himself when Mei’s face changed. As her brows came together, her eyes looked like those of a predator.

*RAHHHHH*

Mei roared and jumped into the air. Betra felt a shiver up her spine and went to turn to look behind her to see what the hell just happened but before she could, she felt a strength unlike any other grip the back of her neck.

Her body crashed downward and her face was slammed hard into the wooden floor. She felt the air leave her lungs briefly and felt a splitting pain from her head. Her eyes spun round and the light in the room flickered in her vision.

She could feel a warm liquid running down her face as a bit of blood ran down her face and spread out around her.

Dizziness overtook her and her thoughts became unclear. Mei released her neck and mounted her back.

With both hands together like she was about to say a prayer, Mei swung them down towards Betra’s spine like a small sledgehammer.

She swung her hands so fast and hard that the air whistled as it did it’s best to get out of her fist way. Just as her fist was about to break Betra’s back in half, Kazuki flickered forth with incredible speed.

Filling his body with ki, Kazuki extended a single hand and caught both of Mei’s. Lifting her up, he could see clear as day that she was confused by his actions.

“Eh, Big bro why did you stop me?”

Kazuki rolled his eyes.

“Mei, why are you trying to kill her?”

Mei thought for a moment.

“But she hurt you. You protect me and I’ll protect you, right?”

Kazuki understood her line of thinking but it was a little off. Pointing at Betra’s limp body, Kazuki said.

“Mei, look at her, she’s just a simple Inn owner. Do you really think I need any protection from someone so weak? Listen, sometimes you’ll run into a situation where someone like this appears and causes you harm. Usually, when they have little strength like this, there’s no need to kill them, got it?”

Mei nodded along before she tilted her head.

“Um, big bro, so when do we kill someone?”

Kazuki himself wondered about that. He could let weaker people go but not if they continually bugged him.

“Hmm, I would say, people like this Inn owner we can let go but only if they don’t come looking for additional trouble. Stronger enemies, we should always do our utmost to finish them then and there, otherwise, they could always come back and find you when your vulnerable or some other inconvenient time. You also need to take in consideration the time and place. Right now we are in a town and towns cities basically any place with a lot of people gathered will have guards. If you do something like killing and a guard finds out, that could mean even more guards. Maybe your stronger then them and you can take them but that usually just leads to more guards. I’d say if you have to kill in that situation then to just do it fast and then disappear before anyone has a chance to identify you or if need be just do it when there are no witnesses. Either way, there are considerations you must take into account as you go along. Do you understand?”

Kazuki had accidentally prattled on for a bit and Mei’s eyes had become as big as saucers and begun to spin in confusion. Still, she nodded as though she got it.

As Kazuki finished explaining all of this, a large man walked in. As soon as he spotted Betra lying on the ground slipping in and out of consciousness. As well as Kazuki standing over her while holding little Mei in the air by her hands, the man roared in undisguised fury.

*AHHHHHHHH!*

The man charged at Kazuki like a raging bull. Kazuki and Mei both had no clue who this was but Kazuki found this to be the perfect opportunity for a lesson.

Kazuki didn’t even turn around and simply kicked behind him.

*Thwack*

Kazuki’s heel landed squarely in the man’s abdomen and the man fell to his knees.

*Blegh*

Whatever he had consumed for lunch was regurgitated and spilled out onto the floor.

“Mei, did you see that? This man attacked me for no reason so I fought back in self-defense. Now it is perfectly ok to harm him. Even if I killed him right here and now, I’d say it’s ok but at the same time you must also consider the situation.”

“Situation?”

“Yes. This man came in from out of nowhere and saw a woman hurt on the floor with a man standing over her holding a child in the air. In his mind, he probably thought I attacked the two of you. Had he stopped for a moment to listen, we could have probably explained things properly and resolved things that way.”

Mei didn’t quite get it so Kazuki just added a little something extra.

“You see the door there? Sometimes it’s best to close it so randoms don’t just walk in and think the worst. Let that be a lesson, if there’s a door to the outside world and you know shit’s about to go down, maybe close it.”

Just as Kazuki said that Seta just so happened to walk into the room.

“Mom what was all the shouting earlier…”

Seta’s footsteps stopped in her tracks.

She was about to scream when Kazuki flashed forward and placed a hand over her mouth preventing her from making any noise. Kazuki dropped Mei to the floor and motioned his head toward the door.

“Ah right, I get it now.”

Mei swiftly shut the door and stood between the door and Seta.

Kazuki looked deeply into Seta’s eyes and calmly explained.

“This isn’t what it looks like. Everything is just one stupid happenstance after another. Now if you promise not to scream, I’ll promise to not cause any harm, got it?”

Seta slowly nodded her head and Kazuki removed his hand from her mouth.

Mei smiled at Seta.

“Don’t worry big sis, as long as you don’t hurt us we won’t hurt you in self-defense.”

Kazuki slapped his forhead.

(That’s kind of right at least.)

Explaining the situation actually went well. After Seta checked on her mother and come to find out her father, she was relieved to find out that their injuries were superficial.

Kazuki transferred a bit of ki to the two of them and helped ease there pain as well as speed up their recovery. Once they were no longer out of it, the two wanted to fight kick and scream but seeing that Seta was reassuring them calmly the two finally listened. Kazuki explained how his shirt had become dirty with snot and how Tsura had taken it to go clean and then how Betra walked in and saw the crying Mei. After that things went downhill.

Mei apologized as well.

“I’m sorry I thought you were a threat to big bro but it turns out you were weak, forgive me.”

The two were a little dazed by all of this and found it hard to believe. That’s when Tsura walked in with a demi damp shirt.

“Ryuta, I’ve cleaned your shirt but I found no place to properly dry it so you’ll have to make do with this for now.”

Seeing the actual evidence in front of them, Betra and her husband Cal felt embarrassed and slightly ashamed. Betra then saw the earrings she had sold Kazuki just moments before lying on the ground.

“Those are.”

Mei picked them up and hugged them tightly.

“Big bro bought these for me. He said as long as I don’t cry I get to keep them.”

Betra’s attitude changed quickly after that.

“So what you said to me earlier was true. We had just had a bad exchange with one another when you returned to the Inn and after I insinuated you had misguided thoughts towards my daughter. When you came down to buy the earrings I thought at first you just wanted to extend the argument but your face seemed a little panicked. When you said you wanted to buy my earrings to consul a crying girl, I thought you were just messing about but it turns out to be true. I have misjudged you, forgive me and my husband please.”

Betra and Cal bowed there heads in forgiveness. Kazuki found no reason to be salty with them and shrugged his shoulders.

“Sure, it’s not like I was the one who was harmed during any of this, rather it should be me asking if the two of you are alright?”

Cal rubbed his stomach and wanted to complain but Betra elbowed him in his side. He wore a bitter smile and waved it away.

“No complaints no complaints. Since everyone is ok and it was all just a bad misunderstanding, I’d say all is fine.”

Cal was the first to get up and leave.

“I have some cooking to do so if you’ll all excuse me.”

Betra and Seta soon followed after another round of apologies.

Mei sheepishly walked over.

“Um, missus Betra, even though you were so nice and drew me that picture and then tried to defend me, I’m sorry I beat you up.”

Betra laughe it all away.

“Haha, you didn’t beat me up but I get what you’re trying to say. Little miss, you just keep your big bro out of trouble. You hear me?”

Mei smiled and nodded happily and Betra and Seta left.

*Phew*

Kazuki laid back on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

(That was somewhat exhausting. Now that it’s over maybe now I can try and figure out how to pacify Shin and Danny. I can’t walk around with one let alone two people staring at my back with suspicion and mistrustful eyes. The question is, how do I gain their confidence moving forward.)

*buh buh buh*

Someone softly knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

“Hahaha, who else would it be?”

Shin’s voice came through the other side of the door.

“Come in.”

(Maybe with a one on one, I can gather some insight on how to garner his trust.)