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Chapter 75 Part 3 – The ending of Rona’s awakening of love. And the people remember the sorrowful night and weep.

As Matthew had already discovered, the physical endurance of the young Wendell with small build will not last long.

「Would that kid be able to beat John before he’s completely exhausted? The pill John just took has the effect of drawing out the maximum strength of his body. He’ll probably never come back to his senses, but oh well, I can always find another John. I can make as many replacements as I want.」

The gaze Matthew had for John were not for his close aide, but for his experimental animals.

「Ohh, it looks like he’ll at least be useful to me in the end. That’s wonderful. The 27th John.」

Even with his nimble footwork techniques unable to be used, Wendell somehow managed to continuously dodge John’s attacks. But he’s already running out of breath. Wendell himself is aware of his weakness of lacking physical endurance. That’s why he preemptively flung away the mobs from the slums in a showy way to frighten the opponents and avoid a prolonged battle.

Although he may appear overwhelmingly strong, Wendell’s strength holds a bomb inside.
One wrong move and the glass would shatter instantly.

But Wendell refuses to back down.

「…… Wha ……!?」

Dodging the battle ax being swung down by John, Wendell nimbly jumped on top of the ax. John panicked as his weapon was pinned down by Wendell’s feet. Wendell did not miss John’s momentary hesitation as he considered whether to forcefully throw Wendell upwards or to throw away his weapon and attack Wendell with his bare hands.

Wendell changed the way he held his sword, ran up the handle of John’s ax, and launched an attack toward John in an instant.
The afterglow of his crimson eyes was etched in the night like a tail light.

「…… You damn …… monster ……!!」

「…… Your heart is the one that’s monster-like. Rona is crying. Get out of the way.」

Using the hilt of the sword, Wendell struck John’s chin from the side. Then he continued to kick John in the chest and made a backflip in the air afterwards.
John groaned with an expression of disbelief on his face.

Suffering from a cerebral concussion, John fainted and fell to the ground on his back with a resounding thud.

Before John’s body could hit the ground, Wendell had already jumped into the crowd and headed toward Rona.

「Oh, that’s amazing. He defeated John before he could fully unleash his strength. However, I wonder how exhausted he would be once he passed through the crowd with the physical stamina of a child after his life-threatening battle with John.」

As Matthew pointed out, going against the tide of panicked adults and moving forward was like swimming in a raging torrent for Wendell. The battle with John has made him fairly exhausted both physically and mentally. In just a short amount of time, Wendell sweated profusely and his face turned pale.

Judging that the match was over, Matthew looked at Rona and sneered.

「Thanks to you, the match is going to be a lot easier. Ohh, that expression on your face. You must be in love with that boy. How do you feel? Witnessing the guy you love so much approaching death because of you. That’s how it feels like to be a witch who leads a man to ruin …… Wha!?」

Matthew said so with a proud tone.
But then he was shocked and exclaimed.

In order to not become a burden to Wendell, Rona threw herself toward Matthew and tried to use his sword to pierce her throat.

「I’d rather die than be a hindrance to Wendell-sama!!」

Rona’s eyes were emitting a strange light as she glared at Matthew.
Her eyes were sorrowful.

Matthew had underestimated Rona.
After losing her younger brothers, Rona was like a wounded tiger. She did not care about her own life. She was so determined to protect Wendell that she attempted to kill herself and threw her neck toward the blade.

「…… Kuh ……!! You ……!! …… Stop it!!」

Matthew was dumbfounded by the unusual situation of having someone trying to commit suicide with his blade.
If Rona died, then she would lose her value as a hostage.
Not knowing what else to do, Matthew had no choice but to cover Rona’s mouth with a drug-soaked handkerchief to deprive her of her ability to move her body. Because Rona was in a bizarre state of excitement and Matthew was not confident that he could successfully prevent her from having a cerebral concussion.

「…… To think that I would have to rely on the skills of the people of the forest. This is absolutely irritating.」

For Matthew who is proud of his ability to manipulate others with a single word, it was nothing short of humiliating to have to resort to using his trump card on a helpless girl.

「Stop your pointless struggle. Now you can’t even move a finger.」

Unable to contain his frustration, he kicked Rona’s back after she had collapsed on the ground due to being paralyzed.

「…… I won’t …… let you …… kill …… Wendell-sama ……!!」

Matthew shuddered when he saw that Rona was still groaning and moving despite being administered with a plant poison that would even make a water buffalo fall unconscious.

The girl’s crazed love for Wendell pushed her paralyzed body to the limit.

「I …… have …… nothing else …… to lose ……!! Only that person …… I have to ……!!」

Not just that, Rona clawed with both hands and clung to Matthew’s leg.

At this moment, Rona’s relentless spirit was pushing Matthew back. He tried to shake her off, but Rona would not let go. The flames that engulfed Ronny raged as if mocking Matthew. Matthew gasped as he had never seen flames like that before.

「Y-You damned witch!!」

Unlike his usual composed tone, Matthew let out a cry of exasperation and swung his sword at Rona. He had forgotten his decision to not kill her.

The sound of swords clashing resounded and sparks scattered.

「…… There’s no way I’ll let you do that. From here on, I’ll be your opponent ……!!」

Wendell’s crimson eyes blazed with quiet fury as he glared at Matthew.

「……!! You conceited little bastard ……!!」

Needless to say, Wendell had swooped in and stopped Matthew’s deadly blade.

「With the physical strength of a child, you dare to compete against me!! You shitty kid!! How dare you underestimate me!!」

Matthew gnashed his teeth as their swords were brought into a fierce clash and he blew Wendell away with his sword.

Without losing his balance, Wendell landed in the back and created some distance between them.

「…… Sorry for making you wait. You really did your best. Rona. …… How is Ronny?」

Being spoken to so kindly, Rona choked on her words

「…… Wendell …… -sama ……!!」

I’m so happy that you came here.
But I didn’t do my best.
I don’t deserve to be helped.
I can’t allow myself to accept your kind, caring words.
Because I couldn’t protect anything.

Rona could only weep as she watched the flames engulf Ronny.

「Ronny is ……!! It’s all my fault ……!!」

Understanding her unspoken words, Wendell nodded and raised his sword instead of lamenting.

「I understand. The two of us will avenge him.」

Wendell spoke out the wish that Rona had wanted to say but could not.

「…… So don’t cry anymore. You have done nothing wrong. I will put all your sorrow and frustration into my sword and hit him with it.」

Rona’s heart trembled at these warm and reassuring words.
Her tears kept flowing, even though she tried to stop crying.

「…… Yes ……!! …… Please ……!!」

「Tck, these brats are getting carried away.」

Confronted with Wendell’s crimson eyes amidst the fire sparks, Matthew felt dizzy. He tried to sneer at Wendell, but it didn’t work. He is aware that the flow has changed since he was overwhelmed by Rona and he is irritated because of it.

‘I, Matthew, got overwhelmed by these kids!? Not only by the red-eyed boy, but also this weak girl!? Don’t be ridiculous!!’

Because of his high pride, he lost his usual cool-headedness due to his anger at his own disappointing self. He neglected to pay attention to Wendell, who was the biggest threat in this place, in order to get rid of Rona’s hand that was persistently crawling up his leg.

Wendell calmly seized the opportunity.

The frightening thing about Wendell is that no matter how angry he gets, his swordsmanship will not weaken and on the contrary it will become even sharper in the pursuit of his goal.

‘The fire of anger is to be stored in your heart and your mind must always be as sharp as ice. If you have something to protect, you must never lose your concentration. That is what a first-rate warrior is.’

The teachings hammered into him by the three old warriors lived faithfully within him.