Chapter 76: This person is my brother? ( 2 )

Aisha’s POV:

…

[Your eldest brother has a lot of flaws, but compared to him, I'm still lacking in many ways.]

I remembered the words Laurel had once told me about my eldest brother. His gaze was filled with nothing but sincere admiration. My mother had once praised my older brothers to the heavens, and while I had my doubts, Laurel had proven to excel expectations.

So naturally, I too had carried expectations for this mysterious panty thief, that he might not be as bad as I had initially believed… Or at least, that was what I had initially thought about my eldest brother until a few seconds ago.

I looked at the man standing proudly in the middle of a warehouse. He was wearing panties on his head as he said the magical words.

“I’m his older brother.”

… Perhaps I misheard. Maybe this was not him. Maybe this wasn’t Rudeus. Maybe there was another Laurel, and we happened to misunderstand each other’s intentions. Maybe Laurel was joking, and there was no such thing as an older brother named Rudeus. Maybe—

“Is something wrong?”

The man tilted his head, staring at me with innocent eyes. There was no sign of embarrassment, no shame, not a single sign that he even realized how ridiculous he looked. It was as if he didn’t even register his actions as embarrassing at all.

“… Nothing. If you’re Laurel’s older brother, then you must be Mr. Rudeus, correct?”

“Ah! That’s right!”

His eyes glinted in delight underneath his mask. The look on his face made me want to kick him out of reflex, but I held back. I had to keep it professional, after all.

“I see… Mr. Rudeus, it might be sudden, but may I ask why you’re attacking a rescue operation?”

“Wait, what?”

“Did you not know?”

“I thought they were kidnappers.”

“Ah, I guess you haven’t heard the news then.”

Is that so? Considering that Laurel had only wiped them out yesterday, it was understandable that Rudeus didn’t know about it. He had probably mistaken the rescue personnel for the slave traders. He might actually not be as bad as he looked.

“What news?”

“About yesterday. Laurel had gone and dealt with all the traders, so the rescue mission had ended. We’re now simply retrieving Fittoa’s victims and reorganizing—”

“Wait. Fittoa’s victims?”

Rudeus had a confused expression; from there it turned to shock.

“What happened to Fittoa?!”

I blinked. Then I stared at him once more. Rudeus had the face of someone who just heard the news that a disaster happened in his hometown. But that shouldn’t be possible.

“… Mr. Rudeus. Where exactly were you teleported to?”

…

We had an exchange of words.

I had to start from the very beginning. From the teleport incident, Fittoa vanished overnight, and its people were scattered across the Fittoa region. How Mr. Philip had fought for his life and Paul had to start a rescue operation in Milis. Laurel’s rampage through Strife Zone for financial support and Roxy’s journey to the Demon Continent.

As well as...

“Did you not see it?”

“… No.”

“I see.”

Paul’s message on the Adventurer Guild’s board is that if they saw this, then they ignored Milis and headed to the North to find everyone else… Not that it had mattered anymore. I heard that the Guild Master had finished searching that side as well.

Rudeus, on the other hand, had quite the story to tell himself.

I was quite surprised to hear that he came back from the Demon Continent. I heard from sister Melantha that that place is only second to Begaritt in terms of danger. One could say that Rudeus was very skilled to have survived there.

He wasn’t a complete moron, considering that he had sneaked in, but a moron nonetheless. I got caught in an assumed enemy base, wore a pair of panties while introducing himself using the name of a close comrade he was currently travelling with, and he failed to escape.

I could let slide the fact that he had been underprepared considering he was rushing to save a kid, but how could he reveal the name of a close comrade, sullied it, even. And why didn’t he escape? With his skills, he could pretty much run away, so while did he wait until nearly everyone appeared? And reveal Laurel’s name, at that!

… Thinking back, Laurel seemed to have an obsession with making an excessive amount of plans, interweaving them together so that he could effectively do all of them together. I used to think he was a bit over the top, but seeing this, he really was right.

Improvise only when there’s no plan; it's better over-planned than having no plan at all!

…

After the incident with Kalman III, I had practically forced a confession from Jerome. About the title of War God, and about why Aleksander had attacked. And the answer I received was just as shocking.

Laurel had ambushed dozens of soldier camps, with Geese helping inflate his reputation with the ridiculous title named War God. He then had Jerome do espionage, gathering from taverns to brothels of various locations to deduce confidential information.

From there, there was blackmail, trade intel and products, as well as doing mercenary work and crashing into multiple dungeons alone. All of that within the span of six months of working back-to-back. The total funds gathered? An estimated number of about 1000 Asuran Gold… in liquid gold.

I had imagined my brother Rudeus several times. Intelligence beyond years. Perhaps a little more dignified and even more reliable. Strong and exceptional. Someone worthy enough to make Laurel act that humble. But instead…

“Mr. Rudeus.”

“Yes?”

The man tilted his head.

“Just when do you intend to remove that abhorrent thing off your face?”

“Oh, right. I forgot.”

He immediately took off the panties… After taking one last whiff of the cursed item.

“…”

[I'm lacking compared to him.]

What a joke. Laurel, I think you’re too humble at times. No matter how I looked at it, Rudeus seemed to have more than just a lot of flaws. Comparing yourself to this mongrel with panties on his head is no different from an insult.

… Hah… No, perhaps I was simply expecting too much. Rudeus is talented. A genius, even. He probably could claim his position among the mid-upper ranks of Vast Expanse’s combatants. But that was it. Compared to Laurel, he was simply lacking.