The cold night wind whistled past.
It stirred up Brain Unglaus’ hair and ruffled his clothes as well.
“…It’s freezing out here…”
The cold wind swept away his pale white breath and his mumbling and carried them into the distance.
Even the deepest parts of his body felt like they were frozen.
Brain was staring aimlessly from atop the walls of E-Rantel, where the three of them had stood together before they had moved out with the army.
There was nothing out there except darkness.
During the battle― no, the massacre of the Kattse Plains, many of the Kingdom’s people had lost their lives.
He remembered what he had seen when he crawled off that battlefield.
The defeated people dragged their feet lifelessly, their clothes were tattered and they looked utterly wretched.
Even though Brain was a warrior who trod the edge of life and death on a regular basis, the image of that hellscape ―created by a single magic caster― was seared into his eyes.
Although E-Rantel ―protected by its city walls― could not be considered a safe place by any means, the fleeing soldiers, tired and worn out from exhaustion, collapsed like puppets whose strings had been cut. They curled up anywhere they could, and slept as if they were dead.
Upon this unmanned tower, Brain slowly exhaled again.
Then, he looked silently to the sky.
“I just keep thinking… nothing really matters anymore.”
Brain looked at his hands.
While he was carrying the lifeless body of that man, he felt a massive weight pressing down on him. Try as he might, he could not forget it.
He was a great man, and the greatest rival, who had always been a step ahead.
That man ―Gazef Stronoff― his death was a very real loss to Brain.
To Brain, Gazef was no mere rival. His existence could not be summed up by just that one word.
It was because that man fought him during the martial tournament, because he had roundly defeated Brain and his ever-growing pride, because of Brain’s burning desire to defeat Gazef, it was because of all of these that Brain had become the person Gazef was not.
Brain Unglaus lived, grew and refined himself because of Gazef. The strength of the man called Gazef was enough for Brain to invest his life into surpassing it. He had been like an impassable wall… and the closest thing he had to a father.
And then, the thing he should have surpassed no longer existed.
Gazef Stronoff stood tall, like a majestic mountain, even as he passed into death in front of Brain.
Brain once saw the true meaning of power in the form of Shalltear Bloodfallen. So for a time, he had lost himself in depression and could not free himself.
Because he was overly confident and relied on the fact he was strong, when Shalltear smashed his confidence, he knew he was weak. The Brain who stood here now could admit that.
But Gazef was different.
“Ainz Ooal Gown must surely be a monster of the same caliber as Shalltear Bloodfallen. And Gazef challenged him anyway.”
At that time, Gazef did not request the duel for a worthless reason like his own survival. The conviction he displayed was completely different from the way Brain had flailed his sword wildly at Shalltear while crying like a baby.
What on earth made him do that?
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t you run?”
Forcing the words out was like coughing up blood.
“Why did you choose to die? Wouldn’t it have been fine to run from that monster? Wouldn’t it have been like conserving your strength? Why?! If you had to die, I wanted to go with you!”
If he couldn’t surpass Gazef, then he wanted to die with him.
Brain turned his vision to the weapon at his waist.
It was Razor’s Edge, which he was temporarily allowed to carry.
Brain drew Razor’s Edge, and activated the martial art.
“「Fourfold Slash of Light」.”
The technique Gazef used to defeat Brain in the martial tournament.
Four arcs of light cleaved the nearby railing to pieces. There was virtually no resistance and the blade flowed through the metal like it was water.
“You… like this… I admired you… I wanted to die with you. Why wouldn’t you let me fight by your side? Why didn’t you tell me that I could die with you!”
Brain covered his face.
His eyes were hot, but the tears did not flow.
At this moment, a steady sound of footsteps filtered into Brain’s ears. Only one person would come here.
“I heard that when men get older, the tears don’t flow any more. I guess that’s true.”
“I think the pain of losing someone precious to you has nothing to do with age.”
It was the hoarse voice he expected.
“…Forgive me, Climb-kun. In the end, I left everything to you.”
Brain rubbed his eyes, and sheathed his sword. Climb stood before him, a bizarre expression on his face.
“However…well, even if I was there, it would have been useless, right? Under these circumstances, nobody’s going to try and kill the King. Tell me, what happened after that?”
“Yes. Because Prince Barbro hasn’t returned until now, they decided to sen