Bullied but Popular

57 – I was lonely

Gymnasium the next day.

“Heh-bh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh.”

“You’re doing well~ Tia taught me surprisingly well.”

“Yes, yes… heh heh heh heh.”

Rai was now practicing swordsmanship with Aren at the gymnasium.

‘Hyung is really strong.’

Rai thought that his brain wasn’t bad compared to his peers.

We actually think differently, and we see differences in our actions.

While being trained in swordsmanship by Tia, he focused as much as possible and observed her swordsmanship.

This is something like a habit Rai has developed throughout his life, and he has a habit of trying to learn when he sees other people’s skills.

However, Aren’s swordsmanship seemed different from Tia’s swordsmanship even to Rai, a beginner.

‘I want to become strong too!’

Rai caught his breath and straightened his upper body.

He had to be strong to protect his sister, Rachel.

In order not to be used and abandoned by bad adults like when he was in the orphanage, Rai wanted to become stronger than anyone else.

The moment Rai looked up at Aren with determination again.

“ah……”

A strange thought that comes to mind suddenly.

Rai looked at Aren for a moment and hesitated before opening his mouth.

“… brother.”

“Why? Shall we take a little break?”

“That’s not…”

Rai couldn’t answer right away, paused and spoke carefully.

“Why did you take us?”

“Are you talking about that again?”

“But…! I don’t understand…”

“……”

As Aren watched silently, Rai continued with a melancholy voice.

“I am really grateful to you. Thanks to you, I am living a life I could never have imagined until now… But I also don’t understand! Why is my brother so good to us…”

“Hmm…”

“Other adults only made me do bad things, like pickpocketing… stealing food or begging when you see a rich man. They taught me and forced me to do it, but my brother has none of those things.”

“……”

“Why… be nice to us?”

Rai said with an expression that looked like he would burst into tears any moment.

‘Because the world is like X, there are children like this…’

Aren looked at Rai with pitying eyes.

Before meeting Aren, there would have been only garbage people around Rai.

And from the point of view of Rai, who watched it from the side, Aren’s actions could not be understood.

Although he follows Aren well now, he is probably asking the same question because he harbors anxiety that Aren will betray him someday.

Aren sat down on the floor of the gymnasium and sang a rai.

“Rai, sit down.”

“yes…”

As Rai sat next to Aren, Aren thought for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Hmm… Where should I begin with the explanation?”

“……”

Aren said while stroking the head of Rai, who was sitting still.

“Once upon a time, you had really precious… younger siblings.”

“yes.”

“I’m the same age as you, they’re 7 years old.”

“I’m 10 years old?”

“Yeah, isn’t it similar?”

“I’m not.”

“Yeah? Cheek.”

At Rai’s odd age, Aren laughed briefly and continued the conversation.

“Anyway, those kids grew up in a similar environment to you, so I met them when they lost their parents to monsters and had nowhere to turn to.”

“… How old are you talking about?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

At Rai’s sudden question, Aren did not panic and focused on the topic.

“So I took care of them… I think I protected them out of sympathy at first.”

“So what?”

“But as time went on, these guys got better and better. They weren’t connected by blood. They were like real family.”

“……”

“But unfortunately we broke up now, because I was not enough.”

“… uh… maybe.”

“It’s not that he’s dead, he just broke up. He should be living somewhere by now.”

Aren gently stroked Rai’s head with a vague expression on his face.

“The bottom line is… you’re a bit lonely.”

“… yes?”

When Rai asked back at the unexpected words, Aren smiled and said,

“After breaking up with them, I was really lonely, and at the academy, only stressful things happened and I didn’t have any real friends.”

“What about your sisters?”

“It hasn’t been long since I’ve become close with my older sisters, and what you want is… um~ It’s not like friendship, but what should I say, family?”

Aren tilted his head for a moment, then looked at Rai and said with a slightly apologetic expression.

“So sorry, hyung isn’t a nice person like you guys think, I just brought you guys because I was lonely, are you disappointed?”

“no.”

Rai shook his head and said.

“So, how is your brother after bringing us?”

“Is it fun? There is no time to be lonely.”

“… I like it too, I’m really happy right now because of you…”

Rai blushed slightly embarrassed and said in a small voice,

Aren, who was watching the scene, began to make fun of Rai with a sinister laugh.

“hehehehe, if it’s good, you’ll say it’s good a long time ago, huh? I’m always worrying about useless things~”

“Oh, okay, stop touching your hair. My hair is messed up!”

“Good subject~ Come here! I’ll touch you more!”

Aren began to roll on the floor, touching Rai’s head even more.

That’s when the two of them were chatting.

“Aren!”

“huh?”

Aren, who was rolling on the floor, heard a voice calling him and turned his head in the direction of the sound.

And a silver-haired woman attacking Aren.

dig

“Oops.”

“Aren!”

“Who, sister?”

The woman who attacked Aren, Cecilia Cloud, ran to Aren and hugged him and rolled on the floor.

‘Why are you doing this in front of the kids!?’

Aren was unable to respond in a sudden situation, but two people who belatedly entered the gymnasium approached Cecilia.

“Lia, I want to say hello too?”

“huh!”

“uh…”

As Cecilia fell, Aren saw two figures standing behind her.

Luna Nerestia and Hamel Nerestia were there.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Aren Deepus, my name is Luna Nerestia.”

“Oh, how are you?”

When Luna politely greeted him, Aren hurriedly got up from his seat and bowed his head.

A displeased voice came from somewhere to Aren.

“Why did you go without saying anything?”

When Duke Hamel glared at Aren and said, Aren said confidently.

“I have business to do.”

“What is it?”

“I have to take care of the kids.”

“……”

When Duke Hamel’s expression crumpled, as if he didn’t like Aren’s answer, Luna stepped forward and said,

“Brother, I’ll greet you first.”

“… okay.”

At Luna’s words, Duke Hamel quietly backed away, and Luna again asked for a conversation with Aren.

“I’ve heard all about it, thank you so much for saving my life.”

“No, I was lucky.”

“No, absolutely not lucky.”

Luna looked directly into Aren’s face and said.

“If Aren had not been there, I would have lost my life. You are without doubt my lifesaver. Do not underestimate your good deeds. And once again thank you very much for saving my life, this grace. I will pay you back over the course of my life.”

‘It’s hard!’

I understand Luna’s feelings, but I think I also understand why Frey described her as hard.

Aren changed the topic to solve this stiff atmosphere.

“By the way, is it okay to move already?

“Thanks to the elixir that Aren gave me, I regained my health perfectly. He gave me the curse as well as the elixir, really…”

‘Next topic.’

“If I had known it would be like this, I would have gone back to the duke’s house. From now on, even if I use teleport…”

“I can’t give my benefactor such trouble, of course I’m coming.”

‘Next topic.’

“Ah, let’s talk about a place where we can rest first. Did you eat?”

“I kept it simple as I came, thank you for caring.”

‘I don’t get along with this person either.’

This is the first type you see.

Seeing Luna like that, Cecilia couldn’t help but smile as she wondered what was so good about it.

Duke Hamel said when the stiff atmosphere was hardly resolved.

“Tell me what you want.”

“yes?”

“As Luna said, you are the benefactor of the Duke of Nerestia. If you send the benefactor without reciprocation, the family will be ashamed. Say what you want.”

“Hmm… then.”

At the words of Duke Hamel, Aren began to tell what he wanted in return.

“First of all, I would be grateful if you give me a lot of money, and since our estate is a bit rural, I want you to show the power of the duchy. Oh! And Rai!”

“yes yes!?”

Rai, who was hiding behind Aren, suddenly answered Aren’s call with embarrassment.

Aren began to introduce Rai to Duke Hamel, leading him forward.

“This child is called Lai, who is my pupil. Please make her a commoner. She is a slave for some reason. Oh! There is another girl, so I’ll ask her as well. It’s called Rachel, and she’s Rai’s younger sister. i look forward to.”

“……”

“……”

‘Brother~!!’

Seeing Aren say everything he really wants, the Duke and his party remain silent, and Rai screams in his heart.

No matter how young Rai was, he knew how great the Nerestia family was.

Aren, on the other hand, was unconcerned.

It was because he was well aware of how much help he had given to the duchy.

While listening to Aren’s story, Duke Hamel’s gaze turned to Rai.

“A disciple?”

“Yes, we should say hello to Rai.”

“Yes, yes! Chuck, nice to meet you! My name is Lai!”

Duke Hamel looked at Aren and Rai with an absurd expression for a while and then said in a tone of annoyance.

“… Well, it’s different from what I expected, but it’s not such a difficult request. Let’s go home only Luna.”

“already?”

“… I have work to do.”

“but.”

“Just come.”

From noble mtl dot com

The appearance of Duke Hamel, who suddenly gave off a bloody atmosphere, Aren was able to guess what he was going to do.

‘They’re going to torture you.’

The councilor who applied the attribute blocking buff to Luna.

He is going to torture Dail to get information from the Dark Priest.

Seeing the serious look of Duke Hamel, Luna sighed and said while looking at Aren.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Aren. It’s a bit early, but let’s go first.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Take good care of yourself.”

“Okay, then see you next time.”

After saying that, Luna turned her eyes to Cecilia.

“Galgeria, thank you so much.”

“Okay, I’ll see you again soon.”

After a brief farewell with Cecilia in a light hug, Luna bowed to Aren once more and left the gymnasium.

Seeing her like that, Aren said to Cecilia.

“I think you’re completely healed? The elixir is amazing, don’t worry anymore…!?”

tight

While Aren was speaking to Cecilia to reassure her, she suddenly came over and hugged him gently.

Embarrassed by this, Aren stood still, unable to speak.

“… thank you.”

“Yes, yes!?”

“Thanks to Aren, I am so grateful I can’t express it in words.”

“Oh, no! Say nothing!”

Aren answered Cecilia’s thanks, but was not able to come to his senses.

‘Hey, calm down!! … Good smell? no!! I’m just amazed at the thank you… hehehe I’m glad. No this XXXX.’

Aren cursed himself and forced himself to come to his senses and carefully removed Cecilia.

“Hmmm! Rai sees everything.”

“huh?”

When Cecilia’s gaze turned to Rai at Aren’s words, Rai flinched as if she was frightened and moved away.