Where Is My Foolish Brother?

Colin forced the meat down his throat, choking so hard he beat his chest.

He only managed to recover after gulping down two mouthfuls of juice. “It's like this, Big Brother. Three years ago, a meteorite fell into Horn Mountain outside the Imperial City. It was a massive sensation back then. The heavenly fire lit up half the night sky over the entire Imperial City. Every adventurer in the city who could hold a sword rushed into the mountains. Some said it was a god-given treasure, while others said it was a golden apple that could grant immortality.”

He grew more and more excited as he spoke, gesturing in the air with his fork. “Later, they supposedly found some incredible treasure, though no one knows exactly what it was. Anyway, once word got out, the mountains descended into utter chaos. Adventurers slaughtered one another, mercenary groups fought over the spoils, and even the private soldiers of several noble houses got dragged into it. Thousands of people died. Then, for some unknown reason, Horn Mountain completely collapsed. Just like that, the mountain crumbled, burying the three villages at its base.”

When Colin said the word “collapsed,” he slammed his fork onto the table. “Since then, the weather has been completely out of whack. It's not that it hasn't rained at all, but the amount we get wouldn't even match a toddler's piss.”

“Ahem.”

Colin's expression froze instantly.

He slowly picked up his fork from the table, placed it back beside his plate, and rested both hands politely on his knees. “Apologies, Father. I spoke crudely again.”

“That's enough, Father,” Ethan said, waving his hand. “Colin is only fifteen. There's no need to be so harsh.”

Duke Leo glanced at Colin and nodded. “Fine, as you wish.”

Colin stealthily gave Ethan a thumbs-up.

The Duchess saw this and glared at him. Colin immediately retracted his thumb.

The banquet drew to a close two hours later.

Servants filed in to clear away the silver platters and wipe down the table.

The candles on the pillars were extinguished one by one, leaving only a few crystal lamps lit in the main castle's corridors.

Deep into the night, the world fell dead silent.

Cold, pale moonlight crawled in through the windows, quietly draping over the walls.

Occasionally, patrolling guards marched along the stone paths outside, keeping their footsteps hushed and low.

Ethan pressed his body flat against the wall, stepping onto the decorative stone falcon pedestals that lined the castle's exterior. In just a few swift, silent strides, he glided over to the window of Colin's room.

The window was left unlatched.

Ethan pushed the sash open and slipped soundlessly into the room.

Colin lay asleep on his bed, his blanket kicked down to his waist and one leg dangling over the edge of the mattress as he snored away.

Moonlight filtered through a gap in the half-drawn curtains, illuminating his still somewhat boyish face.

Suddenly, the leaves of the potted foliage on the windowsill shot outward, rapidly elongating.

Crossing the windowsill and reaching over the edge of the bed, they wrapped tightly around Colin three times.

Colin's eyes snapped open.

Just as he opened his mouth, a vine whipped upward and gagged him, muffling him completely.

The vines constricted, hoisting him entirely off the bed and leaving him suspended in midair with his limbs bound securely.

Colin's eyes bulged. His chest heaved violently as muffled whimpers squeezed from his throat.

He kicked his legs wildly in the air, but after a few desperate struggles, he realized he couldn't break free at all.

“Big Brother? Help!”

Ethan stood in the shadows untouched by the moonlight. “Heh. Big Brother? What kind of creature are you, and where is my brother?”

“Big Brother, I really am Colin! I'm the Colin who just had dinner with you! Put me down, let's talk about this!”

Before he could even finish his sentence, a crisp crack echoed from his left forearm as the entire lower arm was twisted into a grotesque spiral.

Before his scream could even escape, his right arm snapped as well.

“Ahhh!!!” the boy convulsed violently within the vines, his face smeared with tears and snot. “Big Brother! Why?! I really am your brother!”

Ethan looked indifferently at the howling figure. “My brother is not a foolish non-human.”

As soon as those words left Ethan's mouth, the screams came to an abrupt halt.

The pain and terror on his face vanished in an instant, and his vine-bound body ceased its trembling.

His pupils shifted from deep brown to a pale amber, narrowing into slits like those of a lizard.

“How did you figure it out?”

Looking at the fool before him, Ethan let out a soft chuckle.

“Heh. Fool, you still can't see what you're dealing with.”

The vines wrapping around the fake Colin yanked back violently.

A dark green membrane was torn open, revealing the grayish-white muscle tissue and black bones underneath.

The non-human let out a muffled groan, its slit pupils contracting sharply.

Ethan stepped forward and gripped the wrist of the broken arm.

The muscle texture at the fracture was completely different from a human's. The muscle fibers wrapped around the bone in a spiral, and the bone's surface was riddled with tiny, dense pores.

He pressed the broken arm back against the non-human's shoulder. Spreading his fingers, he channeled the energy of Withered Wood Revives from his palm, injecting it into the wound.

The grayish-white muscle began to squirm, and the spiral muscle fibers sizzled faintly as they came into contact with the torn flesh of the shoulder.

New granulation tissue sprouted from both sides of the wound, intertwining and fusing. Within three seconds, the arm was fully reattached.

A flicker of confusion crossed the non-human's slit pupils.

Ethan gripped the newly reattached arm and tore it off once more.

He tore it even slower this time.

The vines wrapped around the wrist first, twisting upward inch by inch, ripping the muscle fibers apart one by one.

The non-human's body convulsed violently, a series of hoarse syllables squeezing from its throat.

With its mouth still gagged by the vines, it could only produce muffled whimpers.

Ethan reattached the arm.

Then tore it off again.

Reattached it.

Tore it off.

By the eighth time he tore it off, the non-human finally broke.

Its slit pupils vibrated frantically, and its entire body spasmed violently within the binding vines. “I'll talk! I'll talk! I am a mercenary from the Creeping Sect! Someone paid us to target the Thorn Empire, to replace all the heirs of the high nobility and put our people in their places!”

Ethan released his grip. The severed arm thudded onto the floor, rolling half a turn before coming to a stop in the shadows out of the moonlight.

“Go on.”

“Five more people have been replaced in the Thorn Empire's higher academies! Three from ducal houses and two princes! That's all I know! I really don't know anything else! The person who hired us never showed their face. Everything was communicated via messenger eagles, and even the commissions were delivered directly to our lair by the eagles!”

Ethan stared at it. “Where is my brother? Is he still alive?”

The non-human opened its mouth, the light in its slit pupils flickering as if making one last struggle.

“Hmm?”

“In the Crimson Mountains! He's still alive! Our secret technique requires the target to remain alive. If we kill them, we'll be exposed!”

The door was pushed open.

Duke Leo stood outside.

His expression was calm, with only the old scar at the corner of his eye twitching slightly.

“The empire's higher academies,” he said. “The web of interests involved there is too vast. The three great dukes, the imperial family, and the academies themselves. Barging in without evidence will trigger civil unrest.”

Ethan turned to face his father. “Father, when it comes to interests, they must always yield to absolute strength.”