Chapter 134 – Brotherly bonds.

There it was, down on the ground. A helmet made from metal with small openings for the eyes and a somewhat wider bottom for easy fitting.

This was Roland’s spare helmet that didn’t really fit Bernir’s armor that he had made. It was also not fastened to Roland’s face as it was back down in the dungeon. During his rescue sprint, he had forgotten about this part.

He did not think that he needed to fasten his helmet tightly to his body. This was supposed to take around ten minutes before Robert and Lucille left. He had not foreseen that the runic groupie would be attracted by his wind turbines so much that she would ignore the warning signs.

“Sir. Wayland… your face.”

Lucille was the first one to speak up. She looked at Roland’s face and then slowly moved her gaze towards Robert. This turned to a back and forth, it was clear that the two young men had similar facial features.

A similar jawline, a similar head shape, and hair color even their noses were somewhat the same. There were enough differences to keep them apart but also many similarities for people that were familiar with one of them to notice it. Lucille was a person like that, she knew Robert’s face quite well and could see the resemblance.

“Roland? Is that really you?”

Robert broke the silence before Lucille could ask a question. Just like Roland was able to recognize his brother at a glance, Robert was able to do the same.

“Roland? Not Wayland?”

Lucille asked while still being confused.

“Roland? Never heard of him.”

Roland after moving away from Lucille quickly turned around and grabbed the helmet that fell off from his head. Without turning around he tried to place it back on his head. Maybe if he played it off he could get Robert to think that he just resembled his long-lost brother. Before he could place the helmet on his head though, he felt a firm hand grasp his shoulder and yanking him back.

“Stop pretending, do you think I’m stupid? I can recognize my own brother!”

It seemed that it was over, the secret was out. Roland didn’t know what to say, he froze. Many thoughts went through his head, he remembered his old life back at the Arden estate. He did not want to go back, he was just about to build his life back up in this city.

This was supposed to be a new start for him with no shackles binding him. His own little life that he was fully responsible for and that he could shape in the way that he wanted to.

Would running away be the only way? Would he need to escape to a different country to be free of his noble title? His mind raced, old memories of his old life where he spent whole days slaving away at his job making money for others.

Then they were replaced by more recent memories of the fencer that had attacked him about six years ago. He still did not know who from the Arden estate had bribed that man to go kill him. The only person that he could exclude was his father, the rest even Robert here could have been the perpetrator.

“Huh?”

Before he could utter a word Robert did something strange. Roland expected his half-brother to be mad or stunned but instead, he moved in closer. He was charged and at first, he thought that he was being attacked but that was just Robert’s way of hugging.

“By the gods, you are alive!”

Instead of any hits, he received a big hug from his brother.

“Oh my…”

Lucille moved her hand towards her mouth and was unsure what to do. She watched as two armored men embraced each other, at least one of them. Roland had his hands spread apart in an awkward fashion as he did not expect this act of affection from his half-brother that bullied him in their youthful days.

“Um, Robert?”

After a moment he gently tapped his half-brother’s shoulder which somehow brought him back to his senses. He moved away and the bear hug came to an end.

“You were alive…”

“I guess…”

“YOU WERE FUCKING ALIVE!”

Robert’s face switched from one of joy to one of rage. Before he knew it, Roland could see a large fist coming his way. This was an unexpected turn of events, so even though his class multiplier gave him higher physical stats than Robert, he was unable to dodge this punch.

“Hey, what’s the commotion about?”

Bernir stormed out of the workshop to witness his boss being punched. He flew for a few meters and even tumbled once from the force of this hit.

“Is everything okay in there? What was that explosion?”

“Ye? What’s going on in there? Let us in!”

The voices of Armand and Lobelia could also be heard. The knocks on the gate turned into loud thumps as it was clear that someone was trying to ram it open.

“Sir. Robert, please calm down!”

Lucille tried shouting but for the first time, Robert ignored her calls and charged towards Roland that was slowly getting off the ground.

“Fuck…”

Roland spit out some blood after being sucker-punched. The world was slightly spinning as he tried to recover, his half-brother wouldn’t give him a chance though. This didn’t mean that he would just let himself be beaten up.

Back on his feet, he put his guard up. Both men were wearing metal armor so even when Robert punched Roland’s arm guards he wasn’t hurting his fingers. After taking a couple more blows Roland finally caught Robert’s fist with his hand.

The second fist was also caught by Roland which turned the fistfight into a battle of strength. This competition would go to the younger brother that had a higher combined strength stat.

Robert didn’t seem to want to give up though, as his hands were trembling and being pushed back he moved in for a headbutt. A clean hit on Roland’s nose sent blood splashing everywhere.

Roland didn’t falter though, his grip was kept on Robert’s fists. His head flew back but it quickly returned as he smashed his forehead into his brother’s nose himself. Robert’s nose made a cracking sound as he rebounded from the hit.

Both of them moved a step back, their noses bleeding and brows crinkled. It didn’t seem that the fight was over but for Roland, it was time to get serious. The two moved forward, both of them going into hand-to-hand combat positions.

Before the brotherly fight could continue a large ball of snow landed between them. It exploded into chunks of ice that caused the two to jump back.

“Sir. Robert, Sir. Wayland, please get a hold of yourselves!”

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It was an ice-type spell used by Lucille. It caused its targets to be covered in a thin layer of ice without causing much damage. She quickly ran between the two and it was clear that she would not allow another altercation to happen.

“Don’t worry Boss, I’ll help you!”

After Lucille’s spell Bernir appeared with his trusty runic launcher in hand. He had the weapon up and ready, pointing it at the man that attacked Roland.

“Hey, get this thing off me!”

“No, don’t hurt Agni, he is a good boy!”

In the back, at the gate where he left Agni, Armand started shouting. The Ruby Wolf followed the instructions his master gave him. He was in the process of chomping down on Armand’s ankle after the pugilist forced himself through the gate.

Lobelia on the other hand was clinging to one of Armand’s arms and trying to keep him from punching Agni. Her protests seemed to be working as Armand found himself not delivering any blows to the guard wolf.

Roland gave out a sigh before straightening himself out. He moved his hand to his nose which was dripping blood. He looked to Robert who was doing the same, the only difference was that he had managed to break Robert’s while his own was still mostly in one piece.

“We should talk.”

“I agree…”

The two brothers nodded at each other while Lucille gave out a sigh of relief.

“Put that thing away Bernir, Agni let go of that idiot’s leg.”

Roland called out to his two allies that followed his order, it was time to move the conversation inside of the hose where the nosy guild members couldn’t hear them.

…

“Here.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll be outside if you need me, Boss.”

Bernir passed some tea over to Roland and Robert while the two sat opposite each other. Lucille looked between the two and followed the half-dwarf outside. The door to the house was closed and the two half-brothers were finally left alone.

“Robert…”

“Roland…”

The two men looked at each other without talking. After the emotional outburst, it seemed that none of them knew how to follow it up. Their wounds had been healed by some healing potions, so talking was not a problem.

“That was a nice right hook.”

“You’ve become quite strong as well.”

“Well uh.”

“Why did you do it?”

Robert asked.

“Why did I do what?”