Hey there, chapter 2 of Almadianos is here! I’ve been asked where I bring the raws from, and well, it’s from alphapolis, like most JP novels these days, I’ll make a table of contents and whatnot later in the week, don’t worry about it 😀
For the Patrons,
Anyway, here is the chapter, I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Chapter 2
【”It’s here! The red eyed bear’s here!”】
In response to his companion’s voice, Kurats started running on the mountain’s road, which he had grown familiar with.
(―― It’s here! )
It had a huge body at a height of about 5 meters.
Originally, for the remote region’s villagers, it was a brutal monster that they could only escape from.
It would be fine if the feudal lord’s troops were dispatched to fight together against the monster, but given his bad financial condition, the feudal lord would choose to leave the beast as is unless it caused some serious damage.
That was how brutal and redoubtable the red eyed bear was.
In spite of that, Kurats tightly clenched his fist with a smile on his face.
The villagers who had accompanied him were watching over Kurats with their eyes full of expectations.
Kurats Hans Almadianos.
The young man would only turn 18 this year, yet he had already reached a height of over two meters and a weight of over 100 kilograms. However, despite his large build, he jumped forward soundlessly, like a wild feline.
His eyes did not have a hint of fear within them, they were only filled with the joy of the hunt.
Watching Kurats approach, the red eyed bear thought that a prey had come to him expressly to be eaten, and the beast drooled with anticipation.
As a human being, Kurats had quite a large build, however, he was as small as a child when compared to the red eyed bear.
However, Kurats’ speed and strength were completely out of the bear’s expectations.
【”――Guh!”】
After accelerating and jumping at the monster’s bosom, Kurats pushed his fist towards it.
A heavy shock ran through the red eyed bear’s abdomen.
And, the next instant, the beast’s body, which weighted several tons, flew in the air as if gravity had no power over it.
Moreover, Kurats further pursued the flying bear and used his heel to knock it back to the ground.
The red eyed bear’s internal organs were smashed, and after a moment’s delay, it felt pain through its whole body.
Even though the beast was not able to understand what had happened, its instincts naturally allowed it to guess that its life was in danger.
It realized that it was not a prey that had approached it, but it was in fact a human-shaped monster, which had come to hunt it and to take its life.
【”Guooo!”】
The beast’s roar, which usually made its preys shudder, had now become a helpless cry, it somewhat seemed as if it were imploring for its life.
Under the command of its own survival instinct, the red eyed bear used all of its power to run down the mountain without turning back.
【”Hey hey, you’ll reach the base of the mountain if you go that way!”】
“It’s normal for strong monsters to react sensibly against a strong opponent, but they usually aren’t that upfront about it” Added Kurats with a sneer. The bear did not look like a mighty predator at all now.
But the red eyed bear’s dread did not end there, for it despaired even further when Kurats came to blocks its way; the beast did not even know when he had caught up to it.
【”Alright, it’s time to stop!”】
The small palms of the human’s hands tightly gripped the beast’s forelegs.
The enormous kinetic energy born from the acceleration of the enormous beast’s body that weighted several tons was stopped very easily by the young man’s arms.
As if it was being attracted by a mighty magnetic force, the beast’s body stopped moving and was twitching on the spot.
【”Guooooooo!”】
Believing that something so crazy was completely impossible, the red eyed bear struggled.
The beast was so heavy that the ground would sink under it when it walked, but no matter how much power it used, even when it focused all of its body’s strength in its feet and tried to force itself out of the arms that were holding it, the young man still did not move in the slightest.
【”You’re quite strong. It’s been a while since I last used 30% of my strength like today.”】
【”Kuuuh”】
The red eyed bear let out a nasal sound that sounded as if it had come from a pitiful puppy.
And then, so as not to wound its precious internal organs, Kurats cautiously drove two of his fingers inside the beast’s forehead.
Without any resistance, his fingers reached the red eyed bear’s brain, like two wooden stakes penetrating soil.
And so, the king of the forest was made to go from the hunter’s side to the hunted side. It released a short scream, muffled in the back of its throat, before it fell down to the earth, making the ground tremble under its enormous body.
【”He’s amazing as always…”】
【”I can’t believe he even defeated a red eyed bear…”】
【”Let alone the feudal lord’s soldiers, something like this would be impossible even for the royal capital’s knights.”】
【”Rather, there isn’t actually anything left in this forest that can defeat Kurats.”】
The young villagers who had witnessed the fight were in admiration of the man’s out of norm power.
He had subjugated the king of the forest.
Yet another accomplishment was added to his heroic history.
No one knew how he came to have such power despite still being only 18 years old, .
However, when he went out to hunt with his father for at the first time at the age of seven, he already was above the average hunter.
【”This will be a nice souvenir for the village.”】
Said Kurats as he lifted the red eyed bear’s pelt with a smile.
The fur was of a quite good quality, he believed it could make a fine rug for his home.
Given that the year’s wheat harvest had not been very good in the Gaura village, the red eyed bear’s flesh and organs were likely going to be a very welcome extra source of income.
With their village having obtained some unexpected gains, the young people, who had been hiding so as to watch the fight, shouted with joy and gathered around the red eyed bear.
Then, they skillfully extracted the monster’s blood and separated the flesh and organs.
The red eyed bear’s flesh and organs, especially its liver and heart, could be used as ingredients to make medicinal drugs. Those materials would reap high profits if sold to the peddlers that would sometimes visit the village.
【”We’ll have another safe winter this year!”】
After that, Kurats and the others returned to the village triumphantly, but what was waiting for them there were the gloomy faces of the village’s adults, who were hanging their heads with shame.
【”Village chief! Please look! Just with this red eyed bear, we’ll have a peaceful winter for sure!”】
The village’s young people had no doubt that they would receive words of gratitude in response.
The amount money earned from selling the bear would be considerable even after being divided among everyone in the village, so it seemed natural that the villagers would be permitted to be a little extravagant in the winter.
But, despite hearing such good news, the adults had grave expression on their faces.
【”Everyone, what’s going on――”】
As Kurats asked that, Ordreik, the village’s chief whose back had started becoming crooked over the years, suddenly stepped forward in front of him.
【”I’m sorry, Kurats. We have to hand over Cornelia to the feudal lord.”】
That had come like a bolt out of the blue.
Kurats’ whole body started shaking as he felt a soul-burning anger welling up inside him.
He was usually gentle, so it was rare to see him reveal his anger like this, but nobody thought there was anything odd about that.
Because, clearly, his anger was completely justified.
【”… So what? Are you telling me to quietly give up my sister to him? Is that what this is about?”】
Kurats tightly bit his lip from the anger, to the point where a line of blood ran down his chin and fell to the ground.
If this huge man were to go mad, no one in the village would be able to stop him.
The adults who were gathered there could only apologetically lower their heads to try to make him manage his rage.
【”We’d never want to do such a thing… Please tell us if you have another solution, but if not, then we have no other choice.”】
As he said that, Ordreik kneeled down and lowered his head.
Ordreik was already very old, and he was known for his just and fair character. Since he said that there was no other way, then that surely was the case.
After all, the one responsible for this was the son of earl Hazel, and he was famous for being tyrannical.
Kurats’ beautiful and lovely elder sister-in-law, Cornelia, had unfortunately caught the eye of the earl’s prodigal son when he happened to pass by the village.
(Maybe I should run away together with her?)
For Kurats, Cornelia was the only family he had left in this world.
Although she was only one year older than him, she had the tolerance of a mother towards him, but at the same time, Kurats also felt the need to protect her, as if she was actually younger than him.
And just imagining her being disgraced on the whims of some aristocrat was enough to push Kurats into an unfathomable anger.
Confident in his success, Kurats was determined to escape right away, but he was stopped from doing so by none other than Cornelia herself.
【”―― Giving my body is a cheap price to pay for both you and the village’s safetthe safety the village and you, brother.”】
Her pure eyes created a clear atmosphere around her. Moreover, she had finely chiseled and noble features that made one instinctively want to revere her.
Cornelia was standing in a dignified manner while holding her head high.
There was no hesitation to her words, they were filled with determination, which conversely made the villagers feel even more guilty.
The siblings had lost their parents at a young age, but they stuck by each other’s side and they grew up so well in the end, yet they had to suffer such a fate?
Kurats’ sister―― Cornelia, had become a woman with a beauty that anyone would envy. Wasn’t this period supposed to be the time for her to find happiness?
Ordreik cursed fate itself.
Corenlia was like a daughter to Ordreik, he was desperately unwilling to give her to some noble who would make her his concubine.
【”…Don’t say that so easily, sister… There is no way I could be happy if I have to sacrifice you for it.”】
Said Kurats while desperately preventing his voice from become teary.
【”Kurats, think about the village’s people who took care of both of us…!”】
After their parents’ deaths, the two siblings started living frantically, and the only reason that they were able to grow up safely when they were young was because everyone, starting from the village’s chief, had been helping them from behind the scenes.
In the first place, a child would not be able to live in any remote village if not for the community’s help.
Since he understood that, Kurats closed his mouth and cast his eyes downward.
The Gaura village had never been wealthy in the slightest. It would be easily ruined if the feudal lord were to have a grudge against it and to raise the taxes.
Neither Kurats nor Cornelia would be able to pursue their own happiness if the village had to be destroyed in the process.
Kurats had never felt as helpless as he was feeling now, it was a torture to him.
He had trained his body more than anyone else so as to become as strong as possible just for the sake of protecting his sister.
Others referred to him as the ‘mighty Kurats’ and the like; and, let alone the villagers, he was confident that he would be able to defeat even the kingdom’s knights.
No, in a one-to-one fight, he was confident that not a single person in the world would be able to defeat him.
However, despite this individual valor of his, he was still powerless when faced with the authority of the nobles.
Even if he were to take his sister-in-law’s hand and to run away from the village, the two of them did not have any money or relatives; Kurats could not imagine a future where they would be able to live well under those circumstances.
Despair was dragging Kurats’ spirit to the depths of the abyss.
『Mhm… Don’t give up just yet…』
Suddenly, a voice, which did not seem to really be there, echoed within Kurats’ head, to his own astonishment.
Kurats figured that his helplessness had ended up making him go mad.
『No, you haven’t gone mad ――Seriously, this is… How can you be this cowardly while having my blood! I won’t allow this!』
For Bernst, who had always reigned as the greatest and strongest being, Kurats’ weakness was quite irritating.
He was anguishing about some remote region’s noble! He had the same genes as Bernst, was it because he was brought up in a different environment that he was so different as a person?
『Well, it’s fine. Now, be obedient and listen to me… if you want to rescue your sister-in-law, that is.』
Despite being confused, Kurats still nodded to this silent voice.