HRB 22

Eddie belatedly realized that he could hear people cheering right in front of the inn.

He hurriedly moved closer to the window.

Outside, someone was clashing with Ketron. Despite being just wooden sticks colliding, savage sounds like something being smashed echoed around them.

One was Ketron, and the other was a man Eddie had never seen before.

But for any avid reader of “The Hero Doesn’t Hide His Power Too Well,” the man was unmistakably recognizable.

White clothes reminiscent of a priest, blonde hair, fresh green eyes. A well-trained body using a wooden staff as a weapon.

He was undoubtedly Augustine of Divine Power, one of the hero’s companions—a cleric and warrior with a unique character.

While others cheered each time the two clashed, exclaiming how amazing they were, Eddie’s eyes could only see Ketron.

His protagonist, who seemed precarious and anxious somewhere.

Eddie didn’t hesitate and burst open the door and went outside.

“Woooah!”

People were cheering.

Several loud crashes and bangs echoed. Although Eddie had long accepted being in a fantasy world, he still wasn’t used to the idea that people colliding could make such sounds.

“Excuse me!”

Eddie, who had been nervously biting his lips, pushed through the crowd.

‘Eddie’ was tall with a decent build. But there were so many people that even with his size, it wasn’t easy to make his way through the countless onlookers to reach Ketron.

With slight exaggeration, it felt like everyone in the central plaza had gathered to watch this one event.

When Eddie finally managed to force his way through the crowd of excited spectators, Ketron had already lost all fighting spirit and let his arms drop.

His eyes were filled with tears.

Seeing this sorrowful sight, Eddie felt anger rising to his head.

“What are you doing!”

Eddie burst out angrily, approaching Ketron and embracing him. It was an instinctive action.

With the movement of being embraced, tears spilled from Ketron’s eyes. His hand, which seemed to have no will to fight anymore, was still gripping the wooden stick so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.

“Ket.”

At Eddie’s voice, Ketron slowly raised his head. The sight of tears streaming from his black eyes overlapped with how he looked when they first met.

Just like the day he realized his companions’ betrayal.

Eddie, not knowing what to do, broke into a nervous sweat in front of Ketron. He needed to comfort him first.

“Shh, it’s okay. Don’t cry. Look at me, okay?”

Eddie embraced Ketron. Since he was taller with much broader shoulders, it was difficult to fully embrace him, so Eddie instead wrapped his arms around Ketron’s waist and patted his back. Though his tone was like one comforting a child, embracing and patting him wasn’t nearly as easy as with a child.

As a result, Eddie’s head naturally buried itself against Ketron’s broad, firm chest, but Eddie steadfastly continued patting Ketron’s back.

“Shhh, it’s okay. Don’t cry. Look at me. Huh?”

“…Eddie.”

“Yes.”

Ketron’s face, tearful as if just saying Eddie’s name had drained all his energy, was gently wiped with Eddie’s sleeve. If only he had brought a handkerchief.

Lost in such regret, Eddie didn’t realize that Ketron had called his name correctly for the first time.

Looking at this face, still downy and soft, now stained with tears again despite all Eddie’s efforts to fatten him up and remove his shadows, Eddie felt a smoldering anger rising inside.

Who on earth had hurt his boy again? Such a young and sensitive boy!

The culprit was obvious.

“Ket, wait here for a moment.”

After patting Ketron’s shoulder, Eddie turned toward the man who was looking at them with a perplexed expression—Augustine.

“What did you do to my boy?”

My boy. At this bold choice of words, Augustine became even more astonished and genuinely flustered, stammering,

“Uh, no, I…”

“A grown adult picking on a child!”

SMACK! Augustine’s eyes widened.

He belatedly realized. That he had just received a back smack for the first time in his life.

* * *

Augustine was bewildered.

Both by his opponent who suddenly stopped moving and just cried, and by the man who emerged from the crowd yelling angrily.

The man with radiant silver hair and violet eyes had looks that would impress even Augustine, who had seen many beautiful people in his travels.

More precisely, he was Augustine’s exact type, his ideal.

The problem was that this ideal was furious with Augustine.

“What are you doing fighting someone who’s injured?”

“Ah, no…”

“What do you mean ‘no’!”

Injured? He hadn’t realized the man was wounded.

But if those tears were due to an injury, that would make sense.

Moreover, the way the man before him wiped away tears and embraced Ketron was so tender that they must be either family or passionate lovers.

Such a person would naturally not look kindly upon someone dueling their injured loved one.

Eddie slapped Augustine’s back several more times.

Honestly, Augustine didn’t find the slaps painful. Just, somewhat, embarrassing and humiliating. His pride as a hero called to save humanity with his life felt like it was crumbling under the small palms of this shorter man.

It felt like being scolded like a child. Something he had never experienced before. And the other person happened to be his perfect ideal type.

Augustine felt somewhat unjustly treated but couldn’t bring himself to argue with the angry man.

After venting his anger for a while, the man turned around and took the still tear-stained Ketron back into the inn.

The spectators, suddenly deprived of their entertainment, murmured among themselves while fixing their gaze on Augustine, but there wasn’t much he could do about the situation.

The match was over, and he had embarrassingly just received a smack on his back.

“Ah, well.”

He spread his arms wide with a helpless smile.

“It seems we’re done here.”

With those words, he hoisted the wooden staff he had unceremoniously dropped onto the ground back onto his shoulder.

The people, realizing this exciting show had ended, made disappointed noises but slowly began to disperse one by one. As usual, impromptu shows like this fail to hold the audience’s attention once they show signs of ending.

But still.

Augustine tilted his head as he recalled the man he had challenged to a duel and the radiant silver-haired owner who was his ideal type.

Strange, they were definitely faces he’d never seen before.

Why did they feel so familiar?

The black-haired, black-eyed man whose name he hadn’t even asked felt familiar, but oddly enough, the silver hair also seemed familiar. Yet they were definitely faces he’d never seen before.

It felt like he might have seen them somewhere.

After pondering for quite a while, Augustine, true to his character of not wasting energy on matters that wouldn’t be resolved by worrying, quickly dismissed the thought.

He should come back here later.

With that thought, he rubbed his slightly sore back and turned to leave.

Despite still feeling somewhat dazed, he felt quite light after having loosened up his body after such a long time.

However, he belatedly realized,

“Ah, my fire chicken noodles…”

He had been so caught up in the duel and the excitement that he hadn’t even managed to order the food he had come for.

* * *

Eddie took Ketron to his room, grabbed a plate from the kitchen, and quickly headed to the basement.

“Gerold! Could you please get me a hot towel?”

After asking Gerold for a towel, Eddie entered the convenience store. He headed toward the refrigerator and soon found what he wanted, quickly tearing open the packaging and putting it in the microwave.

Anxiously staring at the microwave with restless feet, Eddie quickly transferred the food to the plate when the microwave stopped with a light ‘ding’ sound.

“Ouch, hot.”

This is all good, but I’m always afraid of burning my hands.

Grumbling, Eddie hurried upstairs with the plate. He received the hot towel from the capable Gerold with a “Thank you,” then went up to the second floor with the plate and towel.

“Ket, I’m coming in.”

Without waiting even for courtesy’s sake, Eddie immediately opened the door and entered Ketron’s room.

Ketron was sitting on the edge of the bed. The curtains were drawn, making the room dim despite it being the middle of the day.

Moreover, Ketron emanated a deeply heavy atmosphere as he sat there.

Eddie placed the plate on the bedside table and approached Ketron with the warm towel.

He gently pressed the warm towel against Ketron’s reddened, swollen eyes.

“Ket, are you okay?”

“…”

“Are you hungry?”

Ketron showed no particular reaction. Even as Eddie pressed the towel all over his face as if determined to wipe his entire face, he remained silent with no response for a long time. His tears seemed to have stopped, but his mood appeared to be at its worst.

What should I do about this? As Eddie was biting his lip in bewilderment, Ketron suddenly reached out and pulled Eddie tightly into his arms.

Oh my.

Not expecting this, Eddie wore a bewildered expression as he was held against Ketron’s firm chest, but soon relaxed his body.

Yes, yes. At times like this, human warmth is needed.

The problem was that since Ketron was sitting on the edge of the bed, Eddie, who was pulled deep into Ketron’s embrace, ended up in a position that looked like he was sitting on Ketron’s lap.

Eddie was quite tall himself, though not as tall as Ketron. With nowhere proper to place his legs, Eddie fidgeted in his awkward position.

“Ket, wait, just a moment…”

Eddie struggled, but Ketron seemed unwilling to let him go; rather, he tightened his embrace. Eventually, Eddie gave up and completely relaxed his body. Ketron’s current state was clearly not normal.

Fine, just treat me like a comfort doll… But no matter how I look at it, this position is a bit…

Though the position was quite uncomfortable, Eddie couldn’t bring himself to push away the person who had buried his head in Eddie’s shoulder, silently feeling his warmth, so he gently patted Ketron’s back.

It’s just a stiff, boring male body, but it can serve as a substitute comfort doll for a while.

Cradled in the awkward position, Eddie waited for Ketron to calm down and then wriggled to find a more comfortable spot within Ketron’s embrace. The broad embrace could accommodate Eddie’s body without much difficulty, so it wasn’t too hard.

Moving around like that, Eddie inadvertently discovered a fact he didn’t particularly need to know.

Our Ket seems to be left-handed…

Having suddenly realized the direction of the heaviness felt beneath his buttocks, Eddie momentarily wore a perplexed expression, but ultimately did not leave the embrace.

Instead of escaping the embrace, he continued to pat Ketron’s broad back.

If this provides even a little comfort, what does it matter?