For a second, Leon made a dumbfounded face, he considered that hypothesis many times, but after hearing that from someone who actually knew his parents shocked him. Leon lost the will to fight, and the Fire Arrow disappeared. His sister was alive, and he was happy about that... but his parents pa.s.sed away a long time ago."... On the day the monsters appeared, they destroyed most of our hometown." Hector kept his eyes closed and recalled the memories of that day. "I was the only person in my family who survived, my parents, uncles, cousins... everyone died. I survived purely by luck and tried to find other survivors. Your house had been burned down, and your parents pa.s.sed away, I confirmed that because I saved your sister from the rubbles of your house. She was wounded, but eventually recovered and together we looked for more survivors while we tried to run away... together with ten more survivors we barely escaped the nuke."
Leon fell on his knees, and his mind went blank, he would never see his parents again... he didn"t even have the chance to give them a proper funeral. Every proof of their existence had been destroyed, no... Leon and Amanda were still alive, and that was also proof of their existence, but still... Leon would never have the chance to apologize.
"Sorry... I didn"t want to say what happened like that, but..." Hector sighed. "Hah... the world changed Leon. I want to think that I"m doing a pretty good job here, but someday ten dragons may attack this city and kill us all. We don"t have any other choice but to struggle to live and live like there is no tomorrow. Believe me; I didn"t make a move on your sister; she was like a little sister to me, too. But you know... she is quite a.s.sertive and stubborn, before I could notice, we..."
"... I changed my mind about killing you, but if you keep talking, I will change again." Leon said.
"Sorry," Hector forced a smile.
"Take me to where Amanda is..." Leon said. "I want to talk with her, and if I discover that you made her unhappy even a single time... my marriage present for you will be a ticket to h.e.l.l."
"Calm down, man." Hector shrugged. "Like I said, I changed. No... we all changed. Although you look like the wimpy of ten years ago, your att.i.tude turned 180."
While Leon was trying to a.s.similate the information he got, he and Hector walked toward the place where Hector and Amanda were living together. Since Leon didn"t want to talk, and they lived in the middle of the city, they ended up grabbing a car.
Hector"s house was like a mansion. Although the exterior was quite simple, it was huge. Since he worked there, it also had several rooms, used for guests, and meetings. However, Leon didn"t check those because the garden was also huge, but the garden looked more like a training field for archers. There were several targets scattered all over the place, but there was only one archer, her name was Amanda.
Four years had pa.s.sed since the last time Leon saw his little sister, she changed and grew so much that she barely recognized her. She was a mother now, but even though she also had a few scars after fighting for four years, she looked as cute as he remembered. Her black hair tied up in a ponytail, her light brown eyes focused on what she was doing, her small stature and light tanned skin...
"Ah, are you already back, Hector?" Amanda asked after hearing their footsteps. "A visitor? Who is... Mmm?"
Amanda frowned when she saw Leon, as expected, after losing every single object that made her remember of her family, she also forgot how her elder brother looked. But surprisingly, she opened her eyes widely and started to cry. Her tears made Leon recall so many things... how clingy she was, how spoiled she was. Leon almost started to cry too, but he held back. Even when Amanda ran and hugged him to the points where his bones started to crack, he held back.
"Hey... long time no see." Leon smiled wryly.
"Brother... are you really my brother?" Amanda asked while burying her face on Leon"s chest.
"I think I am... did your brother disappear four years ago?" Leon asked. "If his name is Leon, if he studied abroad for four years, if he changed your diapers and if he taught you the multiplication table… then, I"m probably your brother."
"Brother… where have you been? Why didn"t you return sooner?" Amanda hugged Leon even harder, and he started to lose health.
Leon awkwardly returned the hug. As expected, the island didn"t put just a physical distance between them; it also put an emotional barrier. Leon, who spent four years alone on an island, lost the ability to rely on others or show clearly his feelings… but that much was fine with him. Eventually, he would be a person who once he was. Hopefully…
"Leon... Mom and Dad are..." Amanda hesitated.
"I know... you don"t need to think about it now." Leon patter her head. "For the time being, tell me about your current life... after that, I will pa.s.s my judgment on this motherf.u.c.ker."
"... You returned after so many years, and the first thing you do is to pick a fight with Hector?" Amanda looked at Leon with reproachful eyes.
"I"m not picking a fight... I will judge if he is worthy of you." Leon looked away.
"The person who is supposed to judge that is me... " Amanda crossed her arms. "He is your brother-in-law now, he is family, and you can"t refuse family."
"Tsk..." Leon looked away, annoyed.
Hector grinned while he watched his wife lecturing his brother-in-law.