Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father

The first connection was only over 3 seconds.

Regen looked at the barren desert landscape and unknown facilities through the eyes of the man.

The second connection barely lasted 10 seconds. Still, this time, he was able to look into the man’s inner side.

At that time, the man was thinking of Maevia.

Regen realized that he could be taken advantage of by that man at any time, as long as his brainwashing was completely undone.

It’s happening in his own head, and no one can help him.

So, for now, he could only give a warning. He couldn’t even explain. He had to give up hope for understanding.

“…… I’m sorry.”

With an apology that would never reach Maevia, Regen swallowed his rising emotions.

* * *

It was midday in the desert at that time.

The only people living there were, in fact, a man with a beautiful and fragile appearance like an angel.

Kadan Tine lay among the broken and bizarre corpses without limbs strewn about while holding an old map in his hand. Due to the overlap of bad news, he was in a very low mood.

He had lost 20% of his magic without any result.

The word may be 20%, but it was enough to exceed the amount of magical power the Tower Master had. Besides, outside, his brother’s familiar was monitoring him.

“Annoying…….”

He murmured in a lukewarm voice and lowered his eyes. Long eyelashes made his face appear more gentle.

At one time, Kadan Tine was called a god. This was 500 years ago.

At the time, no one thought that Kadan had performed experiments on his own family and had made his brother half paralyzed.

People revered and worshiped Kadan Tine, who always won battles with the beasts. They firmly believed without any doubt that he was the enemy of the beasts and on the side of the people.

But his parents were different. When his brother went missing, they were the first to suspect him.

Being bothered by the pathetically incompetent subject, he murdered his parents.

He asked his brother, who had gained immortality, to be with him. But what returned was cold contempt.

His brother hated him, even though Kadan had dealt with their parents, who were merely a stumbling block.

Thanks to his experiments, his brother achieved the immortality that even the emperor of a great empire coveted. Although he cannot thank Kadan deeply, Kadan couldn’t understand why he hated himself for becoming immortal.

“Tsk.”

Kadan stopped thinking of his brother, clicked his tongue and threw away the old map. The map that left his hand was engulfed in flames and turned to ashes before it even fell to the ground.

Kadan had sent his clones throughout the continent in search of traces of ‘that existence.’ But it was all in vain. Perhaps he could not meet again the existence that could have given him immortality after thousands or tens of thousands of experiments.

From what he heard, the existence was as old as the age of the world, and it was the result of being careless because it only knew how to protect and steer. It hid itself so thoroughly that even Kadan could not find its whereabouts.

If he hadn’t heard the testimonies of countless living beings that had been helped by that existence, and had he not encountered it for even a moment, Kadan would have doubted its existence at all.

That day. He should have noticed in that brief moment.

Now that he had come to regret it, it was too late.

Long ago, Kadan had encountered the being very closely, but he let it go. At that time, thanks to his brother who attacked him as if he was going to kill him, there was no time to think.

But when he later looked back, it was so bizarre.

To put a name taboo on himself, who was revered as a god, and on his brother who had attained immortality, a name that will not be broken even after several hundred years.

Fortunately, his brother was not interested at all in the identity of the existence that put the taboo on him.

So Kadan Tine was relieved and suddenly paused.

“…… It’s a relief, isn’t it.”

Kadan raised his eyebrows with a look of displeasure.

Contrary to himself, who was also called a god, his brother had a hard time even getting out of bed until he attained immortality. He made it so, when the brother was left helpless.

So, isn’t it obvious that his brother is weaker than him?

But why was he relieved that the brother did not know about the importance of ‘that existence.’

The blood-red eyes subsided even more coldly. Kadan forcibly stopped his thoughts and raised his upper body.

“Anyway, I need to turn my attention. Because it’s annoying.”

His silver hair fluttered in the dry wind.

He had already lost 20%, so his magic should be used to a minimum.

Then he had to use something instead of sending another clone, but the clone that was sent to the North periodically for surveillance was also killed by his brother.

The Red Desert was still a waste because the body was converted into a bomb and returned.

Kadan scratched his nose as he recalled his failure to be with his brother.

“Oh, I forgot the name again. Re something?”

It was a voice far from affectionate. Kadan gave up his young son, who he had concluded was a failure, to take advantage of this opportunity.

He was able to move the child at will only once. His brainwashing had begun to unravel.

Unless Gilbert did his part, the child was already a waste to use and could be thrown away.

Anyway, thinking of bad things overlapping, Kadan waved his hand in the air and brought out his memories.

Looking through the records of the past reproduced in vivid images in front of his eyes, Kadan exclaimed.

“That’s right, it was Regen.”

And that woman.

Kadan recalled the side of Maevia’s face he had learned through Gilbert’s memories. The last look of his brother, who was merciless to Kadan because he referred to her as sister-in-law.

He thought that his brother who had tried not to stick to people for 500 years had changed a lot. Kadan giggled at the sight. Didn’t it seem like he was really in love?

…… If that’s the case, he could buy time without much effort.

It was worth checking out and experimenting with.

Soon, Kadan fixed the necktie that had been loosely untied and escaped from the half-broken hatching facility. It had been quite a long time since he left the desert without using a clone.

He escaped the base in a few leaps and appeared before his brother’s familiar. He even waved his hand.

“Hello, little crow.”

He had a cheeky smile and a relaxed greeting that overshadowed his angelic face.

The crow looked wary of Kadan while puffing out its fur, trying to somehow make its small figure look like a bird of prey.

“Caaw! Caaw!”

“Hey, wait a minute. Don’t call your master and listen to me first.”

“Caaw?!”

It sounded like it was impossible, but Kadan smiled leisurely.

“Because I know a funny story?”

Kadan had been watching this crow ever since it wandered about at the mouth of the Red Desert.

It was understandable why his brother had adopted this little bird as a familiar.

“About 30 years ago, there was a boy who was stoned to death because he was said to bring bad luck. Poor thing. In fact, he couldn’t control the magic that was in his body, so he unintentionally caused an accident.”

“…….”

“Little crow, don’t you think it’s so tragic? If only he had received training, he would have become a man worthy of the Magic Tower’s attention. But without his parents, no one recognized his talent.”

“…….”

Although not as good as Kadan, the orphan boy who was born with his own qualities left a curse as he died.

It really brought bad luck to the village.

The orphan boy’s curse in exchange for his life wiped out the villagers.

And the boy was resurrected as a phantom bird that devoured his corpse. After that, there was a myth that he had gone somewhere.

“Don’t you want to go back to being a human again?”

“Caaw? Caaw!”

With one hand, Kadan snatched the crow, which was croaking suspiciously as to whether his human intelligence remained.

The crow struggled to escape, but to no avail.

“I’m going to put you back to your original form, so I need to get Brother’s attention here.”

Standing out in the cold red eyes, Kadan asked in a commanding tone.

“I’m not going to kill you, so don’t be fussy. But don’t you expect it to go back to the way it was.”

“Caaw! Caaw! Caaw!”

“Because I’m not interested in other people’s bodies, so I can’t remember all the side effects.”

A familiar who used to be a human being. He must have died unfortunately when he was young.

It was perfect to distract his brother.

His brother will recognize that the problem arose as soon as the connection with his familiar was lost. However, as long as the familiar was in Kadan’s base, he could not enter directly.

Still, it was clear that he would never turn a blind eye.

Kadan showed a sad and cruel smile with his seductive lips.

“He’s my younger brother, but he is benevolent. Does it look similar to my situation?”

“Caaw! Caaw!”

The crow pecked his hand with its beak. He meekly let the crow go.

The crow, which had escaped from his grasp, had already become a human when it fell to the ground.

“Hu…… aahh…….”

The naked boy was buried in his black feathers. Still, new feathers fell from his body, and feathers were vomited from his mouth, as he gripped his neck in pain.

Kadan leaned over and picked up the feathers.

The feathers turned into a bird like a crow, and it flew away with the same cry.

The boy’s eyes widened.

“Wh, where to…….”

It was a slurred pronunciation.

Kadan answered in a kind voice.

“What? Well, I sent it to my sister-in-law. Can you understand when I say it like this? Sent to the Grand Duchess.”

“…….”

“Little crow, I don’t care if my brother comes to rescue you or not. You just have to sit here and relax and entertain yourself.”

“…….”

“Are you curious too? Will my brother try to save you first, or will he focus solely on protecting the Grand Duchess? Or can he just throw them all away and pursue me?”

Kadan stroked the boy’s head as he groaned and put a smile on his lips.

“Well, I wish you luck! I don’t know if you can survive a day in the desert, with no abilities at all~”

The blazing sun was above their heads. Kadan whistled in the desert leaving the boy in despair.

The body remained unchanged.