Chapter 230: Nighttime Trials
She had been told that was actually a normal way to think.
"He... wherever he used to live, it must have been a very peaceful place. Maybe he was raised to believe that hurting others is wrong, that if you hurt someone, you should feel sorry. That itself isn’t a bad thing, but for someone who’s lived that way, even in self-defense, not feeling guilty after hurting someone probably feels strange to him."
"But if you’re an adventurer, it’s normal to accept a fight when it’s picked with you. And if you get injured or even die it’s your own fault, right?"
"Yes, for us, that’s true."
By "us," she meant adventurers and likely those involved with them as well.
If someone worried about their opponent getting hurt, they wouldn’t be able to fight at all.
Adventurers could be seen as symbols of freedom, but on the flip side, everything came down to personal responsibility.
"So... not thinking it’s wrong is what’s strange...?"
"If you only hear that part, then yeah, it sounds strange. But they were the ones who attacked first, and they were the ones who tried to kill. As adventurers, once you point your blade at someone, you can’t complain even if it ends with you being killed."
Things that seemed completely natural to them might feel wrong to Qiong Xing.
But that was probably because he was simply too kind.
"Of course, it’s not good to hurt or kill someone for no reason, but in Qiong Xing’s case, it was self-defense, right? There’s really no need for him to worry about it..."
In a way, he didn’t care, but at the same time, he was troubled by the fact that he didn’t care.
At this point, even Valerina wasn’t sure what they were trying to say anymore.
"Honestly... making my grandchild go through something like that. Maybe I should’ve finished them off back then..."
Hearing the vice-guild master mutter that under his breath was nothing short of terrifying.
But since she understood how he felt, she chose not to argue with him.
...
Several months had passed since that day Qiong Xing went home while being led by the hand by Albe.
The twins had finally started something that hadn’t been seen much with Lian and that’s crying through the night.
Almost every night, they would cry endlessly in the middle of the night and just when it seemed like they had finally calmed down, they would start crying again.
With the help of Raon and Iseul, Qiong Xing tried to get as much sleep as possible during the day, but he was still the only one who could feed them milk.
He would wake up to feed them, fall asleep, only to wake up again to feed them once more.
Seeing them drink vigorously with loud gulps made him smile and relieved that they seemed healthy, but the overwhelming drowsiness caused his head to nod.
"I’ll support your back, so you can sleep."
"...Iseul... thank you..."
Just as he was about to close his eyes, Lian suddenly started crying which make him woke up again.
"Lian? What’s wrong?"
"Ah—ah—mama, mama!"
As she crying loudly in Raon’s arms, Lian reached out toward Qiong Xing.
"S-sorry. I tried my best, but it seems she doesn’t like it unless you’re the one holding him..."
It looked like she had been eating since her mouth was messy and even her clothes were in quite a state.
"Ah... this is quite something."
At this point, a change of clothes was unavoidable, so they decided to all go take a bath together.
"Iseul? I can walk, you know?"
"Nope."
Even though Qiong Xing was holding the twins, Iseul effortlessly carried him.
"It’s rare for him to fuss over someone like this, so just accept it for now. Besides, you should conserve as much energy as possible, it’ll be another tough night otherwise."
"I see... thank you."
Since it didn’t seem to bother them, Qiong Xing obediently accepted the help.
After being taken care of in one way or another and finishing the bath, a message arrived from Katarina and Sarin at just the right time.
"Hey, how have you been? You haven’t come by in a while, so we were getting worried."
"Thank you. I’ve been doing alright, but the twins have been crying a lot at night... I can only sleep during the day, so I don’t think I’ll be able to come visit for a while."
"Ah, the nighttime crying... that’s roug—"
"Qiong Xing! It’s fine, come anytime! We’ve prepared a room, a bed, clothes everything! While you rest, we’ll take care of the children! You should definitely come visit—no, you must come!"
Wow.
It seemed they were strongly urging him to come and show his face soon.
With them going that far, there was no reason to refuse and he decided to pay them a visit.
"Tomorrow! He said he’s coming tomorrow! We need to prepare everything!"
"...That’s right. Well, I’ll leave that to you."
"Leave it to me! Now then, I need to finish as much work as possible before that."
Wow... this old man is amazing and he’s indeed my husband.
"Qiong Xing didn’t say anything like this before, but nighttime crying is tough, isn’t it?"
"Seems like it. And yet that kid tries to do everything by himself unless we tell him otherwise..."
Indeed.
Qiong Xing hated causing trouble for others above all else.
If he could handle something alone, he would try to do it by himself and even if he collapsed, he would blame only himself and let it end there.
"That’s right, shall we call that kid too?"
"That kid?"
"Naz. We haven’t seen him in quite a while, right? He probably doesn’t have any way to contact us, so he must be worried."
Surprisingly, he was a thoughtful man.
Katarina simply nodded, seeing no reason to refuse as long as Qiong Xing and the others were okay with it.
"And the prince... what should we do? He’d want to come, but he’s probably busy, right?"