Chapter 272 – 17.9 Rich Man’s Heart
“Commander! Calm down!”
“Is this something to calm down!”
Arashi resisted Sumire’s dissuade and grabbed the fallen Arnold by the collar and raised him up.
“You said that your power is the power to protect humanity! Hit a woman with that force? Did your dead mother teach you that!”
All the adjutants in the command room shrank at Arashi’s words that reverberated through the command room.
Arnold muttered with a distorted face from his fist.
“A topic I’m not usually interested in…”
“What?!”
“Father! Get it wrong! Please!”
Sumire clings to Arashi’s raised forearm again, stopping her father-in-law.
“Leave this, Sumire! It’s all because this guy grew up unfit! This guy needs to be hit even now to know that it hurts!”
“It’s a misunderstanding, Father! The reason I got hurt is because of the marital relationship!”
“What, what… !?”
At the sudden confession of the daughter-in-law, Arashi’s anger, which exploded like a volcano, dissipated in an instant.
Marital relationship. Arashi didn’t even know what that meant.
Wasn’t it something that you also experienced? While his wife was alive, Arashi had always heard complaints. Your body is so hard that it hurts to be hugged. Every time I have sex, my whole body is covered with bruises.
Didn’t she blame herself for her wife’s premature death? Didn’t she spend days regretting that she loved her so much that she had bruised her so much every time!
His son, Arnold, was also passing the way he had passed. Arashi realized that his actions were careless.
“Well, then, what Medical Officer Sakura said…”
“That’s why I told you not to tell me!”
Sumire resents her friend who nurtured her business through pointless recklessness.
Thinking that Sumire was assaulted by Arnold, Sakura consulted Arashi at the end of her troubles, and upon hearing the story, Arashi rushed to her and beat Arnold without asking.
However, it wasn’t Sakura’s fault that things turned out this way. If it’s her fault, it must be Arashi who swung her fist first without looking into it properly.
“Would you mind letting go, Commander?”
Arnold sighed coldly.
Arashi’s arm, which was holding him by the collar, lost strength.
“I’m sorry, Arnold.”
An apology from a military commander that is rarely heard.
However, Colonel Arnold’s expression upon hearing those words was still cold.
“No. I knew from the beginning that the Commander thought of me that way.”
“What, what?”
All the adjutants in the commander’s office trembled in the atmosphere that was about to become even more savage.
“You! Stop!”
Sumire, who had clung to Arashi, clung to her husband this time.
“No. I have to tell you while the words are out.”
However, like his father, Arnold also resisted Sumire’s dissuade.
And he said as if pouring out the resentment he had accumulated over the years.
“My father was always like that. You defined and handled everything as my fault from the beginning. Even during the catastrophe, before and after it! Just like now!”
“Arnold, you… !”
“Father, I am sorry. Now he’s out of his mind. Please, Father.”
Seeing Sumire crying and pleading, Arnold finally regained his composure.
“Sumire. Stop. Don’t cry.”
“But!”
Arashida is strict with military discipline. In particular, the commander, who had an even stricter standard for his son, could not let this incident go unnoticed.
Even the rank of colonel, which her husband had worked so hard for, might be taken away. Seeing Sumire’s earnest expression, Arnold bit his lip and bowed his head.
“… I’m sorry, Commander. I lost my temper for a while. Please forgive the rudeness. I will take the punishment sweetly.”
Seeing his son lowering his head, his father’s feelings were mixed.
It wasn’t without reason that Arnold said that.
He paid an excessive penalty more than necessary for mistakes he made as a child soldier. He was excluded from important missions and devalued even when he made a contribution. When he had a promotion opportunity, he prioritized others. And he appointed a man other than Arnold to the important commanding position.
No wonder his son resented his father. It’s just that we haven’t spoken the truth to each other until now.
“… Were you dissatisfied that we didn’t put you on the post of general?”
Kirik.
Arnold bit it.
Arnold had heard just a few days ago that the position he had long dreamed of had passed away.
All of his efforts to gain recognition from his father were in vain. The sense of betrayal Arnold felt was insignificant.
Regret lingered in the father’s aged eyes as he looked at such a child.
“Why… Why is he rushing his orders so much? How can I not understand the heart of a father who wants to drive his young child to the rear!”
It was the first true feeling that Arashi revealed to his son.
Arnold lifted his head, which had been lowered with a surprised expression.
“It’s okay to be demoted and go to the rear! Go ahead and go under Muramasa and establish your major! You took them out to headquarters, and now you say you’re going to put a star on them again?”
Quick. The cane Arashi was holding broke.
Stumble. Arashi’s large body, which was relying on the staff, shook.
“Ah, father.”
Arnold tries to support Arashi in embarrassment.
“Let go!”
However, Arashi vigorously rejected his son’s help.
“This floor gets closer to the underworld as the class rises. Do you not know that the Great Wall is the first to be dragged to death when a disaster occurs! Do you want to die that much? How come you don’t know your father’s heart!”
“Ah, father… ?”
This was the first time Arashi had told Arnold such a story.
My father has always been a soldier. The military father never showed any favoritism towards his son. When it comes to awards, Arnold has always been second-guessed, and whenever there is a promotion opportunity, he always skips it. All other soldiers who saw Arashi thought that he was an overly strict father to his children.
But the reality was something else.
“Your mother also left a will. Please don’t abuse your children like you. But why do you act like you’re so impatient that you can’t die? Why do you make your father into an ugly person who can’t even keep the promise he made to your dead mother… !”
The father’s words full of remorse also made the son soar.
Arnold said biting his lip.
“I just… I wanted to become a respected soldier like my father.”
Arashi was a great soldier.
His personal strength may be inferior to Muramasa and Inazuma. However, no one took lightly Arashi’s devotion to the army.
Even those idiots like Muramasa, Inazuma, and KW would silently follow Arashi’s words even if they complained. It would have been impossible without Arashi’s charisma.
Arnold grew up watching his father’s back.
Arnold wanted to become a ‘true soldier’ like his father, who never ran away from any battlefield and was respected by all his subordinates.
“Only… That’s all.”
All kinds of emotions were mixed in the eyes of the father who heard such a confession of his son.
“… I was lucky to survive. Even then, he became an asshole who couldn’t even walk on his own. Do you still want to be like your father?”
“Yes. I want to be.”
“He’s an ugly man who couldn’t even protect your mother’s deathbed. Do you still want to be like your father?”
“Yes. I want to be. Father.”
He was a foolish son.
He was a stupid man who resembled his father.
“… You stupid bastard!”
Arashi sighed and staggered to leave the commander’s office.
However, his gait was very unnatural because the cane he was holding was broken.
“Father.”
Arnold quickly runs to Arashi and supports him.
His father’s thick arms were wrapped around his son’s thick shoulders. If Knives had seen it, he would have said it was suffocating.
“Let go! Are you even going to treat your father like an idiot!”
“Father. Don’t do that.”
Contrary to his harsh tone, Arashi did not forcefully shake off his clinging son.
The backs of the two men standing side by side were the backs of a rich man on good terms.
– Clap.
“Ha~.”
After the two had left, the tension in the commander’s office was relieved.
Arashi, the commander, as well as Arnold, the assistant, were also the highest rank in this position. The quarrel between the two rich men was like a battle of monsters or a disaster to the other lieutenants.
“What do we do? Should I follow you?”
“No. Let the two of you talk for a while.”
“Maybe?”
There was a warm air in the commander’s room without a commander.
The commander and son, who have always been cold, have finally entered a reconciliation mood. There was no happier story than this for the people I work with.
“And congratulations, Major Sumire.”
“Oh!”
Sumire finally realized. The fact that I talked about ‘marriage relationship’ in front of the other officers in order to dissuade Commander Arashi.
“That, that…”
“Even though it’s a little late, it’s okay. Will a son with an iron rune be born soon?”
“Hey. Let’s talk about it where no one else will hear.”
“Hehe. Yes.”
“I congratulate you too, Major Sumire.”
“Go, thank you…”
Sumire dyed his face red and lowered his head.
“I-I will follow the commander too!”
Then, Sumire also left the commander’s office as if running away.
Each of the adjutants who saw Sumire had a warm smile on their faces.
