Diary of Guarding Monster Girls-Chapter 533 - 320 Sorry, Thank You (5K, First Update)_2

His older brother pressed his shoulder, squinted his eyes, and smiled, "If you resent yourself so much, wouldn’t it make the two of us seem useless?"

"We never wanted you to carry such thoughts for the rest of your life!"

On the other side, his father laughed heartily and nodded, expressing his feelings: "I hope you can grow up healthy and become a real man, a blacksmith better than me!"

Cyril stood there dumbfounded; he thought he had long forgotten those words from his father.

But hearing them again, they felt incredibly familiar.

Beside his ear, his brother whispered softly:

"Unlike Father, I hope you don’t have to be a blacksmith, that you don’t have to stay by the forge like me all day, and can do what you want to do."

"Like, what was it... oh right, become a Paladin that you’ve always talked about?"

"And now it seems our wish has halfway come true? Hahaha!"

Father also nodded vigorously, very satisfied with his youngest son: "Indeed, you are now both a Paladin and a real man!"

"Of course, if you get tired in the future and don’t want to be a Paladin anymore, you can find a place to be a good blacksmith! Be a better blacksmith than me! Pass down the skills of our family!"

At this moment, his brother interjected with a tease, "Wait a minute, maybe not that last part? It seems our family’s skills aren’t that great after all?"

Father was instantly furious, shouting, "Nonsense! The anvil family’s skills were learned from the best Dwarven blacksmith master in the past, as your great grandfather, who is your grandfather’s grandfather, told us himself..."

Cyril watched his father and brother banter back and forth, initially trembling uncontrollably, his eyes gradually reddening.

Is it really that hatred that he couldn’t let go of?

No.

After all these years, his enemy had already been slain by his own hand, and that hatred had long since faded.

What he truly couldn’t let go of was the memory of this scene in his heart.

He fled to his dreams over and over again, trying to find this familial warmth.

Cyril gritted his teeth, trying to hold back his tears, hoarsely asking, "... Brother, do you blame me for not listening to you, for not simply running away obediently in the end?"

"Father, am I your pride? Did I really not disappoint you?"

Even if the people in front of him were not his real family.

Even if they were just his imagination.

He still wanted to ask, hoping to hear an answer from their mouths.

At this moment, Father and Brother stopped debating, turning together to look at the crying teenager.

"... Pfft, hahaha!"

The two almost simultaneously burst into laughter, each taking a side and lifting Cyril up.

"Isn’t it obvious? You’ve done far better than I ever imagined!"

"Son, you both have always been my pride."

Ah... ah ah...

Cyril felt their warmth, and his barely maintained composure finally shattered, bursting into tears.

Like a child, he cried loudly, pouring out his longing for his family.

Father and Brother didn’t speak again, simply listened quietly as he babbled incoherently.

Talking about the loneliness after leaving home, the hardships of training, the solitude of the nights... one trivial matter after another, one small secret after another.

After talking for who knows how long, Cyril’s emotions finally calmed down.

He wiped his tears and pursed his lips.

In front of his father and brother, he showed his most embarrassing side.

But he didn’t feel any embarrassment, instead, he felt completely relaxed.

Even if they weren’t real, they gave him strength and courage.

Cyril looked at the two of them, his eyes full of reluctance, sensing that the dream was about to completely shatter.

"..."

At the last moment, he said the words he’d long wanted to say.

"Father, brother... thank you."

Not apologies, not self-blame, but a relieved expression of gratitude.

Thank you for allowing me to have this warm memory.

"I will certainly never forget you."

And to Cyril’s heartfelt revelation, their response was lighthearted:

"Whether you forget or not doesn’t matter, just stop resenting yourself, I can’t stand it any longer."

"Haha! Continue to be your Paladin, love those weaker than yourself, just as you love us, and even more so like you love yourself."

Then, just as the dream was about to completely break apart, his brother suddenly spoke: "By the way, next time don’t eat mushrooms you don’t recognize."

Father also nodded, somewhat helplessly said, "You should really be more careful, don’t rely on having a strong body to eat anything recklessly."

Cyril: ?

"... What are you talking about?"

While pondering, he suddenly saw his father and brother in front of him change appearance—becoming two mushroom people with red-capped umbrellas.

The mushroom father and son teamed up, simultaneously landing a hard punch on his stomach!

Bang—

...

"Ugh!"

Cyril opened his eyes, didn’t have a chance to see his surroundings clearly, clutching his stomach, sat up, and turned to sharply regurgitate the foreign object in his throat.

Plop.

A large mushroom, half-eaten, with four or five bites, was spat from his mouth, landing heavily on the ground.

"Blagh... cough cough!"

The bright red on the mushroom cap seemed to silently question him—how did you dare eat me when I look like this!!?

Cyril looked just as baffled, staring at the mushroom in confusion: "Did I eat this?"

When did I eat it?

Standing beside him, Herbert nodded, chiming in: "Yeah, I can’t figure it out either, why that was the case?"