Chapter 5: Problems

The words fell like a hammer to Stanley’s heart. Ever since he had fully healed from his injuries a month ago, he had been thinking about visiting his mother’s grave. However, each time he thought that he would feel an intense amount of guilt for not being able to save her.

It was fortunate that Stanley wasn’t facing his brother right now, or he would have read everything from his face right then and there. It was fortunate that he was facing the wall as that would be the only thing that could see the intense sorrow that appeared on his face for that one moment.

“I… I can’t do it right now,” Stanley said softly.

“Why?” his brother asked, waiting for him to continue speaking. ｂ𝚍ｎｏ𝚟ｌ.

Stanley thought of what to say but there was nothing he could say right there that could satisfy his brother.

“I… I’m not ready just yet,” Stanley said. “Please brother, let’s not talk about this right now. I’ll go when I’m ready.”

Bradley looked at his brother for a few seconds before sighing. “Fine, but you will have to do it sooner or later,” he said.

Stanley nodded mindlessly and ate the food in front of him.

The flavor and the taste of the food was still there, but for some reason, it no longer brought him the same joy it had moments ago.

The pain in his heart had ruined the taste of the food he was eating.

“Anyway,” Bradley spoke again. “You will need to get back to being able to fight once again. If you can’t do it by the half-year test in 3 months, you will definitely be thrown off the Defenders, never to be able to join it again.

Stanley jerked up a bit. “That won’t happen,” he said quickly. “I will become a Defender, brother. One way or another. I… I won’t be happy until I’ve killed all the crawlers out there.”

Bradley looked at his brother’s eyes which seemed to shine with determination and finally smiled. “That’s the Stanley I know.”

Stanley gave a meek little smile and went on to finish his food. “Oh right, you only talked about me, brother. What about you? How are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” Bradley said. “I have had enough time to process mother’s death, so it isn’t as bad for me as it is for you.”

“What about the job? I hear it’s very hard right now,” Stanley said.

“Yeah, ever since that incident 3 months ago, it’s been difficult,” Bradley said.

“Is guarding the Veil with what little Defenders there are now must be hard,” Stanley said. “How many of you are there again?”

“Around 120 people that can actually fight. The rest are injured and cannot fight. It should be close to 160 when your group is added too,” Bradley replied after thinking a bit.

Stanley gave a worried look. “Is it even possible to guard the Veil with just 160 people?” he asked.

“The Veil?” Bradley said while shaking his head. “That’s not even our main problem right now.”

Stanley gave a confused look. “What do you mean?” he asked.

Bradley looked around the room and moved slightly closer to his brother. “Do you know how many people died 3 months ago?” he asked.

“About a hundred Defenders?” Stanley asked. “I only know that number since regular people’s death isn’t public knowledge.”

“340,” Bradley said. “340 people died that day and over 800 were injured in some minor or major way. There are still people in the Mayor’s place who he is trying to save until this day. Sadly he doesn’t have the power to heal many people at once, so he has to spare what he can.”

“I see,” Stanley said. He must’ve been lucky to have been healed so early then. “Wait, what does this all have to do with what I asked?”

“Because most of the people who died were Dulls, there is a lack of people to work in the farms right now. So, the Defenders have become stricter, sending anyone who seems to be useless to work in the fields.”

“It wouldn’t be so bad if that was the case alone, but because so much was destroyed in the carnage back then, they don’t even have a normal place to live in.”

“These people live in fear every day right now of being sent to work on the farm. Since not only do they now have to fear the crawlers, but also the Defenders, they are starting to develop some negative feelings.”

“There have been signs of resistance forming within the people, and the seniors fear that soon enough they might launch an attack against the mayor. If that happens… the town will be in big trouble. We can’t afford an internal conflict right now, not so soon after the tragedy.”

Stanley’s mouth was wide in shock after hearing what his brother had said. He had never imagined that the people would be angry at all. However, thinking about it logically, it all made sense.

“You must be working hard then,” he said.

“We’re trying to find the main figures who are spreading the idea of resistance in the people. As long as we find them, we should be fine,” Bradley said.

“Yeah, you should definitely d—”

Loud sirens blared all of a sudden and everyone in the room stopped eating at that very moment. People started panicking as the siren meant that a monster had slipped through the veil

“Everyone, calm down please,” Bradley stood up and started speaking. “There is no need to panic at all.”

The crowd calmed down a bit, but they were still jittery.

“Stan, pay the lady, I’m going out first,” Bradley said and ran out of the building quickly.

Stanley had heard the words, but he had frozen in his seat as he tried his best to calm down his beating heart.

The sudden siren had reminded him of that day once more. Fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as the times when he got those feelings.

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself fully and opened his eyes.

The crawlers had come inside once again. He wanted to see those bastards die this time around.