036. Man's Way!

Listening to Merlin's calm account, Yol suddenly felt a chill of dread.

Thinking herself into the marines' shoes, she realized she couldn't accept that kind of thing happening either.

Before she knew it, she began to pity that nameless marine.

Before she knew it, a sense of urgency took root in her heart. A seed called resolve put down deep roots and began to sprout.

Merlin turned to Yol, his gaze gentle.

"Yol, you have to understand that people are different. Some are born kind, while others are born evil.

"I won't force you to get used to it or make you do anything you don't want to.

"If something like this happens again, you can tell me. Cherishing life isn't a flaw. If you can't bring yourself to do it, just tell me.

"I'll send him to hell. You only have to pray for him and see him off."

As Merlin spoke with such gentle understanding, Yol's heart began to pound uncontrollably.

Warmth spread through her body. Yol slowly lowered her head, but couldn't see her toes. She felt a little embarrassed.

"That wouldn't be right! I can't push all that sin onto you. If you're going to hell, I don't want you to go alone."

Merlin's mouth twitched. "Are you cursing me to die?"

He turned and planted a hand on her head, then patted it. Yol's hair became mussed, and she shook her head in displeasure.

"You've messed up my hair."

Merlin pursed his lips. His right hand fell from the top of her head and rested on her shoulder.

After giving her shoulder a couple of light pats, he smiled at Yol as she tilted her head in confusion.

"I once read a remarkable poem. Do you know what it was?"

Yol rolled her eyes at Merlin and retorted, "How am I supposed to know if you don't tell me?"

"Kill one, and you're a sinner," Merlin said in a low, steady voice. "Kill ten thousand, and you're a hero. Kill nine million, and you're the greatest hero of all."

Yol listened quietly as Merlin finished the lines. Her gaze grew a little vacant, and she could almost see a scene of bloodshed before her.

"Kill one, and you're a sinner. Kill ten thousand, and you're a hero?" she murmured.

Merlin smiled faintly.

"That line could be called the finest part of the poem."

"What's the whole poem?"

"Man's Way. 'A man must kill...'"

Merlin made a few small cuts, then slowly recited the poem he'd memorized during his edgy teenage years in his previous life.

Hearing all the talk of killing in Merlin's poem, Yol shuddered. She felt as though she were facing a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

Yet as she shuddered, a unique sense of heroism let her feel the poem's grandeur through her empathy.

It wasn't aimless slaughter, but something that felt strangely justified—a kind of righteous killing, a killing that came with responsibility.

Gradually, Yol became immersed in the poem and developed her own understanding of killing.

After a long while, Merlin finished reciting it.

Yol's gaze slowly cleared, settling into calm. She looked at Merlin, her words laced with complicated feelings.

"I understand now. Thank you."

Merlin looked bewildered.

Wait, what did she understand?

Yol's lips curved slightly, her smile carrying a quiet warmth. "I shouldn't get hung up on killing on the surface. Taking lives can also be done to protect lives.

"Use killing to stop killing!

"If it's to protect someone, killing can also bring both sides release. As long as I can face what I've done with a clear conscience, that's enough.

"As long as I don't go against the justice in my heart, what does it matter if I kill?

"I'll make sure to pray for them after I kill them."

Merlin stared at Yol in surprise. She was remarkably perceptive. Yol gave him an exasperated look.

"I'm not an idiot. I just needed a reason to kill.

"Now I have one.

"So thank you, Merlin."

Then she asked curiously, "This poem has such lofty ideals. It's a masterpiece that should be passed down through the ages. Why have I never heard even a line of it before?"

A trace of melancholy flickered in Merlin's eyes, then vanished. He smiled.

"The person who wrote it lived very, very far away from us—farther than the stars in the sky.

"And he didn't leave his work in this world. I came across this poem by chance."

Regret appeared in Yol's eyes. "What a shame. If he were still around, this poem would surely be widely praised."

"No." She quickly changed her mind. "It's probably better that it isn't praised. If people misunderstand it, they could use this poem to encourage others to kill indiscriminately."

Merlin realized Yol had misunderstood something, but didn't bother to correct her.

It was a harmless misunderstanding.

Yol gazed out at the vast ocean. The fiery red sun had completely sunk beneath the horizon, and the sea was dark red as blood, as if it were foretelling something.

She took a deep breath. Then she thought of a suspicion she'd been carrying for the past two days and turned to Merlin.

"Are you planning to find those people from the Don Quixote Family?"

Merlin raised an eyebrow, curious.

"Why do you say that?"

Yol sighed. "Never underestimate a woman's intuition. Ever since you saw those wanted posters, I've had the feeling that you were interested in them.

"And when you mentioned the problem with the Rockheart Kendo Dojo, I started to suspect something.

"Are you really going there?"

Merlin thought for a moment before answering honestly.

"I haven't decided yet. We'll take things one step at a time."

A helpless look entered Yol's eyes, so she tried asking from another angle.

"If you do go, will you take us with you?"

Merlin fell silent.

Yol fell silent too. Then Merlin spoke.

"That place isn't suitable for you.

"They're a bunch of scoundrels who do every kind of evil. I'm sure you wouldn't like being around them. Besides, I have ulterior motives, so it wouldn't be good to bring you along."

Yol blinked. "Even if you go there, will you eventually leave them?"

At that, Merlin's expression turned inscrutable. He asked her in return:

"Do you think I'm the sort of person who'd willingly live under someone else's thumb?"

Then Merlin shook his head with a smile. "All right, enough about them. I haven't even decided whether I'm going."

"What we need to think about now is whether to buy a house or rent one when we get to Sea Swallow Island."

Yol looked helpless. In the end, she still hadn't managed to get a clear answer. She sighed softly.

"Are you planning to settle down on Sea Swallow Island? If not, then we should rent."

Merlin smiled. "Let's buy a house. I got twenty million Beli this time, enough to buy us a pretty decent place there."

"Huh?" Yol exclaimed in surprise. Merlin then told her where the Beli had come from.

After hearing the story, Yol was happy for Merlin, but a helpless look also crept into her eyes. "You pay for all my food, clothes, housing, and transportation.

"I feel like you've basically taken me in."

As she spoke, Yol sneaked a glance at Merlin. He gazed out at the ocean and said with a chuckle:

"Then I've taken you in. You're the only people I'm close to. Living together with you makes me feel at ease.

"Besides, I trust you.

"We're like family."

Yol looked at Merlin warmly. She reached out her right hand and gently stroked his head, smiling tenderly.

"Mm, we're family. From now on, I'll take care of you and Lami. I'll learn to look after you both like a mother."

Merlin slapped her hand away in exasperation. "Shameless. You're just taking advantage of me."

At that, Yol's eyes curved with mirth as she giggled. Her shapely figure swayed rhythmically along with her laughter.

It was quite a dizzying sight.

A smile appeared on Yol's lips. She reached out and pinched Merlin's cheek, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

"Then who was it that called me 'Sister Nun Mommy' when he was six?"

Merlin's mouth twitched. He recalled his first visit to the church at six years old, when he'd met Yol, who was twelve but already 160 centimeters tall, dressed in a nun's habit.

He'd gotten lost inside the church and seen her standing with her back to him. Wanting to ask for directions politely, he'd called her "Sister Nun Mommy."

Yol had immediately grabbed him and pinched and mauled his face in a fit of displeasure.

Yol was very strong, and he couldn't break free. In the end, his crying brought over the matron who eventually adopted him, and she rescued him.

He'd also remembered that incident when his memories from his previous life returned. As the two sets of memories collided and merged, many hazy childhood memories had also come back to him clearly.

He'd also remembered why, despite Yol always looking after him at the church, he'd constantly avoided her.

Now Merlin glared at Yol and grabbed her left cheek. He forced a smile that wasn't a smile.

"You've got some nerve bringing that up. I remember exactly what you did to me back then, you shameless musclehead."

Yol's eye twitched. She grabbed Merlin's cheek in turn, glaring at him.

"You think I've forgotten? I was only a novice nun back then. I'd just been scolded for making a mistake when some little brat came running up and shouted, 'Sister Nun Mommy' at me.

"Didn't you know only senior nuns could be called that?

"And then you started wailing and screaming, making the matron come over and scold me again!

"You got to be carried home by Sister Lucia, but I had it rough. I had to stand at attention for two hours that night!

"It was winter. It was freezing."

Merlin bared his teeth and glared at her. Yol bared her teeth too, her eyes wide with anger.

Just then, Lami came out. She looked curious but asked quietly:

"What are you two doing? Playing the cheek-pinching game? Or... are you fighting?"

Merlin shot Yol an exasperated glare and let go. Yol refused to back down and glared right back, muttering:

"This isn't over. I'll remember this for the rest of my life."

Merlin was speechless. "If you're really that spiteful, why did you take such good care of me back then?"

Merlin was talking about what happened after he became an orphan.

Yol fell silent.