Conversation

Green found it hard to connect the humanoid creature before him with Bru. They looked nothing alike. But after hearing him speak, Green's expression softened. He probed him carefully with Mental Power and found that their Mental Power fluctuations really were identical.

The person before him truly was Bru. Green also discovered that Bru's Mental Power had reached the standard of a First-Class Apprentice.

"Senior Bru, I'm glad to see you again too! But what happened to you? Another experiment gone wrong?" An earlier failed experiment had left Bru looking ancient, so Green thought the same thing had happened again.

At Green's words, a twisted smile appeared on Bru's face, which looked as though flames had melted it and drawn it tight. It seemed his whole face might crack apart if he smiled any harder.

"This wasn't caused by an experiment. I took part in the battle for the Magic Stone Mine in Croensa! We'd already subdued a Black Wizard Apprentice, but we let our guard down. He blew himself up, and fire-element energy radiation swept over all of us!"

As Bru spoke, fear and self-reproach showed in his cloudy eyes.

"They're all dead. Sain, Miter, Aisha—everyone but me. It's my fault. All my fault. I insisted on taking one alive. If I hadn't been so stubborn, maybe none of them would have died... I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."

Bru's voice trailed into a mutter.

Green stood beside him, grief welling up in his own heart. Apart from Mentor Lilian, Bru was the person Green had spent the most time with. Seeing him like this hurt.

"War really is cruel," Green murmured.

He watched Bru mutter to himself, unsure how to comfort him. From what Bru had said, it was easy to hear that he might have been responsible for the