Chapter 9 Chapter 9: Brother's Hands Are Meant to Defend the Country

The next day.

Summer morning light streamed through the window, filling the small rented room with a warm golden glow.

Ethan opened his eyes.

He felt warmth coming from his right arm.

He turned his head.

Lily was lying on her side facing him, knees bent, arms wrapped snugly around his, fast asleep. Her dark lashes fanned out against fair skin, her features soft and perfectly still in the early morning quiet.

It had to be said, the original Ethan's little sister was truly something special.

She also had an extraordinarily close relationship with her brother. In Lily's memory, she didn't know that she and Ethan weren't biological siblings, their parents had never told her. As far as she was concerned, he was simply her brother, and she had always liked to stick close to him because of it.

She was nearly eighteen years old and still sleeping with her arms wrapped around her older brother.

The original Ethan had apparently scolded her about this more than once, boundaries between men and women, even between siblings, but Lily had never listened, and eventually he had given up trying.

This was Slum District 180 in River City.

Last night, Lily had told him she'd rented this room from the supermarket owner downstairs for six hundred dollars a month.

Ethan checked the time: 8:00 AM.

One hour until Zone 12 officially opened.

Careful not to disturb her, he slowly began to ease his arm free, but it wasn't careful enough. Lily stirred, blinked, and sat up, rubbing her eyes with the drowsy, automatic movements of someone not quite awake yet.

"Brother," she murmured, still half-asleep. "You're up. I'll make breakfast."

Ethan pressed his hand gently to the top of her head.

"Sleep a little longer," he said quietly. "I'll take care of it."

He stood up and turned toward the kitchen.

"Brother."

Her voice stopped him.

He looked back.

Lily was sitting up straight, her expression no longer sleepy. Her eyes were clear and completely certain.

"Brother's hands," she said firmly, "are meant to slay monsters and protect this country. They shouldn't be doing kitchen work."

Ethan went still.

Those words, spoken with such quiet, absolute conviction by a girl who wasn't even eighteen yet, hit him somewhere unexpected.

Before he had fully processed them, Lily was already on her feet, cane in hand, moving toward the door with her characteristic swaying gait.

"We're out of eggs," she called back over her shoulder. "I'll go get some from the shop downstairs. Wait for me!"

Ethan watched her go.

He stood in the small room alone, looking at the door she had just passed through, and felt something move in his chest that he hadn't been prepared for.

He had only been in this body for one day. He had only known this girl for one night. But in that short time, he had begun to understand her, really understand her, in the way that only comes from sharing someone's memories.

Lily had grown up knowing her brother's greatest admiration was for the Infinite Sword God.

She had grown up knowing her brother's deepest wish was to become a powerful figure in the Shadow Realm, someone who could protect people, who could stand between the monsters and the innocent.

She knew his favorite food was fried eggs.

She knew all of it, and she had shaped her entire daily life around quietly, steadily supporting the person she believed he would become.

Despite her leg. Despite living in a slum. Despite having nothing.

Ethan looked down at his right hand.

"Since I have borrowed your body to be reborn," he said quietly, to the original Ethan who no longer occupied this form, "then rest assured, as compensation for what you gave me, I will spend this life protecting your sister."

He meant every word.

Lily's leg could actually be treated. It wasn't an impossible condition. But treating it required resources they didn't have, and access to a city they couldn't enter.

The original Ethan had already taken her to the best hospital in River City, but River City was a third-tier city. The medical technology there wasn't advanced enough. Fixing Lily's leg would require going to a first-tier city: Washington D.C., the country's capital and the seat of the GDI.

The facilities and specialists there were capable of treating almost anything.

But Washington D.C. wasn't open to everyone.

Only players who had reached at least War King level in the Shadow Realm or whose family had a War King or War God-level expert, were permitted to reside in the capital.

So that became Ethan's immediate goal.

Reach War God level. Take Lily to Washington D.C. Heal her leg.

Beyond that, carve out a position in the Shadow Realm stronger than anything he had achieved in his previous life. Find Ryan Carter. Kill him with his own hands. And expose the truth about what had really happened a hundred years ago, clearing the name that a world full of people had been taught to despise.

One step at a time.

A little while later, the door opened and Lily came back in, slightly out of breath, her face bright with the particular satisfaction of someone who has successfully completed a small but meaningful errand.

"Brother, Mrs. Park at the shop downstairs is so sweet! I bought eggs and she threw in two extra for free!"

Mrs. Park was the landlady, the owner of the building where they were now renting.

Ethan nodded. Then, in a calm and unhurried voice, he said

"Once I start earning money from selling loot in the Shadow Realm, I'll take you to the best hospital in Washington D.C. and get your leg fixed."

Lily stared at him.

For a moment she didn't move, didn't speak. Then her eyes began to fill.

Ethan frowned slightly, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing" She turned away quickly, pressing the back of her hand to her eyes. "It's nothing, brother. Don't worry about me."

"I'll make your eggs," she said, her voice slightly unsteady, and disappeared into the kitchen before he could say anything else.

The time was 8:30 AM.

Thirty minutes until Zone 12 officially opened.

With nothing to do while Lily cooked, Ethan raised his wrist and opened the Shadow Realm Forum through his bracelet interface.

The Zone 12 discussion boards had been in an absolute uproar since last night.

Post after post dominated the front page.

A new star has risen in the USA, SSS-rank clear of the beginner dungeon Cataclysmic Front confirmed!

Second SSS-rank beginner dungeon clearer in American history, the century-long drought is over!

Is the second Titled War God-level powerhouse in our country about to emerge?!

Below each post, the replies were flooding in from servers all over the country and beyond.

[Silver Falls Server, 2-Star Warrior / One-Autumn-Leaf]: "A genuine legend has appeared in Zone 12! I want to know which pro player pulled this off, come out and show your face already!"

[New Capital Server, 2-Star Warrior Mage / Pipi]: "SSS clear rewards TEN MILLION DOLLARS. TEN. MILLION. I'd never have to worry about anything ever again. Someone out there just changed their life completely!"

[Snowfield City Server, 1-Star Warrior Priest / Like-a-Dream]: "The government hasn't made any announcement yet and the winner hasn't come forward to claim the reward. Why haven't they claimed it?! Who turns down ten million dollars?! Are they insane?!"

Ethan was reading through the posts with mild interest when one of them stopped him cold.

[River City Server, 2-Star Warrior Battle Mage / King's Landing]: "Everyone stop guessing. That SSS-rank clearer is me."

Ethan stared at the username.

King's Landing.

Derek Langford.

He read the post twice to make sure he wasn't misreading it. Derek was actually claiming, publicly, on the main forum, to be the SSS-rank clearer.

The replies were immediate and varied.

"You? Really? Post your clear record then."

"If it's actually you, why haven't you gone to claim the reward?"

"This has to be a joke. The announcement said the ID was hidden, now you're just out here announcing it yourself?"

Derek's account, under the ID King's Landing, replied to all of them with a single unified response.

"The server announcement was world-level. It's enough for people here in the States to know, I don't need players from other countries knowing my identity too. Some of those overseas players have serious grudges against high-profile Americans. Heaven server players, Shadow Kingdom players, you know how they are. Why paint a target on myself for people like that?"

"And before anyone asks about the money, look up the Langford family of River City, or just look up Crown Court Guild. My family is worth billions. Do we care about ten million dollars? I'm swearing publicly, as the designated Zone 12 guild leader of Crown Court, I am the one who cleared that dungeon at SSS rank."

The replies shifted noticeably after that.

"I mean... the Langford family really does have that kind of money..."

"Crown Court is a top-ten national guild. If he's their Zone 12 rep, it's not impossible..."

"I guess that does kind of make sense about not wanting overseas attention..."

Ethan set the bracelet down on his knee and looked at the ceiling for a moment.

Every year produced its share of idiots.

This year seemed to be running a surplus.

He genuinely could not tell what Derek thought he was accomplishing. The real SSS-rank clearer could appear at any moment and expose him instantly. Was he really banking on the fact that they wouldn't?

And then Ethan thought about it more carefully and realized that Derek had, in his own foolish way, actually read the situation correctly. He had correctly identified that the real clearer was someone who couldn't afford to step forward. Someone without the backing or the position to withstand the attention that claiming the reward would bring.

Which meant Derek knew or had guessed, that the real clearer was lying low.

And he was exploiting that silence.

"Fine," Ethan said under his breath, with a short, almost amused exhale. "If you like secondhand things so much, go ahead and have this one too."

At the same moment, across River City, in the upscale Riverside Heights residential complex

Derek Langford stood at the edge of his family's private pool in the backyard, browsing the forum responses through his bracelet with a satisfied expression.

A figure surfaced from the water behind him, gripping the pool ladder, Madison Monroe, hair streaming, looking up at him with a slight frown.

"Derek," she said carefully. "What if the real SSS-rank clearer actually comes forward and calls you out?"

Derek smiled.

"They won't."

"But what if they do"

"If they were going to, they already would have." He turned the bracelet slowly in his hand, scrolling through the replies. "Think about it. Someone who clears at SSS rank and immediately hides their ID, that's not someone playing it humble. That's someone scared. Scared of the attention, scared of the targeting, scared of being found. They don't have the background to protect themselves if they step into the spotlight."

He glanced back at her with an expression of calm certainty.

"They're ordinary. Talented, maybe, skilled, definitely. But ordinary. No guild, no family name, no protection. So they'll stay quiet."

Madison tilted her head. "And if they don't? If they do come forward?"

"Then that's even better." Derek crouched down at the edge of the pool and caught her chin between two fingers, tilting it upward. "Think about what this person is. One of only two SSS-rank dungeon clearers in American history in a hundred years. With proper cultivation, they'll become an extraordinary powerhouse in the Shadow Realm. If someone like that came out into the open "

Madison's eyes widened slowly as she understood. "Then you'd be able to find them."

"And bring them into the Langford family's service," Derek confirmed pleasantly.

Madison paused. "And if they refused?"

Derek's expression went flat. The pleasantness drained out of it completely.

"Then they don't get to refuse."

He straightened up, checked the time on his bracelet, and turned toward the house.

"Ten minutes until Zone 12 opens. Go get ready."

---

At exactly 9:00 AM

New players across the country logged into the Shadow Realm through their bracelets simultaneously. Hundreds of thousands of them. Millions worldwide.

And then, as if the sky itself exhaled

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

Countless purple streaks of light shot upward into the morning sky from every city, every slum, every rooftop and alleyway and apartment block across the Earth.

From high above, the entire world glittered.

Bathed in dazzling starlight.