Unfortunate Hero's Retirement Life 164 Hirata's Resolve - Part 2

He was pained when he saw the wrinkles and tears on his mother's face. He wiped the tears and hugged her mother tightly, "Your unfilial son is back!"

"No! You are not unfilial, you are my treasure. How can you say that~" Tears kept falling from Lady Yuka's eyes as she returned the hug with a hug. She hugged Hirata even tighter as she was afraid the moment she released her son, she would be separated again with her son.

"It's okay, Mother~ From today onwards, we will never be separated again!" Hirata showed his gentle side, stroking her mother's back, soothing her mother. Only then, he truly realized that he had been doing stupid things all these years.

He looked for something that almost led to his doom while ignoring the most important person on his side. 'Thank you~ Master! I will repay this favor! I will!'

"It's good! Good!" Lady Yuka nodded her head on her son's chest and continued with her sobbing voice, "So don't sever your ties with this family, okay? No matter what, he is still your biological father! This is still your home!"

Musashi Hirata's hand stopped moving, but he did not refute his mother. After a moment of silence, he promised, "Alright, I will not sever ties with this heartless clan, but there's a condition!"

He pushed his mother and held her shoulder, looking at his mother's eyes with a strong determination, "You have to follow me! I will not let you stay in this hell! That's the condition!"

'Even if you don't want to follow me, I will bring you away with my power!'

Lady Yuka's eyes shook, she could feel a strong hatred but also a strong determination from his son's tone. Looking at his serious face, she realized that his son was not joking with his words.

"But… But…" She hesitated as she gave a peek to her husband who was currently looking at them expressionlessly. In the end, Lady Yuka responded with a nod.

"Do you think you can bring my wife away without my permission?" Musashi Kenzan's cold voice resounded.

"Also, Who let Lady Yuka enter this hall!? I told you not to let any women enter this hall, this place is not for a woman!" Musashi Kenzan's angry voice.

"Hahaha… So you still regard her as your wife all this time?" Hirata let out a laugh upon hearing his father's words.

"Men! Bring Lady Yuka back to her room!" Musashi Kenzan ignored his son's sarcasm and called the servants. At his words, four young maids rushed into the hall, but they met with Hirata's fierce gaze.

"Touch my mother with any of your hands and fingers, then I will make sure you will have fewer hands or fingers!" Under Musashi Hirata's threatening gaze, the four maids cowered in fear.

"Also, you can't prevent me from bringing my mother away from this hell!" Hirata turned toward his father with a sneer on his face.

Musashi Naizen wanted to speak to soothe the atmosphere between his father and his brother, but his father spoke first, "Hahaha… It seems you somehow gained some confidence after wandering outside like a punk!"

"Good! I will give you a chance. Defeat your brother then I will let you bring your mother away from this hell!" Musashi Kenzan proposed with a big grin. He had been watching his two sons grow up and Musashi Hirata never won even once.

"Only the strong can get what he wants!" Added Musashi Kenzan with a sneer. It was a match where the victor had been decided from the start, an Emperor Class Hero against Gold Class Ranker.

Other elders had the same thoughts, it was a fight where Hirata was impossible to win. Even though Yoneda Isamu's defeat to Hirata was a surprise to them, Musashi Naizen was on another level.

"Don't! He is your brother, you can't fight against your brother!" Lady Yuka pulled Musashi Hirata's shirt. She did not want to see the brothers fight, "Let's just stay here, okay? We don't have to move out, we can stay together here too~"

Lady Yuka tried to persuade her only son not to fight against his brother. Of course, Musashi Naizen also hoped for the same thing. He did not want to fight against his brother who just got back after three years, at least not now, they could have a spar later.

However, Musashi Naizen could not refuse his father's order. Everything was decided by his brother. If his brother accepted the challenge, they had to fight.

"Don't worry mother~ It will be real quick and I won't harm my brother of course. Moreover, I have found a new home, a new home for us. I believe you will like that place more than this place. Furthermore, there's someone I want to introduce to you, he is someone who changes my life! So we have to get out of this place! Trust me, Mother, ~"

Hirata's gentle voice entered Lady Yuka's ears and tears naturally streamed down from her eyes. Despite this being only a few minutes since they reunited after three years, she could feel the change in her son, not in a bad way but she could discern a positive change in her son.

The gentle eyes, the gentle voice, and a smile that she had not seen in a long time. As if she was seeing the little Hirata who always had a smile on his face.

"Good~ But you have to be careful and don't harm your brother~" In the end, Lady Yuka had to relent and gave his approval to her son.

"Good, Mama's boy, your mother has given her approval. Why don't we begin the fight and let's see how strong you have become after three years wandering in destitute?" Musashi Kenzan rose and walked toward Musashi Naizen.

"Give your best and let's see how strong you have grown up, my boy!" He tapped Naizen's shoulder and walked out.

"Yes, Father!" Musashi Naizen followed his father.

*** ***

Musashi Clan's training ground that was located in a deeper part of the Musashi Clan's residence.

This was a special training ground the clan provided for their core members. However, the arena that the brothers fought in was a special arena. An arena that monthly used to rank the core members.

When Musashi Naizen and Musashi Hirata entered the arena, there was a crowd gathered around the arena. The news that the Second Young Master returned and challenged the First Young Master was spread fast.

On the top seat, Lady Yuka looked at her son worriedly. She began regretting agreeing with her son's request. Adding with the discussion around her that made her uncomfortable. None of them had a favorable impression of her son and they predicted her son would lose in a few moves.

"Hoho… The wild young master is returned and he has a death wish to challenge Young Master Naizen as soon as he returns…"

"I heard he never won once against Young Master Naizen before… Maybe, he learned something outside there…"

"Haha… You fool! No matter what he learned from outside, it could not be compared to our Musashi Clan's Sword Art… This Second Young Master is doomed…"

The arena was filled with a buzz from the crowd. Lady Yuka had an uneasy look plastered on her face.

"Don't worry, Lady Yuka~ Young Master Hirata seems to be confident to win the fight. Let's trust Young Master Hirata this once!" The old maid next to her consoled with her gentle voice.

"Haha… Dream on, Old Lady! There's no way Young Master Naizen will lose against that rebel!" The old maid immediately shut her mouth upon hearing this. She recognized the voice, Lady Aimi's aide.

Lady Aimi was Musashi Kenzan's first wife, Hanzo Clan's descendant. The one who always oppressed Lady Yuka all this time.

Sure enough, when Lady Yuka and the old maid turned around, they found a lady in her early forties walking toward. Wearing an elegant kimono and accompanied by two younger maids. Despite the same age, Lady Aimi looked younger than her age.

Proud look etched on Lady Aimi's face as her gaze fell on Lady Yuka. As for Lady Yuka, she lowered her head, not daring to meet Lady Aimi's eyes.

"Who's bringing this low born to this arena? This is not her place!" Lady Aimi opened her mouth. An overbearing tone flowed out as she spoke.

Yes, the oppression of Lady Yuka was coming from her pride. As someone born in the prestigious family, she could not accept someone from the outer region who received the same position and treatment as her in the clan.

That was why, since Musashi Kenzan was appointed as the successor and paid less attention to Lady Yuka, Lady Aimi began to oppress Lady Yuka. Everyone in the clan knew this, but none of them stepped in to help Lady Yuka.

Lady Yuka merely lowered her head, but a series of footsteps approached them. Yoneda Isamu, covered in gauze approached Lady Aimi and spoke in a low voice, "Lady Aimi, Master hope you don't make a scene before the crowd!"

The message was clear, leave alone Lady Yuka.

"Humph!" Lady Aimi harrumphed and turned around.

Meanwhile, the exchange between Lady Aimi and Lady Yuka was seen by Musashi Hirata from the arena. Not only Hirata, but Naizen also watched it and he let out a sigh.

There was no conflict between him and his brother, the conflict was started by his mother, and Hirata began hating him because of his mother's deeds. He could not put the blame on his brother and that was why he always tried to treat his brother well.

However, because of his mother, Hirata always gave him a cold shoulder.

"See! I could not help but hate you because you are related to that witch! If it was the young me, I will cripple you after seeing how your mother treated my mother like trash. But will it make me happy? No, it will give me momentary satisfaction, but not happiness!"

Musashi Hirata opened his mouth. His voice was calm and collected even after witnessing his mother was treated poorly.

Musashi Naizen stayed still, giving no response, and Musashi Hirata began making a distance from his older brother. When the distance reached ten meters, Musashi Hirata turned around and continued.

"All this while, I have been searching for a way to get stronger! To surpass you, raising my status in the clan so I can make my mother happy. Until one day, I met someone. He opened a new world for me to see, then I realized I have been wrong all this time!"

Hirata's serene gaze turned serious as his hand moved to his sword. He was making a Draw Sword Technique stance.

"I am wrong! Does raising my status in the clan will bring happiness to my mother? No, it will only bring more misery to her! It only makes that witch oppress my mother more! That witch will think of me as a threat to your position and she might even try to kill me or my mother!"

"I realized the happiness I have been looking for is not here. This is hell, I have to take my mother out of this hell if I want to make my mother happy! And today, I will do that and aside from that, I am going to show something that you guys are merely a frog living in the well!"

"The Sword Art you are proud of is just merely an incomplete technique! I will show you!"

At this time, the referee was already in the arena. Musashi Naizen felt guilty inside, but he did not plan on losing against his brother.

After hearing all of that, he wanted to mend the relationship between them. He also wanted to show his brother that this clan was not hell to him. After this fight, he planned to talk with his mother about this.

Musashi Naizen was determined not to lose in this fight as he did not want to lose his only brother.

He made the same stance as Musashi Hirata, "This is not an incomplete technique, it's just you who fails to comprehend the technique completely! I will prove it to you now!"

The referee looked at both sides and nodded his head, "Start!"

Whoosh!

As soon as he said to start, the referee felt a gush of wind hit his cheek.

Musashi Naizen who prepared to move halted his steps upon witnessing his brother's figures blurred.

"Too fast!" Musashi Naizen changed his stance to a defensive one.

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

He blocked four slashes that came to him, but he failed to detect his brother's figure.

"It seems I won!" Then, Musashi Naizen heard his brother's calm voice from his back as the sword's coldness touched his neck.

Chapter end