Chapter 462: I Will Fulfill My Duties

Brandon didn’t reply. He just stared down at the ground below as he listened to the sound of Hugo’s heavy boots walking away until the area was completely silent.

Brandon just stood there outside the barracks for a few long minutes. He stayed in the exact same place.

After a while, he lifted the hammer up again and just stared at the spikes.

Still unable to bring up the courage to shatter his own bones, he let out a soft, trembling sigh.

"It would’ve been easier if he used this to break my arm instead...", he muttered as he turned around and started to walk. He didn’t even go to the mess hall to get his lunch. Instead, he carried the hammer with him and walked straight back home.

He made the long walk into the residential district, and the moment he walked into his family’s apartment, which was on the fourth floor of one of Adrian’s newly built apartment buildings, he froze.

He saw a few unfamiliar faces sitting in his living room.

There was a middle-aged woman and a much older man sitting proudly on the chairs. Behind them stood three young men who looked around Brandon’s age or slightly older.

Brandon turned his head to look at his own family. His mother was sitting there, looking nervous but excited. His three sisters were huddled together near the kitchen counter.

"What is going on?" Brandon asked.

His mother happily stood up and walked over to him.

"My sweet Brandon. They are here to ask for your sisters’ hands in marriage. They have three sons, and all of them are just a few years older than your sisters. All you need to do as the man of the house is agree."

Brandon frowned slightly, but then he nodded.

At first, he felt a sudden wave of relief and happiness. Someone actually wanted to marry his sisters. Back in his old village, before they were moved to Oresfall, not a single person had seen his poor family as anything else but useless burdens. So this was a surprisingly pleasant thing to hear.

He walked over and sat down on a wooden chair directly opposite to the guests.

"So you guys want my sisters as brides."

The older man, who was clearly the father of the three grooms, nodded his head.

"Yes. We do think that your sisters are good-looking. And based on what your mother has told us, they are good at all the basic household chores. I feel like they will be a good fit for my sons."

Brandon nodded.

"Okay, that is good."

But then, the older man’s expression shifted. He just glanced over at Brandon’s mother, and then his greedy eyes locked onto the three young girls in the back.

"Let’s talk about the dowry."

Hearing this single word, Brandon couldn’t help but clench his fists hard under the table.

The reality of their situation was terrible. He had only recently gotten drafted into the military and his family had little to no actual savings.

The older man looked back at Brandon.

"Per woman, we want twenty silver coins." ℴℴ𝗺

Brandon’s head snapped up. He looked at the man with wide eyes.

"That is way too much."

The guy just shrugged his shoulders casually.

"Come on now, this is Oresfall. If you get lucky, you will easily make a silver coin in a few days. All you need to do is keep going to the dungeon every single day, and you will eventually be able to save up the money."

The man leaned forward, a disgusting smirk on his face.

"Or do you want to sell us the sisters instead? We will gladly take them off your hands for a small price."

Listening to those words, Brandon just slowly got up from his chair.

He looked down at the guests sitting in his home.

"Get out of my house."

Hearing this sudden shift in tone, the father of the three guys raised an eyebrow, looking offended.

"Do you know who my sons are? They are all soldiers in the Lord’s army. Do you know how valuable that status is? Do you really dare to reject us?"

Brandon glared down at the guy.

"Yeah. I do."

His face went almost entirely emotionless as he spoke.

"When I came to this city, I actually read the rule book that was given to us. This whole dowry system is illegal here. Do you really think you will be safe if I report this? I will just tell the Lord’s guards what you just tried to do."

The old man spat on the floor.

"Bah! Who the fuck are you? What can you even do? You have no proof. You need a written agreement or a signed contract to get me in trouble. You need that sort of proof to even put me in a cell. And you don’t have anything. So what are you going to do?"

Brandon slowly reached down to his waist.

"Just get out of my house."

He unclipped his belt.

"Or I will make sure you regret it."

He pulled out the hammer Hugo had given him, and held it tightly in his right hand.

Seeing an actual weapon being drawn, the old man finally relented. He stood up quickly, knocking his chair back.

"You will regret this," the man sneered.

He quickly walked toward the door with his three sons right behind him. The sons looked pretty reluctant to walk out empty-handed, but Brandon didn’t care. He just kept his cold glare locked onto them.

He watched the open door as the whole family walked out into the hallway and scrambled down the stairs.

Once they were gone, he turned to look at his three terrified sisters and his tight expression instantly softened.

He let out a heavy sigh.

’This is so unfair.’ he thought.

He walked out onto the small balcony of his apartment and looked down at the open area below.

After about two minutes, he saw the old man and his three sons walking out of the apartment complex, complaining loudly to each other.

’Three soldiers in the family.’ he muttered as he gripped the railing tightly.

’This place is no different from my past home. It is all about status and power... the people with strength will always try to step on the weak to get what they want.’

He let go of the railing and looked down at his own calloused hands.

’The only difference is that here in Oresfall... it is actually easier to access this power. Everything entirely depends on my own talent and my hard work.’

Suddenly, Hugo’s cold face appeared in his mind. The feeling of his hair being pulled and the weight of that spiked war hammer in his hands back then resurfaced.

’Determination and grit.’ he muttered to himself.

His eyes slowly moved down to the hammer hanging by his side. He just stared at the metal head for a few long seconds before he turned around and walked back inside the apartment.

He looked at his nervous mother with burning resolve. "Wait for me."

"Give me a year’s time, and I will make sure that everyone is properly married without anyone looking down on us."

He turned his head and looked at his three sisters. They were all looking up at him with wide, slightly teary eyes.

He looked straight into their eyes, one by one.

"I will fulfill my duties as your brother. You don’t have to worry about a thing."