In the tenth year of the apocalypse, my brother, the Mercenary Captain, finally found his long-lost biological sister.

Years ago, when he rescued me from a Mutant Nest, he had said, "From now on, you're my sister. If the sky falls, I'll hold it up for you."

'But now, under his sky, there was no longer any room for me.'

"Captain, the Deputy has risked life and limb for this team for years. Are you really kicking her out... just because of one word from her?"

He was silent for a moment, his voice cold and hard. "From now on, there is only one young lady here. If she isn't happy, then no one gets to be happy."

I watched as the girl lorded it over me, all with his silent permission.

I just smiled and didn't say a word.

As I packed my bags, I also accepted the olive branch extended by the leader of the rival base.

And I took half of the team's elites with me.

...

The moment I ended the call with the Rustedge Chief, Elara Valerius burst into my room.

She scanned the room as if she owned the place, her eyes landing on my luggage.

Her shrill voice nearly pierced my eardrums. "Cyan Corvane! What do you think you're doing?!"

"How dare you touch the base's property! All of this belongs to my Brother! It's mine! You're just a useless piece of trash who's about to be thrown out. What right do you have to take our resources?!"

I was baffled by her sudden accusation and frowned. "These are my personal belongings."

"You're lying!" Elara's voice grew even shriller. "Everything in this base belongs to my Brother and me! You eat our food, use our supplies, and now you're trying to steal from us? Put it down! Put all of it down, right now!"

With that, she lunged forward to snatch my luggage away.

But to me, her movements seemed to be in slow motion. I dodged her easily with a single step.

Her shriek brought team members running from the hallway.

Chen, a team member I get along with, quickly squeezed his way in and tried to explain, "Miss Elara, you've misunderstood! The Deputy didn't take anything from the public stores!"

He glanced at me with an apologetic look before turning back to Elara. "According to the Windstriders' rules, everything we get from Wasteland Scavenging runs has to be turned in and then distributed based on need. But the Deputy always brings back more than her quota. She consistently turns in more than anyone else on the team. By the rules, everything in her room is her personal share."

Elara wouldn't hear a word of it. Her pretty face contorted with rage and greed. "I don't care about your rules! If it's in this base, it's mine! She's an outsider, what right does she have to take anything? Who knows if she's secretly stashed away supplies from the public stores? Chen, you search her! Search her right now!"

The expressions on Chen and the other team members' faces instantly darkened.

A hot-tempered team member shot back, "The hell you mean, 'it's all yours'? Which Mutant did you kill? Which scavenging run did you lead? Have you made a single damn contribution to this team? You've got some nerve!"

"Every round of ammunition, every bite of our rations, was earned by the Captain and the Deputy leading us out there, risking our lives time and time again! The number of people the Deputy has saved could form a line from here to the main gate! Who's the real outsider here? Don't you have a clue?"

"The Captain took you in, so we don't say anything. But if it weren't for our respect for the Captain, do you really think you'd still be alive, standing here screaming at us?"

Elara looked from one unhappy team member to the next. A flash of incredulous jealousy crossed her wide eyes before they began to well up with tears, as if she had suffered the greatest injustice imaginable.

She clearly hadn't expected everyone to side with me, an "outsider." She stomped her foot, her voice breaking into a sob. "How can you all take her side against me?! I'm the one you're supposed to dote on! Where was she when I was out there all alone, helpless and terrified every single day? She was enjoying everything that should have been mine! Living in my house, taking my place beside my Brother! All she's doing is returning what she's taken from me for so many years!"

...

I looked at the girl throwing a tantrum in front of me, and in her, I saw the shadow of the man I once called "Brother"—the one who was silently letting all of this happen.

Any trace of hesitation I still had vanished in that instant.

Just as the standoff intensified and the disgust on my teammates' faces deepened, a cold, hard voice cut through from the edge of the crowd.

"Enough."

The crowd parted automatically, and Magnus Valerius strode through.

His brows were knitted tightly. His gaze lingered on my face for a fleeting moment, a flicker of what looked like a struggle in his eyes, but it was quickly suppressed.

He finally turned to Elara Valerius, pulling her behind him protectively.

"Elara has suffered a great deal over the years. If she wants it, just give it to her. They're just material possessions. What's the harm in indulging her a little?"

"Captain!" one of the team members couldn't help but protest.

But he raised a hand, silencing them. He just looked at me, as if waiting for me to make the "sensible" choice.

Realizing he was defending her, Elara Valerius coyly clung to Magnus Valerius's arm. She swept a triumphant gaze over everyone. "Brother told you all to take care of me so you'd see who really deserves your sympathy! I've been through so much, so what if I take a few things now? Shouldn't she be the one to give them up? She owes me this!"

"And you're all taking her side? Have you all been fooled by her sanctimonious act?!"

"Elara," Magnus Valerius said, his voice a low warning as she went too far.

"Brother!" she whined, her tone petulant.

I didn't spare them another glance. I just silently bent down, unzipped the duffel bag, and emptied its contents onto the ground.

It wasn't the high-energy rations or weapons they expected, but a pile of well-preserved books from the Old World.

Pages scattered across the ground with a heavy thud.

Elara Valerius's eyes went wide before she burst out laughing. "HA! HAHAHAHA! Are you an idiot? The treasure you were hiding away was this pile of junk?! This wastepaper is too rough to even wipe your ass with! You really are a brainless fraud. This is priceless!"

She was practically doubled over with laughter, her expression a mask of contempt and smug satisfaction.

I ignored her taunts, my gaze traveling past her to finally rest on Magnus Valerius's face.

Magnus Valerius was silent.

He remembered these books.

He remembered the many evenings we'd spent by a campfire in the city ruins, after long days of fighting for our lives. We would take out the books from the Old World that we had collected.

Still covered in grime and smelling of blood and gunpowder, he would use a rare, gentle voice to teach me the words, one by one.

When I read them correctly, he would ruffle my hair and smile. "You're so smart, Cyan."

'It was a shattered, warm piece of the past that belonged only to him and me.'

Surprise flashed in his eyes, too. He hadn't seemed to expect that these books were what I held so dear.

But in the end, he just clenched his jaw and chose to remain by his biological sister's side.

'A bitter taste still welled up in my heart, unavoidable.'

I grabbed the rest of my luggage and turned toward the main gate, my steps firm and without hesitation.

Just as I was about to step out of the base, Magnus Valerius's voice rang out again.

I glanced over my shoulder but kept walking.

Trailing behind Magnus Valerius were the other team members who'd come to see me off, and Elara Valerius, who was glaring at me resentfully.

He called out, "Cyan, have you decided where you're going? Broth... I can see you off."

Before he could finish his sentence.

The roar of a powerful engine cut him off.

A heavily modified off-road vehicle sped in from the distance, fishtailing to a halt right in front of me.

The window rolled down, and a female operative from Rustedge Base nodded her chin up at me.

At the same time, a flock of crow-like shadows swept across the sky, landing on the ground and transforming into dozens of human figures.

The black-haired young man at their head broke into a wide grin, his voice bright and cheerful:

"Cyan? The chief sent us to come get you!"

"Coming?"

Hearing this, a smile touched my lips. I turned to face Magnus Valerius, whose face had already turned livid. "I won't be needing that escort after all, Commander Valerius. My ride is here."