Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 358

Reed and Fern had lived long enough to understand the realities of their world.

Death wasn't something abstract or distant; it was part of the life cycle that everyone would eventually face. Every citizen served their military duty, everyone killed when the kingdom required it. It wasn't a question of morality, but of survival.

But seeing their barely eleven-year-old son standing over a corpse, blood dripping from his claws... that was different.

The metallic smell filled Ren's nostrils. The sticky texture on his hands, the warmth still emanating from the body, the way the man's eyes stared without seeing... everything was too real, too immediate.

His stomach revolted violently.

When he had killed Harold with the light ray, it had been distant, almost impersonal. A flash of energy and then nothing. This... this was intimate, visceral, undeniable. He could still feel the resistance of flesh giving way beneath his claws, the subtle vibration as bone cracked.

Ren fell to his knees and vomited, his stomach contracting forcefully as he expelled everything he had eaten that day.

But he didn't cry. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, smearing himself further with the patroller's blood, and stood up. His legs trembled, but his posture was upright. The mushrooms in his hair flickered erratically, betraying the turmoil within.

"I had to do it," he said, more to himself than to his parents. "They were going to... he was going to..."

Reed observed the vomit on the ground, then his son desperately trying to maintain composure. He sighed deeply, the sound laden with the weight of a father seeing his child grow too fast. The lines on his face seemed to deepen, age showing through worry.

"You're still our boy," Reed said softly, his voice breaking slightly.

Fern nodded, tears running freely down her cheeks. "No matter what you've experienced, the adult things you've had to do... you'll always be our child."

The words carried years of love and protection that couldn't shield his son from this moment.

Reed stepped forward, ignoring the pain of his own wounds. Each movement sent fresh agony through his lacerated back, but parental love overrode physical suffering.

"I'm grateful you could protect your mother when I couldn't," his voice was firm but gentle. "I would have never wished to see you lose your innocence so soon. Not for us."

It was then that Ren finally broke.

He looked at the patroller's body, blood forming a dark pool on the earth. His hands, his own hands, had done that.

The tears began to fall, first slow, then in uncontrollable torrents. His body shook as wrenching sobs escaped his throat.

Fern ran to him, ignoring the pain and the smell of death, wrapping her son in a fierce embrace. She didn't care that he was covered in blood, that he had just killed a man. He was her son, her baby, and he was suffering.