Castlevania Nocturne: A Guardian's Tale (Part 2)

Mentors

Several hours earlier.

"Hold on. I need some fucking answers, Granddad." Richter followed the old man outside of town.

"Please, call me anything but Granddad."Juste grumbled poorly attempting to shake Richter off.

"Where the fսck have you been all my life?" Richter demanded. "I thought you were dead!"

"I'm gonna kill Tera." Juste muttered under his breath.

"I came to this country when I was ten, knowing absolutely nobody and if it wasn't Emma who took me in as her son and Auntie Tera, who isn't really my auntie, more some sort of third cousin a thousand times removed..." Richter ranted

"We had a fucking deal!"

"What do you mean you're gonna kill her?" Richter questioned.

Juste sighed. " She promised not to tell you where to find me."

"What are you talking about?"

"You mean, she didn't tell you?" Juste raised his brows.

"No! What? No... No!" Richter stammered.

Juste stopped walking and turned to him. " Uh... Well, in answer to your question, where have I been all your life? I've been here all the time. Since you came to France. Keeping an eye on you."

" You mean you've been watching me? Secretly?" Richter exclaimed.

"Well, when you put it like that, I suppose it sounds a bit creepy." Juste rubbed his chin.

"And Tera knew?"

"She agreed not to tell you. I've been giving her money." Juste admitted.

"And that was the deal!?" Richter was flabbergasted.

"No, no, of course not. Uh, well, sort of." Juste stuttered. "When I have a bit of money from killing these stupid provincial vampires, I give her some to help out. But I asked her not to tell you about me because....... Well, I thought it was for the best."

"You didn't want me to know I had an actual fսcking grandfather living a few miles away?"Richter said angrily.

"No, I didn't." Juste sighed exhausted. "You might expect things from me. Advice, encouragement, birthday presents. Who the hell wants that?"

"My mother said you were dead." Richter clenched his fist. "In fact, she never even mentioned you except to say you were dead. She said she went to the New World because there was no one else, and she was the heir to the Belmont mission, and there were vampires there she had to fight!" His voice cracked in pain. "Like Olrox."

Juste paused a moment. For a second Richter believed Juste had a good excuse, or a heartfelt apology for ditching him all his life. The old man simply carried on walking down the road.

"Where are you going now?" Richter followed in frustration.

Juste didn't answer, ignoring him like a tag-along kid until he made his way back to his cabin, where Richter stood at the door, watching his long lost grandfather settle in. "You're a Belmont. You're not supposed to hide in a hut. And you're not supposed to kill vampires for money."

Juste kindled a fire under the kettle pot, seemingly ignoring his grandson. "I was a hero... once. I lost count of how many vampires I killed... "heroically." The whip was mine, then, of course. But I had other powers. One of our ancestors 300 years ago was a great sorceress".

" Sypha, yes. I know." Richter said bitterly. "I know everything about the history of our family. My mother taught me. And she left you out. I'm starting to see why."