Aurelia felt uncomfortable at the expression that her son is making as he learned about what she would've done to the village as a means to deal with the demons.
She didn't find anything wrong with it, especially since the people in the village weren't special, nor did they have much importance to humanity as a whole.
As far as she was concerned, even if they had been killed in the attack, it wouldn't have affected humanity's chances as from the very beginning, her focus has always been in the protection of all of humanity.
If a few humans died in the process, it was fine for her, and she doesn't want to expend her manpower needlessly.
So she felt uncomfortable at how distraught her son looked at learning about her intention of taking care of the demons. She was confused at his concern for the commoners, as they weren't of much value.
Armaros meanwhile just repeats what he had heard in his mind as he looked at his mother in horror before he looked down and sighed. He turned and looked at the village as it was devastated from the attack, smoke was still rising up from various places of the village and many damage has been done to it as well.
While he is an adventurer, and had only come here to check up on the village, he didn't want them to suffer like this. Especially a village which was a self sustaining one, which is why he felt anger at the fact that such an amazing place was going to be destroyed without any thought about the people.
And the fact that it was his own mother who was planning on doing it didn't give him much joy as he growled softly as the thought crossed his mind.
Aurelia and his sisters noticed his growl as they looked at him and was slightly put off by his vastly different behaviour. They had noticed how his behaviour had changed from the one that they were used to back at the mansion.
Before he was exiled, he was always soft spoken, nervous and didn't exude any kind of confidence, and was just there. He also never made much opposition to how they treated him and was always docile, and would try to end things with talking and would never fight back.
But now they could see that he has changed very much. He carried himself with more confidence and assurance than before, he wasn't nervous nor soft spoken and as they had seen before, he had no reservations with resorting to violence if he wanted to take care of the situation, like he had done with that knight.
It was silent for a while as the sisters didn't know how to approach their brother after seeing how much he had changed as Aurelia thought about what to say for a few seconds before she looked at her son.
"You can come back to the clan." Aurelia said to him as he straightened up.
"What?" Armaros asked in shock as he looked at her with eyes.
The five sisters were surprised by the words of their mother, but they also felt a bit happy at hearing that their brother can come back, though the three older sisters felt a bit of apprehensive at the fact that they felt joy at that thought, something which they hadn't felt before.
"You can come back to the clan. I will remove the exile and can let you come back to the clan." Aurelia said to him seriously.
"What about the elders? Won't they have something to say about that?" Armaros asked her as he knew that the stubborn old coots wouldn't be happy with the decision, especially since he knew that they didn't like him very much.
"I can take care of that. They may be the elders, but I am still the matriarch and the hightes authority of the clan. I can make sure that they won't be able to do anything." Aurelia said to him seriously.
"Why now? Why do you suddenly want me to come back to the clan? You yourself were the one who gave the verdict, mother." Armaros said to her as he looked at her with narrowed eyes.
Aurelia was unfamiliar with the way he was talking with her and his suspicious expression was something that she had never faced before, which caused her to feel more nervous as she stuffed that feeling down and looked at her son as she prepared to give an answer.
Because I want you with me at the mansion. I miss your presence at the mansion.
Those words were once again stopped by herself as she wasn't able to say it as she looked at him and came up with another response.
"Because you're a member of the Clan. And you showed skill with the sword and use of magic, and you had managed to fight and kill many demons. I would say that you have proved your mettle as one from our Bloodline, and so you can return to the clan." Aurelia said to him as she felt that it was a satisfactory answer.
After all, the acknowledgement of the fact that they had fought as a true Dawnbringer was something that everyone from the bloodline wishes for. It was the same for her, her own daughters and those before her, and she is sure that her son would be the same as well.
Even if she didn't understand why her son was acting like this as she has never seen a Dawnbringer act like him due to how unique he is. She waited to hear his inevitable joy at the fact that he would be able to come back to the clan as he looked at his mother before he looked down.
"Do you remember the oath of our clan?" Armaros asked her as he kept his eyes on the ground.
Aurelia was surprised at the question but decided to answer him regardless.
"Yes I do. It's the oath that every member of our clan takes. To protect humanity and to fight for our race and defeat the demons who dares to attack us." Aurelia said to him cooly as she looked at him.
"So then why did you disregard the lives of these people. Aren't they human?" Armaros asked her as he looked at her with a small glare.
"What?" Aurelia looked at him in surprise at his question.
She was also more surprised when she saw the glare on his face, as he has never looked at her like that, and her daughters were the same as their eyes widened at seeing him glaring at their mother.
"I am a Dawnbringer, that's a fact. And as such I also took the oath, to protect humanity against the demons and fight for it. And that oath clearly meant that we had to protect all humans, not just the majority." Armaros said to her as he looked at the village where the people were staying.
"What are you trying to say?" Aurelia asked her son as she looked at him as he stayed silent for a few moments.
"I believed in the oath, with all my heart. Not just because I am a Dawnbringer, or the fact that I am the descendant of one of the heroes. But because I truly believed in the fact that we were continuing the legacy of Lucius, and that we were protectors of the people. To fight not for ourselves, but for humanity." Armaros said as he looked at his hand.
"And we do. We fight to protect all of humanity, not just some villagers." Aurelia said to him calmly, though she felt a bit distressed at his words.
"No. Our oath meant that we were supposed to come here and protect these villagers. We weren't supposed to care if they were just come villagers or not. We were supposed to uphold peace for the people, every single one, not just the more privileged or important ones." Armaros said as he turned and glared at his mother as he felt anger at the casual dismissal of the lives lost.
Aurelia stopped herself from flinching as he directed his glare at her while his sisters were visibly shocked at how brazenly he was acting with their mother, when in the past, he wouldn't dare raise his voice against her decisions.
"I might have only reached this village yesterday, but the people here were very nice. They greeted me kindly, gave me some gifts because I had come to the village and they were all living happily. And on top of that, they admired our progenitor, and even though many of their people have died in the attack, they were still happy because our clan had appeared to help them." Armaros said to her as he pointed at he village area where they grew crops.
"The people of this village have been living here since the time of our ancestor and have managed to become a village which is able to survive by itself without any help from nobles or merchants. Do you know how many villages there are that can live without help from outsiders, none! They were prosperous and unique and kind, and you were willing to dismiss their existence and worth just because they were living away from the towns." Armaros said as he felt anger at the fact that his family would've destroyed the village.
The fact that the village was self sufficient was a great thing for him, as many villages that he has went to, would need supplies from merchants and towns to keep on functioning. Yet, this village was able to live for all these years on their own. They had cattle, crops, good houses and many things which you would never find in a village normally.
And he himself didn't like the fact that the lives of the villagers had been cut short so suddenly when they were living happy lives. This contributed to his anger at the injustice done to them and the fact that the clan didn't care much about them rubbed him the wrong way.
"Son, in the grand scheme of things, they weren't important." Aurelia said to her son as she wanted him to understand why she would be thinking like this.
Armaros huffed at that as he turned and looked at the village as he then fished out the medallion that was given to him as he frowned at the thing.
"I made an oath, to protect all the people, and I do wish to protect everyone. To protect the peace of the kingdom. So did you mom, so did every Dawnbringer before us. But, I guess I'm the only one who cares about the people, rather than the prestige of our clan." Armaros said as he clenched his hand as he looked at the medallion.
"Armaros." Aurelia called out to her son when she heard that.
But he turned around and threw the medallion at her, and she easily caught it in her right hand as she turned her hand and looked at what he has thrown at her. Her eyes widened when she saw the same medallion that she had given him as she looked at him.
Claudia felt a bad feeling as she saw the medallion in her mother's hand, and the same feeling was shared by her sisters as they saw the scene of their brother throwing the medallion at their mother.
'What are you doing, Armaros/big brother?' The sisters thought to themselves as they looked at their brother.
"What... is the meaning of this?" Aurelia asked her son as she gently held the medallion.
"I've decided that I no longer wish to have the protection of the Dawnbringers." Armaros said to her after a few seconds.
"What?" Aurelia looked at her son as her eyes widened in shock at his words.
"What?!" Claudia and her siblings looked at him in shock, and thought that perhaps they had misheard him.
"I've decided that I no longer wish to be with the clan, and I want to remove myself from it. Basically, I wish to relinquish my name as a Dawnbringer." Armaros said to his mother and sisters with a tone of finality.