Vol 2 Chapter 2 (1/2)
Chapter 2: Number, 2, Divergence – translated by raylight
When asking for rooms at the inn, Carol had originally wanted to get two rooms. However, she hadn’t expected that upon opening her wallet, she would find that they probably wouldn’t have money for dinner if she really booked two.
Carol hesitated for a moment, but that was not because she had apprehensions regarding people of opposite genders sharing a room. They had basically slept in the same tent for the past month. It was just that Silvie was simply too noisy. Sleeping in separate rooms at night would be the only way to avoid hearing his voice.
“One room is enough.” In the end, she reluctantly asked for a single room. In the end, tonight’s rest won’t be a very quiet one.
She turned around and walked back to their table, but upon seeing Silvie look around excitedly, his mouth already open in preparation to start talking, Carol had only one feeling. It is high time to start doing missions to earn money.
“Carol! We haven’t come into a city for almost a month! Why did you suddenly want to enter one?” Silvie asked excitedly, “Are we going to look for evil-doers, capture them, and make them forsake evil and return to the right path? Just like the last time with the city lord!?”
Forsake evil and return to the right path? Carol shot a glance at Silvie, and then said indifferently, “I’m not looking for evil-doers or whatever intentionally. It was just that countless soldiers had used their lives to protect this country, thus at that time when I saw that this country had areas of corruption, I just wanted to take action and excise that corruption. Also, it is ‘excising evil,’ not forsaking evil or whatever and returning them to the right path!”
Silvie received a shock when he heard her. “Excising them? You mean to say… Killing them? B-but some people perhaps aren’t that evil, and as long as you talk to them properly, they might change for the better!”
Carol gave a cold laugh and replied, “Just like the city lord before who was selling slaves in private? Once the operation fell through and was exposed, he was even prepared to murder someone who carried a white rose insignia to prevent the secret from being divulged. Don’t tell me that you seriously believed that he would change for the better?”
“He might have!” Unexpectedly, Silvie said this as though it was a matter of fact. “He thought that he would be sentenced to death! For the sake of living, that’s why he would do such a thing!”
“It’s not ‘thought,’ it’s a fact. Once the fact that he was selling slaves in private was exposed, he would certainly die, no doubt about it.”
“What?” Silvie’s eyes widened, and he exclaimed, “He would be sentenced to death?”
“Sentenced to hang, that’s the kind of penalty it would be,” was Carol’s clear-cut reply.
Silvie’s eyes opened even wider, and he trembled as he said, “Why must he be killed? Perhaps he might change for the better… If he is killed, he would never be able to amend his ways.”
“For the sake of this ‘perhaps,’ how many more deaths would occur?” Carol coldly said, “Without a harsh enough penalty, how would we stop the rest of the populace from selling slaves in private as well? If the crime of selling slaves in private were to spread, how many people do you think would suffer from it? You were also once a victim of it, weren’t you? If it weren’t for me, you would already have the mark of a slave branded on your body!”
Silvie muttered in a small voice, “But even if one was sold as a slave, at least they are still alive. Is this not so? As long as one still lives, hope exists.”
Carol frowned, but did not say anything more. She unconcernedly said, “Order some dishes! There isn’t much money left, so you’re not allowed to order wine.”
Hearing about this prohibition, Silvie just could not accept it and began complaining, “I’m not a drunkard! I rarely drink!”
Carol did not quite believe him. “Last time, didn’t you very happily drink wine worth one silver ducat?”
“That’s because I hadn’t been drinking in a long time!” Silvie hurriedly explained, “The last time I had gone drinking was after I had buried teacher LL!”
After he finished speaking, he saw Carol’s face darken, and immediately realized that he had made a mistake with his speech.
LL’s full name was Lorenzo Louis, and he had possessed the white rose insignia that was personally bestowed upon him by the Holy King. As the imperial bard, he was a past companion of Carol’s and was also Silvie’s teacher. However, he had died of illness two years ago. Carol had only learned of this a month ago and hadn’t even managed to meet him one last time.
Because of that, Carol had always been brooding about it. Especially since when the two of them had parted ways, LL had had a few misunderstandings about Carol, leaving the two of them with an unpleasant feeling in their hearts, an unpleasantness that she would now never be able to resolve.
At this moment, a waiter walked over and briskly asked, “What would you like to order?”
“Two plates of beef, a plate of bread, two bowls of soup, and two bottles of grape wine!” Carol ordered without any hesitation.
“And a cup of milk!” Silvie added in a hurry, and then he registered what Carol had ordered. He blinked, not understanding her actions as he asked, “Didn’t you say that we are not allowed to order wine?”
Carol coldly said, “I said that you are not allowed to order wine. Did I say that I couldn’t order it myself?”
Silvie was speechless. Though half of their money was earned through his singing, he still did not dare retort even once. Who had asked him to say something so imprudent just now anyways?
The dishes arrived rather quickly. The aroma of beef made OhmyG.o.d instantly squirm out of Silvie’s embrace. Silvie cut up a piece of beef into several small pieces, and then put them into a small saucer together with the milk, so that OhmyG.o.d could use his little mouth to swallow the food.
Raising a carnivorous slime was a very expensive proposition. Thankfully, OhmyG.o.d’s food intake was not large, as a piece of beef and a cup of milk was enough for it to stay sated for two to three days.
Carol, on the other hand, grabbed a bottle of wine with one hand and started pouring it into a cup.