Chapter 147: Seventeenth Episode: Chapter Two (1/2)
Chapter 147: Seventeenth Episode: Chapter Two
Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Green. It was abundant on the Southern lands.
If anyone were to have a look at the territories of the Nobles, the residences, churches and the castles built of stones and clay with marbled roofs, one would know how much the diligent Southern people fancied the simple and energetic color.
The doorknobs and window sills were decorated with ivy and the morning glories had grown over the paddies in the field. The faraway gables reflected dim shades of light towards the horizon yet was shadowed by the bright daylight.
To be more precise, this was a confusing scene, as we saw neither dedicated farmers nor skilled gardeners. There were only the melodies of accordion from the abandoned vineyard and the depressing creaking sounds of the castle's windows. In a nutshell, there was not a single human being to be seen. Some hid in the fortress, waiting for rescue or mercy by the Nobles, while others left their home to pursue a better life like how they pictured in their imaginations.
There was no need to count the scars brought by the war as they were innumerable.
What good did the war do to the South? Was it fields habituated by guinea pigs or meadows teeming with sparrows? Was it the fire next to the sunset or the corpses hidden in the deep woods?
If there was no one who could answer the questions, I shall ask the suffering children! Children were the most honest! Even if a single miserable gaze, children would be able to express to you the pain brought by the war.
”Hey! What are you doing here?” in front of two banyan trees, a knight stopped a tanned blonde child.
”What's wrong? Can't he speak?” another knight went forward and sized up the church behind the banyan trees with caution. Although the church's roofs had been burnt off, it was possible to still have remnants of unwanted enemies. If not, where did the child come from in the middle of nowhere?
”Fine! Just take a look at him!” the first knight finally said in defeat.
A giant shadow towered over the weak child. The boy looked at the soldier before him in confusion and then spotted his healthy horse. It simply looked--- delicious!
The knight tore open the boy's shirt and found out that he was littered with countless tiny scars. When a small knife fell into his line of sight, the knight was nervous. They all had the experiences of fighting against Southern bandits and knew that even kids were capable of injecting poison into the water wells of the Guard's military camp.
”What do you use it for?” the knight gripped the knife and waved it in front of the boy. He was not sure if the kid was mute.
Sensing the towering soldier's threat, the boy finally spoke, ”To… deal with wild dogs!”
”He's just defending himself against the wild dogs,” the other knight was losing his patience, ”just return the boy his knife, or are you seriously afraid that he'll ambush us with that pathetic thing?”
Ignoring his partner's remarks, the knight continued sizing up the little boy. To be honest, he was a pretty child, just too thin compared to other kids of his age.
”Rather than a knife, I think he needs food!” the knight turned towards his partner to ask for his opinion.
”Fine! Do as you like! Give him this, it's time for us to return!” the knight who was still riding on his horse threw him a pack of dry food. He may seem annoyed but the generous portion of the dry food had revealed his sympathy for the boy. There had been an ancient saying of Titan that children who had not starved in their early ages were only of Noble origins. Therefore, nobody would want to trouble a weak little kid.
The little boy received the bag of dry food skeptically and opened it with clean moves.
”Woah!” the boy seemed to forget to thank his donor and ran back to the church in a blink of an eye. The two knights' demeanor turned serious, there really were people hiding in the church.
The boy emerged from the church soon later with the empty bag. After a few steps, he froze. Since when did the scene change? How did two knights turn into so many more? Could it be that… these people knew magic?
The boy stared at the gathering of knights in fear and felt chills crawling up his spine. Even with their features covered by the black clothes, anyone could see the rage and fire in their eyes! The child only intended to return the grain bag to his donor, but now he could no longer differentiate them from the other armored men.
A giant black horse stopped in front of the child. He was not sure if the thing was consumable but he only saw its nostrils and eyes, emitting an aura he thought only capable by beasts. The boy instantly lowered his gaze, but at that moment he noticed its red hoofs!
Monsters! This was no doubt a monster! Terrified, the child scrambled back and tripped himself on the church's stairs, and fell to the ground on his butt.
Noticing the child's fear, Oscar cursed internally, he absolutely did not ride a horse to scare people away!
”Little guy! I 've heard that you need help!” the young Marshal of the Guards leaped off his horse and blocked the intimidating Oslu from the child's line of sight.
By then, the Special Combat soldiers had already secured the perimeters of the church and positioned themselves for a strike.
”Here… here!” after confirming that the round-faced man was no doubt a human being, the little boy gathered his courage and handed over the grain bag to the weird man.
”Whose is this?” Oscar looked at the grain bag.
”It's mine, Marshal!”
Oscar hurled the bag back to the knight who stepped out, ”You've done a good deed! When it's time for dinner, come to my tent and we'll have a drink.”
”Marshal… actually… it's my partner's!” embarrassed, the knight pushed his comrade forward. It had been all suggested by the comrade.
Oscar observed the wordless warrior and grinned, ”Two drinks then!”
The boy seemed to be enlightened, he was not clear what a 'Marshal' truly meant, but he had heard stories of 'Marshals' from the adults, they were heroes!
”Umm… Marshal! Can I go now?”
”Tell me, are you here alone?”
The boy unconsciously glimpsed at the surrounding knights and shook his head.
Oscar chuckled and took out a packet of chocolate candy from his pocket. But to ensure that the sensitive leopard would leap out from nowhere, he surveyed his surroundings before opening the packet. If that were to happen, the child would be scared shitless and all the fun would be ruined.
”Little guy! Tell me! Are those people inside your parents? What do they do?”
The boy did not know the contents of the Marshal's palm, but his sharp senses helped him identified the addicting smell… ugh… it seemed that he himself was not sure what was the smell either.
”You tell me and these will be yours!” Oscar proceeded to shake the bag of candies.
The boy's eyes steeled and appeared to have made up his mind. Under the anticipating gaze of the 'Marshal', he shook his head.
”There's nothing inside!”
Oscar's demeanor changed instantly. He looked at his knights, they had begun to move! Within a split second, horse hoofs sounded on the church's floor. Three disheveled crying children scurried out of the door and toward the boy. At this moment, the boy was no longer the weak and timid kid he was previously. He pulled out the knife from his waist and pointed it at the approaching soldiers.
”Marshal, there's nothing left inside!” a knight reported accurately to the stunned Prince.
Oscar scrutinized the children. They were a boy and three girls, no! No! It should be two boys, two girls! Doesn't look like it either! Confirmation was impossible as the children were all in states of malnutrition and looked terrible! The only thing he could be sure of was the fact that the boy with the knife was the eldest.
”Space out! All of you, space out! You've terrified the kids!” His Highness Prince suddenly shouted. His knights scrambled to move away except for the two knights who had the first contact with the kids, they could not risk leaving the Prince unguarded.
Oscar took his helmet off. He may not be handsome but he was not far from being friendly.
”Hey, kid, it's only us that's left! Now tell me, are you attempting to protect your sisters?” Oscar tested his waters by approaching the kid in small steps.
”Don't come near us!” the boy straightened his knife again, rage and desperation firing from his eyes.
”Look, over there!” said Oscar with a flick of his fingers. The boy fell into his trap and his knife had been snatched away by the cunning man.
”Okay! Now we can talk nicely!” Oscar stuck the knife onto the door of the church with the knife end vibrating. His sudden action calmed the children.
”I swear to the God of Light! If O'Neil Andrew Morisette happens to hurt these kids, his soul shall be thrown into the depths of hell, forever suffering and getting tortured by the demons.”
The little boy glanced at the half-destroyed statue of the church and glanced back at the man who swore his oath. Slowly, he relaxed himself and his hostility reduced further when he saw the empty grain bag dangling at the knight's waist.
”Okay! Are they all your sisters?”
”Yes!”
”What are their names? How old are they?” Oscar attempted to tease the youngest girl but to no avail as the young boy, not even as tall as the stairs, swatted his hand away.
”Isa is seven years old, Bay is six, while little Helen is only three.”
”Your parents?”
The little boy clenched his teeth, ”They were kidnapped by you people!”
”Us?” Oscar's eyes widened in disbelief.
”The men bearing insignias said that they were bandits!”
Oscar felt that he could no longer continue the conversation, he had to change the topic.
”There's no one else here. Why do you still reject people's assistance?”
At this point, the boy clenched his teeth even harder.
”Big sister took a pack of dry food from a stranger and never came back!”
Oscar was puzzled while the knight next to him growled,
”Those damned human traffickers! Kidnapping girls in the South, we've seen much of those in the past! Our Brigade Commander once ended the lives of several traffickers himself!”
The boy nodded and painfully agreed, ”That's why I hide my sisters in the church, anyone who bullies them will be sent to hell by the Gods, if not by me!”
Oscar's spirits deflated and thought that his Southern strategies required some adjustments. Nevertheless, it was time to show him the candies. The Guard's Marshal moved the candy to the center of his palm, ”Come, my brave boy! You deserve this!”
The kids were hesitating, they were struggling internally! That much was obvious to Oscar, but still, he lost his patience and stuffed the candy into the boy's hand.
The boy opened his fist delightfully. He had no idea what the thing was but it looked simply delicious!
The little kid finally gathered his guts and swallowed the chocolate candy, he even had his eyes shut!
”Woah!” the boy's joyful exclamation pleased Oscar and his knights.
”Helen! Helen! Have a taste!” the boy quickly spit out the candy and gave it to his youngest sister, ”Hurry up Helen! Hurry!” he felt that the candy was melting fast.
”Wow!” little Helen expressed her happiness in the same manner as her brother. The two other girls could only swallow their saliva. They looked at their sister and fixed their gaze on the weird man's hand.
”These are yours!” Oscar distributed the candies to the children so each now had a bulging mouth.
”What's this taste?” little Helen asked her brother while blinking her eyes innocently.
”I don't know, Helen!”
Oscar was once again overwhelmed by disbelief. What did he mean by 'don't know'?
”Is it sweet? This is a candy, a chocolate candy!” Oscar tried his best to call upon the kids' memories.
”Sweet?” little Helen's face was blank. ”Brother! Do you know what is sweet?”
The boy shook his head, ”I'm sorry little sister, it's my first time hearing the word as well!”
Oscar was stunned until the chewing sounds of candy brought him back to reality. He had understood, these kids who were born in times of war had no knowledge of the existence of candies, more so the alluring flavor of sweetness!
The sweetness had the children giggling together. Looking at their untainted smiles, the young Marshal felt something cold on his face.
Oscar extended his hand and came into contact with a drop of tear!
His Imperial Highness Prince lost his cool and started shouting, ”Oh my God of Light! What's this?”
Tears! Too far! Too foreign! Since when had O'Neil Andrew Morisette shed tears? He had long forgotten the sensations of crying!
”Tears! Those are tears!” shocked, the young boy swatted away the weird man's hand, ”I used to cry a lot when I was small too, so did my sisters, but we've stopped crying after we grew up! Mister, you won't be having this after you grow up too! Daddy told me that a true man doesn't have any tears!”
Oscar clenched his fists, ”That's right! Your father is right! What's his name?”
”Smith! The best blacksmith we have here! So will I be in the future!”
Oscar nodded in acknowledgment, as his tears soon evaporated from his palm.
The Special Combat troops made their way to the church one after another. Having heard the Marshal's encounter at the small church, the warriors all gave scraps of food to the children while some a few Ti and the others several pieces of clothes. Soon enough, the resources of the Guards in front of the children were piling into a small hill!
Just as the knight who had first discovered the boy was about to leave, he gave the boy a flying knife with no hand guard.
”Protect your sisters with the flying knife! Be a true man!” the knight caressed the boy's head lovingly.
The boy was intrigued and started playing with the Special Combat warrior's flying knife. He thanked the God of Light in his heart, all his prayers had not been in vain! Today, he met a …no! He met many kind people! In the end, the boy deeply bowed to mister knight.
”Thank you, mister, and thank you too, mister Marshal for giving me one Golden Ti!”
The little boy giggled while proudly showing off the sparkling coin. It seemed that he really was illiterate because that was no normal coin. To be more precise, that was not even a Golden Ti, but a commemoratory coin of the one-year-old birthday of the Andrew family's fourth son which Marshal O'Neil had been treasuring.