Chapter 36
Chapter 36
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Lennon Orphanage (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
All morning, we spent time with Betron. We bought him heaps of practical necessities, along with stacks of books for studying.
We went to the market, ate delicious food, watched a puppet show, and bought toys.
Betron smiled so brightly that the hollow expression from our first meeting was nowhere to be seen.
And now, it was time to part ways.
We packed up our things and exchanged final goodbyes with Betron in the orphanage courtyard. Cross had come out to see us off as well.
Iriel crouched down in front of Betron and stroked the child's hair.
“Keep being brave and healthy from now on. I’ll definitely stop by on the way back once everything’s done. Got it?”
At Iriel’s words, Betron beamed and replied.
“Yes! Don’t worry about me! There are lots of friends here, and the teachers are so kind—it’s great. I’ll be strong and do well! Thank you for everything!”
Just nine years old.
Even though separations wouldn’t be familiar at that age, Betron spoke with the composure of an adult. Instead, it was Allen and Iriel who were acting like children, full of regret.
Next, Allen pulled Betron into a tight hug and said his farewells.
“I’ll bring tons of stories next time I come! We’ll stay up all night talking—no bedtime. Just wait a little longer.”
“Really? I’m already super excited! But Uncle Allen, I feel like I’m gonna die like this…….”
Betron’s face had turned bright red, as if the blood couldn’t circulate. Only then did Allen release him. He’d hugged so hard that Betron coughed and gasped the moment he was free. Allen ruffled the child’s hair wildly, laughing.
And now it was my turn.
I approached Betron to give my final goodbye. The kid looked up at me with sparkling eyes. That small head, about half the size of Allen’s, caught my eye.
I mercilessly flicked it with my knuckle.
Thwack.
“Ow!”
Betron let out a sudden yelp and clutched the spot with his tiny, reed-like hand.
Compared to the knuckle flicks I gave Allen, it was barely a pebble’s impact, but proportional to the head’s size, it must have hurt plenty.
“What are you doing!”
Startled, Iriel pulled Betron into a protective embrace and glared at me with axe-like eyes.
“Why’d you hit the kid out of nowhere!”
After yelling at me, Iriel leaned down to the huddled Betron and cooed gently.
“Are you okay? Did it scare you bad?”
Betron kept his head down, trembling.
When I tilted my head to peek at his hidden face, his lips were quivering as he fought back tears.
I debated giving him one more smack when Betron finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst into sobs.
“Waaah!”
It was a cathartic wail, like a blocked dam bursting open. Betron cried his heart out, loud enough to shake the world.
Whatever had built up inside poured out in heartbreaking sobs, so utterly sorrowful.
The child’s tears fell like a downpour on parched earth, unrelenting.
“What’s wrong? Does it hurt a lot?”
As Betron wailed, Iriel flailed about in panic. But soon, her tense shoulders relaxed, and she simply waited out the crying.
She’d finally realized it wasn’t just from the pain.
Betron suddenly threw himself into Iriel’s arms mid-sob and shouted.
“Waaah! Don’t leave me here alone! Take me with you! Sob sob. I’ll be good! No whining! Hic. I don’t wanna say goodbye! I wanna go too! Waaah.”
All the swallowed tears and hidden feelings came flooding out. Betron clutched Iriel’s collar with his small hands and cried like any child.
Now he finally looked like a nine-year-old kid.
Iriel held the sobbing child gently, shedding her own tears. She knew exactly what those cries contained.
It had only been about two weeks since the child lost his parents overnight.
At that age, parents were a child’s entire world.
Betron had been living in a shattered world all this time.
Yet we’d never once seen him cry.
Not at our first meeting, not when we took him to Chezen Market, not even when he was kidnapped by the mage.
Not until this farewell moment.
Something had been off—we could tell easily enough. That’s why I’d forced it open, even if roughly.
Crying wouldn’t change the situation, but sometimes people need to cry to go on living.
After a long bout, Betron started calming down, his breaths coming in hiccupping gasps as the sobs tapered off.
Iriel gently pulled him back to meet his eyes, and Betron shyly ducked his flushed face.
Iriel grasped Betron’s small shoulders and said.
“I know how you feel, Betron. I want to take you with us too. But the path we’re on is too dangerous to bring you along. That’s why. Now, Betron, you—”
She calmly explained why he couldn’t come with us. Betron nodded as if he understood completely. We’d told him before, after all.
It was just that knowing something in your head and feeling it in your heart were different things. Betron peeked up and said softly.
“……I know everything.”
He roughly wiped his eyes with his sleeve and looked up at me. The child’s face was red around the eyes, long lashes dotted with teardrops like dew.
“……Sorry for crying.”
“No need. I hit you so you would.”
Betron rubbed the bump on his head and spoke to me with resolute determination, like someone who’d made up his mind.
“When I grow up, I’ll become a super strong independence fighter like Lord Jenes. I’ll punish all the bad guys who hurt Mom and Dad myself!”
A spirited thought befitting a nine-year-old.
But I shook my head.
“You won’t become that.”
It was impossible, plain and simple.
No matter how brightly your potential shines.
No matter how strong you get.
You won’t become that.
“The country you grow up in won’t need independence fighters anymore.”
Exactly as it sounded.
The country Betron grew up in wouldn’t have any such thing as independence fighters.
Francia would already be independent long before the kid became a young man.
Because I’d make it so.
“Instead, I’ll make a country where you can cry your heart out freely.”
So when you become a dream-filled youth someday, Francia won’t be a land overflowing with sorrow anymore.
No one will be persecuted just for being a Francia citizen. All evil deeds will face the law’s judgment, and the people will live peacefully within the nation’s sturdy walls.
So.
“Whatever you become in that country, it’ll be your choice.”
Betron grinned widely and nodded vigorously.
“Yes!”
A pure beam of light shone through the child’s clear eyes.
“Betron seems to trust you a lot.”
While Allen and Iriel lavished Betron with the affection they hadn’t finished showing, Cross approached and spoke to me.
I glanced at the smiling Betron and replied.
“He’s seen it.”
Nothing in the world is as certain as what you’ve witnessed with your own eyes.
Betron had actually seen my words become reality.
That’s why he could believe without doubt that such a country would come.
Because I said so.
“Please take good care of Betron.”
“No worries. I’ll make sure he can live out his dreams in the country you create. I’d love for that country to come too.”
Cross gave a warm smile.
I nodded in response, and with that, we parted from Betron.
* * *
Horse hooves drummed steadily against the ground.
Towering mountain ridges rose on either side, displaying a majestic landscape. Our group, including Cracker, was crossing the Hurtsen Gorge on our way to his mountain stronghold.
It was the kind of scenery that would normally draw gasps of awe, but the group remained quiet.
“Without Betron, it just doesn’t feel right.”
Iriel said, her shoulders slumped.
It had been two days since we parted with Betron, but Iriel was still reeling from the separation.
You don’t miss someone until they’re gone, and sure enough, his absence left a void.
“Haha! But now you’ve got me, right?”
But Cracker, the newcomer to our group for that very reason, wasn’t filling it much.
“How much would Betron have loved seeing this?”
Allen echoed Iriel’s complaint.
“Heh heh! I love scenery like this too.”
Cracker tried once more to assert his presence, but got no reaction, same as before. He pouted and nagged at the two.
“I’m not someone with no presence, you know. I’m super important to my brothers. Show some interest and treat me special!”
“Yes, yes.”
Allen and Iriel nodded halfheartedly. For all his size, Cracker was more of a baby than Betron in some ways.
Seeming to realize it wasn’t working, he turned to me, the one least affected.
“What about you? Isn’t it better with me around? We can drink together at night—how great is that? Better than some nine-year-old who doesn’t even know booze, right? A hearty mountain man like me is way more fun! Haha!”
Always with the mountain man talk.
Cracker always called himself a mountain man. Claimed guys living in the mountains were the real deal.
Why a mountain man like him felt competitive with Betron was anyone’s guess.
I ignored his rambling and asked what I wanted to know.
“How much farther to the stronghold?”
“We’ll get there by dinner. Then we’ll have a proper feast. I’ll introduce you to my men and brothers. You’ll love ’em. I’ll show you how mountain folk party— so fun you’ll pass out!”
“Better pick up the pace.”
At my words, Cracker bellowed with laughter that echoed through the gorge.
“Gahaha! You’re already pumped, huh? You won’t be disappointed!”
I looked at him with pity.
They must not have heard it yet, but shouts and the clash of weapons were coming from ahead.
A battle had just broken out.
Not wanting to explain at length, I ignored him and spurred my horse’s flank.
Cracker hurriedly followed behind me, yelling.
“Let’s go together! The party won’t start till late anyway! No point rushing!”
I shook my head and galloped on.
The path widened gradually, soon opening into a broad basin.
The battlefield that came into view was a chaotic melee.
It was a fight between mountain bandits and a merchant group.