012. Awakening (1)
The information I obtained from the marketplace in Roben was this.
“Armang Blacksmith? I know. About seven years ago, right? The entire family died from an unknown illness. Only the granddaughter of that old man survived. Now… she supposedly lives in the slums of the back alleys.”
Lancelot’s entire family had passed away. The only silver lining was that the mother he had been searching for was still alive.
“……”
Lancelot’s steps were filled with unyielding strength, leaving no room for hesitation.
Every footstep carried a dense weight of doubt. Even I struggled to grasp it, yet Lancelot must have been finding it nearly impossible to endure this situation.
‘Count Armance had promised a massive support fund.’
That was the condition Count Armance had set for registering Lancelot as a bastard.
Added to that, he had mentioned sending money home every month. The reality that his mother was now living in the slums felt like an unbearable contradiction.
“The address written on the paper is here, Lancelot.”
“Um.”
We walked in silence for a long time before finally stopping. The address pointed to the outskirts of the slums, not the central mansions.
‘Can people even live here?’
The scene of the back-alley slums looked like it could never be joked about as a place to live. Even in broad daylight, an oppressive gloom filled the air, and the stuffy, musty scent pierced straight into the lungs.
“Here…”
Lancelot stood frozen with tension, staring at the half-collapsed house. No, could one even call that a house?
The address on the paper… the place we had come to find the mother looked like a house, but it wasn’t. The haphazard patchwork of boards scavenged from a construction site clearly revealed the wretched living conditions.
Cough! Cough!
As expected.
A rough, ragged cough echoed from inside the shanty. From outside, it was obvious the person inside was far from healthy.
“……”
Lancelot’s head turned. He looked at me with the face of a student desperately seeking answers, as if unsure what to do next.
“From now on, it’s your turn. The fact that I helped you find your mother is true, but in the end, you are the important one.”
“…… Understood.”
Swoosh.
Lancelot exhaled deeply and took a step forward. Standing before the tilted door, he hesitated for a moment before raising his fist and knocking.
Knock! Knock!
“…… Cough! Who is it? Cough!”
The voice from inside answered weakly. Lancelot, frozen stiff, answered with obvious hesitation, fumbling his words.
“I… I came to see you. Madam Armang.”
“Cough! Cough! ……Me?”
Squeak!
The door opened. What appeared was an emaciated middle-aged woman.
“Who are you?”
Who are you. After more than ten years, the mother’s question upon finally meeting her son.
Lancelot’s tightly pressed lips trembled. His straight eyes shook violently like reeds in the wind, as if he himself were the sinner.
Madam Armang—Lancelot’s mother—was a picture of utter exhaustion. Whether she had stopped eating or bathing properly, her haggard complexion carried a profound sense of incongruity for someone who had been promised enormous support money.
“I… I am your…”
Trembling.
Lancelot’s shoulders shook pathetically. Did the mother not recognize me? Having grown so much that the son who once played in the dirt could no longer be recognized… had I changed that much? The emotion was clear.
“My son.”
A thick, low voice echoed through the back alleys.
“S-son? Lancelot…?”
The eyes of Madam Armang shook violently upon hearing the fact. Like meeting someone she should never have met, the gesture of seeing herself as a sinner had the power to twist the heart painfully.
“You have changed a lot. Has a lot of time passed.”
With a trembling voice, Lancelot forced a smile. No, he wished to smile. The man who had no talent for acting tried to smile awkwardly with a gesture that anyone would find strange.
But.
“You… you shouldn’t come here. Hurry, hurry back. Go back to the Count’s house.”
After more than ten years of reunion, the mother did not open her arms to embrace her son. Instead, she scolded him like a son who had grown up.
She spoke while lowering her head, as if she did not want to show the poverty smeared across her face to her son.
“Don’t come looking for me. Don’t think about it. Your mother is the wife of Count Armance. I am not your mother.”
“……!”
The words that cut the heart more cruelly than anything else made Lancelot’s body tremble violently.
He must have expected it. The mother who had warmly smiled when the son covered in dust returned from playing in the dirt. But… reality was the complete opposite of his expectations.
Madam Armang’s trembling voice did not stop there. As if she had made a major decision, she shouted as if cursing.
“G-go! Hurry! Don’t come looking for me again! Don’t ever come back!”
Bang-!
And the half-open door slammed shut firmly. Lancelot stood there for a long time without a word, then turned his body.
The corners of the guy’s mouth twisted into a smile. Without needing to ask, one could see how well he understood that he was trying to act bright… a smile heavy with sadness.
“…… Done. Good thing. This is enough.”
“‘Done’? What is this now?”
Even I, watching the situation unfold, was left speechless. Done? What exactly had been done? Had I come all this way for this? Was this reunion with the family I had longed for enough?
Thud, thud.
“Where are you going?”
“To the lodging. I have achieved my purpose. Now I suppose I can prepare to return.”
Lancelot’s steps returning in the direction we had come carried no strength. His usual firm, angular shoulders drooped pitifully, as if expressing his emotions.
“……”
Watching the back of the guy gradually distance, I turned my head.
Just like when I had first arrived, the closed door stood guard, tilted. Suddenly, I wondered about Madam Armang’s intention inside.
Her haggard complexion was filled with an indescribably sad longing. Yet there must have been a reason she had driven away her son so cruelly after the reunion.
Knock! Knock!
I immediately began acting. If curious, ask. Of course, Madam Armang probably would not answer simply, but I could not stand still.
Squeak!
The door opened again.
Was she hiding Lancelot’s departure through the gaps in the boards that made up the outer wall of the house? She looked older than ten years in that short time.
“What business is left?”
Madam Armang, thinking I was Lancelot’s friend, spoke with sunken eyes.
“Money?”
I asked without hesitation what I had been curious about. It was the question of where all the money that should have been in her possession had gone.
Looking at her now, more than a few doubts arose. Remembering the support fund from Count Armance and the monthly money Lancelot sent, there was no reason for her to live in such a place.
Seven years ago, her family had all died from an unknown illness, and Madam Armang living alone in the back-alley shanty was another question entirely.
‘There is something. Something is there.’
Hearing the cruelly harsh words, Lancelot must not have been in his right mind, but I was not. I intended to dig into this strange incongruity.
“Money? Ah! Money! I almost forgot. You were his proxy. I didn’t expect you to come in the evening.”
“……?”
But the following answer from Madam Armang was truly bizarre.
Thud. She entered the house, made a lot of noise for a while, then finally appeared holding a small pouch in front of me.
‘This…?’
Taking the pouch, my eyes widened upon checking the contents.
Inside the pouch was money. An amount so large that it was impossible for someone living in such a back-alley shanty to touch.
“Lancelot’s visit was an unexpected matter… I must tell you. And once again, please take care of that child…”
“Hah.”
Because of the sudden anger, my face twisted instantly.
The puzzle in my head was fitting. Although the given clues were insufficient, I was not a fool who could not infer this situation.
“Why does it seem the amount is less than last time? I heard it was much more than this.”
I murmured calmly.
With fingers full of dissatisfaction, I brushed the pouch. Every time, the ‘jingle!’ of coins rang pleasantly.
“Sorry, sorry. I know that holy water and elixirs are expensive… The young master said he would give this as leniency.”
Young master?
My head tilted oddly.
“If it’s the young master, are you referring to someone from the Armance County?”
“Y-yes. Maybe you…?”
The situation was simple and clear.
Count Armance’s registering Lancelot as a bastard was a fact.
But the aftermath was the problem. They periodically extracted large sums from Madam Armang. Using the son, Lancelot, as a hostage, for refusing to give elixirs or holy water for some reason.
“Give this back! That’s money for Lancelot!”
Whish!
Madam Armang, feeling something had gone wrong, reached out. But I was not someone ordinary middle-aged woman could take the pouch from.
“I will give this to Lancelot. It will be the first thing he sees upon returning.”
“Wh-what…?”
“I roughly understand the situation. Count Armance. They must have blackmailed the lady there. Demanding money and telling him not to meet.”
“H-how…?”
Madam Armang with a dazed face let out a groan.
Count Armance would have no easier prey than this.
For a noble world, or rather, a woman who knew nothing about knights, using ‘elixirs’ as a pretext to extract money was extremely easy.
Moreover.
The mother’s unconditional love for blood ties ignited the fire. Her own well-being, the reality she was in, nothing in mind… mothers’ love is generally like that.
“Calm down and listen. Something has gone terribly wrong. There is no reason at all for you to coldly reject Lancelot and live in this collapsing house.”
Whish!
I turned my body with that word stored.
I planned to catch Lancelot who had returned to the lodging first. He too must know the reason his mother rejected her son.
“You… who are you? What relation do you have with Lancelot…?”
Stutter!
The dazed voice of Madam Armang echoed from behind as I walked away. I stopped for a moment, without turning my head, and said.
“Just an acquaintance.”