Chapter 41
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Epaulet
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"Didn't I tell you we'd meet again later?"
Kain.
The old man was standing right there.
"......"
I swallowed hard.
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
I tried to play it cool, tilting my head cockily.
"How the hell did a tiresome old fart like you know I was here?"
"No matter how far you run, you're still in the palm of my hand, kid."
Kain chuckled softly,
and lifted the foot he'd been using to pin down the unconscious Baekrin.
"You busted out of jail, right? So of course you'd be racking that brain of yours.
You were probably planning to get as far away as possible, weren't you?"
"Damn, that gives me chills."
An old, stinky stalker uncle?
It made goosebumps rise all over my body.
I clicked my tongue and jerked my chin toward his empty sleeve.
"What happened to your arm? Lose it gambling or something?"
Or did he donate it to some new era like in that famous manga?
Kain glanced at his flapping left sleeve,
"Something like that. Thanks to someone."
"Who, me?"
"Who else but you?"
So it was my fault.
Fuck, everything's always my fault somehow.
I spread drugs across the kingdom? My fault.
People got hooked on them? My fault.
I tarnished some family's honor? My fault again.
Now you're missing an arm, and that's my fault too?
"Yeah, fuck it... I'm basically the king of this shithole."
Whenever something shitty happens, just blame me first.
I felt insanely wronged, but now wasn't the time to wallow in feelings.
I tightened my grip on Noy in my arms
and took a step back.
"So, what's your business?"
I glanced at Baekrin still lying there,
then locked eyes with Kain.
"Did that bitch Sharl send you, or the duke?"
My words made Kain's eyebrow twitch.
"Hah, look at you. Not even calling her 'lady' anymore?"
"Lady my ass. She's just a crazy bitch."
I spat on the ground.
"They work their daughter like a dog, push their old man to off himself.
I get falsely accused and locked up, and what? Punishment must fit the crime? What a load of bullshit."
Now just hearing 'Kaintrea'
gave me high blood pressure even if I didn't have it before.
Packing pure malice into my words,
I bared my teeth and growled.
Then,
"Watch your mouth. Unless you want your tongue ripped out."
Kain warned in a low, gravelly voice.
Just that voice alone sent chills down my spine.
Could I win? No way in hell.
Could I run? The second I turned my back, he'd cleave me in two.
Even with one arm missing, a rotten kunai is still a kunai, an old tiger is still a tiger.
Baekrin lying there like a sack of trash proved it.
Even so,
"Try ripping it out if you can."
I drew the dagger from my bosom.
A cheap piece of junk I took from some thug I knocked out. Barely familiar in my hand.
Still better than nothing.
Left arm: kid. Right hand: shitty dagger.
Shoulder and thigh wounds not fully healed.
Body that hadn't slept properly since jail.
Every debuff in the book stacked on me.
Opponent: the old monster who flattened Baekrin in an instant.
Even at full health, I'd always just gotten my ass kicked by him.
I knew his strength better than anyone.
"I won't go down easy like some rag doll."
Fuck that, did I plan to get caught without a fight?
At least a last-ditch struggle,
so if I get nabbed and die, it'd feel less unfair.
Kain stared at me silently,
then burst into empty laughter.
"What do you plan to do with that? While holding a kid?"
"Gotta do something if I wanna live, right?"
"You idiot."
And suddenly, he strode toward me.
"D-don't come closer! I'll stab you?!"
A lame villain line slipped out automatically.
I swung the knife in a feint,
but he didn't flinch, walking right up to my face and stopping.
Didn't even draw his sword. Just walked up casually.
As my brain froze at the bizarre behavior,
thwack.
Kain raised his only hand
and lightly grabbed my shoulder.
"Put that away. It's embarrassing."
"......What?"
"I'm not here to catch you."
Kain nodded toward the corner of the harbor.
"Don't you need a ship?"
I stared at him blankly.
What the hell was this nonsense? Ghost eating naengmyeon?
Or had age finally caught up and dementia kicked in?
Smack!
"Fuck! Why'd you hit me!"
"Felt like I had to smack you for some reason."
After all these beatings,
he could read my mind and hit without me saying a word.
Damn superhuman old bastard.
I rubbed my splitting head,
half-doubting as I asked.
"You're... not gonna catch me now?"
"Nope."
"Why?"
I kept my suspicious glare.
A lifetime of betrayal made sudden kindness hard to trust.
"Can't believe it. Show me proof, old man."
"......Proof?"
"Yeah, what wind's blowing to make you suddenly..."
Kain sighed deeply,
smack!
Another flick to my forehead.
"Ow!"
"You talk way too fucking much, you little shit."
He shoved his grumpy face in mine and growled.
"I got nowhere to go."
"......Pardon?"
"Fired. Sacked."
He patted his empty sleeve again.
"One-armed knights aren't needed, apparently.
Says the lady you keep cursing."
"......For real?"
Kain gave a bitter smile
and pulled back his coat without another word.
Left arm severed below the elbow.
Properly treated,
the cleanly folded stump of flesh.
But my eyes lingered elsewhere.
"......"
Gone. The epaulet.
He hated wearing armor, but day or night, in any outfit,
even pajamas, it was always on his shoulder.
The Kaintrea crest epaulet.
It was gone.
Just an empty shoulder staring back blankly.
"......It's real."
I blanked out for a moment.
Having spent time with him,
I knew what that epaulet meant to the old man.
The label that followed him.
Even admitting his lowly birth without shame,
it was the knighthood he'd earned.
The medal and pride of a lifetime's struggle.
The proof of it all.
To him,
the epaulet was his life's pride itself.
Taking it off meant it was truly over.
"That answer your question, kid?"
To Kain's teasing tone,
I forced a smirk like it was no big deal.
"Aw, poor old timer.
No wife, no kids, and now fired from your lifelong job?"
Might as well go all in and mock him hard.
"Who'll take you in now? Time to collect scraps?"
He didn't get mad at my taunts.
Instead, he grinned,
"Yeah. So I thought..."
He gripped my shoulder hard with his right hand.
Grip so strong my shoulder bone felt crushed.
"Since it's come to this, I'll leech off you."
"......What?"
"Take responsibility. This is your fault."
Fuck what?
You creampied, so take responsibility?
So he's unemployed now and wants me to support him?
"Did I fuck you? You think I'd agree to that?"
Party's already a clusterfuck of trash,
and now adding a cranky one-armed geezer?
Don't talk shit.
"You don't have a choice."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Didn't I ask if you needed a ship?"
Kain pulled out a crumpled leather ID from his bosom and waved it.
Kingdom seal, worn proof of identity.
"I'm not a knight anymore, but I'm still a kingdom commoner."
He tapped his ID,
pointing alternately at Noy in my arms and Baekrin on the ground.
"I know you're a no-ID drifter.
This black-haired girl's a foreigner, no papers.
And the kid you're holding? Slum rat, right?"
"......"
Hit the nail on the head.
Forced breakthrough? Impossible.
Bribe? No dice.
I'd been banking on gambling till moments ago.
"Seems like I'm the only one here who can get on a proper ship."
Kain grinned.
"Me? Free as a bird now, can go anywhere."
"......Hah."
His smugness pissed me off,
but I had to admit he was our lifeline.
"Fine. Old man can board."
I crossed my arms.
"But how you gonna get us on?
Know a captain? Own a boat?"
"Captains? I know a few..."
Kain shook his head.
"But they won't risk their necks for you."
True, not just life on the line,
300 gold bounty? Sell their own mom for that.
"So what now?"
"That's why."
Kain lowered his voice, whispering in my ear.
"There's a safer way."
"What?"
"Cargo."
He nodded at a discarded crate on the ground.
"Got spots on a westbound ship.
I go as passenger, you three mix in as 'luggage'."
So stuff us three in crates as personal cargo.
Genius, honestly.
As I wavered at the sweet offer,
"So, what does the lady think?"
Kain suddenly addressed the fallen Baekrin.
"You've been awake a while, right?"
"......"
"Lying there like that, waiting for an opening?
Gonna go for the nape this time?"
Her shoulder twitched.
Our eyes snapped to her.
Silence hung,
"......Tch."
Baekrin clicked her tongue and sprang up.
As if nothing happened.
She brushed dirt off her butt, grumbling.
"......Monster old man."
Her eyes held irritation
and undeniable awe.
"What the hell, weren't you dead?"
"......I'm alive."
She glanced sharply at Kain,
"Because he didn't kill me."
Lips pursed, she admitted defeat straightforwardly.
I nodded too.
"Yeah, good you're alive, you worthless bitch."
"......"
"What? Dodge and stab? You'd die? Pffft.
Clearly took one hit and dropped like a sack."
Acting all genius, grabbing every pose, now look at you. Serves you right.
Advanced knight, aura user, my ass.
How's it feel getting your ass handed by one?
I'd love a deep interview.
Me yapping excitedly,
Baekrin trembling all over.
Kain watching said to me,
"Why are you gloating?"
"She's trash, so calling her trash. Problem?"
"Hm. Still, her moves were way better than yours, you blockhead."
Unwanted fact-check shoved in.
"With your pathetic skills, you couldn't touch a hair on her head."
"True. This slave's ugly and total trash."
"Yeah, your mug is ugly too."
"......Mister, I like you."
Fucking assholes.
Teaming up out of nowhere to gang up on innocent me.
Baekrin even upgraded from 'old man' to 'mister'.
And Kain, you dog of an old man.
15 years slaving for you,
and you side with her over me?
Makes me wanna cry.
"Hey, slave."
Baekrin, perked up, jutted her chin at me.
"Do as mister says."
"Crawl in a box?"
"Sticking around here's hopeless. Better as cargo."
She nodded slightly to Kain.
A sign of agreement.
Kain chuckled, slapping my shoulder with one hand.
"That's that, slave boy."
"......"
"Guess the pecking order's set? You trash fuck."
"Right. I'm the employer, he's the slave."
They're playing drums and cymbals, sucking each other off.
No one's on my side...
"Ah-bbang."
"...Right, my Noy's here."
At least you're on my side.
"Daddy. Hungry. Bread."
"......None. Hold it."
Useless kid, sure.
But better than nothing.
I sighed, readjusting Noy on my back.
Kain and Baekrin, both stronger than me, say so.
What can I do? Follow.
Wasn't party leader anyway,
and if Kain decides to tag along openly,
no one can stop him.
Why? We'd both get wrecked.
My body remembers the beatings,
Baekrin just got flattened too.
Can't block him, so accept and think positive.
"Time's short. Prep before the ship sails."
"......Got it. Let's go."
Thus, our group set off.
.....
Hooded deep: me, Noy, Baekrin.
Ahead, walking through the dark,
one-armed back.
No longer knight or anything,
shabby, old, crippled.
No, literally arm-crippled...
Even so,
"......Fuck, feels reassuring."
Right now,
he looked bigger than anyone in the world.