Chapter 10: Empty Hands
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 10: Empty Hands
“We’ll cross into Hus by tomorrow morning, and after another half-day’s travel, we’ll be in Dakuren City.”
Sitting by the fire, Arasen looked delighted when I handed her a well-grilled sausage.
She had probably intended to buy a single potato for dinner at the rest stop again, but I had stopped her and loaded the carriage with various groceries instead. That seemed to have put her in a great mood.
Apparently, she hadn’t been able to prepare the necessary ingredients for the journey because she was in such a hurry.
Feeling somewhat responsible, I spent a bit of my own money as well.
“It’s impressive. These are groceries sold at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere, yet they’re so fresh.”
“Aha! That is the pride of Hus!”
Arasen, blowing on the steam rising from a halved sausage, began her explanation with sparkling eyes.
“Do you know about magitech?”
“Well, only that it’s about applying magic to daily life to make things convenient.”
“Then you know everything! That’s all I know, too. But it’s a fact that the magitech researchers of Hus developed various magic tools to ensure maximum freshness during distribution, which is why it’s like this!”
“In Hus?”
“Yes!”
At this, Arasen puffed out her chest with pride.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but Hus was a rear base responsible for logistics until the Final War. Even though we couldn’t go to the front lines to fight like the men, the women joined the army and worked hard on the supply lines! Since then, we’ve been able to supply high-quality ingredients thanks to the cooling and heating devices developed by Lady Narupa, the top mage of the Magic Tower City!”
Hmm, that’s strange.
Up until the end of the war, my unit mostly received dried jerky or salted foods.
The higher-ups probably embezzled the good stuff or something.
It was a time of global food shortages, after all.
That’s likely why this all feels so foreign to me, seeing it for the first time now.
“Of course, it’s a small contribution compared to the sacrifices made by the men. Still, I worked hard transporting supplies by carriage. I did it hoping to be of even the slightest help to the front lines.”
“Arasen, were you a war veteran?”
When this unexpected fact was revealed, Arasen gave a bashful laugh.
“I’m not really at the level of being called a veteran. I just wore a uniform and moved things in a carriage…”
“I am grateful for the peace achieved through the blood of you and your comrades.”
I, who had been grilling mackerel, suddenly stood and offered a salute. Arasen froze.
“…May this peace never be stained with blood again.”
It was just a salute, and I had done it while sitting, but Arasen looked strangely choked up.
“Thank you.”
“I should be the one thanking you. For protecting the country.”
“It was nothing… I really didn’t do much…”
“Logistics is incredibly important in war, you know.”
“Is that so? Hehe!”
Arasen took a bite of the sausage.
“Mmm~.”
I tried some too, and the juices burst forth. It was incomparably more delicious than anything in Lukart.
“It’s a Hus sausage.”
“I can certainly see why you said there was nowhere good to eat in Lukart.”
“Once you get to Hus, you can eat these every single day!”
Her face was full of pride. I felt that if the locals loved their land this much, it was worth visiting.
Even if the fact that the roles of men and women were extremely conservative there weighed on my mind.
“Now, you shouldn’t eat only meat. Here.”
I made a salad and topped it with grilled mackerel, which I had carefully deboned and cooked until it was glistening with oil.
As I handed her the bowl, Arasen seemed even more moved than before.
“Why are you being so nice to me? You’re not actually trying to hit on me, are you?”
“Absolutely not. I know my place.”
I answered with a smile, but Arasen flinched slightly.
“I’ve never seen a man like this. Being kind to a woman, spending money on her… even someone as thick-skinned as me doesn’t know what to do with herself.”
“Haha, still, a meal with your lover back home would be better, wouldn’t it?”
“Of course!”
We immediately focused on eating. It was a rich meal with plenty of vegetables and meat.
I felt a bit of regret that I couldn’t make a dressing.
“Once we get to Dakuren City, I’m going to collect the immigrant transport fee and go straight to my boyfriend. We’re going to eat so much delicious food!”
“I can see how much you treasure him.”
“Naturally! We’re childhood friends, after all. We’ve been a match made in heaven since the day we were born.”
Childhood friends… I’m envious.
Everyone I could have called a childhood friend was killed by the Demons when we were young.
Perhaps that was the catalyst for the birth of the being known as the Bloodhound.
“My boyfriend has been frail since he was a child, so he barely managed to avoid conscription. On the condition that I went in his place! Now that the war is over, I’m dreaming of a sweet future together.”
“But if you were a veteran, didn’t you receive a fair amount of compensation?”
At that, Arasen pointed toward the carriage.
“That’s all of it.”
Just a single freight carriage?
“Wait, why? You’re a veteran.”
“For the soldiers in the rear, especially the women, even that carriage was something to be grateful for. And even that, I only recently took out a loan to make it fit for passengers.”
They really are heartless toward women.
I was about to ask if there wasn’t her boyfriend’s money or national subsidies, but I stopped myself.
Arasen had already mentioned before that such things were considered a man’s money alone.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how much is the immigrant transport fee?”
“Hehe.”
Arasen confidently wiped the mackerel oil from her lips.
“It’s a whopping 3 million Dalk!”
That’s not bad.
It’s less than the national subsidy, but it’s still a very decent amount.
“I’m going straight to see my boyfriend with that money. Ugh, I bet that brat was playing around with other women while I was gone! But who’s the woman who actually brings home the bacon? That’s right, me! Arasen! In the end, he won’t be able to get away from me~.”
So there are other women.
What a bitter reality.
Since there are so few men, I suppose it can’t be helped.
Though that doesn’t apply to me.
In fact, I’ve almost half-given up on romance.
Sigh, my national subsidy might be cut off soon, too.
“Last time, as soon as I got back and gave him his living expenses, he said, ‘Arasen, you’re the only one for me!’ Hahat!”
But you know.
The more I listened to this carriage driver’s energetic voice, the more it sounded like a desperate struggle to hide her own sorrow.
I silently deboned the remaining mackerel and moved the meat to Arasen’s bowl.
“…You’re very kind.”
Even Arasen seemed awkward whenever I did something for her.
“If only our Fran were even a little bit like this…”
I decided to pretend I didn’t hear that last part.
* * *
The next day, just as Arasen had said, the carriage safely entered Hus in the morning and Dakuren City half a day later.
After exchanging smiles and farewells, Arasen hurried toward the carriage station.
“Over here, over here! I brought a man from Lukart! Hurry up and give me the fee!”
When she presented the certificate personally written by the House of Count Dakuus, the carriage station employee even patted her on the back and praised her.
“Here, 3 million Dalk. Don’t get robbed; take it and go straight home.”
“Hehe, I’m going straight to the bank anyway. I have to pay off my loan.”
“You’re hardworking, Arasen. You’ll be rich soon.”
“I have to get married!”
“I’m jealous of women with boyfriends. Introduce me to yours sometime.”
“Don’t you dare even look at him!”
After a brief moment of banter, Arasen left the carriage station with the envelope of money, looking around cautiously for pickpockets.
“Oh?”
In the distance, she spotted her boyfriend running toward her and waved.
“Fran! Over here! You came to meet—”
Thwack!
Fran, who hadn’t slowed down, punched her in the cheek, sending her sprawling onto the street.
“You bitch. Didn’t I tell you to leave plenty of money last time?”
Not yet satisfied, Fran stomped on Arasen’s arm.
“Ugh…! I’m sorry… I had just taken out the loan, so I didn’t have…”
“And now you’re talking back!”
He began to stomp on her indiscriminately, refusing to listen to her excuses.
“Talking back! Talking back! Talking back! How dare you talk back when I’m gracious enough to date you!”
The women passing by looked on with indifference.
A man hitting a woman was a common sight. It was something that happened often in Lukart as well.
“Do you know how embarrassed I was when I said I’d treat the guys at the gathering but didn’t have enough money?!”
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I wasn’t thinking…”
Repeating apologies for reasons she didn’t even know, Arasen held out the envelope of money.
“Look at this…! I made a lot of money this time. It’s 3.3 million Dalk!”
“Really?”
At the mention of money, Fran stopped the beating as if it had never happened and snatched the envelope.
It was 3.3 million Dalk—the 3 million fee plus the 500,000 Dalk she had received from Alto, minus the costs for speed buffs and carriage maintenance.
“It really is.”
“I did well, right?”
“You think this makes up for leaving without giving me money? Tsk… still, you earned quite a bit. Good job.”
Fran, having estimated the amount, turned his back to leave.
“F-Fran! If you take all of that, I won’t even be able to pay the interest on my loan.”
“What?”
When Arasen hurriedly grabbed him, Fran glared at her, his eyes sharp.
“What did you say?”
“The carriage… the upgrade costs… the loan…”
“This is unbelievable.”
Fran let out a hollow laugh and thrust the envelope back at her.
“Take it, take it all. Are you possessed by a money demon? Your money is too filthy to use. Here, take it!”
“No, it’s not that, just a little bit for the interest…”
“I said take it!”
When he finally hurled the envelope onto the ground, Arasen scrambled to pick up the scattered bills and ran back to Fran, holding them out.
“I don’t want it!”
“I was wrong. I was wrong. I’ll give you all of it. I’m sorry. I was being inconsiderate.”
“I have my pride. You expect me to take back something I gave away?”
Even though it was Arasen’s money to begin with, Fran acted as if it were his own.
In the end, Arasen tearfully forced the envelope back into Fran’s arms.
Only then did Fran accept it with feigned reluctance, before uttering words that pierced Arasen’s heart one last time.
“I was going to have dinner with you since you worked hard, but forget it. I’m going to the salon, so eat by yourself or go back to work, do whatever you want.”
“B-but last time you said you’d eat dinner with me when I got back…”
“So it’s my fault now?”
“No, no. I’ll have dinner ready and wait for you, so come when you’re not angry anymore. Let’s eat together.”
“I’m not coming!”
Arasen stood for a long time, watching Fran’s retreating back as he stomped away.
Women passing by the dazed girl clicked their tongues.
“Honestly, she should have just given it to him when he asked. Why did she have to act up?”
Arasen listened in silence, then looked down at her empty palms.
Just moments ago, these two hands had held an envelope containing over 3 million Dalk.
Just last night, these two hands had held a bowl filled with salad, sausage, and grilled mackerel.
Before that, she had used these hands to return the salute of the man who had honored her.
But now, her hands were empty.
More than the envelope of money, the traces of warmth she had received from that man until this morning lingered longer, slowly turning cold.