Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Translator : Elizabeth
After giving up my bed to Haley last night…. A night spent on the rarely used, hard and cold floor.
“Ugh, uh….”
Despite the clear sunlight of the countryside announcing the morning, I regained consciousness while frowning with a stiff moan. How long has it been since I fell asleep stretched out on the floor like this? Is it the first time since I left the city in a carriage? I endured it back then because I was in my 20s, but now I ache all over.
Massaging my shoulders from where I lay, I raised my upper body and checked the bed first with nearly closed eyes. However, for some reason, the bed was empty. Turning my gaze to where I felt a presence, Haley was sleeping within tossing distance.
Flinch.
I was startled seeing Haley lying on the floor and my body jerked. I thought she would naturally be on the bed. I gave up the bed for her, so why is she on the floor?
‘Are her sleeping habits bad?’
After thinking that while looking at Haley who had fallen into a deep sleep, I carefully got up so as not to make a sound and started the day. No matter how surprising an event happened to me, the world merely presents the same morning as always without interest. Still scratching my neck with half-closed eyes, I put on soil-stained gloves and went out to the field.
A guest is a guest, and work must be done as work. Whether it’s vegetables or fruits, if you miss the harvest time, it becomes a big problem in many ways. I approach the crops that have grown green and extend my hand. Farming work, which was clumsy at first, is now done effortlessly alone. I twist the tops of vegetables that grew as they pleased, or cut tough stems effortlessly with the metal part attached to the gloves. Although it couldn't be called a wide field, it was still a field that produced enough food for four or five people to eat.
Around the time I started to focus on the repetitive work that might take the whole day alone and shed drops of sweat.
“Yo, Bern!” “Ah, old man Helter… what brings you here?”
At the sight of the old man approaching while calling my name sociably from outside the fence, I greeted him back while wiping sweat with a cloth. Despite my question asking what brought him here, the old man walked thud thud toward the fence without a word.
“If you had such a young wife, you should have said so in advance!”
Walking over with a bent back, he opened his nearly closed eyes wide and said something like that.
“What kind of crazy talk is that?!”
An absurd shout that shot out almost reflexively. The old man’s gaze, which had been full of certainty, is dyed with doubt.
“Huh? Was she not?” “Yes… she is not, absolutely not.”
I answer dejectedly at old man Helter’s counter-question. If she were a hidden child, maybe… but a wife.
‘Come to think of it, such things were common ‘here’ too.’
Even though I cut him off saying it was a nonsensical misunderstanding, inwardly I accepted that it couldn’t be helped in this world. An era where engagement, which sounds like an old-fashioned word, as well as marriage with an unreasonable age difference, is nothing strange. I remembered hearing that in noble society, a marriage between a 12-year-old girl and a 53-year-old man took place sometime. Marriage between a girl who just became a middle school student and a man in his 50s…. Judging by modern values, it is unimaginable. Public power would probably step in and beat them up.
As I was waving my hands in denial at old man Helter’s question, the old man, who was staring at me blankly, asked continuously to solve his curiosity.
“Then who is that woman?” “Just, a child I knew a bit in the past….”
At the appropriate explanation, the old man’s face is dyed with regret. Old man Helter pouts his lips to one side and tilts his head as if something is regrettable.
“Hmm, is that so… something is regrettable.” “What is regrettable?”
I rebuke him with an attitude asking what he expected. In a remote village like this, everything becomes a spectacle. Starting from crops of peculiar shapes growing in the next-door neighbor’s garden to the love affairs of neighborhood kids. Old man Helter must have thought a fun incident occurred… and was the advance party who came to scout my house.
“It’s not something you should be particularly curious about, so go, shoo.” “Strange… I smell something interesting.” “You’re smelling wrong because you’ve aged.”
Lightly letting the old man’s meddling, which had zero respect for privacy, flow by, I flapped my hand.
“Geez, look at how he talks… do you think you won’t get old?”
Momentarily flaring up at the words that he aged, the old man strikes the fence thack with his cane. Anyway, from my position, it was best for the residents not to take an interest in Haley.
‘Can’t be helped.’
Spitting out a sigh inwardly, I looked at old man Helter who had no intention of leaving easily. Depending on how I handle this advance party, the attention level of the villagers afterward will be decided. A trump card to chase away a meddlesome country old man. I decide to use the ‘request for help with harvest season farming work’.
“If you’re free, why don’t you help harvest a bit.” “Oops, I suddenly remembered something I have to do….”
As soon as I brought up work, old man Helter started running away hurriedly with a comical exclamation.
“Goodbye then—”
I waved my hand at the bent back trying to leave the place hurriedly and offered the usual hand greeting. Since the intruder disappeared, it is time to focus on work again. Breathing out a refreshing and relieved sigh, I started harvesting again.
Time passed, and around when it became afternoon by sensation. Suddenly, a creak noise overlapped in the field where only the sound of plants swaying in the wind could be heard. A scream peculiar to wood heard from the old house. Turning my head toward the direction the sound came from, there was Haley blinking her sleepy eyes.
“You woke up?” “…Yees.”
A languid answer returning to a lukewarm question. As if the sleepiness still hadn’t gone away even after sleeping like that, she was nodding her head with her eyes half-closed. Seeing that she woke up only after the sun rose high in the sky, it seems she really fell into a deep sleep. Since the time is what it is, thinking she would feel hunger, I brought up the topic first.
“Let’s finish this and eat something.” “…Oka, y.”
Haley, who answers faithfully every time I ask, even while seemingly nodding off. That appearance, looking infinitely defenseless, felt a great disparity from the adventurer I had seen so far. To think she is managing as an adventurer with that kind of behavior. In a corner of my heart, I even felt proud.
Anyway, after finishing all the field work, I neatly organized the crops in the storage under the house. More than that… should I call it breakfast, or should I call it lunch? The food on the table was entirely vegetables. A situation where I had already become accustomed to a table without meat.
“So, what is the reason you found me?”
While standing and eating at the terribly healthy table, I asked Haley who was sitting first.
Crunch.
Haley’s mouth, which was chewing pickles with a refreshing sound, stops. Yesterday ended with crying without a proper conversation. If it’s now, when she has calmed down enough, I should be able to hear the reason.
Haley, who was restless at the question, bowed her head deeply, hesitated, and then opened her lips with difficulty.
“Please go to the city, with me.”
What came out after hesitation was a request impossible to understand. I, who had my arms crossed, tilted my head to one side and scratched near my temple with my index finger doubtfully as I spoke.
“…No, really why?”
That was not sarcasm, but pure curiosity. It’s funny to think this myself, but there was zero benefit for the current Haley to take me. Haley, who currently holds a unique title as an adventurer. On the other hand, this side is just a middle-aged man whose only learning is farming. Taking such a baggage to the city would mean losing even the little usefulness I have. Then, wouldn't it be better for each of us to be in a place that suits us, for each other's sake….
Despite my thoughts, Haley raised her head steadfastly and said.
“I, need you, Mister.”
Haley showing the will to take me to the city no matter what. Even for me, I didn’t want to live in the city while causing a nuisance to a kid I once took care of. In short, pride that is useless for living in the world. I can do something in the countryside in my own way, but if I return to the city, it seemed I wouldn’t be able to do anything. Besides, the life here I cultivated with great effort is regrettable to leave.
“Even so….”
Moving the hand that was scratching due to various regrets and difficulties to the top of my head, I blurred the end of my sentence. Then, Haley, seeming nervous… gathered both hands, placed them between her chest, looked up at me, and said.
“Just, just think of it as a repayment from a slave… okay?” “Uh, hmm….”
Haley’s trembling voice appealing to sympathy. If she says it to that extent, my conscience inevitably feels pricked. Children I handed over as if selling them off to surroundings anyway. Although it was the best choice because I couldn't handle it myself, it was indeed too sudden a farewell. A situation where it wouldn't be strange if it left a wound on a young heart.
Even so, since a decision didn’t stand, I decide to postpone the answer to within today.
“For now, I’ll think about it a little… and give you a definite answer within today.” “…Yes, understood.”
Haley accepting even an incomprehensible judgment. Like that, I suddenly stood at the crossroads of a lifetime choice. Since I shoved all the crops into storage for now, there was no more work left to do in the quiet countryside. I intended to organize my mind on what to do while wandering around the neighborhood in the appropriately remaining time, but….
“Hey! Hey Bern!” “Ah, Mister Droon.”
Then suddenly, Mister Droon approached panting, catching his breath that seemed like it would stop any moment. Come to think of it, it was Mister Droon who told me Haley came. What is it this time that he is making such a fuss? I’m already dying of a complicated mind. I asked the middle-aged man with a lukewarm face.
“What is it again? Looking as if you’ll die any moment….” “You, were a slave trader in the past?!”
A few words coming out of the mouth of the middle-aged man who opened his eyes wide. The moment I heard that, I felt like my heart sank.
“No, uh, that is….”
Hesitation following an embarrassed silence. That was admitting the previous question was true.
‘Damn, fuck.’
A situation where I made the worst response to a direct question. Along with the hesitation, only one sentence lingered in my head. I’m fucked.
If Mister Droon knows, everyone in the neighborhood knows. It was a proverb considered common sense in this rural village. Whether old man Helter overheard the conversation while hovering nearby. Or if the thin plank walls failed to block the sound completely. I don’t know what the cause is, but the conversation we just shared definitely leaked out, and now it has become difficult to live in the village just like before. Although it was a village where I built affection for 7 years, I cannot live with the stigma of a criminal.
Then there is only one choice left. Without talking long, after returning straight home, I started packing my things one by one.
“Mister?”
Seeing me packing as soon as I returned, Haley looks at me doubtfully and raises her voice. Haley looking bewildered at the abrupt situation. Without needing to explain at length, I speak briefly.
“We’re leaving here right now, help me pack.” “Ah, yes!”
As I revealed my intention to leave the house as if answering that question, Haley’s voice brightened significantly and vitality returned. My mood is the worst, but your mood looks good. They say someone’s misfortune is someone’s happiness…. Does this case apply too? Separate from the feeling of being plunged into hell, my hands moved really busily today.