Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Translator : Elizabeth
A little over an hour since I decided to leave the village. In that time, I was able to organize all my luggage and load myself onto the carriage Haley came in.
Time to liquidate the long seven-year rural life. The items left in my hand were just one small and trivial bundle. Minimal clothing and a glass jar containing pickled vegetables. Even a dusty money pouch that was in the corner of the old wardrobe. That was about everything I packed, claiming they were useful.
An early autumn afternoon with a cool breeze blowing. Perhaps because it was harvest season, the village entrance was quiet. A scenery that reminds me of the day I first came to the village. Naturally, there was no send-off for the hasty escape. There must be people who have already heard the rumors, and those who haven't.
Still, after staring blankly at the village where I spent seven years in my own way, I soon resigned myself and turned my gaze inside the carriage.
“Is there no one, you want to say goodbye to separately?”
Then, a short question coming from Haley’s side. Perhaps having learned how to drive a carriage, Haley was sitting in the front.
Come to think of it, there wasn't a separate coachman. In the corner of the cargo space, things like water or food that seemed to be used by Haley caught my eye. Hesitating to answer while looking toward the village was brief. Soon, I resign myself, turn my head away, and speak.
“No, let’s leave quickly.” “Ah, yees….”
At the firm answer, the sound of a snort cry was heard, and the wheels of the carriage began to move. Basically, the gaze directed at a slave trader is disgust. Even a few years ago when it was legal, disgust was daily life, so how much worse would it be now that it has become part of a completely criminal group?
‘The atmosphere might get weird if I say goodbye for no reason….’
Rather than receiving such gazes from the villagers, it would be right to leave with only good memories if possible. The sound of wooden wheels overlapping with the sound of horseshoes. Outside the carriage, the scenery of the village was getting farther away.
Like that, I left the village I had grown attached to as if running away. It would be a lie if I said no lingering feelings remained at all. Just like when I left the city 7 years ago.
Thud.
The carriage vibrates greatly as if bouncing upward.
“Ugh.”
An unsuppressable groan flows through my mouth. It feels like walking on a gravel road with my butt.
Thump.
Once again, the carriage bounces greatly upward. The moment my lower body, which had floated slightly, landed on the plank. The same shock hits my butt again.
“Ugh-guk.” “Are you… okay?”
Eventually, the carriage, which was going well, stopped, and Haley asked with a worried look from the front of the carriage.
“No….”
I barely answer while staggering and holding my butt. The reunion with a carriage after a long time was the worst. Honestly speaking, I was close to my limit. It might be different if it were a flat land between cities where carriages often come and go. There’s no way the carriage road leading to a remote countryside would be proper. The tips of unwithered weeds were visible outside the carriage window. The pain felt in my butt was at a level where I could memorize the intervals of gravel under the wheels.
A state where I couldn’t say I was okay even as empty words. I felt this when leaving the city too, but I thought the people here ride this kind of thing well.
“Then, let’s rest for a moment….” “No, don’t stop, let’s keep going.”
Haley standing up from the front as if nothing was wrong. Despite her words considerate of me, I cut her off firmly. I’ve said it several times, but this place is a rural backwater on the outskirts. It must have taken a good week to get here. In other words, it means there is no end if we stop one by one.
“Even so….” “It’s okay.”
I steeled myself and spoke despite the hesitation mixed in my voice. Why, isn’t there a saying that it’s better to get the beating over with first? Thick and short pain would be better than long and thin pain.
“Then, I’ll go as fast as possible.” “Huh? Wait, what…?”
That was my thorough miscalculation, and the price was cruel. The carriage increasing speed by two levels in an instant.
“Ugh-guk, ack…?!”
The rhythm of pebbles beating my butt becomes exciting. Only then do I realize something is wrong. By any chance, was that going slowly just a moment ago? Thinking of being considerate of me who is not used to carriages?
Regret sweeps through my mind, but it is already too late.
‘It’s breaking…!’
Like that, my butt ended up facing a time it could never forget for a lifetime.
It has already been a week of surrendering my butt to medieval-style torture. Was the feeling of meat being pounded by a cutlet hammer like this?
“We arrived, Mis…ter?”
Although we arrived at the destination after twists and turns, the scenery of the city seen after a few years wasn’t what was important.
“Ugh-uh….”
Holding only a bizarre moan despite Haley’s worry, I held my waist and got up from the plank called a seat. My back aching from sleeping with only a fabric laid on the bare floor. My butt where tenderizing action occurred in time with the exciting rhythm. With a week of carriage travel, my body was already a rag.
I just want to lay my body on a fluffy bed. Engulfed only by that single desire, I fumbled in the empty air and asked.
“Ho, where is the house…?” “I-I’m sorry… there are still carriage procedures left.” “Kuh.”
What returned to the desperate question was a few words of apology. In time with that, I spat out a single word mixed with pain as if coughing up blood. As expected, even in a world like this, complicated administrative procedures are bound to exist.
While waiting for the remaining procedures with dead fish eyes. A man approached from beyond the lined-up carriages and hovered around as if he had some business.
“And here is… Ah, it was you, Lord Haley! We will take care of the rest, so you may go ahead.” “Thank you.”
Then, out of nowhere, didn't he say they would take care of it themselves and that Haley could go ahead?
‘Then what about me?’
At the man’s words, such a thought suddenly crossed my mind. He pinpointed Haley and said she could go ahead, but…. Naturally, it didn’t seem like I was included in that.
While I was standing blankly, observing the situation stupidly. Haley, unable to watch any longer, came over and pulled my arm.
“This person is also my companion… I can take him, right?” “Yes, of course.”
The man permitting refreshingly at Haley’s few words. Is this the thing called the authority of a Ruby-rank adventurer? It seems being famous isn’t only about bad things.
“Let’s go quickly.” “Uh-uh, okay….”
While I was looking at the man with suspicious eyes. Haley urging us to go quickly with a childlike smile. My legs, which were trembling from being in the carriage the whole time, were dragged by that force too easily.
While being dragged along weakly, trudging. My mind cleared a bit at the scent of bread that wasn’t unfamiliar.
‘The bakery here still exists….’
Only then does the appearance of the street come into view. There were shops that were in my memory, and shops that were not. Buildings I saw for the first time lined up on the street of familiar form. Since it has been 7 years, there must be things that have changed.
Surely I often bought food on this street, and if I pass the intersection we are passing now, turn the corner, and use the narrow alley as a shortcut, our training center was there.
‘…Huh?’
A short sigh flows in my heart. Come to think of it, we were walking along that path even now. Passing this intersection, turning the corner. If we use the narrow alley as a shortcut…?
‘Ah.’
Although a bit old, just like the appearance in my memory. There was a very familiar private house there. This place, which was once a slave training center. Naturally, for me who thought it would have become a different appearance after the state reclaimed it, it was something to be speechless about.
“Here….” “I bought it, this entire building.”
Before I could ask anything with a dumbfounded look, Haley answered as if beating me to the punch as soon as she saw the sign of me trying to ask. So, you bought this house entirely?
It was an answer enough to make me lose my mind. Originally, the training center was owned by the state from the building to the land. If it was a price to rent like a slave trader a few years ago, maybe…. Buying land and a building against the state. Although it looks like just a small land with an old house attached, if she bought it entirely, it must have cost a tremendous fortune.
Forgetting even the pain of travel at the appearance far exceeding expectations, I stared blankly at the house that was once a training center. Losing my mind at the nostalgic scenery was brief. A slender touch pulled me slightly.
“Let’s go in, quickly.” “Yeah, uh… let’s do that.”
Haley’s expectant urging tickles my ears. I open the door and enter amidst a somewhat loosening answer. Beyond the creaking door sound. The inside of the house, which kept its old appearance intact, welcomed me. This house, where even the basement entrance is still open, just had everything become a little more worn in the flow of time. As if waiting for the owner to return, it remained in this spot with a dusty appearance.
A sense of relief indescribable in words covered my heart. It has already been 7 years since I left here. As if knowing this was the place to return to, strength left my shoulders and I slumped. Unconsciously, my body had been wanting this place. This place where I unknowingly felt comfort.
My body, which had been drunk on nostalgia, began to throb. Since you returned here, rest now. It seemed my exhausted body was saying that to me.
There were still many stories to share with Haley, but…. I decide to postpone that for a moment and entrust my body to the bed.
“…Sorry as soon as we arrive, but can I rest a bit?” “Yes, as much as you want.”
As I asked for understanding with a short apology, Haley looked toward the bed with a faint smile.
The past week. My body, which had been overworked on hard planks and dirt floors, ended up blowing my consciousness away just like that at the fluffiness of the bed and the comfort brought by the familiar place.
“Good night.”
Inside the consciousness fading as if melting. It seemed I faintly heard Haley’s affectionate voice.