Chapter 104: Chapter 127 - The return of the prodigal son (3)
Once, twice, three tis.
My mother’s hands are busy adding water to the stew.
Since he was young, Goethe loved watching his mother cook and eagerly awaited the scent of the fragrant food she prepared with the tips of her fingers.
The current concentration is probably appropriate.
Four tis, five tis, six tis...
But at so point, the taste Goethe rembered began to fade.
Even now, Goethe rembered it.
In front of the kitchen, his mother seed apologetic, as if caught off guard.
"..."
The sll of stew disappears as the quantity increases.
The mont Goethe saw his mother’s expression, he realized what he had to do.
Cold reality grabbed Goethe by the neck and shook him.
Poverty makes us bow our heads to others even if we haven’t done anything wrong.
It makes people shrink and look only downward.
So Goethe decided to leave.
Because there was no longer any possibility of holding his head up high in this cursed village.
Before eting the praying rcenary, Goethe of Wisteria Village wandered, seeking an opportunity to look up.
***
A simple dining table that doesn’t even seem to need a fork.
In the steaming stew, large chunks of potatoes welcod Vlad.
"Is this suitable for the knight’s taste?"
The table was set with everything she had, but Goethe’s mother was anxious, drying her hands on her apron as if the ingredients were bothering her.
"I’m sorry, sir. If you had given
a ssage that you were coming, I would have prepared a piece of at in advance..."
A young knight who appeared with his son.
Just by looking at his appearance, it was clear he was the son of an elegant noble family, so he wouldn’t be satisfied with the skills of a country woman.
’I don’t think they raise chickens.’
Vlad looked at the egg in front of him.
Since he didn’t hear the crowing of any hen when he entered, the eggs must have been urgently borrowed from sowhere.
At first glance, they didn’t seem to have enough money, so they must have done too much for their son.
"Please, eat. Sir."
There are two eggs in front of Goethe.
There are three eggs in front of Vlad.
But even this single different egg knew it was ultimately for their son.
Even before putting the stew in his mouth, Vlad could already taste the flavor of a mother.
"Thank you."
So Vlad deliberately opened the stew ladle and poured it onto his plate without hesitation.
In monts like these, he knew that acting confidently would ease the burden of the host.
"...I’m so happy. You’re here at such a good ti."
Goethe’s mother, relieved to see Vlad spooning without hesitation, imdiately began to shed tears as she took her son’s hand.
"The boy I haven’t had any contact with until now cos here just in ti for his younger sister’s wedding. Your father and older brother must have called you here."
Vlad had his eyes and mouth glued to the stew, but he had his ears open and alert to the story being told.
"..."
A brown-haired woman made awkward eye contact over the stew she held.
The brown-haired woman who looked like a common country girl was Goethe’s younger sister.
"Can you go see Marie’s wedding, right? Or do you have to leave right away?"
"No, this is..."
Not only had it been a long ti since her son visited her, but it was really unfortunate timing, so her emotions were probably special.
However, Goethe wasn’t in charge of the journey, and he was simply a squire by the knight’s side.
"Do I have to leave right away?"
"..."
Goethe’s eyes awkwardly floated in the air, unable to et Vlad’s gaze.
Vlad, who was watching those eyes, simply shrugged.
’There’s no choice.’
He didn’t want to be dragged into unwanted circumstances, but if it was sothing like this, he had no choice but to stop for a while.
Anyway, he was planning to stay here for a day or two.
"The stew is really delicious. Can I ask you often during the last few days?"
"...Thank you. Sir."
Goethe’s mother, who understood Vlad’s response, began to shed tears as she crossed her hands over her chest.
A quiet rural village he had never experienced before.
In this village, where the warmth of the stew cos with the arrival of spring, Vlad decided to take a break for the first ti in a long ti.
***
After finishing his al, Vlad left the house and began to walk around the area slowly.
It was a consideration for Goethe, who hadn’t been with his family for a long ti, and also due to his old habit of looking at the surrounding landscape.
"I don’t think this house has a stable."
Neighing-
Noir, who ca out with Vlad, couldn’t find a place to stay no matter how much he looked around, so he was nudging Vlad’s back with his snout.
I don’t like humans, but I like what they create.
The free spirit of the prairie enjoyed the benefits of civilization that would protect him from wind and rain.
’They put in a lot of effort to make it but don’t use it...’
While Vlad silently observed the village as he walked, he saw a crumbling mill.
Since it was next to Goethe’s house, he thought it might have sothing to do with it, but it was a mill that seed to have been closed for a long ti.
The mill, gradually crumbling, seed to harbor as many circumstances as a fallen cobweb.
"...I’ll give you a place to sleep, so stop playing with ."
Neighing-
Noir began to shake his head, as if finally relieved by Vlad’s complaints.
Even if it weren’t for Noir’s complaints, Vlad also planned to stay sowhere other than Goethe’s house.
Goethe’s house was as small as it was old.
It wouldn’t be very comfortable to cram the whole family into a small guest room and try to sleep there.
"Arriving just in ti."
In the distance, several n from the village could be seen climbing the hill towards Goethe’s house.
They were probably sent by the village chief.
Since he learned that the stranger who entered the village was a knight, it wouldn’t be an easy matter to overlook for the village chief.
’...Seems like sothing is really wrong with Goethe.’
However, Vlad frowned as he watched the young n of the village approaching that place.
n climbing a hill holding sothing in each hand.
No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like they were welcoming back a village mber who had returned after a long ti.
"Hey Goethe!"
The voice was loud enough to reach Vlad’s ears as he walked out.
A burly man started shouting loudly, as if for everyone in the village to hear.
"How co the debtor who secretly ran away in the middle of the night ca back crawling?!"
An attitude that doesn’t bother anyone.
Moreover, he has a shiny scabbard that doesn’t look like it’s been used much.
Looking at the n who looked like typical gangsters, Vlad realized they hadn’t co to Goethe with a common purpose.
"...Thomas."
Goethe, who had been resolving family disputes for the first ti in a long ti, ca out of the house with a furrowed brow.
It was a sudden and rude call, but Goethe’s attitude was calm, as if he had already expected it.
"Midnight escape? I just like the night and left after seeing the moon."
"If you sneaked out at night without paying the debt, that’s a midnight escape, brat!"
The man who seed to be the leader of the group began to shout at Goethe, as if unsatisfied with his relaxed response.
"Pay the overdue mill usage fees!"
"What you’re saying hasn’t changed at all, whether before or now. It’s like these people who haven’t seen any developnt."
Goethe snorted as he looked at the group coming with weapons pointed at them.
There was a ti in the past when he trembled at this threat, but for Goethe, who had experienced the wide world as Vlad, the current situation seed like child’s play.
"A total of 2 gold, including overdue interest."
"It’s ti."
Shiny coins flying before he could finish speaking.
The n seed surprised as they watched Goethe casually toss the gold coin.
"Eat that and get out fast. Damned bastards."
"...This bastard."
It’s different from before.
The Goethe they had been watching closely now showed no trace of his forr self.
Goethe, who had grown up, looked at them, and the group’s leader, Thomas, grew angry at the look in his eyes.
"Do you think you’d receive this money knowing what it is? Trickster."
"What?"
"How do you know the money didn’t co from a fraud, like your father did?"
Now that the debt has been settled, there’s no need for further discussion.
However, the man in front of him had no intention of leaving easily as he dug into Goethe’s wounds.
Perhaps the twisted thread of emotions that has been twisted and twisted for a long ti is what is creating the current situation.
"Did I hear that you even brought so kind of knight, a brat?"
"I heard he even carried the banner with pride."
"Shut your mouth. If you keep flapping your gums, I won’t be able to handle you."
"Why. Are you afraid of them finding out your stupid move?"
The man called Thomas began to walk and shout loudly as if everyone could hear him.
"It’s better to believe that the one you brought here is fake than to believe you’ve beco the squire of a knight. Not everyone is like that!"
"True. Of course!"
"Unless it’s fake, why would I hire soone like Goethe as my squire?"
"If you can use a worm that can’t even handle a knife properly as seed, then you know the level!"
Goethe’s eyes began to turn red as he heard the gang’s taunts.
If you’re not angry at their actions, insulting not only your father but also Vlad, you wouldn’t be worthy of being soone’s son or squire.
"You crazy bastards."
Goethe placed his hand on the sheath to draw the sword he held.
As they say, he hadn’t learned to use the sword properly, but Goethe was still a man who experienced the harsh world through his career as a rcenary.
"You’re bastards."
"...What?"
A situation close to an accident before the sword is unsheathed.
At the mont when Goethe’s mother and younger sister, who were holding their breath inside the house, ca running out to stop him, a voice was heard from behind.
"What you’re doing is very familiar."
A man approaches from afar, holding the reins of a black horse.
Although it was small, it was a voice that contained the power to stop everyone’s actions.
"...You’re the fake knight who brought Goethe?"
Vlad, who took off his armor for a mont to receive a gift, looked like a bright blue baby to anyone who saw him.
The silver jacket he wore and the spirit of the horse he rode seed unusual, but the n who had lived their whole lives in a small village living in luxury didn’t have the knowledge to distinguish between real and fake.
"A fake knight."
Vlad scratched his neck after hearing the man’s words.
How should I respond in tis like this?
The gangster in the alley suddenly began to raise his head as he looked at his companions he hadn’t seen in a long ti.
"What would you do if I were real?"
"What?"
He had ignored him and ignored his squire.
Since his honor as a knight was ignored, he wouldn’t have anything to say even if they cut off his head.
But this is Goethe’s hotown.
The force pressing on the n sharpened as the blue eyes turned.
All the frogs in the well stopped crying due to the force of seeing the real thing for the first ti in their lives.
"I’ll give you my life."
Probably because of the stew.
The mory of the stew and the plump flowers reminded
not only of my mother, whom I missed, but also the sll of the dark alley.
"Co on, bastards."
Even if he wasn’t a knight, Vlad had been real for a long ti.
The best perspective in the alleys of Soara.
Born of a prostitute, of pure blood, coming from the street, he fiercely confronted the naive thugs of the countryside, who knew nothing of the world.
***
"If sothing like that had happened, shouldn’t you have told
first?"
The village chief’s house is well-built for a small village.
But now, a suppressed shout was coming from inside.
"Stephan. Please calm down."
The village chief brought out a chair and spoke to the increasingly fierce rcenary leader as if to calm him.
"What kind of knight could co to this small village? Moreover, the boy he brought along was Goethe. That guy is not worthy of a true knight."
"...I’ll say it again. Chief."
A man with scarlet hair.
Stephan, the leader of the Thornwood rcenaries, raised his finger as if warning and threatening the village chief.
"Anything related to security in this village must go through . Don’t forget that this is also the Lord’s will."
Stephan’s warning, mixed with anger, had a force that couldn’t be easily ignored, no matter how experienced the village chief was.
"All right. We will definitely do so in the future."
Stephan didn’t want to ruin his work.
If sothing goes wrong from the start in this possibly new location, the Thornwood rcenaries will have to start wandering without any promise again.
"As you said, nothing like this will happen in the future..."
"Boss!"
The village chief attempted to calm Stephan, but he couldn’t continue speaking because the door suddenly burst open.
"There’s a problem, a big problem!"
Suddenly, a man burst in as if he were breaking down the door.
It was hard to recognize him because he was so distorted, but he was one of the gang who ca with his son.
"That knight isn’t fake, he’s real."
"...No, why you?"
The village chief looked at him and seed surprised.
His face was so pale and swollen that not even the parents who gave birth to him could recognize him.
The sound of breathing coming out between his very broken front teeth was a gasp.
"He could kill Thomas!"
"...!"
After hearing the shocking report, the village chief, unknowingly, pushed Stephan aside and hurriedly ran out through the open door.
For the village chief, the safety of his only son was equally important.
"Aaaah!"
At that mont, a scream ca down from the hill above.
The familiar voice was actually that of his son, Thomas.
"Damn it..."
Stephan gritted his teeth and followed the village chief.
In the end, the village chief’s son, who was in a bad mood, must have done sothing wrong.
"Please, help !"
A pitiful cry was heard, and dust rose in the distance.
It was dust created by Thomas, who was being dragged with his feet tied behind a horse.
"Thomas! Thomas! Soone, please, stop him!"
The village chief, seeing this, lost his temper and shouted wildly, but no one in the village could easily stand in the way of the galloping horse.
Through Thomas’s explosive wound, traces of blood began to appear all over the village.
"Who is the village chief?"
The black horse, which had been running wildly for a while, finally stopped in front of the village square.
Although he was still smiling, his anger didn’t seem to have completely diminished.
"The chief of this village must co before ."
Blond hair and blue eyes.
And a man who is too fierce to be called a knight and too proud to be called a rogue.
Stephan recognized the stranger from afar and swallowed saliva unconsciously.
When he was an ally, he was an incredibly reliable person, but when he was an enemy, he was soone Stephan couldn’t handle.
"Who is the village chief who dares to disrespect the honor of a knight by sending such a careless bastard?"
The voice that thundered made all the villagers freeze like stones.
Small evils end up being devoured by greater evils.
The village chief’s son, who until now had ruled the village with diocre power, was now covered in blood and panting heavily at the feet of a true thug.
____
Join the discord!
sdsc.gg/indra
____
Reviews
All reviews (0)