Chapter 202
The man's na was Yulan.
"My na is Yulan?"
He asked with an innocent smile. I shook my head as if I was tired of it.
"Yes, I've told you several tis."
"Is that my full na?"
"I've told you that several tis too, your last na is Etgendorher."
"Etgendorher! Then I must be Yulan Etgendorher!"
"How many more tis do I have to do this......"
The man laughed excitedly, and I kept shaking my head.
Although I couldn't be sure, Yulan was probably around forty years old.
But his behavior was no different from a child's. It was because he had no mory.
He was one of the eight hundred rescued from the Underworld.
Considering that the Underworld was teeming with serpents called 'Na-eaters' that devoured mories and nas, Yulan's condition was not strange. It was just tiring.
The carriage rattled.
Athus was acting as the coachman, and in the cabin, it was just Yulan and .
It was a similar situation to when I was traveling with Obro.
Except Obro Denoebang wasn't that talkative.
I looked out the window.
"It's snowing."
"Oh? Sothing's falling from the sky."
Yulan extended his hand.
A snowflake landed on his palm, and Yulan shivered.
It was unexpectedly cold.
The surprise was brief, and he soon giggled.
"It's cold!"
He was so innocent, it was hard to believe he was a man close to forty.
"What is this, Mr. Shion?"
"It's snowing."
I said.
"In Schizen, it always snows for three months of the year."
"I think I like the snow!"
"It seems so, Yulan."
Yulan laughed with shrieks of joy.
If he hadn't been in the carriage, he would have surely run and played in the snow like a puppy.
"What were you called in the Underworld?"
"The Young Lord."
"You do look the part."
He had a dignified appearance.
His eyes were large and his nose was straight.
Even though the wrinkles around his eyes asserted his age, his gentle impression made him look like a boy.
He must have been as beautiful as a doll in his youth, especially in his boyhood.
"Is this Schizen?"
"We crossed the border yesterday."
"So if we cross the border, it's Schizen."
Yulan nodded.
He was in a good mood. More than good, he was utterly thrilled.
His mories were all dark.
This was because, except for his mories of the ever-pitch-black Underworld, no other mories remained in his head.
The Underworld, the domain of the Black Light.
The place where Yulan had been trapped for many years was not the real afterlife, but it was just as terrible.
Although I had never been to the real afterlife, I could be sure of that.
A place that was always pitch black.
A place where you couldn't call your own na.
A place swarming with snakes and bugs, with only liquor and blood instead of water.
Coming out of that cramped darkness and seeing the white snow falling like this, laughter couldn't help but burst out.
He couldn't help but be excited.
"I like Schizen. Is Schizen perhaps my hotown?"
"Probably. Though likely even further north."
"I see! To have Schizen as a hotown, that's a very wonderful thing."
Yulan's eyes sparkled.
"By the way, Mr. Shion, how do you know so much about ? Did we perhaps know each other before?"
"How old do I look to you?"
"Fifteen?"
"...I'm eighteen."
I (now 37, a regressor) scratched my cheek.
Whatever my mind felt, my body was definitely 18.
"The 'Night of Inversion' was 11 years ago, so I would have been 7 years old then. How could I have known you, Yulan."
"Then how do you know about ?"
"I heard it from soone who knows you well."
"Soone who knows well?"
Yulan smiled brightly.
He was so innocent, he was like a newborn baby.
"That's a very wonderful thing too. I'd really like to et them."
"You will soon."
In front of that baby-like smile, I felt my heart soften.
A hardened heart tends to loosen up so easily in the face of innocence.
The strange situation of a man close to forty smiling like a baby also suppressed my sense of reality.
"So get plenty of rest. The ti in the Underworld must have been hard."
"But I'm having fun!"
"You have dark circles under your eyes. That's proof that you're tired."
I glanced at the driver's seat.
My eyes t Athus's.
We had been together for 7 years and could communicate with a simple glance.
"He says we'll be entering a city soon. Let's have a al there and sleep for a night."
"A al......? Do we have to......?"
Yulan's face turned dark.
He shook his head as if utterly disgusted. I asked.
"Why do you make that face?"
"als are… agonizing."
The als in the Underworld had to be terrible.
The only animals to eat were snakes and bugs, the only plants were weeds and moss, the only things to drink were liquor and blood!
Every single one tasted absolutely filthy.
But to live, one had to eat.
Even if it was a disgusting, terrible experience, a person had to repeat the act of eating to survive.
It wasn't strange for Yulan, who only had mories of the Underworld, to think that eating was an agonizing affair.
"...He has a way of stimulating one's protective instincts."
I felt a sense of pity.
"Look forward to it. I'll treat you to an absolutely killer al."
"...Killer? Please don't, please. I just got out of the Underworld, I just found out my na is Yulan……. Mr. Shion, you're a good person……."
"That's not what I an by......"
Oh, whatever. I let out a sigh.
"I don't know anymore."
***
The carriage arrived in the city, but Yulan refused to get out.
He was caught in the absurd delusion that the killer al might actually end his life.
He held onto the chair and resisted, but he ended up surrendering to Athus's monstrous strength.
However, Athus, who had to carry a man (almost forty) thrashing about because he didn't want to eat, on his back to the restaurant, couldn't help but have complicated feelings.
I felt the sa.
"Just try putting it in your mouth, Yulan!"
"Ugh! Ughhh!"
"...This isn't working. Hold him down, Athus."
Athus, who had suddenly beco a nanny, sighed and held Yulan.
Held by the swordsman who could part the sea, Yulan couldn't move an inch.
Yulan's mouth opened, and I shoved a spoon in.
"Hehe, mashed potatoes simred in cream, Yulan. And now, seasoned just right......"
"Ugh!"
"There are also bits of crispy fried bacon studded throughout. They're cut thick, so the taste will be absolutely amazing!"
I laughed like a villain.
Athus looked at with so pity.
The restaurant owner looked at the three n putting on a farce with curiosity but tried his best to ignore them.
"Mmm……!"
Yulan's struggle stopped as the mashed potatoes entered his mouth.
He received pleasant stimulation.
The mashed potatoes, simred in cream, filled his mouth with a soft richness.
The perfect seasoning gave a pleasure that could only be felt with the tongue.
Occasionally, when the bacon bits studded here and there were chewed, it felt as if they were saying, 'It's , bacon,' and pleasure flowed down his throat.
The thickly cut bacon was saturated with fragrant at fat, which it gently released when chewed.
The released bacon fat seeped harmoniously into the mashed potatoes.
"Mmmmmmmh!"
Yulan unwittingly let out a cry of joy through his nostrils.
The cream, potatoes, and bacon were dancing a very soft and beautiful dance in his mouth.
He eventually started to cry.
"Hic, sob, sob……."
"...Hey, why are you crying?"
"...Of course, tears are coming out……."
He said, wiping his eyes.
"To give sothing this good……. I was wondering what kind of horrible al you were going to make eat……."
"……Yulan."
"...Sob……."
"Yulan!"
"……Hic!"
I gestured with my hand.
It ant there was no need to hold him anymore, and Athus let go of Yulan.
"This is the al."
"……Yes?"
"You ate it. Your hunger has subsided. So if this isn't a al, what is it?"
"...But it's not agonizing."
"Yulan."
I said in a gentle voice. I couldn't help it, as pity welled up.
"Normally, eating isn't an agonizing thing."
"...Really?"
"Really."
Yulan's face, which was about to smile brightly, hardened.
It was as if his past had grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.
"Then, if this is a al……."
His lips trembled with resentnt, anger, and sadness.
"...What have I been doing all this ti……?"
"An extre choice for nutritional replenishnt?"
"...I have no idea what you're talking about. But I get it……."
Yulan shook his head.
Seeing him understand an expression made up of roughly attached difficult words, it seed he was originally a smart man.
Yulan wiped his tears and picked up a spoon and then, he began to redefine the concept of a al.
Mashed potatoes, well-roasted chicken legs, red stew with short noodles mixed in, crispy-skinned pork……. Yulan shed tears of joy.
"You are an interesting group."
The restaurant owner finally couldn't hold back and spoke to us.
The farce of the three n, Shion, Athus, and Yulan, was excessively amusing.
"Where are you all from? Judging by your accents, you're not from Schizen."
"We two are from Bururade. This one is from Maesh."
"I thought so."
The restaurant owner chuckled heartily.
He thought Yulan was from Maesh.
Yulan had lost his old mories, and since most of the people in the Underworld were from Maesh, he was using a Maesh accent.
"Shall I prepare more food for you?"
"Is there anything else you want to eat, Yulan?"
"Hmm……."
Yulan fell into serious contemplation.
"What is this, Mr. Shion?"
"That's a whole roasted pig. The skin is crispy."
"This one!"
"So he says, owner."
The restaurant owner shook his head.
"Unfortunately, that will be difficult. It takes a long ti to cook."
"We'll wait."
"No, it's almost ti to close……."
Athus tilted his head.
The sun was high in the sky.
It wasn't long past noon, and there was still a long ti until sunset.
Besides, this restaurant seed to double as a pub, yet it was already closing.
Athus couldn't overco his curiosity and opened his mouth.
"To close at this hour."
"……."
The restaurant owner quietly looked at Athus.
It was inorganic, with neither hostility nor favor, which felt sowhat out of place.
The restaurant owner glanced at the sword at Athus's waist and his broad shoulders, then quietly asked.
"......Is this your first ti in Schizen, Sir Knight?"
"It is."
"Is that so……."
The owner's voice is quiet.
"This may be none of my business, but I will tell you one thing……."
A furrow ford on Athus's brow.
He had been chattering cheerfully until just a mont ago, but suddenly his voice had sunk.
It was obvious he was talking about sothing he didn't want to talk about.
"When the golden snow falls, you must not be outside……."
"Golden snow?"
"...Well then, I hope you enjoy your al……."
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