episode_0172

The women, after sending their husbands off to work, surrounded Tia and offered congratulations. Having already held a wedding in front of everyone, she had finally revealed her pregnancy.

The women offered various pieces of advice: how to take care of her body, foods good for morning sickness, how to handle her husband, and so on. Since it was valuable advice born from experience, Tia listened attentively.

“You’ll surely be a good mother.”

“Of course, of course. Tia does everything well!”

“Ahaha…”

She blushed, seemingly shy.

Though the news was announced late, everyone seemed to have vaguely known.

Usually, it takes about three or four months after a wedding for a belly to swell. If it hadn’t even been a month yet, it couldn’t be helped but to think it was too early.

Rodya stood up with a happy face.

“Oh my, since you’ve told us such joyous news first, we must treat you to something, young lady! Mrs. Modaless, come here.”

And she was about to go outside with Tia to get the meat they had boiled all morning.

Suddenly, something caught both their eyes.

It was a very long procession. Carriages and people, packed like ants crawling on branches beyond the eastern gate, were lined up and coming towards them.

Large merchant groups often came and went to Gordburg, so such a procession wasn’t surprising, but this time, it wasn’t on that scale.

Perhaps… a tribute caravan.

Yes, it was very similar to a tribute caravan.

Tia asked.

“What is all that…?”

“Huh? Ah- It’s about time for them to arrive. It’s an annual delegation that comes every spring. To celebrate the end of winter, they come here laden with all sorts of goods from various regions to buy and sell. It’s practically a festival.”

“A festival? Wow-”

“Yes. The market will be bustling again. Hohoho-. You’ll see valuable things too. If you have time, Tia, go with your husband. You haven’t gone on your honeymoon yet, have you? At least have a good time at the market.”

To the villagers, that procession was good news. It was a tradition that when the delegation arrived, they would go to the market with their families in the evening and enjoy themselves noisily.

Tia also smiled faintly in response.

“Shall I?”

* * *

Fosao, who was working in the warehouse, also received an unusual order.

“Mr. Modaless. A lot of goods will be arriving today, so please open everything up. Delegations from various regions will be visiting. Please check carefully and only accept goods from contracted places.”

“Ah, I understand.”

Normally, he had no work and just sat in a chair all day, but today he had many tasks assigned.

Fosao, without much to do, strained his bulky body and pushed open all the warehouse doors.

Before long, truly massive carriages began to rumble in.

He busily greeted people. He guided them to where to unload goods in the warehouse and received down payments. The warehouse keeper wasn’t particularly curious why it was suddenly so crowded. He simply wanted to finish work quickly, return home, and embrace his young wife.

While working frantically like that, the last carriage finally arrived.

Fosao read the place name written in the ledger to confirm if the carriage and goods matched.

He had only intended to quickly check.

But at that moment, a familiar place name caught his eye.

[Taildon]

Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine, and he snapped his head up.

Three armed soldiers sat on the carriage from Taildon.

Fosao hid his panic as much as possible and slowly guided the carriage. Then he pointed to a corner of the warehouse.

“You can un, unload here.”

The soldiers unloaded the goods and emptied the carriage.

The fact that they were from ‘Taildon’ bothered him, but fortunately, no one recognized him. Fosao wiped his sweat with a handkerchief and was about to turn away.

Suddenly, a soldier glanced carelessly towards Fosao and let out a short exclamation.

“Huh?”

Saying so, he took off the helmet he was wearing.

“Fosao?!”

“…Ye-Yes?”

Fosao, whose name had been called out of the blue, also looked back at the soldier.

A surprised expression was visible. No, it wasn’t surprise.

It would be more accurate to say he was terrified.

Because…

That person was ‘Mister Marvin’.

He didn’t know why Marvin had become a Taildon soldier and come all the way here.

His sturdy physique and hardened face were unmistakably Marvin’s.

“It’s me, me! Marvin!”

“Ah. Ma-Marvin…”

“What are you doing? Why are you in Gordburg?”

Marvin, who had initially approached with gladness, gradually shifted to a suspicious tone.

It was strange, indeed. All the people of Brizedon had been dragged to Taildon, but Fosao, who was neither here nor there, hadn’t been captured, and his whereabouts couldn’t even be traced.

And now, it turned out he was living as a warehouse keeper in Gordburg.

From the perspective of someone unfamiliar with his history, it would seem as if he had suddenly fallen from the sky.

Another soldier asked.

“Do you know him?”

“Yes. He’s the fellow who ran a general store near the foothills. To think he’d be here. What happened?”

“Th-That’s…”

Mister Marvin’s voice was practically an interrogation. A flustered Fosao stammered his reply and looked around as if seeking help.

However, the only people in this vast warehouse were Fosao and the three Taildon soldiers.

What could he say?

From the start, Tia was the reason he came to Gordburg, and it was thanks to Tia that he could overcome this crisis.

But even though he monopolized Tia and made her his wife, he could never become as wise and courageous as Tia.

He was only busy spouting absurd and foolish excuses in front of Marvin.

“T-To do business, I-I came to Go-Gordburg, and-”

“Business? Wasn’t business the thing you hated most? You never did anything.”

“No, th-that is- I meant from now on…”

Naturally, Mister Marvin didn’t believe him.

Unlike the people of Gordburg, Mister Marvin knew Fosao’s true nature, so he couldn’t be deceived.

This subtlety was something only a ‘Brizedon’ person could notice.

As Marvin scanned Fosao from head to toe, something caught his eye.

“What’s this? Did you get married or something?”

What Marvin pointed to was the ring on his thick ring finger.

It was a silver ring that Tia had given him as a symbol of their marriage after their wedding. Fosao cherished that ring immensely and proudly showed it off to everyone around him every day.

But now, he couldn’t boast about it.

Fosao hurriedly covered the ring with his left hand.

“Ah, that’s…”

“You? Married?”

“An ornament. It’s, it’s just an ornament. Because it’s pretty…”

“An ornament?”

Just then, a suffocating tension flowed.

*Soft footsteps.*

The sound of someone walking towards the warehouse was heard.

“…!”

Both Fosao and Marvin.

Because the sound of those footsteps, lighter than a rabbit’s hop, was so familiar, they both turned around simultaneously.

Beyond the low fence. Through the swirling dust kicked up by passing carriages.

A girl with swaying red hair came into view, walking towards them.

It was as if time had frozen. If he weren’t witnessing this vivid memory, he would have truly believed it was a hallucination that had stopped.

Tia, oblivious to everything, came into the warehouse with a large loaf of bread tucked under her arm. Then, to call Fosao, she cried out in an excited voice.

“Honey! I’m here-!”

When there was still no answer, she peered around, looking inside the warehouse.

“Aren’t you done with work yet? Then let’s…”

Tia’s chattering mouth stopped.

And she froze in place, raising her eyes.

Standing there was someone she should never have encountered.

“Tia…?”

What thoughts crossed Tia’s mind at that moment?

“Ah…”

She had believed that after the winter blizzard ended, she would be happy forever.

She thought she could now forget everything from the past and only peaceful days remained.

But the future Tia had so painstakingly built crumbled completely with this single, worst encounter.

As if the god of fate was mocking her. As if cursing her, saying she could never be happy.

Ghosts of the past crawled out from the shadows and entangled Tia’s ankles.

Just like the cruel deeds God had committed against me.

Perhaps this was also a punishment inflicted upon Tia, who had abandoned me and chosen a different path.

*Rustle.*

The bread bag she had been holding in her arms fell to the floor.

Even amidst that horrific situation, she immediately assessed and acted.

She immediately snatched the lantern that had been lit to illuminate the dark, deep warehouse and threw it into a pile of boxes.

*Shatter!*

“Aargh?!”

The oil spread, and flames instantly burst forth.

As Marvin and the soldiers were startled by the sudden action, Tia shouted loudly.

“Fire-!”

News of a ‘fire’ in the warehouse was a disaster in Gordburg.

It was tantamount to enormous material damage occurring on the lord’s land, so people passing by on the street instantly began to rush into the warehouse.

“Damn it! Get out of the way!”

Marvin barely avoided the flames, but the warehouse was completely filled with people trying to extinguish the fire and spectators, trapping him inside.

He turned his head to look for Fosao and Tia. However, the two had already slipped through the crowd and were escaping far away.

From the brief encounter, Marvin understood everything.

“Those bastards…”

Though it was predictable how they were perceived from the contemptuous words “those bastards”.

At the very least, the mere fact that Fosao and Tia had completely destroyed the village of Brizedon together, escaped, and even gotten married and were living well, filled Marvin with immense rage.

Moreover, Tia had even been designated a murderer in Taildon for the crime of killing him.

Marvin clenched his fists tightly.

“They burned down our village’s entire warehouse… and now they tried to burn me alive too? This damned bitch…!”

He whispered grimly, his eyes bloodshot.

“Ritsu… look down from the heavens. I will avenge your grudge.”