Ch.7474. In Memory (3)

“We are the Repair Mercenaries.”

The woman said this to Aryen inside the caravan. Aryen stared at her with hazy eyes. Tanned skin, an eye patch, and short black hair. The woman gestured with her chin toward her companions riding in the caravan and called out their names one by one.

“Charlie, Don, Brett, Mac, Hini.”

Each time she called a name, the rough-looking men turned their gaze toward Aryen. Then, as if uninterested, they lowered their heads and began taking short naps or pulled something from their pockets and started munching on it. The woman frowned slightly as she looked at her companions.

“The one driving the carriage is Walter. And I’m Kala.”

Aryen stared at Kala with a gaze somewhere between glaring and looking. He couldn’t think of anything. His senses were still submerged in that sea of blood, while his body felt abandoned and being transported. What are these people going to do with me? Will I be killed or sold?

“When someone tells you their name, it’s polite to tell yours, kid.”

A man. The bald mercenary called Charlie spoke in a deep voice. Aryen let the man’s words slide by as if uninterested. Tap. Kala’s finger hit Aryen’s head with a sound. Aryen changed his gaze to one of hostility as he looked at Kala.

“Name, what is it?”

But for some reason, that voice seemed to have the talent to make Aryen open his mouth.

“Aryen Elmione.”

Elmione was a surname given a very long time ago, he’d been told. It didn’t have much meaning. Aryen thought it just unnecessarily lengthened his name. His tongue felt rough as he spoke his name. Aryen bit his tongue.

“Aryen, I see. Nice to meet you, Aryen.”

Aryen turned his head sharply. Kala snorted as if finding his reaction cute, then lowered her hand. The fellow mercenaries looked at this and snickered with hollow laughter.

“You people are on Krom’s side.”

Krom was the enemy country. Aryen repeated this to himself as he buried his face in his knees. Kala chuckled at Aryen’s words. Aryen couldn’t understand why she laughed like that.

“We’re on the side of whoever pays us. This time, those guys paid us. If Kairos had paid us, we would have been on Kairos’s side.”

Kala said this while scratching the floor of the caravan with the large dagger she had been fiddling with. The floor was already covered with scratches from her knife, as if she had done this many times before.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you killed our people.”

Father must be dead. Mother too. Aryen couldn’t cry. The shock seemed to have torn apart even his tear ducts. If he looked in a mirror now, he would probably have the same eyes as those pale corpses.

“I won’t apologize. That would make all the people from other countries I’ve killed so far seem strange. In the first place, we’ve been hired by other countries to kill people from Krom too.”

Kala said this with a shrug. Aryen couldn’t understand her attitude toward death. She was talking about it so casually.

“I’m not asking for an apology. Why didn’t you kill me and leave me alone?”

Kala gave a bitter smile to Aryen, who asked with an intensified, accusatory voice.

“You’ll find out later, squirt. Don’t worry, we’re not planning to sell you as a slave or anything.”

It was confusing. He didn’t want to talk anymore. Aryen closed his eyes with his face buried in his knees. He couldn’t tell where the rattling, shaking caravan was headed.

“The world is a harsh place, Aryen. Harsh, cruel, and unforgiving. There is no mercy. Those who wander seeking salvation are abandoned, and those who deny it and devour others survive.”

Kala’s voice softened. Aryen exhaled as he listened to her voice, which spoke as if reading a fairy tale. Everything was a mess. Something was wrong. It felt like someone had removed his brain and left it floating in the air.

“So you must live. Live and become harsher than the world. So that the world cannot devour you. So that it doesn’t lead you down the path of death.”

Kala’s words sounded almost like a prayer. Aryen felt his consciousness drifting away. Fatigue washed over him. Aryen nodded off to the rhythm of the shaking caravan and fell asleep. In his sleep, he felt as if someone had laid him down and covered him with a blanket.

==

Aryen wasn’t sold. He didn’t become a slave. The mercenaries of the Repair Mercenary Group raised him like an adopted child. Aryen had no choice. They weren’t the ones who had burned down the village and killed the villagers.

The Repair Mercenaries were stateless wandering mercenaries hired by enemy countries. Wherever war broke out became their country, their hometown, and their home. The mercenary group traveled across all terrains. Sea, mountains, plains, forests. Aryen grew up among the mercenaries of the Repair Mercenaries. The rough mercenaries couldn’t be fathers, but they could be teachers.

Aryen learned swordsmanship from them. He learned fighting, tactics, strategy, and war. He learned about money, alcohol, and people. Death was something he didn’t want to learn. But time inevitably tried to teach Aryen about death.

Don died, Brett died, Mac left, and Hini put down his sword one day.

Aryen grew. His height, which had been on the shorter side when he was young, had now grown taller than his father’s, and was similar to Charlie’s. Aryen’s growth was fast. His swordsmanship had already reached a level that the people in the mercenary group could no longer teach. Aryen was strong and skilled at killing. New members joined, and Aryen rose to the position of a veteran at a young age.

“I think you’re already stronger than me.”

Charlie said, letting his sword hang down. Aryen expressionlessly retrieved his sword. At his feet lay the bodies of fallen soldiers and knights. Even their allies seemed shocked by his skill, keeping their distance and staring at Aryen. When Aryen turned his head toward them, the soldiers tried hard not to make eye contact with him. Aryen emotionlessly watched them cleaning up the battlefield.

“I think I’ve been stronger than you for a long time.”

“You’re getting cocky because I praised you once, Aryen. Still, we won’t know until we try.”

Aryen smiled slightly and shook his head. Charlie looked at Aryen and smiled bitterly.

“I could hand over the deputy commander position to you soon.”

“I’m still far from being able to handle people. I won’t volunteer for such troublesome tasks. I’ll stay put until you retire.”

Aryen looked at the pools of blood and corpses. Those killed by Aryen had their eyes wide open, just like the corpses he had seen when he was young. Aryen bent his knee and closed the eyes of a dead knight.

“Good job, Aryen.”

Kala approached Aryen without hesitation, stretching out her arms and hugging him tightly. Aryen struggled in Kala’s embrace, his face reddening.

“W-wait.”

“What, are you embarrassed? That’s new.”

Kala laughed and hugged Aryen more tightly, and Aryen could only flail his arms without being able to push her away.

“Blood, you’ll get blood on you.”

“What are you saying? I’m already covered in it anyway.”

Kala said this and then released Aryen. Aryen’s face was as red as blood. Seeing Aryen like this, Kala grinned.

“You’re funny. You still seem like a kid.”

“Shut up. Really.”

Aryen shook his head vigorously and stood up. While the other mercenaries in the group couldn’t even be awkward uncles, let alone fathers, Kala was different. Kala tried to be many things to Aryen. A clumsy mother, or sister, friend, or lover. Kala taught Aryen everything the mercenaries couldn’t teach him. Life. Perhaps what Aryen learned was life.

“Who died this time?”

“No one. Aryen took care of most of the strong ones by himself.”

Charlie snorted and answered Kala’s question. Kala blinked and looked at Aryen. Aryen scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“They were all weak. That’s why I handled it.”

Kala approached Aryen. She now had to tilt her head up to look at him, and she flicked his forehead. As Aryen frowned and rubbed his forehead, Kala looked up at him with a stern expression.

“Don’t overdo it. Don’t show off either. How many times have I told you that you never know when you might die on the battlefield?”

“…I got it.”

Even when cut by a sword, he didn’t really feel pain. But Kala’s flicks always hurt. Kala gestured to Aryen. When Aryen slightly lowered his head to look at Kala, she stood on her tiptoes and messed up his hair.

“You’ve grown too tall for me to do this.”

Kala said with a laugh. Her face hadn’t changed since she first met Aryen. While the faces of mercenaries like Charlie, Mac, and Hini had gained more scars and wrinkles, Kala hadn’t developed a single wrinkle, let alone a scar on her face.

“Well then, shall we move locations?”

Kala said this while shaking her arms. Today’s battle was over. Kala casually waved her hand at the commander, and the commander shook his head in disbelief.

“Good work. I’m counting on you for tomorrow’s battle as well.”

“Anytime.”

Kala answered lightly and then pushed Aryen’s back as they walked to their designated lodgings.

That night, Aryen frowned and woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his door and a presence. The time was 1:30 AM. Aryen walked to the door with slight irritation and flung it open.

“Who is it at this hour…?”

“Hello?”

And seeing Kala standing at the door, Aryen completely froze. Seeing Aryen’s frozen face, Kala burst into giggles and looked inside the room, asking:

“May I come in?”

Aryen slightly twisted his body to make way, and Kala entered Aryen’s room, humming a little tune. Her swaying hair seemed slightly wet, as if she had washed it not long ago. Aryen turned from the doorway to look at Kala. Kala casually looked at Aryen’s bed and plopped down. When Aryen frowned, Kala laughed again and gestured.

“Sit beside me.”

Aryen closed the door and walked over to sit beside Kala. As soon as Aryen sat down, Kala turned to face him. Seeing her wearing what was practically underwear as a top, Aryen blushed.

“Why did you come to my room?”

Trying to avoid the awkward atmosphere, Aryen forced his voice out, and Kala shrugged.

“I had a strange dream.”

“A strange dream?”

Kala laughed again with a “hee.” Aryen felt that her smile was somehow empty.

“Yes. But I don’t want to talk about it. I think it’ll make me feel bad again if I do.”

“You barge into someone else’s bedroom just because you had one bad dream.”

Aryen grumbled. Kala shook her head.

“Do you know that I used to sleep with you when you were young? Because you had so many nightmares. I had no choice but to sleep with you.”

Aryen frowned deeply.

“What, why are you bringing that up suddenly?”

“Back then, you were a bit sharp but cute.”

Kala’s attitude was both like her usual self and not. Aryen didn’t try to point that out. Rather, he should have probed more at that time.

“Hug me.”

Kala said this and moved closer to Aryen. Aryen didn’t back away and carefully embraced the approaching Kala. It was the first time he had hugged her himself. Kala in his arms was much smaller than Aryen had thought. Aryen inhaled her scent. It was closer to a fragrance than a smell.

“Let’s lie down.”

Following Kala’s words, Aryen lay down on the bed. Moonlight spilled over them as they fell onto the bed. Kala’s eyes were gray. Similar to the pale moonlight. Kala’s warmth was close. Aryen lay like that, facing Kala for a moment.

“Yes. This is nice.”

Kala smiled faintly like the moon and placed her hand on Aryen’s cheek. Then she moved a little closer and buried her head in Aryen’s chest. Aryen embraced Kala strongly, cradling her head. Because he glimpsed a hint of anxiety from her. Aryen could feel Kala’s sigh against his chest.

The anxiety of tomorrow gradually crept in, but it was okay. Aryen held Kala with his back to the window, as if to block time. The moonlight had no warmth. All he could feel was the warmth created by Kala’s skin touching his own.

In that moment, Aryen thought he might have seen tears in Kala’s eyes.