episode_0228

Outskirts of Taildon Market.

This place, where the sea meets the harbor, is where merchants from various regions gather.

It was once the location of the ‘Contact Office’ where I learned swordsmanship from Teacher-nim Vin, and it’s also where inns for mercenaries are lined up.

A chilling winter wind blew.

A bustling street with various people coming and going.

Amidst the loud voices.

And amidst the swirling dust—.

A blonde girl wearing a straw hat.

Marie was there.

The merchant talking to her scratched his head.

“The goods will probably arrive around early next summer.”

“I’ll be counting on you.”

“Don’t worry. Just make sure to have the payment ready.”

The merchant tightly tied the ropes on the cart and asked.

“By the way, how are things going on your end, miss? Do you need anything else?”

“If we need anything else, it’s still more manpower.”

“Didn’t you sign a contract with the lord?”

“That’s only until December. From next year, we’ll have to do it ourselves again.”

“I see. Well, there’s not entirely bad news. I passed through Goldburg this time, and the name Breezedon was mentioned quite a bit. The story of ‘rebuilding a lost village’ seemed quite interesting to the workers. Usually, laborers hired by merchants don’t have much work during winter. Perhaps they’ll start coming one by one soon.”

“That’s really good news! Mister, please spread the word everywhere. Tell them Breezedon needs a lot of people.”

“Of course.”

The merchant, having tied all the ropes, brushed his hands together.

Then he sighed deeply and looked towards the Dragoness Mountains.

“By the way, ‘a commoner’s territory’—. How interesting. Maybe I should just quit and live a quiet life farming there.”

“Breezedon is always open.”

“Yes. I’ll think about it.”

The two parted ways.

Marie bought some groceries at the market and then headed up to Breezedon before sunset.

On the winter mountain, occasional clashing sounds could be heard.

Like the snapping sound of dry branches breaking, or perhaps the sound of animals running through the forest.

But as she got closer to Breezedon, the sounds grew louder.

When she reached the mountainside, the sounds had turned into dull hammering.

Marie, halfway up to Breezedon, turned in the direction of the sounds.

Clang!

Crack! Crumble…

The sound of something breaking.

At the same time, a cloud of dust billowed up.

There was a half-demolished house there.

The presumed site of the yard was covered in thick vegetation.

The house’s shabby outer walls were stained with moss.

It seemed the owner who once lived here had left long ago.

Thwack! Thwack!

And there were two young men diligently swinging axes at the half-collapsed house.

Marie approached them from behind, where they were busy at work.

“I’m back.”

Thud.

The black-haired young man put down his axe and wiped sweat with his old shirt.

“Yeah. You worked hard coming back.”

His arms and back were densely muscled, and his once delicate hands had grown rough like a carpenter’s.

But from his deep-set eyes, an intelligent and mature aura still emanated.

It was Ritsu.

Marie spread a large cloth beside him.

“I bought some food on the way. Let’s take a short break while we eat.”

“Hmm? Is this the smell of roast pigeon?”

“Yes.”

“So you bought it from Vincent’s shop. Their roast is really delicious.”

Ritsu picked up a golden-brown roasted pigeon and took a bite.

“Hoo—.”

Ruyef, who had swung his axe two or three more times, also put it down and sat beside them.

Marie smiled contentedly, watching the two men silently eat their snack.

“Oppa, I have good news. Our story is spreading in Goldburg. It seems a lot of workers will be coming next month.”

“Hmm. That’s true. We are short on hands.”

Ruyef said in a serious voice.

“But it’s not necessarily good just because a lot of people come. They’re different from the Taildon villagers who commuted to our village. These people are coming from far away, so they’ll need food and a place to sleep. Then we’ll be spending a lot of money, and Taildon will be the only one getting rich from it.”

“Still, we can’t help it, Oppa. It’s taking us over a month and a half to fix just one house.”

“…”

“And it’s almost two weeks since we started trying to demolish this general store.”

Because it was an undeniable truth, Ruyef said nothing.

These three had done a lot of work for the ‘Reconstruction of Breezedon’.

They cleared away houses destroyed by fire, repaired several empty houses, and rebuilt collapsed fences.

A year passed by quickly like that.

Since most of their time had to be fully spent establishing the village’s foundation, they naturally couldn’t even dream of farm work.

At most, they could only scrape by with vegetables grown in a small kitchen garden.

Fortunately, there were only three mouths to feed.

And they had plenty of accumulated assets, so food wasn’t a big problem.

The only problem was.

The reconstruction, which they had optimistically predicted would finish within three years at the longest, showed no signs of progress.

Ultimately, Ruyef, deciding that more manpower was needed, met with Lord Kintop of Taildon and made a deal.

The contracted terms were that the Taildon villagers would come up to Breezedon in November and December, when Taildon entered its fallow season, and help organize the village.

The price was 350 gold per month, for a total of 700 gold.

It was a situation where Ruyef would have to pay almost all the money he possessed.

But Marie was not pleased with the deal.

She insisted on negotiating directly with Lord Kintop and then had a private meeting with him.

Suddenly, the deal was finalized at 50 gold per month, for a total of 100 gold.

How could that have happened?

In fact, Marie had made an interesting proposal to Lord Kintop.

It was about the incident long ago when he issued a warrant for the ‘Queen’ on charges of murder.

Of course, at that time, the Queen was still a commoner, and it was revealed there was a great misunderstanding, so the warrant was quickly withdrawn.

Even so, his past record of designating the current Queen as a murderer seemed to have continued to hinder Lord Kintop.

Furthermore, after her ascension, the Queen greatly commended Goldburg’s achievements, but she never said anything particularly good about Taildon.

Because of this, rumors frequently circulated that he had incurred the Queen’s displeasure.

Marie acutely pointed out his uncomfortable position.

She suggested that if he helped rebuild Breezedon, ‘the Queen’s hometown,’ Her Majesty might look upon him favorably.

Moreover, while Lord Kintop had indirect responsibility for turning Breezedon into ruins, Marie suggested that since they, the rightful descendants of Breezedon, would no longer mention it, they should instead cooperate for mutual prosperity from now on.

Lord Kintop accepted the young girl’s audacious proposal, and the negotiations concluded favorably.

And when winter arrived, the Taildon residents truly came up to Breezedon.

They built two houses and a windmill and neatly maintained the roads for a month.

The work supervisor was Mister Marvin.

He had once been a resident of Breezedon and a carpenter, which is why he was appointed as the supervisor.

Although it was expected that they would have an uncomfortable relationship because Ruyef had once had a fierce fistfight with him.

Surprisingly, the two focused thoroughly on their work. Astonishingly, nothing happened at all.

In any case, with that single great negotiation, Marie proved her exceptional ability.

Since then, Marie had been taking on various external tasks, traveling between Breezedon and Taildon.

“…Still, if we demolish this, there’s nothing left to tear down.”

Ruyef looked up at the house he had been demolishing until just now.

Ritsu also turned his gaze there and said softly.

“Yeah. This is the last one, isn’t it?”

A general store built on the mountainside a little distance from Breezedon.

This place was originally named [Modaless General Store].

Now it’s just a discarded house.

For those who remained here, it was a place where various emotions intertwined.

Perhaps—it was virtually where everything began.

The one who suggested demolishing this general store last was none other than Ritsu.

He still needed time to calm his heart completely.

He reasoned that only by demolishing it last, after the entire village was decorated, could they truly make a ‘new start’.

And now, with the restoration work nearing its end.

Ritsu’s face, as he finally came to this general store and broke down its walls with a hammer and axe—was closer to an expressionless face, neither happy nor sad.

There was no particular new emotion either.

His gaze seemed more intensely set on finishing the work quickly and happily drinking a glass of beer.

“Shall we start again?”

“Let’s.”

It was then that Ruyef and Ritsu, having finished their break, stood up.

Thump. Thump.

The sound of footsteps could be heard from the entrance.

As the three turned their heads, they saw the Taildon workers heading down.

“Are they already heading home?”

The Taildon workers always went home only when evening came. That was the content of the contract.

But for some reason, they were descending the mountain a little early today.

Even in the middle of winter, when the sun is up for a very short time, finishing work so early meant they likely wouldn’t complete all the tasks.

Ruyef immediately moved his steps and headed towards them.

“Sirs. Is it already time to go down?”

“Oh. Were you there? Haha!”

One of the Taildon workers said as if it was good timing.

“Starting today, for a week, we have separate preparations to make, so we’re going home early. In return, the Lord-nim said he’d extend the construction period by one day.”

At the mention of extending it by one day, Ruyef quickly understood.

“Understood. But… may I know what you need to prepare for?”

“Oh—it’s nothing much. Every year, January 14th is the day we hold the ‘Coming-of-Age Ceremony’ in Taildon. We’re preparing for that festival a month in advance.”

“Ah. Is that so?”

“If you’re curious, you can come too! It’s held like a festival, so anyone can come and enjoy it.”

“Thank you. I’ll think about it.”

“Alright. You worked hard today too!”

“You too.”

The Taildon workers waved their hands and went down again.

“‘Coming-of-Age Ceremony’…”

Ruyef mumbled that, then glanced back and looked down at Marie.

“Come to think of it, how old were you…?”

“Oppa still doesn’t know his sister’s age.”

“Quiet, and just answer me.”

Ritsu chuckled and answered instead.

“You two siblings are five years apart.”

“Hmm… so it’s already come to that.”

Ruyef pointed at Marie with a blunt expression.

“Marie. It’s time for you to have your baptism too.”

“Yes.”

Time had flown by, and Marie, the youngest among them, too.

The time for her to have her baptism had arrived.

However, mentioning baptism now felt rather new.

After all, the people of Breezedon were just these three.

Moreover, Ritsu had simply become an adult without undergoing a separate baptism. And there was no one to even comment on it.

‘An old traditional ceremony’.

They had thought it was just that much.

Ruyef asked.

“Do you want to have it? The baptism.”

So, he expected Marie to answer lukewarmly to this question.

Surprisingly, a completely different answer came.

“Yes.”

Marie fiddled with the brim of her straw hat and said shyly.

“…I want to dance.”