episode_0048

I am human.

I am a traveler who likes to believe rumors.

I am an extravagant person who likes to speak loudly.

I am that kind of person. From this very moment.

“Kungkeong. I’m a baby beast. Save me.”

Sigh, that damn bitch’s acting skills aren’t really that good. When should I take acting training sometime soon?

I don’t know if a guy going through puberty will accept training calmly.

“It’s like seeing a fairy made out of moonlight! If I could, I would like to become a knight who would kneel before you and kiss the back of your hand! Of course, I am just a traveler! Hahaha!”

I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like compliments. This is especially true if the other person is a woman and the compliment is related to her appearance. This is why I embellish my words in a luxurious way. It looks frivolous and has the effect of lowering alertness.

For reference, it’s good to compliment a man’s muscles or swords.

“… .”

There is no response from Beatrice. Why? I thought he would at least smile out of embarrassment, but his expression seemed a bit sour.

“Only tonight.”

Beatrice spoke sternly, slightly stepping aside from the position blocking the door.

“Are you letting me in? Thank you! I will engrave this grace in the bones of my family so that distant descendants will remember it! May your future be blessed!”

“… .”

The more I exaggerate the words, the more Beatrice’s face seems to rot. Should I continue this?

“Then, excuse me! Please forgive me and my close friend if we are a little noisy!”

“Keng? Our friend? Since when?”

“Ahahaha! My precious friend, Aru, is in a strange state today! I’ve been in so much heat that my head feels dizzy! I need to lay it down quickly!”

You damn Aru bastard, guess I’ll never act together again. That guy named Jo Soo is so sick of acting. Even if you leave it to a passing dog, it will do better than that. If I told Aru, he would growl and ask how dare he compare me to a dog.

But… .

“… .”

Why is that woman just staring at me?

If you’ve led the conversation to this extent, shouldn’t there be a reaction? Are you enjoying an awkward relationship?

I can’t help it. Keep talking. don’t forget I’m a chatterbox now. A sloppy and comical extravaganza who can arouse hostility but not wariness.

“It smells good! It’s a smell that reminds me of the apple pie my grandmother used to make when I was a child living in Corinth! Who is the chef behind this amazing and delicious dish!”

“Naoman.”

“Hahaha! You are a lady who is as good at cooking as she is beautiful! I guess it’s true that beautiful women are good at cooking!”

“Kengkkeong? I can’t cook?”

“Aru, you are not a beauty! If this beautiful woman hears, why would she say something like that?”

“Keng… I’m pretty… .”

“Sorry! Lady! A close friend of mine suffers from extreme heat and is spouting nonsense! I guess I’ll have to quickly find a place to rest! Lady! Are there any seats left?”

“ Take care.”

Wow, that’s really awfully reticent.

‘Who are you?’, ‘Naoman’, ‘I know’… A guest came to a rough place like Masurim, and that’s all there is to say. At this point, I wonder if I’m rationally dumb.

The next moment, I would have believed it even if she hadn’t responded to the intended ‘growling’ sound coming from my stomach.

“I was just about to have dinner.”

Beatrice opens her mouth bluntly.

“Would you like to come in?”

Without hesitation, I answered immediately.

“Good! oh! To be treated to a meal by a beautiful lady like you! There is no traveler in the world as blessed as me!”

Wiggle-.

Beatrice’s face darkens again.

Already the third time.

In this brief conversation, his expression hardened three times. It wasn’t just a blank expression, but a somewhat uncomfortable look on his face.

Is there a complex I don’t know about when it comes to compliments? I need to find out. A complex is a mask that hides weaknesses. If I want to make Beatrice my second assistant, it is essential to find out her weaknesses and exploit them.

Just as I touched Aru’s thirst for family a hundred years ago and became a part of the family. Right now, I’m having a hard time because of Aru’s puberty, but once this period passes and Aru grows up, I will pass through hardships and walk down a flowery path.

… You have to walk. Why am I holding back now? If all this time is wasted, I will turn away.

“Then, come in here… No.”

“Hmm? Why are you doing that?”

“… There is a pond behind the house that is almost like a bathhouse, so wash yourself there first. You both look so down.”

“A bathhouse! I just happened to feel uncomfortable, but this is a return favor! Are you really an angel who came down from the sky? There seems to be a bright halo shining behind the lady!”

It doesn’t really bother me since I just got covered in dirt, but if I want to look like a castaway here, I have to accept that offer.

I was about to take off my clothes and throw them away, but as if I was remembering something, I paused and spoke.

It is an intentional pause.

“But… Well, there are scary monsters outside, right? Oh, is it okay if I go out in the middle of the night?”

It was made in haste and made me break out in a cold sweat. It’s an idea that an ordinary, powerless treasure hunter could easily come up with. Each of these actions creates details.

“No one can approach this area. So wash with confidence.”

“Oooh! Are you really an angel who came down from heaven to save us? You are extraordinary just for living in the middle of a demonic forest, and no one can come close to you! I really want to hear Lady’s story while having dinner!”

As I pass by, I decide the conversation to be held later as I want.

I went outside with Aru and put myself in the bathtub.

Meanwhile, the sound of cooking could be heard inside the house.

*****

Rattling-.

Using a fork and knife, I eat soft bread for the first time in a long time.

gulp-.

Tears of emotion well up. This is because it is the first bread eaten in nearly a hundred years. Ah, it’s been a while since I wanted to eat my uncle’s cooking. Should I ask Adela to send me some?

“Umm… This is a dish that a person can make! It’s truly amazing! Lady!”

“… Eat in moderation. Don’t overeat.”

“How could you do that with such delicious food! haha! My mouth is already not listening!”

“Keng? How are you talking when your mouth isn’t moving?”

It is not a lie to say that it is delicious. The most delicious food I’ve ever eaten was my grandmother’s cooking, but as I eat Beatrice’s cooking, I’m about to lose that thought. Okay, considering his military power alone, it’s enough to have him as an assistant, but he’s also good at cooking.

Beatrice didn’t just show a smile, but treated us with kindness. It’s not that there is good will, but there doesn’t seem to be any malice either.

Jeokjeok-.

A warm dining table and hot food, it felt like I was eating it for the first time since entering Masurim. I put all the bread in my mouth and asked a question.

“Gulp, but why is Lady in this demon forest? It’s not a place where ordinary women would be!”

“There’s no reason why you can’t set foot in Masurim just because you’re a woman. Didn’t you hear the story about the eldest daughter of the Northern Duke of Demon World who was active in the Demon Forest a hundred years ago?”

You bring up the story of Adela in front of me. Hey, that demon is our sister, sister.

You shouldn’t say something like this at a moment when you need to let your guard down. I said slyly, taking out a bottle of wine I had prepared from my pocket.

“Ahh! I forgot something important! If you want to hear the lady’s story, you have to sacrifice some wine!”

“That’s… Long time no see. It’s wine. But how did you get wine in a place like this?”

“There is a way! That’s not important, but please accept my gift! It is a rare wine that has been aged for over a hundred years!”

As soon as I saw the wine bottle in my hand, Beatrice’s eyes changed. The previously dull eyes begin to become filled with interest and desire.

For this moment, I brought the wine that my uncle had made in the family a hundred years ago in Arachne’s bag. I put the wine on the table with a pure and clear smile, without any trace of stain.

“I will bring you a glass.”

Beatrice stood up from her seat. Her eyes never left the wine.

I thought so. I remember reading in a biography in a past life that Beatrice Constantino was under a lot of stress due to some kind of work during her time as a Holy Knight, and because of that, she often drank wine.

Masurim is not an environment suitable for making alcohol. Therefore, Beatrice would not have been able to drink alcohol even once since she went into hiding in the magic forest four years ago. There is no crazy person in this world who would drink wine while being chased by a religious order.

Beatrice returned with three glasses and sat down again. I poured enough wine to fill my glass and opened my mouth loudly.

“ Now that I think about it, I think it’s rude to ask a lady you’ve never met to tell her story first! First, let me tell you my story first! To make the place a little more comfortable!”

Actually, I’m just trying to kill time. Until you get drunk enough.

“As you wish.”

Beatrice watched the sloshing of wine in the glass for a moment, then drank it in one go. The dark red wine flows down Beatrice’s throat. Beatrice’s brown ponytail hair also flutters.

“As I said before, my name is Oscar! He is a person who searches for legendary treasures that are like floating clouds with his friends! I grew up with my grandmother in the small mountains of Corinth!”

“Corinth… I heard it was a mountain valley area.”

“That’s right! There is a beautiful village with colorful flowers in full bloom! My childhood routine was to play with the neighborhood nosebleed dogs every day, then come home in the evening and eat the apple pie my grandmother made! Looking back, those days were the happiest.”

“Childhood is a happy memory for everyone… .”

Beatrice mutters bitterly, as if agreeing with my words. There is a type of person who reacts like that when you say something childish like this. And I know what they have in common.

This is a case where I was happy when I was young, but as I grew older, I became increasingly distant from that feeling of happiness. Some people may argue that they don’t do that, but that’s the reaction they get when they are almost disconnected from the feeling of ‘happiness’.

So now I have to form a consensus on that point. No matter who you talk to or what you talk about, building consensus is essential.

“He was just an ordinary boy from the mountain valley! A simple, pure, and naive kid from the countryside! But there is a common repertoire, right? The repertoire of a simple country boy who, after seeing the city’s civilization, yearns for it and goes out without realizing it, only to get seriously burned!”

“Are you saying you did that?”

“Was I fifteen years old? At that time, a merchant from the city stopped by our village! The general merchant laid out a variety of amazing city items in front of our villagers, and introduced many city-specific items that would never be seen in the countryside! I knew nothing at the time, so I was curious about that highly developed civilization!”

“Hmm, that makes sense. Because I’m that kind of age.”

Beatrice is drinking more wine than bread. Under the light of the lamp that illuminates the curtain of night, Beatrice’s flushed face glows softly.

“I had a dream with a pure heart! I wanted to go to the city and become a free merchant, wandering around like the merchant who gave me my first dream! To achieve that dream, I received a small sum of money from my grandmother and followed the merchant! But what is this? As soon as I left the mountains of Corinth and arrived in the city, a merchant scammed me and took all my money! A small but precious amount of money that contained a young boy’s dream!”

Wow-!

I spoke with force, as if I was angry, and clenched my fists. My fists were trembling due to the strength they exerted.

When I think back to those days, my heart is filled with anger. Ha, that merchant. If I meet him, I have to kill him. Of course, I’ve never met such a merchant.

“Like that.”

“I had to go back to the village, but there wasn’t even any security! Because the merchant stole it all! In the end, the boy who had many dreams ended up in a city he had fallen out of love with after seeing the bitter taste of the city! I had no choice, but I had to eat to survive!”

I feel drunk. I continued speaking with real emotion.

Beatrice is becoming more and more immersed in my method acting.

“That’s how I became a miner working in a mine! Compared to other factory jobs, the pay was good! But I never felt comfortable! I went into the mine and worked with a pickaxe all day long in the absence of light, and again, and again… Then sometimes, when you come across something like a goblin den, there’s nothing like a lightning strike! Being alive was a series of painful days!”

“It’s painful to be alive… Everyone has times like that. Looking at you now, it seems like you got through those times with flying colors.”

“Hahaha! Thank you for the compliment! In fact, it would be more accurate to say that we escaped rather than overcame it! After earning enough money to travel back from the mine, I ran away from the mine and returned to my hometown of Corinth! Five years had passed since I first left the village!”

Beatrice nods at my words. Aru is so warm and full that he is dozing off as if he is falling asleep.

Actually, it’s because of the sleeping pills that I mixed into Aru’s glass while pouring wine.

“There is such a story… I hope that merchant is punished.”

“Haha! Of course that would be nice, but I’ve already forgotten everything! Thank you for turning a simple country boy into a full-fledged young man! Anyway, after that incident, I became more interested in the mysteries of nature than in the prosperity of cities! Like this Aru here, I gathered like-minded friends from the village and went on a trip!”

“You haven’t lost your romance. I’m jealous.”

“It was like that until then! Now that I have accidentally entered the Demon Forest and lost all my friends except Aru… Well, haha. Honestly, these days, I don’t think about anything. With the determination to survive, I am going through the demonic forest with Aru, but there is no end in sight. I keep seeing friends whose bodies were cut in half by monsters… What can we do if things go on like this?”

“… It’s a pretty sad story.”

Beatrice’s eyes turn to me. The bright red booze heats up the table.

Is that intoxication in those eyes? Or is it pity?

… No, it’s sympathy. Now Beatrice feels sympathy and sadness for me. It seems that the story I quickly made up after seeing Beatrice’s reaction as if she had lost her happiness worked.

“Haha… It seems like I just lost the drinking atmosphere for no reason.”

“No, I heard you right. It was a short but impressive story.”

Whoop-.

I glance at Beatrice’s face from the corner of my eye and swallow my wine.

Now, if you’ve done this much, you can step forward. Please tell me your story.

“Keoaaaa… I’m sleepy… .”

dump-.

Aru fell onto the desk due to the power of the wine and sleeping pills he had never tried before. The disruptor has disappeared. The sloppy actor left.

Now, bring your story to the stage. I will be your only audience, Beatrice.

“In return… I guess I should tell you my story too. Since you want it so much, I’ll let you hear it… .”

Beatrice, with a face shining with sympathy, opens her bright red cherry-like lips. In a drunken, drowsy voice. This is the moment I have been waiting for so long.

You must not lose your mind. The person in front of me right now is the strongest Holy Knight of this era. An incredibly strong man who single-handedly drove out a country.

From now on, I will look for strategic points in Beatrice’s story.