4

The older man stared at Id curiously since he was the only one who did not run away.

“Why didn’t you run away?”

Id answered quietly.

“Because I didn’t do anything wrong, and I wanted to see your appearance closely.”

The older man’s right arm was cut off around the elbow, and he was holding a heavy ax with his left hand. Having made a perplexed face, the older man shouted fiercely.

“Get out of here. I am not the sight to behold.”

The older man’s anger was conveyed to Id, and his fierce look shook Id’s heart. Scared, Id ran away in the direction of the central fence. Thinking that the older man might follow him in anger, he ran as hard as possible without looking back even once to the central area. Looking at the back of the running boy, the older man sniffed.

“What tiresome kids! I have to lock the gate from now.”

On the ax’s blade held in the older man’s left hand glittered intense aura when he stared at the firewood again. Judging from the aura, if he was a swordsman, his swordsmanship must be top-class, close to that of a master. It seemed that he took the manna in the air into his body to strengthen his muscles and the ax’s blade.

Invisible, the manna, which existed everywhere, was the source of life for all living creatures. The density of manna in the air varied widely from place to place. Usually, the thickness of manna in a deep forest or deep mountains was much higher than that in the city. It was why the monsters and evil beasts preferred to live in forests or mountains. They also used manna to strengthen their muscles instinctively. The density of manna in the Forest of Evil Spirits was higher than anywhere else in the world. So, many monsters and evil beasts gathered there, and consequently, it was called the Forest of Evil Spirits. Some top-notch swordsmen train themselves in forests or mountains to absorb manna into their bodies easier. Derevnya, located deep in the Forest of Evil Spirits, might be the best place for the swordsmen who train their swordsmanship with manna.

Even in the same place, the concentration of manna varies depending on the time of day. Manna in the air becomes more concentrated and purer around dawn and dusk when the cosmic dual forces, the negative and the positive, harmonize with each other.

The boys who returned to the central fence were severely punished. Scampering, they got caught by the guards on the watchtowers. Besides, the older man from the northern area informed the chief of the village of the incident. The boys’ parents cudgeled them severely. Adults fixed and closed the hole on the wooden fence. But Id was not punished since George understood him.

“Did you want to go out of the fence that much?”

George gently stroked Id’s silver hair, who was nodding, scared. Grinning, George quietly told Id.

“I fully understand you. It’s natural at your age. But don’t go out of the fence without the protection of the adults. It is dangerous out there.”

George has completely adjusted to his new life in Derevnya. It was so peaceful, and it could not be compared with his former life wandering the battlefields where almost every day he had to see the deaths of his colleagues. He was satisfied with the new life supporting his beautiful and devoted wife, even though he had purchased her in an auction, and his stepson, who he regarded as his biological son. When George saw Id’s pellucid greenish-blue eyes, he felt like his soul, devastated in constant battles, was being cured. Id looked up at George’s hairy face and asked him curiously.

“By the way, why did you retire from being a mercenary, dad?”

George looked down at Id surprisingly.

“You are now calling me dad! Good boy.”

George explained his story in a quiet tone.

“Mercenary soldiers rarely get married. It’s not easy for them to marry since they wander battlefields all the time. Even if they get married, it is not easy to live with their family together. Anyhow, it is impossible to live on battlefields with a family, isn’t it.”

Usually, mercenary soldiers decided to retire around the age of forty. They were paid well since they risked their lives, but almost all of them wasted their earnings for amusement. There were not many mercenary soldiers like George who saved money for future life.

It was not easy for a retired mercenary to have his own family. Mercenary soldiers who had been accustomed to slaughters were usually very tough. There were not many women who were interested in mercenary soldiers.

From time to time, some mercenary soldiers got married to prostitutes who followed battlefields. Other mercenary soldiers forced women, who were plundered during wartime, to be their wives. These cases, however, did not result in happy endings, of course. Therefore, retiring mercenary soldiers popped in at slave markets. They made their families by purchasing slaves with almost all the money they earned for years, risking their lives. George was one of these cases. George dimly looked up at the sky.

“My heart started beating so fast when I saw your mother at the auction market. I did not know there could be such a beautiful woman in the world.”

Knight Thomas’ impression of George was quite precise. George fell in love at once with Julia, with fair skin and a slender figure, unlike peasant women. He ruffled Id’s hair and said,

“You were a throw-in, Id. But I like you so much now.”

Id beamed a smile at George feeling his outstretched hand on his head. Looking at Id’s smile, George felt a little guilty. When George saw Id at the slave market, he worried that Id would be a pain in the neck. But it did not take too long for George to change his mind. Id’s natural disposition made him as precious to George as Julia. Id’s calm and tender nature purified George’s soul, exhausted from killing opponents who were not his natural enemies on the battlefields. Some of them, killed by him, could have been his good colleagues if he had met them in another place under other circumstances.

“Your mother is preparing supper. Let’s get in.”

“Yes, dad.”

Smiling brightly, Id held George’s big hand.

George was happy. So were Julia and Id. Their happiness, however, did not last more than a year. Julia was a red-laced maid at court. To execute their job without problems, contraception was unavoidable. Therefore, they had to regularly take pills for contraception containing harmful ingredients such as mercury, which was potentially fatal.

Julia slowly started showing symptoms after a latent period. The symptoms wouldn’t have appeared if Julia stayed in the palace. The red-laced maids at court were periodically examined and treated by the sacred power of the priests to keep the symptoms at bay, but they were fatal to Julia, who left the palace. Julia lay bedridden precisely a year after their settling in Derevnya.

Julia suffered from a grave illness. Her arms and legs got skinny, and her pale face was as white as a sheet. She could barely eat and spat blood from time to time. The happy time of George and Id was crushed due to Julia’s illness.

The older men, who treated people in Derevnya with folk remedies, couldn’t even diagnose the nature of Julia’s disease. Having been advised by an older man, who examined the symptoms of Julia fruitlessly, George decided to invite a priest from the Nordburg Sanctuary.

Inviting a priest from Nordburg to Derevnya was highly expensive. George had to sell all the weapons and the armaments, which he used as a mercenary soldier, including a mace, a short sword and chainmail. Though he earned quite a large amount of money by selling weapons and armaments and gave all the money to Nordburg Sanctuary, they sent just a low-class priest to Derevnya to treat Julia only several times.

The low-class priest clicked his tongue after he examined Julia’s symptoms.

“It’s a pity. She wouldn’t have gotten into a fit if she stayed at court.”

Nobody knew the name of Julia’s disease. It was an occupational disease that only appeared in the red-laced maids of the palace. But it was not difficult to treat.

“This patient should get treated by sacred power periodically. That is the only way for her to survive.”

George lost his sense. He already spent all his money to invite a priest from Nordburg once. It was impossible to invite priests periodically by working as a guard of Derevnya. After the treatment of the priest with sacred power, Julia’s complexion improved visibly. She could even raise her upper body and sit. After she heard the explanation from the priest, she started to weep and apologized to George sorrowfully.

“I’m so sorry, George. You ruined your life by meeting me.”

George could have lived happily if he had met an ordinary woman instead of Julia. The money he earned on the battlefields would have been enough for him through his old ages. However, George did not resent Julia.

“My time with you, Julia, is the happiest period of my life.”