Estio Book 5
- Episode 15
Estio recalled what the child had said.
'There are no stars.'
In other words, he had no fixed destiny. It exists alone, without the raw stone of life to be polished or the frame that every human being is born with.
So, whenever Alzeniv faces him without a star, all he can see is pitch black darkness.
Hearing that, Estio felt something strange.
'That must be.......'
Because it sounded like he wasn't alive.
Alzeniv, who did not know what Estio was thinking, waved his sleeve with fluttering eyes.
"Are you really an angel or a god?"
"no."
Even though it was a child, it was so ridiculous to be mistaken for such a great existence itself, which made me laugh. Estio denied it again.
"It's not what you expect, I."
I could feel Alzeniv tilting his head. Even without her eyes, she could tell that the child was bewildered. But Estio couldn't solve her girl's curiosity.
'I just want to live.'
A cry that sank down his throat sting as if scratching his chest and going down. Algernib, who looked up at him, who was speechless, turned around.
"it's okay."
"......Yes?"
"It's okay if you don't tell me. You're not a bad person anyway."
Then, Alzeniv rummaged through the suitcase hanging from Poco. After a few messes, he came up with what the kid wanted. It was a creepy stuffed animal that didn't know whether it was a rabbit or a raccoon.
Estio asked the question again when he saw Algeniv returning with a gun, holding the yellow-stained doll in his arms.
"I can't see the stars, so how do I know if I'm a bad person or not?"
Alzeniv smiled like a 7-year-old child.
"There is no way that Poco likes a bad person."
It contains a dark-haired young man with hardened innocent pink eyes. Estio realized that it was his belief in Poco. His expression, which had been hardened, softened a little.
Dinner preparations were soon finished.
When it comes to cooking in the middle of the desert, the menu consisted of stew and hard bread made with dried corn, potatoes, and chicken. Since it was a small top with only about 10 people in total, there were few tents and bonfires to prepare. Four or five people sat around a bonfire, stewed and ate.
Parker, who was in charge of cooking, glanced at the attention of the team members.
"Is the taste a bit boring? The ingredients are not so fresh since I chose something that doesn't go bad in hot temperatures."
Mubin, who put the spoon in his mouth, grinned and replied back.
"Um, it's a bit addicting to eat."
"really?"
"Yeah, I'm not bored. It's fun to spit it out by seasoning it with sand."
"Ugh, the sandstorm blew the whole time I was boiling the water, so I couldn't help it."
I did, but Parker spit out a grain of sand caught in his teeth. It was almost impossible to keep sand from getting into food in the desert. Sand blown by the wind ran through the folds of his clothes and even stuck to his eyebrows.
"I will continue to eat like this for a while. Please bear with me even if it is a little uncomfortable."
"Fuhaha, I was joking. In the midst of the subjugation battle, I caught and ate something like a caterpillar. Well, this is a true feast."
Parker's eyes widened as he looked at Mobin.
"Did you eat caterpillars?"
"Eh. There are many beehives in our estate because there are thickets of grass. When I became hungry while subjugating a monster, I picked a wasp nest nearby and fried and ate the larvae in it."
The speed of the spoons that lifted the stew slowed all at once.
"If the caterpillars are cooked, it's quite a complaint, right?"
"......Yes."
It was the experience, but there was nothing special about it. He has no choice but to agree.
Even Neju, who grew up eating raw, dripping meat in the snowy mountains, had a disgruntled face when talking about insects.
Parker hurriedly changed the topic before Moobin's horrific experiences continued and her stomach was further ruined.
"On the last night, they said they had a barbecue with the meat prepared at the top. It would be really cool, wouldn't it?"
"Oh, when are you arriving?"
"Well. If only an astrologer did his job properly, he said he could get there in ten days."
Parker smirked at Algeniv, sipping stew with his uncle Russell by the bonfire next door.
"In the desert, astrologers read the constellations every night and record their positions. They see the stars as an indicator of whether they are going the right way."
It was the time when the stars were rising. Watching the beautiful starlight that began to embroider the sky, the party fell into a comfortable silence for a moment.
Unlike the Ignis guild members who enjoyed the peace they had been given for so long, one side got busy as soon as they ate dinner.
Boo woo-.
A low-pitched flute sound echoed through the cool night air. It was a musical performance to boost the excitement of the desert trip. Each merchant had his own instrument. Each bonfire was accompanied by a clunky but cheerful sound of music.
"Wow," asked Parker, admiring.
"Are we supposed to do something too?"
"Well."
Mubin nodded and shrugged. Yeon-yeon Lang was checking her bag without even hearing her playing.
"You can even sing a song."
"No, a song?"
"Do you know any songs? In a place like this, you need music to continue your journey without losing your energy."
"Is that so? Umm, I'll try."
Yeonjun-rang glanced at Moo-bin, who was busy making fun of the ignorant Jo-in-joo, and bit his tongue.
It was made as a joke, but it turned out that Parker had a singing ability that exceeded everyone's expectations. Merchants who heard the song came one by one, and naturally got along with each other, and at some point it became noisy.
"Oh, you sing very well! Are you from the Ignis Guild? What's your name?"
"I'm Bernie Parker. Please call me Parker."
Alzeniv, who was sitting next to his uncle drinking hot milk, suddenly interrupted.
"Then 'Bernie' isn't your name, is it?"
"Ah."
In the Ruvarzan Empire, the surname follows the name. That's why I asked if I should call him Bernie and not Parker.
"This is a tradition of the Join tribe. You may not have known about it."
Parker, who had been asked the same question frequently, understood and answered quickly.
"Usually, the family name follows the name, right? The naming method of the Joining tribe is different. Instead of the family name, the village name is used."
"What's the name of the town?"
"Yes. The Joiners have rare hands, so they hold a feast every time a child is born. And they get their name from the village elders. They put the name of the new born child after the village name!"
Parker, who explained so far, smiled at the child who first raised the question.
"So 'Bernie' is my town's name and 'Parker' is my name."
Alzeniv also smiled. The boy, who had let go of Parker's kindness, no longer hid behind his uncle.
As the night deepened, stillness came along with the cold air in the burned desert. Those who had finished organizing their dishes and musical instruments went into the tent prepared in advance and went to sleep one by one, and only a few mercenaries were awake. José, from the former ballista, and Mubin, from Ignis, stayed by the bonfire in front of the tent.
And Alzeniv, who played a major role in reading the starlight and guiding the next direction, put a thick blanket on his shoulder and stayed there throughout the night as the night progressed.
A small piece of glass was in Alzeniv's hand. In the hexagonal glass pieces, fine desert sands floated like hourglasses. That was the tool called the 'star compass'. You cannot travel in the desert without a star compass and an astrologer.
Nyaan.
Alzeniv, who had been looking up at the night sky for a long time, lowered his head in surprise when he heard other sounds besides the burning of a bonfire.
I saw a small animal with fur blacker than the night sky.
"cat......."
A black cat appeared from nowhere and walked gracefully and sat down in front of the bonfire. It was within reach if he reached out his hand, but Algernib didn't do that, just watching the cat basking in the fire.
"Huh. Isn't that guy, the kitten's cat?"
Jose found Tsuki too late and pretended to know him. He had been bitten by Tsuki before, but at that time he was not recognized as a tiger, not a cat. Only Tsuki recognized Jose and slowly whipped her tail to capture her discomfort.
"I slept on top of blue crabs running during the day, and now it's time for activities. There are all the lazy guys."
"Well, aren't cats originally nocturnal?"
The cat that appeared during the boring night time was just right to attract attention. It wasn't a big topic of conversation, but even Moobin joined in and the conversation continued.
"Woo-ju-ju, come here."
"Careful. If you say something wrong in front of that cat, you might get in trouble."
"Yeah, it's a cat. How sick would it be if you asked a little thing."
Mubin, who witnessed the pair of odd-eyes unusually thin, withdrew.
"...I'm sure I warned you?"
"I thought he was a great warrior to be trusted by the Ignis Guild, but he was a coward! Can you cross the desert only if you're afraid of that cat?"
Jose, who did not know that the opponent he treated as a coward was the Duke of Heiga, famous for the sword of the Empire, was bluffing.
"If even a very desert monster like this pops out, you'll be stunned. Aren't you?"
"I'm more afraid of that cat than a desert monster."
"You're very good at joking. Hahaha."
Moobin was very serious, but José thought it was a joke again and had fun.
"You haven't seen a desert monster yet, have you?"
"OK."
"It's the same with us. People who appear in the desert say they're awful. From tomorrow onwards, you're going to face something really terrible, so take care, little boy."
"It's really terrible."
He said he would try to scare others, but unfortunately, it didn't work at all for Moobin.
'There has never been anything more terrifying than burying the body of a family with my own hands.'
The only survivor of the Heiga family who was annihilated during the territorial war. It's already been more than 10 years since he was a child that Moobin wore that formula. He survived the sacrifice of his maternal adoptive mother, Jeria, and went insane for a long time after that. He couldn't even remember how he got to grip the sword properly. A late-appearing ability in the hellish ruins turned him into a monster more than a monster.
Only after finding the corpses of his family members one by one and burying them under the cold ground with his own hands did he cry with seven packs of blood. It is the people gathered under his sword along with the few vassals who survived at the time that Hei has achieved the realm.
"I heard you're not even a member of the guild, so why is that kid following you?"
"Hmm."
Moobin, who had his arms relaxed the whole time, released his arms, fidgeting with the scabbard. It was kind of a warning sign, but Jose didn't even notice it. Mubin expressed his feelings in words with a sigh, wondering if a fight would happen only when he was an opponent.
"It was annoying before."
"Well?"
"Only one question. Why are you treating him like a kid?"
Estio Book 5
- Episode 15
Estio recalled what the child had said.
'There are no stars.'
In other words, he had no fixed destiny. It exists alone, without the raw stone of life to be polished or the frame that every human being is born with.
So, whenever Alzeniv faces him without a star, all he can see is pitch black darkness.
Hearing that, Estio felt something strange.
'That must be.......'
Because it sounded like he wasn't alive.
Alzeniv, who did not know what Estio was thinking, waved his sleeve with fluttering eyes.
"Are you really an angel or a god?"
"no."
Even though it was a child, it was so ridiculous to be mistaken for such a great existence itself, which made me laugh. Estio denied it again.
"It's not what you expect, I."
I could feel Alzeniv tilting his head. Even without her eyes, she could tell that the child was bewildered. But Estio couldn't solve her girl's curiosity.
'I just want to live.'
A cry that sank down his throat sting as if scratching his chest and going down. Algernib, who looked up at him, who was speechless, turned around.
"it's okay."
"......Yes?"
"It's okay if you don't tell me. You're not a bad person anyway."
Then, Alzeniv rummaged through the suitcase hanging from Poco. After a few messes, he came up with what the kid wanted. It was a creepy stuffed animal that didn't know whether it was a rabbit or a raccoon.
Estio asked the question again when he saw Algeniv returning with a gun, holding the yellow-stained doll in his arms.
"I can't see the stars, so how do I know if I'm a bad person or not?"
Alzeniv smiled like a 7-year-old child.
"There is no way that Poco likes a bad person."
It contains a dark-haired young man with hardened innocent pink eyes. Estio realized that it was his belief in Poco. His expression, which had been hardened, softened a little.
Dinner preparations were soon finished.
When it comes to cooking in the middle of the desert, the menu consisted of stew and hard bread made with dried corn, potatoes, and chicken. Since it was a small top with only about 10 people in total, there were few tents and bonfires to prepare. Four or five people sat around a bonfire, stewed and ate.
Parker, who was in charge of cooking, glanced at the attention of the team members.
"Is the taste a bit boring? The ingredients are not so fresh since I chose something that doesn't go bad in hot temperatures."
Mubin, who put the spoon in his mouth, grinned and replied back.
"Um, it's a bit addicting to eat."
"really?"
"Yeah, I'm not bored. It's fun to spit it out by seasoning it with sand."
"Ugh, the sandstorm blew the whole time I was boiling the water, so I couldn't help it."
I did, but Parker spit out a grain of sand caught in his teeth. It was almost impossible to keep sand from getting into food in the desert. Sand blown by the wind ran through the folds of his clothes and even stuck to his eyebrows.
"I will continue to eat like this for a while. Please bear with me even if it is a little uncomfortable."
"Fuhaha, I was joking. In the midst of the subjugation battle, I caught and ate something like a caterpillar. Well, this is a true feast."
Parker's eyes widened as he looked at Mobin.
"Did you eat caterpillars?"
"Eh. There are many beehives in our estate because there are thickets of grass. When I became hungry while subjugating a monster, I picked a wasp nest nearby and fried and ate the larvae in it."
The speed of the spoons that lifted the stew slowed all at once.
"If the caterpillars are cooked, it's quite a complaint, right?"
"......Yes."
It was the experience, but there was nothing special about it. He has no choice but to agree.
Even Neju, who grew up eating raw, dripping meat in the snowy mountains, had a disgruntled face when talking about insects.
Parker hurriedly changed the topic before Moobin's horrific experiences continued and her stomach was further ruined.
"On the last night, they said they had a barbecue with the meat prepared at the top. It would be really cool, wouldn't it?"
"Oh, when are you arriving?"
"Well. If only an astrologer did his job properly, he said he could get there in ten days."
Parker smirked at Algeniv, sipping stew with his uncle Russell by the bonfire next door.
"In the desert, astrologers read the constellations every night and record their positions. They see the stars as an indicator of whether they are going the right way."
It was the time when the stars were rising. Watching the beautiful starlight that began to embroider the sky, the party fell into a comfortable silence for a moment.
Unlike the Ignis guild members who enjoyed the peace they had been given for so long, one side got busy as soon as they ate dinner.
Boo woo-.
A low-pitched flute sound echoed through the cool night air. It was a musical performance to boost the excitement of the desert trip. Each merchant had his own instrument. Each bonfire was accompanied by a clunky but cheerful sound of music.
"Wow," asked Parker, admiring.
"Are we supposed to do something too?"
"Well."
Mubin nodded and shrugged. Yeon-yeon Lang was checking her bag without even hearing her playing.
"You can even sing a song."
"No, a song?"
"Do you know any songs? In a place like this, you need music to continue your journey without losing your energy."
"Is that so? Umm, I'll try."
Yeonjun-rang glanced at Moo-bin, who was busy making fun of the ignorant Jo-in-joo, and bit his tongue.
It was made as a joke, but it turned out that Parker had a singing ability that exceeded everyone's expectations. Merchants who heard the song came one by one, and naturally got along with each other, and at some point it became noisy.
"Oh, you sing very well! Are you from the Ignis Guild? What's your name?"
"I'm Bernie Parker. Please call me Parker."
Alzeniv, who was sitting next to his uncle drinking hot milk, suddenly interrupted.
"Then 'Bernie' isn't your name, is it?"
"Ah."
In the Ruvarzan Empire, the surname follows the name. That's why I asked if I should call him Bernie and not Parker.
"This is a tradition of the Join tribe. You may not have known about it."
Parker, who had been asked the same question frequently, understood and answered quickly.
"Usually, the family name follows the name, right? The naming method of the Joining tribe is different. Instead of the family name, the village name is used."
"What's the name of the town?"
"Yes. The Joiners have rare hands, so they hold a feast every time a child is born. And they get their name from the village elders. They put the name of the new born child after the village name!"
Parker, who explained so far, smiled at the child who first raised the question.
"So 'Bernie' is my town's name and 'Parker' is my name."
Alzeniv also smiled. The boy, who had let go of Parker's kindness, no longer hid behind his uncle.
As the night deepened, stillness came along with the cold air in the burned desert. Those who had finished organizing their dishes and musical instruments went into the tent prepared in advance and went to sleep one by one, and only a few mercenaries were awake. José, from the former ballista, and Mubin, from Ignis, stayed by the bonfire in front of the tent.
And Alzeniv, who played a major role in reading the starlight and guiding the next direction, put a thick blanket on his shoulder and stayed there throughout the night as the night progressed.
A small piece of glass was in Alzeniv's hand. In the hexagonal glass pieces, fine desert sands floated like hourglasses. That was the tool called the 'star compass'. You cannot travel in the desert without a star compass and an astrologer.
Nyaan.
Alzeniv, who had been looking up at the night sky for a long time, lowered his head in surprise when he heard other sounds besides the burning of a bonfire.
I saw a small animal with fur blacker than the night sky.
"cat......."
A black cat appeared from nowhere and walked gracefully and sat down in front of the bonfire. It was within reach if he reached out his hand, but Algernib didn't do that, just watching the cat basking in the fire.
"Huh. Isn't that guy, the kitten's cat?"
Jose found Tsuki too late and pretended to know him. He had been bitten by Tsuki before, but at that time he was not recognized as a tiger, not a cat. Only Tsuki recognized Jose and slowly whipped her tail to capture her discomfort.
"I slept on top of blue crabs running during the day, and now it's time for activities. There are all the lazy guys."
"Well, aren't cats originally nocturnal?"
The cat that appeared during the boring night time was just right to attract attention. It wasn't a big topic of conversation, but even Moobin joined in and the conversation continued.
"Woo-ju-ju, come here."
"Careful. If you say something wrong in front of that cat, you might get in trouble."
"Yeah, it's a cat. How sick would it be if you asked a little thing."
Mubin, who witnessed the pair of odd-eyes unusually thin, withdrew.
"...I'm sure I warned you?"
"I thought he was a great warrior to be trusted by the Ignis Guild, but he was a coward! Can you cross the desert only if you're afraid of that cat?"
Jose, who did not know that the opponent he treated as a coward was the Duke of Heiga, famous for the sword of the Empire, was bluffing.
"If even a very desert monster like this pops out, you'll be stunned. Aren't you?"
"I'm more afraid of that cat than a desert monster."
"You're very good at joking. Hahaha."
Moobin was very serious, but José thought it was a joke again and had fun.
"You haven't seen a desert monster yet, have you?"
"OK."
"It's the same with us. People who appear in the desert say they're awful. From tomorrow onwards, you're going to face something really terrible, so take care, little boy."
"It's really terrible."
He said he would try to scare others, but unfortunately, it didn't work at all for Moobin.
'There has never been anything more terrifying than burying the body of a family with my own hands.'
The only survivor of the Heiga family who was annihilated during the territorial war. It's already been more than 10 years since he was a child that Moobin wore that formula. He survived the sacrifice of his maternal adoptive mother, Jeria, and went insane for a long time after that. He couldn't even remember how he got to grip the sword properly. A late-appearing ability in the hellish ruins turned him into a monster more than a monster.
Only after finding the corpses of his family members one by one and burying them under the cold ground with his own hands did he cry with seven packs of blood. It is the people gathered under his sword along with the few vassals who survived at the time that Hei has achieved the realm.
"I heard you're not even a member of the guild, so why is that kid following you?"
"Hmm."
Moobin, who had his arms relaxed the whole time, released his arms, fidgeting with the scabbard. It was kind of a warning sign, but Jose didn't even notice it. Mubin expressed his feelings in words with a sigh, wondering if a fight would happen only when he was an opponent.
"It was annoying before."
"Well?"
"Only one question. Why are you treating him like a kid?"
