49
Estio Volume 2
- Episode 24
He eagerly stretched out his hand, but the dark-haired young man kept moving away like a mirage. As if unworthy of a fight, he left, leaving Bella in the mud. All that was left was the cold rain and the stinging eyes of the people who murmured.
Now, no one hangs her at the stake to kill her, no sparks fluttering.
However.
"Why why......!"
The hand holding the empty space was trembling.
The back of a person I thought would be able to grab if I just stretched out my hand.
The words of faith that he thought would be on his side as much as that person gave Bella a devastating frustration.
Now, there was really no one by her side.
This moment was more painful than any despair Bella had ever experienced.
Without knowing what she had done wrong or why she was hated, the 17-year-old girl cried in the muddy water.
* * *
Although the village chief's house was old and shabby, it was large enough to accommodate all the visitors. Rainwater leaked from the ceiling and there were cracks in places like spider webs, but this house with a roof, pillars, and several rooms was the largest and best building in town.
"Kuh-hum, hmm. Let's drink some hot green tea here."
What the village chief gave me as green tea was an unnamed tea made by plucking fragrant leaves from the mountains, drying them, and pouring hot water over them. Along with tea, it was served with freshly picked raspberries and old curly beans.
Even so, in a rural town where every single dish was precious, it was a kind of hospitality.
"By the way... Ignis guild! There's a big figure in our town. Heh heh heh."
"The request is here."
Estio blinked at Mubin, who was sitting next to me, without even touching the refreshments that the village chief and his wife had brought. Moobin put the bitter tea in her mouth and savored the scent.
There was no one among them who did not understand the meaning of Estio, who directly expressed that he had come to Selvia for a request and had nothing to talk with him.
"Yeah, that's right. Hum. Still, it's been a while since I've seen my family, so even if I said hello......"
The village chief looked at his eyes sullenly and blurted the end of his words. Uncomfortable groaning noises erupted from all sides.
Estio and his party were not the only ones invited to this event. Estio's parents and brothers were among the number of attendees as if it was natural.
Estio, who does not respond at all, parents who are awkward at seeing such a son, and Rosette and Terriot, who are staring at the youngest brother whom they have met for a long time.
It was very uncomfortable for the people watching. Because of her size, Neju, who sat behind her, hugged her cactus flowerpot, and cried a little.
"Is it hard? Be patient."
「……」
The cactus did not even move, even with the quietly soothing words.
Neju thought that if even a cactus had an expression on it, it must have been a face that said that it would sting moth. Following Estio's will not to cause any commotion, Ahur pretended to be an ordinary plant and was trembling with respect.
Sometimes he couldn't stand it and trembled with thorns or wiggled his roots, but he was holding up his violent temper.
Inside the old house without tables and chairs, the hostess laid out a shabby blanket sewn by hand, and on top of it, as many as three crippled statues were attached, and the guests sat in a circle.
"Heot hut. Estio-kun has grown up so prosperous and is coming back to do filial piety. Aren't you also surprised as parents?
"That's right. Haha."
"Um? No."
At the moment when laughter was about to bloom awkwardly, Moobin, who was drinking tea, waved his hand. As everyone's eyes turned to him, he grinned like a full-bodied bear.
"Our leader came here because I commissioned him."
"what?"
"I didn't come because I missed you."
The reality, which had been adorned at the best, was changed into a wretched one with a single word. The village chief's impression was frowned upon by Mubin's words and deeds that stabbed the peak without adding or subtracting.
"I know you're a client, but please don't get in the way of talking to adults."
"Again, his habit of Taryeong. That's right, nobles, commoners, and spirits all say the same thing."
not a child Moobin grunted as she set down the missing mug with her graceful gestures.
"Can't you show a more novel reaction, huh?"
"...Are you a nobleman?"
Estio's father, who had kept his mouth shut all the time, carefully asked Mubin. It was because he had a condescending tone regardless of his age, the elegance that naturally oozes out from every single movement of drinking tea, and his unusually shiny black eyes left a hint so that he could guess his identity.
Of course, his rough hands and rude tone, as if he had done a lot of bad things, made him feel like a commoner, but the village chief also agreed with the opinion that he was a nobleman.
Mubin, who had succeeded in naturally attracting attention to himself, clasped his chin with one hand and ran through his arms with the other. Not long after, a heavy pocket came out of his arms.
"me?"
Golden coins poured over the prize. Her eyes widened and she glanced at Terry Ott, who picked up a rolling coin, as she pretended that Moobin didn't know and smiled leisurely.
"Because you're a client? This is up to you guys. If you answer the questions well, I'll give you all the coins you have accumulated here."
There are no guilds in this remote village. Still, the villagers knew that they could take the coins to the city and exchange them for a reward. Guild Coins were already the second common currency unit in the Empire and around the world.
The expressions of the village chief and the relatives of Estio changed when they saw the guild coins that were not just one or two but piled up.
"Aigoo! Did you ever tell me that you are a precious lily?"
"Oh my, you have some dignity flowing. What is that, like honey?"
"It's not like honey, it's perfumed."
"Perfume...?"
"I get my feet massaged every morning with the essential oil of quirk, which was given to me by the Emperor himself. I got it as a gift, so I can't not use it, and it's annoying."
Rosette's eyes lit up like a miner who unearthed gold at the unheard of story of perfumed oil. I bowed my head down thinking that if the emperor himself gave gifts, he must be a high-ranking aristocrat among the nobility.
Mubin clicked his tongue inwardly as he saw people who were busy keeping their habitual lips in their mouth and keeping an eye on them.
'I was expecting something special because Estio grew up in the environment, and it's the worst.'
They were too obvious tribes.
Greed, jealousy, and even the vulgar nature of turning upside down and wags tail in front of high-ranking authorities.
It was completely different from Estio, who was a commoner, but was indifferent about everything, was not greedy for anything, and did not give up easily. Moobin was greatly disappointed to see those who called him his family.
However, Mubin, accustomed to surviving in the aristocratic world, did not show his disappointment. People were still easily deceived by the single, friendly face.
"I'm Rosette."
"Hey, I should introduce you to my brother. Nari, this is our eldest son, Terriot."
"Ahh."
As they smiled, both mother and daughter's expressions brightened equally. As soon as he knew that his opponent was of high status, it was almost imaginary that he was trying to somehow reach the kite.
'Are you stupid? If I were a high-ranking nobleman, can't you guess what the position of this person I hired with a lot of money and hard work would be?'
Even foolish games are supposed to be funny when the level is appropriate. The people in front of her right now were too low to even laugh at, so Mubin lost interest in an instant.
"By the way, Na-ri, these lowly bastards have something to tell Na-ri, who is erudite, heh-huh."
"Yeah."
At the village chief's attempt to convince him, Moobin calmly agreed. She was truly the eyes of a noble who looked down upon a thousand things.
His oppressive black eyes glanced at the people sitting around him.
"I was surprised that you guys were so lowly and ignorant than I expected. I wouldn't have guessed if I hadn't heard of the leader's family. It's amazing in many ways."
Mubin picked up one side of the dried beans. I want to take it to her mouth, but I don't eat it, it just twirls and twirls between my fingers. Silence fell in her noisy house, not knowing how tense her play with her hands was.
"Well, put aside the useless sarcasm and get to the point. No matter how lowly you are, you must have the intelligence to answer what you've been through."
"......!"
It was insulting, but no one was offended.
Mubin smiled, revealing this, and threw the questions he had been trying to confirm the whole time, like a bomb, in silence.
"You are the real family of <Leader S. T.O, right?"
It was a brief moment, but the couple's eyes turned to Estio. The two of them hurriedly scatter their gazes to both sides as if they were trying to match, and opened their mouths to respond.
"Yes."
"Ah, I'm sorry. Estio is our child."
The father side only affirmed with a hardened face, but the mother side trembled a bit more. Estio's mother stretched out her hand to her youngest son with a proud expression on her face, as if the treasure in her hands might be stolen.
Startle.
For the first time in her life, Estio's shoulder, who had been sitting indifferently, trembled at her mother's warm touch. His hand stroking his hair as if lovingly was dry and hard. For the first time in 19 years, Estio knew that a mother's hand felt like this.
'......What. I'm not sure what to expect?'
Don't expect anything.
Estio was shocked by how he reacted to this pretentious touch, and he hardened like a stone. He knew exactly what the touch meant, but he didn't want to shake it off as it was when he slapped Bella's hand.
I need to chill it out right now, but I can't.
Even if it was a play, he wanted to stay like this for a little while, holding onto his ankles and not letting go of his bizarre desire.
While he was in turmoil, Mubin was urging them again.
"I asked if Estio here is your blood and blood. If you tell a lie, you will be severely punished, so answer the truth."
"......"
"Nari, this is my son. How can you doubt the bloodline when you look so similar to your parents and siblings?"
The father kept his mouth shut like a clam, and instead, the mother insisted. However, when the brothers heard that Estio looked like them, they openly expressed disgust.
Even after hearing the answer, Mubin's doubts did not go away. Contrary to the claims of his mother, their family and Estio were hard to find in real life.
Following his parents, his brother and sister, the whole family has light brown hair, and Estio alone has dark hair. The color of his eyes was slightly different, but his mother's blue and his father's green were divided. The only thing Estio had in common was that it was the same color as his mother's eyes.
Her mother had dark blue eyes similar to that of Estio.
However, the same color felt different because of their different facial expressions and impressions. Unlike her mother's blue eyes, which only give a dull feeling, Estio's eyes are like the light of the deep sea gently fluttering.
Mubin quickly turned his head to Estio's brother.
"Were you together when your brother was born?"
"I don't remember."
Terriot answered with a stern tone. Even if he remembered it, he had an angry expression on his face that he wanted to erase.
49
Estio Volume 2
- Episode 24
He eagerly stretched out his hand, but the dark-haired young man kept moving away like a mirage. As if unworthy of a fight, he left, leaving Bella in the mud. All that was left was the cold rain and the stinging eyes of the people who murmured.
Now, no one hangs her at the stake to kill her, no sparks fluttering.
However.
"Why why......!"
The hand holding the empty space was trembling.
The back of a person I thought would be able to grab if I just stretched out my hand.
The words of faith that he thought would be on his side as much as that person gave Bella a devastating frustration.
Now, there was really no one by her side.
This moment was more painful than any despair Bella had ever experienced.
Without knowing what she had done wrong or why she was hated, the 17-year-old girl cried in the muddy water.
* * *
Although the village chief's house was old and shabby, it was large enough to accommodate all the visitors. Rainwater leaked from the ceiling and there were cracks in places like spider webs, but this house with a roof, pillars, and several rooms was the largest and best building in town.
"Kuh-hum, hmm. Let's drink some hot green tea here."
What the village chief gave me as green tea was an unnamed tea made by plucking fragrant leaves from the mountains, drying them, and pouring hot water over them. Along with tea, it was served with freshly picked raspberries and old curly beans.
Even so, in a rural town where every single dish was precious, it was a kind of hospitality.
"By the way... Ignis guild! There's a big figure in our town. Heh heh heh."
"The request is here."
Estio blinked at Mubin, who was sitting next to me, without even touching the refreshments that the village chief and his wife had brought. Moobin put the bitter tea in her mouth and savored the scent.
There was no one among them who did not understand the meaning of Estio, who directly expressed that he had come to Selvia for a request and had nothing to talk with him.
"Yeah, that's right. Hum. Still, it's been a while since I've seen my family, so even if I said hello......"
The village chief looked at his eyes sullenly and blurted the end of his words. Uncomfortable groaning noises erupted from all sides.
Estio and his party were not the only ones invited to this event. Estio's parents and brothers were among the number of attendees as if it was natural.
Estio, who does not respond at all, parents who are awkward at seeing such a son, and Rosette and Terriot, who are staring at the youngest brother whom they have met for a long time.
It was very uncomfortable for the people watching. Because of her size, Neju, who sat behind her, hugged her cactus flowerpot, and cried a little.
"Is it hard? Be patient."
「……」
The cactus did not even move, even with the quietly soothing words.
Neju thought that if even a cactus had an expression on it, it must have been a face that said that it would sting moth. Following Estio's will not to cause any commotion, Ahur pretended to be an ordinary plant and was trembling with respect.
Sometimes he couldn't stand it and trembled with thorns or wiggled his roots, but he was holding up his violent temper.
Inside the old house without tables and chairs, the hostess laid out a shabby blanket sewn by hand, and on top of it, as many as three crippled statues were attached, and the guests sat in a circle.
"Heot hut. Estio-kun has grown up so prosperous and is coming back to do filial piety. Aren't you also surprised as parents?
"That's right. Haha."
"Um? No."
At the moment when laughter was about to bloom awkwardly, Moobin, who was drinking tea, waved his hand. As everyone's eyes turned to him, he grinned like a full-bodied bear.
"Our leader came here because I commissioned him."
"what?"
"I didn't come because I missed you."
The reality, which had been adorned at the best, was changed into a wretched one with a single word. The village chief's impression was frowned upon by Mubin's words and deeds that stabbed the peak without adding or subtracting.
"I know you're a client, but please don't get in the way of talking to adults."
"Again, his habit of Taryeong. That's right, nobles, commoners, and spirits all say the same thing."
not a child Moobin grunted as she set down the missing mug with her graceful gestures.
"Can't you show a more novel reaction, huh?"
"...Are you a nobleman?"
Estio's father, who had kept his mouth shut all the time, carefully asked Mubin. It was because he had a condescending tone regardless of his age, the elegance that naturally oozes out from every single movement of drinking tea, and his unusually shiny black eyes left a hint so that he could guess his identity.
Of course, his rough hands and rude tone, as if he had done a lot of bad things, made him feel like a commoner, but the village chief also agreed with the opinion that he was a nobleman.
Mubin, who had succeeded in naturally attracting attention to himself, clasped his chin with one hand and ran through his arms with the other. Not long after, a heavy pocket came out of his arms.
"me?"
Golden coins poured over the prize. Her eyes widened and she glanced at Terry Ott, who picked up a rolling coin, as she pretended that Moobin didn't know and smiled leisurely.
"Because you're a client? This is up to you guys. If you answer the questions well, I'll give you all the coins you have accumulated here."
There are no guilds in this remote village. Still, the villagers knew that they could take the coins to the city and exchange them for a reward. Guild Coins were already the second common currency unit in the Empire and around the world.
The expressions of the village chief and the relatives of Estio changed when they saw the guild coins that were not just one or two but piled up.
"Aigoo! Did you ever tell me that you are a precious lily?"
"Oh my, you have some dignity flowing. What is that, like honey?"
"It's not like honey, it's perfumed."
"Perfume...?"
"I get my feet massaged every morning with the essential oil of quirk, which was given to me by the Emperor himself. I got it as a gift, so I can't not use it, and it's annoying."
Rosette's eyes lit up like a miner who unearthed gold at the unheard of story of perfumed oil. I bowed my head down thinking that if the emperor himself gave gifts, he must be a high-ranking aristocrat among the nobility.
Mubin clicked his tongue inwardly as he saw people who were busy keeping their habitual lips in their mouth and keeping an eye on them.
'I was expecting something special because Estio grew up in the environment, and it's the worst.'
They were too obvious tribes.
Greed, jealousy, and even the vulgar nature of turning upside down and wags tail in front of high-ranking authorities.
It was completely different from Estio, who was a commoner, but was indifferent about everything, was not greedy for anything, and did not give up easily. Moobin was greatly disappointed to see those who called him his family.
However, Mubin, accustomed to surviving in the aristocratic world, did not show his disappointment. People were still easily deceived by the single, friendly face.
"I'm Rosette."
"Hey, I should introduce you to my brother. Nari, this is our eldest son, Terriot."
"Ahh."
As they smiled, both mother and daughter's expressions brightened equally. As soon as he knew that his opponent was of high status, it was almost imaginary that he was trying to somehow reach the kite.
'Are you stupid? If I were a high-ranking nobleman, can't you guess what the position of this person I hired with a lot of money and hard work would be?'
Even foolish games are supposed to be funny when the level is appropriate. The people in front of her right now were too low to even laugh at, so Mubin lost interest in an instant.
"By the way, Na-ri, these lowly bastards have something to tell Na-ri, who is erudite, heh-huh."
"Yeah."
At the village chief's attempt to convince him, Moobin calmly agreed. She was truly the eyes of a noble who looked down upon a thousand things.
His oppressive black eyes glanced at the people sitting around him.
"I was surprised that you guys were so lowly and ignorant than I expected. I wouldn't have guessed if I hadn't heard of the leader's family. It's amazing in many ways."
Mubin picked up one side of the dried beans. I want to take it to her mouth, but I don't eat it, it just twirls and twirls between my fingers. Silence fell in her noisy house, not knowing how tense her play with her hands was.
"Well, put aside the useless sarcasm and get to the point. No matter how lowly you are, you must have the intelligence to answer what you've been through."
"......!"
It was insulting, but no one was offended.
Mubin smiled, revealing this, and threw the questions he had been trying to confirm the whole time, like a bomb, in silence.
"You are the real family of <Leader S. T.O, right?"
It was a brief moment, but the couple's eyes turned to Estio. The two of them hurriedly scatter their gazes to both sides as if they were trying to match, and opened their mouths to respond.
"Yes."
"Ah, I'm sorry. Estio is our child."
The father side only affirmed with a hardened face, but the mother side trembled a bit more. Estio's mother stretched out her hand to her youngest son with a proud expression on her face, as if the treasure in her hands might be stolen.
Startle.
For the first time in her life, Estio's shoulder, who had been sitting indifferently, trembled at her mother's warm touch. His hand stroking his hair as if lovingly was dry and hard. For the first time in 19 years, Estio knew that a mother's hand felt like this.
'......What. I'm not sure what to expect?'
Don't expect anything.
Estio was shocked by how he reacted to this pretentious touch, and he hardened like a stone. He knew exactly what the touch meant, but he didn't want to shake it off as it was when he slapped Bella's hand.
I need to chill it out right now, but I can't.
Even if it was a play, he wanted to stay like this for a little while, holding onto his ankles and not letting go of his bizarre desire.
While he was in turmoil, Mubin was urging them again.
"I asked if Estio here is your blood and blood. If you tell a lie, you will be severely punished, so answer the truth."
"......"
"Nari, this is my son. How can you doubt the bloodline when you look so similar to your parents and siblings?"
The father kept his mouth shut like a clam, and instead, the mother insisted. However, when the brothers heard that Estio looked like them, they openly expressed disgust.
Even after hearing the answer, Mubin's doubts did not go away. Contrary to the claims of his mother, their family and Estio were hard to find in real life.
Following his parents, his brother and sister, the whole family has light brown hair, and Estio alone has dark hair. The color of his eyes was slightly different, but his mother's blue and his father's green were divided. The only thing Estio had in common was that it was the same color as his mother's eyes.
Her mother had dark blue eyes similar to that of Estio.
However, the same color felt different because of their different facial expressions and impressions. Unlike her mother's blue eyes, which only give a dull feeling, Estio's eyes are like the light of the deep sea gently fluttering.
Mubin quickly turned his head to Estio's brother.
"Were you together when your brother was born?"
"I don't remember."
Terriot answered with a stern tone. Even if he remembered it, he had an angry expression on his face that he wanted to erase.
