Lucia has a better memory than Veirya. She immediately recognised Anna when she saw her at dinner. She cheerfully took hold of Anna"s hands and had her sit down. The two of them shared one chair. Lucia cheerfully asked, "Anna, I"m so happy to see you. We have you to thank for helping us lure the demons" main force in the last battle. Also, you guys stuck with us during the battle to defend the farm from the demons cavalry"s sudden attack. We"re very grateful to you. How are your other teammates doing?"
Anna wore a nostalgic and happy smile. She looked at Lucia with excitement. Anna"s eyes lit up when they talked about the past. Those days of the past must"ve been very cherished days to Anna. She"s now working as a maid for a lord"s home. She"s in charge of cleaning rooms, washing clothes and taking care of Leah every day. There"s no way that her current lifestyle, that doesn"t earn her a salary, can compare to her previous lifestyle. In the past, she was a Gold Rank adventurer, who was able to fight alongside powerful warriors, such as Veirya and Lucia, who were capable of killing the Demon King. She was respected no matter when and where.
Now, however, she was a mere maid who doesn"t even have freedom. Hence, the past was very much worth reminiscing for Anna. Thinking about it could be said to be her alcohol that allows her to escape from reality. Recalling the nice things of the past made the present more bearable. Of course, there"s one other possibility, and that is that she hates her current life. In other words, seeing Lucia was the same as seeing her past.
Nonetheless, the mention of her comrades was akin to a cup of bitter wine, one that came from the present. The slight smile Anna had gradually vanished. She looked at Lucia and in a soft voice, replied, "There were very few of us that made it through this winter. This winter was too cold to us. Her Majesty didn"t give us anything after the victory. We weren"t given any rewards or honours. We returned to our villages, only to discover that they had been totally destroyed, and that we weren"t going to be compensated. Others had moved into our homes. We went from adventurers to wanderers with nothing in the blink of an eye. The majority of us, who went to the capital, were executed for breaking the law. The remainder of us dragged out an ign.o.ble life. However, we aren"t very educated, and our combat skills weren"t required. Lots of us either died from starvation or froze to death… I had nowhere to go, so I came here to the North to find Lord Veirya. Initially, three of us journeyed here, but in the end, only I survived."
Lucia looked at Anna, feeling somewhat surprised. Anna began to softly sob. She wiped her tears. I awkwardly looked at the two of them, but Veirya didn"t react. She didn"t have any thoughts on the adventurers" tragic lives. She was interested in how many more bowls of meat stew she could have. Leah looked at the large pot with even more eagerness. She tried her absolute best to bring the pot over to herself.
Lucia sighed, "You should all be humanity"s heroes, yet were treated with injustice… You should clearly have freedom and honour, yet you were slain… We saw Queen Sisi; I must say, she"s an excellent Queen, but she"s a terrible person. I"m sure you"re aware of what she does."
Lucia looked at me. I gave her a nod. Queen Sisi has done outrageous things to me, as well. She made me entertain the most outstanding individuals of the three races. If it wasn"t for Lucia, I"d be dead, or I"d have actually picked up that steak in front of everybody with my mouth.
I didn"t voice my opinion for Queen Sisi, for I could see that Veirya started to become unhappy. She looked up from her bowl of meat stew and unhappily looked at Leah, "You"re elves. I won"t allow you to attack our Queen Sisi. Queen Sisi led us to defeat the Demon King. She"s the n.o.blest Queen in this world. Lucilia. I can"t accept you attacking Queen Sisi. Even if you"re my good friend."
"Okay, okay, okay, my mistake."
Lucia was cognizant of the fact that trying to explain herself to Veirya was just utter stupidity. Veirya refuses to listen to what others say, which is why Lucia chose to go along with Veirya. Nevertheless, it was noticeable from her gaze that she wasn"t willing to change her stance. Lucia still viewed Queen Sisi as an antagonist.
"But I guess this gives me the opportunity to feel honoured and a sense of justice for what I did."
Anna finally calmed down. She sniffled and gave me a somewhat awkward smile. Lucia watched her then looked at me, "Thank you for taking care of her. Veirya, and… Uhh…"
"Lin Dongqing."
"That"s a weird name… It was, Lin? No, Dongqing? That"s no good, either. No good, no good. Your name is too hard for us to p.r.o.nounce."
Lucia folded her arms and looked at me with a frown as if it was my fault that my name was hard to p.r.o.nounce. I looked back at her and sighed, "I only have one name. Plus, n.o.body else besides you thinks my name is hard to p.r.o.nounce."
"Veirya doesn"t even address you by your name, though, does she?"
"… That"s true."
"I"ll give you an elven name, then. Our elven names are very nice. Mm… Let me have a think… Travor. That means "owl" in the elven language. I think your eyes resemble an owl"s eyes. I can"t help but feel that there are secrets hiding behind them."
Lucia looked at me while feeling proud of herself. She seemed very pleased with her naming skills. She puffed out her flat chest and appeared to be waiting for my praise.
"… It"s long and hard to p.r.o.nounce. It"s worse than my previous name."
Yes, the name was meaningless to me. I don"t live in the elven lands, and I don"t speak the elven language. It was long and a tongue twister. It was worse than my name.
"You can shorten it to, "Trav."
Since I didn"t praise her, Lucia angrily turned to look at Veirya and asked, "What do you think of the name?"
Veirya placed her spoon down, and then looked at me with a serious look, "It doesn"t matter. No matter what his name is. He"ll be by my side when I need him. I don"t need to know his name. All I need is for him to be with me."
"Wow! What"s with this old husband and wife sort of trust?!! You don"t trust me to that degree despite us having gone through life and death together for so long, do you?!"
"No, Lucia. I absolutely trust you; else, I wouldn"t be eating with you without my sword."
"Okay, okay, thank you so much for your trust, then! I"m so touched!!"
l