07.KARL
The south region of the kingdom of Arcadia, Raconia. It was a contested region, and originally, it belonged to one of the seven kingdoms, the kingdom of Ostoberg. Before that, it used to be Arcadia´s territory, and even before that, it also used to be from Ostoberg; that so on.
In a land like this, there wasn´t anyone at the fields working; it was a desolated place that had kept changing owners. There was anybody eccentric enough to want to settle in a place like this. There weren´t any benefits for conquering this land anymore; the kingdoms continued fighting for it only for keeping their faces.
Once again, another battle that seemed to be as if it had been arranged by both sides was taking place today.
“…I am tired of this.”
A bit to the front of the fort, at the field the battle was happening, there was a white haired man.
“Ah, yes yes. It is really nice you are full of energy, yes.”
“Uryaaaaaaaaaaaah Hyueeeeeeei!”(うえりゃあああああああひゅえええええええい！)
“….Get a hoe or something and go work on the field. In the next world, though.”(TL note: Literal translation… I guess this would be in the meaning that the guy there is so weak he wasn´t supposed to be in the war, but doing farm work instead.)
One more head was cut. The white haired man was dejected.
“This is only a little quarrel of small fries. Even if I fight here, I won´t get even a single copper coin.”
Nimbly parrying the attacks of the enemy soldiers, the man casually continued to cut off the heads of the enemy soldiers. However, even if you more or less stood out in the battle, it didn´t mean you would make a good impression to the upper bra.s.s. To begin with, you wouldn´t even get their attention. If Willian was to stood out, the most he would get would be he being used for whatever dirty work there was by his small fries officers that were only able to get to their position by slowly rising up.
“The superiors are also desperate about their own life anyway, so they aren´t even looking at me.”
The young man was spilling idle complaints. To him, there wasn´t anything to learn in this place, and there wasn´t any gain from it either. This was exactly how the land they were fight for could be described as.
““Let´s eat something and go to sleep after this war is over.””
The young man fought with lack of motivation while he was thinking that. Before he could notice, it was already becoming morning. The war was close to its end.
Today, another of the usual battle from everyday had finished. Just like always, it ended in a draw.
The fort of Raconia was replete with merchants. Even if there was no productivity in this land, the soldiers would still buy things, and besides, the money gained from that wasn´t bad. As the result of that, the place was unexpectedly very prosperous. Most of the shops were stalls, but there were some that would rent buildings for setting their shop.
“Rabbit stew! It´s filled with meat.”
In a shop that hadn´t prospered as much as the other of the many other shops, a white haired young man was having lunch.
“Here it is.”
The dish that was crudely served was a bunch of food piled up in the bowl in an unorganized manner, but the amount of food served was very much, the price was cheap, and the taste…
“Like always, it is disgusting.”
Although the youth bluntly said so, the owner of the eatery didn´t even bat a glance. As if the young man wasn´t feeling the horrible taste, he sipped the stew and ate the rabbit meat.
Ignoring the taste, the youth continued to eat. He noticed the presence of someone sitting next to him, but without caring about that, he continued to move his spoon.
“Uhh… Give me the same as that person there.”
An order that lacked individual opinion. Without either the white haired young man or the owner of the eatery caring about these details, they continued to do their own business. From the cooking pot, the owner took a healthy amount of stew and put it into a bowl that was of the appropriate size. Because of how much appropriate the amount was to the size of the bowl, the people that would order for the food would get surprised. There really weren´t many people that would ask for seconds in this eatery.
“Here it is.”
The person became lost for words after seeing the food that being was served to him. After trying it, he once again became lost for words. And then, after looking at the remaining amount, he felt like foam was about to come out of his mouth. This was the pattern the people that would come to this eatery for the first time would do.
“Yo-you are really incredible. For you to be able to eat this…”
It seems the person next to the young man was talking to him. The young man raised his head.
“Ah, uhh, I am n.o.body suspicious. I am from the same squad as you. My name is Karl Teirah.”
After looking at the youth that named himself Karl, in an instant, memories that there had been a new recruit at their squad went through the young man´s mind. It was possible to feel the quality of his bringing only by giving a glance at his curled golden hair.
“Willian Rivius. Nice to meet you.”
After saying that, Willian went back to eating his meal. Willian used to be the freed slave called Al, but right now, he was called Willian Rivius. He was a third cla.s.s citizen that came from Rus.h.i.tania.
“I know it! Everyone has been talking about you. They said there was a strong guy with white hair. And also that… you weren´t much of talking…”
Karl nervously said the last part in fear the owner of the eatery would hear it. In a sluggish manner, Willian once again raised his face.
“Your business?”
“Uhm… Well, I was wondering if we could be friends.”
At that instant, Willian was a.s.saulted by a feeling of deja vu. Karl´s face was being overlapped with the face of the red haired boy. Even though the red and golden were different colors, their character were similar.
“…Sorry, but I will refuse. I don´t want to make any friends here.”
Because of that att.i.tude, Willian wasn´t a very likeable person. f
“Ah, I-I see. I guess it can´t be helped in that case. Ahaha.”
Karl disappointment was clearly seen. His face looked very alike [himself]. The face of the [himself] that he took the place of, and that should have already been dead…
“What about you go eat your food? Your stew will end up getting cold.”
By saying that, Willian forcefully ended the conversation and went back to eating his food. Answering “U-uh, yeah”, Karl looked at his stew. After moving the stew to his mouth, he fell down.
“He-hey!? What happened!? Was the taste that bad!?”
As to be expected, even Willian became surprised at that. The owner of the eatery didn´t pay any mind. This eatery should be demolished already.
“Dear customer, the bill.”
The owner of the eatery was demanding the payment of both the serves from Willian. He wasn´t even looking at Karl, who had fallen down. It was weird how this eatery could still keep functioning up to this day. It was the number one eatery Willian wished that it was destroyed in Raconia.
“I will pay it. I just need to pay it, right.”
After finishing taking care of Karl, Willian reluctantly paid for both the food and ate the two servings.
“Disgusting!”
Whether it was because Willian was able to eat the food despite the bad taste or because he was able to eat two servings of food, as to be expected, even the owner became surprised.
“I will come again!”
After saying that, the moody Willian left the eatery in a dignified manner. Whatever may there be to be said about this, for Willian, who was still in his growth period, it was important to have somewhere where he could get that much of an amount of food in a cheap price. Even if it tasted bad, it should be very nutritious.
“s.h.i.t, today is my unlucky day.”
Because Willian couldn´t just leave Karl somewhere, he had to carry him in his back. If it was at the time he had, he would have ignored Karl, but right now, he was in his same squad. It would be troublesome if bad rumours about him were to spread.
“I should at least carry him to my room.”
Willian carried his “baggage” to the room he had rented.
“M, mmmm.”
Karl woke up. After opening his eyes, he noticed he was at a very simple room. In that room, there was one simple bed and a window and table that received exposure from the sun. There was someone hanged at the window frame. Seeing Karl had woken up, that person went down the window.
“U-uwah!?”
It was Willian. After he had heard Karl´s surprised voice, he released his hands from the window.
“It looks like you woke up. Then, go back to your own room. In case you aren´t staying at any room, then go back to your sleeping bag.”
“Ah, uhm, Willian-san… What happened?”
Maybe because he was still startled by Willian having suddenly gone down the window, Karl was still having a surprised face. Willian scratched his head.
“I was training. Pull-ups exercises the whole body. I can add weights to it as much as I want, and besides, it´s the only training I can do while being inside my room after all.”(TL note: Do pull-ups really exercise the whole body? Isn´t it only the arms? Maybe some special way of doing that sort of thing? I don´t know about this kind of things -.- Well, it is written here that it trains the whole body ;p 懸垂は全身運動だ)
“Pull-ups? Weights?”
For someone from Arcadia, Karl´s confusion wasn´t a weird reaction. To begin with, Arcadia´s training consisted of only swinging the sword, the spear and having mock battles. Trainings methods like pull-ups and others of the sort weren´t really done, and it would be downgraded to it being some kind of a child´s game. There wasn´t the concept of adding weights to improve the training either.
“There are training methods like that as well. If you want to know about it in more details, then go read a book named “Spartyi”. Since it is the libraries of Arcadia we are talking about, there should be copies of this book and also translated versions.”
In the past, there was a time Willian used to be Al. This book was one Al had read many times. There were training methods in that book that the other training methods used in Arcadia wouldn´t even suffice as a comparison.
“So Willan-san can read books. You are really knowledgeable.”
The nonchalant words that came from Karl made Willian startled.
“We-well, it is more or less like common sense though.”
“Besides, you came from Arkas, right? I am also from Arkas. Ah, my brother also likes to read books, so I think Willan-san would be able to have a good conversation with him!”
Before he could notice, Willian was already digging his own tomb. It looks like he became careless and slipped his tongue, ending up talking about useless things. After giving a long breath,, he was able to calm himself down.
“I am a third cla.s.s citizen from Arkas, so I am more or less from there although II am a foreigner. Isn´t it fine already? I have things to do tomorrow too, so I want to rest.”
“So Willian-san is a foreigner! I´ve heard many things about…. Ah, I can´t, I can´t. I have many things I want to ask you, but I need to let you rest. Thank you for taking care of me! Then, see you tomorrow!”
Karl dashed out the room full of energy. He didn´t forget to bow to Willian before closing the door.
After seeing the door being closed, Willian put his hand in his head.
“This is really… a pain in the a.s.s.”
Willian´s sigh resounded through the small room.