CH 33

Gazelle’s POV (Monologue)

Did I ever mention that I and Iris were from the slums? Yes, that’s right. I and Iris were originally an orphan. My home village was… We were attacked by monsters. Although I managed to survive, it killed my parents and all of my siblings. I was only nine years old at the time. T2K7JQ

My younger sister and brother were only six and four, and my older brothers had just turned 20. My oldest brother, who had always adored me, had taught me to read and write. He was the one who assisted me in escaping during the attack.

… I was the first one to escape. All of our houses and fields were destroyed by the monster onslaught. As a result, the village’s survivors were accepted into a nearby farm village or moved to another city with the help of relatives, but I and a few other survivors had nowhere else to go. As a result, we came to Ritzheim City, the kingdom’s capital, in search of work.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

It took us two years to get to the capital. On the way, two of my friends died. One died as a result of injuries sustained during a monster attack, and another as a result of a fever while traveling. So, after making it to the royal capital through desperate efforts, we moved to the slums and lived amongst ourselves, supporting one another.

It was around this time that I met Iris. I had turf wars with him at first, but once we got past that, he was very nice to me. I lived in the slums for three years until I was 14 years old. When a person reaches the age of fourteen, they can take the knight’s apprenticeship exam. I went right away to get it. Since I started working as a day laborer, I have done nothing but menial tasks in the field of civil engineerings, such as bricklaying. Because of my good physique, I easily passed the exam and was able to become an apprentice. KUN6Vp

Hmm? What made me want to be a knight?

No, I never intended to become a knight. I became an apprentice knight because it was the quickest way for a slum kid to get a decent job. It is not that I did not want vengeance against the monsters who attacked my village or to prevent other children from being born in the same situation as me, but my first priority was to make a living for myself and my friends.

Two more of my friends died during the three years I lived in the slums. While working as a day laborer, one of them was crushed by construction materials. There was no apology, let alone compensation, for the accident at the shoddy site. The other was afflicted by an epidemic. It was not an incurable disease, but we could not afford medicine.

We tried to raise the money to pay for the medicine, but then he left a note saying, “Thank you for everything. I’m going to my family first.”

qtomay

Only six people remained in our hamlet of ten, including myself. I was determined to keep the other five safe at all costs. Even though they were not blood relatives, they were important companions and family to me. That’s how I became an apprentice knight. In order to become an official member of an order, one must first work as an apprentice knight and then take an entrance examination for the desired order you want to join.

With my status, I could join either the Green Winged Knights, which were open to commoners or the Black Winged Knights, which were open to people of all races and statuses. I had planned to join the Green Winged Knights at the time. Besides, I personally prefer the Green-Winged knights.

Haha, you’re surprised again. Is it that surprising? No, no, because… To be honest, it sounds good to hear that the Black Wing Knights are a group based on merit regardless of race or status, but you never know what kind of people they are, right? If that’s the case, I thought it would be better to join the Green-winged knights where there are commoners just like me, Hahaha.

However, along the way… A small incident occurred around the time I turned 19, while working as a knight’s apprentice. One of our guys… He was the oldest member of our group, and he opened his own small shop around the same time I joined the order. He was a good-natured guy who had previously worked as a merchant in his home village, so the store was off to a good start. PoDd87

Just then, one of my friends got sued by the Merchant Guild. The man who filed the lawsuit claimed that the land my friend had purchased for his store was originally his. He claimed that my friend had illegally taken possession of the land. My friend also had a certificate of title to the land, which he had filed with the local government before doing business, but it turned out that the certificate he had was forged. In the end, the Merchant Guild and my friend had a disagreement, and things became complicated. My friend, who was sued by them, was detained.

At the time, the Black-Winged knights were in charge of investigating this incident. As an apprentice knight, I was still living with my friends in the slums, so I too was subjected to interrogation by the Black Winged knights as well as the higher-ups of the order at the time.

I pleaded desperately that, yes, we were poor, but that our friends were not so low that they would be complicit in a fraud. However, the odds were stacked against us. The person behind the lawsuit was a huge merchant, and the stories he told sounded plausible.

The former Commander of the Black-winged Knights… It was then that I first met my senior. ZHfLo

“You know, you insist that your friends are innocent, but the situation is quite unfavorable,” my senior said in response to my desperate plea. “The land deed held by him is genuine, and there are no records of the land being purchased in the Merchant’s Guild.”

“But still, he’s not—  He is not the kind of guy who would do such a thing. If it weren’t for him, we might have joined the rebels on our way to the capital. However, he encouraged us all the way to the end, and that’s why we’ve managed to stay on the path we’ve been on.” All of the bigwigs furrowed their brows as I clenched my fists and pleaded for help.

My senior, on the other hand, just laughed. It was a gentle smile that did not fit the tense atmosphere.

“Is that so? We, the Black-Winged Knights will look into this matter once more.” 3GFvdj

“W-What?”

“No. Such selfishness is not permitted!”

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“What’s so unacceptable about investigating a case? For now, the interrogation is over. This kid and the brother who’s detained, both of them, send them home.” After saying this, my senior patted my head and smiled at me.

True to his word, my friend and I was able to return home. When I returned home, the others inquired about what had occurred. LIxcad

“Shouldn’t we flee the capital while we still can?”

“If the order’s investigation turns out to be a waste of time, he’s going to be imprisoned, isn’t he?!?!”

“Are you sure they are going to look into this? There’s no way anyone would work for a kid from the slums like us.”

Nonsense. u4TZ1x

For some reason, I refused to believe in my senior. As a result, I chose to side with my friends. One week after my friends and I had been anxiously awaiting his arrival, he came to our shabby place. I was so surprised. I had never imagined that the commander of the order of knights would come all the way to a shanty town like the one we live in.

When he entered the house, he said to my companions, “Sorry for keeping you waiting,” and then handed us a piece of paper. It was an official deed to the land. To our astonishment, he laughed loudly and told us about the events of the past week.

The story went like this.

The merchant had three sons, and the youngest of them was a very unscrupulous spender. One day, the guy apparently spent all of the store’s money. To recoup the money, the guy duplicated the merchant’s guild’s deed and sold the land. It is disgusting how they sell small plots of land to people who live in poor neighborhoods like ours. HKyzUF

It had never come to light because they were selling a small, unpopular plot of land that would not be easily discovered by the Merchant Guild but there were two others who got similarly scammed.

Even if the matter came to light, no one in the slums could afford to hire a defense attorney, and since the Merchant Guild had legitimate land deeds, I guess those people thought they could just sue our side instead.

The merchant’s youngest son was sentenced to hard labor. When the Merchant Guild discovered that the true culprit was one of their own, they withdrew their lawsuit. Originally, the land was supposed to be confiscated from my friend, but my senior was able to work out a deal with the Merchant Guild.

“If the actual truth about this incident spreads, the Merchant Guild’s credibility might be questioned. Since the land was worth a couple of pennies anyway, it would be better to hand it over to this guy,” he said, and the legitimate land deed indeed became my friend’s. aZI1gK

After listening to the details of the incident, my friends bowed deeply to my senior. But he ignored our gestures and quickly exited the house.

I dashed after him and stopped him. “W-wait!”

“What is it?”

“You, why… Even if he’s innocent…” hudocV

“You believed him, didn’t you? You believed him, didn’t you? I believed in you, who believed in that guy.”

“Yeah, so why is that? Why did you believe me? A kid from a poor town with no parents like me, how could you trust me so much…?”

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It was strange. I wondered why he had gone to such lengths. You don’t get a pay rise for doing this. In fact, it would have resulted in him being shunned by the higher-ups. When I asked him in a puzzled tone of voice, he kept his mouth shut and looked straight at me. The deep emotion and strong will in his eyes made it impossible for me to say the next word.

… I still can’t forget the look in his eyes. My senior reached over and lightly tapped me once on the shoulder. And turned away after saying a word of encouragement. qjwJQs

I looked at him with an even dumber expression on my face than before. I stood there for a while, even after his back was out of sight… and then, after some more time had passed, I finally realized. I realized that it was his kindness that kept him from saying anything to me.

I had lost my family and village, and my remaining friends were irreplaceable because they were like family to me. That person was concerned about my situation. However, if he had put it into words, I would have felt obligated to repay him. It was due to his kindness that he did not say anything unnecessary.

That look in his eyes told us that we didn’t have to say anything demeaning about ourselves, even if it was just a metaphor. For our own sake, that was all he needed to say. He told me that there was no need to say more than that, and that alone was reason enough to believe in him.

That was the first time I truly desired to be a knight. That was my beginning. I wanted to be a knight like that–I longed to be that man. JSK3aP

So, Takumi…

I wish you could tell me… When the time is right. I’ll wait until you’re ready to tell me.

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