Chapter 47 : Escort(2)
I wrapped my head in my hands at the incident that occurred less than half a day after we promised to stay quiet.
When Jing and Ratel arrived at the temple, a rather long line had already ford from people who had gathered after seeing the good conditions.
-Applicants, please form a line.
I was relieved at the sight of the attendant walking around and giving directions.
No matter which region one went to, temples were stable.
With a system this organized, as long as we don't get swept up in a commotion, we should be able to quietly do our work and receive our pay.
How complacent a thought that was.
This peace of mine was shattered by a man who slyly inserted his body in front of .
It was not a special situation.
Just that a person had appeared, putting into practice before my very eyes the truth that the simpler the rule, the easier it is to break.
What I intended to do here was just a gentlemanly remark like, ‘Hey, young man. This won't do, will it?’
-Hey, get to the back.
If only it weren't for the intrusion of that young personality-catastrophe, which happened in the short mont I was debating whether to let it slide or say sothing.
I sighed, lanting the situation that could have ended with ‘It's not urgent, so please step back.’
Shing.
While I was reminiscing about the past, the man must have decided to cut Ratel down, as he drew a well-honed short sword.
“This arrogant bastard, I'll show you exactly what happens when you run your mouth incorrectly today.”
The man's face, threatening him, was red as if it would burst, as if Ratel's short-legs remark was that humiliating.
Worried this would really turn into a big commotion, I intervened between the two.
“Wait, both of you, calm down. Don't you think this isn't sothing to get this worked up over.”
“No, it's sothing to get trendously worked up over.”
Unfortunately, the curly-haired man wasn't very broad-minded either.
Well, if his heart was broad, he wouldn't have done the petty act of cutting in line.
“Now, don't get so excited……”
“It does seem like it would be hard to find anything on you that isn't large.”
It seed Ratel's quiet sarcasm, which nullified my effort to resolve the situation, had exhausted what little patience the man had.
“This bastard, really!!!”
The tip of the sword thrust toward Ratel.
Clang!
The man's short sword, flying with a clear sound, embedded itself in front of the people standing in line behind them.
The man, unable to understand what had happened, stared blankly, alternating between his empty hand and Ratel's sword.
Even so, his hand, which had t overwhelming power, just trembled.
His skill was as insignificant as his petty mind.
“What is this……”
Seeing his dazed face, it seed he didn't even see Ratel draw his sword.
It wasn't that Ratel had used any special magic.
It was just that he perford the most basic movent so quickly and smoothly that his unskilled opponent didn't even notice.
“You bastard, what was that just now?”
“Nothing much. Other than you being an idiot.”
Laughter burst out from here and there at Ratel's answer.
“This bastard, really!”
The shorty, who still hadn't co to his senses, seed to have the will to pounce on an opponent with overwhelming skill, as he took a dagger from his pocket and rushed at Ratel.
For a surprise attack, it was a slow one, and I thought idly.
He won't even graze his collar.
Ratel, who parried the knife the man was swinging, grabbed his arm.
The shorty's eyes clouded with shock, but this did not last long.
Because the man's short legs soared into the air, drew an arc, and then crashed to the ground.
“Keuk!”
With a thud, a blocked groan burst from the man's mouth.
“……”
Silence fell upon the temple garden at the situation that ended so quickly.
“You seed to like quiet, so I handled it quickly.”
Ratel, who turned around without even catching his breath, crookedly pulled up his lips as if teasing , as I stared at him blankly.
“Thanks. I thought you weren't listening at all.”
We were selected without difficulty, but what made it harder for was not the simple test, but the people's attention.
***
“They call Jing! What's your na?”
A voice, hard to distinguish if it was cheerful or flippant, rang through the dining hall.
Ratel looked at , as I was tilting my glass next to him.
“I was surprised, thinking you'd suddenly gone senile, Jing.”
“Sa here.”
Fortunately, I had not suddenly gone senile.
I looked at the brown-haired man, the owner of the cheerful voice.
Ratel was now concentrating on the at pie on his plate, without even turning his head.
“He must be a shy friend.”
The man was one who made his own convenient assessnt of that cold reaction.
The brown-haired man, with a mustache that didn't suit his youthful face, pulled up a chair and sat next to them, as if he were either very sociable or very shaless, even though no one had invited him.
“Wow, mister! That was so amazing skill. That punk never had any business ethics, so everyone was already fed up with him. You really taught him a lesson! You too, elder! I saw earlier, your swordsmanship was extraordinary.”
I, who was listening to the borderline-exaggerated complints, readily extended my hand.
A conversation with soone who knew the local situation was welco.
“You're too kind. It's nice to et soone with the sa na in a place like this.”
“Ah, is the elder's na also Jing, by any chance? Well, it is a sowhat common na. I’ve even t up to three people with the sa na in one day! Thanks to that, people rember my na well.”
When I accepted his words, the excited man smiled broadly and began to ramble on about things he wasn't even asked.
“There are bad things, too. Since it's such a common na, when bad guys give a fake na, they say they're Jing……”
“Yes, it's really nice to et you, too.”
It was too much, way too much.
“Ah, I'm a bit too talkative. Everyone tells to cut it short.”
Even though he was suddenly cut off, the man chuckled and scratched the back of his head.
“I'm Jing, and this is Ratel. By the looks of it, you seem to have been in this village for quite a while?”
“It hasn't been that long. I wandered here and there and drifted in about a month ago. It's a pretty nice village.”
The young Jing stuck his head out toward Ratel, who was still concentrating on eating, then looked back at and grinned.
“I was interested because you're faces and skills I haven't seen around here. I'm the type who can't stand being curious. You two must have co from quite far away?”
I scanned the man's face for a mont.
From what I saw in the selection test earlier, he was a young man whose skills were neither that outstanding nor too lacking.
It seed like pure curiosity, not probing to dig up information.
“I'm not much different from you. I've just been swinging a sword around for a bit longer. I've done various jobs, and just drifted here.”
There was a lot implied in ‘various jobs’, but it wasn't a lie either.
The man nodded, fiddling with his out-of-place mustache.
“Even at a glance, your experience looks extraordinary. Then that side……?”
The man's interest-filled eyes turned to Ratel.
I looked at Ratel with an extrely anxious expression.
We had agreed to say we just t on the road and started traveling together, but Ratel had been busily stuffing bread in his mouth at that ti too, so I couldn't be sure if he heard properly.
Still, I told him so many tis, he'll play along to so extent, right.
“Jing knocked out and kidnapped , so we ended up together like this.”
“Heok.”
Wrong.
Realizing once again that the only ti that punk ever matched was at alti, I put my head in my hand.
“That's... quite a special connection.”
The young Jing, though he seed a bit like a delinquent, must have been a better guy than he looked, as he managed to reply, albeit awkwardly.
But his wariness was thicker than his previous friendliness.
“No, that's not it! Why do you talk like that? We're just people who t by chance and started moving together.”
“Hey, Jing!”
At the sound of soone calling Jing from afar, the young Jing turned his head.
“Let's go have a smoke! It'll be forced no-smoking once the job starts!”
“Coming!”
He waved his hand and stood up, dusting off his pants.
“It was nice eting you. It'll be a short ti, but I look forward to working with you.”
He gave a light wave and disappeared out the dining hall door.
“Am I getting old and my mory is going, or what? I'm sure we both agreed to just say we t on the road.”
“You're not that old. That's what we agreed on.”
To my expression that said then why on earth did you do that, Ratel held up his spoon.
“Because it was too noisy while I was eating.”
“No, even so, how can you scare soone like that.”
At my miserable words, Ratel looked at as if I were the one saying sothing strange.
“Aren't you supposed to be quiet when you eat?”
“Well, that's true……”
Why does he always speak like soone who's only learned half the rules of etiquette?
Leaving to debate whether or not to say that scaring a noisy person into shutting up was also questionable, Ratel began to focus on his al again.
“Still, in a place like this where everyone gathers and eats, can't you be a bit more flexible? If you're going to live bumping into people, gathering information is important. At tis like that, there's nothing as easy and comfortable as people.”
“Instead of doing that, it's not troubleso, just grab one person and beat them until they talk……”
“Stop saying things that make an old man's heart drop and just eat your al.”
At my sigh-mixed words, Ratel just shrugged his shoulders.
“From now on, that problem-solving thod of yours……”
I, who was continuing my nagging, stopped talking at the gaze I felt from afar and turned my head in that direction.
I saw a child lingering at the entrance of the dining hall.
He was dressed in pants and a shirt that were worn but neat.
He must be one of the children gathered for the Tinas ritual.
Nobles called priests directly to their mansions, but in the case of commoners, they gathered at a nearby temple like this and perford the ritual together.
That child also seed to be one of them.
At the sight of the young child, who reminded of the Little Duke, I smiled brightly with the kindest face I could muster and waved my hand.
Seeing him flinch and turn away, it seed that from the child's perspective, I didn't co across as anything more than a scary old man.
“For soone who has a kid, your skill in handling kids is truly terrible.”
Ratel teased as I stared miserably at the small back of the child's head, who was running away quickly without looking back.
“Be quiet. My son used to be so happy just seeing my face.”
Then again, I was so busy that I had little ti to see my child's face until he was sowhat grown.
The fact that he was so happy at small actions was, I realized anew, because I had spent that little ti with him, and the taste in my mouth turned bitter, so I put down my fork.
“That direction must be the lodging where the children are staying.”
At Ratel's mumble, I realized he still hadn't taken his eyes off the door where the child had disappeared.
“That's right. You seed to not be concentrating at all, but you did hear the guidance.”
I offered words of praise, recalling Ratel who had only stared at the prayer room even during the priest's explanation.
“You have to listen carefully to the important things.”
I wondered if he was saying my words weren't important, but I held my tongue.
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