Ernant, deception, betrayal……

Erasing all those gloomy stories, I chose only the beautiful truth to write in the letter.

It would be quite cruel to fully inform Carl’s family, whom he cherished above all else, of his crimes.

The older brother sacrificed himself nobly as a knight to treat his younger sister’s illness – I thought it would be enough to inform the bereaved family roughly like this.

It was when I was finishing up the letter.

The captain called me from outside the tent.

“Are you not done yet? We need to leave soon.”

“I’m coming out now.”

I quickly tucked the letter into my chest and came out of the tent.

I planned to personally deliver the letter by stopping by Carl’s hometown on the way.

I roughly knew the location, so I could find it.

So, with it in my chest, I came out and the captain lightly scolded me.

“I thought you only needed to bring your body and sword, but it took quite a while.”

“Are you going to scold me for being just about 10 minutes late?”

“10 minutes is quite a long time. Did you know you could lose your life if you hold your breath for 10 minutes?”

“Wow, that’s scary. Let’s stop the nonsense and depart before another 10 minutes pass.”

After saying that, I hopped on my horse and departed first.

The captain followed behind me belatedly.

“Yulia! Wait!”

“I’ll arrive 10 minutes earlier! Take your time!”

Hearing that shout, the captain immediately drove his black horse faster to catch up beside me.

Afterwards, we ended up racing our horses across the field as if competing to get ahead of each other.

The awakened one who was said to have powerful sea abilities was located in a region called ‘Gritplus’ in the southern part of the empire.

Since it was so far away, it was difficult to go straight there at once, and we had to pass through other villages or cities in between.

The first place we stopped at was a small village called ‘Runterhagen’, which was Carl’s hometown.

I was able to quickly find Carl’s childhood home in that small village.

“White fence, red roof, large wisteria in the yard….. That’s it. Carl’s house. It perfectly matches the characteristics of his hometown house that he told me about before.”

Hearing my words, the captain retorted sarcastically.

“I’m not sure if this is a pointless act.”

“It’s not pointless. Even if Carl betrayed us, his family is innocent. He said he had a younger sister, and we can’t make that young child wait forever for a brother who’s already dead.”

Hearing that, the captain nodded reluctantly.

“Tch, then hurry and deliver it.”

“Yes, I’ll be back soon, so please wait under the shade of that tree.”

With the letter and money for the bereaved family safely tucked in my chest, I walked towards the house with the red roof.

I had no intention of delivering it while directly facing the bereaved family.

To be honest, I didn’t have the confidence.

I didn’t have the confidence to inform Carl’s young sister of his death while maintaining my composure.

So, after putting the things I had prepared into the mailbox in the yard, I immediately returned to under the shade of the tree.

“You came back quickly.”

“I’m a bit of a coward. I hurried back for fear of running into the bereaved family. If I encountered them… I’m not sure what I should say.”

The captain nodded as if he understood.

In that moment, I briefly turned around to look at the red-roofed house again.

The house where the sick child and the older brother who willingly sacrificed himself to cure her had lived.

I wonder if there were other family members? Soon, a red-haired boy who looked exactly like Carl came out and took the money and letter I had put in the mailbox.

That child, who seemed to be Carl’s other sibling, shouted in surprise at the gold coins filling the heavy pouch and returned to the house.

Not knowing at all what that money meant, or what news was written in the accompanying letter.

“……”

I silently turned my back and left the place.

I was too much of a coward to face the scene of that small, peaceful house becoming filled with sorrow.

After stopping by Carl’s hometown, we hurriedly rode towards Gritplus.

It was a forced march with barely any time to rest properly, and the captain seemed to have become quite urgent since learning that I had been cursed with death.

So we both tried our best to refrain from straying off course, but on the third day after departure, a somewhat troublesome situation occurred.

“I don’t think we can ride any further. We’ll need to get new horses.”

The captain muttered that while stroking his black horse.

As he said, the horses we had been riding couldn’t withstand the forced march and were showing signs of exhaustion.

Since we couldn’t walk to our destination, we would need to get new horses.

“It can’t be helped. While we’re getting horses, it would be good for us to rest a bit in this city as well.”

“Right. I’ll go get the horses, so you secure lodgings in the meantime. One room will be sufficient.”

“Yes, let’s meet back here after we’re done.”

Having each taken on a role, we soon dispersed in different directions.

The captain left to get horses, and I moved to secure lodgings.

As it happened, ‘Feltrace’, where we had just arrived, was a city famous as a tourist destination, so there were many hotels nearby where we could stay.

I chose the largest and safest-looking hotel among the many and entered it.

More precisely, I was about to enter, but before that, a child stopped me.

“Sister, sister.”

I paused briefly at the small hand tugging at my clothes.

Then I lowered my gaze to look at the child who had stopped me.

“……”

I couldn’t say anything the moment I saw the child.

It was because of the child’s red hair.

Carl’s sibling was about this age too.

I stared blankly at the child while muttering that inwardly.

It really resembled Carl’s sibling that I had glimpsed from afar three days ago.

The red hair, the freckles…..

Because of that, I couldn’t ignore that small call and responded to the child.

“What is it?”

“A brother is looking for you, sister. A black-haired brother.”

“Black hair?”

By black-haired brother, could he mean the captain?

To a child this age, he would look more like an uncle than a brother, but he probably called the captain ‘brother’ since he called me ‘sister’.

Anyway, I asked the child further with a sense of doubt.

“Was it a brother wearing black clothes?”

“Yes, that’s right. That brother told me to bring you quickly. He said there was a problem.”

Did some problem occur while trying to get new horses?

Perhaps he had his entire money for the horse payment pickpocketed?

Seeing that he was urgently looking for me, it seemed he had indeed been pickpocketed.

This was a tourist area, so all sorts of pickpockets were swarming around.

So he must have sent this local child who seemed to know the area well to find me.

“Where is that brother?”

“I’ll guide you. Please follow me.”

The child smiled brightly and started guiding me.

However, it was harder than expected to follow the child because there were many people and the streets were complicated.

I almost lost him several times, but each time, the child waved his small hand greatly towards me to show his location.

“This way!”

I barely managed to follow the child while pushing through the crowds.

The place we finally arrived at was in front of a small tavern.

Looking at that tavern located on a dark and quiet street, I asked the child.

“Is that brother here?”

“Yes, come inside with me.”

Although feeling a sense of unease, I entered the tavern for now.

The sense of unease I had felt from outside the door became even more distinct at that moment.

“……There’s no one here.”

“No, please go further inside. That brother is waiting there.”

The place the child pointed to was a curtained-off area located in the corner of the tavern.

I reflexively gripped my sword as I approached that corner seat.

Then I pulled back the curtain.

“……Ernant.”

The one waiting beyond the curtain was not the captain.

Ernant was waiting for me, sitting on a red leather sofa.

Soon, he gestured to me and spoke nonchalantly.

“Why don’t you sit down? The alcohol here tastes quite good, shall we have a drink?”

“Why are you here?”

“You’re asking even though you know. I came to catch you, of course.”

Meanwhile, the child who had guided me here approached Ernant and held out his hand.

Ernant stroked the child as if he was cute and dropped a gold coin that seemed to be payment for his efforts into the small hand.

Looking at that scene in shock, I opened my mouth as he smiled at me.

“I thought it would work if I sent a child to bring you. You’re weak to young children. Especially red-haired children, right?”

For a moment, I felt nauseous.

Ernant had already cruelly used Carl before.

But as if that wasn’t enough, now he had even used my sympathy for Carl’s family.

“How far are you going to go? How despicable are you going to become?”

Despite my question dripping with anger, Ernant did not erase his smile.

Without changing his voice at all, he replied like that.

“You keep asking the obvious, Yulia.”

“……”

“Of course, these efforts of mine will continue until I get you back.”