Side Story 12. Spider Trap (1)
In a quiet mountain village, there were children shouting and holding crude wooden sticks.
"Waaahhh! Take down the Demon King!"
The children wore cheap pots and capes made from worn-out sacks. They rushed toward another child as if they were legendary warriors.
"St, stop!" The rather scruffy-looking child cowered near a straw bag. On the bag was a picture of a Demon King that looked like it was drawn by children.
"Hey! If you're the Demon King, hold it properly!"
"Right! You should be glad that we're even hanging out with you like this."
The young children raised their voices and pushed their sticks forward threateningly.
The scruffy, skinny child was forced to become the Demon King in this fighting game, and he fearfully responded with a raised voice. "Or what? Are you going to go into the Demon King's bag?”
The child's fierce question made the others giggle and agree.
"I think that's better.”
"That's right. He can't even hold it properly, so it doesn’t even feel like I'm hitting it."
The child grew scared at the other’s cruel words. One child had already removed the bag with the sloppy picture of a Demon King and was holding it.
At that time, a child climbed onto the pile of straws and raised his index finger. "Stop! Why are you trying to bully the weak?"
This new child was dressed in a relatively neat fashion, contrasting with the other children’s rougher appearance. The children were startled by the appearance of this confident-looking boy.
"F, Flam!"
"No, we're just... Yeah! We were only playing with him."
"Really!"
The well-dressed boy slid down to the ground from the pile of straws, a suspicious expression on his face at the children’s excuses. "Hmm, really?"
"Of course! Hey! Right?"
The one who initially pushed the scruffy child into wearing the bag glared at him as he asked this. The scruffy child flinched and stuttered, "Huh? Uh... Uh yeah..."
It was a forced answer, but the children spoke in high spirits.
"See? We were playing, and he’s the one who asked us to join us in the first place.”
"Right, right! We just played with him because he asked us. We didn’t do anything wrong, Flam!"
The boy called Flam smiled and nodded. "Hmm! It's important for peers to be close to each other.”
When the boy was satisfied, one of the children in the group asked, "What's with that tone? You sound like an adult."
The other children’s eyes twinkled, also interested in the boy's way of speaking,
"Ahem! That's a good question. We can't be children forever. I’m now using this way of speaking to become an adult."
The boy acted as if he were already a grown-up just because he used a strange manner of speaking. It was a very childlike train of thought. However, when the village children heard this from someone they looked up to, they shouted excitedly as if it was plausible.
"Me too! I'm going to talk like that too!"
"Me too! Me too!"
"I already talk like that! … Huh?”
Since the boy was the chief’s son who lived in a sizable house at the center of the village, the children thought of him as the leader of the group. Even if the house where he lived was large, it was only slightly bigger than the houses around it. There was no significant difference as they were all made of wood. However, it felt like a massive difference in the children's eyes.
The children spoke awkwardly because they weren’t familiar with this manner of speaking, but they felt like they were already adults.
"Me too... I'm going to talk like that...”
When the child in scruffy clothes spoke timidly and followed them, the children stared at him unhappily and said, "Hey, who do you think you are?"
"Good! Let's all become adults together!" The boy smiled and shouted energetically.
The interrupted child turned his gaze away awkwardly, but the boy seemed not to notice this. He smiled and pointed to the hill in the back, speaking in a strange manner. "Come! Let's go to the hill behind us!"
"Nice! Ohhh!"
"Okay! Ohhhh!"
The boy grabbed the scruffy child's hand and led him to the hill in the back, announcing, "Let's go together!"
"O…! Kay…" The scruffy child smiled shyly and headed to the hill behind him, led by the boy.
* * *
In the village, the elders gathered at the chief’s house located in the center of the small village.
"Sir Dainter, this is a serious problem! Contact with Gravel Village has been lost!"
At the man's cry, the chief, Dainter, touched his short beard without a word. "Hmm."
When Dainter remained silent, some men became frustrated and hit their chests.
"Sir Dainter. You also know that there is a vicious rumor going around these days, right?"
"Don't we need to prepare too?"
Dainter sighed and spoke of the hideous rumor. "Is it the rumor stating that the imperial army will slaughter the people of our Imperial State?"
When he directly mentioned the rumor that the men had been afraid to talk about, those gathered became nervous, and their expressions stiffened. At that time, a middle-aged man spoke out. "What’s the point of saying this? Shouldn't we consider moving?"
Other men that were close to his age nodded slightly. What they had in common was that they all were making a family. Dainter understood the feelings of the middle-aged man. He himself had a wife and children. When he was young, he had a strong spirit and even participated as a knight in the war with the empire, but now he had something to protect. It was not strange that family took precedence over the spirit for an already-ruined country.
"What are you talking about? Moving! Are you saying we should run away!?”
Yet, the young people did not agree. They were full of energy and heroic spirit.
"Run away? That's too harsh! We’re just looking for a new place!"
"Isn't that running away? Are you sure you were a knight who went to war for his country in the past? You scaredy-cats! Wasn't everything you did for your country a lie?”
The middle-aged men grew enraged when the group said something they shouldn't have said due to their youth.
"What?! You little punk!"
"How dare you! You guys were snot-nosed brats at that time!"
When voices rose, feelings were hurt, and harsh words came out, Dainter hit the table harshly. "Stop!"
There was a moment of silence due to Dainter's outcry. "Pachelim, I can understand your spirit, but your words were too harsh. Apologize."
When Dainter asked him to apologize for touching the wrath of the middle-aged men, the young man hesitated and bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I lost my temper momentarily."
"You guys have also become too emotional. These friends who still lack experience can make mistakes."
When Dainter urged them to accept the apology, the middle-aged men coughed dryly and nodded. "Khmm, we've become more emotional too. Sorry for calling you a punk."
Upon the acceptance of the apologies, Dainter sighed softly. "I understand the idea of moving. However, there must be some opposing opinions too. Let's hear the opposition and discuss it together.”
After saying that, he looked at the young people.
"We're against migration. What did we do wrong? And aren't we the Resistance? If they attack, we have to fight back. If we’re already running away-”
"Ahem!"
"We don't think we should migrate."
The young man, who was about to say running away, changed his words at Dainter's cough.
The middle-aged man refuted the young man's claim with a grumpy face. "Despite being the Resistance, we can't help but consider the power gap. If we're going to fight against them, we have to work with other Resistance Villages. Yet, we’re losing contact with not only Resistance Villages but also ordinary villages!"
"We didn't originally contact each other that often. Even if we can't get in touch with them, if we migrate, who knows how many times we'll have to move."
At the young man’s retort, the middle-aged man rubbed his face. "It's fine to think of it as running away. But what if the rumors are true? You should note that the village's strength by itself will only bring us a dog’s death.”
The young man bit his lips and shut his mouth. No matter how strong their spirit of victory was, it was not like they had no sense of judgment.
As the conflicting conversation between the two generations entered a lull, Dainter, the chief, supported himself on the back of the chair and mediated. "Both of your opinions are valid. It is also reasonable to worry about a possible emergency or that we may be left wandering without a home. I'm going to listen to the opinions of the elders. What do you all think?”
Dainter looked at the elders, who were quietly watching the situation while occupying a corner of the room.
An old man answered his question on behalf of the elders. "As the chief summarized, both opinions are correct. However, has the authenticity of the rumor been checked yet? This old man thinks it's best to get more information before deciding."
The elderly's opinion was to postpone the decision. In fact, the elders wanted to oppose migration. Even though they were wanderers, they had lived on this land since childhood. It was not easy to accept abandoning their home.
However, the elders knew that the middle-aged men who survived the war held the decision-making power in the village, including the chief. Therefore, for the elders, the best was to recommend postponing their decisions.
"That's reasonable. Then why don't we collect more information before deciding?"
At Dainter’s question, both middle-aged and young people nodded. They were well aware that it was asking for too much to decide right away.
"Now, leave the village and collect information...”
The meeting was delayed, but they didn't know. Their last chance to escape was when they lost contact with the nearby village. A group with a horribly gruesome scent was hiding in the forest grass, aiming for the back of their necks.
* * *
The sunset dyed the hill red, and the children who were running around energetically went home one by one. In the hill behind the village, only Flam and the scruffy child remained, looking down at the village.
"Are you... not going back home...?”
To the child's question, Flam replied as he lay on the bushes. "Yeah, my father told me to come back late because he had something to talk to the village elders about today. Aren't you going back home?”
"I... I don't have a family even if I go home."
When he saw the child’s lonely expression, Flam stood up and smiled humbly. "Ahaha. I'm sorry. Come to think of it, I don't think I know your name. What's your name?"
The child smiled awkwardly. "Actually, I don't know either. The ahjussis always called me ‘hey’ or ‘you.’"
Flam changed the topic, guessing that the child was in a poor situation even if he didn't know the details. "Ah! Do you know? I'll be a great knight in the future!"
"A knight?"
"Yep! Riding a horse, holding a sword, and helping the weak! Yap yap! Take my sword of justice!"
While sitting in his seat, Flam shook the wooden rod around as if it were a sword. "I'm the knight of the Imperial State! Hehehe, aren’t I cool?”
The child clapped his hands and nodded excitedly. "Yes! Yes! Cool!"
"And I will protect the villagers, following in my father’s footsteps."
When he heard Flam’s bold ambitions, the child asked carefully, "Then... Does that include me too?"
"Of course! It's a knight’s duty to protect friends!" Flam got up and reached out to the child. "Let’s get up. I think it’s fine to start slowly heading back now. Let's go together."
"Huh…?"
"Let's have dinner together tonight! Hmm, is this what’s called an invitation? Well, it's like that!"
At Flam's bright smile, the child grabbed his hand and got up. The two diligently went down to the village while watching the night sky gradually darkening.
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