Side Story 26. Anemone Smiled Brightly (2)
The sky seen from the window in the carriage gradually began to fill with dark clouds.
"But Miss, where are we going? Sir told me to escort you to a safe place, but I did not hear the details." Glont ahjussi was still frowning, feeling uneasy.
"I'm going to someone who’ll protect me in ahjussi’s place."
"Someone who will protect Miss?"
"Yes. So straighten out your serious frown, it doesn't suit you. Being a perv suits ahjussi better," I said.
He smiled awkwardly.
The carriage headed from the center of the city to the outside and headed to a fairly remote street. Glont ahjussi, who was looking out the window, looked at me suspiciously.
"Do you mean there's someone in a place like this who can protect Miss?"
"Yes. According to a nun I know, she found someone with a similar description around here.”
He swept his chin and asked, "By a nun, is Miss talking about the nun at an orphanage sponsored by Miss?"
"That's right. That ahjumma loves to give, so she’s close to most of the poor people in Asterium. Thanks to this, she’s also the best information source for the city."
At that time, the carriage suddenly stopped and the coachman spoke as if he were in a difficult situation.
"I think it's too difficult to go further by carriage due to the narrow road."
"Really? Good job so far. We’ll get off here."
It was getting closer to the destination anyway.
The coachman jumped off his seat and opened the door. "I'm sorry, Lady Anemone. Please stay healthy."
I patted the coachman's shoulder and smiled. "Thank you. Tomatton ahjussi, please stay healthy as well. Ah, a few days ago, your wife gave birth to a baby, right? Please use my name in the kitchen and take some meat with you."
"Mi-Miss! Thank you. And I'm sorry I couldn't serve you longer." He wiped away his tears and apologized.
Glont ahjussi also followed me out of the carriage and I beckoned the coachman to go ahead.
The coachman hesitated and got on the driver’s seat, then slowly drove away.
"Excuse me..."
When the carriage left, a child talked to me.
"The nun-nim asked me to deliver it.”
The child handed me a note and immediately ran away.
Glont ahjussi looked at the retreating little child with an interesting gaze.
"Ohohoho, his muscles are pretty good. If raised well, I think he could be a knight." He evaluated.
I said while looking at the note, "Is that so? Since the child delivered the nun-nim's note, he'll know her, so you can just tell my father later. The more talent you gather, the better."
I said so but didn't really know that that child would become a famous adventurer under the moniker “Debt-Ridden Knight”. It was much farther in the future when I learned of it.
"I think the person I'm looking for is right nearby. Let's go and see.”
I pocketed the note and prepared to take out my umbrella. The sky seemed like it’d rain soon.
But what should I say to seduce him when we meet?
You have good biceps. Was it too cheap?
-o-
Doomstone hesitated and spoke cautiously as he saw a girl with beautiful sky-colored hair.
"I… don't have money...”
Yes. Doomstone had no money. No, he had money, but he couldn't use it because he had only platinum coins which were currency made for the battle races.
The girl smiled and pointed at herself with her thumb and said proudly, "Of course, I'll buy it! You just have to come!”
Doomstone was about to fall in love with the confident smile. As he tried to hold the girl’s outstretched hand, a light martial aura was shot at him from behind the girl. He inadvertently swung lightly in the air as if shaking his fist.
Clang!
"Ugh!"
The man standing behind the girl deflected the shock sent at him with the sword he had drawn at some point, but the remaining shock pushed him to the end of the road.
"Ahjussi?"
When the surprised girl turned around, Doomstone stood up in a hurry, bowed his head, and apologized.
"Ah! Do you know him? He suddenly greeted me, so I tried to receive his greeting but couldn't control my power. I'm sorry."
When he was in his hometown, that much power from such a greeting wasn’t enough to send someone flying, but when he came out of his hometown, he couldn't control his strength. There was a time when he was trying to break a dam just enough so it leaked some water in order to eat oatmeal porridge but ended up completely destroying it. Thanks to that, he had to change the course of the water to prevent further damage, which made his not very full stomach, quickly empty again.
"Ohohoho! I was rude first, so Miss does not have to worry about it." The man, who flew away, shook his hand as if it were numb, and sweated coldly.
"Is that so?" The girl smiled and introduced herself to Doomstone, shaking hands, perhaps thinking that the man being sent flying away was insignificant. "My name is Anemone."
"Oh! I'm Doomstone."
As he shook hands, Doomstone thought she was a pretty woman and smiled awkwardly.
-o-
"Order as much as you want."
I handed over the menu to the young Crow who introduced himself as Doomstone. I was quite surprised to see Glont ahjussi pushed far away just now, but I was honestly relieved that I found the right person.
"Are you okay with that? But the money...”
When Doomstone hesitated, I took ten pieces of refined bronze coins out of the pouch my father gave me and put them on the table. "I'm rich. With this money, you can order all the items on the menu."
Ten refined bronze coins were 250 pelks, which was not a lot of money, but it was not that expensive of a restaurant, so I could order all the items on the menu. Most of all, I was not rash enough to take out a large amount of money in such a place.
"Are you sure?” He opened his eyes wide and looked hard at the menu.
Seeing a large man look around at the food ordered by other people in such a way was cute.
"You order too, ahjussi. I'll buy it," I said.
Glont ahjussi smiled bitterly and shook his head. "No, I'll buy it. Save your money, Miss."
"Really? Then I’ll accept your offer."
I put the refined bronze coins back in my pouch. It didn't suit my personality to refuse when he insisted. You have to spend money frugally to live well.
"Since Glont ahjussi said he would buy, order as much as you want. He looks like a perv, but did you know he's one of the best generals in the empire? I don't think there's anyone stronger than ahjussi in the imperial army,” I said.
Glont ahjussi laughed in embarrassment, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. "Ohohoho! Oh, my, my, Miss. It's embarrassing if you compliment me like that."
Doomstone exclaimed, "Oho!" and looked at Glont ahjussi with curious eyes. Then he smacked his lips as if he was a little disappointed.
"You're more normal than I thought. You seem just like a neighborhood guy I see in my hometown," he said.
Glont ahjussi was puzzled as if he heard that he was normal for the first time.
"Ohoho, I've heard that I'm a weirdo a lot, but it's my first time hearing that I'm normal.”
Glont ahjussi looked at me as if he were asking me who he was. If he knew that Doomstone was from the Crow Tribe, it would have been quite an honor to hear that. He was being told he was like a battle race that was full of strong people.
However, Glont ahjussi might be moved because he was hearing that from the tribe that was called the strongest, the Crow Tribe, and one that was in the direct line of chiefs.
I smiled at his gaze and spoke while calling the server with a gesture, "Anyway, he’s a rich ahjussi, so eat as much as you want."
"Is that so? Thank you for the food, hyung-ssi."[1]
Doomstone smiled happily and really ordered all the items on the menu. Then he paused for a moment and carefully took something out of his inner pocket as if he was sorry. "Um, I'm sorry that I'm just being given food, it’s because this is the only thing I have right now, but please have this."
What Doomstone took out was a platinum coin.
"They don't accept it anywhere, but I hope this will be worth a little bit."
I burst into laughter at the sight of him putting on a genuinely sorry face while taking out a budget for a month of Count's territory.
"Puhahahaha!"
Doomstone was puzzled by my laughter, and Glont ahjussi frowned as if he had a headache.
"I think it's better to put that away," Glont ahjussi solemnly said.
Doomstone became sullen and put the platinum coin back into his pocket. "As expected, it was nothing much."
"Ahahaha! Oh, my stomach hurts!"
Ahh, how long has it been since I laughed like this? It had been so long that I couldn't even remember. Perhaps it was the first time since my mother passed away.
"Ahahaha, how funny. It's not ‘nothing’ but rather too valuable. I can buy dozens of buildings around here with that. That's why no one can recklessly receive it. The mere fact that you have it can bring a disaster," said I.
Doomstone tilted his head as if he didn't understand.
"Didn't you almost get attacked by robbers or pickpockets after trying to use that money?" I asked.
He nodded as if he had met a fortune teller. "Ohh! I did! Ms. Anemone, do you know astrology or something like that?”
When I saw his face filled with curiosity, I burst out laughing again.
"Hahaha! No, I don’t. For magic, I can only use something basic like magic bullets. It has nothing to do with difficult magic such as astrology. Oh, and please just call me Anemone without honorifics."
"Okay. Anemone, please call me Doomstone without honorifics too. So then, how did you know if it's not astrology?” he asked.
I replied, wiping away tears from laughing so hard, "I told you. That's too valuable. Even with that one thing, ordinary people will be able to eat and live for the rest of their lives. Of course, in order to dispose of it, you would have to go through noble families or through a secret trading route.”
There was also a way of depositing it in the bank and taking out as much money as needed, but an imperial ID card was needed. I didn't know if Doomstone, a Crow, had one but the bank was under the direct control of the emperor, so it would have been difficult to use if he was with me.
So let's not talk about the bank.
"Is this the reason those things that were even worse than ogres clung to me?"
"Hahaha! Worse than ogres! Hahaha! The metaphor is very interesting."
I once again grabbed my stomach at the novel metaphor that I had never heard of. Ahh, I wondered if I usually laughed this easily, but who cares? It was better to laugh as much as you could when you could. Life was something where you couldn’t always be laughing.
"By the way, what is your age?” I said.
Doomstone drank the hot soup brought by the server and replied, "I recently turned 17."
"Oh, my. You’re younger than me. I turned 18 as of yesterday. Will you call me noona?" I playfully asked.
Doomstone looked embarrassed. He looked cute like a large dog.
"If you don't like it, why don't we speak casually?"
"Oh, I’m happy with that. No, that's good. It's uncomfortable to speak formally."
He accepted my proposal. All right, that's how you’ll become my escort.
"Right? Speaking informally is more comfortable. We connect."
As I smiled and spoke, a cart full of food was coming this way from the kitchen. Doomstone pretended not to be, but his attention was focused on food.
Come to think of it, I haven't eaten anything since breakfast either.
Let's eat first then think.
1. ‘ssi’ is a polite/formal ending used at the end of names/titles. I’ve been translating that as Mr/Mrs, but here it seemed weird to say Mr. hyung, so I just wrote hyung-ssi. ?
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel