Chapter 231 The Secret To Perfect Communication Is A Smile!
Summary of the last chapter.
On their way back from the river, Aaron and the others find a huge horde of orcs attacking the village at the top of Turtle Hill. Shocked and stunned, Aaron feels Alicia grab his arm and run in the opposite direction of the village.
Aaron tries to stop her. But Alicia understands that her parents and the villagers can't be saved anymore. With tears in her eyes, she makes the best choice to survive.
However, many orcs are closing in on the two as they flee.
Alicia stands in front of the orcs, trying to let Aaron escape.
She swings at the leading orc, but is easily blown away. Aaron steps forward to help his sister, but suddenly feels a strange loss of consciousness, and when he realizes it, he finds himself standing on an unfamiliar road.
His sister and the orcs are nowhere to be seen, and the time has changed to just before sunset.
Understanding that he abandoned his sister to escape, Aaron breaks down in tears, filled with self-hatred.
In the Lorentz Margrave territory, an unprecedented stampede disaster has occurred, leaving many people without homes.
In the border territories, chaos is still ongoing, and it will take a long time to recover.
The people who survived the stampede have been allowed to move to neighboring territories, but the numbers are huge, making it impossible to support everyone or accept them all at once. That's where Necronia stepped in.
Necronia announced that they would accept those who lost their homes in the recent stampede as refugees.
After coming to his senses on an unfamiliar road, Aaron cried out and cursed, but he couldn't choose the option of dying himself.
If he died――it would be pointless.
If he took his own life, the actions of his sister, who stood in front of the orcs to protect Aaron, would be wasted.
That was a choice Aaron could never forgive.
So, he unsteadily stood up, moved forward on the road, and eventually reached a still-safe village. After being protected as a stampede refugee, Aaron would later be moved to Necronia.
Among the refugees, children who lost their parents were taken to an orphanage.
However, there were many of them, and due to the chaos, several children were left without a place. Aaron was one of them.
For the first month, Aaron ended up in the slums of Necronia and lived there.
In a secluded corner of an alley, he barely ate, surviving only on water, becoming like a decoration that just breathed.
He couldn't end his own life.
But, he had no will to live.
If it had been humans who killed his parents and sister, he might have felt a desire for revenge. But the enemy was a monster. If the orcs that attacked Kalts village were still alive, he might have tried to live fueled by negative emotions to kill them. However, the orcs had already been mostly defeated by a mixed army of the border territory forces, the imperial army, and explorers.
There was nothing to be done.
Aaron sat in a corner of the slum alley like he was dead, his empty eyes staring into space as the days passed by.
If time continued like this, Aaron would have starved to death soon.
But that didn't happen.
Due to the increase in refugees and orphans, orphanages were being built in Necronia. They quickly renovated unused buildings, and Ordahn, the head of the newly opened orphanage, was serving food in a corner of the slum.
This was to find orphans who had fallen into the slums when refugees flowed into Necronia and to take them into the orphanage.
Ordahn found Aaron during one of these food distributions when he went out to look around for any orphans he hadn't found yet.
When Ordahn spotted him and called out, Aaron showed no reaction.
Reluctantly, Ordahn went back to the food distribution area, took some solid food out of the soup, and returned to Aaron.
He was worried about Aaron, who clearly looked like he was starving. It was dangerous to give solid food to someone who had been fasting for a long time, so he thought he would let him drink the soup first.
"Hey, you must be hungry, right? Drink this soup, come on."
He spoke gently and offered the bowl of soup to Aaron, who was still sitting with his knees hugged.
"......"
But Aaron didn't respond.
However, when the aroma of the soup reached Aaron's nose, it happened.
*Grrowlll*.
His stomach growled.
In that moment, Ordahn felt relieved. The boy looked like he had lost the will to live, but he still had an appetite. And if he had an appetite, it meant he could still live.
The moment he thought that,
"...kuhuhu, ahaha, ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!"
Aaron laughed like he was going crazy.
As he laughed madly, tears flowed endlessly from his eyes.
The sound from his stomach was very cruel to Aaron.
At this point, did he still want to live selfishly? It felt so ugly that he couldn't help it.
* * *
After being picked up by Ordahn and entering the orphanage, Aaron had one guiding principle.
It was how to use the life his sister had saved.
He didn't want his sister's death to be meaningless. He wanted to do something meaningful and think, "Ah, there was a proper meaning and value in my sister helping me," before he died.
So, Aaron decided to become an explorer.
He didn't know if this path would help others. He didn't know if he could do something meaningful. But, he might be able to help someone. Or, if a stampede happened again, he could fight to protect someone.
At that time, he thought he would fight and fight and fight until he wore himself out and died.
Above all, he was determined to become the explorer his sister dreamed of, in her place.
Life in the orphanage was busy enough. Although it was run by goodwill, that meant there was no room to spare. One aspect was that accepting orphans helped prevent the decline of public safety, but even so, it seemed that Necronia didn't have enough resources to support all the orphanages.
In an orphanage with a decent piece of land, they would grow crops in a field to feed themselves or maybe make wine or something to help with their operating costs.
However, the orphanage in Necronia doesn't have the luxury to create a field. Because of this, the children either did jobs arranged through the Necronia city government, or sometimes kind merchants would give them work.
Even while being busy with these jobs every day, Aaron would swing an old wooden sword he found somewhere in the narrow garden of the orphanage whenever he had the time.
It's hard to say how much practice before getting a job really matters. Even if he chose a combat job, it doesn't guarantee he would become a Swordsman. Maybe it only helps him build a little bit of strength.
Still, knowing this, Aaron kept swinging his sword.
The reason was――――to not forget.
Above all, time was both gentle and cruel.
The sadness of losing his family, the killing intent he felt towards the orcs, and the hatred burning inside him for himself, time tried to heal and wash away equally.
No matter how much he recalled, no matter how much he swore he wouldn't forget, his memories faded, and even the feelings he held grew smaller.
Aaron couldn't accept that.
So he swings his sword. Just stubbornly, with each swing, as if carving his hatred deeper into his heart.
And so the days passed, and he turned 15.
People can get jobs only after they turn 15.
Therefore, in modern times, the age at which one can get a job is considered the age of adulthood.
Aaron turned 15 and immediately got the 'Beginner Swordman' job. He left the orphanage and registered with the explorer guild. Since he had no family, connections, or trust, he borrowed some money from a slightly dangerous place to somehow get the cheapest equipment.
When he left the orphanage, he was given a small amount of his earnings as a preparation fund, but it was nowhere near enough.
Anyway――on the day he registered at the guild, Aaron was set to take the beginner training course, where he would meet Lion and the others...
* * *
When he entered the room for the beginner training, there were already 4 other new explorers sitting in different spots.
It seemed the guild staff member who would be teaching hadn't arrived yet.
Aaron looked around the room, thinking about where to sit. From what he could see, it looked like any spot would be fine.
(I guess sitting somewhere in the middle is good...)
With that thought, he started walking.
Just as he was about to pass by the explorer sitting at the very back, the boy suddenly stood up and tried to leave his seat. The boy didn't notice Aaron coming from behind and bumped into him.
"Whoa...!?"
Aaron stumbled from the sudden impact.
The boy who bumped into him smirked and said,
"Ha! Don't walk so slowly."
"..."
Aaron didn't like fighting.
Of course, he hated arguments too.
So, he thought he would be the bigger person and handle it with words. He planned to say something like, "Hey, watch where you're going, haha," with a smile to calm the boy down.
No, that was totally wrong!!
Over the past five years, Aaron has gone through many experiences and has become super laid-back!!
But!!
His determination not to resort to violence was real. Without saying anything more, Aaron turned his back on the boy and walked away.
"————!"
On the other hand, the boy who heard Aaron's parting words seemed to be someone not to mess with.
He got angry at Aaron's insults in an instant and launched a powerful front kick at Aaron's back as he walked away!!
Bang! Thud!
Aaron fell forward and slid several meters across the floor.
"..."
"Sorry, my foot slipped."
As Aaron pushed himself up with his hands on the floor, he heard the boy's voice raining down on him.
"My foot slipped"――Aaron knew that was definitely a lie. The boy had kicked him in the back with malice.
(This is why... I hate idiots...)
He lamented why idiots always resorted to violence so quickly. But he also thought that it was precisely because they were idiots that they relied on violence so easily.
(I'm not like that...)
On that day in his childhood, he had sworn. He would never become an idiot who resorted to violence so simply.
(That's right... Humans have words. If we communicate properly, we should be able to understand each other...)
While on all 4s, recalling his past determination and lost in thought, the boy, misunderstanding something, mocked him again.
"Hey, hey, did you maybe cry, little guy?"
"..."
"Hah! A weakling trying to act tough. If you learned your lesson from this, make sure to pick your fights better next time."
As he said that, the boy turned on his heel and started to walk away. He seemed to have lost interest in Aaron, not even looking back.
But to that back, Aaron threw some words. Yes, to understand each other.
(I have reason. So, I'll try to convince that idiot with words...)
Aaron quietly and quickly stood up and ran towards the boy who had turned away.
Dash! Jump!! And then, he landed with a boom!!!
(――With the language of the body!!)
"What the hell!!?"
Aaron delivered a merciless dropkick to the boy's back and landed perfectly on the floor.
Meanwhile, the boy was sent flying and rolled on the floor several times.
"Y-you bastard!! What the hell are you doing!!"
But he quickly got up and shouted at Aaron.
"Sorry. I slipped. ...We're even now, right?"
The secret to perfect communication is a smile!
So, Aaron flashed a big smile and said.
"......!!"
"......!!"
Aaron and the boy――let's call him Boy A――exchanged glances for a few seconds.
In the next moment, both of them dashed forward, raising their fists.
"Bring it on, you crying babyyy!!"
"Try it, you piece of trashhh!!"
While hurling insults at each other, the two began to fight fiercely!
As their physical language conversation escalated, they even started swinging chairs and tables around the room. And then――
"――Gggh!?"
A chair slipped from Boy A's hands and flew across the room, hitting another boy who was sitting down!
The boy who hit his head hard stood up quickly while holding his head.
"Ouch! What the heck was that!? You idiotttt!!"
"Ugh!?"
While shouting, he threw a right straight punch at Aaron, declaring his participation in their (body language) debate!!
"What's your problem!? If you're not involved, stay out of it!!"
Aaron, who got hit, launched a fierce counterattack (a high roundhouse kick) at the newly joined boy!
As a result, Boy B (temporary) was blown away!
However, right where Boy B flew, there was, unfortunately, Boy C (temporary)!
"Ugh!? ――If you're gonna fight, do it somewhere else!! Don't drag me into thisss!!"
Boy C stood up with the force of kicking a chair, punched Boy B who bumped into him, and then charged at Aaron and the others!
Thus, a ruthless debate tournament among the 4 boys began!
They didn't hold back from using flying objects (desks, chairs) and exchanged heated arguments.
But, there was still one boy in the room.
Boy D (temporary), while keeping his distance from the heated argument between Aaron and the others, raised his voice, trying to stop the ongoing debate.
"Hey, hey! You guys, cut it out! What do you think this place is!? If you idiots want to lose your explorer qualifications, that's your problem, but if this keeps up, I'm gonna get in trouble too!! I don't want that, okay!? I don't want to be caught up with you super idiots!!"
Boy D shouted, urging them to stop this meaningless debate.
His desperate cry struck a chord with Aaron and the others.
"Who are you calling an idiot, huhhh!?"
"Don't act all cool, you bean sprouttt!"
"I'm gonna smash your glasses, you know!?"
"Don't include me in your dumbness, you hear!?"
Aaron and the others were moved by Boy D's words and decided it wasn't right to leave him out, so they let him join the debate.
Thus, the debate among the 5 boys heated up endlessly.
If it continued like this, someone might even get hurt... Their curiosity was extremely high, and that's why they were so passionate about the discussion.
But.
Just then, someone burst into the room, probably having heard their heated debate.
"――――That's enough! Quiet down, you idiots!!!"
It was a big, muscular man with a bald head, a guild staff member who had come from being an explorer (later known as the Guildmaster).
He was supposed to be the instructor for the beginner's course, and he shouted to stop Aaron and the others' debate. However――,
"Whoa! Drop dead, you moron!"
"You drop dead!!!"
"I'm gonna end you!!!"
"I won't stop hitting you until you apologize!!!"
"You low-life monkeys! Don't underestimate fire magicians! I'll burn you all!!!"
――Lost in their debate, Aaron and the others didn't notice the big man's shouting.
The big man smirked.
"These kids have some spirit... I'll knock them out."
After this, the big man knocked them all away, and the debate was forcibly ended.
――――And this was the meeting of the 5 who would later become members of the Adventurer Party ≪Sword of Glory≫.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Donate me
Support Me with USDC
(ERC20)
Support Me with XLM
(Stellar Lumens)