บท 649: W
C749 - Small Home
The men and women of this town had all been prepared to die. The threat they faced was too great and they were simply too weak.
They knew that they should be happy simply for the sake of surviving, they should be grateful, thanking their lucky stars that they could see another day. However, how could pain be washed away by logic?
"General?"
The blue eyed youth always stood silently by Leonel's side. Seeing him blankly staring at the pain and grief before him, he couldn't help but check up on him.
"Hm?" Leonel absentmindedly responded, his gaze never shifting.
There was a little girl over there, no more than seven years old, clutching the blood stained scabbard her father had left home with.
Not far from her, there was a woman. She had a young and youthful face. Though she wasn't extraordinarily beautiful, she was very pretty, maybe even the prettiest within this small, malnourished town.
Yet, tears streamed down her face endlessly, her sobs echoing as she grasped onto a necklace that hung from her neck with both hands.
With every quiver her body made in her fit of sorrow, her dress shifted in the wind, making the baby bump she sported all the more obvious.
On another side, there was an elderly couple. The old woman with deep grey hair trembled in her husband's arms, her tears getting lost in the folds of her wrinkles.
The eyes of the two were already murky with age, but they clutched their son's leather armor between the two of them, their fragile bodies seemingly ready to be blown over by the wind.
Leonel's senses were too sharp. He didn't miss a single story of grief, a single cry of pain, not a single tear not a single quiver. It was all seared into his mind and stored in a place he would never forget, leaving a mark he could never ignore.
The blue eyed youth sighed again.
"The pain they experienced would have been far worse if not for you, General."
Leonel didn't respond.
Was that the metric he should be using? Especially when just hours ago, he didn't even spare the lives and deaths of these people a single thought?
Once again, logic seemed to tell him one matter, while his heart pulled him toward another.
Leonel wanted to roar into the skies, but he knew that even if he did, he wouldn't be able to vent his rage in the slightest.
Suddenly, Leonel suddenly felt a tight grip on his wrist. He looked down to find that his blue eyed, right hand man had grabbed onto him.
"Come on, General. I can't let you wallow away in another bar all night after saving our asses. I'll take you to meet my girl, you haven't met her yet, right?"
The blue eyed youth beamed.
Leonel forced a smile and allowed himself to be pulled along. He didn't know what he should be doing in this world, but he knew that wallowing in self pity wasn't it.
"Plus," The youth continued, "Our esteemed General can't be the only one without a proper home to be greeted by, right? How embarrassing would that be?"
The blue eyed youth's laughter seemed to want to fill Leonel's soul with light and hope.
The two entered the town, traveling through its streets.
Leonel noticed the shabby roads, the half broken homes, the filth and the poverty. It seemed that whether they camped out at the town's entrance or not, the living conditions of these people truly wasn't that much better. In fact, they might have been better off living in nature.
However, what Leonel did notice was a large building at the center of the town. Compared to everywhere else, it was almost like a heaven, unblemished by the trash of this world. He couldn't help but wonder just what it was.
Soon, though, the blue eyed youth led Leonel to a modest little home of stone and wood.
"It's nothing much, but I managed to secure it with our military salary. That sum you lent me? This is what it went into!"
The two entered the small home, only to hear a sudden cry.
"Rollan!"
A blur of blue leapt into the blue eyed youth's arms. When this 'blur' cleared, it became obvious that it was a petite youth lady who was about the same age as the two leaders of the town's army.
Seeing, her, Leonel realized that there was a hidden flower of this town. It seemed that Rollan was quite a lucky man.
At the same time, Leonel felt relieved to finally know this young man's name. With how familiar they apparently were with one another, it would have been too embarrassing if Leonel had to ask.
"Elise, come, come." Rollan beamed. "This is our General and my very best friend."
Leonel smiled in greeting.
"Ah! My manners." Elise politely curtsied, her dress spreading outward that a blooming flower. "I was just getting preparations for dinner finished. In just about half an hour, everything should be finished. There's more than enough for a plus one!"
With those words done, as though a little bundle of energy, Elise skipped off to the kitchen under Rollan's delighted laughter.
Leonel suddenly felt a great peace observing this small home. Though he still felt like a third party observer to this world, he couldn't help but think of how nice it would be if he and Aina could have such a life.
If she never had to go through such trauma as a child, if she never lost her mother, if her father never disappeared… Would they be able to be together like this? In a home they called their own, cooking side by side, laughing and joking with one another without a care in the world?
He truly wanted this. But, he also knew how important revenge for her mother was to Aina. He knew that it gripped her and consumed her every waking moment.
Maybe such a peaceful life… They were never destined for.
An hour later, as the trio was exchanging banter over a warm dinner, a heavy almost obnoxious knocking came from the door. What was more shocking though, was that this person didn't wait for the door to be answered. Rather, it was very soon broken from its hinges.
To be continued
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