ALL NOVEL Chapter 20: Turkey legs
"I used to be one of the strongest adventurers in my day, you see?!" Bart was such a nuisance to be around, and I began to regret my decision to stick around to hear his stories after he began to tell me his entire back story. Now, he was showing me his old adventurer card.
It showed he got to the "Gold" ranking, but I can't tell if that's high or low since I know nothing. It could be the lowest rank of all I knew. At least Veronica would stop losing HP due to her malnutrition, but I wasn't so sure we would be up to becoming "adventurers."
The role of being an adventurer in this world sounded like a vagabond to me. You have no permanent home and are forced to move from city to city looking for work. Who would ever in their right mind become an adventurer? The job sounded stupid.
Aside from being a dumb career, being an adventurer required you to be at least ten, and well, I'm still six, according to the talking voice in my head. Vera would be the only person who could register as an adventurer, but I'm not sure we want that job anyway.
After hearing Bartholomew for a few more dreadful hours of worthless conversation, I finally get to the juicy stuff. If anyone knew things about the world, it would surely be this man. My assessment hit the nail on the head with my deduction.
"Do you know anything about witches and humans? I heard they don't like each other well; you know why?"
"I don't know who told you that, but that's a lie. Humanity has always stood firm with the Witch Kingdom. The church tries to mask the truth about them, but don't tell anyone I said that." So it wasn't a natural instinct to fight us, so why did the church consider us enemies?
The Witch Queen killed a lot of humans back in that fight, but she did so because they attacked the forest first, right? Had the Kingdom done something terrible before that? Did the Witch Kingdom perhaps do something that granted that reaction?
"Do you think I could learn your sword fighting style if I tried?" The man quickly laughed at my suggestion, making me think he would say something like, "Not in a million years." Yet his answer gave me hope.
"Yes, of course. All you need to be a good swordsman is common sense, and then you're fine. The most basic knowledge is to have some common sense; most swordsmen forget even the basics when fighting monsters all day, never fighting another smart creature."
My father used to carry a sword when he still wore his military uniform until he surrendered his equipment to run. I wish I could've trained with it back then; maybe I could've learned some other skill instead of just being excellent at manipulating people's feelings.
That skill failed me anyway; the Russian soldier did not care about my pleads or age. He just killed me. I wonder what was going through that guy's mind, what drove him to be so bloodlust? Could I perhaps exploit people to drive their trust for blood?
"Anyway, where do you guys come from?" Bart hit me with a heavy question out of nowhere, and I had no quick response to it. I don't know this world or any other nation outside the Witch nation. What could I say?
"We come from the Silvet nation up north," Vera interjected from behind me while still eating what looked like a turkey leg. I almost sighed in relief as I just froze with that question. I was about to say something crazy like, "We come from Narnia!" or "Gondor!"
Yet Silvet sounded like a cheap name, something so easy to come with, but it didn't even sound cool. It sounded like Silver but with a T at the end instead of an R. Whoever comes up with this names indeed has a tiny brain or is bored.
What was I on about? Oh yeah, Vera saving my butt. I still want to ask her why not just go with "Vero" since her name is "Veronica," but oh well, I guess she likes it with an A. Or maybe it's a cheap reference to another famous light novel that just so happens to somewhat match this one in some ways... {Please forgive me I had to}
Vera appeared out of nowhere when I needed her the most, and she now seemed way happier just devouring the roasted turkey leg like her life depended on it, which I guess it did. At least her grumpy attitude had vanished; perhaps her hunger had changed her.
"Oh, hey there. You went to the Aracne shop, didn't you?" The what of who? "Aracne?" that did not sound like a bird in the slightest. Was it the restaurant's name?
"Yeah, pretty weird name for a street business, but it was cheap, and their chicken is the best!"
"I know; I still wonder how they sell so cheaply. I can't even get the raw chicken for the price of their meals; that place is of true value right there."
Vera and Bart were so happy and light-hearted, as if we had known each other for years, which almost made me forget the tragic past we had just seen a couple of hours ago.
Time is the greatest band-aid, as they say, right? Moving away from the tragedies and appreciating the good moments like these are more valuable than being stuck in sorrow and regret.
Sadness and sorrow have their place, but if you get stuck in that hole of hopelessness and depression, you'll never get anywhere, like my father told me. I will move on from Julius and the church until I become strong enough to face them. If I just think about them, I'll never get anywhere.
Julius' power is clearly out of our league if the Queen couldn't beat him, yet something tells me I might be able to do something about it if I become strong enough. The main problem is if he will even allow us to become strong in the first place.
I doubt someone as powerful as them would be satisfied with a job not completely finished. Being greedy drove my country to its doom; influential people fall into the same trap every single time. Napoleon fell into the trap, and so did the guy with the short mustache.
Powerful people tend to push the limits of their power to achieve their goals. I just wish I could confidently say I will bite them in the arse if they keep pushing us but judging by how quickly and badly he beat the shit out of the best of us, I would have doubts about our chances of success.
The Queen was already miles away from me, and this guy beat the shit out of her. What chances do I have against that? Maybe I could ask god for help, but wouldn't that be asking too much from god? They're not my pocket genie, after all. I should reserve asking god anything as a last resort.