The annual storm in Thoradin's highlands, like your always punctual lover, comes quietly again.
Sure enough, there was a violent storm outside that night. The "whooshing" sound of the wind was still clearly audible even through the thick wooden and stone walls. Many places inside the hotel made the sound of "whooshing" wind leakage. Due to disrepair, there were several cracks on the outside and the inner walls even seeped water due to the continuous heavy rain.
The owner of the hotel placed several wooden barrels below to hold water. Drops of water fell little by little. The horses began to become a little restless due to the wind and rain outside. Although they had been temporarily reinforced, the condition was still not optimistic.
The wind and rain reached its peak around eight o'clock in the evening. The raindrops hitting the wall sounded like the roar of war drums. The restlessness of the horse became more and more obvious. Mira was worried about the safety of her war horse. , but at the same time, I fell into a slightly depressed mood because of some things today.
'When did I start getting used to people dying?'
Once she started thinking about this issue, it was like a fountain that couldn't stop, piling up a lot of negative emotions and filling every corner of her mind.
In the past when Wavasika was captured by Padrosi, at the funeral ceremony of the fallen soldiers, Mira, standing behind them, heard Edward ask Henry if he could get used to sadness after parting again and again, and the sage at that time The answer is: "Never."
Mira seemed to have overcome the past. When Ferry died before, she quickly put the negative emotions behind her, but it is not always easy for people to forget someone who walked into their lives. of.
A common medium-sized village on the west coast usually has hundreds of people. Considering the years of wars and banditry attacks, business people, travelers and mercenaries, if a person goes about his normal activities, the number of people he meets every day will probably be in There are dozens to hundreds of people.
——The vast majority of them are complete strangers, people who will not have any intersection, and what people usually have for such strangers is just a distance similar to parallel lines that do not intersect with each other. wait-and-see attitude.
Don't care about the other person's life, don't care about the other person's name, just live their own lives without interfering with each other.
Turn a blind eye and hear but not hear. Although you know that the other person is your kind, it only stays at this level. No one can remember the appearance of every passerby. They all look similar, and everyone lives like this.
But for those people who intersect with our lives on a certain day because of something, they have a connection with others because of a contact. The voices and smiles of these people will inevitably be deeply reflected in your heart. Even when you encounter something after becoming familiar with it, you will often think of everything about that person.
Unlike strangers, people with whom you have had real contact have already entered your life, even if the time you have been together is quite short.
How could such a person be able to forget just by turning around and leaving?
How could such a separation be something that you can get used to after experiencing it a few times?
I just bury the sadness in my heart. Because of the pressure of life, I have to continue to work hard to move forward and regain a correct and positive attitude. This is indeed the right thing to do, but such a thing is not just a lie. ?
What is lost cannot and cannot be brought back, so is it enough to just accept such things and just turn a blind eye?
What should I do?
When the heavy rain started to pour down at noon, the mercenaries who were cleaning up the place put the bodies of their companions aside for burial, while the dead bodies of the thieves were directly pulled out and thrown to the roadside. They originally ignored all this because of the tension of the battle. When Mira witnessed the lifeless eyes of those dead people, all the buried emotions exploded.
She was only twelve years old, and she had maintained that precious kindness in this chaotic world, but because of this, Mira was not suitable for her current career.
Henry may know all this, but he doesn't intend to speak, because this is the path chosen by the girl, so he just teaches her how to go on correctly, and as for whether she wants to continue going, that is up to her. Decide for yourself.
When did you become accustomed to the death of others? ——Is it the day Feli died? No, was it the time earlier when I killed someone with my own hands? That's not right. I must have been prepared for this since the day my parents went out to try to sell the minerals they got from the mountain, but never came back.
——People are mortal.
This concept that was engraved in her mind when she was young may be the origin of everything.
So why do you still pursue such a career? Such a profession that deals with death.
I want to gain strength, I want to be able to control my own destiny and no longer follow the crowd and look at the color of others.
Yes, gain strength and use the sword to control your own destiny——
--Do not make jokes! ! How can this kind of thing bring happiness? You will get nothing but death and blood!
No matter how many words you use to whitewash it, no matter how much honor and justice you use to justify your actions, all you have learned is the art of killing!
No matter how many lofty ideals and beautiful wishes are attached, fighting is fighting. It is barbaric and cruel, bloody and disgusting. Where can there be glory and justice on the battlefield? Look at this whole thing. Take a look at the mess inside the venue!
Those who fell on the ground stared at the bandits on this side with dead eyes. The blood mixed with food and dirt was flowing everywhere. The lives of those bandits and their own lives were casually thrown outside to be beaten by the wind and rain. , what difference is there!
Will these hands be stained with blood in the future?
Or will he become one of those people who fall to the ground?
I have no idea……
I don't want to die...
Mila, whose face turned pale, sat alone on the edge of the stairs. The question that had existed in Henry's mind when they first met was asked by herself again and again this time.
"Can this untimely innocence and kindness be maintained after these hands are stained with blood?"
"When I have become accustomed to the loss of other people's lives, or even to taking other people's lives with my own hands, will I still be the same person?"
"Mira..." The voice came from Emmanica. From the afternoon to now, people in the store helped clean up the scene and wipe away the blood. And Mira just kept sitting on the corner of the stairs, silently dazed.
"..." She still didn't speak, just stared blankly at the ground in front of her.
"..." Emmanica patted her shorts, and then sat down as well, just sitting next to her, quietly accompanying the white-haired girl.
Time passed by minute by minute, and everyone except them was busy.
The rain was pouring and the wind was whistling sharply. After more than an hour, Emmanica, who was used to going to bed early, began to feel a little drowsy.
"Emonica..." But Mira, who had been silent for a long time next to her, finally spoke softly. The blonde girl immediately cheered up and turned her head to look at her happily. Mira did not look here, she slowly He opened his mouth, and the words he spoke made Emmanica stunned for a moment.
"In the end, are we good people or bad people..."
"Get a salary, and then kill people for it. Although the targets you fight are all bandits, but they also have families..."
"If we do this kind of behavior for the sake of our family's livelihood, but are killed by mercenaries, to their families, we should be bad people..."
"What's the point of doing something like this..."
"Although it is for survival, is there no way to survive without taking the lives of other people?"
"Do people have to kill other people to live?" Mira turned her head and looked at her, with tears in her eyes.
"..." Emmanica fell into silence. This question may be a bit difficult for her to answer. Mira knew in her heart that maybe asking Henry would get a better answer, but for some reason she didn't want to go at this moment. Talking to the Sage - Although she knew that it was not his fault, Mira, who was in a defensive mood, instinctively did not want to think of Henry, who had led her to this path.
So in this case, in her opinion, the only person who can answer her is Emonica, who has never experienced any battle.
"I'm sorry, this question is really difficult to answer -" "I think... it's better not to think about it so much." Emmanica tilted her head, and then said: "Living is a great thing. ."
"Indeed, those people may have their own lives and love their families. Maybe they shouldn't die here like this." Emmanica held Mira's hand, perhaps because of her physical condition. , her fingertips were still quite cold even in the middle of summer, but the girl once again felt the same warmth as when Henry held her hand that day.
"But, living is a great thing, Mira. Maybe you think that taking the lives of others like this is something a bad person does. But for me... you saved me." The blonde girl grabbed her hand, placed it on her chest, and then said, "The reason why this heart is still beating is because you protected me."
"Life cannot be divided equally. There is no saying that saving someone is worth killing someone." Emmanica shook her head: "But, I don't want you to go because of this." I keep blaming myself for everything."
"Because your actions don't just bring sad consequences. Things always have good and bad consequences. Don't let pure guilt swallow you up. There will be people, there will be people who survive because of your actions. of."
"Although the lives saved cannot offset the lives lost, I think this gratitude is also a very precious thing." Emmanica doesn't know much about the nobles of Silvalier or Avenella She couldn't say anything gorgeous about their rhetoric, and even the way she worded it had some mistakes, but her simple and sincere words directly touched the girl's heart.
"I don't like those people throwing the bodies of dead enemies out either..."
"After all, it is not easy to survive in this world, so we must cherish it more and respect the dead more."
"But don't do this to yourself, you have your own choice. You can try to protect, try to save more lives, try not to fall into such a predicament again, can't you?" He tilted his head again and said with a smile.
"Life is inherently complicated. Although it is not good to just blindly think that you are a good person, it is also wrong to blame yourself one-sidedly and blame yourself."
"Try to remember those who have passed away." Emonica put her other hand on her chest: "No matter what kind of people they were, they were all a life, created for various reasons. If there is an intersection, then as the surviving party, you must bear the weight of the deceased."
"No one exists as themselves at the beginning. It is precisely because we meet many people and the thoughts and emotions of others affect us little by little that we can become better versions of ourselves."
"So whether they are good people or bad people, these people we meet are memories that will never be forgotten for a lifetime."
"Just don't forget them, whether it's the people you watched pass away or the people you killed with your own hands. Don't fall into self-blame, but don't forget them either."
"This way, I think it's enough." Emmanica nodded. Mira stared at her blankly, and after a while, as if she finally came back to her senses, she said: "...Emonica, is she actually a great person?"
"Pfft, what is that~" The words of the white-haired Luoan girl were met with laughter from the blond girl. Henry, who was teaching Joshua somewhere in the hall on the first floor, turned his head and looked here. , the firelight flickered, and the sage sighed softly.
"That sigh of yours sounds like a daughter having a sweetheart, with a feeling of loneliness." Joshua said with a smile. Even though he knew that the other party could not see it, Henry still turned the page. He rolled his eyes, then shrugged.
The violent wind and rain were blowing wantonly.
The trees and bamboos on the roadside were blown wildly, leaving leaves and branches flying everywhere. The entire fence at the door of the hotel was lifted by the wind, and it hit the door hard with a loud sound that frightened everyone inside. A loud jumping sound.
The restless restlessness of the horses was later covered up by the more violent sounds of wind and rain. The sound of foreign objects being picked up by the wind and knocking on the outer wall of the hotel continued to sound, like what the legions on the east coast often heard when they were fighting. The beating of war drums keeps people who have never experienced this awake at night.
The power of the storm can be seen even in a hotel.
The sound of wind came from the cracks in the corners of the wooden window that were not tightly closed. Even with an extra layer of external protection, the rainwater still penetrated and flowed all over the corners of the wall next to the window.
Mira ran to sleep with Emmanica. It was obvious that she was more afraid of such weather than the local blonde girl.
Henry and Joshua learned very late that Cory Conrad had a local specialty called bamboo leaf tea. Our sage, who fell in love with spruce tea in Avenella, asked for it from the innkeeper. I drank a lot, boiled it and poured it into a kettle made of bamboo. I took it to the room and tasted it while talking.
The flame of the candle swayed slightly, and the completely closed wooden windows did not let in any light. The heavy rain overnight made the temperature comfortable and pleasant. The two women on the bed fell asleep quickly. Joshua put down his pen and stretched out his hand. A lazy person.
"It's quite late, let's take a rest." The red-haired swordsman said with a smile. Henry said "hmm" and then walked back with the candle.
"Whoops-" He blew it out.
…
Time passed by, and the storm came and went quickly. The howling wind and large amounts of rain left the surrounding area in a mess. Fortunately, even though Mira was quite worried, the stables that had been strengthened with a layer of thick wooden boards for defense did not appear too big. The problem.
Although almost all the thatch covering the roof was gone, the horse grass was brought inside the house in advance, so even if the roof was lost, it wouldn't cause too much trouble.
"Wow--" It was completely shattered and flew to the fences in all directions. The large trees that fell in many places nearby shocked Mira, who had never witnessed anything like this before.
"So, compared to nature, human power is really insignificant." Henry shrugged and said: "Although the damage seems huge, the reconstruction speed will be very fast afterwards. , those fallen trees made way for soil and sunlight for new saplings and bamboos, and after that, new things will be born."
"This is the cycle of living things. Because of the passing of one individual, other individuals can survive." Henry, who spoke with profound meaning, seemed to be talking about the current matter, and seemed to be talking to Mira. No matter how gray-haired The Luoan girl looked at the other party deeply, then nodded again, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she was no longer confused.
The storm has passed, and there is not much to say about the days since. Except for Memphis, the captain of the mercenary group, who was trying to recruit a few people, he usually just helped rebuild the surrounding things.
When the next storm will come, no one knows yet. In order to be prepared, the hotel owner temporarily retracted the reinforcement boards inside.
The week came to an end. After receiving their salary and accepting some half-price supplies out of gratitude, the four of them embarked on their journey to the East again. (To be continued.)
