When you first see Fabio Sergi, he doesn't make any impact or leave a deep impression on you.
And even if you have more conversations with him for various reasons after that, you will not remember this person firmly because of this.
Ordinary and featureless, these are probably the only adjectives that anyone who knows him can find when thinking of this man.
Fabio, 23, lives near the small town of Scotti and is a member of the mighty army of shepherds in the southwest of the Padrosi Empire. He was the embodiment of the stereotype of shepherds and other Lamanite farmers, always with his head lowered, speaking little, preferring the company of his sheep to being with people, and was short and small. , dark, and submissive.
If anyone asks you to sincerely find out the advantages of Fabio and praise him, I'm afraid that even if you are an almost omniscient sage, after racking your brains, you can only spit out a dry sentence. of: "He did a good job shepherding the sheep." It is impossible to name any other commendable characteristics of this man.
Short, inarticulate, and unsociable. The job of shepherding seems to be his only redeeming feature, but even the reason why he does this job is just because his father is a shepherd, as simple as it is and nothing new.
My father was a shepherd, my grandfather was a shepherd, and my great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather were also shepherds. Reasons as simple as this were his motivation for getting into this business.
He has accepted that this is his rightful place. Changing his destiny is a luxurious delusion for Fabio today, but in the past, he did have such an opportunity.
When he was still young, as a new primary school opened in the town, his family tried hard to sell several sheep to raise money for his tuition. I want to see if I can learn to become a scholar and break out of this cycle of being a shepherd for generations.
But obviously, even if both father and mother think he is a smart child, this is just wishful thinking on their part because of their illiterate nature.
When he was seven or eight years old, he showed excellent memory and quick thinking. He only needed to be told things once and he would remember them. The blind confidence that these parents gave him by saying "My child is really good" in the eyes of his parents, hit him when he first went to school. His head was torn to pieces and bleeding.
Half of the family's property, originally sold for goat milk and wool, could be sold as sheep for continuous production, and half of the investment was invested. The huge pressure brought by the parents' hopes made Fabio feel at a loss, and almost everyone in the school They all have a certain foundation, so the instructor skipped the teaching of the Raman alphabet and started directly to learn vocabulary, grammar and arithmetic, which made him in a state of confusion every day.
So he made a decision that couldn't be simpler for an ordinary person.
Fabio escapes.
With his parents' hard-earned savings in hand, Fabio stopped showing up in school for a period or two at first, and then for a day or two or even a week or two. Deceiving his parents became what he was best at during that time. In the third week of skipping classes, the only thing Fabio thought about was when he was dismissed from the school.
But only.
How should I spend this "saved" money?
Wearing beautiful student clothes, he used the money saved by his parents' hard work to buy expensive candies and snacks. At the expense of the money that should have been used to change his destiny, he gained a feeling that he had never experienced in his previous life.
Be valued and sought after.
The dirty faces of the children who also came from around the town of Scotti cast envious glances at the clothes on his body and the candies and snacks in his hands, which made Fabio intoxicated.
And after giving them to these children, he became a "big brother", leading several younger brothers to glory all day long.
But the illusion of luxury will eventually be exposed one day. When it is clearly class time, but Fabio is licking candy outside and wandering around with a group of boys, he bumps into the small town to buy low-quality goods that most people use to feed livestock. When grain became the father of rations, everything fell apart, including his family.
The tree fell and the hozen dispersed. After learning that he was just showing off his wealth, the envious eyes of the younger brothers turned into merciless ridicule and contempt. His father started drinking, and his mother cried every day. If anything went wrong, his father would beat Fabio and his mother.
Fabio's straight back gradually bent under the series of accusations, curses, beatings, and ridicule and contempt. He could no longer walk on the road with his head held high and his chest high.
Since he was thirteen or fourteen years old, Fabio has been like other poor farmers, submissive, always bowing his head, and silent.
His bright elementary school uniform began to accumulate dust and tatters, and finally became a rag to block the leaky windows at home, a dirty rag, and even a mat for the table legs when it was no longer wearable.
He had no choice and no idea what he could do to make amends, so he could only continue to do what he was best at.
escape.
When his father beat him, he held his head and escaped within himself.
Unable to bear it any longer, he began to run away.
I fled to the mountains and hid in the gaps between various rocks and trees, staying with the sheep and the beautiful flowers and plants.
When his father beat his mother, he ran away.
He was so weak that he couldn't help even if he wanted to - Fabio kept convincing himself with this reason and stood idly by.
Finally, after an excessive drinking session, my father confused a stick with an axe, and my mother fell in a pool of blood and never got up.
The village sheriff came and arrested his father, and Fabio never saw him again.
The property is his.
A dilapidated earth-and-wood structure house, a thatched shed, a sheepfold and eight sheep.
He was free, and no one from above would put pressure on him anymore.
Then what?
What to do?
he does not know.
Year after year, Fabio turned sixteen. He attended the coming-of-age ceremony in the small town of Scotty, but just stayed in the corner. No one talked to him, and no one noticed him.
I don't know when no one called him by his name anymore.
After the coming-of-age ceremony, everyone of the same age went to work in other places. Those who went to primary school together in the early years, except one who became a new teacher, all have achieved extraordinary results in their respective fields.
Many people got married when they were sixteen or seventeen and now have children.
The only thing that remains unchanged is him.
The name Fabio, just like his home at the foot of the mountain, just like his publicity in those glorious months in the town more than ten years ago, has become something that no one will remember. .
"Shepherd"
A new generation of children began to call him this term. As the term gradually spread, others around him, including people who had known him before, also began to call him this contemptuous term.
"Shepherd! Are you going to sleep with your goat in your arms again tonight? I heard that goats are more tender than women, hahahaha——" Whenever there is an unavoidable situation, you have to enter the small town of Scotti to replenish necessities. Sometimes, he would always be greeted with vulgar words and insulting jokes. But Fabio just smiled dullly and accepted it submissively.
If anyone approaches him, he will be frightened. Children always used this to bully him and then laughed about it. Because of his short stature, he looks 13 years old, not 19.
"Shepherd, Shepherd."
"Hey, I can't keep calling you Shepherd. What's your name?"
This may be the only person among the more than a thousand people in Scotti Town and surrounding areas who still shows kindness to him. She is an outsider. It is said that she came from the Southern City-State Alliance and came from the Wisland region. She somehow ended up in such a small town.
"I-I-" He was just a stranger who had been in contact with him a few times, and he was also a fair-skinned girl. Fabio's face turned red, but he couldn't say anything.
"You don't have a name, then I'll call you nameless!" said the blond girl who seemed to like giving people names. Her joy infected everyone around her, and this tenderness also made Fabio feel like Life blooms again.
He started going into towns more and more.
After becoming more familiar with her, he took her to the mountains to see the beautiful scenery he would see when shepherding sheep. The wild flower sea; the blue moonlight on the cliff top; the silver river shining under the moonlight.
Then, while the other person was immersed in the beautiful scenery, he secretly looked at the beautiful side face in the dim moonlight and the spring light peeking out from the collar of the loose summer clothes, and stayed in a daze for a long time.
He is smiling.
Fabio is smiling.
When shepherding sheep and when entering the city, they are always smiling.
"Hey, Shepherd, are you less interested in sheep, hahaha-" The teasing and insulting teasing still didn't stop, but Fabio just smiled.
"Tsk, what a boring guy."
He just smiled.
Smiling.
Revel in a moment of peace and sunshine.
"Do something! Nameless!"
"Do something--"
Then everything fell apart again. She screamed, panicked, and turned pale. Surrounding the two of them were all the lowlifes in the small town of Scotti. They targeted those who were unable to resist them. She hid behind him. Fabio was holding a wooden stick in his hand, but it was of no use. Everyone on the opposite side was taller and stronger than him, and they all had axes, machetes and pitchforks in their hands.
"Do something!" she said, her eyes filled with fear and hope.
"I-I-" Fabio tried to raise his hand, imitating the sword-holding posture used by the knights and adventurers he had met in the town. He lowered his center of gravity and grasped his hand. The wooden sticks inside were in full posture.
In just a moment, Fabio felt that the wooden stick in his hand really turned into a sword.
Then.
"Hahahahahahaha, just pretending, look, what on earth is this idiot thinking——"
"Pa—" With a casual grab and a pull, the thin shepherd was pulled forward. The wooden stick was easily broken by the opponent, and then he raised his foot and kicked him in the abdomen. "Boom!" "Pfft--" The heavy blow was followed by overwhelming pain. Under the combined effects of nausea and vomiting, he fell to the ground with a livid face.
"I——" Instinctively, he crawled and climbed, wanting to escape and stay away.
"This coward left you alone! Hahahaha——"
"Ahhh-" the girl screamed, followed by the sound of fabric tearing.
"What are you doing!"
Then, it was like a scene that only happens in legends. The knight with bright armor on a white horse made a grand appearance, and like a hero, he easily repelled the gangster who offended the lady.
"Thank you! Noble Mr. Knight!" When he hid behind the pile of rocks in the distance and watched the ragged girl raise her head to look at the savior with twinkling eyes, Fabio understood that there was already someone beside her. There is no longer a place for oneself.
Her joy and sorrow are no longer related to herself. From this moment on, her gentle and intoxicating smile will be shown to others. From the perspective of a bystander, this tenderness only hurts the soul like a needle. .
"I-I-" After two days of confusion and sleeplessness, Fabio mustered up the courage to enter the market in Scotti Town again. But when he faced her face to face, he couldn't utter a single word of explanation that he had been thinking about for a long time.
Yes, what else can I say and explain clearly?
The shepherd lowered his head.
"" And she turned around, as if she didn't even see him.
It was a feeling that was even more uncomfortable than the kick a few days ago, which made people feel extremely uncomfortable in their internal organs. He started to deliberately try to avoid her, but she took the tall and handsome Imperial knight and started to see the night view in the place where he had taken her before.
In Fabio's heart, this is a holy place that only belongs to the two of them. Now she is here with other people, laughing loudly, and her face is full of happiness.
He hid in the grass, secretly watching their happiness from a distance like a despicable thief.
On the night when she and the knight finally kissed each other under the silvery moonlight in the rose field that was extremely difficult to find in the highlands, the place that should have been his and her holy place, Fabio felt his heart break. Stopped beating.
She went to live in a town farther away, and it was said that she was about to be engaged to that knight. People in the market in Scotti Town were talking like this.
He was back to being a lonely, smelly, and despised shepherd.
Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, several years passed. Happy days always make people feel fulfilled, but this kind of hazy life is not necessarily good. I just ate and slept, doing my essential job, and didn't interact too much with other people.
If you are thin, dark, and have no sense of presence, no one will notice you.
Just live like this, that's all.
Just live like this.
At once.
——Is it okay?
The temperature in winter, which should have been no different from the past, suddenly dropped. Within a few days, there was a layer of frost everywhere.
The temperature dropped to near freezing, causing Fabio to have a long runny nose. He began to worry about his sheep. Because the weather was too cold, he did not want to move and did not go to repair the sheepfold, causing one sheep to disappear.
He was wrapped in layers of clothing, his hair and beard were messy, like a savage. Holding a wooden stick with a copper bell, he searched for the place where the sheep might run.
"Hey, over there, do you know where I can pick red roses?" The voice suddenly came from behind. He felt that it was somewhat familiar. Looking back, he saw her in gorgeous clothes and the tall and handsome knight. They shared a ride, looking down at themselves with a smile on their face.
"Uh-" Fabio looked at her blankly, his pupils widened, and he couldn't recover for a long time.
She is so beautiful.
"Hey, sir, do you know where I can pick red roses?" she said. "I'm getting married. That's where we had our first kiss. I hope I can pick the flowers there."
Like lightning and thunder, a series of memories he thought he had long forgotten flashed back again, and Fabio covered his head.
"Yes - yes - I want to go to the next morning, and then walk a little further forward, and then up." He had not communicated with others for several years, and his stuttering became more serious, with a hint of hoarseness.
"Oh, is that the direction? I haven't been back for so long that I forgot about it. Thank you, Mr. Stranger." She smiled softly, but the shepherd could not feel a trace of warmth.
'It's finally over -' For some reason, it was supposed to be a reunion after a long separation, but Fabio just wanted her to leave quickly.
"I hope to get your blessing, Mr. Stranger." But she continued, and now he just felt like running away from the enthusiasm that he once liked so much.
"Uh - yes -" Fabio felt as if he had eaten extremely sticky slime. It was difficult to open his mouth and he almost suffocated and squeezed out these words: "Yes, yes, congratulations." You, Madam Husband, and Mr. Knight."
"Thank you." She thanked him with a smile, and then walked away with the knight.
The cold wind howled.
One after another.
Whether it was due to freezing or some other reason, Fabio found that his hands were trembling, trembling crazily.
He didn't know how long he stayed there in a daze, until he finally woke up with a scream of "Ah——" in the cold wind.
Fabio turned his head blankly, that seemed to be the direction the two of them were.
she shouted again.
"Help!! Someone help us!!"
shepherd.
He ran away.
He didn't know where he got the courage.
Life passed by in an instant like a book he could not understand in elementary school and had to flip through and play with:
Running away from elementary school; running away from the father who beat his mother; running away from her. All this guilt and self-blame condensed into the motivation for every step he took. He had never run so fast, as if he mustered up the courage to face things head-on for the first time in his life. He was so dirty and smelly. Fabio hurried towards that direction at a fast pace.
"Crack——" "Evil————" Then the moment he saw the huge creature in front of him, his feet softened and he knelt down directly on the ground.
"Oh my God, this is a—"
"dragon--"
"Roar -" "Run away, my dear!" The beautiful white horse lay down on the ground, with a huge paw on its body. The two people who rolled off the horse were covered in mud and were in a miserable state.
"My, my legs, my legs can't use any strength -" she said in a trembling voice, with a frightened face and tears.
"Damn it!" The knight turned around and pulled out the one-handed sword from his waist with a clang, but the thin blade was as weak as a bamboo stick in front of the huge black earth dragon.
Fabio clearly saw the dragon tilting its head. There was no color in its pure black eyes without pupils or whites. It seemed that it was trying hard to think about the two-legged creatures in front of it walking upright. What exactly are the creatures?
"Can you stand up? Try to stand up. We have to escape to the forest and can't lead it to the town!" the knight said, but she still couldn't stand up.
The voice was pulled away from reality in an instant, as if he was in someone else's dream, listening to those ethereal murmurs, lacking a sense of reality.
'Town?'
'Yeah, with such a big guy, if it gets close to a town, a lot of people will definitely die. '
'The temperature has been cooling down recently. Even the people in the security team have been napping all day long. He looked completely defenseless, let alone a dragon, even if the highlanders attacked, he couldn't defend himself at all. '
'But, but why should I care about the lives of those guys? Why should-'
'Do something! '
No, but how could I possibly win?
'Do something! '
No, I'm not needed here.
'Do something! '
Is there anyone else who can take on this—
'there is none left'
'No one else'
"Do something!"
"Hiss——" He took a deep breath.
"Huh——" and then spit it out slowly.
"Hey————!!!" He opened his mouth and let out a roar that made people wonder how that thin and short body could possess such power.
"Shua——" The two of them turned around.
"Clang, clang, clang--" Fabio waved the wooden stick with the copper bell desperately.
"This way, you, you, you stupid beast!" he shouted loudly.
"Hiss--" "Boom--!" Long turned around and ran towards him with heavy steps.
"Ugh——!" The shepherd's legs went weak, and he felt like he was about to pee his pants uncontrollably. But the moment he met her eyes, looking at her with tears streaming down his face, Fabio gritted his teeth.
"I, I, I said - this way - you should, you damn beast!" He felt that his tongue and face were numb, he stuttered and roared at the top of his lungs, then turned around, trying to point the earth dragon towards Lead in the other direction.
Before leaving, Fabio turned around and looked at her again.
But she didn't look here. After the earth dragon turned his head and ran towards this side, she just showed a reassuring expression, and then looked at the knight who was protecting her.
'Yeah'
'That's right. The short and smelly shepherd had a look of loss, but also a bit of relief on his face.
'Even if I muster up the courage to play the hero for once in my life, no one is watching, no one cares. '
"Bang——!" The wooden stick broke, and Fabio ran all the way.
"Dong dong dong!" Dilong chased after him with alarming momentum.
'What a stupid way to die, Fabio. In order to stand out in front of others, he didn't even look at you, and he has already forgotten who you are. '
'What a stupid way to die. '
He ran wildly.
He has been working as a shepherd all year round and knows the local terrain very well. Even if his mind is not clear and his body is not clear, he instinctively knows which direction to drill.
"Crack-!!" The earth dragon bit off the tree trunk.
"Boom——!!" The earth dragon knocked over the stone.
This earth-shattering momentum and the fact that a behemoth weighing several tons is chasing after it is enough to scare the bravest Imperial knight, but he can always squeeze through the tiny nooks and crannies with his flexible short body. Get into it and dodge, and continue running forward.
"Xuanxuan, cliff -"
When the cold wind blew the sweat from his desperate running, he was so cold that his tongue was knotted, and his whole body was trembling without knowing whether it was because of fear or cold. Fabio didn't know how long he had been running, and he didn't know how long he had been running. I don’t know how on earth I was able to keep up with such a huge dragon.
After more than ten years, he felt refreshed again after a long absence.
There is no pressure, no expectations, no one to be responsible for, and no need to look at other people’s eyes to live.
Just running happily on the mountain trails that I am familiar with.
"Hahahahaha——"
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha -" The calf muscles that had begun to cramp and could not run trembled. Before the huge earth dragon pounced on him with its blood plate full of stench and the smell of death, Fa Bio.
Support your waist.
Laugh loudly.
"Hooooo——"
"Knock!!" The bite of the upper and lower jaws made a loud collision sound, but the earth dragon's brain had completely turned into a puddle of black sludge, and he lost his reasonable judgment on the situation.
"Roar——!" The huge unbalanced body inevitably fell towards the bottom of the cliff.
"Roar!!" It desperately clawed at the rocks and soil with its claws, and finally fell downwards dragged by its body weighing several tons.
"Ouch——!"
"Bang!!" There was a huge impact on the frosty valley floor, followed by a long silence.
And after a few hours, snowflakes slowly fell from the sky.
Covered on this huge black body.
————
Two days later, the sound of horse hooves sounded on the edge of the awkward cliff.
"Teacher, look at that."
"Yeah, I noticed."
"Did someone lead it to the cliff and fall down?"
"What kind of person can outrun an earth dragon that can't even outrun a war horse?" Filippo said in disbelief, standing behind Milan and Henry who were inspecting the traces.
"Qianglang-" Henry picked up the half-broken wooden stick, and the copper bell at the end swayed slightly, making a sound.
"Huh -" Mira exhaled a breath of white breath, while Margaret behind her noticed certain scenes next to her.
"It's Wild Rose." Henry said. Only four people came up. Ferruccio stayed at the bottom of the mountain to guard the carriage and horses.
"A romantic dream?" Margaret whispered its flower language, and then reached out to pick a few flowers that seemed to be relatively intact from the field of flowers that had been plowed by ground dragons and had withered due to the freezing temperature.
"May this unknown hero have a sweet dream." She handed Mira a flower, then stretched out her hand and scattered the flowers toward the bottom of the valley.
"——" Filippo cautiously stuck out his head and glanced down: "Wait, where is the body of the earth dragon."
""
"" Mira and Margaret also stuck their heads out and took a look.
At the bottom of the valley, which is more than ten meters deep and covered with a thin layer of snowflakes, there is nothing except a pool of frozen black blood and half of what appears to be a human corpse.
"Let's get back on the road quickly. We must warn Scotty's people." Henry stood up and started walking towards the back.
"How can you still leave after falling from such a high place?" Filippo said with a hint of fear in his tone: "As expected, he has completely turned into an undead."
"With such a big movement, other people in Scotti Town should have noticed it. The good news is that they will make some preparations for this, which is a good thing for us."
"And the bad news is." Henry half-squinted his eyes.
"These preparations are likely to be useless."
“It’s time to go!” “Hiss—” the little unicorn nuzzled Mira.
"Um."
"No matter who you are, may you rest in peace." The white-haired girl dropped the red rose in her hand and turned around.
The freeze-dried flowers shattered the moment they fell, and the petals danced with the snowflakes, swirling toward the bottom.
The group of five people who were on the road again spent a considerable amount of time before they walked down the complicated hillside with twists and turns of nearly two kilometers and returned to the main road.
