* * *
With the exception of Albrecht and Martina, the rest of the party comes out first and waits in the cafeteria on the first floor. Everyone was surprised to see Albrecht and Martina coming out on the second floor.
The look on Martina's face does not seem like something terrible has happened, but rather looks joyful.
Albrecht comes down and sits at Diego's table. Diego looks at Albrecht and asks.
“She left with Martina......”
Albrecht thought, oh, that might be a misunderstanding.
“I just helped him put on his armor. ”
At the Thief's Lair, Diego and Martina seem to have a story. Albrecht asked.
“But Martina helped you wash at dawn. You two know each other? ”
Diego turns to Martina with an apology look on his face.
“That's my brother. ”
“Ah.”
Albrecht could not even console himself. What's it like to watch your family go through a rough six months? I was fortunate not to be consumed by helplessness, misery, and self-loathing.
Albrecht thought it would be better to give him the good news than a clumsy consolation.
“I'm going to make friends with Martina. ”
Diego looks at Albrecht and says, "This is ridiculous and ridiculous."
“Are you really that young? No, it's not about being young. I don't think you're from this world. ”
What Diego had to say was that the knights of this world were no less than bandits or thugs.
The problem was that they had almost human weapon-grade combat power, so the civilians couldn't do anything about it.
Moreover, the knights have mastered horseback riding and combat skills and have been a highly professional workforce in the world. Horseback riding was a luxurious skill that the commoners could not learn, and horseback fighting was a professional area that could run between horseback riding and ark.
Moreover, the knights were rarely high-ranking personnel who were hired by the lord or the king to protect them and act as more unmanned men.
They had their own kind of pride, but they were far from knights like honor and duty, and the form of dismissal in which warrior culture remained during tribal societies.
So, after seeing Albrecht as different from the usual knights, he said that Diego didn't seem to be from this world, and Albrecht smiled and replied.
“Haha. Maybe. ”
When they opened their minds to each other for some amount of time, they began to talk like really friends. Since Martina's friendship with Albrecht, she and Anna have been talking a lot, which is a bit confusing.
You talk about whether you want to eat or not, and the group starts feeding you stew.
Diego does not know the geography of the north, but is much smarter than Albrecht and is talking about where to turn.
At that time, a middle-aged man with dark blond hair and many swords, who had come first to the inn, took off his feathered hat, gathered it to his chest, and politely approached Albrecht.
“Hey...... Knight. ”
When the middle-aged man called, Albrecht looked at him. Her eyes were sharp and small, but she looked like she saw a mean fox.
“Hey… I'm Benzel, and I run a business in Lloybek. Earlier, our staff overheard you heading to Penbach. ”
“But?”
“Then why don't you come with us? We're on our way to Lloyd Beck. This is a city that takes a week, and you'd better get from there to Penbach. ”
Albrecht looks at Diego. It was because Diego knew better.
Diego said to the middle-aged man,
“Just company? ”
Benzel wants to talk to himself, but the sight of Albrecht doesn't seem to mind what the servant has to say. But I wanted an answer.
Diego continued:
“No, look. Mercenaries usually earn a nickel a day. So it's seven silver coins a week away? And you'll get more well-armed mercenaries like this knight. By the way, the knight here is a nobleman who knows horseback riding and has good horses. I need two gold coins. ”
Benchell said in a panic.
“Two gold coins is too much. ”
“Huh, don't you remember that you tried to use our knight in your bare mouth? Isn't that the right amount? ”
Benchel was very embarrassed. Had Benzel been inside the inn in the first place, he would have heard Albrecht and Diego talking without a fight. But he came in the middle and misunderstood between the two. From the look of Diego, he thought he was a slave being sold to a city somewhere.
The articles Benchel had seen in the city were usually dark on the market. They ask if they want something, because they don't buy anything with money. He was a damn good fighter in a floating life.
So Benzel thought that if he offered to accompany him and asked for anything else – a drink or a woman – he could complain about it and work hard, but he didn't know this would happen.
Benzel noticed Albrecht. Because I didn't know how this article would react if I knew I was trying to use myself.
Albrecht stares at Benzel. The middle-aged man said in a panic. It was a situation that could not be skipped.
“Oh, I see. Two gold coins. ”
As Benzel was about to go back, Diego said.
“Oh, you have to give me an advance. A penny.”
Benzel pulls out his pouch as if he had given up his mind. He takes out a jar of Doubloons and gives them to Albrecht.
As he returns, Albrecht and Diego smile at each other.
Albrecht bought spare clothes, boots and shoes from Benchel and dressed the women and Diego.
Diego thanked Albrecht for doing this, but it was a bit overwhelming. When he said that, Albrecht smiled and told me to dispose of the jewels and repay them when I arrived in the city.
Diego wondered if the jewels were really for themselves, if they could be like this, or even if they were real.
Just yesterday, I was living in a hell of an isolated life, but I thought I could change like this one day. It also felt like Albrecht was the Savior speaking on the cross.
Albrecht was formally employed by his group, but above all, I liked Diego. That's why it felt good to do a favor, not a favor.
Albrecht thought Diego would be appreciative and knowledgeable and intelligent and well-guarded.
In private, they spoke against each other and were like friends and respected in front of others. This was a discriminatory act, and many modern people on Earth couldn't even protect it.
If he had favored himself, he would have thrown the jewelry away without saying a word and gone his way.
Above all, Diego's favorite thing was that she couldn't express it properly, but she seemed to have matured internally through the tragedy. I thought that in a world where hell happens as usual, these people were the real jewels.
* * *
Albrecht's group buys jerky, smoked, etc. from the inn, then joins Benchel and departs at noon. With the exception of Albrecht's group, Benzel had seven women, five men who appeared to be employees, and two mercenaries.
He said that he was a merchant, but he didn't see the merchandise. He only drove the women on two wagons led by two horses each. Elena, Anna and Martina get in the wagon with the jewelry box, and all the men, except Albrecht, walk away.
Diego walks side-by-side on his horse, Albrecht, small to Albrecht.
“I think it's a pimp. ”
“Yes.”
Albrecht felt the same way. The question was, why did you come all the way out here to save women in a city with a lot of people?
“But isn't the city full of people? Why did you come all the way out here to save a woman? ”
Diego thought a little and said:
“I don't know the details, but I think they might be slaves. I know it's basically a decoupled version of a city. But slaves don't have to do that. ”
Albrecht felt he was right.
The procession continues to turn south. A good breeze of autumn blows through the grass beside the road like a stroke. As you climb the hills, you see the ruined village far away. The year that began to fall, the ruins were stained with an ominous color.
You see soldiers in the ruins. The equipment was separate, and they were setting the fire and placing the cauldrons.
The people are nervous. Benzel considers whether we should go back now. And the ruins were getting closer.
An armed man approaches the group on horseback from afar. A fully armed knight wearing a chain armor and a nose shade helmet.
He approaches and looks at Albrecht, burying himself with a slight grip on his helmet.
Albrecht's funeral was also facing him. The knight looks at Albrecht and says,
“Can you identify yourself? ”
“You first. ”
Albrecht's provocative remarks point to Albrecht. Albrecht also stared at me. The party is more nervous in the nerve wars of the two knights.
< 14 > End