Chapter One: Riding Towards the Dawn (Pt.8)

"Pooh-Pooh!"

I went to the castle to collect fat oil from the kitchen wastes. On the way out, I spitted on the back door. Deacon of the thane's house, Hamel, concerned about my health status, asked me whether I ate a gut to dare entering the castle with a strong smell of alcohol. If the way he kicked my legs, hit my head could be a sort of concern.

Because I am not going the main entrance, so there is nothing to worry about. Official guests will all use the main entrance. Besides people like me who needs to pay or collect something from the thane house, no one else would use the back door. So there will be no guards, so even if I spit, that won't be a big deal...

"You rude civilian, what you just did?"

My back head which got hit before got hit again. But there is no person can cover me in the castle, so I hurried headed down and said:

"Sorry, I was wrong. I was just unconscious..."

"Ah, willing to reflect your own mistakes now?"

Wait a second. The voice seems familiar. I headed up a little, then saw Sanson's face laughing like a fool.

"Sanson! Damn, almost scared me to death!"

"So why did you something what would make you get scared? You're here to collect the meat?"

"What meat. It's fat! By the way what's a guard captain doing at the back door?"

"Ah, last night I was drunk, I lost something here..."

Sanson spoke safely, then was like suddenly found that the object he spoke to was me. Sanson's face is froze, and I absolutely can't miss this great opportunity.

"Lost something? But your came here secretly to find on your own..."

"I have to perform my guard captain duty, don't I?"

"No, no. There should be no people on duty. If you ask them, they can certainly help you. In other words, that things can not be found by the others..."

"You, you, your imagination is just too rich?"

"Ah? See, you got excited, right? In other words, that thing is very secret, but small enough to be lost. Yes, and you must come back to find such a thing, so it is..."

Sanson's eyes widely opened, with a "Dude, how could you know something you haven't seen before?" face looked at me. I made a face like there is delicious food in front and said:

"Ring, right?"

Sanson quickly looked a me with a fainting face:

"You, you, how did you...?"

"I saw the ring on that girl's finger gone. Who would she give the ring to? I don't even want to mention her name. Her name is..."

Sanson grabbed my shoulder.

"Please... I beg you."

Sanson's expression is really good. I didn't continue, just held my stomach and kept laughing. Ha! A warrior that can duel with an Ogre?

After a while, Sanson and I started searching on the lawn around the back door. Since it's Autumn, so often there are crickets suddenly jumping up. Sanson kept searching desperately, while kept urging me to swear, asked me not to tell anyone else. I said I am only 17, smaller than the age that you can vow, and simply refused him. Vow is for adults, who can be responsible for their own words, then they can vow, isn't it?

"Promise me!"

"Promise what. This is a bit difficult. Sometimes even I myself can't control my mouth."

I was just describing a fact, and Sanson was cursing rudely. Well, so than I'm a lot more classy.

After a while, I found a small copper ring.

"Sanson, I found it! "

Sanson jumped happily. I handed him and said at the same time:

"As it's too small, you can't wear it on your fingers. If you don't want to lose it, you better connect it with a string and put it on your neck."

"Ah, in fact I did it, but the string broke. I should use a chain next time."

Sanson didn't look at me when he was speaking. All his attention focused on the copper ring, carefully touched and looked at it over and over again, as if to inspect whether it's damaged, didn't feel troublesome at all. I guess if I am not here, he would probably put the ring into his mouth, try how it tastes. My whole body is getting goosebumps, can't stand it any more.

We sat under a tree for shade. Sanson is dabbling ring his ring. He blushed and said:

"If I can come back this time, I will officially announce my wedding."

"What coming back this time?"

"Coming back after the Amurtaat Crusade."

My eyes widely opened.

"Huh? Sanson you are going to? Aren't you a guard of the castle?"

"Rather than guard of the castle, you should say guard of our thane. We guard the castle to protect our thane, don't we?"

"Ah, sounds right..."

"Our thane will also participate in the expedition."

This is more ridiculous then my father's participation. I dumbfoundingly said:

"Thane His Honor? Didn't he forget how to ride?"

"Huh? How did you know? So he is riding a chariot this time."

I suddenly opened my mouth largely. What? Chariot? In my imagination, chariot such things should be in the south, in the frontier between Zypern. I won't believe our town has this kind of thing.

"What? We have a chariot?"

"Ah, Thane His Honor ordered my father to make one. Modified from a truck."

I don't want to listen anymore. The thing must not be like a chariot, and not like a truck. But like a carriage in  the market. I truly realized the meaning of "Ridiculousness" at this moment.

"Why is Thane His Honor going? Frankly, if our thane doesn't roll down from the chariot, we have to be thankful for that. You actually want him to swing a spear?"

Sanson laughed and said:

"Well, though it's a little bit rude, but I also don't believe that he can do that."

"So why is he going?"

"Good question. This time, even the dragon and Dragon-Raja has came from the capital! So as the host of this village, he must go."

"So he has no choice, doesn't he?"

"You can't say that too. This time even Deacon Hamel can't stop him. "

"Huh?"

"Since the Sixth Crusade, Thane His Honor always wanted to go. But in that period, Deacon Hamel kept stopping him, didn't he? However, because of the VIPs from the capital, so even Deacon Hamel can't dissuade."

The Sixth Crusade... Ah, was when the only son of our thane, the Junior Thane got killed in action.

Now I remember. Junior Thane Baron Heltant. We don't care about the names of nobles, the only noble in our village is our thane Viscount Heltant, so we wouldn't mix up. But after the son of Viscount Heltant, Albans Heltant graduated from the Tax Officer School in the capital, achieved some feat in the wars with Zypern, he became Baron Heltant. And he got a fief in some distance away from our village, then we started to mix up. We called them Baron Heltant and Viscount Heltant. But we felt troublesome after some time, so we gradually developed a habit, calling them Thane and Junior Thane. I remember Junior Thane liked these titles too.

But Junior Thane didn't rule his fief long. Since he was born, his hatred towards Amurtaat who keeps ravaging his father's territory had continued to accumulate, so even his father asked him to stay, he joined the Sixth Crusade.

Three weeks later, people could see our thane's wife, who is the mother of Junior Thane, holding Junior Thane's helmet, cried on the main road in the village under heavy rain. I was confused at that time, could only follow the people around and cried with the thane's wife. Since the day, I have never seen the thane's wife. She seemed completely hid herself in her own residences and never came out.

I recalled the scene, then whispered:

"Speaking of it... After the death of the Junior Thane, even our thane is still alive, he should be like living in the hell on earth. Probably every morning when he opens his eyes which do not want to open, he will see the cruel fact his son is gone. Every night when he closes his eyes which do not want to close, he will be immersed in the nightmare of the death of his son."

Sanson looked at me with surprised eyes.

"Hey, did you get a fever? or your pulse is some unusual..."

"Enough, enough.  If you have spare time to date girl, please read some books!"

I just used the sentence Karl said to me on a day. But Sanson just smiled after hearing that.

"Then when you come back, you will get married under everyone's blessings?"

"Well. you will come to congratulate me right. I will formally invite you."

Didn't he think, he might not be able to return alive?

I am only 17 years old. But for me, it's also not easy to ask such a question. And if asked, what good answer can I expect? Even if I don't say, his own heart would also emerge such a terrible idea. So I didn't ask, but deliberately made a pleasant expression, very warmly said:

"That... That girl is really pathetic. How can she be with this ogre-like man... Have to blame the mill!"

"What did you say? You cuss!"

"Sigh, who can you blame. Knowing that he would come to the mill at night, why did you go without any vigilance? Before the day, the boy belonged to the girl. But after the day, the girl belongs to the boy. Even the moonlight was tinted red by the impatient confession of the boy. The boy used his sweet lips to lock the girl's lips, made she could not say no. Ah, really poignant. Since lips are stolen, the girl has lost her freedom. Like a bird in a cage, also like mustang horse in a rein..."

"Hey! Huchi! Come back! If you don't move, I won't beat you. Oi! If I catch you, you're dead!"

Sanson's tears are going to fly out. He's like forgotten his guard captain missions, shouting incoherently, chasing after me. I joyfully ran up to the village road. People everywhere are giving me help.

Sanson if was not tripped by a random feet, then he was bumped into a random person. And I am still singing easily, under the enthusiastic response and expectation of the people in the village, I almost said the girl's name out... but Sanson is too poor, I should give him a chance. I will keep it for now, so I can use it  for the next time.