Volume 2 chapter 68
Winter had arrived. Old John's family was in their house, huddled around the stove.
The stove burned with newly bought charcoal. The fire was strong, and an iron pot sat atop it, boiling a small piece of mutton.
Old John took out various wild vegetables and roots he had saved, washed them in melted snow water, broke them into pieces, and threw them into the pot to stew with the meat.
"Dad! I'm back!"
His son, Green, pushed the door open. Wind and snow blew in, scattering the warmth that had gathered in the room with difficulty.
Green hurriedly shut the door, patted the snow off his clothes, and walked over.
"You're back. Come warm yourself by the fire." Old John said without looking up, stirring the pot with a ladle.
"Hey! Dad, we haven't finished the meat yet! Look here! The Captain gave me another strip today!"
Green untied a strip of meat hanging from his waist and slapped it onto the table with a heavy thud.
"Look at that! I worked the hardest these past two days, so the Captain gave me a whole extra kilogram! Look at the fat on this!"
Green patted the piece of mutton, about three fingers thick and two palms long, laughing proudly at his father.
"Hey! You wasteful brat!" Old John looked up, scolding. "Just because you've eaten meat for two months, you think you're a lord? If the new Lord Charlo wasn't kind-hearted, do you think meat is that easy to come by? If you don't save some, what will you do when it's gone?"
"If you weren't coming back today, I wouldn't have even cooked this. I would have saved it all!"
Green rubbed his hands and sat by the stove. "Hah! What do you know? This village has been given to Lord Charlo. I heard the Emperor himself decreed it! The Lords of Smolder aren't coming back!"
"From now on, eating meat every few days will be common! Lord Charlo is building several roads near our village! I heard they lead to that new port! I wonder if I can be a sailor when it's built. I know how to swim!"
"Hey! What can you be? Do you know how to sail?" Old John rebuked him. "You just splashed around in the Prague River a few times. You've only ever looked at the Smolder Lords' ships from afar; you've never even been on one! Besides, I heard Lord Charlo's ships are made of steel and run without sails! Only noble Mages can pilot those! What does a mud-legged peasant like you know?"
"I was just thinking!" Green said unconvinced. "Before, I didn't have the chance, so I could only dig in the dirt. But now I work in the Road Construction Team. They provide meals, pay wages, and give me meat every few days! What's wrong with dreaming of a better life?!"
"Dreaming blindly..." Old John mumbled, then scooped the stewed porridge into two bowls.
Gulp... Green didn't mind the scolding. He took the bowl, blew on it twice, and started drinking.
Then he took out a small knife, cut the palm-sized piece of meat in the pot in half, and handed a piece to his father.
Old John took out a few slices of dark brown bread. Father and son sat around the stove, grabbing meat with one hand and dipping bread into the porridge with the other, eating quietly.
The sound of the wind outside, the crackling of charcoal inside, and the chewing of hard bread mixed together.
"How much is charcoal now?" Green asked after finishing.
"Same as before. Two cents a pound. Didn't go up!" Old John replied.
"That's good..."
"Yeah, that's good..."
Green stared blankly at the dancing flames in the stove, his gaze becoming distant, as if looking far away.
"If only Mom, and my little brother and sister could experience this too... I heard Lord Charlo is opening a textile factory in the next village, specifically recruiting women to weave clothes. Thirty cents a day! And he's building a school to take in children aged six to twelve! Brother and sister are just the right age..."
He mumbled, his voice getting quieter and quieter, until his head lowered, and his eyes turned red.
Over two months ago, the Lords of Smolder were defeated by Lord Charlo from the south. Before leaving, they looted the village.
The only valuable oxen were taken. Even the millstones were smashed. And the people were taken too!
Old John was too old; they despised him, so they left him. Green was lucky; he had heard of Smolder's defeat and went up the mountain to hunt before winter set in. He wouldn't have dared before, as patrols would catch him, but with the defeat, he figured no one was patrolling. He escaped capture by pure chance.
But his mother and younger siblings weren't so lucky. They were at home and were taken by those bandits to be sold as slaves.
"Don't talk about it..." Old John stared at the stove, adding a piece of charcoal.
"They had bad luck... my luck wasn't good either..."
"Dad..." Green looked up, seeing the dazed look on his father's face.
Old John wasn't actually that old—not even forty yet. But his hair was sparse and white, his face full of wrinkles, and even sitting down, his back was permanently bent.
"You have good luck... Green!" Old John murmured. "When you were born, your mother gave birth smoothly, right there in the field. You were healthy as a child, unlike your older brother who died before he was three."
"You grew up safely, escaped the clutches of those lords, and now you've been picked for the Road Team... You have good luck!"
Green listened silently. He didn't feel lucky. He was just alive, living like most commoners, no different from his father.
The only difference was—his father spent most of his life under the rule of the Smolder Lords, while he had switched to the benevolent Lord Charlo.
Was that good luck? It seemed so. Being full every day, getting wages, eating meat—these were rare things he couldn't even dream of during New Year's before!
"Lord Charlo is truly a good man..."
Old John sighed, falling into silence again.
The fire still burned. The orange light reflected on their faces, freezing the sadness there.
That disaster was only two months ago, but it felt like a lifetime. It blurred with all past tragedies, solidifying into a block of sorrow that was impossible to face yet impossible to forget.
"I plan to enroll you in the Naval Academy..." Old John said slowly after a long time.
"What?" Green looked up sharply, staring at his father in shock.
"You're only eighteen. Just the right age..." Old John continued. "It was before winter set in. I asked around. Lord Charlo's Navy is expanding and recruiting many people. I asked—even if knowing how to swim doesn't get you on a ship directly, you can enter the Naval Academy. In the future, you might even become a Knight! The registration fee is only three dollars. I sold most of the meat you brought back over these two months, and I've scraped together enough!"
"Finish the work this winter, then go!"
"Dad! You..."
"How could you sell it? That was for the family to eat! It was for you to eat!" Green protested. "I'm old enough already; what school should I go to? Working in the team is enough! We can save money and live well!"
"You have good luck, Green..." Old John looked at his son, a light appearing in his eyes that Green couldn't understand.
"Lord Charlo is a great man. If you work under him, you will have a different life! I believe you will achieve things I never could!"
"I am old. I can only dig food from the earth... But you are young! You have spirit! You have strength! I asked around—the Navy has the best treatment under Lord Charlo! Go there! Maybe one day, you can become a Knight Lord!"
"Dad..." Green was stunned. Knight Lord? He had never even dreamed of such a thing. It was too far away. Just thinking about how to survive took all his effort.
But his father, a man who had dug in the dirt for half his life, thought further than he did. These sudden words were so unbelievable coming from Old John.
"Green... I don't have other thoughts. I just want... when you become famous, when you become a Knight Lord, you will have a chance to find your brother and sister... and buy them back. A dirt-poor peasant can't do that..."
When Old John said this, his eyes were wet, glistening in the firelight. Green's heart skipped a beat.
Old John... had never walked out of that disaster either. He remembered. He remembered his wife and children...
Yes... Green wasn't home then. The only witness to that tragedy was Old John!
He watched with his own eyes as his wife and children were taken away into slavery, and he could do nothing... only watch helplessly!
He even had to feel lucky... lucky that he was a useless old man no one wanted...
That hatred and powerlessness had stayed with him. He should have been like other exploited commoners, cursing helplessly in his heart until he died. But Charlo came!
"I should have died two months ago... The Lords of Smolder left me no grain. It was Lord Charlo who saved me! Saved you! Green..."
Green fell silent. He understood what his father was saying. Old John just wanted to repay Lord Charlo's kindness, give his son a good life, and maybe... find the rest of the family.
Old John knew that finding slaves was nearly impossible. No one knew where they were sold. Slave traders didn't care about origins, only prices.
"I understand. I will go!"
Finally, Green nodded heavily.
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