Episode 3
“By the way, why are you hiding in this cargo wagon?”
Jeffrey suddenly asked me.
That was exactly what I wanted to ask him.
Why was this man—who in the near future would even earn the title **King of Mercenaries**—hiding in a cargo wagon?
Unlike girls, boys—even when young—were sometimes used as errand runners in places that required hard labor.
So the idea that he was wandering around simply because he had no money didn’t quite make sense to me.
“I need to go to the capital, but I don’t have any money, so I climbed in. But why are you hiding here?”
I avoided explaining my other reasons and instead asked Jeffrey back.
Jeffrey rolled his eyes and hesitated to answer before shrugging his shoulders.
“I’m being chased by the guards.”
“What?”
I almost shouted the question.
Jeffrey casually smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.
“There’s… a reason for that.”
“What kind of reason would make the guards chase a kid like you?”
When I asked, unable to understand, Jeffrey grumbled with a face full of annoyance.
“A kid? You look more like a kid than I do.”
That was true.
In fact, Jeffrey was two years older than me.
At such a young age people grew quickly day by day, so it was only natural that Jeffrey, who had lived two years longer, was bigger than me.
But mentally I was twenty-four years old, so just because he was bigger didn’t mean he didn’t look like a child to me.
“Fine, I’ll take back calling you a kid.”
Since I was curious about his story, I admitted it readily.
Jeffrey smiled innocently and replied, “Good.”
“So what happened?”
“Hmm…”
Instead of answering, Jeffrey kept his mouth shut for a while and let out a quiet groan.
He looked like he was debating whether or not to tell me.
I quietly waited.
If he chose not to say anything even after thinking this hard, it would be his private matter and I shouldn’t pry any further.
“It’s nothing much.”
Just as I was about to nod, thinking it must be difficult for him to talk about, Jeffrey continued.
“In the Chern territory there’s a guy named Gaiman. My parents borrowed money from him, and because they couldn’t repay it, that bastard beat them to death.”
For something he said so casually, the story itself was heavy.
“I reported him to the guards, but they said it was our parents’ fault for being in debt.”
“…”
“So I killed him.”
His voice was calm.
But I couldn’t even begin to guess what emotions were hidden inside it.
“I’m sorry.”
It must have been something he didn’t want to think about, yet I had carelessly dug into it.
Jeffrey took a few quiet breaths, as if collecting himself, then smiled faintly at me.
“It’s fine. I got my revenge.”
I had no idea that Jeffrey Coleman, who would later be called the Mercenary King, had such a past.
When I met him as an adult, he seemed like such a carefree person.
“I said I’m running away, but why are you going to the capital? You don’t seem to be on the run like me.”
Jeffrey suddenly asked.
Watching him speak in a bright voice, I gave a faint smile.
“There’s someone I need to meet in the capital. My mother’s father. Because of certain circumstances, my mother and him can’t meet.”
“Your mother’s father? Isn’t that your grandfather?”
At his matter-of-fact comment, I pressed my lips together.
He was right.
My mother’s father would indeed be my grandfather.
But since I had grown up without the existence of a grandfather, it was hard for me to accept **Grand Duke Crighton** as one.
Even if my mother reunited with him, I didn’t think I would be able to easily think of him as my grandfather.
“That’s right. My grandfather.”
“So you’re going to meet him? Did your mom give you permission?”
“No. If you look at it one way… I guess I ran away from home.”
“You can’t do that!”
Jeffrey looked at me sternly.
The scolding look was so cute that I let out a small laugh.
“What? Why are you laughing?”
Jeffrey puffed out his lips, apparently displeased.
I barely managed to suppress my laughter.
“Just… because you’re cute.”
“What?”
When I said exactly what I thought, Jeffrey froze for a moment.
Then he looked at me seriously.
“Listen. If you came out without telling your mom, go back home quickly. If you suddenly disappeared, how worried do you think she must be?”
I turned my head toward the gap in the wagon cover where light was coming through.
It seemed the sun had already risen.
“She’s probably… very worried.”
By now she must have woken up.
She would have read the letter I left behind and realized I was gone.
She would definitely be shocked.
I didn’t want to hurt my mother like this.
But if I didn’t do this, a year later she would die.
And if that happened, I would lose her again right in front of me without being able to do anything.
Even knowing everything, I couldn’t just watch it happen.
If it was Grand Duke Crighton, a powerful noble and wealthy man recognized throughout the empire, he might be able to find a way to save her.
This was an unavoidable choice to stop my mother’s death.
“Still, I can’t go back. I have to meet my grandfather.”
When I smiled bitterly, Jeffrey frowned.
“Is it something important?”
“Yes. It’s the most important thing in my life.”
Saving my mother.
Nothing could be more important than that.
Jeffrey looked at me with a complicated expression before finally nodding.
“Well… then it can’t be helped.”
He accepted it faster than I expected.
Even if he had tried to stop me I wouldn’t have turned back anyway, but I was relieved that he didn’t cause a scene.
“Thank you for understanding.”
“No, I mean… it’s not like I did anything.”
Jeffrey awkwardly scratched his cheek.
Right then—
*Grrrrr.*
A loud growling sound echoed.
In this wagon, the only people who could make that sound were either me or Jeffrey.
But it definitely hadn’t come from me.
When I lifted my head to look at him, Jeffrey was hiding his red face behind the cargo.
Come to think of it, he said he had been running after taking revenge on the person who killed his parents.
He must have been too busy avoiding the guards to eat properly.
He might not have eaten for days.
I fell into brief but deep conflict.
I did have a little food.
From experience, it took three days to travel from Delphia Village to the capital, so I had brought three steamed potatoes with me.
The plan was to eat one per day.
It was far too little to share with Jeffrey during the three-day trip.
But still…
*Grrr.*
The sound came again.
I lowered my head.
Jeffrey hadn’t said a word since the noise.
He looked embarrassed.
Actually, it wasn’t something to be embarrassed about.
After a short moment of thought, I made up my mind and walked toward him.
Seeing me approach, Jeffrey shrank back nervously.
“W-what?”
Like a wary cat, he glared at me.
I held out one of my potatoes.
“Do you want this?”
“…”
Jeffrey stared silently at the potato.
It was well-steamed and fluffy.
“…What about you?”
That was the first thing he asked.
“I brought three potatoes when I left home. I’ll give you one.”
His gaze moved between my eyes and the potato.
He was clearly hungry, yet he was still worried about me.
After sitting beside him, I forced the potato into his hand.
Jeffrey looked thoughtful as he held it.
“Go ahead and eat. You’ve got a long road ahead.”
If he kept running from the guards, there would be many days ahead where he wouldn’t sleep or eat properly.
But if the future I knew was correct, Jeffrey would definitely succeed as a mercenary.
When that time came, he wouldn’t have to worry about things like this.
So until then, it was better to eat whenever he could and sleep whenever he could.
“…Thank you.”
Jeffrey spoke quietly and took a bite of the potato.
He didn’t even peel it.
“…Ugh.”
Suddenly I heard a sound that seemed like a groan.
When I turned to look, I realized it was the sound of sobbing.
Jeffrey was crying.
Even though the tears must have been choking his throat, he kept putting bite after bite of potato into his mouth.
Not wanting to disturb him, I turned my head away.
As I sat quietly, my senses became unusually sharp.
The wagon jolted violently after hitting a stone.
The ride was rough, clearly not designed with passenger comfort in mind.
Voices of people talking could be heard outside the wagon.
Little by little, Jeffrey’s crying was drowned out by those sounds.
“Thank you.”
After finishing the potato and stopping his tears, Jeffrey thanked me again after a long while.
When I finally looked back at him, his face was as red as it had been when his stomach growled.
“I—I’ll repay the price of this potato someday.”
“It’s just one potato. Don’t worry about it.”
“…No. Let me repay it.”
His voice was unusually solemn.
Was it because he had been starving?
After my mother died, I had wandered from place to place myself, so I knew well how hunger could make a person feel desperate and miserable.
And because of that, I also knew how grateful one felt toward someone who shared food.
But what Jeffrey said next was unexpected.
“Do you know why my parents borrowed money from Gaiman?”
I looked at him, not understanding the sudden change in topic.
“Why bring that up all of a sudden?”
I knew how painful it was to talk about losing your parents at such a young age.
Jeffrey smiled awkwardly, his color finally returning.
“Because I whined that I was hungry. We had no money, so there was nothing to eat.”
“…”
“So owing food to someone is something I hate more than death.”
Jeffrey took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
That breath seemed filled with his anguish.
“But if it weren’t for you, I might really have died.”
His voice sounded heavy despite the casual words.
“This is the first time I’ve owed someone food. So let me repay it.”
If I argued any longer, the conversation would only keep repeating.
It wasn’t like a potato cost much, and I didn’t want to keep going back and forth about it.
So I simply nodded.
“Then when you grow up, repay me with two potatoes.”
If he became the Mercenary King, two potatoes would be nothing to him.
As soon as I finished speaking, Jeffrey smiled brightly.
“Okay. I’ll definitely repay you with two.”
