CG Chapter 83: Two fathers, different lessons

A couple of days ago, before the castle of Flameheart was reduced to ashes, a heated conversation took place between two men under the light of a candle and the two cups of rum between them.

"Reynard, we will need to go through hell and back to win this battle. You and I might die along the way, and even then, nothing is guaranteed. So, I ask you, will you fight by my side once more?"

Folek looked at the expression of the captain, who had trained countless soldiers for him.

Knowing that they didn't have the luxury of slipping up and that they wouldn't have any second chances, he wanted to ensure that he would have only the finest and most trustworthy people by his side.

Just when Reynard was about to answer, Folek suddenly interrupted.

"If you're going to talk about glory or valor, then please save it, as you know as much as I do that such promises are but empty talk."

Because his plan was reaching its final stage, Folek felt like going down memory lane.

"You know my father was a harsh man, maybe even harsher than me. But there is a lesson he taught me: a thousand swings of the enemy sword are easier than a single stab from the back. I am telling you this to make you understand that if you don't wish to fight with me, then I will give you an easy way out, a merciful and dignified death by my sword. But if you choose to betray me or lose faith in me because of their gods or kings, then I am sure that I don't need to warn you what kind of man I am."

Reynard stayed calm as if he wasn't the one who was just threatened. He held his cup high before speaking.

"I buried a lot of good men since I became a knight. Some were people who I would proudly call my brothers, others students that I taught how to wield a sword, and watched their light shine and dim before me. I can understand why you wouldn't trust anyone in this; heck, even I would have called you a heretic a couple of years ago. But now I know that there is nothing much left for an old soul like me. I see it like this: if we win, then I will get the chance to see a wider world before I die, and if we lose, well then, I will join my brothers while drinking in whatever hellhole they went to before me."

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Hearing his answer, Folek smiled before holding his own cup up high. The two of them drank the whole thing in one go, and when they finished, they poured another.

...

Back to the present day, in a hamlet that was too small to even be called a village, Tom was recuperating after he escaped from the Attrio mansion.

In the shade of an old oak tree, Tom was breathing in the fresh air after drinking a herbal soup he made. Knowing that he wasn't the most liked person at the moment, he took on the identity of a young adventurer who wanted to explore the biggest forest of the seven kingdoms.

While relaxing, he watched the few children of the hamlet play and jump around. Not thinking much about it, he focused on circulating his blood energy. However, just when he closed his eyes, he was interrupted by the quiet sobbing of a child who was aiming a cheaply made wooden bow.

The scene of a young boy not older than six years old shooting a bow and crying every time he missed wouldn't have made him even flinch, but what sparked his curiosity was the fact that the child wasn't crying due to missing the shot.

After getting exhausted, the boy stopped shooting. He looked around only to notice that Tom was looking at him, so he quickly tried to wipe his tears.

The boy then started to move under the tree and stood near where Tom sat.

He held his mud-stained shirt while trying to get a word out. However, his nervousness made him unable to even put a single sentence together.

Additionally, Tom could tell from the way the other kids treated him that the boy was some sort of outcast.

Tom waited patiently for the kid, and since he had nothing better to do while healing, he decided to spend some time on the boy, seeing him as a story to be explored.

After a couple of seconds passed, the boy finally gathered enough courage to speak.

"I... I heard from the elders of the village that people who travel around know a lot of things. Is that true?"

The boy breathed in when he stopped as if each word weighed a mountain to him.

"Don't you think you should tell me your name first? And how about you sit down while we chat?"

Tom feigned a pause, giving the boy a chance to process his words.

"The kids call me grave-keeper."

Seeing his broken expression, Tom replied.

"I don't care what the other kids call you. I want to know what name you want people to call you by. And you can relax, it's not like I am going to eat you. At least I haven't eaten humans in quite a while."

Somehow, Tom's dark joke made the boy relax and feel more confident while speaking.

"Please call me Darian."

"Good, now ask me what you want."

Darian began to tell Tom about his family situation, or what was his family.

"When the winter season came, we didn't have enough food for the three of us. So my mother would give up the last of her food to keep me and my father fed. Unfortunately, my father only found out that she didn't eat when he found her dead. After that, my father started drinking, and I remember him saying something to me over and over again. At the time, I couldn't understand most of what he said, but I always remembered him saying:

People will cry a bit, some might even feel that it's the end of the world for them, but soon after, they will realize that your death isn't the end of the world for them. New seeds will be sown, new sunrises, and life will go on. Now I want to ask you, when you know that your death means losing everything, why would anyone in their right mind sacrifice themselves for another?"

After saying that, Darian stopped from the heaviness of the lump in his throat, and silent tears fell from his eyes as he continued.

"If he really believed what he told me, then why did he risk his life to go deep into the woods for me? Why did they leave me behind?"

When he stopped speaking, one of the old ladies in the hamlet noticed him talking to Tom, so she ran over, saying,

"Please, sir, don't let him bother you. Those are just the thoughts of a young child who lost his father."

Unfortunately for Darian, by the time the lady came, Tom had already lost most of his interest and felt ready to continue his journey to the Shaman.