Adelaide was impressed; anybody could say they would take revenge. But only a tiny minority of them will do it.
"Your enthusiasm is worrying, so it's good I've prepared for this... Take a look," Curious, Connor took the sack that was handed to him.
"Ah!?" Unexpectedly, it was abnormally heavy for its size. And while Connor didn't pride himself on his strength, it was nonetheless disheartening to be forced to pick up something so small with both hands. Still, Connor was even more curious about what was inside the bag that made the damn thing so heavy!
Placing the cube on his bedside table, he began examining it in fascination: it was a cube of dark-red... something the size of both his palms.
'Hm? Something's written on here,'
[Hardened yeti blood; 1.5L]
"?!" Connor's mouth gaped in shock; this was real yeti's blood! As a calligraphy ner— Cough! Cough! Enthusiast, Connor knew the price of one inkstone's worth, and right in front of him: there was fifteen's worth of that.
"How do you like it?" He raised his head to look at her, "This could be counted as my apology and a farewell gift, hm?" It was bittersweet; the tone she used, yet somewhere in the back of his head, he knew: She isn't talking to me.
-Drip...-
"You... father?" His words were quiet, practically unregisterable to the human ear, but that didn't stop the cascade of tears falling down both their faces...
"All these years, and you're finally leaving. Going to be your own person, going to... to pave your own path in life," The tears wouldn't stop, no matter how he tried, "If only... If only he was here to see you... he would— they would be so proud..."
It was surreal; to see the usually calm and collected Adelaide on the verge of sobbing. It was even more surreal, however, to find out your second mother had loved your own father...
----------------------------------------
-Clunk!-
Connor flinched as he heard the heavy iron gates shut behind him. But knowing he couldn't turn back now, he retrieved a map from his satchel to look for his next destination.
'So... I need to reach this little hamlet here before night falls... should be easy enough,' He looked at the little marker on the map, "Corenwall Hamlet... Let's hope these folks are the generous type,"
As he was walking, he couldn't help replaying the last conversation he had with Adelaide:
***
"I've prepared everything you'll need: rations that'll last until the next city over, your weapons, a change of clothes, toothbrush, socks, comb and underw—"
"T-Thank you!" He cut her off, embarrassed to see a smile appear on the priest standing a bit away.
"Hum! It's nothing... It's the least I could do,"
"Mn... goodbye?"
"Goodbye."
***
As he was reminiscing to himself, he didn't realize the wooden sign right in front of him.
-Bang!-
"Ow! What the— Oh..." He looked annoyedly at the giant piece of wood that had assaulted him.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
'At least I didn't go to the wrong place,' He thought to himself as he read the words: 'Corenwall Hamlet' etched onto the flat piece of wood. Behind it were two wooden houses, one of them looked like a post office while the other was a personal home for whoever worked there. Walking towards the house, he took a deep breath before knocking on the door.
-Knock! Knock!-
No answer. He tried again:
-Knock! Knock! Knock!-
"I'm coming, be a bit patient, will ye?" Finally, he heard someone speak. In a few moments, the door was opened to reveal a portly man in his forties. He sported dark black hair and a finely combed moustache. Although he looked like a crafty merchant, the modest clothes he wore said otherwise...
'A postman... maybe?' He thought as he examined the man standing in front of him. The other man did the same, leading to them staring at each other for a good few seconds. Still, he eventually remembered what he came here for and asked:
"Hello, can you spare a room for me to stay the night?"
"Sorry friend, a lovely lass took our extra room a few hours ago; no room," Having nothing more to say, he began to close the door, but Connor quickly put his hand between it, not allowing him to close it all the way.
"What do you want!? I already told ye the room's taken!" Connor could see the man's face turn a shade of red as he scolded Connor, and just as he was going to shut his door again, a voice interrupted him.
"Dear! Why are you taking so long? Dinner's just about ready!" The man scowled at the voice. Right as he was going to reply, he was interrupted.
-Creak!-
The door opened fully, allowing him to see the other person: a cheerful woman in her forties.
"Oh my, hello! What are you doing around these parts? Why don't you come in; it's getting late!" Connor gently smiled at what he could only presume to be the wife of the man. Unlike her husband, though, she was very welcoming, reminding him greatly of his own mother.
'Just wait, mother, father; I'll avenge you,' His mood took a dip when he thought about his mother; he soon recovered, however and spoke:
"Thank you for your kindness, madam," Entering the pair's home, Connor was surprised at the comfy atmosphere it carried. But upon seeing the neatly arranged chairs and a table full of food, his stomach began to rumble despite his better judgment...
"Hehe, your stomach's such a good timekeeper! Come, come! Sit down and enjoy the meal! Gerard, help our guest settle in; I'll call the Mariya!" With that, she was gone, likely going to call the 'lovely lass' that Gerard mentioned. Connor couldn't care less: it was none of his business whether she was lovely or not; besides, his hunger took precedence, so after keeping most of his things(he didn't keep the handbag with the Book of Fate inside) he obediently sat down.
-Slurp!-
Sitting at the head of the table was Gerard, who eyed a lovely looking piece of steak as a predator would while stalking their prey. When he realized Connor's gaze, he reached for it defensively, practically conveying: 'This is mine!'
"Don't worry, there's enough food on the table for me," Connor gestured at the rest of the food on the large dinner table.
"Good, I don't take kindly to any man stealin' me meat!" Gerard snorted, and after a tense moment of silence, he muttered quietly, "What's your story?"
"Huh?" Gerard frowned before reiterating his question.
"I'm talkin' bout why ye be walking around this area o' the woods; we haven't gotten proper visitors in years, yet today we've received two new ones one after the other!" Connor began to explain his situation after hearing his question.
***
"Aye... Look, I'm sorry for turning you away; I didn't know—" Connor just shook his head.
"No hard feelings, everyone's got their own things to worry about," The two continued to chat idly, only stopping when they heard two pairs of footsteps heading their way. Connor recognized one of them to be Gerard's wife, Josephine. But he couldn't help raise an eyebrow at the other girl.
'It seems Gerard really isn't lying, huh?' Her looks were certainly nothing to scoff at: unblemished skin, sharp eyebrows and slightly pouty lips to match her bright red cheeks. He was quickly brought back to reality as Josephine started speaking.
"I hope you didn't wait too long...Um..."
"Ah, my name is Constantine Callaway, a pleasure; madam Josephine," He re-introduced himself before turning to the young woman behind her, "...And this beautiful lady is?"
Josephine quickly introduced the two to each other:
"My mistake! This is Mariya Takezuchi; Mariya, this is Constantine!" Hearing her name, Connor looked thoughtfully in her direction.
'From the Hoshoko region, I wonder? She's not the same as uncle Long though,' He remembered Long Tie, the carpenter who had made him the bow that his father had gifted him.
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Takezuchi,"
"Likewise, Mister Constantine, Oh! And please call me Mariya!" He gazed deeply at her face as she introduced herself. Strangely, she noticed her eyes were a bit... strained.
'Nervousness?' He thought nothing of it and just chalked it up to her being shy around new people.
"Then please call me Connor," After a few more minutes of exchanging light pleasantries. Everyone seemed ready to dig in, so they all stopped talking in preparation to eat. As Connor was about to eat some of the meat he cut from the turkey in the middle, he noticed Mariya playing with her food.
'Is she not hungry?' It was normal for people to not be hungry, and Connor also thought she was the case. But as he was going to take his eyes off her plate, he realized she wasn't playing with her food! No, she was... writing!!
'Poison!!'
"!!!!"