Ashes and Kingdoms

Around the same time, Nellis had been stopped by the priest Fentas from trying to get out of the temple.

"Where are you going?

The sound of questioning is disturbing. Nellis laughed as usual and replied, "I'm a little used to you," but I intuited that they spotted the lie and it turned out to be true. Fentas is sharp. It is not because of its special powers, like Nellis and Finn, but because of the observation developed by dealing with many people every day and by carefully formulating and prescribing medicines.

Nellis dropped her gaze, thought for a moment, and then said quietly.

"... to the priest, I am truly grateful. Be nice to us who came all the way out here with nothing. But please... please miss it. If you feel a little guilty about the children in the orphanage."

To a word close to whispering, Fentas was frightened. You still knew, and Nellis stares with regret. Nellis continued, as the priest kept his eyes open.

"Brother Finn said. Good offices for orphans were Nanais, and if they were to be treated properly, it wouldn't be bad for the kids, either. Allow smart kids to learn difficult things in wealthy mansions, or spin especially sturdy kids for those who want kids who can help with their work... even Brother Finn says so"

"Weren't you real brothers and sisters?"

Unexpectedly, Fentas leaks a surprise voice. Nellis nodded.

"The dean introduced me to our parents. I heard there were other kids about the same age who might be able to work in a powder shop."

I remember the day Finn first came home. It was so “made up" that we didn't feel like we could be our own family. Although I was familiar with it as a guide, I have also met with my parents several times since, just as the director was worried.

(Speaking of which, once, I was so scared of my father's face back from town...... oops, I shouldn't)

Nellis was about to be delayed in his retrospective and rushed back to consciousness.

"Dear Fentas. I think there are circumstances and reasons for this. But I'm sorry. We're leaving because of our circumstances, but we can't leave our children behind because we know they're going to be horrible."

Fentas asked Nellis, bowing his head, with a sinking face.

"Are you going to take them all?"

"No way. Whatever it takes. I can't do that. Besides, I don't believe Master Fentas is a slave trader. He said he wouldn't sell it for money until he wasn't special."

"Farnayne."

Fentas groaned like he was fatally wounded. Nellis is surprised at the unexpected pain he has inflicted and looks away. In the meantime, Fentas looked old enough for ten years at once.

Fear marked Nellis' chest. No way, was that man so mighty? Didn't we help innocent children from rotten riches and imitate them to steal the souls of the dead from the king of the underworld?

Reading her fears, Fentas shook her head small.

"Don't look at me like that. Because you're not guilty of anything."

"But"

"Niardo is the stepnephew of Commander Dilgius. Even before that happens, I've been getting a lot of donations from that house for years... and even though I've noticed so thinly, I'm afraid of retaliation. But sin is sin. It's natural to be judged. I know that I will feed the children of hope for the future to my unclean desires."

Fentas nodded and covered his face with one hand, as if he had already been judged. And with one remaining hand, he took control of Nellis, who cared and approached him.

"Go."

"Dear Fentas..."

"Go quickly. And... please, don't look back"

The pleading voice was powerless, trembling to indulge in whimpering. Nellis hesitated only while breathing one, then quickly ran back on his heels to shake off the untrained.

We must have done the right thing, we shouldn't blame ourselves for saying that, but we couldn't get rid of the thorns that stabbed us in the chest. Nellis kept running until his breath ran out and his flank ached, walking past the square into a messy alley lined with retailers before finally stopping.

"Nellis!"

Called by a sharp whisper, Nellis turned back to me and quickly ran his gaze. From behind the store selling vegetables and nuts, Mac is inviting them. Nellis re-hung the shopping bag she had raised on her shoulder, exhaled and pretended to look casual.

I relaxed and looked around, walked faintly through storefronts everywhere in a way that reminded me what I was buying, and finally, crept under the garlic hanging from the house.

The shopkeeper looked at Nellis slightly on the side, but said nothing and was dealing with other customers. Nellis went deeper and deeper pretending to find the item, then made sure the store owner's body and product shelves were blocking the customer's gaze, creeping through the small doorway and through the back.

Surrounding the narrow courtyard is the living space of the shopkeepers. Mac's hand reaches out the hallway and grabs Nellis's arm.

"Come on, over here"

Running into the small room that was in storage, Mac quickly closed the door to clear his ears to the signs outside.

"Didn't they notice?

Mac looks back at Nellis, asking in a whisper. As soon as he was in a hurry, he turned away. He didn't say anything, and Nellis was taking off his clergy clothes. By the way, Mac had already switched to old clothes bought from the farmer's children. Mud is also properly applied to the hands, feet and face, and coal is applied to the hair to alter the impression.

"Mac, if you do, you look like you're about ten years old."

Nellis teased me with a voice that contained no offense laughter. Mac keeps staring at the wood in the door, and if he was really ten, he wouldn't turn back, blurring in his mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you mad?

Mac looked to heaven as Nellis apologized openly between the sounds of the clothes rubbing.

"Nothing. Are you done yet?"

"Wait a minute. Yeah, now... Okay, all the way"

Even when permission was given, Mac turned his body cautiously, but shortly afterwards, once again, he peeled off his eyes. Nellis has a dangerous hand with Mac's sword around his neck.

"What are you doing!

Though he hastily jumped and snatched it away, his heart is pounding and bouncing around. Nellis at the time answered annoyingly, as if he had been hurt.

"Oh, my God, I was just trying to cut my hair. I think I told you?

If you have short hair at this age, you look like a boy enough depending on your outfit. That's what she said from herself, and cutting her hair was already decided at the meeting. but.

"So don't do it that way with something like this!... Ha... I know my brother's hard work very well. I'm crying."

"Excuse me. I'm the one who thinks you're struggling with that headstone brother."

"Uh, yes, yes, is it Master Left? I've got a good cup of cake for you, so sit there."

Pointing to the crate, Mac said to himself, putting his sword in his sheath, and then wrapped it around him in a bowl. The children of the peasants do not have swords.

"Oh, my God, you can do this yourself."

Nellis looked around still mumbling, trying to find and take the muzzle that was in the corner of the room, but Mac crossed first.

"You'd be quicker if I did. Just sit down. Look, you don't have to worry. I've been taking care of the little ones, kid. I can do it if you want."

"Don't mow the whole thing."

"If you say anything extra and your hands don't slip, you'll be fine."

Mac moves a swing, even though he has no other love. Although I hesitated only the first moment to cut off my long lowered hair, the rest was quick.

"A cloud up, all the way. Hey, you look like a real man when this happens to you, too."

Pounding his completely short-haired round head, Mac cheerfully said it was all a retribution of the earlier days. but there was no counterattack, so I snorted my nose and punched my eyes for a while. Turning and peeking into her face before she was afraid, Nellis was biting her lips all the time and hoarding her eyes full of tears.

"... sorry"

Apologizing in a small voice, Mac picked up his blonde lowering and put it on Nellis' lap. Nellis faintly shook her head and wiped her fingers with tears that rolled off her eyeballs at the tip of it.

"I'm fine. I just... thought it was different"

Nellis managed to say that in a blurred voice, she couldn't help but grin.

"I didn't think it was going to matter. Outreach, hair..."

The words caught my throat. Nellis blinked again and again, tilting her little neck and deceiving, but her face collapsed when it didn't last long. Grab your lowered hair, press it against your mouth, and let it leak whimpers. But the more I tried to indulge, the stronger my impulse was.

Mac gently turns his arm around Nellis' shoulder as he shrugs. Nellis repeated to tell herself to cut it off, it's okay, it's okay.

"Yeah" Mac nods and whispers too. "It's okay. Because you haven't changed a thing. You look like a proper woman."

"That's troubling..."

"Right. So later, we have to paint the mud tightly."

Nellis laughed at Mac, who answered back. Then, very much, I swallowed a whimper and said clearly, still a little trembling.

"Don't tell your brother. Absolutely, keep it to yourself."

"Okay. I won't tell anyone."

As Mac rigorously raised one hand to do the vow trick, Nellis finally pulled out his stiff shoulder strength. Well, it gives me a long exhale, and I meditate often. When I opened my eyes, my tears were completely dry.

"Oh, already, I look like an idiot. I'm wasting my time with this. Ben, you're going to hate this. Sorry."

"You don't have to."

Mac laughed bitterly, but I agreed that too much time had passed. When he cleans up the scabbard and pushes Nellis' cleric clothes into an empty hemp bag, he ties it with a sword wrapped around the scabbard and straps it around his back. In the meantime, Nellis crawls to the floor to collect sand and dirt, dirty his face and hands and feet.

"Can I look like this?

Mac shook his head feeling sorry for Nellis when he asked anxiously.

"My head and neck aren't dirty at all. Especially around ears and noodles, it's white because it's not tanned."

Sitting down, and being shown the crate again, Nellis obeyed with great admiration, although he was rare. When Mac did his hand on his hair and transferred the coal, he got to work taking care not to be unnatural. The moment he touched his ear Nellis wandered slightly, but Mac pretended not to notice. For each other.

- A long time later, a farmer in a luggage from the south gate of Winnea and two boys like his son left, but no one caught an eye on it.

The world seemed to repeat the same routine without changing anything.