Cardboard Houses Do Not Tear

83 – Farewell Gift

Let’s go back to the drinking party, it’s been a long time since we’ve been gone, so we just go in and sleep.

***

In this nightmare, a rain of white paper fell from the sky.

My face must have been cut by it before I knew it, and my eyes were burning.

And before the blood that flowed down his cheek fell to the floor along the side of his earlobe.

Something like a thin finger touched it and blocked it.

So that the white paper does not turn red.

***

The sound of loading the wagon filled the surroundings.

Already early in the morning, the mercenaries were preparing to return to their beds, bottles, and gambling rooms.

Everyone tried to make it as fast as possible, so the dust that bloomed was thick between the wagons.

However, there was one most realistic disaster that could happen if you tried to end it quickly and unconditionally.

“Hey! Get the f*cking box straight!”

“Ugh, what the f*ck?”

“Avoid!!”

―Right!

“Hey, you bastards!!”

Fortunately, no one was injured, but there was an injured box. As a bonus, more dust was formed.

So, if I had to come up with a catchphrase for that pitiful negligence, it would be ‘a disaster caused by overloading, which causes extreme damage to my time off from work.’

Although it was the same morning as usual, except for the crap of the box, there was only one thing that was different from a few days ago.

That’s right, I don’t have to wallow in that pit of dust.

Should I say it feels like walking down the hallway to go to the infirmary alone during class?

Seeing the mercenaries hurriedly rushing in with boards or nails to add to them, my heart naturally feels at ease.

This is honey sucking.

“No, you crazy bastard! Why the f*ck are you trying to drive a nail in with a warhammer!”

“You ruin it!”

“Do you cut meat with a knife or an arming sword? Is this for real?”

When I listened to their conversation that I couldn’t hear anymore, only one word came out with laughter.

“As expected, it only needs me.”

I was legitimately watching Tetris play with a box from far away for such a long time when I heard a voice behind me.

“Mr. G-House. I’m here.”

“Nice to meet you, G-House mercenary!”

Looking back, Miss Prianian, who was said to have been to Hwaran, was walking with Priest Rien.

“Did you finish talking with Hwaran?”

The squad leader nodded, no, Miss Prianian smiled like the first time we met.

“Please take care of me, Mr. G-House.”

At that appearance, Priest Rien said curiously.

“It’s just that Mr. Prianian is laughing!”

“Aha. Just Priest Rien.”

Miss Prianian then turned his head to look at the priest and said:

As if you didn’t even know it existed, as if you’d just discovered it.

“Obviously, I am human too, so I can laugh. I did it because I didn’t have to.”

From noble mtl dot com

“As expected! Everyone can laugh!”

The two of them just laughed.

One is gentle, the other is sunny.

And I decided to take on the expressionless part of this trio.

I always need neutral gear because I don’t know how to smile neutrally.

But I couldn’t see the two of them laughing all the time, so I opened my mouth at the right time.

“Come to think of it, the two counts were looking for us.”

This is what the former soldier came and delivered. With the words to come when all three are gathered.

“I know the way, so I will lead.”

As soon as the two counts entered the waiting tent, the count of Berrington went straight to the point.

“The reason we called you is simple. Thanks for not spilling more blood, and a well-deserved reward.”

As expected, I don’t eat them raw.

While I was thinking about what to get paid for.

The Earl of Barrington pointed at me and said.

“Did you say G-House there?”

“Yes. Your Excellency Count.”

After politely bowing, he asked, touching his beard.

“Do you have any thoughts of becoming a knight?”

“Yes?”

At those words, everyone, including Count Terrien, looked at me.

‘f*ck.’

Unbeknownst to my speed, my employer was showing off the thickness of the pods he washed.

“He has the courage to cut down evil even if he has to pierce through a sea of corpses, the power to subdue a knight who has returned alive from the dead, and even the conviction to stand firm without giving up even once.”

The Earl of Berrington, who painted my face with gold, looked at me and said,

“Although you will start as a seed, you will be able to become a knight in no time.”

‘This is a nose job.’

Only then, I came to my senses, bowed my head respectfully, and answered.

“I am grateful that you have such a high regard for a guy like me, but I am a mercenary, so I am a person who does not know honor.”

“You know the honor. Because I was standing alone to protect the priest and comrades behind me. Like a standard-bearer guarding a discipline.”

This is an incorrect metaphor. Because I’m not such a noble great man.

“I believe that the rider can make the flag stand out by relying on dignity, and the knight can make the sword noble by relying on honor.”

“Hmm.”

“But I depend only on money, and all I have gained from my actions is the fatness of my pockets. Count. Please accept the offer.”

“……”

The inside of the tent became quiet for a while.

Muttered the Earl of Berrington.

“Sorry.”

***

After coming out of the tent and walking about 20 steps, I finally let out a sigh.

“Ugh. I almost got my nose pierced.”

It was simple that I turned down that request.

Submission of the thesis is also a reason, but the words are packed and it is an article of a count family.

I came all the way to another world and there were not enough mercenaries, so I couldn’t live in graduate school (*Caution: you could die).

It was also the right choice to refuse because it is also a place where you will be beaten in the ears instead of confirming the thesis at the end.

But even as I rejected Earl Berrington’s offer, my heart trembled.

In another world, rejecting an offer from a noble is a pretty courageous choice.

In front of the caste system firmly established with the blue blood dried over countless years and gaps, it doesn’t matter whether what I caught is a death knight or a death knight.

“Knight of Count Barrington, Golfian G-House.”

Quietly, Miss Prianian next to me whispered in my ear.

“Wouldn’t that have been better than a free mercenary suddenly going on a journey to college?”

Now the pattern is starting to emerge again.

I answered her.

“It’s not even a knight, it’s a squire. And if I had accepted that offer, what would Miss Prianian be doing? You’re no longer a member of the Hwar’an Mercenary Corps.”

“Hmm, the owner of the tea house?”

Since we’ve already secured at least one regular customer, I don’t think it’s a bad choice.

Saying that, she smiled mischievously and went a little further ahead of me, followed by her red hair.

“Well, going on a trip with G-House like this isn’t bad, but-“

“Travel?”

Priest Rien, who came out of her tent one beat late, asked her.

“Weren’t you two going to the North again?”

“Ah, it’s just Priest Rien.”

Miss Prianian hid her expression again before speaking.

“‘We’ are going down south. I will soon break up with the priest. Unfortunately.”

Even though she said that, there was absolutely no feeling of pity in her voice.

“I see!”

But Priest Rien just smiled brightly.

***

While I was on my way to get my reward, the other mercenaries had already left.

That’s why our friends must have gone as well, and when we went to the front of the Hwaran mercenary camp, Hwaran and Gilford were standing there.

They were waiting for us.

“Are you here?”

In front of the row of wagons lined up behind me, Hwaran looked at me and said,

Then Guilford came with a glass in both hands and held out a glass to me and Hwaran.

“Now, take it.”

The glass was full of Plehan, which Miss Prianian had eaten and drunk the other day.

“Hmm, hmm.”

Miss Priyanian, who smelled her scent, could be heard coughing, but no one paid her attention to her.

“This is the farewell drink you couldn’t drink yesterday. Drink it all the way.”

Hwaran said curtly, and I shook my head.

“You said you wouldn’t take it?”

I responded to that threat with a smile.

“Hasn’t Huar’an always been like that because he said it was a rule of thumb for survival? They said, ‘Don’t drink before you go a long way.'”

He looked at me without saying anything.

“Even if you haven’t fully learned how to cut a knife, if you keep the survival rules you taught me properly, won’t a teacher like the sky go through hardships in his later years?”

Only after hearing that, Huar’an grinned and said.

“Now I feel a little relieved.”

Hwaran passed the glass to Guilford after completing his test on me, then approached us with two large packages behind his back.

The items handed out to the two of us were quite heavy.

“Open it.”

As Hwaran said, let’s open it. The package is full of various things.

A simple arming sword without the mercenary crest, one taj, and one dagger each.

And a thin leather bag that can be worn around the waist like a girdle.

These were truly inconspicuous, ordinary-looking objects.

“If you carry something that stands out in a foreign place, you will get angry. Assei.”

While being surprised by the unexpected gift, Hwaran said calmly.

“You buy the whetstone and use it. Because I didn’t raise you to the point of being ripped off by 10 coopers for not even doing 4 coopers.”

“Hwaran.”

“And what’s so good about a guy who pulls out the pillars of other people’s mercenaries, can’t you throw something like a halberd?”

“It was the survival rule Hwaran always said.”

What I said before, and what I said now.

I locked the package again and bowed my head.

“Thank you.”

“I have no interest in hearing that from a boy.”

Hwaran gestured and grunted as if to get rid of it.

Then he took my glass and spilled it on the floor.

Chuck.

“It sucks.”

Beside him, Guilford, who had drunk Huaruan’s liquor, licked his lips, but he didn’t care.

“Let’s go up to the north and have a drink later.”

With that said, he turned around.

And I didn’t look back.

***

The presents for the two counts were prepared pretty quickly.