NOVEL NEXT Vol. 1 Ch. 7
A starving person must eat with great care...
A fist-sized piece of roasted meat, two pieces of bread, a cup of clear water, and one potato.
Such a small amount of food brought incomparable happiness to Kaelis at this moment.
Especially when her teeth tore into the bloody-tasting meat, the burst of juice kissing her tongue, the chewy, soft texture of the, and that broth with just a hint of sweetness...
Her taste buds were rejoicing as never before.
She had mentioned it before, but... truly, only after experiencing hunger could one realize how fortunate it was just to be able to eat meat.
Kaelis took over an hour to finish this single meal.
Only after completing it did she slowly rise to her feet.
“Fifty copper coins...”
The shop owner sitting at the counter spoke without lifting her head.
“Here you go.”
Kaelis paid honestly, stuffing the remaining change into her crossbody bag.
It was something she had just purchased.
Originally, Kaelis thought she could make something similar herself, but the more she walked around with money in hand, the more uneasy she felt.
After all, the security here wasn't like back home, carrying so much money made her anxious, so she bought a backpack to carry it in.
At least it felt safer.
Just as she was about to leave, Kaelis suddenly noticed the old man standing straight at the entrance, like a pine tree.
Now that was strange, ever since Kaelis met him, the old man had been the security guard here. For an entire month, it seemed as if he had taken root in this very spot...
She could see him almost anytime.
Didn't he rest?
“...Struth?”
The shop owner lifted her head slightly when she noticed Kaelis hadn't left, following her gaze and then sneering.
“What's so interesting about that old man?”
“...You know him?”
“Not really, just heard about him.” With no customers around, the shop owner didn't hurry to chase Kaelis away, speaking slowly instead. “Heard he used to be a blacksmith from the frontier. His whole family came to the capital seeking livelihood. During the war, one son became disabled and the other went missing. At that time, he was the only one in the family able to work and earn money, yet he insisted on searching for his younger son... When he returned ten years later, his wife and son had starved to death. Only his daughter survived, but she no longer acknowledges him.”
“So he's completely alone now?”
“What else could he be?”
“Doesn't he have any sort of veteran's pension or something?”
“Where did you hear such strange things?” The shop owner gave Kaelis a strange look. “How could there be money during war? If there were, how could his family have starved to death?”
“Now he just barely scraped by using his veteran status to get a security guard job. The pay isn't much, but he dresses in rags, no one takes care of him, no one's seen him eat or rest... He just stands there all day, until his shift ends at night. Like a corpse.”
As the shop owner spoke, her voice carried clear irritation.
Old Struth had fallen so low, yet he remained stubborn. Whenever they wanted to set up extra stalls, he'd crack down hard. They even tried bribing him to look the other way, but he not only refused, he shouted them down…
That's why few merchants in the night market liked him.
But there was nothing they could do.
If Struth always maintained this attitude, they'd just grumble about how inflexible he was.
But during the day, when the Sea Voyage Association set up stalls violating space regulations, he didn't say a word...
That made them especially angry.
So Struth only targeted them, but turned a blind eye to the Sea Voyage Association?
Just an old man bullying the weak and fearing the strong.
The shop owner felt annoyed and wanted to warn Kaelis not to get too involved with that old fellow.
But when she turned back, she found Kaelis had already disappeared.
After a moment of confusion, she shook her head, no longer caring, and turned back to continue calculating her recent income and expenses...
...
Nights were always desolate.
Old Struth stood at the entrance of the night market, like a silent pine tree, dutifully inspecting everyone who passed.
The lingering pain in his left stump throbbed faintly, yet he still upheld the discipline he'd learned in the military, not allowing himself to show any behavior unbecoming of a soldier.
Thus, he continued until midnight, when the night market closed, before slowly stepping down from his stone perch.
The dry, shriveled skin clung tightly to his bones, the deep wrinkles taut like blades.
His body was stiff, his stomach long empty.
Yet even so, he remained expressionless, only dragging his stiff body as he turned to leave.
But as he turned, he suddenly froze.
Beside the entrance, a small girl was hugging a packet of hardened bread, dozing off.
“Hmm?”
Struth felt puzzled, but still stepped forward slowly.
The sound of his footsteps on the grass startled the girl awake. She lifted her head up, bumping it against something nearby.
“Ow... ow...”
She hugged her head, crouching on the ground, clearly in pain.
Seeing the girl had awakened, Struth paused briefly, then shook his head slightly.
“It's already dark. If you have nothing important, you should go home early... Even in the capital, it's not necessarily safe.”
In some ways, it was even more dangerous... especially for a girl as pretty as Kaelis.
Struth thought in his mind.
Kaelis also regained her senses.
After blinking her large eyes a few times, she let out a “heave” and stood up, then held out the bread with both hands.
“For you.”
“Hmm?”
Struth looked at the bread in the girl's hands.
Though cold and hard, its surface remained golden, clearly baked from white flour.
This wasn't cheap.
The faint aroma instantly stirred up some memories within him. His dry throat moved slightly.
She must have successfully sold her goods.
Struth speculated, saying nothing, and turned to walk away.
But Kaelis wouldn't let go. She turned and ran right in front of the old man again.
“For you.”
She stretched out her hand once more, the eyes visible through her hood revealing a stubborn glint.
Struth shifted left and right, realizing he couldn't get around the girl, and let out a slight sigh.
“I won't take it... I helped you point the way, not to collect interest. You keep it.”
In his view, he was already an old man; just being alive was good enough. There was no need for good food. Kaelis trying to please him wouldn't gain her anything.
Yet Kaelis still refused to give up.
She didn't expect this gift to obtain anything from Old Struth. She simply forced the item into his arms and immediately let go.
The uncontrolled roasted bread began to fall toward the ground. Struth, fearing such a good thing would drop, instinctively used his right hand to catch and cradle it, his heart aching at the thought.
“Consider it a commission fee...”
Kaelis smiled, not waiting for Struth to object, and turned to run away.
At first, she had planned to simply place the item in front of him and leave.
But after hearing about Old Struth's temperament from others, Kaelis knew clearly that if she really did that, Struth would simply leave the item there untouched... Both were certain the other wouldn't abandon such a good thing, so if she didn't take it, he definitely would, and in the end, it would only end up benefiting someone else.
Therefore, Kaelis went through great effort to force the item into his arms... That way, at least she could implant the impression that he had already received it, so he wouldn't abandon it so easily.
When something hasn't been received, a person can act in various ways; but once it's in hand, the mindset changes completely.
Adding the line about “commission fee” allowed Struth to accept it with peace of mind.
Otherwise, with his personality, he definitely wouldn't accept such 'charity'.
Though he was ragged and broken, he still had his own dignity and pride.
Having finished this, Kaelis knew she had done about all she could, so she turned and ran. Struth couldn't possibly catch up.
By the time he came to his senses, that elf-like figure had already vanished into the long, dark road, leaving only a bag of bread still emitting an enticing aroma.
Struth instinctively looked down.
And buried among the bread, wrapped in straw paper, was a silver token worth five silver coins.
On the straw paper, a simple syrup had drawn a cute smiling face.
Struth fell silent.
He suddenly thought of his daughter.
Before everything happened... his daughter would also draw a childish smile on his dinner plate every day when he came home...
His wife would go to great lengths to prepare dinner for him.
His two children were noisy, but their studies were always excellent.
He said nothing, only the slight tremor of his Adam's apple betraying his emotions.
The phantom pain from his physical injuries was utterly overwhelmed by the avalanche of emotions.
He slumped, dragging his body to lean against the side.
An unprecedented sense of weakness flooded his heart. He felt he could cry at this moment, yet discovered an inner voice that still considered himself a man was stubbornly blocking his tear ducts.
He couldn't cry, that was for cowards...
The pale moonlight shone upon him. Nearby vendors' lights gradually extinguished, and as people passed by him, they didn't even glance in his direction.
Until... everything around had grown quiet...
Footsteps sounded again.
Several men and women wearing patrol team badges approached.
The woman leading them crouched down, took a look at Struth, then respectfully bowed before asking in her serious voice,
“Have you seen this girl...?”
As she spoke, she pulled out a somewhat crude sketch, on which was clearly drawn the face of Kaelis!
The old man said nothing, only silently looking at the bread in his arms.
And at that smiling face drawn with a bit of syrup.
Under the moonlight, the smile was small.
After a long silence.
He said,
“...I saw her…”