Chapter 532: Side Story. The Little Boy of the Temple (3)

He wasn’t a stupid kid.

Just one who had never been hit, so he had no sense of awareness. Gale sharpened his blade with a dull expression.

It was the first time he had gone this long without holding a sword. He had suffered worse injuries before, but there had always been a healer attached to him, so he never had to idle around like this.

Before he gained enough reputation to have a healer assigned, he would pick up his sword again regardless of whether his wounds split open.

Better severely injured than dead.

As far as he remembered, Gale had never gone more than five days without a sword in his hand. And now, the feel of his own blade was slightly unfamiliar.

The moment he realized that, his insides twisted.

“Mister?”

Gale couldn’t hold back and furrowed his brow sharply.

“Isn’t a name meant to be used? Then how do you get hurt just from knowing it?”

I need to kill that familiar quickly and leave this place.

“You’re not a demon, right? I heard that demons used to appear in this world sometimes.”

The moment he left the temple, he could be tracked again, yet he had grown far too complacent.

“Apparently there are hardly any now. But Priest Herbert scolds me if I forget the lyrics of a hymn, saying demons will come back and collect the fragments of words. He says I’m feeding demons too much. But I’ve never seen anything like a demon in the temple....”

There was no way a pursuit unit would enter the temple.

That was why he had relaxed so much. He had never let his guard down and rested like this in his entire life.

He had indulged in the sweetness and ignored the fact that he would eventually have to leave this sanctuary.

If he left now, he would probably be killed without putting up much resistance.

“But is that your sword, mister?”

The moment reality settled in, Gale’s mood soured. He had to restrain himself from hitting the child who kept asking innocently.

“It’s cool....”

“Brat! Stop babbling and get moving.”

He failed to keep the sharpness out of his voice.

The child’s eyes widened.

Whether it was because of the harsh shout, the brightness on his face dimmed instantly. Seeing the child wilt like a shriveled mushroom, Gale felt an unexpected discomfort in his chest.

Ignoring the child’s tearful eyes, Gale stepped out of the barn.

“If you’re going to get in the way, get lost immediately. I can’t afford to miss the creature because of you.”

“I can run really fast, though.”

I’m sure you can.

“In the forest, I might even be faster than you....”

Not worth responding to.

Gale snorted and stepped out into the sunlight.

***

Gale revised his assessment of Hildebert.

This kid was something.

At first, the brat annoyed him—cheerful as ever despite being snapped at. Then, midway, Gale found himself growing uneasy at the thought of losing sight of him.

And eventually, those feelings turned into something like awe.

For reasons he couldn’t understand, his pride was stung, but he had no choice but to acknowledge the dark-skinned child.

His stamina was extraordinary.

If Jiki, the leader of the mercenary band, saw him, he would kidnap him on the spot. Hildebert was that agile. There was a reason the priests sent a single child and a single dog up the mountain.

“How long are you planning to pick acorns?”

It was annoyingly restless.

Gale watched the child crouched down, sorting acorns.

The dog led the flock. A sheepdog stood at the front, while Hildebert stayed at the rear. As he diligently followed behind the herd, he busily gathered things.

Mushrooms. Acorns. Wild greens.

Even things up in the trees.

Every time Gale thought he had disappeared, Hildebert was up in a tree.

Gale rolled his eyes as he watched the child squat and reach out with quick hands.

“And if you’re going to pick them, why not take them all? Why be so picky?”

Hildebert looked up blankly.

“They’re different kinds of acorns.”

“What?”

Gale arched a brow.

“Aren’t they all the same?”

“This one is from a white tree, and this one is from a red tree. The red-tree acorns taste better after some time. If you eat them now, they’re bitter.”

The child tightened the opening of his bundle and ran over to Gale.

Then he began talking enthusiastically about acorn bread—something Gale had absolutely no interest in.

“I’ve already gathered lots of red-tree acorns! When the bitterness goes away, Priest Chester says we should bake acorn bread. Mister, have you ever tried acorn bread?”

“No.”

“When it’s freshly baked, it tastes like—”

Gale let the words pass through one ear as he examined the child again.

Despite appearances, he was a fairly well-known mercenary. He hadn’t reached the level of a Swordmaster, but he was a Sword Expert—one closer to that realm than most.

Before ending up stuck in this temple, he had even redefined the going rate for mercenaries.

Which meant he could recognize talent.

Hildebert had the makings of someone who could make a name for himself. With that kind of movement, he could earn a fortune as a ranger or treasure hunter.

But not as a mercenary or a knight.

With that soft personality, he wouldn’t even be able to wound someone, let alone cut off a head.

Even if he were pushed onto a battlefield, the moment he killed a person, he would break.

Gale had seen countless people like that. And almost no one understood their psychological suffering.

So they lived miserable lives.

Better to die in battle—at least then you’d be acknowledged.

Those whose minds broke were mocked as weak, then wasted away on alcohol or hallucinogenic mushrooms until they died.

“Mister!”

The child’s voice snapped Gale out of his thoughts.

“Can we catch that creature today?”

Gale raised and lowered his brows.

He looked down at the child bustling around his side.

“Then why do you think I came along today? To watch sheep?”

“But how do you know when the creature will appear?”

“I’ll handle that. You just watch the sheep.”

Gale replied indifferently.

Hildebert looked slightly downcast, but once again, he didn’t lose spirit.

Instead, he started running around again, gathering things. Before long, mushrooms were strung thickly along the cord around his neck.

His rough pouch was on the verge of bursting with acorns and greens.

The more he watched, the more wasteful it seemed.

At some point, the kid had even started collecting eggs from red birds that nested only at higher elevations.

Those eggs were used as magical materials and sold for high prices.

If ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ only his personality weren’t so hopelessly bright, Gale might have taken Hildebert in as his subordinate.

“Why did you only bring two down?”

Gale asked.

There had been more eggs in the nest.

“Red birds lay six eggs, but they only raise three.”

“So the temple considers the bird’s circumstances too?”

“If red birds disappear, their eggs disappear too! The priests say we have to be careful not to break that cycle.”

“Then you should’ve taken three.”

“What if one falls and breaks?”

...Forget it.

I’m the idiot for even thinking of taking him in.

Gale sighed and moved on. Judging by the shape of the trees and the scattered signs of creatures, they were close to the grazing area.

He plucked a fruit from a nearby tree and tossed it into his mouth while fiddling with his sword.

Then a question came to mind.

“Why don’t you pick fruit from trees?”

At his question, the white-haired child looked up.

“It’s sour.”

Hah.

“I don’t like sour things....”

“You’ve got it too good.”

Gale said.

“If you can eat it, you should be grateful and swallow it. You’re out here judging taste.”

“Do you eat sour things well, mister?”

He did. Eating sour foods helped maintain better stamina than others in battle.

Even though none of the other mercenaries ever listened when he said that.

Well, this kid would probably live peacefully like this forever and become a priest.

It didn’t matter.

It was a waste of talent, but this life suited him better. Hildebert would never become a happy knight.

Gale followed behind him as Hildebert called out brightly, “We’re here!”

***

Night fell quickly in the mountains.

By the time the last light of sunset touched the horizon, Hildebert led the flock back to the temple. And every time, the spider-hound attacked the sheep around then.

Good.

Gale had no complaints about that.

What worried him was the possibility that the cunning spider-hound wouldn’t appear at all.

Without a mage, his presence couldn’t be concealed. There was a high chance the creature would detect an adult man and flee.

But he couldn’t climb this damn mountain twice just for that thing.

“Kid!”

“My name is Hildebert.”

Even as he said that, Hildebert obediently approached Gale.

“What’s your name, mister?”

Not a chance.

Gale didn’t answer. Instead, he jerked his chin in instruction.

“Bring me the moonlight mushroom.”

“This one?”

Hildebert blinked as he pointed at the blue mushroom strung around his neck.

“Why? You’re not supposed to eat this.”

“Stop talking and bring it.”

Originally, Gale had planned to kill a sheep and use the smell of blood to lure the spider-hound.

But after seeing Hildebert gather moonlight mushrooms, he changed his mind. There was no need to waste a sheep. Burning the mushroom would be enough to lure it.

What a shame. If his body were in better shape, he could’ve taken the mushrooms from the kid and sold them for a decent price on the black market.

Maybe after this, he’d tell the kid to gather some more.

Thinking that, he searched for a suitable place to burn the mushroom. Meanwhile, Hildebert obediently removed it from the cord and approached him.

The child held out the blue mushroom and said,

“Mister, you really shouldn’t eat this.”

“I know.”

Gale replied flatly.

“Looks disgusting as hell anyway.”

“If you eat it, you die.”

“Then why did you even pick it?”

Among mercenaries, this mushroom was used either as a hallucinogen or as bait.

Burned black, it attracted creatures. Ground into powder and inhaled, it caused hallucinations.

He had heard that the larger the cap, the stronger the effect. A single intact mushroom like this could produce enough for fifteen doses. But they were rare and hard to find, so they were expensive.

Hildebert clearly didn’t know any of that.

Even as Gale started burning the mushroom, the child simply watched with wide eyes, showing no regret.

At Gale’s gesture to move away from the smoke, he obediently stepped back and said,

“If you remove the caps and boil them, it becomes a potion the priests use.”

“What?”

The effect was immediate.

Not long after the smoke began to rise, the spider-hound entered the range of his senses.

At this speed, he would see it soon.

But even as Gale sharpened his awareness toward the approaching presence, he didn’t forget to ask,

“You boil them after collecting them?”

There were enough moonlight mushrooms around to gather?

And they removed the caps and boiled them? Why would they waste something so valuable?

“What, are they making some kind of cure-all?”

“They make a priest potion called ‘Dew of the Moon.’ If you drink it, your divine power becomes really strong.”

“What use is divine power?”

Gale muttered as he gripped his sword tightly.

He wanted to scoff at the priests’ foolishness, but that would have to wait.

The spider-hound, lured by the smoke, was coming.

Not just it—other creatures wandering the mountain were approaching too. But that didn’t matter. They would all be cut down in a single strike.

What mattered was the man-eating one.

“Kid.”

“Yes?”

Hildebert asked curiously.

“Why?”

“Don’t move from here.”

A proper knight would have made sure a child didn’t witness something like this.

He might have told him to climb somewhere high, to close his eyes and cover his ears, to hide.

But Gale had no intention of showing that kind of consideration.

Killing the spider-hound was already enough reason for the kid to be grateful.

And judging by his movements, he wasn’t likely to die easily.

“No matter how fast you are, if you step into the path of my blade, your head will come right off.”

“Oh! A creature.”

Hildebert murmured.

“That one from before...”

That’s right.

I’ll kill it, find where the moonlight mushrooms grow, and leave this temple.

Gale grinned as he drew his sharpened sword.