Chapter 52 – Flashback (2)
A hot fire was engulfing the whole house.
Just as a monster from hell announces its appearance to the whole world.
Involuntarily move your steps.
Forward, not backward.
Step by step.
The closer the distance between the home and the company grew, the stronger the heat felt.
Of course, it didn’t matter to me now.
I had to see my parents in there.
A step further and there was a door that was still unburnt.
As I reached out to grab the door, I felt a strong pull from behind.
What you see in your field of vision is not red, but soon changes to blue mixed with black.
I felt someone holding my back firmly.
It was the first person I saw.
It was a man who seemed to be about the same age as his father.
But that didn’t matter.
Are your parents more important than the person you met for the first time today?
I had to somehow shake off his hand and run to the house in front of my eyes.
“Calm down!”
I tried to run to the scene in front of my eyes somehow, but I couldn’t move because of the weight pressing from behind.
“I have to be patient…”
All I could do was just watch.
###
I was sitting blankly.
There was a lot of noise around me, but I couldn’t hear anything in my ears.
People running from the village caught the rough fire, and all that was left was blackened traces.
‘It’s completely burned.’
‘What about the child now?’
I heard the stories of the villagers.
However, he did not have the energy to respond to such words.
I just keep sitting there blankly.
I heard all kinds of thoughts.
I was the so-called ‘orphan’.
How am I going to be now?
Is there anyone who can take me?
Growing up, I had never seen any relatives exist, so that seemed unlikely.
I thought I would go into any facility like this.
The fate of orphans with nowhere to go was cruelly determined.
It felt like my heart had been pierced.
I didn’t know what kind of feeling it was, but seeing that one side of my heart was empty, it wasn’t a good feeling.
Then, at that moment, someone spoke.
“Are you okay?”
It was the purple-haired girl I saw earlier.
I squeezed out the words that didn’t come out and answered.
“I don’t know.”
She was speechless
I suddenly felt warm.
She was hugging me
I didn’t know why she did it, but she just accepted it without saying anything.
“It’s okay. Everything will be fine.”
She kept hugging me like that.
She buried her face in her arms.
Tears were flowing from his eyes without even realizing it.
###
It was the moment when the sun passed and people were also gathering opinions about going back.
After calming down a bit, people in uniform attire came.
But that didn’t matter to me.
The house I belong to has already disappeared before my eyes without leaving anything cruel.
Did I know who these people were?
That wasn’t even a consideration.
Is this what it feels like to lose everything?
It didn’t seem like a good feeling for a 12-year-old.
Something big happened.
Maybe it’s a really big deal by the standards of this town.
Nobody paid any attention to me.
A look of sympathy was given, but that was it.
Nobody tried to take over me.
They seemed to draw a line cruelly, as if their work had ended here.
Looking at them, I was just thinking about where to spend the night, but someone came in front of me.
The first time I came home, he was the one who stopped me from trying to enter the house.
I didn’t know it before, but now I see that she’s wearing pretty classy clothes.
Are you noble?
There was something on his clothes.
It must have been buried in the ground when they caught me earlier.
A noble who throws himself.
It seemed a bit surprising, considering that the reviews of nobles are usually not so good.
But is there anything I can see?
“Are you okay?”
Everyone tells me that
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s go for now.”
I didn’t say where.
The answer was replaced by sitting and looking up at him.
“You haven’t introduced me yet.”
“I’m your father’s friend.”
However, after going through the tragedy, the doubts did not come easily.
As I was just looking at him, he pulled out a piece of paper from his bosom.
It was a letter.
My father’s name was written at the bottom, and the handwriting was similar to what I knew, so it didn’t look like he was lying.
“What exactly is your relationship with my father?”
“Your mother is my sister. Your father is like a friend.”
I thought there would be no relatives.
Seeing how old she was, it seemed that there would be a slight age difference between her and her mother.
“Is it so.”
At first, I decided to follow him.
###
The information he gave me was something I had never heard of before.
That my mother was from a noble family.
Also the fact that she was the youngest of 4 siblings.
And that she ran out of her family to marry her father.
I was amazed because my parents had never told me this before.
He said that he did not know himself, but when his parents said they would get married, there was strong opposition in the family.
I just had a curiosity.
“But why did you come to see me?”
It was strange that other people did not come and only this person came.
It wouldn’t have been strange if I treated people I didn’t know.
“I couldn’t bear to turn away.”
I wasn’t sure if it was based on family love for my youngest brother, but I guess it was.
The shock of losing everyone he could rely on at once was enough to blow away the emotions of a 12-year-old.
“So what about me?”
I will go to the same facility or the same place.
This guy is just doing his best.
No, it would be correct to say that I took the initiative to do something I shouldn’t have done.
So I had no right to criticize the person in front of me no matter what choice they made.
“Let’s go to my house after the funeral tomorrow.”
It was an unexpected answer.
Of course, I did not object.
Because it seemed like the best option to me now.
He heard someone knocking on the door and opened it.
I heard the sound of talking about this and that, and then the door closed again.
It was two boxes with something in them and a barrel with wads of paper.
He didn’t explain anything, but instinctively knew it was the remains of his parents.
Seeing my expression, he handed them to me and got up.
“Get some rest. See you tomorrow.”
With that said, he left the room.
The fact came that this was the end of what was left of me.
I was in tears.
He sobbed while holding Ham in his arms.
Just cried
###
“It was sad.”
The funeral service began with the words of the priest.
Everyone who could come to the hill overlooking the plain had come dressed up.
I was standing in front of them.
“An unexpected tragedy brought us sorrow.”
I felt it.
When this process is over, I will be alone.
When I looked around, several people were there.
The owner couple of the store where they bought the last thing.
The village chief and the people in charge of this and that in the village.
And even the purple-haired girl.
It seemed that many people came.
No matter what his reputation in his parents’ village was, I wonder if he was just being polite.
“Today we are sending away the children of two gods.”
“The Weiss couple were wizards.”
“And today we are leaving two outstanding wizards.”
A person is dead, so what’s the point of magic?
I didn’t understand.
Even the magic doesn’t save you from death.
The words after that were not heard.
I just waited for this time to end.
“I hope you can rest comfortably there.”
After the priest’s words, everyone fell silent.
The boxes were laid side by side in two pre-dug pits.
It didn’t take long for me to get up and get back up, but for me it was an eternity.
Maybe I wasn’t ready to send it yet?
I couldn’t get my hands off the ease.
But the reality hasn’t changed.
It was time to let go.
I raised my lowered body again.
I felt a slight dizziness when I stood fully on my two legs.
It looked like it was preparing to move from behind, but it soon caught on and stood.
I finished what I was going to say in my heart and turned around.
It was really a time of parting.
People with shovels passed me and started digging again.
The soil was covered and a wooden board was put in to indicate that there was a tomb here.
Maybe it will be replaced by a tombstone soon.
That’s how I let my parents go.
###
After the funeral, it was time for everyone to go back to their normal lives.
Everyone had already gone back to their daily lives, and only me and my uncle remained in front of them.
It was a series of things that didn’t feel real.
My maternal uncle said nothing and grabbed my shoulder.
Tears started to flow again, wondering if I could fly any more.
A drop
Another drop.
Falling water droplets began to color the soil.
The sound of sobbing came from the hill that day.
That was my first loss.
