Chapter 174 – Chapter 5: Another Revenge – 3
“But Ruev, before that, there’s a place I want to go to on my own for a while.”
“Hmm.”
Ruyev seemed to have guessed roughly. He nodded silently and answered.
“I’ll be waiting here. “Don’t be too late.”
“Okay.”
I went straight to the eastern village that way.
The place where my steps headed was the house where Tia and Posao lived.
Jeez. Jeopuk.
As I climbed the strangely familiar hill road, houses appeared close together.
There I saw a very familiar house.
“…”
When I actually saw the house that I had only seen in the memory illusion, I felt my heart, which had been calm, tremble and shake.
A neat garden and beautifully trimmed flowers. Everywhere in the house, the delicacy that only his meticulous hands can achieve.
Not Brisden, but an unfamiliar town I visited for the first time. The traces of Tia that remain in places like this… It was really awkward, but I missed it so much.
Sabak.
I went into the garden and went near the back door. There is a flower pot made of clay.
Even though it was an empty flower pot without a single flower in it. I knew the meaning of this flower pot next to the stairs.
Push the flower pot out and dig the ground with your hands. The soil was soft, so it was easily dug.
After digging a little further, a small box appeared, and when I opened the lid, a small key appeared.
It was time to put the soil and pot back in place, grab the key, and head out.
“Who are you?”
I turned my head to the familiar voice.
There was a woman standing ten steps beyond.
Looks familiar.
Did you say her name was ‘Rhodia’?
She is the person who treated Tia well who had just moved in.
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have seen me digging in the dirt yet.
She brushed her hands on her pants.
“I’m just a tourist.”
“Oh, I see.”
She looked at me with a worried look on her face, then looked up at Tia’s house.
What happened to the villagers after this? Did you hear about Tia’s whereabouts?
I became curious.
“Did something happen in this house?”
“That is…”
Rodia closed her eyes.
“If you’re asking to find ‘them,’ you’d better give up.”
I couldn’t help but be surprised.
It felt like she was reading my thoughts, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that it was an illusion.
From her extremely alert eyes, I could guess that there had been many people looking for the whereabouts of Tia and Posao for a long time.
I don’t have to search my memories to understand.
The soldiers who narrowly missed it must have searched the house for clues, and the lord of Gordburg must have also figured out how the situation was going.
… However, for a house where ‘Murderer Tia’ lived, it was preserved too well.
As if Tia lived until yesterday and then she ran away. The time difference between memory and reality is over a month, but everything remains the same.
What happened?
Said, putting her arms around the fence.
She said, “If you say, ‘Find them.’ “It means that the owner of this place has been gone for a long time.”
“Ah…”
“Besides that, the house and garden are well organized. Is there any reason?”
Rodia glared at me fiercely.
That… It wasn’t her hostility toward me that made her seem like she knew everything.
She was feeling very uncomfortable with the act of putting her arm around the fence of ‘this house’.
“Take your hands off me right now. This is an order from the lord that no one should approach that house.”
Is that so?
The person guarding this house was Rodia.
And the person who ordered it is the lord of Gordburg.
Tia was called a ‘saint’ at least here.
Perhaps the reason Uncle Marvin couldn’t show up right away with a soldier was because the lord responded lukewarmly. No, maybe she didn’t even believe that Tia was wanted as a murderer in Tale Dawn.
Either she was a murderer or she was the one who set the warehouse on fire. She had to somehow catch Tia and ask her everything, but she walked away.
So, Tia is not a sinner of Gordburg, at least not yet.
The lord left this place untouched in order to leave a chance for her saint to return someday and give her vocation.
“I understand.”
It’s big.
What Tia left behind in this village was so great.
Looking back, it was such a short time. At most, from late winter to early spring. It’s only about two months.
But Tia left an indelible impression on the hearts of the villagers.
Rodia, who always had a warm voice when talking to Tia, speaks to me in a cold and cold voice.
“There is nothing more to say. “Go back, stranger.”
I looked around.
Before I knew it, several villagers were around me. Some were people I remembered. But their eyes were very dark and cold.
There was nothing I could do in the face of complete rejection from the residents.
The moment I looked down to turn around, I saw a sign engraved in front of the entrance.
‘Posao Modales’
‘Tia Modales’
… Ah, I see.
These people remembered.
Tia and Posao.
I remembered the two people who formed a happy family in front of everyone.
Not ‘Tia Anthea’ from Brisden.
He knew of Gordburg’s ‘Tia Modales’.
“…”
It feels like blood is draining from my body.
They don’t know Ritz.
To the people of Gordburg, I was just a threatening stranger.
Everything was denied.
I was denied everything I knew.
In this world.
More than anyone who knows the beautiful memories of me and Tia.
The fact that there are more people who know the memories of Tia and Posao…
How should I accept it?
Crack!
Those gazes followed me until I turned around and got out.
I wanted to run away.
I wanted to escape from those people who remembered ‘Tia Modales’ as quickly as possible.
This is a polluted land.
Every time I step on the ground, I feel like my toes are rotting.
How long did he run?
Ruev, who was waiting, frowned as he saw me sweating drippingly.
“Ritz? What happened?”
“Heo-eok- heo-eok-.”
I made a promise while wiping the sweat from my chin.
Never again.
I will never set foot in that place again.
* * *
We went down to the market.
To open the safe.
Although it was called a ‘safe’, it was not the type of safe that is commonly known.
In Gordburg, many merchants traveled long distances, so it was difficult to carry gold coins, and a safe where they could safely store their wealth was needed.
This was the safe.
And this is where the property left behind by Posao is entrusted.
“I came to get the money.”
I showed the key to the safekeeper. He took the key and opened the tightly closed box. I heard the sound of money being swept away, and a platinum bag was placed in front of me.
“After taking the fee. “It’s here.”
When I opened the bag, it seemed to have about 300 gold.
In this town where money is not much needed, it was possible to guess how frugally Tia saved.
Maybe these funds… Posao was no longer able to work due to old age, so he must have been saving like this to raise his child, who would be born soon.
“Thank you.”
I just returned the key.
Me and the original owner too. There will never be anything to come again.
Next, I went to the general store and purchased a rose saber for 50 gold.
For the upcoming journey, I decided to eat well, pay the inn fee, and even get a carriage to leave Gordburg.
The destination is… Taildon again.
That was the direction Tia headed after leaving the east gate.
Just as I was leaving Gordburg by carriage.
Ruyev listened to my story and asked.
“But wasn’t Tia in Taildon?”
“She went in that direction, but she didn’t go to Tail Dawn.”
Common sense tells you that if someone is chasing you, it is correct to run in the opposite direction. If you want to survive, you have to distance yourself as much as possible without leaving a trace.
However, Tia instead ran away in the direction where Taildon was. I don’t know if it was because she had no other way out, or if she had made other plans in the meantime.
In the end, we had no choice but to go back there.
Ruyev sighed.
“Did I make a mistake?”
“No, brother.”
Marie pointed to the rose saber wrapped around my waist.
“Tia got her sister’s sword back. “I think she gained something from that alone.”
Is that really true? Ruyev looked at me with those eyes.
… I’m sorry, but I didn’t feel like answering.
I just wanted to place my hand on Rose Sabel’s sheath and think quietly.
Being like this reminds her of the time when she learned her swordsmanship from Tia.
It felt like I was feeling a little better.
After about a day. Finally, I returned to Taildon.
Unlike the difficult time we left by hiding in a filth sack, we were able to easily pass through the gate. When I told him I was from Gordburg, he wasn’t too picky.
Marie said as soon as she got off the carriage.
“No wonder… “It feels like a slightly different atmosphere.”
That was right.
The desolate and desolate feeling we had when we left is gone. There are a lot more people than before, and it’s even noisy.
The sound of children’s laughter and the liveliness in the market.
It seems as if the old Taildon has regained its appearance.
“What happened?”
There is only one reason for this sudden increase in people.
“The expedition is over.”
While we left for Gordburg, Lord Kinthorpe, Lord of Taildon, returned.
So the welcome feast was in full swing.
It was good news enough to celebrate for them, but not for us. The fact that more people know our faces means that preparing to follow in Tia’s footsteps has become more difficult.
If he hadn’t hidden his head and mouth with a hat and scarf, he might have been caught right away.
“Let’s find a safe place first.”
Should I go see Aunt Lily again? Wouldn’t it be better to track your next destination instead?
I was walking down the street thinking about that.
Tuk.
“Aya!”
Marie, who was following me, bumped into someone.
“Ah. “I’m sorry.”
She was a woman wearing a hood.
She glanced at us as if nothing had happened, but then her face suddenly turned strange, and she stopped.
No way. Did you recognize it?
The moment when Ruev blocked Marie’s path with the same thought.
Sreuk-.
The woman with a blank expression took off her hood.
A very familiar face was there.
“You… “Is it you?”
“Aunt Merid?”
Her face was so gaunt that I almost didn’t recognize her.
We all remembered and recognized.
The people of Brisden.
