Chapter 162 – Recruitment
#162.
“Oh, thank you! Thank you!”
“It’s okay. I just heard it while passing by. Rather, it is too late.”
“No. Aren’t there many people who saved their lives thanks to the saintess over there? It’s all thanks to Eun-in. … Oh look at my mind You must have been tired from the trip, so hurry up and eat. Please rest in peace.”
A middle-aged man in his 50s, quite young for a village representative, bowed his head in gratitude and gestured towards his house.
In response to that suggestion, Gaon looked at Chorin and the others talking freely with the Raul siblings and said, “I wonder if he became close while he subdued the thieves.”
“Chief. I have a question, would you mind?”
“Baby, of course. Ask me anything What are you curious about?”
“These children.”
“Children? You mean Raoul and Hazel?”
“Yes, where are your parents? As I continued to watch, the children were not particularly looking for adults, and none of the adults were looking for them.”
All Gaon knows about the Raul siblings is their very brief origins and rumors floating around in the world.
Of course, I did not know how they would have grown up in a slash-and-burn village.
The information given right now was that they didn’t seem to have a guardian.
As if to prove that expectation, the village chief nodded.
“Your words are right. Raoul and Hazel’s parents had already died several years ago. It’s because they were attacked by wild beasts. Since then, I have been taking care of them by leaving them to do their chores.”
You shouldn’t rejoice at the children’s misfortune, but once there was no guardian, there was no room for big problems in taking them.
“Okay. May I take the children with you?”
“Yes? Are you taking me?”
“Yes, because it seems to me that children have special talents. I want to take him and teach him.”
“I’d be happy if you did that, but… Still, shouldn’t children’s opinions come first? I’m having a hard time answering that. Haha…”
The village chief was a pretty nice person.
It was truly wonderful that he respected the children even though he could freely allow them to look good to the Gaon party, who possessed irresistible force.
“Then I’ll have to ask the kids tomorrow.”
It’s already late today.
Most of all, in the case of the children, they hadn’t yet pushed back the aftermath of what they had been through today, so it was better to get up and talk calmly after a good night’s sleep.
It was Gaon who made that decision, but the village chief thought deeply about something and called Raoul and Hazel.
“Raoul, Hazel. Can I have my benefactor stay at your house?”
“Yes? At my house?”
“Yes, please.”
Perhaps the village chief’s request was too sudden, Raoul blinked and looked up at Gaon.
As soon as Gaon remained silent in the feeling of facing the transparent lake, Raoul grinned and shouted.
“Great! I want to sleep with you too!”
Raoul said he liked it no matter what, but in Hazel’s case, he seems to have sensed that the atmosphere was unusual.
His sixth sense, the quality of an archer, seemed to be excellent.
“I’m glad to hear you’re okay. Then, I’ll just go for it. Call me if you need anything.”
“Yes, thank you for your consideration.”
The village chief briefly exchanged greetings with Gaon and then joined the villagers who were in the middle of a cleanup.
As I was looking at her, Raoul approached and pulled her by the collar.
“Brother, follow me. I will guide you home.”
“… Yes, thank you.”
It’s not strange to call him hyung since he’s still a child, but it was strangely uncomfortable to hear.
I looked away from Hazel, who gave me a jealous look, as if her affection for my brother was great, and I followed her until I saw an old house.
As it was built for a family of four, it was quite large enough for Gaon and his party to stay.
As soon as I opened the door and entered, Raul ran ahead and pointed to a room.
“This is my room! Gaon hyung, sleep with me!”
How can a child reject something innocently suggested? The moment Gaon tries to accept her proposal with a slightly hesitant expression,
“Then no. Brother should be with me right?”
Hazel’s obsessive voice rang out.
Raul laughed brightly, and when he heard that, his face turned sullen at once.
But as if she didn’t have the courage to refuse, she timidly nodded her head and turned her back.
“Huh. I want to sleep with Hazel.”
“Good job. Brother.”
As Raoul obediently obeyed, Hazel smiled brightly and stroked her brother’s head gently as if praising her dog.
The two of them, born in the same year, don’t have much height difference, so seeing him like that made Raul feel more like a younger brother.
As I was looking at such a one-sided relationship, Chorin stepped out.
“Hazel, thanks for thinking. Then we’ll go in.”
“… Yes, sister Please tell me if you have any inconvenience.”
“Huh, I get it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
To be honest, when Gaon first saw Hazel, he thought that Hayeon and Juk would be a good match.
However, surprisingly, the two did not lead a long conversation while facing each other.
Rather, Raul, who had adapted to Hazel’s personality while being swayed by Hazel, became closer to Ha-yeon.
Gaon said that the closer he became to him, the easier it was to appease him, so he nodded his head in satisfaction and headed to his room.
***
The next morning.
When I came out after washing my face, Hazel, Chorin, and Hayeon were busy preparing breakfast in the kitchen.
Gaon, who had approached to help, took a seat next to Raul, who was sitting blankly at the dissuading of the women’s camp who said it was okay.
“Ah, brother. Good morning.”
“Yes, good morning to you too. Are you not sick anywhere?”
“Yes! My brother gave me a potion so I got better. Would you like to touch it?”
“… No, I will decline.”
Even though he was a child, he definitely had no intention of seeing or touching the body of a guy who shared the same chromosome.
When Raoul rejected the offer more resolutely than he thought, he sullenly stuck out her mouth and opened her mouth while watching her.
“Brother, is your brother a knight?”
“I do have a knighthood.”
“And! Really? Somehow strong! How can you be so strong?”
In Raul’s eyes, there was also a curiosity toward everything unique to a child, but there was clearly a desire to improve.
“… Do you want to be strong?”
“Yes! We will become stronger and defeat all the bad guys who bully us. And I also want to protect Hazel.”
The desire to protect someone gives a person greater strength.
Gaon, who had been thinking about how to bring the two together, thought that now was an opportunity and brought out a recruitment offer.
“Then do you want to go with me?”
“Yes? Together?”
“This hyung has eyes for people. When I see you, you can be strong. You have talent.”
“Really?”
“Yes, in the future I will be able to protect many people, not just Hazel. How is it. Will you go with me?”
I feel like I’ve become something bad.
There are many cases in which the kidnappers gently seduce the kidnapper with such pleasant words.
He felt that his actions were no different, except that there was no malice towards him.
However, for these children to rot their talents in a village that can’t even be a rural area like this, it’s not good for them or for the future of this world.
Raoul looked a little embarrassed.
It was because Gaon made a very serious yet heavy proposal at the end of what he said with the intention of listening to advice.
Gaon turned his gaze to the kitchen and continued with Raul’s behavior of shrugging his shoulders as he mumbled his timid personality.
“If you feel burdened, you don’t have to answer. Just think carefully. There is no guarantee that something like today won’t happen again. Then there may be someone like us who can help.”
Life as a slash-and-burn citizen is bound to be so dangerous that one cannot see the front.
This place where normal security could not be guaranteed was a place where you could lose your life in vain even tomorrow.
There is nothing that drives a person crazy like being afraid of when the bandits will show up again.
No matter how young you are, you won’t know that.
Just as he thought, Raul looked down at the dining table with a worried face on his face, then carefully raised his head and asked.
“Then is it safe to follow your brother?”
“At least you won’t be left helpless.”
“… Then I’ll go with you. I want to be confident and cool like my brother.”
The boy’s eyes sparkled with longing and hope.
Because there was someone who suppressed Raul’s momentum at once. Who else is Of course it was Hazel.
Widely!
“Your brother can’t go.”
Raoul stuttered his words in amazement at the sight of Hazel opening her ax eye as she roughly put the herbs she had brought on a plate on the table.
“Oh! Hey, Hazel…”
“Where are you going to leave me alone? Never let go! Oppa must be by my side!”
Hazel’s eyes flashed with a strange glare.
My parents passed away a few years ago, so it seems that there is something like a lack of affection.
I have a lot of questions, but first I had to correct the misunderstanding.
Gaon pushed Raul back slightly and said.
“Hazel. I have no intention of taking only Raoul. I intend to take you too.”
“… Me?”
Hazel is back to normal.
Even so, they looked puzzled, as if they didn’t know what they were looking at.
“I saw all the traces of where you were yesterday.”
“So what?”
“Hazel, I could see how desperately you fought. It was a move she couldn’t possibly see for a 12-year-old girl who hadn’t learned any skills. You are good at fighting It is a different talent from Raul.”
When it is warmed up, you can infer the process and outcome of the fight simply by looking at the scene.
As we continued talking based on that, Hazel’s ears perked up, as if she thought it was a little plausible.
“You are going too. How is it?”
“… If that’s the case, that’s fine. I want to come too!”
“Yeah, I made a good decision. So, shall we eat breakfast now? Because I am waiting.”
“Ah… Four!”
Chorin and Hayeon had already moved all the food and took their places.
Hazel, who discovered it belatedly, pretended not to be like that but reminded her cheeks red as if she was relieved that she didn’t have to separate from Raoul.
Thus, the party greeted a friendly morning, and after briefly talking with the village chief, they returned to the Barrymore Manor.
It was the end of a short but rewarding journey.
