Ending Maker Episode 428
Chapter 14 – First Contact #4
Kamael was a sickly child from birth.
At least one in every generation – because they are born with an extreme curse that occurs in the Paragon royal family.
Originally, Kamael should have lived a limited life due to his constitution, which causes his blood vessels to become blocked due to cold air, but fortunately, that did not happen.
“It is impossible to completely shake off the extreme curse. However, it may be possible to somehow adjust the power of the curse so that this child becomes accustomed to it and can handle the extreme itself.”
These were the words spoken by Archdruid Nuada, who had deep ties to the Paragon royal family, as he carved a special sealing ritual on Kamael’s body.
It was a structure that gradually released the extreme curse that had been sealed as Kamael grew, and thanks to this, Kamael was able to avoid suffering from the extreme pulse disorder called Gu-eum-jeol-maek.
But even so, it was an extreme curse.
Born with a cold aura that was much stronger than his peers, Kamael was forced to have a much smaller and stunted physique, and his physical strength was also weak.
“no…….”
Six years old.
It was an age when he was able to run around without worry and receive affection from his parents, but this was not the case for Kamael.
In the villa located in the corner of the Paragon Kingdom, another corner.
Kamael sat alone in the shady forest next to the old and worn-out villa, staring into the distance with blank—no, empty, unfocused eyes.
Kamael was alone.
His mother died when Kamael was very young, perhaps because she gave birth to a child of extreme infertility, and his father, King Paragon, did not show much interest in Kamael after the death of his concubine, Kamael’s mother.
He wasn’t exactly a bad person, but he wasn’t an entirely good person either.
It was a mere coincidence that Archdruid Nuada healed Kamael.
The day Kamael was born.
A miracle that happened because he happened to sense an extreme curse while passing by nearby.
If Nuada had not come to find him in person, Kamael would have been struck down by the extreme curse.
The Paragon King would never have summoned Nuada for Kamael.
Someone said.
Originally, Kamael was a demon-exorcist doll-like being created to remove the extreme curse that one person in each generation is born with.
Maybe he was right.
Not long after Kamael was born, news arrived that the queen was pregnant.
Kamael crouched in the shade and killed time.
Those meaningless times, just sitting around doing nothing and returning to the villa when the sun goes down.
The backyard of the shady villa was a place where no one came, and in the silence and desolation, Kamael was killing himself along with time.
Until I met that boy.
“hi?”
Kamael flinched and trembled at the sudden voice.
But Kamael had no time to panic or be afraid.
Because the owner of the voice has thrust his face right into my face.
“What are you doing here? What are you observing? What’s over there?”
He was a crazy boy.
The large boy who had now crouched down next to Kamael narrowed his brows as he carefully looked in the direction Kamael was looking.
Short-cropped red hair.
Clothes that look expensive even though they are dirty here and there.
He had a wooden sword on his waist for practice, and even to the young Kamael it looked like no ordinary object.
But this time Kamael couldn’t think deeply about the wooden sword.
It was because the crazy boy stopped observing and brought up another topic as if he had attention deficit disorder.
“Do you want to see this? I caught it earlier. Is it really big?”
What the boy proudly held out was a beetle with huge horns. It was so big that Kamael nodded without realizing it.
“Hehe, I knew it. This is the first time I’ve seen one this big. This must be the leader of this forest.”
No matter how big it is, it’s just a beetle, so isn’t it unreasonable to call it the master of the forest?
Kamael, who was young but smart, thought so, but did not say it out loud.
It was because I had been alone for a long time and the conversation itself was unfamiliar, but this time too, the boy immediately brought up a different topic.
“What’s your name? My name is Landius.”
As the boy spoke, he held out his hand holding the beetle. Kamael instinctively pulled back to avoid the beetle that was struggling to get out of the boy’s hand, and missed the timing to respond.
“Um… … Well, you can hear it later.”
When Kamael kept his lips shut and said nothing, the boy- Landius said so and then smiled brightly again, this time holding out the hand that wasn’t holding the beetle.
“Anyway, I’m Landius. Come play with me.”
Wouldn’t you like to play? It wasn’t the same interrogative form.
Kamael nodded without realizing it at Landius’s words that were almost certain, and Landius smiled brightly and helped Kamael up.
And Kamael enjoyed his time with Landius.
Although it was a place where he sat every day, Kamael realized for the first time that there was a large tree in the backyard that was hundreds of years old.
It was the first time I learned that there was a small pond and that there were small fish living in that pond.
And Kamael took up the sword for the first time.
A wooden sword for training offered by Landius.
The sword was too large and heavy for the frail Kamael to handle, but the moment he grabbed the handle, he felt a sensation he had never experienced before.
And it was the same for Landius, who was watching.
That’s why Landius said with the brightest smile among all the smiles he had seen while together today.
“I’ll give this to you.”
Even though it was an expensive wooden sword, Landius spoke loudly, and Kamael blinked and opened his mouth.
“thanks…….”
But the small gratitude didn’t end there.
It was the first time I had raised my voice today, but it was drowned out by louder voices.
“Landius! Where are you!”
It was a loud, booming man’s voice.
When Landius grows up, won’t he make a voice like that?
The moment Kamael thought about it, Landius turned to the direction where the voice had come from and shouted with all his might.
“I’ll be there soon!”
The shout was so loud that the bushes were shaking, and of course, Kamael, who was right next to him, lost his mind for a moment.
Landius smiled brightly at Kamael and said something that was clear even to his deaf ears.
“I’ll come back tomorrow. Let’s play again tomorrow. Okay?”
Instead of answering, Kamael nodded, and Landius smiled brightly again before waving and turning around.
Kamael returned to the villa late that day.
He was later than usual, and he was carrying a large bug and a wooden sword in his hands, but no one said anything.
This is because, in the first place, they were servants who only did the bare minimum of management and did not show any particular interest in Kamael.
That’s why Kamael was able to place the box containing the beetle on the nightstand and then go to bed, hugging his wooden sword.
tomorrow.
Landius is coming tomorrow too.
The sickly Kamael’s stamina was already at rock bottom.
Kamael closed his eyes with a small smile and fell into a deep sleep, looking forward to tomorrow.
* * *
“I see. So you’ve been building a friendship with Landius since then?”
When Fran asked with a warm smile, as if it was a rather heartwarming story, Kamael shook his head with a cold face.
“No, Landius didn’t come the next day.”
If you think about it, it was only natural.
In the first place, it was the first meeting between two people that Landius didn’t remember.
“The next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. I kept waiting, but Landius never came.”
Hoo hoo hoo – He added a smile, but because of that, his voice felt even colder. Everyone, including Fran, thought of the young Kamael sitting alone in the backyard, waiting for Landius without saying a word – looking around in case Landius had come, then hanging his head in disappointment.
“Oh, poor thing.”
It was just as Fran said.
Lena said, hitting Landius’ chest, who was holding her waist, with a loud slap.
“That’s too much, Randy. How can a person do that?”
“Oh, no. That’s right.”
At the sudden accusation, Landius looked back at Kamael with a bewildered face.
‘That was you?’ – Kamael smiled bitterly and threw Landius a lifeline again.
“It couldn’t be helped. Landius went abroad with his father, Lord Lanford, at that time. Even after Lord Lanford returned, he lived abroad for several years. And… … From Landius’s perspective, it must have felt like he had said something like, “Let’s play again tomorrow” to a child he had met by chance.”
Even at that time, Landius was so famous thanks to his title of having caught a snake at the age of two, so young Kamael was able to quickly learn of Landius’ whereabouts.
“Anyway… … it was a really important meeting for me. Thanks to it, I was able to learn swordsmanship.”
Kamael was a genius with the sword.
All he had learned was the basic forms that Landius had taught him, but that alone was enough to show off his prowess as a swordsman.
Even the servants who were usually indifferent to Kamael noticed his extraordinary ability, and this caught the attention of the Paragon King, and Kamael was given the opportunity to become the royal sword rather than a sickly illegitimate child who would be left to die.
As Kamael quietly closed his eyes and finished his story, Landius’s expression became apologetic again, and Lena expressed her doubts again.
“But Randy, why did you forget that the boy back then was Kamael? From what I heard, it must have been something memorable.”
“No, I… I vaguely remember something like that happening, but I thought it was a girl.”
As Landius spoke, scratching his cheek, everyone turned to Kamael and nodded.
Even though Kamael is so beautiful now, he must have just looked like a girl when he was young.
It would have been difficult for anyone other than Landius to recognize at a glance that the girl he had spent half a day playing with as a child was actually a boy, and that he was Kamael.
“Um… … Anyway, it was a good thing I put it off.”
It was a pretty good story, but as expected, it wasn’t enough to make a strawberry.
Fran, who praised herself for bringing Kamael’s order forward, spoke to Lena, steadfastly ignoring Kamael’s glaring gaze that was stinging her.
“Okay, then let’s listen to the strawberry’s story.”
Lena’s story.
As everyone’s attention turned to her, Lena coughed nervously, then began to speak with a slightly flushed face.
* * *
Lena’s hometown was a small village on the outskirts of the Paragon Kingdom, which could be considered rural.
Lena didn’t remember her parents very well.
Because he lost both his father and mother to a horde of goblins that attacked his village when he was very young.
The only thing Lena could remember was her mother’s arms.
But that wasn’t a very good memory either.
What Lena remembers is not the warm and soft embrace of her mother, but rather the cold embrace of her mother who lost her life to goblins.
As an orphan, Lena was raised by the village chief, as was the case with many orphans in rural villages.
Orphans were the common property of the village, and when they got older they were sold to other villages as slaves or laborers.
Although still young, Lena had a pretty face and was clearly destined to become a beauty. She was the village chief’s treasure.
Because it was a high-quality product that could be sold for a much higher price than other children.
However, that doesn’t mean that his situation was any better than that of other orphans.
After all, he was an orphan.
Rather, Lena, who was ostracized by the other orphans and became jealous of them because of the village chief’s special treatment, was always lonely.
I don’t remember exactly what day it was.
Just another day like any other.
A night where I did some chores, ate a tasteless dinner, and went to bed early.
There was an attack by goblins.
Lena couldn’t quite remember what happened that night.
When I opened my eyes, trembling with fear and terror, I was in a dirty den of goblins, and right before my eyes, Hans, who was the leader of the orphanage, was being eaten alive by the goblins.
Lena burst into tears.
Not only Lena, but the other children who were captured also cried and wet their pants.
It wasn’t just orphans.
There was the village chief’s child, and there was also Irina, the blacksmith’s daughter, who bragged about the things her parents had given her in front of the orphans.
They were eaten one by one.
The goblins continued to eat in front of the children, as if the children’s screams were seasoning their meal.
Those were crazy times.
It was not a sight a six-year-old child could handle.
Lena curled up and cried, thinking of her mom and dad.
I thought as I watched the blacksmith’s daughter screaming and crying.
My parents were also killed by goblins.
Soon he too will be killed by goblins.
Why was I born?
To get eaten by goblins?
Like Hans and Irina?
To scream to death?
It was a difficult thought for a normal six-year-old to come up with.
But Lena’s brilliant mind made it possible, and it made Lena fall into even greater despair.
Irina didn’t scream anymore.
All I could hear was the occasional groan.
Lena curled up in a ball and sobbed.
Irina let out a muffled scream as she felt the horrible sensation of her head and body covered with the goblins’ blood and entrails that they had sprinkled playfully.
Mom and Dad.
mom.
mom.
mom.
bang!
There was a loud noise.
Lena was so surprised that she curled up even more, so she couldn’t see.
I just listened.
A series of loud noises, the roars of goblins, and the angry voice of a man.
And then again, how much time had passed?
A large hand was placed on Lena’s head, who was trembling and covering her ears with both hands.
“Are you okay?”
It was a stupid question.
There’s no way it can be okay.
But I didn’t have the slightest intention of criticizing him.
Lena burst into tears at the large hands and voice, and the man – the owner of the voice – hugged Lena, who was a mess of blood and intestines, tightly in his arms.
It wasn’t warm.
Because of the armor, it was actually a very stiff body.
But Lena felt warm.
It was thanks to the fact that she unconsciously realized the kindness of the man who had embraced her covered in blood without any hesitation.
“Close your eyes for a moment.”
As the man said, Lena closed her eyes tightly.
I could also understand why the man had told me to close my eyes.
I couldn’t hear the voices of other children.
The goblins’ roars were not heard either.
The only one in the man’s arms was Lena herself.
What happens from now on?
What would have happened to the village?
Are all the orphans in the village really dead?
My head was in a state of confusion.
At the same time as feeling relieved to be alive, terrible and fearful thoughts kept coming to my mind.
mom.
mom.
dad.
I couldn’t even remember the face, but I kept calling out to him.
Why is this happening to me?
Is this what we were born for?
The air has cleared up.
The odor has been reduced.
It felt like we had escaped from a goblin lair.
Cold air.
The feel of cool armor against my cheek.
“You can open your eyes now.”
At the man’s voice, Lena slowly opened her eyes.
She was still in the man’s arms.
Man- No, now that I look at it, it was a boy.
He was very tall and well built, but his face made him look like he was in his mid-teens.
The boy couldn’t help but smile brightly at Lena.
But Lena felt even more comforted by that smile that was mixed with sadness and regret.
“Look over there.”
At the boy’s words, Lena slowly turned her head.
Dawn was breaking far beyond the village.
It was a beautiful sunrise moment.
Who is the boy?
Could he be someone like the knight from the fairy tale book that the village chief had only one copy of?
I couldn’t figure it out.
Instead of offering more clumsy words of comfort, the boy looked out at the sunrise for a moment, and Lena looked at his face.
Without realizing it, I thought of him as a person who resembles the morning sun.
