#6
Helmut
Episode 6
Helmut didn’t understand.
‘I’m human, so why are they making me human?’
But things were clearly going as they should.
From that day on, Helmut came to live with the assailant. The man, who gave his name as Darien, had Helmut clean out his old cabin.
“Why do I have to do this?”
Helmut muttered as he swept away dust with a broom for the first time in his life.
Helmut has no concept of hygiene. There is no such thing as a home. Maybe it’s an area.
There was a place to live. However, even if they stay in a cave or tree trunk, they do not stay there forever.
“Humans originally live like this.”
Darian was unfriendly and seemed to have no talent for explanations. He was of the same class as Elaga.
He filled out most of his explanations with ‘Humans do it that way, so you should do the same.’
When a house is dusty and dirty, humans do something called cleaning.
In the name of teaching cleaning, Darian gave Helmut a demonstration and threw him a broom and a mop.
But looking at the house this dirty, I wonder if Darian has been living without cleaning it all this time.
Helmut’s sharp point was interrupted by Darian’s words, ‘So you don’t want to leave the forest?’
He didn’t give a reason. Just give orders. Helmut had no choice.
After sweeping the inside with an old broom and mopping with thick, moist leaves, the cobweb-covered cabin became noticeably cleaner.
While Helmut was cleaning the house, Darian was making something.
Before long, a soft nest made of thin twigs and grass was created in a corner of the hut.
“It’s your bed.”
When I lay down, it was as cozy as a bird’s nest. It was a different feeling than when I fell asleep, leaning against Elaga’s body and being bathed in dew.
After a short break, Darian shouted at Helmut, who was lying down.
“The little guy spread. wake up! “The work is still unfinished.”
Darian’s voice contained a unique, intimidating aura.
Helmut came to his senses and stood up.
Darian found clothes from an unknown source and put them on Helmut, who was practically naked, with only a tattered cloth wrapped around his waist. Helmut twisted his body around in discomfort.
“This is tight and uncomfortable.”
“Humans need to wear clothes. “There are only a few, so be careful not to tear them.”
Darian spoke as if he wouldn’t leave her alone if he tore off his clothes. This isn’t just a verbal threat.
Now that clothing, clothing, and sleeping were taken care of, the next step was food.
Even though Darian was a human without the buds of darkness, he was not particularly concerned about eating. He had a highly efficient body that could fly for several days with little food.
Even so, it wasn’t like he could live without eating.
“What have you been eating so far?”
“Meat from a game or fruit from a tree… … ?”
Darian nodded and said.
“I will tell you what you can and cannot eat, and how to make the inedible edible.”
The magic that fills the forest of Pahe contaminates the plants, making them toxic.
Various plants grew in Pahe’s forest, but there were fewer edible ones than in the outside world.
“Water means purification. Even in the dig here, the water wasn’t polluted. “Just remove the core, wash it with water, and eat it.”
He pulled out a whole root plant and cut it in half. Inside it, the core, the central point of demon energy, was embedded like a black seed.
Darian cut out the core and washed it thoroughly with water.
“Try it.”
The white fleshy root was chewed hard in my mouth. There was a sweet taste at the tip of my wet tongue. Although it tasted dull compared to meat or tree fruits, it felt rich in nutrients.
For Helmut, eating is an act of providing nutrition. I thought it would be okay as long as the taste wasn’t bad.
‘It’s better if it tastes better.’
Helmut focused his attention and listened carefully to Darian’s words. After that, Darian told us a few more things that could be eaten.
The teaching certainly worked. Once he followed Darian’s words, he realized that he would gain something. That awareness gave Helmut patience.
‘Certainly human knowledge is useful to me.’
That was something that only Darian could teach Helmut at the moment.
*
Helmut went down to the water’s edge carrying the water jar as Darian had instructed, and the sound of heavy footsteps approached. Helmut, who was just about to bend down and relieve himself of the water, looked up.
A huge leopard lightly tapped the surface of the water with the tip of its tail. widely! When the water splashed, Helmut lost his temper and wiped his face.
“What are you doing?”
-What is that? To be funny?
“I asked you to fetch water.”
-Why do you listen to that person? Without even listening to me.
Somehow, I couldn’t speak properly and became independent from Elaga. Helmut said, feeling sorry.
“Because it teaches good things. And he said it made me stronger.”
You have to become strong to get out of the Forest of Pahe.
Darian could have been lying. However, Helmut vaguely sensed that he was not a person who would cleverly deceive and take advantage of someone, even if he would manipulate them with threats and violence.
So it’s probably not a lie.
-Do you want to become stronger and go out of the forest?
“I am human.”
This was what Elaga always told him. Elaga looked at Helmut with somewhat dissatisfied eyes and tilted her head.
-Do you think anything good will happen if you go outside?
This is Helmut, who had to be abandoned in the Forest of Pahe as a newborn because he harbored the sprouts of darkness.
Going back doesn’t change the situation. If his identity becomes known, humans will oppose him and try to kill him.
Leaving the Forest of Pahe doesn’t mean you have anywhere to go.
But Helmut simply returned the question.
“Nothing good will happen if you stay here.”
Living in the forest of Pahe is just living.
Helmut had a goal. Once he had a goal, Helmut’s life felt more alive.
Helmut silently filled the water jar while Elaga became mute after drinking honey.
“I’m going. See you later.”
Helmut, carrying a water jar, waved his hand. Elaga watched the boy leaving blankly.
-Well, you’ll live well.
After a while, Elaga let out a dissatisfied sigh. The leopard glanced sideways in the direction the boy had left, as if he had some lingering regret, and eventually wandered away from the spot.
*
Sigh! Cold water was poured over my body. My mind, which had been in a daze, suddenly woke up. Darian was watching him with his arms crossed.
“Straighten your back!”
For several hours now, Helmut had been maintaining the so-called horseback riding posture, with his legs bent and his arms raised in front of him.
My limbs were shaking and convulsing, and my whole body was drenched in sweat.
“Hold that position for another 10 minutes.”
Darian spoke mercilessly and sat down on a chair. Helmut gritted his teeth. It was too much training for a ten-year-old child.
But Darian made Helmut follow him with just one word.
“Don’t you want to go out to the forest?”
It was an effective threat.
Darian made him do all kinds of difficult and strange things in the name of training.
Why not throw a large tree branch and have them repeat the same motion? They threw a leather ball down a hill and made them pick it up again and again.
I was completely out of breath and my vision was blurry. Has her physical strength been pushed to its limits? She had almost died before, but this was the first time she felt anything like this.
‘I think I’m going to die.’
Helmut had never received training like this before. He is only ten years old. It’s natural that it’s difficult.
‘But still, I can hold on.’
Helmut endured to the end. If patience is a talent, Helmut was a genius.
It was also learned. Having lived in a harsh environment since he was a baby, Pahe’s Forest has helped him endure many things from the beginning.
‘It’s holding up pretty well. ‘Is there something different about this guy who survived the forest of Pahe?’
Darian raised his eyebrows as he looked at Helmut, who was holding up his trembling arms.
He was a guy who was worth teaching. Helmut, who grew up in the forest and was naturally trained by traveling around, was agile in his movements and had a strong body.
It may be thanks to Elaga’s protection and the sprouts of darkness, but it must also have been thanks to his natural muscles that he has survived so far.
He also had grit. There was something unbreakable in his pitch black eyes.
That is absolutely not something an ordinary boy can have.
If it weren’t for the sprout of darkness, he would have grown into a renowned prosecutor.
However, no matter how good the iron is, if it is not painstakingly smelted and sharpened, it is nothing more than a piece of iron.
Darian intended to smelt Helmut. A famous sword that is very hard and has a blue edge.
I don’t know if he will survive until this high-quality piece of iron becomes a famous sword, but meeting Helmut in this cursed forest was an opportunity given to him.
A chance to do something meaningful for the last time in my life. And a chance to leave something to the world.
The more accomplished a person is, the more they want to leave their mark on the world. Sword Saint Darian Diefert was no exception.
“Didn’t I say that your arms should remain level?”
Darian shouted loudly.
As the night grew dark, the training came to an end. Darian let out a sound like a thunderbolt at Helmut, who was lying on the floor.
“Today’s training is just the beginning. “As your body gets used to it, the intensity of your training will increase, so be prepared!”
Darian’s decision was made after looking at Helmut’s skeleton, muscles, and physical strength.
But for the first time in his life, Helmut felt like his vision was becoming distant.
‘this… … ‘It’s just the beginning?’
My whole body was sore and stiff. Frowning, Helmut got up with all his strength and walked at a shaky pace. He wanted to lie down and sleep.
“Are you going to go to bed with that smelly body?”
Darian turned Helmut around. He gestured toward the bucket of water Helmut had drawn earlier.
“Wash and sleep.”
Helmut faced Darian with an expressionless face. The defiance he could not hide was revealed in his eyes.
“What is the answer?”
“yes.”
Helmut was gradually getting used to ‘how to speak politely’.
Helmut gritted his teeth and held back his anger, took off his clothes, and wiped himself with water from a bucket.
It felt similar to the time when Elaga, who loved bathing, was caught by the tail and plunged head-first into the water.
The wet body dried quickly after I shook it off a few times. Helmut changed into the new clothes that Darian gave him.
Only then could I finish the cumbersome process and lay down my exhausted body in a newly made bed.
The training that lasted all day left Helmut asleep that day. The soft bed I laid down for the first time was unfamiliar yet comfortable.
