warm wine
“If you were going to come, why didn’t you give me a heads up?”
The sword hanging from the guy’s waist was the same old, crude one he had used before, but unlike its usual oily shine, it now looked tattered.
I looked at the guy and slowly recalled my memories.
The guy’s strengths were said to be the best, his brute strength and his innate fighting skills. He could fill an entire battalion of the empire’s bastards who had their heads blown off by him.
I sat down across from him and motioned to Hannah behind me. I told them to come up.
As if she understood him, Ha-na lifted the refrigerator, the three household appliances, and the washing machine, which was holding the wooden stick, up.
‘If that guy is a wizard, why is he holding a wooden stick?’
The three men and the washing machine climbed up awkwardly.
The refrigerator looked at me and raised its little finger. When I nodded, it finally went up.
However, Hannah still did not go up and stood diagonally behind the guy.
I winked at him again, but Hannah shook her head with her characteristically stubborn expression.
The area around Hannah’s skirt crotch was unusually convex. Unless Hannah had changed gender in the meantime…
‘Is it a crossbow?’
It wasn’t a bad choice.
Even a knight would die if he got shot in the back of the head with an arrow while drinking. It was certain that it would be effective if I aimed for the moment when he let his guard down.
The guy who put down his beer mug stared at me with dark brown eyes that looked like condensed sand.
The boy’s eyes were cloudy, as if covered with dark clouds, unlike when he was in the desert.
‘I guess the imperial water suits your taste.’
It was a good sign for me.
“Hannah, can you bring me some warm wine?”
I looked Hannah in the eye and ordered her.
He then walked backwards with unsteady steps.
His back looked just like that of a boy who had undergone circumcision.
“Warm wine. You didn’t like it, did you?”
“I still hate it. I just have a drink or two since I have guests.”
“You are a guest.”
The guy muttered quietly and raised the corners of his mouth as if he was amused.
“Yeah, you were a guest too.”
A voice that was suppressed with a firm grip and eyes that showed clear hostility.
When I faced him, the past naturally came to mind.
***
‘No matter how much money you give.
The beating sun made it hard to breathe.
He took off the cloth wrapped around his face and threw it aside.
Hoo- He spat out the sand that had entered his mouth and stared beyond the shaking mist.
Beyond the castle walls made of large stones, there were endless waves of imperial soldiers. Just looking at them was enough to take one’s breath away.
“Don’t worry. I will definitely kill you, youngest.”
Woodra winked again and made a strange noise. Ever since the last incident, Woodra has been hovering around me, making my hair stand on end.
‘···Crazy bitch.’
But I was still weaker than her, so I could only pretend to be impressed and laugh.
Ding ding ding ding-.
Soon the imperial forces began to move.
As they stepped to the beat of the drum, it felt as if the ground was shaking.
A cloud of sand rose up and the mist scattered.
“Is this right? Isn’t this just the captain’s fault? He’s siding with the Kingdom of Byzant, not the Empire…”
“Aaron, you don’t know what I’m talking about. The reverse is the most fun.”
Wayne, the gambler who told her to steal Udra’s underwear in exchange for teaching her how to gamble, whispered.
‘You crazy gambler. What the heck is the reversal…’
He was a crazy gambling addict, but the die had already been cast.
He drew his sword without hesitation.
In this primitive place, everything was simple.
If you don’t kill, you die.
Killing someone can help you live a richer and more fulfilling life.
In some ways it was similar to a game.
Instead, when the monster dies, it spits out blood and curses.
Luckily, I was quite talented.
Thud-. He greeted the approaching imperial bastards while spitting under the wall.
Even though they poured hot oil and poured all the filth they brought down, these damned imperial bastards continued to climb up the walls.
Almost a third of them fell down and died, but there were so many of them that even if only a third of them climbed up, the wall would be full.
Soon, a medieval-style land dispute began.
I was called in as a resident’s servant, so I wiped the dirt on my hands on my pants and readjusted my sword.
My opponent was a man wearing an iron breastplate and a chainmail vest.
‘You cowardly little bastard.’
It was an unfair fight, since I was all leather except for the breastplate. Unfortunately, there were no complaint centers in the Middle Ages.
I didn’t take my eyes off the other person, even though my hands were shaking with nervousness. No, I intentionally shook my hands even more. So that the other person would see me as just a big, dumb new recruit.
As if it worked, the opponent laughed and swung his sword. As if he was intoxicated by the taste, his movements were very large, so I quickly stabbed him with my sword.
I’ve been a shitty mercenary for a year, so I could easily deal with one Imperial Army. Of course, it would take a while.
His chainmail deflected my sword every time. You cowardly little bastard!
“You little fucking paying warrior!”
I pulled myself together with a joke and stabbed again. This time, even that expensive chainmail armor wouldn’t be able to withstand the spot I’d already stabbed three times.
A fucking sensation came over my hand.
The hot blood that gushed out from the guy soaked my hands and body.
The sound of breathlessness. Eyes that have lost their way.
A hand that waves the air pitifully.
‘This fucking world.’
I avoided the gaze of my dying opponent.
If I faced him again, I was sure I would lose sleep again today.
at that time.
“Jertun!!”
A scream erupted from the side.
He quickly tried to draw his sword, but the dead man must have cursed him, because the sword got caught in the seam of his chainmail armor and wouldn’t come out.
The cowardly guy next to me aimed his spear at me and laughed, saying, ‘Hahaha! You uncivilized desert bastards!’
I looked at the sharp, pointed end and thought.
‘It would really hurt if I got stabbed.’
I put down my sword and thought about what to do next.
If you get stabbed by that spear, you won’t die right away, so grab the spear shaft and…
Then a brown hand grabbed the head of the man who was reaching out his spear at me. His head spurted red blood like a watermelon bursting open.
‘The Brilliant Fifth Star – Vermunt.’
He was one of the top five strongest sand slingers.
A size and impression that resembles an orc covered in chocolate.
And ridiculous strength too.
The guy caught the blood flowing from his burst head with his palm and brought it to his mouth.
The surrounding imperial bastards gulped at how horrific the act was.
I quickly grabbed the chainmail and pulled out the sword, shaking it out. I shook the service that came out with a clank with my hand.
“You’re quite good at swordsmanship, but there’s something lacking.”
He spoke to me in his broken Imperial language.
“It’s so orthodox. It’s as if he thinks he’s a knight. Look carefully. This is what fighting is all about…”
The guy who had been training out of the blue spread his arms wide and jumped down, kicking off the wall.
‘Ugh···.’
The imperial guys coming up from below hit the falling guy and fell down in two piles.
Thud, thud, thud. The guy who jumped down between the imperial troops with a terrible sound laughed loudly and then moved.
He grabbed an Imperial soldier and stripped off his armor. No, he ripped it off. He stuck his hand into the soldier’s exposed abdomen and took out the contents, scattering them around.
The Imperial soldiers who had been stabbing the enemies with their spears around them were astonished by this horrible act and moved away one step at a time.
Then the guy took something out as if his stomach was a snack bag, put it in his mouth, and chewed it like gum.
The surrounding imperial forces’ morale was instantly broken by that horrific behavior.
The bastard tore the soldier’s head off and drank the flowing blood like a beverage.
And then he threw his head back like a can of soda that was no longer bleeding and looked up at me.
His eyes, clearer than any I’ve ever seen, seemed to be speaking to me.
Welcome to hell.
***
Click.
Geun-ha-na nodded and put down two glasses of beer.
As his thoughts broke, Vermunt appeared with a tired look on his face.
‘You’re old. You’ve become weak.’
The one who should have been in the desert was in the empire, so it seemed that his roots were damaged.
It was a good sign for me.
I pushed one glass towards him and brought the other to my lips.
Warm wine was their favorite drink, as they said it tasted like blood.
‘It really is similar.’
He nodded and downed it in one gulp.
The guy downed his drink in one go and Hannah headed back inside.
The guy didn’t ask me anything, and I didn’t bother to say anything to him either.
It happened anyway and only the results remain.
Hannah brought us another glass of warm wine, and we drank it in one gulp. Hannah went back inside.
I tend to avoid drinking alcohol before a fight because it’s like poison, but it’s okay now. I’m stronger at drinking than that guy.
I looked into the guy’s unclear eyes and had various thoughts.
‘But why is the fifth star here? Did he throw it out?’
Even though he was ruined by an unfortunate accident, he was one of the five strongest men in the kingdom. To think that such a man is on the other side of the continent…
‘I guess I gave advice without any sense again.’
A guy who always spoke the truth even though his mouth was crooked and a brat who would get upset and lose his temper if he got scolded even a little. The two of them didn’t get along very well.
“I guess that guy’s still going through puberty.”
The corners of his mouth twitched slightly at my murmur.
Hannah refilled our glasses and the guy and I emptied them at the same time. I glanced over to make sure he had finished his drink.
The guy showed him the glass with a frown.
I sneakily covered my glass, which still had a little wine left.
“Is imperial food good for you?”
He muttered as he looked at the guy’s forearm. The guy’s forearm had tendons, but they were not as thick as before.
“···It was delicious. Now I understand why you were complaining about our food.”
The bastard’s words brought back old memories for a moment. The imperial food had a strong smell to begin with, but the smell of blood was unbearable when it came to what they ate.
I had to get into a fist fight with the warrior who was raging at me for spitting out what I put in my mouth and insulting me.
‘I won so there was no problem.’
For the Sand Beggars, the word of the strong was absolute. To ascend to the throne, one had to defeat all the generals one by one.
‘That’s why the old man’s neck was sore.’
He nodded, licking his lips.
“Your food makes me sick even thinking about it now.”
“Still, it had its own flavor.”
The guy glared at me with force in his eyes. His wrinkled brows narrowed, and his gaze became vaguely similar to that of his old days.
“Shit.”
“Respect the culture.”
He held out his glass, using inappropriately sophisticated language. I bumped into him as if I was going to break my glass, and the table was splashed with wine.
I noticed more wine splashing in my direction.
“Do you still get stuck in the sand these days?”
The guy’s face crumpled at my muttering.
“If you do that, you’ll have a son, right?”
The big hand of the man holding the glass began to tremble, and soon the glass was crumpled.
“So you had a son?”
“···It was a daughter.”
“Your daughter is pretty too. I’m jealous.”
“Yes, she was a really pretty daughter.”
I scratched my cheek at the sound of the guy’s voice that had sunk somewhere.
‘What happened?’
After that incident happened, I ran away from there so I didn’t know what happened.
“Is he dead?”
“No, my wife had an affair with that imperial bastard. My daughter followed her.”
I coughed in vain at the unexpected words. The guy’s wife was certainly pretty.
‘I didn’t think of such side effects.’
Instead of answering, I scratched the ball.
“After more than ten years, they suddenly said that my body smelled.”
‘It did smell terrible.’
Looking at his appearance now, it seems he washes himself well these days.
“So you killed them both?”
“No. The opponent was the son of a nobleman.”
The guy’s answer was unexpected to me.
The guy I knew wasn’t the type to care about other people’s status.
“Yeah. Well, there are a lot of women. Brown skin is pretty popular here. Go find new relationships.”
“That’s right. We’ve talked about brown skin in our meetings too.”
Hannah, who had been quietly listening from the side, interrupted me.
I glanced at Hannah’s convex skirt and her right hand hidden by the skirt.
“I’m not strong anymore. The imperial water doesn’t seem to suit my body.”
“If you don’t have the strength, I have something good for you.”
I nodded, thinking of the chili powder.
“Okay. I’ll give it to you later.”
The guy’s eyes were full of guidance and weariness.
The clear eyes seen on the battlefield were no more.
I closed my mouth again and just tilted the glass.
It was the guy who broke the long silence.
The man put down his empty beer mug and spoke in a very hard voice.
“I, the ‘Fifth Star’, apply for ‘one soul’ from ‘the one who killed the star’.”
The deep fatigue and determination in the guy’s eyes disappeared, replaced by a blazing fire. The guy glared and sniffed like a wolf smelling blood.
‘It’s not completely dead yet.’
I looked at the crumpled beer mug and smacked my lips.
A tradition that runs the gamut of ignorance.
A duel called ‘One Soul’, as only one of the two will survive. Of course, it is used in other meanings, but it was clear that the former was what he wanted.
Anyway, I broke the guy’s house.
Like I killed the king of guys.
The guy had every right to do that.
“okay.”
I put down my glass of beer, which was more than half empty, out of sight of the guy and got up.
I went up to my room, took off my iron armor for the first time in a long while, and went out in my everyday clothes.
Just in case, I wrapped a bandage around my chest.
In the backyard, a guy was waiting for me, his sensitive parts covered with a cloth.
I squinted my eyes at the horrible sight, but nodded my head at the thought that the important parts had been covered. Originally, both of them were supposed to be naked.
‘nonetheless···.’
I sighed as I looked at the guy’s exposed legs and arms. They were thinner, but still had a strong, thick build.
I got thicker and he got thinner so it was kind of similar.
I headed towards the guy, stretching my body.
I saw Hannah peeking her head out. I motioned for her to come in, but she still wouldn’t listen.
‘Think of it as insurance.’
I nodded, looking at Hannah’s skirt, which was no longer convex.
“Boo!”
When I faced the guy who was seething and beating his chest with his fist, the memories of pushing him back came flooding back.
‘Did I beat that guy?’
I squinted my eyes and looked back at the past.
Except for the last one, I never beat him even once. At that time, he was a big wall to me, and in a way, he was like a teacher.
Then the guy threw a handful of mud into the air.
It was the signal to start the battle.
In the desert, the sand blowing in the wind made a pretty show, but now it just made a dull, rustling sound.
“Aaron!”
I held out my right fist as I heard Hannah’s screaming cheer.
The target was the guy’s clearly exposed lower left chest.
The guy seemed to know this, so he wrapped his left arm around mine. I twisted my waist, thinking back to the time I shed a tear when I was hit by that fucking technique.
My muscles screamed at the sudden change in posture, but I held on without breaking because I trained every day.
The outstretched fist stopped and instead his left elbow moved. The guy raised his right arm, but it was a little slow.
Ppa-ak.
My fist hit the guy’s right chest with a cool sound effect, and his body shook slightly.
The guy didn’t stay still either. Thud! His fist landed in my stomach. For a moment, I felt nauseous and my stomach cried out in pain.
However, it wasn’t as bad as when I was in the desert before.
At that time, it wasn’t nausea, but blood came up.
This was bearable.
‘You’ve gotten weaker.’
Feeling the bitter taste, I kicked my left leg up. The guy didn’t stop me and swung his fist in return.
Bam-! My body flinched at the same time as the dull sound effect. My breathing was only a bit ragged, but the guy’s face was distorted in an ugly way.
Then I looked at the guy and smiled brightly. The guy raised the corners of his mouth as if trying to smile back, but his lips trembled.
What followed was a series of ignorant exchanges of punches.
Maybe it was because the ground he was walking on wasn’t sandy. Or maybe the wine he drank earlier was too much for him to handle. Or maybe he was just old.
The guy’s fist was bearable enough.
‘Did you get hit in the head?’
Through my blurred vision, I saw a guy breathing heavily. I shook my head to collect myself.
I was beating him like a sandbag, but instead of feeling a sense of accomplishment, I felt a sense of guilt weighing on my heart.
However, just as the guy didn’t ask me, I didn’t ask the guy.
Bam!! At that moment, my leg went right into the guy’s stomach, and his body, which had been holding on, shook violently.
The guy didn’t fall over even though yellow pus was flowing out of his mouth.
‘It’s tough.’
He gave a sigh and stepped on the guy’s foot to immobilize him, then grabbed his neck with his left arm and held him in place. Then he punched him in the face with his right fist.
puck!
The guy’s body shook with the sound of meat being chopped.
Feeling tired, I punched the guy in the face with my right fist again.
The boy’s once clear eyes suddenly became blurry.
I looked into his eyes without avoiding them and punched him again.
Pfft. I was reflected in the guy’s blurry eyes.
I had the expression of a child who had set fire to the mountain behind me. When I forced the corners of my mouth to rise, I looked like a child who had wet his bed.
As the guy’s focus faded, a heavy weight was added to my left arm.
He threw his fist again.
The guy was crushed by it.
I held the guy’s head with my left hand to keep him from falling, and continued swinging my right hand.
The more I swung my fist, the lighter it became, but my chest became heavier.
‘How dare you, you bastards, attack us. We risked our lives for you.’
There was no way this noble stubborn man could have been involved in betrayal, but the memories that came to mind when I saw him were not at all faded, so I couldn’t help it.
I have no choice but to express it.
“···Aaron! Aaron!!”
I came to my senses as I heard a rumbling voice, as if I was drowning in water.
beep-.
At the same time as the tinnitus, my blurred vision became clear.
The guy lying on the ground was shaking slightly as if he had lost consciousness.
Raging breath and red hot fists. The excruciating pain felt throughout the body and the warm softness felt on the back.
I came to my senses.
I shook my body off, letting out a hot breath.
My whole body screamed, but it wasn’t enough to cause me to collapse.
I looked down at the unconscious guy.
As Hannah’s voice cooled down, the heat in my head subsided.
Then I calmly did some calculations.
‘I was complacent.’
It was a small castle and I was the head of the outer wall security, so I thought that whoever came would be the first to be greeted.
I thought I could always get one of my bodies out of there, but before I knew it, a bunch of luggage was hanging on.
“Aaron! Aaron! Are you okay?! Aaron!”
The soft lump of luggage squeaked.
“My ears hurt.”
“I thought you were crazy because I called but you didn’t answer!”
Hannah’s face was pale and her body was trembling as if she was very nervous.
“It’s hot, so stay away.”
“···This is Aaron! Acting like a madman!”
Only then did Hannah realize her actions and push me away, mumbling something with a red face.
“It’s not like I’ve been beating people up for a day or two.”
I shook my head to shake off my thoughts and kicked the unconscious guy with my foot.
‘One soul···.’
It was an age-old tradition of the uncivilized sand people.
A fight called One Soul because it ends only when one of the two dies.
‘Stubborn, trash.’
I looked at the fallen guy and collected my thoughts.
Being stubborn was bound to work in my favor. He was a noble man who would keep his promises at the risk of his life.
Anything that is worn out will be quickly fixed by using it as a sandbag or sparring partner during my morning training.
‘I think I’ll get a Jindo dog just in case something like this happens again in the future…’
It wasn’t bad.
It might cost a bit more for food, but since it’s a guy who eats sand, it’ll eat anything you give it with joy.
That made me think about ‘one soul’ again.
It can mean that one of the two must die, leaving only one soul, but it also has another meaning…
‘This sucks.’
I scratched my head in annoyance as I thought of other meanings.
Whatever the meaning, there was no way a stubborn guy could reject tradition.
***
Like the ignorant sandman that he is, he quickly came to his senses.
The kids I had sent up earlier had come down and were secretly peeking at me with nervous expressions on their faces.
‘Why the cooking utensils···.’
I sighed, but I didn’t think anyone would listen, so I just left it alone.
Looking at that sight, I felt like I absolutely had to get a brown Jindo dog.
This guy is stubborn and came alone, thinking of those who must be desperately looking for me···.
‘Looking at it this way, I’ve had a lot of accidents. There was nothing I could do about it···.’
Suddenly, I remembered the guy whose head had been blown off earlier.
‘What the heck···.’
He must have done it to survive, but he was eventually caught and beheaded.
The guy kept calling Nova a witch, so I had to pull all of her teeth out.
The witch was the trigger for these guys here, so even if a death row inmate said something like that in front of people, it was impossible to predict what kind of effect it would have later on.
Instead I gave him stew.
The guy who originally went without eating anything seemed satisfied since he filled his stomach.
Vermunt opened his eyes and looked around with a frown on his face. Then he met my eyes and glared.
“Why didn’t you kill me? Did you forget your traditions when you returned to the Empire? Are you planning to stop me from going to the Oasis of Twilight?”
Phew-! The guy started spitting and running wild.
I swung my fist at him to calm him down. However, the guy was so excited that he wouldn’t calm down easily, so it took quite a bit of effort.
“Why don’t you kill me?”
The pronunciation, which sounded strangely like a missing wisdom tooth, was extremely annoying.
‘···How should I say this so that this kid doesn’t misunderstand?’
I thought about it for a moment, then quickly brought it up.
“‘One soul’ might have another meaning, right?”
“···Other meaning?”
The guy frowned and thought about what I said for a while. And then he continued-.
“Yes··· You bastard···.”
A look of astonishment appeared in the bastard’s eyes.
A look of shock and horror came over the face of the boy who had never shown fear before.
“Wait a minute, that’s not it.”
In response to that strong reaction, I hurriedly showed both palms.
“Make me your sex slave…”
“I’ll explain, so don’t be a jerk.”
“Somehow, there are eyes looking at me!”
“No, to be exact, they’re not sex slaves, they’re just slaves, but you guys are horny and…”
To be exact, it wasn’t sexual slavery, but rather the winner enslaving the loser. The sand beggars used that tradition as their own romantic way of saying that when they brought a woman they liked, they would live together as one soul for the rest of their lives.
“Ugh! Kill me! I don’t even need the oasis of dusk! I’ll kill myself!”
“No, it’s just as a guard dog···.”
“You are truly wicked! You who killed stars! And now you are eating stars….”
“Stop being so annoying.”
I couldn’t take it anymore, so I hurriedly administered another tranquilizer. The guy who had been strangling himself passed out, foaming at the mouth.
“Ah···Aaron, somehow···.”
Hannah stutters as if she is in shock.
“Hmm···.”
The three idiots and the washing machine hide behind them, weeping.
And even the nodding refrigerator.
‘···Fucking Middle Ages.’
He muttered a curse and pressed his temples.
***
It took a lot of effort and time to clear up the misunderstanding.
“Ahahaha! That’s what it is!”
The man with the bloody face laughed out loud as if he had been relieved.
‘Your pronunciation sucks.’
I couldn’t say anything because I was the one who pulled that wisdom tooth.
“You are truly amazing! How dare you think of enslaving the fifth star! So, are you planning to destroy the empire this time?”
“That… Please speak with more force.”
“Ah, I’m still a little awkward with the Imperial language. Anyway, tradition is tradition, so I’ll follow it. Come to think of it, there was a star among the top stars who recruited subordinates in that way! I misunderstood!”
Suddenly, as I heard the guy’s pronunciation keep getting worse, I briefly thought about whether hitting the other side of his cheek would make him come back.
“Really? Aaron? Tell me the truth. Then I can find a way to….”
Hannah’s serious voice and the wary looks of the people around her made my head spin, so I waved my hands roughly.
Vermunt went to wash up, following Hannah’s instructions.
The guy staggered as if he had reached his limit, but he walked on his own two feet.
Looking at that, it looked like the refrigerator next to it would fall over if hit lightly.
The three Hogu thugs carefully cleaned up the messy hall.
I felt a surge of anger inside me at the sight of those guys refusing to turn their backs to me.
Just as he was barely able to calm him down, the weasel returned, completely exhausted. It looked like it had searched every corner of Castle Cassadic, as it was covered in all sorts of things.
A weasel with a gloomy face turned back to wash itself.
thud!
A dull sound was heard.
I turned my head towards him-.
“Hyeooooooooooo!! 20 silver! 20 silver!!!”
A weasel was seen dragging the unconscious Vermunt by the hair.
My head was throbbing terribly.
