it will be a star
“Put that down. “It’s over.”
“Young, as long as you keep your mouth shut.”
It was a hand as small as a child’s, but the earnestness it held was real.
“Ugh…huh.”
She was trying to look threatening, but the terrified little girl was shaking with her hands and not knowing what to do.
“······.”
That was the sight the old man saw.
A boy who is very nervous about the approaching threat and a girl who is crying and doesn’t know what to do.
Young children who had been abandoned by the world stood shabby in front of them.
“Jin, you can really sting. Hi.”
“Okay, so shut up. “It just happens.”
The old man quietly looked into the eyes of the crying girl.
With an eye that only time can read.
There was fear in the hanging tears, but there was determination in the eyes.
“······okay.”
This kid can really sting.
If only for the boy standing next to me.
“What’s going on? say it.”
As the men’s voices faded away, the old blacksmith asked quietly.
But the boy’s mouth did not fall easily.
As if it was difficult to say it out loud.
“I lost.”
It was just words floating around in his mouth, but the old blacksmith could understand them.
Because he had been living in the back alleys for a long time.
“Jorge is dead.”
“······He was a good boss.”
“Hiyyyyyyyy! “Hmm!”
As soon as Jorge’s name was mentioned, thick teardrops began to flow from Jemina’s eyes.
“I understand the situation. So, let go of the ugly things first, you can do it.”
“Hi! no!”
But even though her emotions were broken, Jemina knew what she had to do.
“Give me the sword!”
“what?”
Vlad must be sent away.
out of this city.
“Give me that thing that was hanging! Even if you get out of the city safely, you could still be killed by monsters!”
“No, but this bitch…”
Although she was rambling, there was nothing wrong with what Jemina said.
Even if we escaped One-Armed Jack’s eyes and escaped Shoara, it was now dark dawn and a cold winter day.
It was a very harsh time to move to the next village without proper preparation.
“No joke! If Vlad dies, I will die too! So give it to me!”
The blade in the girl’s hand reached under the old man’s chin.
“Hey, this bitch!”
It was held in a cute hand, but even so, the sharp edge did not disappear.
The girl’s tear-covered eyes were swirling with emotions that even she could not control.
“Are you crazy!”
“Take out your sword!”
The old blacksmith felt deep bitterness as he watched Zemina threaten him by telling him to hand over his sword.
‘okay······.’
This was the nature of the people who lived in the back alleys.
The nature of people who can survive only by stealing from others.
I was like that too, and the time has come for the little ones in front of me to be like that too.
Just like you did.
“Jemina! Put it down!”
Vlad’s muffled cry was heard, but Jemina’s fingertips were still shaking dangerously.
The girl made up her mind.
To swing what is in your hand.
Because I was prepared to do anything to save the boy.
“Jemina!”
The blade of the dagger flashed along with the boy’s muffled cry.
“······!”
The old blacksmith closed his eyes, expecting something sharp to dig into his throat.
“I will pay you back.”
However, the direction the blade the girl was holding was not towards the old blacksmith.
“This may not be enough, but I will definitely pay you back later. “I swear!”
The old man opened his eyes and froze as he saw the things fluttering in front of him.
A curly red color fills my vision.
It was the only thing the little girl was proud of: red hair.
“It’s been a year…”
“Please give it to me. please.”
A girl who gave up what she was most proud of for what was most precious to her.
The girl’s eyes, full of earnestness, had not yet been colored by the back alley.
The girl’s eyes filled with tears were looking at a different place than she was back then.
“under.”
The old man, whose eyes were burning from the dazzling flames in front of him, turned his head to look at the boy.
“Are you going to leave?”
“yes.”
The children in front of me were trying to do the things I had dreamed of my whole life but had not been able to do.
With wings that have not yet ripened.
“Little things bother me so much.”
The old man was an adult.
There were things adults had to do for children even without getting anything in return.
Even more so if they are children with potential.
“Follow me.”
The old man decided to raise his head and look at the stars, just for today.
It was something I wanted my whole life but couldn’t do.
※※※※
Late at night.
A back alley that looked quiet on the outside but was full of hungry eyes.
There, an old blacksmith and a short boy were pushing a cart.
“It’s so heavy.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, just push.”
In the back alley, where everyone was holding their breath, the only sound was the creaking sound of the cart.
The place they were heading to was one of the outskirts of Shoara.
It was a dumping ground for the city’s overflowing garbage, and a place where only those at the bottom of the back alley life lived.
So it’s a place that people don’t find easily.
“Every time I come here, I can’t get used to it.”
Even though it was the middle of winter, I could feel the stench wafting up my nose.
‘If even this place is blocked…’
This was the last time.
One-armed Jack’s men were already positioned throughout the back alleys.
It was unknown whether it was to catch any members of Jorge’s organization who might still be alive or to find an unknown massacre, but one-armed Jack wanted to capture everything that tried to escape from his eyes.
So the old blacksmith and Jemina had no choice but to come all the way here.
“Inspiration.”
However, contrary to the couple’s wishes, Jack’s men were already in place here.
“why?”
“Why did you come here this late at night?”
“You wouldn’t know it if you saw it?”
“······Take out the trash?”
“Are you already tired of snow at that age? So what does this look like? “You guys.”
The old man tried to be confident in the face of the venomous hyenas.
“But why throw it away now?”
The old blacksmith was treated well because he had been living in the back alley for a long time, but Jack’s men had something to find now.
“Then you should throw it away now. All this time, you guys have been blocking the alley, preferring not to fight! “The blacksmith shop will explode with all the things I haven’t been able to throw away!”
“······What is he?”
One of Jack’s men nodded and pointed to the boy next to the old man.
Because, as far as they knew, the old blacksmith had always worked alone.
“I was old and had less energy, so I brought him in and offered him some bread. Or you guys should push it for me!”
“for a moment.”
It was correct in every detail, but confirmation was needed at this time.
“Don’t move.”
The boy pushing the cart began to panic as he saw the man approaching him.
“Stay still. “Today is a day when swords may come out instead of fists.”
“······.”
In the end, the boy was grabbed by the hood by a rough hand.
“Why are you like this? It’s f*cking hard. really.”
“······Pass.”
It was a red-haired boy.
Judging from the dirty lumps of charcoal on his face, he must have had a rough tumble in the blacksmith shop.
“What are you looking for, you damn people?”
“Jorge’s blonde brat. He was the only one without a body. And… Tsk.”
The man doing the inspection clicked his tongue and spoke less.
“And what! “If you’re not going to tell me, can I leave now?”
“Just one more.”
The man turned his head and gave an order to someone.
“Hey, nigger. “Check this cart.”
The three people who were holding their breath at what the man said swallowed their saliva.
“Don’t let the dust fly here.”
“yes.”
Zemina looked at the man approaching the cart with trembling eyes.
A huge man wearing ugly old clothes.
The man’s skin was black.
“Go to that guy.”
“Nimi…”
The old man began to push the cart, complaining in a trembling voice.
Although he was acting calm on the outside, the old man’s back was already wet with sweat.
‘Should I have gone somewhere else?’
But it was too late to regret it.
There was nowhere else to go but here anyway.
I came here with my last hope, but One-Armed Jack had his eyes set on the dirtiest parts of the city.
“You brought a lot.”
“Because a lot has accumulated over the years.”
The old man answered the black-skinned man in a dejected voice.
“Let’s check…”
At that moment, Jemina’s eyes met the dark-skinned man who was trying to lift the cart.
“······.”
“······!”
Jemina quickly lowered her head, but she thought she might have recognized her.
Because the man in front of me was someone who knew Jemina.
“It’s dusty, probably because it’s trash from a blacksmith shop. “I need to move it a little further forward.”
The dark-skinned man muttered to himself and pushed the cart forward.
Two people quietly follow him.
“But why did you cut your hair?”
“······!”
As the people around him moved away, the man spoke to Jemina in an indifferent voice.
“W-what are you talking about?”
She barely answered in a trembling voice, but Jemina bit her lip tightly out of embarrassment that the man recognized her.
“······.”
At the same time, the piles of trash contained in the cart began to subtly collapse.
Creating a gap just enough for a sword to stick out.
“Maybe it’s because his front and back are flat, but he’s the perfect guy to cut his hair.”
The dark-skinned man was talking to Gemina, but his eyes were looking at someone inside the trash pile.
“If you do that, no one will recognize you.”
Perhaps because the big man was pushing it, the cart the old man brought was moving away from Jack’s men without hesitation.
“I guess this will be enough.”
As he walked away from the men who were checking him, the dark-skinned man took out a skewer.
It was an unsightly, rusty skewer, but in Jemina’s eyes, it looked sharper than any other famous sword.
“This is my job.”
Phuuk-
And he stabbed it mercilessly into the pile of carts.
As the man started poking the garbage pile here and there with a skewer, Jemina closed her eyes as if she couldn’t bear to look at him.
Whether Zemina closed her eyes or not, the dark-skinned man continued to stab the skewer at the pile of trash on the cart.
“I heard that Haven launched a boat on the river.”
“······.”
Cleverly avoiding spaces where only one person would be sitting.
“All of Jack’s men have flocked there now. “I heard there must be a reason why the half-asshole guy put the boat on the river.”
“What are you talking about?”
Zemina pretended not to notice until the end, but Vlad, who was hiding inside the cart, could understand what the black-skinned man was saying.
“Just know. good. Pass.”
“······thanks. Otar.”
A small sound came from inside the cart, but the man called Otar just turned his head as if he didn’t hear it.
“Go.”
As soon as the word to pass was given, the old man and the red-haired girl quickly clung to the cart and started pushing it.
“This is how I repaid the 40 silver my brother owed me.”
A dark-skinned man spoke from behind a passing cart.
The price of life can only be paid with life.
With the last words of the man who paid off his debt, the cart moved again.
With a creaking sound.
Towards the city wall, a hole leading to the outside.
As the hole got closer, sadness filled the girl’s eyes.
Now it was time to say goodbye.
“bye. “Vlad.”
An old man and a girl pushed a cart toward the mountain of trash that would lie beneath the hole.
“You have to be healthy.”
Even though Jemina was crying, she thought about the boy’s safety until the last moment.
Shootaaaagh-
As soon as the handle of the cart rose to the end, the girl’s tears fell.
“Do you have to come see me?”
Now with the tears shed by the red-haired girl.
There was trash falling outside the city under the moon in the night sky.
They were shabby things that no one in the city cared about.
Even if no one notices, I hold on to what shines.
“······ha.”
Outside the castle walls, on top of a mountain of trash, the boy looked up at the night sky.
My vision was blurry from tears, but the sparkling things in the night sky were still there.
Stars in the night sky.
But today, only one star was shining beneath the ground.
The star the boy was holding tightly was made from the old man’s dream and bought with the girl’s tears.
“I will definitely come back.”
Even if it’s not high up in the night sky.
Even if you’re stuck in a gutter where no one can see.
If you want yourself to shine.
If you still have light in your heart.
Then it would be a star.
Like shining in the boy’s heart.
