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Chapter 6
Even so, no sound came out of his mouth.
Only his loosely tied red hair shook messily in the wind.
He knew there were people somewhere who dreamed of becoming knights.
Even when he and Prim had been wandering around as orphans with nowhere to stay, the children from relatively well-off families in every village had all dreamed of things like that.
They dreamed of leaving their tiny village, becoming mercenaries, and eventually becoming a legendary Mercenary King.
Or catching the eye of a knight, becoming his squire, showing off their amazing swordsmanship, defeating magical beasts, earning a noble title and their own territory, and rising to prominence.
But these were the kinds of childish fantasies most children outgrew by the age of five.
Yet he and Prim were already ten.
And they were still dreaming about things like this?
It was true that he was much stronger and bigger than other children his age.
But compared to actual knights, wasn’t this completely ridiculous?
And besides, who would even hire someone with his red hair?
Wouldn’t he be lucky if people didn’t reject him for fear that he would attract magical beasts?
Even if he were lucky enough to become a knight, simply surviving as a wandering knight until he grew old and died would already be a blessing from Aiser and Noxrak.
Yet when Rozien tried to argue with Prim, he couldn’t think of anything to say.
Prim was quietly looking at him.
There was tension in one of her clear, pale-green eyes.
She seemed worried that he might refuse to become a knight or tell her that she was talking nonsense.
Rozien finally stopped pulling at his hair.
He swallowed.
“…Okay. Fine. I’ll become a knight by becoming a passing knight’s squire. Got it. And after that, I’ll…”
“After that, you’ll be granted several territories.”
“Then you’ll develop them, expand your lands little by little, and eventually become a Grand Lord.”
“…”
Rozien had been about to ask, That’s enough, right?
Instead, he could only swallow nervously.
He had escaped the frying pan only to land directly in the fire.
The fact that they had gone from wandering homeless orphans to becoming orphans under the protection of a temple was already an enormous improvement in their social status.
And now she wanted him to become a knight, and then a Grand Lord?
Wasn’t that dream a little too ambitious?
Even the children from wealthy families stopped their fantasies at becoming knights.
None of them dreamed of becoming Grand Lords.
Rozien desperately moistened his dry lips.
He had picked up quite a bit of information while living as a beggar and an orphan with nowhere to turn.
But everything about Prim’s plan was vague.
How would they even meet a lord willing to grant him territory?
And even if he received land, how would he expand it?
It all sounded like an impossible dream.
But Prim had never once spoken about something that was impossible.
When Prim had taken the curse meant for him, she had calmly told him,
“It’s better if we go our separate ways now.”
They were both street children, and there was no reason for them to stay together if one of them could no longer walk.
Rozien had struggled desperately to make her take those words back.
He had even tied his hand to hers with old cloth whenever they slept because he was afraid Prim might try to run away during the night while her feet were bleeding.
So when that same friend spoke with such confidence now, he could not simply deny her.
Still, he carefully said,
“Um, Prim. About that… Becoming a knight might be possible, but becoming a Grand Lord… Isn’t that, well… really impossible?”
He had actually thought becoming a knight was incredibly unrealistic too.
But after being hit over the head by the words Grand Lord, becoming a knight suddenly seemed almost achievable.
“You can do it.”
“No, I don’t think I can…”
“You can.”
Prim spoke with such certainty that it was almost as though she had gone to the future and seen him accomplish it herself.
“Th-Then… okay.”
Rozien scratched the back of his head before deciding to nod.
It would be embarrassing to keep insisting that something was impossible when his friend was telling him that everything would work out.
“Fine! Grand Lord. What’s so great about that? I’ll give it a try.”
Prim watched Rozien awkwardly rub the back of his neck and realized that she had gone too far.
She had promised herself that she would express herself properly this time.
Perhaps she had taken that promise a little too far.
She hurriedly added,
“…Of course, I’ll become a perfumer and help you.”
“And if you don’t want to become a Grand Lord when the time comes, you don’t have to.”
But Prim could not bring herself to say, Let’s just do whatever you want.
She had said something similar to him in her previous life.
Back then, Rozien had told her that all he wanted was to be her hands and feet, since she could no longer walk.
And that wish had eventually turned him into the Lord of the Caverns.
Now that very same Lord of the Caverns was rolling his eyes as he tried to figure out what to do with this conversation.
“Whether I become a Grand Lord or not? We can decide when the time comes?”
“Yes.”
“You and me? Just two orphans?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly, Rozien burst into loud laughter.
He grabbed his stomach as he laughed.
Prim simply blinked at him.
“…I know why you’re laughing.”
“But Rozien, you really do have talent.”
“No, no. That’s not it. It’s not because of that…”
“Ah, fine. I get it. Somehow, I’ll make it work. I am strong, after all.”
“Yes.”
Just then, a bell rang in the distance.
It was the bell Priestess Marceria used to call all the orphans together.
Rozien realized why the bell was ringing and glanced at Prim.
“Um, Prim. Should we just stay on the swing?”
Today was the day Baron and Baroness Corvas were visiting.
The last time they had come, Prim had pretended to be sick and stayed in her room.
Even so, the Baron and Baroness had insisted on seeing Prim.
They had stayed beside her and taken care of her because they believed she was ill before eventually leaving.
Prim thought of the couple’s faces and let out a short sigh.
“No. I want to go down.”
As soon as Prim said this, Rozien naturally turned his back toward her.
Prim climbed onto his back and tightly wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Oh my, Prim! You look so pretty today too. Have you been doing well? You look a little thinner, though. I brought this for you.”
While the other children stood and greeted the visitors, Prim could not stand and instead welcomed the Baron and Baroness while sitting in a chair.
The Baroness barely acknowledged the other children before rushing straight over to Prim and handing her a small box.
Inside were candies of a deep purple color.
They looked slightly strange.
“Wow!”
The children who had been watching from a distance gasped in amazement, even though they did not know what the candies were.
The Baroness smiled and explained,
“They’re violet candies. They’re made by picking violet petals and coating them with sugar.”
“They’re very fragrant, aren’t they?”
Prim smelled the violet candies and looked at the Baron and Baroness.
There was nothing technically wrong with the Baroness’s explanation.
But the violet candies were probably old.
Almost all of the floral fragrance had disappeared.
All Prim could smell was old sugar, dried egg white, and the scent of a lie.
Priestess Marceria also seemed to realize that the candy Prim had received was an old, cheap-quality product.
However, she hid her awkward expression and spoke on Prim’s behalf.
“Thank you very much, both of you. You really didn’t have to bring something like this…”
“How could we refuse when the child is so adorable?”
“Prim is like our own daughter.”
Even if it was only a cheap gift, it was still something that the impoverished orphanage would normally never even get to see.
The Baron and Baroness exchanged smiles as they spoke warmly to each other.
Prim absentmindedly played with the box of violet candies.
Then she noticed someone staring at her from a distance.
She turned her head.
A strikingly beautiful girl was hiding in the shadows of the building.
She had jet-black hair and bright blue eyes.
She was glaring directly at Prim.
The Baron and Baroness Corvas had once adored that girl very much.
Her name was Vianna.
At least, they had adored her until Prim appeared at the orphanage.
They only began treating Vianna affectionately again after Prim rejected their offer to adopt her.
And Vianna, who had been adopted in Prim’s place…
was never seen again.
Because she had not even left behind a corpse.
