13 - Marquis Maron
Episode 13
When I returned to the keep with Reikart, Doraji stopped dead in her tracks, utterly astonished.
My fairy alternated her gaze between me and Reikart several times before letting out a small, indecipherable sigh.
Having added another mouth to feed without my cohabitating fairy's permission, I offered a sincere apology.
"I'm sorry. I unintentionally acquired another dependent."
"The flour?"
"Huh?"
"The flour, wheat seeds, sugar, and butter. Give them to me first. Do you know how worried I was that the strawberries would all spoil? Hurry!"
Typical of my fairy. Another mouth to feed wasn't her priority.
"Here."
"Don't be too anxious. There's so much more we can do with a strong human around. And this human seems exceptionally strong, even among humans, so it might be better than just the two of us."
"You don't sound too sure."
"I'm just saying."
Doraji grabbed the bag of flour and marched resolutely into the kitchen.
From that day on, Reikart was ill for a long time.
As a non-doctor, I had no idea what he was suffering from or how to treat him.
I could only trust that, as in the original story, he was physically robust to an absurd degree and would recover quickly.
All I could do was hold his hand and remove any remaining Magical Energy.
Doraji seemed to observe Reikart closely for two days before losing interest and immersing herself in cultivating wheat seeds.
On our first evening back at Maron Keep, we spread butter on oven-baked bread and topped it with sugar-soaked strawberries.
It was an insane flavor.
The moment she tasted it, my fairy was rapidly corrupted, becoming as addicted to the tastes of civilization as I was.
"What's spring wheat and winter wheat?"
"How would I know? The only farming I've ever done is growing a handful of rosemary in a pot. I'm from a big city, you know."
"Even if you don't know anything, can't you at least ask the humans how to grow it? I'm doing all the work, you're not even farming yourself!"
"But even if you manage to grow and harvest it, isn't there another problem? How do we make flour? What can we even do with whole wheat?"
"I don't know."
"It's not like we have a mill or thresher here… maybe we should have just bought corn."
"What's the point of regretting it now? We're doomed. We'll starve to death in order. First, that big human will die, then Hayley will die, and I'll be left alone in this desolate keep…"
"Why would I die first? I can at least sustain myself by eating Magical Energy."
"I'm a fairy who survived a hundred years in a polluted canyon."
"So that's why Doraji is a medicinal plant."
When I nodded with understanding, Doraji became despondent and squatted down in the field.
"When can we harvest the potatoes?"
"Not for a while."
They had only just started to sprout; it would be a long time before we could harvest them.
My fairy was good at farming, but she couldn't use magical powers to make crops grow rapidly like an earth spirit in a fantasy novel.
"I can't do it now because I'm young. When I'm fully grown, I can do that much easily…"
"Tell me when you can do it when you're fully grown."
"Wow, are you looking down on fairies now? We're eating because I, a fairy, planted the seeds, patted them, and watered them. Humans can't do that!"
"Hey."
A question suddenly occurred to me.
"Reikart isn't like you or me, who can survive on so little. What happens when he recovers and starts eating properly? What are we going to do?"
"I thought you were going to leave him outside, but you brought him all the way back here without any plan."
"I'll find my own food."
"Eek!"
It was Reikart.
Doraji shrieked, startled by Reikart's sudden appearance and interruption. Birds perched in a nearby tree chirped and flew away.
His face was gaunt after several days of illness. The circles under his eyes were dark, and his voice was hoarse and rough. Yet, his eyes were sharp, and his attitude seemed insolent.
I openly mocked him, asking how he could possibly find food here.
"Hey, how are you going to find food in this polluted land?"
"I think I can do better than you."
"Wow, what is he saying? Are you going to collapse again from the pollution? Have you ever heard of the word 'burden'?"
"I'll just hunt in purified areas."
"Hunt? Huuunt? Hey, do you think I haven't tried? There are only mice in here, how are you going to manage?"
"You're just bluffing, not knowing how to hunt."
Wow.
My dependent was entering his rebellious phase.
It was bad enough that Doraji looked down on me for being bad at housework, but now my dependent was looking down on the homeowner for not knowing how to hunt?
Do I really have to live like this?
"Reikart, if you don't bring back any meat today, you're getting kicked out."
"Fine by me."
Reikart leaped over the field and went to the backyard. Then, he began to break off branches and make something.
What is that? What is he making? He's from this fantasy world, so maybe he knows something I don't? Is he really going to hunt something?
Doraji looked at me with pity.
"You're looking at him with such expectant eyes, but you're just saying you'll kick him out…"
"Shut up."
It's not like we're out of dried meat, so that's why I'm doing this.
Really, it's not.
What would it be like to live a long and easy life?
It had already been a year since I returned to Maron Keep to live a rural life, but I still hadn't defined what it meant to live a long and easy life.
Just maintaining my life by eating Magical Energy was no different from the ruined ramparts standing here; it couldn't be called 'life.'
Nibbling on the vegetables and fruits that Doraji cultivated like a child's play couldn't be called a 'proper life' either.
What I wanted was a safe, peaceful, pleasant, and prosperous life, sometimes singing and dancing around a bonfire…
"You're hiding in a place like this and saying such ridiculous things."
Doraji scoffed.
"It's not safe, and far from being peaceful, what's pleasant about it? And prosperity, my ass! Oh, you can sing and dance around a bonfire, though. No one will call you crazy since there's no one to judge."
"You don't like me, do you?"
"I do like you."
"You're lying without batting an eye."
While Reikart was wandering around trying to hunt, we were planting wheat seeds. Whether the farming would be successful or not, we decided to plant them anyway.
We had snacks from Fatima, the innkeeper, in our mouths, but there wasn't much, so we melted them with our saliva.
"Anyway, I think we need to bring some civilization into this place. I can't live without flour and butter anymore."
"Me, meat."
Even as we mumbled and talked, our attention was focused on Reikart, who was wandering around the backyard and stone walls.
I realized that physical ability was truly an incredible power when I saw him. Reikart wasn't just good at swordsmanship. At first, he seemed awkward holding the slingshot, but after adjusting the strength and direction a few times, he began to launch pebbles with a terrifying sound.
Whizz!
He had already caught his third bird with the makeshift slingshot.
"Damn, I can't believe that was possible."
Doraji muttered in dismay.
"What have Hayley and I been doing all this time?"
I was about to answer "being idiots," but I stopped myself. It would only make her feel more self-conscious.
We had been setting bird traps inside the purified ramparts and waiting for birds to get caught, but Reikart scoffed at the crude traps and made a slingshot to catch the flying birds.
Holding three birds in his hands, he approached confidently.
"Hayley."
"What?"
"Purify that area starting tomorrow."
He pointed to the northeast beyond the Dark Lake. It was the direction we had gone to Selbon.
