How to Survive as a Player Chapter 184

#184

“It’s shabby, but how about the mercenaries eat together too?”

The old man was like the village chief of these vagabonds. As he was a wanderer, his appearance was not very good. His waist was bent like a hunchback, his cheeks were chubby, and his hair was gray due to his age.

Sehyeon simply nodded and answered without saying much.

“thank you. “We will do that.”

“Hehe, no. Please stay comfortably while we are with you.”

It was a look that could not be described as compassionate. There was greed in his beautiful eyes. There was a good reason why the old man was so kind to me.

As long as you have eyes, you would know that the clothes worn by Se-hyeon and the heroes are expensive. Clean clothes, luxurious fabrics and armor. There wasn’t even a single stain on it.

In the eyes of the old man, he must have seemed like a nobleman with a story. There may be a feeling of wishing that the beans would fall out of the friendly atmosphere. And Sehyun decided to listen to it.

“Take it, old man.”

“Oh, no… All of this… . her… ! Thank you, Mercenary Nari.”

What Sehyun presented to the old man was a jewel taken from the empire’s treasury. The old man thought he might change his mind and quickly snatched the jewel from Sehyeon’s hand and stuffed it into his sleeve.

“Even though I am an escort, I am indebted to you, so I am trying to compensate you at least a little. “There are a lot of children, so please buy them some clothes.”

“Yes, yes. Of course, I have to use it for my family. What kind of wealth does this old man want to gain and keep it to himself? “Don’t worry, mercenary.”

The old man, who was repeatedly bowing in greeting, turned and walked away when a fragrant smell began to waft through the field.

“Rod, hands.”

“uh? ah… okay.”

As soon as the old man returned, Euncheong held out her hand toward Sehyeon as if she had been waiting. As soon as he gave his hand, cold water was poured on him. The expressions on Euncheong and Muan’s faces when they looked at the part that touched the old man were not good.

Sehyun looked at the people standing in line to receive food. More than thirty people were waiting for their turn, holding rotten wooden bowls.

A variety of people were there, from old people and children to women and young men. And there, Sehyun found a child standing at the end of the line.

My fingertips suddenly stiffened. She said the child was starving and had barely any clothes left on him. Her bare feet were pitch black and her hair was shaggy. Nevertheless, Sehyun recognized the child at a glance.

Dry saliva passed over me.

The child must have felt the gaze and turned his head to look at Sehyeon. Emotionally dead eyes stared at Sehyeon for a long time before withdrawing without emotion. His limbs were thinner than those of other children. Without even an expression, the child walked along her line, dragging his black feet.

Only then did everything make sense. I finally understood everything: how I went out and looked for something to do, how I was unusually familiar with the geography of the mountain range, and how the heroes’ expressions were dark.

Sehyeon’s eyes were deeply closed. It was only when I saw the child that I realized that this place was the past.

This was the past. And that child with thin arms and legs was the younger version of ‘Pen’, Sehyeon’s hero and currently hiding his true self.

From the time he joined the group of vagabonds, Fenn had been watching the child. And from then on, he was overcome by the urge to kill several times. Where his eyes were focused, there was a skinny boy. The scruffy boy’s eyes were dead, and he had no will to live.

Still, the pen knew. The moment when a child becomes a scary person.

Wow-

A wave of cool reason came over me. If we leave that guy alive, there will be countless victims. He will kill countless people, and even after death, he will live in eternity with blood on his hands.

The child had a murderous instinct from a young age. His ears were bright and his hands were quick. He also felt desolate in his emotions. That’s why Penn wanted to kill his past self.

So I looked for an opportunity and waited for the right moment. The moment the child is left alone.

However, before that, Rod recognized the child. He knew at once that the child was his hero.

“Muan.”

“Yes, Rod.”

“You have transformation skills, right? “Could you change your appearance?”

“Is there something you want?”

Looking at Rod’s troubled back, Fen grabbed the dagger from his waist and held it. A cold gaze flew towards the pen. It was Euncheong and the Grand Duke holding the sword. Both of them were sending out warnings with deadly intent.

The child had to be killed. Here she could not let Rod meet her child. That was the only thought that ran through Pen’s mind.

But just as his mind was turning white with impulses, Fen heard an unbelievable sound.

“Because Pen likes older people… It would be better to look like an old man. Oh, don’t let me see your face.”

“yes.”

old man. At those words, my white head regained its color. When the surge of reason subsided, what was visible was a child dying of loneliness and Rod in the form of an old man.

The fingertips of the pen trembled slightly. His fingertips, having nowhere to go, gradually moved away from the dagger. In the field of view was the back of Rod, who had the appearance of an old man. I couldn’t see her clearly because she was wearing a hood, but her gait was different.

A slow, limping gait. Pen’s eyes gradually became unsightly and distorted. Rod, who had the appearance of an old man, was approaching the child. Without hesitation.

Penn didn’t like older people. All he remembered from his childhood were wrinkled hands, so he just liked that. I just liked the old man’s hand that stroked my hair and the smile that paid attention to me.

That’s all I remember.

I didn’t know it was a load. He was an unbelievable sight, an unbelievable situation. The child, who was given watery porridge from a rotten wooden bowl, sat crouching in an unattended place and sat down to fill his hungry stomach. Rod took the remaining ration and sat down next to him.

Fenn knew it would go back to the kid. Because she experienced it herself.

A faint memory came back to me. Perhaps that was why something unbearable arose in me.

When Fen saw the wrinkled hand being held out for the last time, he turned and hid behind the carriage with its back to the people. As he sat back against his wheel, he could see the uneven ground beneath his feet.

I could smell the strong smell of dirt that I had forgotten about. While the pen tilted the shade, she hid her body there and subdued her emotions. But soon the sound of her slow steps was heard.

When I looked up, there was an old man standing with his face hidden behind a hood. There was a smile on the barely visible corner of his mouth.

“Pen was pretty even when she was young.”

It was his load. Fenn’s eyes blinked shut. The slow steps continued again and they arrived in front of the pen.

“Would you like a hug? “Because that’s what Pen likes now.”

A wrinkled hand touched Fen’s cheek. It was the hand of an old man. The solid misunderstanding was as deep as a wrinkle. However, Fen hid that fact deep in his heart and raised his hand to hold his hand that was touching his cheek. And he answered calmly.

“yes… .”

Soon, a skinny arm embraced the pen. Fenn’s arms tightly hugged her thin back.

“a little bit… Please wait just a little while. “I will definitely see you.”

“okay.”

The child will live. As if he had met Rod alive. And he will try to kill Rod, and eventually he will realize that he failed to kill him.

Penn had a lot to pay back. Now and in the past.

“We’re leaving soon. Let’s go in.” This time, come inside and sit down.”

Rod’s face had returned to its original appearance in the meantime. Without letting go of his clean, wrinkle-free hands, Fen stood up. And he was slowly led away.

Before I knew it, the homicidal impulse had disappeared without a trace.

***

“How old are you, baby?”

The child didn’t answer. He just ate in silence with his eyes focused on his bowl. Sehyeon held out hers to him. It was porridge that he secretly rolled in the rice balls that Owl had prepared for him.

The child who didn’t even pay attention on the first day started responding on the second day. He looked down at Sehyun’s plate and then took it and ate it without saying a word.

Sehyun gently stroked the child’s head with her wrinkled hands. The child, who had stiffened her body in shock, started making porridge again calmly, as if it had never happened before.

“Seeing as you’re eating well, you’ll grow a lot later.”

An old dagger wrapped in cloth was tied to the child’s waist. The child treasured it like her life. She hadn’t seen it used yet, but when she asked her old man, he heard that she often went into the woods to hunt rabbits and bring them back. A child who must have been only ten years old.

The child had no friends. Everyone avoided the child and was reluctant to do so. Several times, I heard people whispering from afar, saying they didn’t know what was going on. Despite this, the child’s grim expression never changed.

From that day on, late at night when no one was around, Pen called the child and taught him how to use a sword. He was more of a vision than a teaching. The child began to imitate Fen, and Fen watched him from the carriage all night.

When four days passed, the carriage arrived at the beginning of the village.

“Lord, I can see the village gate.”

Today too, the pen that was on top of the carriage hung upside down at the entrance of the carriage and announced the arrival. Sehyeon, who was suffering from motion sickness with her head on Ruhak’s shoulder, opened her eyes at those words.

“Arrived?”