Finding You Who Abandoned Me - Chapter 4

FINDING YOU WHO ABANDONED ME

The next day, Calliope headed to Dora’s shop, a former member of a thriving mercenary corps who had settled in the village with her husband.

Whenever drunk, Dora would complain that settling in this town was the stupidest decision of her life. 

To be honest, Baron Hubert who governs the territory is terrible. He does not make any effort for the estate, does not lower the tax rate, and if the citizens have trouble getting food then they need to pay to fill their stomachs.

Although people were reluctant to gossip about Baron Hubert in front of Calliope, Dora did not hesitate to swear at him and neither did Calliope stop her.

All of her swears were true so she didn’t stop her.

“Dora, hello!”

“You are here?”

When I arrived at the blacksmith’s shop, Dora and the blacksmith’s staff were moving a large box.

When Calliope stood up and tried to help, Dora waved her hand.

“Stop it. You’ll get hurt. Your strength may have gotten a lot stronger but it is not enough to carry this.”

“Is that the spearhead you asked for in the next town?”

“Yeah, it seems that the number of times the monsters appear are increasing. I was a little overworked because I wanted this task to be done quickly.”

Calliope turned her eyes towards the forest while listening to Dora’s words. In the forests of the territories on the outskirts, monsters often appeared. Fortunately, no monsters have appeared in this village yet, but the news that monsters have been found in nearby villages is increasing.

 She knew why. Seven years later, the Demon King will be resurrected after 500 years.

“Then do you have any work today?”

“ Yes, anyways, let’s practise swords while you’re here.”

“What do I have to use a sword for?”

“The number of demons is increasing. Your house is on the outskirts, so you never know…”

“Well, alright.”

Dora steadily taught Calliope the skills she had used when she was in the mercenary corps under the guise of self-defense.

Though Calliope pretended not to be pleased, but more than anything she actively engaged in the training.

‘The more, the better’.

Dora loaded all the boxes onto the carriage to the next village and took Calliope to the village’s vacant lot.

As soon as she arrived at the vacant lot, Calliope held a wooden sword that had been made coarse by cutting thick branches. Calliope’s arm-length wooden sword was something Dora had made for her.

She said, “had my husband been alive, he would have been able to teach the sword more seriously. I don’t know much except the basic survival techniques.”

“You were a mercenary, right? What did you use other than a sword?”

“I used Mace.”

“Mace? That hammer-like thing?”

“It’s different from a hammer

“It seems to suit you.”

“Sometimes I would use an axe.”

Calliope snorted.

“So you told me to swing an axe only for firewood because of that.”

 “Thank god, it’s no longer a job to cut a human head with an axe, is it?”

Calliope smiled while Dora unwrapped her arms and lowered her posture.

“Yes? I don’t know about a small animal’s head, but a human head is too much?”

After teaching her how to hold a sword and catch a  few herbivores whilst wielding a sword, she started training her to attack using a sword while she defends.

It ended only when Calliope hit Dora with her wooden sword or when she ran out of stamina.

 Calliope immediately spurted her hands and rushed at Dora.

“Hey, I don’t think you lack talent.”

Dora said while leisurely dodging the wooden sword that Calliope’s strike, who didn’t even touch her collar, let alone hit her, but it was something that Dora always said.

 Calliope didn’t stop, she turned around and swung the wooden sword at Dora again.

“If I had talent, then I would have guessed your moves sooner!”

“No, this is fine in a year. You’re even better than the recruits who joined the mercenaries.”

“You’re not a sword genius, are you?”

“No, I’m not.”

Dora moved away from Calliope’s trajectory to the point that she had started getting annoyed. 

Dora had made a name for herself as a mercenary and it was certainly not a bluff.

Dora thought as she saw Calliope running at her. ’Certainly not a genius. However, if taught properly, she seems to be able to earn her share.’

She probably inherited the smarts from Etiel and fortunately has very good stamina unlike Etiel who was weak.

It’s probably because she’s been hardworking from a young age. Lately, she’s been hunting and has gained stamina.

Dora hoped that Calliope would be able to keep herself in good shape.

 White hair fluttering while doing the swift movements caught her eyes. Although she was white as if she had a disease, young Calliope was beautiful nonetheless. It was also the reason Dora was teaching the child about swords in the name of self-defence.

“There is only one thing you lack in my opinion.”

Dora said leisurely towards Calliope, who is now slowly gasping.

“Although you work hard in training, yet you have no goals.”

Calliope moved after Dora, sweating despite the winds blowing in the vacant lot.

“You have no reason to swing your sword to death.”

Calliope, who was constantly moving while listening to Dora’s voice, was getting more annoyed. She was following Dora’s teachings with all her might.

What am I supposed to do here? While her vision was blurred by sweat, Dora’s voice was heard once again.

“Think of the goals you must achieve. Imagine that your blade reaches there.”

Dora spat out the words which she used to use to teach the newcomers in her mercenary corps without much expectation. Those who joined the mercenaries at a young age had various saddening life stories.

But for Calliope. She grew up in a secluded country village, so her story would probably be about the loss of her mother at an early age.

After thinking about her past for a moment, Dora’s gaze returned to reality and found Calliope. Her red eyes were running towards her. As she tried to avoid her as usual,  Dora felt her alienation. The child was faster and closer than usual.

She tried to back away from the alienation and the wooden sword. But Calliope, much smaller than Dora, was one step faster.

“Oh, my!”

‘Oh, I did get stronger.’

Dora stopped the wooden sword and thought, shaking her tingling arms, she stepped down and burst into laughter when she saw Calliope with round eyes. The sense of alienation that she thought she felt for a moment has long since disappeared.

“Did I get it wrong?”

“It’s okay, are you okay?”

It was not until the wooden sword was dropped that Calliope, approaching, looked around Dora’s forearm. Fortunately, it was a child’s power, so she didn’t think there was a problem with the bone, but the skin seemed to be bruised.

“You got it right”

“No, is that the problem now? You’re hurt!”

“It’d get better if I put saliva on it.”

“Dora!”

“You nag like my mom. Since you got it right, today’s training is over. We’ve met the urgent delivery deadline, so we’d better just rest at home this week.”

“You must go and treat it!”

“All right, all right.”

Calliope, who was watching Dora’s back as she put one hand in her pocket and waved the other hand away, sighed deeply, and picked up the wooden sword she had thrown.

I’m glad it’s wood that makes a wooden sword in the first place, and it’s a little soft because of the moisture.

Calliope, who was exhausted, walked furiously. Dora’s words made her lose her mind for a moment.

‘I got too stirred up.’

Calliope clicked her tongue. All she could call her goal was her fiancé who gave her everything and then took away everything at once and disappeared, but in fact, there was someone else who needed to reach the tip of her knife right away.

‘There is one person I need to go back to the capital and take care of right away.’

This is one of the hardships that I will face when I return to the marquis. My closest enemy. The one who had a profound influence on the expulsion of my mother from the marquis house, and who isolated her as a child into the family with unprovoked malice and insisted on breaking up her fiancé, Isaac.

“Ditron Anastas.”

He was the uncle of the current marquis. A shameless old man sitting in the mansion while wielding her father, who inherited the title of marquis at a young age after the former marquis couple died in an accident… Calliope had no intention of giving up anything in this life.

* * *

The remaining date passed by in the blink of an eye and finally, the day of the marquis’ visit came. She calmed herself down and had the morning as usual as possible. For her to wash, she fetched water and washed, and ate by mixing a few pieces of dried meat and wheat to make something like porridge.

Calliope, who had filled her stomach, looked at the broken shutters that had not yet been repaired. The sun had risen early, but it had snowed all morning and the sky was overcast. It was the same color as the day her mother died.

Calliope sat on a straw bed and was lost in thought.

From today on her way back to Marquis, she had to constantly calculate and manipulate the events that were coming to her. First of all, it was most urgent to deal with Ditron Anastas, but some things had to be prepared in advance while looking far away. Right now.

Editor : Not Noman

Proof reader : Jasmine