NOVEL NEXT Chapter 137 - Outside the Imperial Palace
A plaintive face followed her out of the imperial palace.
[Where are you going?]A knot formed in her stomach for a moment.
While her mood fell, Donaty’s face brightened. His gaze was respectful, like a knight’s toward his master, and reverent, like a priest’s toward a saint.
“Wow, oh whoa. Is he truly as brave as I’ve heard, and is his strength boundless?” “He is strong, but…”Mirania frowned and said,
“I take it you have some sort of respect for Grecan?” “Of course I do!” “Why?” “What?”Mirania tilted her head and said,
“I’m asking why you admire him when it was Grecan who made the world the way it is.”Donaty looked at her, puzzled.
“Because… he’s the strongest of all the beast.”Donaty muttered absentmindedly, then suddenly frowned.
“He has simply opened the floodgates for the beasts to cross over into the lands occupied by the humans.”Donaty eyed Mirania suspiciously.
“Are you sure you’re from the Imperial Palace? You seem to be lying.”He backs away slowly.
“Donnie, is there a reward for reporting an imposter?”Donnie stares at her, but doesn’t say anything.
Returning his stare, Mirania examined him. He was a handsome boy, long-legged and thin from lack of nutrition.
His eyes lit up at once.
“You’re familiar with the human mindset.” “The human mindset?”Donnie muttered dumbly,
“Do you like books?” “…” “I like them.”Donnie chuckled.
“I’ve read a lot of books, especially those that date from a hundred years ago. The lord’s deputy, the officials, the collecting of taxes, or the trial of crimes you speak of now are all rules of the human era before the disaster on the Plains of Razhul.”He shot her a suspicious glance.
“Who are you to know such things?” “So you’re saying it’s someone suspicious?”Donaty swept Mirania with a nervous glance.
“Doesn’t look like a beast to me. An imperial slave… of… Lord Grecan’s?”Grecan’s slave.
Mirania’s thoughts raced.
‘So much for hearing things in life.’
He yelled,
“You’re a fool.”Donaty, startled, looked confused. He didn’t know whether to be angry or not.
At that moment, the line went taut.
“Oops, a bite.”Donaty’s head snapped up as if to warn her, and he urged Donnie on excitedly. Donnie lived up to his expectations and raised the rod.
A fish the size of a grown woman’s palm rose to the surface.
Donaty jumped up and down.
“Aah!”Mirania’s frustration eased a bit as she watched them rejoice over a mere fish.
Despite their grown-up demeanor, neither of them was mature enough to be an adult.
After separating the fish from the hook, Donnie dumped the catch into a bucket and sat back down in his chair.
“Phew,”Donnie muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow.
“You must have never stepped out of the imperial palace before, then you might not know what you’re talking about. This is a time of territorial disputes.” “…” “And you’ve never met anyone else during your walks?”Mirania shook her head.
“That’s good, because if anyone had seen you, they might have dragged you away. There are many dangerous people on these streets, and you have to look out for yourself.” “You mean I have to protect myself?” “Because it is predatory, the strong prey on the weak, that’s the rule of the land.” “It’s a predatory way of life…”Mirania muttered the new order of the land into her mouth.
An absurdity.
‘Historically, there has been no order where the ideology of strength over weakness was practiced.’
It was the law of nature, not the order of society.
For a world of intelligent people to be run solely based on a predatory system was tantamount to a state of disorganized chaos.
Donaty and Donnie no longer cared about her.
When she continued to be silent, Donaty grew impatient.
“Donnie, why are we not catching any fish today?” “Go inside the house and wait, you’re not feeling well.” “I’m not keeping an eye on you because I don’t want you to fool around. I told you that if you can’t fill two buckets, you won’t be allowed in the house, and I wasn’t kidding.” “I can’t fill two buckets, no matter how hard I try.”Donnie sighed heavily at Donaty’s monkey-like squeak.
“And I’m not the only one who won’t be able to get in, Donaty.” “What?” “I heard what the thugs said: if you don’t pay up, they’ll kick you out.”Donaty’s face turned grim.
“…You heard?” “They say I can go into the mountains and live on my own, but you, Donaty, I think you should go back to your hometown.” “I can’t go back home!”Shaking his head violently, Donaty squatted down and pulled his knees together.
“It’s already claimed by another clan from another faction, and we’ve all traveled nearly as far as this place, more than two lands away… and now I’m the only one left.”Donaty and Donnie stared darkly into the calm water.
“This fish is not caught…”Donaty muttered in a slurred voice.
‘What shall I do?’
Mirania clicked her tongue at the sight of Donaty’s limp limbs.
“Try casting your rod over there.” “Huh?”Donaty looked up at Mirania, eyes narrowed.
“There is no fish there. Even if you move the point.” “Do you even know that?”Donnie asked. Mirania raised an eyebrow.
“I guess you do your own fishing?”With trepidation, Donaty and Donnie packed up their belongings and headed to the spot Mirania had suggested.
“We’ll have to go down to the bottom. We’re not catching any fish anyway.”Donaty grumbled, not expecting much. Donnie, on the other hand, who had just taken his seat, widened his eyes.
“Huh?” “Why?”The fishing line tensed. Donaty jerked his head around and scrambled to his feet.
“Pull!”Donnie reflexively tensed his arm and pulled the rod back.
Whether the fish was stronger or Donnie was weaker, his flabby arm trembled. Finally, it lunged at Donaty.
Whack!Soon, the plump fish bounced to the surface. Donnie grabbed the fish and quickly pulled the hook out of the fish.
Plop, plop, plop—Donaty and Donnie looked at each other as the fish flopped to the bottom.
“Hey, put it in the bucket!”Donnie scooped up the fish and dropped it into the bucket. Their eyes immediately turned to Mirania.
Mirania twirled her finger in the air and pointed to the water’s surface.
“What are you doing, not catching more? “Here we go.”Donnie tossed the baited hook to the surface, and Donaty shook his head.
“Coincidence?” “Huh?” “What the hell, not again!” “Bite!” “Pull!”In no time, five fish were caught, and the bucket was almost full.
“Wow…”Donaty kept glancing at Mirania in wonder.
The look of doubt on his face, wondering if the catch was any good, disappeared.
When Donnie reeled in two more fish, Donaty’s eyes became almost worshipful.
Mirania coughed, ahem, in vain.
“I’m a bit of a hunter.” “Oh.”Donaty marveled. Mirania smirked at the rather naive response.
‘With this much.’
“…You really did fill two buckets, didn’t you?”An hour later, Donnie held up the two heavily laden buckets and squinted nervously.
Mirania had been invited by Donaty, who was worshiped as the god of fishing, and was graciously invited.
Donaty’s mansion, the second-smallest house on the street, was as tidy as it looked.
It’s easy to see who Donnie owes the tidiness of his home, given the way he tidies up a broken pot or a chipped spoon as soon as he gets home.
“I’m going to go to the thugs!”Armed with five fishes tied together with straw, Donaty left the house, excited that he wouldn’t be scaled.
“That’s five fish for today’s payment. I’ll save the rest…”Donnie’s job was to filet the remaining fish.
While each of them went about their business, Mirania didn’t sit down, just looked around.
‘It’s a ruin outside, but it’s better inside.’
Better, of course, didn’t mean intact.
There was a pot with a cracked lid, a chair with a short leg that creaked, and a fire pit that wouldn’t let the smoke out, but I pulled out a chair that was clean.
The dining table was covered in dust, so I grabbed what looked like a rag and wiped it off.
The off-balance chair slid over to the right. This one had even legs.
“Would you like to eat right away?”Striking a flint to light the fire, Donnie placed the fish on skewers over the flames.
As they waited for the fish to cook, Mirania burst out laughing.
“This reminds me of old times.” “A long time ago?” “We used to cook our food over a campfire like this. A long… time ago.”The faint wistfulness in her voice faded toward the end.
Even as they ate, Grecan and Leverianz continued to bicker.
“Is it really that long ago?”Donnie asked, flipping a skewer. Mirania shrugged.
“Without the spices, it didn’t taste as good.” “Oh, it’s the same with fish, you have to salt it to make it taste good.”Donnie scrambled to his feet and pulled a black pouch from the depths of a drawer.
He unzipped it and sprinkled the crude grains of salt over the fish.