Chereads / Journal of a war fought by a coward / Chapter 3 - A quiet friend

Chapter 3 - A quiet friend

After the fight with my dad I walked toward a spot in the nearby forrest, it was a spot that Milan once showed me. He called it the birds nest, it was a stupid name for sure but at the same time it was so very magical. Every time I came here I got the feeling that the world around me didn't matter anymore, safe for the sounds of people working in their fields. There was also another reason why I liked to come here and that reason was~"Arthuriii!!!" A little girl shouted out from atop a treebranch "Have you come to visit me again?" The little girl with bright green hair, light green skin and pink pupils asked me, "Sorry Silvia, I just want to be alon-" "Nonsense!" Silvia shouted, she jumped through the air and straight into my arms, "I can tell you know, you had another fight with your dad, didn't you?" I looked away with a face of disgust, "Yeah he brought Milan and Anisse up again, also helmetbrains punched me in the gut again." With those last words Silvia released a sigh and started to pout, "You know one of these days I'm gonna send him flying up so high that he'll soil himself coming down..."

"That's no good Silvia, even if Cedric is a giant asshole and pain in my ass, he's still Milan's brother too, so you can't just send him flying whenever." Hearing this Silvia started to pout even harder," I know but still, why does he have to treat you so unfairly all the time?" Hearing what she said I looked down and recalled all the fights we ever had, before Milan and Anisse' death we actually didn't fight all that much, but since they died we've been fighting more and more every day.

"I don't know, I just think he's putting to much strain on himself, trying to do everything on his own. When mom's sick he does triple shifts, so we can pay the medical bills and whenever dad needs something he never thinks twice about going out and getting it." Silvia looked up to me with eyes of shock, "does he really do that much?" I nodded, "Yeah, he just tries to be to much like Milan..." The last part I said under my breath, but even if Cedric is a giant asshole and though I'd never tell him, I respect him a lot for what he does, to be honest if he didn't do all of those things it wouldn't have taken a long time for mom's condition to worsen. But even then I still hate him for the way he treats me.

As soon as that thought finished another anoyance entered my sacred space. "Oiiii~Arthurioonn!! You in here?!" The person calling out to me was no other than my 'selfproclaimed' best friend Frederick Sedivahl Von Haddem or Freddy for short, "Quick! Silvia hide! If Freddy sees you it would be a lot of trouble trying to explain everything to him." As soon as I said this Silvia dissapeared in a cloud of magical wind. "Ah there you are!!" I looked over towards Freddy with a tired expression on my face, "What is it Frederick?" I asked with a clear undertone of amusement and annoyance, "Don't use my full name idiot! You know only my dad calls me Frederick! How many times do I need to ask you to call me Freddy?" Ever since we were kids Freddy hated it when people called him by his full name, I only do it to annoy him.

"Yes yes Frederick I know. Now tell me what are you doing here?" Freddy looked at me as if I just commited the greatest crime one could ever commit and said, "It is Freddy!!! And I ran into peebrains and schrimpy at the marketplace. Your 'big' bro surely didn't look to happy, what happened? Another fight? Or did your old man finally disown him?" I couldn't help but laugh internally at the statement he made, the chance of my brother being disowned was the same as me suddenly sprouting wings and turning into a pig. "Another fight, and the talk with dad really didn't help."

"Milan and Anisse?" Freddy asked with a hint of remorse in his voice, "Jup, it didn't help that I started talking about them in the first place but what's done is done, no changing that fact." As I said this, Freddy looked at me with a face of confusion. "What have you done with Arthurion, there is no way in the 13 circles of pandemonium that he would ever say something so profound and wise."

"Oi dumbass it's still me!!" I shouted while karate choping Freddy in the neck. to my amusement Freddy took the blow so hard that he vaulted face first into the ground, "Anyway did Misha ask you to come get me?" I asked this but already knew the awnser to my question, "Yes sir, even if she is 3 years younger than me, I can never say no to that little beauty."

"Hey! You do know you're talking about my little sister right? Try to aproach her with licenscious ideas and I'll castrate you like a pig." I said with what seemed like a mask of an oni behind me. "I-I-I'm sorrrryyy, forgive me please I have nothing but pure intentions." Freddy said while doing a perfect dogeza, we looked at each other and both burst out into laughter. " Ahahahahahaha, you know if you weren't just the stupidest man in the entire town I don't think I would ever be able to stand being in the same space as you." I said with a giant grin on my face. "Yeah fuck you too buddy, I love spending all of my time with a waste of space, completely useless and borderline idiotic morron like you." Freddy said with an honest to the gods smile on his face.

"Anyway, why did you come to this place, trying to get a glimpse of the guardian of the forrest?" Freddy asked me with pure intrigue and a little mockery in his voice. If only he knew that Sylvia was literally standing only a couple feet behind him. "Nah, just wanted to get away from everything for a while you know?"

"Yeah I'd want to isolate myself to if I had a fight with the legendary captain Hollsman, even though you're his son, you are nothing like your dad you know." When he said this I couldn't do anything but agree with what he said. My father was a hero, fought against Dwarfs, Elders and Elvish in many campaigns before Milan and Anisse were born. He had the respect of every person in the town and regularly got requests to train officers in training. "Well, if circumstances had been different maybe my dad would be proud of me." I said this not expecting an awnser but in times like these Freddy always knew what to say.

"He's proud of you, don't forget he may be a soldier first but he never misses a chance to brag about his capable children. Even after what happened to Milan and Anisse." As Freddy said this he had a thoughtfull look on his face before continuing, "When he's not working on the farm or at the station he visits them, every chance he gets, my mom told me she found him speaking to them about you, Misha and Cedric the other day." Hearing this I didn't know how to feel. the only thought going through my head was what he said to me. {I have to live with that failure for the rest of my days}

"Thurion-- Arthurion!! You still with me here? you just spaced out?" Hearing Freddy shout I got startled. "Yeah-yeah, I'm still here, it's just something my dad said earlier."

"Don't worry about it, how about we go to the town and see what the band is up to? I hear that Bert got his letter already."

"Really so soon? He just turned 18 two weeks ago."

"Yeah, his mom freaked out and his dad doesn't understand her behaviour, he's saying shit like 'woman you should be proud to have and aspiring soldier in your house' or something to that end. Wanna go?" I looked up and saw Sylvia sitting on a faraway treebranch. She gave me a nod and looked out into the distance. "Yeah let's go before Lady Sylviana get's mad at us for trespassing." I said jokingly. "Really dude, you still believe that story that she is suposed to roam these parts? If I was an all-powerfull fairy queen, I wouldn't be seen dead in these parts, hahaha~" If only Freddy knew...