I was in a carriage, only a maid was assigned to me who is sitting opposite towards me with a smile on her face. Everyone was giving me an annoyed and boring look, but she is the only one giving me gentle and kind smile.
My carriage is currently guarded by multiple guards and a mercenary team hired for the trip because they know the route for the north and how to survive in the jungle that comes in between Marquis that is situated in the center and the North.
I was looking outside the window thinking about...nothing, then a sudden voice interrupts me, I moved my head just to see a concerned expression on the maid face
"Are you alright, young master?"
She is the one who took care of me from my childhood, and she was the maid who also assigned to my mother and from the look of her she seems to be in her thirties.
and after her concerned question, I do what needed to be done. Yes, I promptly ignored her.
I once again look outside the window and start thinking about....many things.
'Nothing has changed' I thought
It was evening now, they set up a camp besides the road that adopts a tortuous course along the coast and start cooking. The maid left me alone in the carriage.
after some time, I start circulating the aura in my body causing my muscle fiber to stretch and my limbs to shaken and then after some time a message pop up in front of me.
It was the method that is used by one of the team members of hero who is famous for its superhuman strength.
I put my hand in the dimensional pouch, took out a couple of herbs and a ring. I wore the ring on the pinky finger and rub the herb on my hand multiple times.
*knock* *knock*
Then I heard a knock on the door of the carriage
"What is it?" I asked in an emotional voice that seems cold.
the person outside the carriage paused for a moment.
"F-Food is ready " he replied
I opened the carriage and followed him to the place that were not far from the carriage I was in
he is probably scared; well, its nighttime now and everybody will be scared when they heard a voice that resemble ghost. I also wonder whether he shit his pant or not.
When I reach the place, I see the people sitting near the bonfire on the table eating delicious food.
the people sitting on the table is mercenary team composed of three man and one girl.
when I reached near the table, A man with pitch black hair and black eyes who seems to be in his forties stand up and with a gentle smile he speaks
"My name is Gregor, and I am the team leader of the mercenary team "Black skull".
and then he points toward a person whose face and head are covered, only his eyes can be seen which appears to be in coffee brown color. His eyes are serious, and he have a cold look in his eyes. If gloominess has a face, then it must have been look like him.
"Ah, he is my son, He is a shy person. so, he doesn't like to speak much." scratching his head, he speaks embarrassingly
then he points towards a man who has golden brown hair and yellow eyes, and he appears to be in his twenties and a woman who have violet hair and eyes and she also appeared to be in her twenties.
"They ar-"
but before he could speak, the man and woman he pointed toward, standup and with an annoyed expression toward Gregor, they both speak
"What are you doing? let me speak for myself, you old man."
" Are you going senile, old man."
Gregor clicked his tongue and sat down, and they both looked toward me and with a kind smile they continued
"My name is Allen, Nice to meet you."
"My name is Risa, Nice to meet you"
I sat there expressionlessly and nodded my head
"My name is Lapse" I replied
they were confused by the expressionless demeanor of Lapse because he is known as the kindest child in the territory of Marquis of Ivansia, but they all understand it must be because of rash decision of sending him north.
The maid brings me the steak and stand back with a similar expression she wore before
I put the fork on the steak, but it didn't cut no matter how hard I try. so, instead of cutting I picked the steak and put up in my mouth.
*crunch*-*crunch*
The steak was hard and cold. It was so hard that blood started dropping from my mouth due to the sharp edges of the meat that cut multiple places in my mouth, but it didn't matter to me as I just continued chewing.
after seeing the blood from my mouth dripping, the maid bites his lips and bow down his head, probably trying to avoid seeing the blood dripping from my mouth.
Suddenly, Gregor stand up and shout in an enraged voice
"Who gave the prisoner food to lapse? Show yourself, otherwise I will kill you myself."
Everybody scared and stood up on the seat and I brushed it off, his aura didn't even budge me a little and I continued eating steak with my blood soaked in it.
then the Allen and Risa came to my both side and take the steak from my mouth and throw it to the ground and Risa start wiping the blood from my mouth and start using her healing magic which stopped the bleeding.
the maid come forward and bowing his head she starts apologizing for mistake and pointed toward some soldiers, she said.
" They are the one who h-harass me and warn me that they will r-ra*e me If I don't listen to them"
She starts crying after speaking, the soldiers rebuked that they didn't do that, but no one listened to them. They were immediately demoted from knight to the prisoner.
They asked for forgiveness because in the war, Knight can have much privileged, but prisoner is only used for meat Shields, means only death awaits them in the future.
The maid brought me another piece of steak which is warm and soft, but it doesn't matter to me. Everything tastes same to me; disgusting and tasteless. Like a robot I start eating again.
Everybody looked me with a pity, and they have a concerned expression on their faces, but my expression doesn't even change a little, it remains expressionless like a doll.
They all talk about the memories they spend with each other, and they talk about the life and death situation they face together, the whole time was very cheerful.
Thats how the dinner ended, when I was leaving for the carriage for sleep, Gregor called me
" Lapse, if you don't mind can you wash the dish for tonight and do night watch with my child, as you know we have to go early tomorrow and we didn't even rest a little bit a whole day. Please do for this night only, you can rest tomorrow in the carriage."
I was a naive kid when I was a child, so that's why I can't neglect a request when someone said 'please' to me.
"Ok" I nodded
Gregor thanks lapse and leave him saying that he is still a kind kid from the inside no matter how much he is indifference from the face.
when Gregor and everybody leaves me alone with the dishes, glasses, cups and other utensils that have been used at a meal, I shake my head and mumbled something.
" We live in a world, where being kind is the weakness and the one whose playing dirty wins in the end."