"Burgelia's whereabouts have never been known. All we know is that she was sold by a slave trader to Walfo of House Gerho, who in turn sold her to another slave trader and traveled far away on a ship."
"When you say he was taken away by ship, do you mean he left the continent of Heneruk?"
"Not necessarily. He may have traveled by ship to the south of the continent of Heneruk, or he may have traveled to a continent farther east."
"In this wide world, it would be very difficult to find Burgelia."
"Mr. Aldeth, if there is a connection, you will find Burgelia again."
"Bachelor, I want to go on a ship and see the wide world."
"Where would you like to go?"
"The continent of Merfeld, far to the east, or a free city in the middle of the ocean."
"You are very curious, Aldeth."
"I want to see the world."
Aldeth did want to see the world, and he thought there was a connection between Ragnarok, whom he had dreamed of at the base of the ash tree in the Boundary Forest, and Aldeth's eating the ash berries and gaining strength. He didn't want to tell the bachelor yet that he was traveling to stop Ragnarok, and he was looking forward to seeing Burgelia again.
"Then you will have to take a boat."
"But, bachelor, fare will be expensive, won't it?"
"The voyage to and from the continent, to the continent, to the Free City, is a long one, and the fare will be considerable."
Aldes realized that the barely adequate salary that Tuolier, House Gerjo's treasurer, received would not cover the fare.
"Couldn't we sneak aboard the ship?"
"You can't stay hidden forever on a ship on a long voyage; you need to eat and defecate, and it's impossible to stay on board undetected."
"I've been to Wallabach," he says, "and it's a very commercial city, and they say that ships that go to faraway places come in and out of it, and you have to go to Wallabach to get there."
Wintry remembered the name of the city, Wallabach.
"Aldes, when you and I were studying geography together, we talked about Atenbach, remember?"
"Attenbach..., yes, I remember. A region west of here. You said that the Bertha family in Attenbach is not very well off, but they have a lot of people with good hands."
"That's right. Masons from Attenbach have long been known for their skill, and that's why they are sought after not only in Hennerup, but also in the faraway continent of Mercerfeld, in the Free Cities, and so masons from Attenbach who are commissioned to do work travel overland to Walleibach, and from there they take a ship to their destination."
"Now that you mention it, Bachelor, I remember. You said that the stonemasons of Attenbach not only make buildings strong, but they also make beautiful stone sculptures."
"Stonemasons travel on ships when they are commissioned to do a job, and of course they are paid by the person who commissioned them, so if you are working as a stonemason in Atenbach, Aldes, you must have a job somewhere else, and you can join the stonemasons on their ships, right?"
Aldeth sprang to his feet and took Wintry's hand.
"As usual, bachelor, you're amazing. I will go to Attenbach and work as a stonemason, just like you said."
"Masonry is hard work, because you have to work with heavy stones."
"I've fought countless orcs in the Forest of Welcome Fangs and returned safely. Heavy stones are nothing to me."
"Haha. I see."
"Bachelor, please don't tell anyone that I'm going to Attenbach to work as a stonemason."
"Yes. I'll keep it to myself."
Wintry left after a long conversation with Aldes.
The next day, Aldeth made his way to his brother Tari's room. Aldeth told the servant at the door that he had come to see Tari.
A moment later, the servant showed Aldes into the room.
"Brother, what are you doing all the way to my room. Sit down."
The servant served tea.
"Long time no see, I came to talk to Terry. What have you been doing?"
"I was looking at the financials."
"You're not even a treasurer. You're looking at the financials?"
"I don't know what you're talking about yet. I'm still learning from the Treasurer."
"You're doing well in your succession lessons. You're doing well."
Tari was pleased, but also worried, when Aldeth returned from the successful expedition to Wallabach and was released from hostage. He was the eldest son of House Boldo, and the one who had forgiven the family's debts. It was only natural that he would be the heir to the family.
However, it wasn't just Tari who had to decide who would succeed him. When Aldeth left Griffenstein Castle, he thought he would never return, that a suitable bride would be found for him by the Gerho family and that he would be a servant for the rest of his life.
In his own mind, if his brother said he should be the heir to House Boldo, he could give in. However, a group of vassals had already formed around him. Convincing them all would be no easy task, which is why Tari had been so troubled lately.
"Somehow, I feel sorry for you."
Aldeth knew how Tari felt. Ever since they were kids, he'd been a good little brother who looked up to Aldes.
"Nothing to be sorry about, boy. You're going to be the heir to the Boldo family in the future, just like you're doing now."
".... What are you going to do now, big brother?"
"I'm going to travel the world, I'm leaving Arenberg Castle, so you don't worry about me, just think about how to run the Boldo family in the future. Do you understand?"
"But where are you going to go?"
"I'm going to travel the world. I don't have a destination, I'm going wherever my heart takes me. I'll write you once in a while. You don't have to worry about me, you know how strong I am. If I rob a bandit, I rob him, I rob him!"
Tari knows Aldeth is not the kind of man to be robbed by bandits. He's not worried about that.
"Brother. Shall I come with you?"
Aldeth slaps Tari's honey chestnut.
"When you leave, someone will take over the Boldo family, and you'll be stuck here. That's your destiny, you just keep doing what you're doing, do you understand?"
Terry scratched his head.
"Okay, Dean."
Aldeth assumed that now that he had told Tari about his whereabouts, word would naturally spread to his family and vassals.
In truth, it was customary for Aldeth to tell his father first, but this time was different. Aldeth himself wanted to tell Tari first.
Aldes prepared to leave again. To deceive, he had to deceive everyone. Aldes decided to change his identity and go to Attenbach.
Leaving the castle and heading straight west, Aldeth said his destination was first, the mysterious Misty Mountains to the south, as people could guess where he was going. From there, he would travel to the cities of the south.
Aldeth said goodbye to his family and vassals, and set out on his journey south. Only Wentry knew his destination.
Aldeth traveled south. He traveled south all day, then turned west. Attenbach was more than 200 kilometers to the west. Aldes was in no hurry. Wintry had told him that if he wanted to find a job as a mason in Attenbach, he could go to the employment office in the city of Attenbach.
Aldeth walked and walked, through fields and mountains. He didn't need to bring much food. If he wanted meat, he could buy it locally. He was almost out of food. Aldes walked along the mountain paths, looking around for animals to hunt. After two hours of walking, he spotted the antlers of a deer peeking through the grass.
Aldeth threw his pack to the ground and drew his sword. He steadied his steps and walked slowly toward the deer. He closed the distance as much as he could. He closed the distance to 15 meters, then 13 meters, then 10 meters.
Then it happened. The deer sensed my approach. It stopped grazing, looked up, and made eye contact with Aldes. The deer took off running. Aldeth quickly chased after it. Aldes quickly overtook the deer. Aldeth got right up next to the deer and struck it in the neck with his sword.
Aldeth built a campfire to eat the deer's meat. He skinned the animal, cut up the meat, stuck it in a tree, and roasted it. The smoke from the venison spread to every corner of the forest. It took a long time for the meat to cook.
Aldeth grew hungry as he waited for the meat to cook.
Time passed as he held his stomach in check. The blood stopped dripping now. Finally, the meat was done. Aldes tore into the meat and ate. Aldeth could not eat the whole deer in one sitting. Aldeth would only eat as much as he could handle.
He picked at the meat for a long time. Aldeth heard distant footsteps through the crackling and popping of the firewood. They were not animal footsteps, but the footsteps of several people, and they were coming closer and closer to him.
"Does it taste good alone?"
Aldes realized that the bandits had finally arrived.
"It's delicious alone, but if you guys want some, why don't you join me?"
Aldes couldn't finish the whole deer by himself anyway. There was no problem with sharing the meat.
There were seven bandits. The bandits were surprised to hear the boy's bold words, so they looked around for a moment to see if anyone else was around, but there was only one boy eating the meat.
"Then let's eat together."
The seven bandits sat around the campfire and ate the venison with Aldes.
"I've had enough to eat, eat up, boys. And fetch me some water. There must be a stream nearby."
Aldes tossed the water bag to one of the bandits. The bandit was dumbfounded, but curious about Aldes's behavior.
"Here's water. Take this."
The bandit tossed the water bag to Aldes.
"I don't want to eat what you put in your mouth. Fill my water bag with fresh stream water. If you eat meat, you'll pay for it."
"Yaima, what's wrong with your head? We're seven bandits, and you're alone."
"So, seven of you are enough to overpower me, so I shouldn't send you to fetch water? If I hunted hard, roasted meat, and ate it for free, shouldn't I at least fetch water?"
"Are you crazy!"
One of the bandits stood up and said.
"Hahahaha. Hahahaha."
Aldeth laughed so loudly that the mountains echoed. The bandits thought he must be crazy.