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10. Childhood Friend – Hans

Early in the morning, Lena and Leo left the village.

They decided to first stop by the large town, and they weren’t alone; the village cart came along with them.

Demos village sent a cart to the large town twice a month. The cart would set off filled with items to sell at the biweekly market and return with necessary goods.

Adults sometimes accompanied the cart to sell items, but usually, they entrusted it to their sons. Hans, the baker’s son, also loaded a small box onto the cart.

The young men pushed the cart together, and Leo joined in too.

“Hey, Leo. It’s okay to take a break since we’re leaving.”

“No way.”

Even as the young men urged him to stop pushing the cart, feeling guilty for leaving, Leo clung to it. Despite the fact that they were leaving, he wasn’t going to just stroll along with Lena while others struggled with the cart.

Lena followed alongside, distributing water to the young men. Autumn was approaching, but it was still hot.

The young men drank continuously and doused their heads with water as they strained to push the cart.

While it would be easier if the heavy cart could just speed along, the road was neither well-maintained nor straight.

They had to control their speed and watch their footing at every moment, which was exhausting.

Yet, they needed to hurry. The large town was quite a distance away, and the young men pushed the cart diligently, even saving time that could’ve been spent eating.

The cart finally stopped as the sun began to set. The young men parked it at the entrance of the large town and set up a tent around it.

They were preparing to camp out.

Booking a stay would be a waste of money, and they couldn’t carelessly leave a cart filled with goods in someone else’s town. No doubt, local villagers wouldn’t sympathize with outsiders in the event of theft.

So, the young men set up a tent to guard the cart and camped out.

“We’re off.”

“Take care! Be safe!”

Lena and Leo exchanged goodbyes with the village youths and left.

They planned to stay at an inn.

Leo didn’t want to make Lena camp out alone. She might say she was fine, but if they had the money, there was no need to needlessly put her through hardship.

Unbeknownst to them, Hans was also following behind and entered an inn with them.

For the first time in her life, Lena was thrilled and at a loss when she entered the inn.

She stepped forward, declaring that she would book a room.

“…And we’ll take one room, please.”

“Is it a double or a twin?”

“Uh…? What?”

“A twin, please.”

“Alright, I’ll show you to your room.”

Leo interrupted and picked the twin option.

As the innkeeper carried a candle ahead, Lena turned to Leo with a face that seemed to ask what she had just picked. However, Leo shrugged and didn’t tell her.

If he did, she would feel so embarrassed.

‘Maybe I should have chosen a double?’

Leo chuckled inwardly.

The innkeeper led the two to their room.

The innkeeper’s round backside filled the narrow staircase so much that the candle in his hand offered little help to Lena and Leo.

Finally, he pointed to a door down the corridor.

“This is it. Make sure to tell me when you leave tomorrow.”

“Thank you. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

The innkeeper disappeared down the stairs, shading the light again.

Once they entered the room and lit the candle, Lena started bouncing around excitedly.

“Wow! There’s a bed!”

Lena’s house didn’t have a bed.

She probably had never slept in one.

“I thought for sure we’d have to sleep on the floor. This is so nice! But shouldn’t we be going to a place where we sleep on the floor? Given our situation.”

“Places like that are cheap, but it’s not appropriate for girls to go there.”

There were inns where you could sleep in a large room without a bed.

While this was the cheapest place to sleep, it wasn’t a suitable option for women since you’d have to share it with strangers. Even a man would hesitate to stay there alone.

Lena plopped herself on the bed and bounced up and down, asking,

“Are we sure we didn’t come to some place too expensive? We could’ve just camped out back at the cart.”

“No, we only booked one room, so it was cheap.”

Lena wasn’t familiar with the prices.

Not just her, but the men who came to sell goods in the large town didn’t know the accurate prices either. They only vaguely understood the exchange value of goods.

So when women needed to buy something in the large town, they would ask how much they needed to trade. Thus, Lena had no way of knowing the lodging fee in cash.

Lena flitted from one bed to the other, comparing them. Suddenly, perhaps recalling something, she shot Leo a fierce look.

“Wait! Leo, if you do anything weird just because we’re sharing a room, I won’t let it slide!”

She threatened him, shaking her fist.

Although that kind of behavior often backfires—Leo just acknowledged her.

Lena was indeed cute.

The room had a few candles, but worried that the innkeeper would ask for more money if they used too many, the two snuffed the candle and lay down in their beds.

Lena lay down on the soft bed for the first time, but fell into a restless state, unable to sleep. She had barely slept the previous night, thinking about leaving the village, and her eyes were wide open.

On the other bed, Leo breathed softly. He must have already fallen asleep.

Lena propped herself up to look at Leo. Even in the dark, she could see him clearly.

What a kind friend he was.

In fact, she had intended to confess to him while picking wild mushrooms last weekend. She planned to say things like, “I’ll stop my studies to become a priest.”, “What do you think of that, Leo?” and “I like you.”

But before she could say any of it, Leo suddenly proposed a journey.

He had a plan for her dream. Not just Leo, but her parents, the priest, and the monk all prepared to help her.

‘I had almost given up….’

Tears were welling up again, so Lena turned over and buried her face in the pillow.

At that moment, Leo let out a low moan, as if he were having a bad dream.

Gingerly, she got up, adjusted his pillow, and pressed her forehead to his, easing his discomfort.

Leo mumbled, “Lena… Lena…” in his sleep.

Was he dreaming of her?

Lena sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, watching his face.

His tousled hair had grown wild, his forehead was smooth, his eyebrows stood straight, his cheeks were healthily sun-kissed, and his lips were tightly sealed even in slumber.

He might have been someone she could have fallen for.

In the pitch-dark room where no one else was present, Lena scanned her surroundings and stealthily leaned towards his lips.

Her heart raced.

Lena’s lips barely brushed against his.

– Leo, I’m sorry! Lord Binard! Please forgive me.

What would the god of admonishing bad behavior, Lord Binard, think of this action?

But this was the first and the last time. From now on, she would remain just friends with Leo.

Lena quenched her longing to be with him with a brief kiss.

Fortunately, Leo didn’t wake up.

“Leo, I really was bad, huh?”

She gently stroked his ruffled hair and whispered softly before returning to her bed.

She felt guilty for doing something wrong to a friend who was purely trying to help. When I become a priest, the first blessing will surely be bestowed upon you…

She tossed and turned before finally drifting off to sleep.

*

The next morning, Leo woke up first and stepped outside. There were a water bucket and two towels hanging at the door. They seemed to be for washing.

‘What great service.’

He had indeed been thinking about asking for washing water, so this worked out perfectly. He brought the bucket into the room.

Lena was still fast asleep.

While Lena was asleep, he stripped off only his upper clothes and soaked a towel to wipe his body. He scrubbed his hair vigorously with the wet towel.

The memories of a modern society where washing was so straightforward made him uncomfortable. It felt so natural to wash like this with a wet towel indoors, yet it didn’t feel satisfying at all.

Having cleaned himself off, Leo shook Lena awake.

“Lena, wake up.”

She jolted up but, still half-asleep, answered in a sluggish tone, “Leo~~ did you sleep well~?”

“Yeah. I just washed up. There’s water and towels here, so take your time washing up. We’ll eat here and head out, so leave your things and come down.”

Leo sat with his eyes closed, clearly telling Lena what to do before heading downstairs.

He informed the innkeeper that they would eat soon and leave, then stepped outside to wait for Lena.

The street was bustling early in the morning, and the young men from Demos village seemed to have woken up early to sell goods.

Leo waved to a few of them with a smile when, out of nowhere, Hans appeared and approached him.

“Oh! Leo. Looks like you stayed here.”

“Hans, you sold everything already?”

“Mine sells quickly. Have you eaten yet?”

“Not yet. I’m planning to eat here shortly.”

“Great! I’ll join you.”

There was no reason to turn down an offer to eat together, so Leo readily agreed.

He and Hans weren’t particularly close.

They hadn’t interacted much. Leo spent time hunting with his father or foraged for food with Lena or occasionally did fieldwork with the village youths. Meeting others wasn’t something he did often.

Moreover, since he had no memories of the past, to him, Hans and the other village youths were all just strangers.

He had heard rumors that Hans often hid instead of working, but that didn’t seem bad to Leo.

Hans’s family was well-off, allowing him to be lazy.

And based on modern society’s standards, it wasn’t unusual to be that lazy at that age, and it wasn’t something Minseo could be blamed for.

Having decided not to meddle in others’ business, he let Hans’s question slide.

“What about you and Lena?” Hans asked.

“What about it?”

“What do you think?”

“……”

At this age, kids’ minds often wandered. Leo thought he understood why Hans was asking.

Instead of feeling annoyed, other thoughts crossed Leo’s mind.

‘How would the real Leo have responded?’

Would the real Leo have gotten angry? Would he have laughed it off as a joke? Or would he have just ignored it?

He found himself preoccupied with different thoughts, ignoring Hans’s comment or responding just enough to pass the time.

Soon enough, Lena came down, and the three of them ordered their meals, with Lena showing no hint of discomfort at her unexpected guest. The conversation during breakfast naturally turned to the two friends’ journey.

Hans’s eyes sparkled as he asked, “You’re going to the Lord’s Castle? Isn’t that the wrong direction?”

The Lord’s Castle was located to the north while Nevis was to the west. If they were heading for the monastery church in Lutetia, they would have to go northwest, so heading toward the Lord’s Castle wasn’t exactly a wrong choice, but if they were going to Nevis, it would mean taking the long route.

“But it can’t be helped. We need to hitch a ride with the merchant group, and there’s no merchant group here, right?”

“Ah~ you really don’t know the world. There’s a market happening right now, how can there not be a merchant group?”

Hans clicked his tongue, clearly incredulous, and crossed his legs.

“There should be quite a few merchant groups going west. Would you like me to introduce you to one?”

“You know someone?”

“I’m pretty familiar with this Torito.”

The name of this town was actually Torito, but the villagers of Demos simply referred to it as the “large town.”

“Then can we leave today?”

“If you ask, you’ll find out quickly.”

Lena and Leo followed the boasting Hans. He navigated the market with ease, asking several merchants before turning back.

“They said there’s nothing leaving today. The merchant group from that old man over there said they’ll leave tomorrow morning, and that seems to be the earliest option.”

“Hmmm…”

“If you’re going, I can introduce you to the merchant leader. I’m not too close with him, but I’ve met him a few times and know him.”

Merchant groups formed around the merchant leader, traveling between each town’s markets.

The larger groups had enough scale for their operations, but smaller groups would gather other merchants to match their scale. Those who gathered would pool their money to hire escorts.

For individual travelers like Lena and Leo, hitching a ride with merchant groups was the safest option, so Leo was keen on Hans’s introduction. Going all the way north to the Lord’s Castle would be a waste of time.

The merchant leader Hans introduced was a portly man with a thick mustache, who was leisurely smoking a pipe at one corner of the bustling market. He raised his hand happily upon seeing Hans.