Theorde looked at him, then turned his head to look at me again and said.
“…I apologize for coming without notice.”
Did he notice it’s before opening hours? Even though he’s one of the protagonist’s party, I thought a noble lord wouldn’t care about such things. As I hesitated whether to open my mouth sourly, Theorde suddenly rummaged inside his clothes.
He’s not going to draw a sword because my gaze was impure, is he?
My spine went cold, and the very moment I gulped.
Seeing something silver flash from his fingertips, I reflexively raised my arm to cover my face. It was a pitiful survival instinct trying to block any blade that might fly at me.
But even after a long while, Theorde showed no signs of moving. Finding it strange, I carefully peeked my head out from between my arms, and in his fingertips was not a sharp sword but something roundish.
“…!”
It was a whole 1 Silver.
Yes, 1 Silver. That perfectly beautiful circular curve and the luster shining as much as his silver hair was definitely 1 Silver.
A bowl of gukbap costs only 3 Pennies, and now he’s casually putting down more than thirty times that amount?
This, crazy… Without realizing it, the corners of my mouth squirmed upward. I was desperately holding back my hand from shooting out to grab the silver coin, when Theorde, who had been looking down at me, very briefly raised the corners of his mouth.
“…?”
Wait, wait. Did he smile? That stone-like cold-blooded swordsman?
As I stared at him frozen in a daze, Theorde once again turned his head slightly toward the kitchen. He gazed intently at Gilbert who had half-covered his face with his beard, then withdrew his gaze.
Then he left one sentence and stood up.
“I’ll come often.”
On the table where he disappeared, a silver 1 Silver was left behind all alone.
“…”
I stared blankly at the door he’d left through for a long while, then quietly muttered.
“I got that tingling feeling.”
Gilbert behind me muttered in a hoarse voice unsuited to his build.
“…Me too. I thought I’d be stabbed to death by his gaze.”
“There’ll never be this kind of love… no, this kind of customer again.”
“…”
At my dazed words, Gilbert closed his mouth for a moment. As the two grown men fell silent, silence quickly enveloped the inn, and in the silence where no one opened their mouths, only the silver 1 Silver shone exceptionally.
My first customer. No, my first sucker appeared like that.
***
#02. The Inn’s Guests.
Theorde Valen Hart.
The first companion of the protagonist—the Saint—in 《The Saint Wants to Live Peacefully》, and the cold-blooded Knight Commander the Empire boasts of.
The first thing about his fame was his skill, and the second was his appearance. His taciturnly hardened expression and tightly closed lips rarely uttered more words than necessary, but that was enough.
If he had that face and was good with words too, wouldn’t that be a scam? Originally, when a person is born with a certain amount, it’s better to keep their mouth shut.
Usually it’s kids lacking something like me whose eloquence grows. Well, whether lacking background or lacking height… various things. I don’t have either of those. —Not that I’m short. I’m rather above average.—
Anyway, in the novel too, he was always described that way.
[The Knight Commander of the Chevalier Empire and Duke Hart. A sculpture-like handsome man with silver hair and blue eyes. The reason he joined Amelia’s party wasn’t due to some great sense of mission or conviction. Simply because an order had been given. That was all.
His appearance was so perfect it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say God had carefully molded him, but he was as silent as his hardened expression, and to others that silence came across as even more intimidating. So much so that even Amelia, who always hid her laziness and cynical personality due to her position as the Saint, couldn’t stand it one day and said this.
“My Lord, if your throat hurts, I’ll heal it for you.”
That’s how much he was a man who spared his words. He was almost wordless even when necessary, and showing emotion was even rarer.
However, there was an exception. It was mealtime.
That evening they lit a fire for the first time in a while. A meager bowl of stew barely boiled with a few vegetables. That was all.
However, Theorde opened his mouth briefly for the first time in front of that small warmth.
“I ate well.”
Along with those words, the corners of his mouth rose very slightly. Of course, it was just a smile that passed in a moment, but even that alone seemed to take Amelia’s breath away.
Isn’t it said that a silent man’s smile is that fatal?
That smile that spread under the firelight was soft yet intense enough to instantly erase the fatigue of the long and harsh journey.
But she soon realized that smile wasn’t directed at Amelia. He gave it equally to anyone facing the meal table.
That’s right. Theorde was just a guy serious about food.
‘He must really like eating.’ That was Amelia’s conclusion.]
Though it was a description from the original work made from the Saint’s perspective, what I recalled again was just one thing.
Couldn’t all those misunderstanding-filled comments about love and whatnot ultimately stem from his sincerity about food?
And after that, Theorde came to the inn continuously for a whole week.
Since it was still a single menu with only gukbap, I don’t know what he found so delicious about it. When I casually gave him a rolled omelet as a service, his eyes flashed and he left another 1 Silver on top and left.
Just for a 3 Penny gukbap with one rolled omelet added.
Today too, I stared at the silver coin he’d left behind and muttered inwardly.
…Isn’t this completely catching a sucker?
No matter how I thought about it, this went beyond just finding it delicious, it was almost either religious devotion or being a sucker.
And the rumor spread faster than expected.
The story that the Empire’s Knight Commander personally came to eat at the inn on the Boundary Line in the outskirts.
That one-line rumor alone was enough.
Within a few days, adventurer parties began stopping by the inn one by one. Young soldiers of the knight order patrolling the Boundary Line, and those who risked danger to go out for demon subjugation.
Everyone came drawn by the rumor of ‘the gukbap place the Knight Commander ate at.’
Ding-a-ling-
The bell on the door rang several times a day.
Yes, gukbap sold like hotcakes. As soon as I served white broth lightly mixed with MSG with plenty of head meat on top, customers would all widen their eyes.
“This is my first time tasting something like this.”
“Wow, no wonder the Knight Commander stops by.”
“A hot bowl of gukbap near the Boundary is just paradise.”
Praise poured out from everywhere. Not greetings given to the owner like well-wishes, but admiration filled with sincerity. Yet I just peeled boiled eggs without much emotion and only muttered inwardly.
‘So, where in the novel is this right now?’
In the original, the beginning starts with the Saint and Theorde confirming the Boundary Line corpse incident, and becoming a party through that. But lately Theorde has been lurking around alone. The Saint? Why isn’t she showing up yet?
Anxiety rose up to my throat. I casually held out a peeled boiled egg while pretending not to know and inserted myself into the customers’ chattering conversation.
“There seem to be a lot of adventurers around the Boundary lately?”
At my question, one customer who was scooping gukbap raised his head.
“Huh? You didn’t hear while running the inn?”
It was a familiar face. A regular who occasionally passed by and gave me extra tips saying I was cute. The friendly tone was thanks to that too. When I quickly shook my head, he looked around and lowered his voice even more.
“You know, they found a body.”
I flinched at those words. Originally it was a story that quietly circulated only among high ranks, but now the rumor had spread so much that adventurers were flocking here. It was a signal that the main story was starting. I feigned ignorance and asked.
“Ah, that. But what does that have to do with the increase in adventurers?”
“Why else, everyone’s on edge. Because they think it’s the demons’ doing. So the Empire is sending knights, and adventurers are also searching around the forest.”
As expected, exactly the beginning flow. The novel’s scenes and the reality before my eyes overlapped in my head.
“Besides, that body is unidentified. Why would it be unidentified? They’re wondering if the demons might have secretly kidnapped and confined a human.”
“But there’s the Boundary Line.”
When it comes to the Boundary Line, it’s usually a name that first evokes tension. But here it was different. As long as you didn’t trespass, there was no better barrier. Nevertheless, in the original novel, the fight between demons and humans fully ignited precisely because of that unidentified body incident.
At my words, the customer just shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s just speculation. No one knows if it’s really the demons’ doing. But since this is on the Boundary, we can’t help but suspect. There’s no harm in being careful, right?”
As he said, it could have ended as a simple suspicious death. But it happened to be unidentified, and it happened to be on the Boundary. An incident like sparks rising toward war, tearing through the thin veil of peace. Of course, who that body was remained unrevealed until the very ending.
Well, it was understandable if you think of it as a trigger opening the first chapter.
Just then.
Ding-a-ling-
As the light but clear bell sound rang, the atmosphere strangely settled.
The noisy sounds filling the inn subsided all at once. Hands holding spoons stopped, and heads turned toward the door in unison.
“…”
First silver hair was visible, and beneath it clear blue eyes shone calmly. And that sculpture-like face hard to forget once seen.
The appearance of our regular sucker.
