HEO 18

[Hey, but wasn’t Ash something you made up to mess with me? I can’t believe such monsters exist in this world.]

[But you believe in Spruce and Birch’s existence?]

[Well, lots of people know about those. I’ve never seen anyone else who knows about Ash besides you, since the day I was born.]

[You’ve only lived 17 years. Try living longer.]

[Is being old something to brag about?]

[Who the hell are you calling old? You slave bastard.]

[You are old. Most people your age have grandchildren.]

[You castrated bastard!]

[I’m not castrated!]

Black Weasel and Silver’s voices grew louder. Wolf felt his chest tighten as he watched them. What are they arguing about now? Please, just speak Atanian!

Black Weasel and Silver jumped to their feet while pointing fingers at each other.

[I’m not castrated! I just don’t get hard every morning!]

[That’s proof you’re a castrated. Do you have any idea how serious it is for someone your age not to get hard every morning? When I was your age, I had a huge boner sticking out on the sheets!]

[I told you I had no problem getting hard!]

[You expect me to believe that when I didn’t see it with my own eyes?]

[You bastard, why are you so damn interested in other people’s dicks! Lifting the blankets every morning to check! It’s disgusting!]

[You still don’t get why I do it? You really are an idiot!]

Even Wolf, who was deaf to Stoll’s words, could tell Black Weasel and Silver were arguing. What is Silver thinking, acting like that? He’ll get whipped. But maybe he won’t get beaten since he’s his assistant.

[You called me an idiot again!]

Silver splashed water at Black Weasel. Black Weasel, not to be outdone, splashed water back at Silver. If these were eight-year-old kids doing that, you’d just laugh it off as water play. But these were a 40-something assassin and his teenage knife-wielding assistant.

[If I’m stupid, you’re stupid too! You stupid old fool!]

[You’re the only stupid one, you slave. Need an example? You can’t even do basic addition and subtraction.]

[What’s the problem? I’m not going to be a merchant.]

[You think you can live your whole life without getting ripped off?]

[Why would I get ripped off? I’m going live my whole life not paying anything, just like you.]

[A dumbass talking dumbass talk!]

Shouting, finger-pointing, and a shower of water followed. After the argument, Black Weasel was the first to back down.

[I’m going to meet Director Erem. You handle the morons in the meantime. Watch them properly or you’ll get punished.]

[Fuck you!]

The slave boy flipped his master off as he walked away. Only after Black Weasel’s footsteps faded did Wolf speak in a tiny voice.

“Hey, is it alright to fight with your master? What if you get whipped?”

[Mind your own business.]

“What does that mean? That you won’t get hit?”

“Fuck, are you scared of getting hit? Hit me or don’t!”

Silver grumbled as he submerged himself in the hot spring. Wolf was left speechless. From first impressions, Silver was a foul-mouthed, fearless type, but this was a bit… Unless the master was a senile old man, arguing with a broad-shouldered assassin will only hurt you, Silver.

Wolf quickly sorted out his thoughts. Regardless, Silver had just had a fight with his master. The chance to get close to Silver had appeared faster than expected.

Hesitating would be foolish. Let’s bake some bread right now.

But Wolf had just been humiliated by Silver. So this time, he’d put Red Eagle up front. To get close to Silver, Red Eagle, who’d honed his rhetoric in the court, might be more suitable. The quick-witted and calm demeanor he’d shown when talking to Black Weasel also inspired confidence.

Wolf gave Red Eagle a subtle nod. With a look that said, “Leave it to me,” Red Eagle winked one eye.

We’re truly one body!

You know what I mean, right? Naturally. Don’t be too obvious about ‘joining our side’. Revealing your true intentions from the start will only heighten Silver’s wariness.

“Silver, you often fight with your master?”

Red Eagle spoke in his characteristic gentle tone. Silver glanced at Red Eagle, then abruptly turned his head away. Wolf doubted his own ears when he heard the subsequent words.

“You don’t get along well with your master, right? Would it be rude to ask why you fought earlier? Sometimes just talking things out helps calm down. I want to be friends with you, since we’re around the same age. If it makes you uncomfortable, you can pretend you didn’t hear me.”

It was like dumping flour into the oven without a second thought, only to burn it black and eat it. His true, dark intentions were laid bare in every single word. More importantly, that “Just pretend you didn’t hear me” was baffling. What was he thinking? What if Silver really did pretend not to hear?

As expected! Silver deliberately closed his eyes. Realizing his mistake, Red Eagle’s face darkened instantly. Having already shown unnecessary kindness by saying it was fine to pretend not to hear, he couldn’t open his mouth anymore and just bowed his head.

Let’s not be one body, Your Highness.

With no other choice, Wolf stepped forward.

“Hey, does that old guy do that a lot? I was really scared just now. Even if you’re slave, yelling like that at a kid young enough to be his youngest son… Ha! Are all the Stoll adults like him? That’s not it? He’s the unreasonable one, right?”

He criticized Black Weasel in an angry voice. From Wolf’s experience, what a boy scolded by an adult wanted wasn’t comfort, but one-sided support. Would Silver be any different? Please, don’t be!

“From what I see, you’ve an insane amount of work to do. Rowing! Lookout duty! Cooking! Bringing blankets! That mountain of firewood over there, did you stack all that too? No matter how harsh Stoll is to slaves, this workload is excessive! And you’re still just a kid!”

Silver wasn’t much different from a Atanian boy. His eyes, which had been looking elsewhere, slowly turned toward Wolf. Like a cat stubbornly turning its back on the speaker, yet perking up one ear.

“Just because you splash water, he has to splash water too. Silver, I don’t know what you did wrong, but how big could it be? Even if it was something major, Uncle here is an adult who’s lived at least twice as long as you. Then he should just laugh it off. That’s what adults do!”

Wolf raised his voice and splashed water with both hands. Finally, Silver opened his eyes.

“I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Silver looked at Wolf and said.

“That Bingapsu bastard was spouting nonsense, so I just gave a well-reasoned counterargument. Wait, was it a counterargument? Or a backlash? Damn, I’m getting confused.”

Silver squinted and scratched his chin with his fingertip. Wolf clapped his hands and exclaimed, “Wow!”

“Silver, you know the difference between opposition, counterargument, and backlash? Even Atanians get those words mixed up. That’s impressive! Did you live in Atania for a few years or something?”

“If I had, I wouldn’t have asked you whether Atanian rabbits are tasty. I went there several times following Bingapsu, but never stayed longer than a week. I learned Atanian on my own.  For three years? I practiced conversation with Bingapsu. He said he lived in Atania for a few years long ago.”

“That’s why your accents were the same. But self-taught for three years?”

He couldn’t believe it. Silver was terrible at remembering names and acted strangely. Wolf thought he was slow-witted… Was the stupid one actually him?

Even Red Eagle looked stunned.

“Silver, you’re amazing. Self-taught in just three years? That level of language ability means you’re a natural. “

“Exactly, Your Highness. If it were me, even after thirty years of study, I probably still couldn’t tell the difference between opposition, counterargument, and backlash. But Silver… You must be really smart. So, did the old man get angry because he had no reply to your rebuttal?”

Silver shook his head at Wolf’s words.

“No, that’s not it. He got angry over a single joke I made.”

“Over a joke? Wow, that’s petty.”

“Exactly. It was nothing. I just asked if being old was something to brag about.”

“Well…”

It was like telling an ugly person whether their ugliness was something to brag about…

“Um, Silver. Isn’t it polite to tell an older person they look young?”

“It’s not like I was wrong. That Bingapsu bastard mocked me first, saying ‘You’ve only lived 17 years.’ Asking if being old is something to brag about? I think I had every right to say it.”

They didn’t particularly like Black Weasel, but they couldn’t agree with this statement. Wolf and Red Eagle remained silent. Silver added with a slightly flustered expression.

“Look, if you’d understood my argument with Bingapsu, you would’ve sided with me. What Bingapsu meant was that I know nothing because I’ve only lived 17 years. He looked down on me just because I’m young.”