“No need for thanks. We’re both gatekeepers. This is the least I can do. Anyway, your shift is over. I’ll take it from here.”
I bowed deeply and passed Roxy my spear. It was adorned with a flag, upon which the royal family’s coat of arms was embroidered; this spear was the sign of the gatekeeper. Roxy took it with due gravitas. She treated even “3D” duties like this with respect and honor. It made her different from the other holy knights.
It was this Roxy who took my hand in hers and spoke with a worried look. “If anything like this happens again, I…”
“No, I can’t cause you any further trouble. I’ll be fine. Thank you.”
Lady Roxy still wanted to say something, but I left before she could. I didn’t want her getting involved with the Vlerick family any more than she already was. There was no telling what underhanded tactics they’d use to get to her, and just imagining it sent me into a spiral of despair. I wanted Lady Roxy to forge ahead on her own path. I knew that whatever she ended up doing, it would be for the benefit of the people.
I headed off to the local tavern to drown my sorrows. The moon was high in the sky by the time I arrived. Late nights were busy times for taverns. All manner of people—from merchants and travelers to harlots and the like—sat drinking until their faces went red.
I took my usual spot at the counter, where the barkeep poured my usual wine without my saying a word. It was the cheapest wine available and horribly acidic. Its sole purpose was getting one drunk enough to forget one’s sorry lot.
“Bread and soup, barkeep.”
“You got it.”
My dinner was hard rye bread that had been left out for too long, and tasteless soup made with vegetables left over from other dishes. I hadn’t tasted meat in at least five years, and the last time I’d done so, it was a sliver of jerky. I couldn’t even remember the aroma.
Though my Gluttony skill meant I was always hungry, I didn’t have the money to satisfy my cravings. The best I could do was put off the hunger pangs by eating my food as slowly as possible. While I nibbled my bread and sipped my wine, the barkeep came over.
“How’s the gatekeeping going?”
“It’s rough.”
“I see… Well, I’ll be praying that you don’t end up like the guy before you.”
I didn’t reply. It was said that the gatekeeper the Vlerick family hired before I started had died of overwork. He hadn’t been too different from me—just another guy with barely a skill to his name. Over those relentless, punishing gatekeeping shifts, he became skinny and weak, and one day he simply collapsed and died like a puppet whose strings were cut.
The guy had died still doing his duty. But when the Vlericks found him, they trod all over his corpse and called him useless. The barkeep said he’d seen it with his own eyes. He said that, even now, he couldn’t forget that tragic sight. It was burned into the very meat of his mind.
So what’s going to happen to me…? I wondered.
If Roxy hadn’t stepped in while Rafale “educated” me, I might’ve ended up as just another version of that awful story. I’d survived the day…but at this rate, my future didn’t look as though it would be a long one.