Mercenary Systems: The Eternal Life
Chapter 14 Food is Valuable

The sun is shining, the light is hitting my face.

I squirm. Comfort discouraged me from opening my eyes. Because of the sunlight, I changed my sleeping position. But, the air that made tiny hairs on the surface of my skin prevented me from continuing the dream that was instantly forgotten.

Besides, my stomach immediately asked to be filled.

Inventory screen appears. I have positioned myself to sit. There are no items other than Dinner Packs that have been refilled by buying them in the Shop, documents that prove the crime of D'Meatros, there are also Breakfast Packs of slightly different amounts.

I took out one portion of the Breakfast Package. When I was ready to eat a mouthful of warm bread, my hand came to a halt.

After my consciousness recovered more, I too late realized that someone else was sitting not far from me. She's a chestnut brunette. His face reminded me of what happened before I was unconscious. In fact, I had thought back then that death had come to pick me up.

Could I really be alive?

The smell of life is still felt. For some unexplained reason, my suspicion of death was immediately dismissed. So, of course I am still living by a miracle.

The woman, thank goodness she survived. Perhaps my guess was correct that the orc warrior whose heart had been pierced by my spear had only used the remnants of his power to inflict fatal wounds on me. With the rest of his incredible strength, I was so unconscious, completely helpless because of it. In the end, the orc warrior was immediately picked up by death once the remnants of his power were exhausted.

The thing is, the woman must have just seen the sudden appearance of the Breakfast Package. Maybe she wasn't so confused about it, considering she was a witch. After all, there was an unusual phenomenon in my fight with orc warriors going on.

Twice, I saw a scene where black hands emerged from the shadows under the orc warrior, and tied his body.

Moreover, many events have been unusual to me myself over the past few days.

Experiencing all of that, to be honest, I'm still not used to it. In fact, my life that has made so much progress in this strange place is still hard to believe. And, of course I don't want to have to believe it.

This isn't a dream.

So, the woman's reaction when she saw what I just did was...

My hand continued to put a piece of bread into my mouth. Apparently, he's daydreaming. That's good for me, so I don't have to explain things that need to be explained when he questions them.

"You-you.want?" I offered another piece of bread to the woman.

"Oh?"

He looked surprised, probably because my voice interrupted his daydream.

"Are you sure?" he asked by showing a look of astonishment. Of course, the one who felt astonished here was me for the question he was asking.

I smiled a little. "Why not?"

In a foreign place, I think there are times when I need to understand things that seem strange, and it takes time to get used to.

So, I didn't really think about the strange question.

"Soft," he murmured softly, he just took a small bite of the bread he gave me. "It must be expensive bread. Especially in a place like this, he gave it to me instead...."

Though only a piece of bread, but it feels strange to hear someone think the gift of bread alone seems something excessive.

"By the way, me, Kaellan. What... I may know...your name?"

"May," he said, before standing up. Then he slightly pulled up the left and right sides of the robe that was near his thigh. Bending her knees slightly and head bowed gracefully, she continued saying, "my name is Dragomir Bianca. I am a novice witch of the element of darkness. For yesterday, I'm really grateful to you, and I'm sorry that I hurt you so badly."

I stood up, about to say that everything was fine regardless of me being unconscious from receiving the ultimate attack from the orc warriors.

"ah! Nah! Her bread..," Bianca seemed to have forgotten the bread in her hand, perhaps she had unwittingly dropped it as she introduced herself in an unusual manner.

The bread lying on the ground, I actually saw it fall. But, my attention back then was more focused on seeing Bianca.

"But I can give you more bread, than I can eat dirty bread." I was stunned for a moment, so I said it too late.

"It's still edible, you know. It is a pity to waste this soft bread. Moreover, people who are struggling to find food will surely curse me if they see me throwing food."

"Is that so?"

He nodded slowly while continuing to bite his bread.

Is it really that difficult to find food to the extent that someone will curse people who have food but their food is thrown away on dirty grounds? Maybe he was thinking too much about people's assumptions. However, if there is still a lot of food, why not eat the clean ones and throw away the dirty ones?

Well, I can't force her not to eat the dirty bread, as long as she's sorry to throw away the bread.

My journey that has no purpose should have continued after breakfast. But the existence of a woman in the forest was something astonishing. Bianca, a rookie witch, I don't know what she's doing in the middle of nowhere.

"Now, you must be thirsty," I thrust out a plastic bottle filled with drinking water, only half of it remaining because I had drunk some of it.

"Well! You even have a nice bottle!"

It was an overreaction just to see an ordinary drinking bottle, which even people like me would throw away when the drink ran out or even though there was still water in it.

I smiled a little, she looked adorable, really.

"If you may know, where will you go after this? Will it still be in the woods?"

"I'm going straight back to town, because my business here is done. I hope there won't be any problems like yesterday on the way home."

Actually, I was curious about his affairs in the forest, before I met him, like what he was doing, like, but I don't think it's good to ask him a lot of questions about himself when we just met yesterday in an unusual way. I would definitely be considered presumptuous, and he should feel uneasy if I asked him.

Of course, that doesn't mean there's nothing I can ask him.

"What city do you mean?"

He slightly tilted his head hearing the question from me. "You don't know? It is the closest city to the Port of Vorlte, Lopentine. I thought, you came from that port city and you were on your way to Lopentine, or maybe you didn't?"

"Not so," I shook my head slowly. "But I did come from Vorlte. Regarding this Lopentine City, do you not mind... if.... we go together there?"

"Of course, why not?"

"Eh?" I, of course, was surprised. I had thought that he would reject my invitation outright. Though I had just thought of a reasonable reason so that I could go with him there. Hearing him confirm it as if not considering it carefully, I was speechless.

Did he not think that I might have the veiled intention of the invitation, something evil? Like, a perverted act to do while he's off guard, or something.

"Doing a trip together is better, right? In the forest, danger could come at any time, just like yesterday. This time, I would struggle even more to provide help in the back when that happened," he said, then suddenly the look on his face looked sad. "Also, for yesterday, I'm really sorry...."

"I don't really understand why you feel guilty about me. But, okay. I forgive you."

There is no better way to accept her apology when she insists on continuing to apologize. The guilt, only he knows why. Maybe without realizing it, he made a mistake with me. But, since I didn't know it, I felt that she was completely innocent. Only by forgiving him should that feeling of guilt decrease.

There is no need to stay in the forest. Little needs to be done to continue the journey.

The sun was not so high yet, Bianca and I began this journey together. The destination becomes clearer. It is the closest city to the Port of Vorlte City, Lopentine City. That would be my first step to really start a new life.

For this opportunity, I will use it as best I can.

Being in a comfort zone should not be a bad thing, as long as it is not excessive. But, for me, it was a nightmare. In any case, as much as possible, I would never set foot again into my comfort zone, afraid of getting stuck again like that, which of course was due to unintentionality and external factors as well.

Live, move forward, as time keeps turning. That's what I'm going to do in the future.