Chapter 68 – That Child
Chapter 67
I was thinking of finding out where Celine had gone without carefully waking Estelle, who was still sleeping soundly. She rented only one room, but Celine wondered where she was spending the night.
“Ugh…Where are you going…?”
As I was getting dressed and putting on my armor, the saintess… Estelle rubbed her eyes and got up. I hurriedly turned my head as the blanket tried to slide down as she raised her body.
“…I’m going to look for Celine for a while. She’s worried about where she’s been until morning.”
“Ah…But why are you turning your head away?”
“That…”
Estelle was silent for a moment as I pointed her hand at her. Then she crackled and made a cute noise.
…Somehow you know?
“…You can look here.”
“Yes.”
When I turned around, there was Estelle, wrapped tightly in a blanket. It looks like a pupa.
“Celine, didn’t you come in the morning?”
“Yes, I think so. So I’m going to look for it.”
Anyway…It felt really weird to be doing this. Because it feels so different from the usual morning. As I scratched my cheek in an unfamiliar situation, Estelle also slightly bowed her head, perhaps feeling a bit embarrassed.
“Estel.”
“Yes, four!?”
“I’ll be back. It must be hard, but please rest a little.”
“Ah…”
Estelle gave her a light nod. Last night was also my first experience, and it must be difficult because I did a little bit of annoyance.
I stretched out my hand slightly. And he gently stroked Estelle’s hair.
“I’ll be back…”
I was about to stroke her moderately, but Estelle grabbed her hand and wouldn’t let go.
“…Hero, please stay with me.”
“…Yes?”
“Celine…May be downstairs. You said you would do it to me.”
Estelle lifted her eyes slightly and looked at me. The slightly flushed cheeks and shyly shaking amber eyes gave off a lovely feeling.
“…Please stay here.”
…I can’t win.
I put on all my armor, but I sat down on the bed again. Estelle smiled lightly as if she was satisfied with my behavior.
…Pretty. Really.
Estelle wriggled while holding my hand. I don’t have that much to play with in my hands.
Looking at her, I remembered the words she said last night. She hinted at one of them.
“Estel, but you said you liked me from the beginning.”
“Yes…Yes…”
“Then why did she insist on talking like that from the beginning?”
“…I’m shy.”
…I was guessing, but this is real.
But when it comes to embarrassing things, aren’t the words Estelle usually uses more embarrassing?
“Is that the way you talk when you’re embarrassed?”
“…There were times like that, and there were times when I wanted to make fun of the hero because he was cute.”
“…Me?”
I think that saying I’m cute is a really inappropriate word.
“Yes…”
“By the way, is there a reason you use that tone of voice when you’re shy?”
In short, she was asking where did she learn to speak like a scalpel. Estelle, a saint who grew up in the church, had no chance to come across such a thing.
“The nun who raised me is doing this…”
“Yes?”
What? Who said that?
…Nun???
I looked at Estelle to see if I had heard it wrong, but it seems I didn’t.
“You said that if you get someone interested, this way she will definitely get your attention.”
“…I don’t think that…Interest doesn’t always come in the right direction, right?”
“…Eh.”
Estel was panicking as if she really didn’t know.
…Who the hell is that nun?
“Oh, wasn’t it?”
“Normally… I don’t think so.”
It’s not common to use that tone. Estelle looked at me with a slightly shocked expression. I said to her
“…Still, Estelle’s writing is a bit cute…I think.”
“Ears, cute…”
Estelle bowed her head. How did she make fun of her when she was so good at taking on her shyness?
“… But Estelle, she was raised in the Order from the time she was born?”
“Oh, no. I have been raised in the denomination since I was five.”
“Where did you live before then?”
“…Can I talk to you?”
Estelle looked at me with a curious look. She’s curious.
“If you don’t mind, talk to me.”
But if she doesn’t want to talk, she won’t force it. When she said that, Estelle smiled at her.
“Yes, then…”
#
In this world, there exists a thing called head tax. It was literally a tax collected per head, and the more members of a family, the more tax had to be paid. It was an unimaginable tax in modern times, but in the Middle Ages, it was an ordinary method of taxation.
Relatively wealthy aristocrats could afford to pay as much as they could, but poor commoners had a different story.
For the common people, the poll tax was a burdensome tax. Considering that commoners generally have more children than nobles, it was a tax that was more burdensome for commoners.
Contraceptive products existed, but they were incomparably less functional than those of modern times and did not cost money. Therefore, poor people often did not use contraceptives because they did not want to spend money.
If you do that, you will have children by mistake, and if you put all the children born in that way on the family register, the poll tax you have to pay will increase accordingly.
So the commoners used a shortcut. Not all of the children born are listed on the family register, but only some of them.
In general, a lot of boys who can be mobilized for labor after they grow up are listed on the family register, and relatively few girls are listed on the family register.
In any country, there were many children who were not registered in the family register, and such a situation is still going on.
Affluent countries reduced the burden of this kind of head tax and eliminated the phenomenon to some extent, but the country where Estelle was born, the kingdom of Apollo, was not that wealthy.
Estel was one of those children. A child who was born but was not included in the family register. She didn’t even have a name In this day and age, even naming a name costs money. I had to go to an astrologer and then to a priest to be baptized. The cost of the process was a cost that was not easy for commoners to pay.
So, it was just a nickname that family members call each other, ‘Byeol’.
“Byul, what are you doing?”
“I am praying.”
“Huh? Today?”
Byul, who was gifted with divinity from birth, was able to hear the voice of God even vaguely from the time he was four years old. A beautiful and warm voice ringing in my ears and in my head. It was enough to stir a child’s heart.
So she always prayed to hear that voice. Her star parents just thought that the star was religious.
The voice I heard every time I prayed.
【 You are a child who will deliver my voice instead. 】
Byeol didn’t realize the meaning at first, but it didn’t take long for her to realize the meaning.
#
A child who has not been given a name and has not been registered in the family register, but does not exist. A child who probably lived quietly like this all her life and died quietly.
It was autumn, the year he turned four, that the daily life of ‘Byeol’ changed.
“Star!”
Seeing her mother enter her house with her urgent voice, the star tilted her head.
“Why?”
“Come out here. We have to avoid it.”
“Ugh?”
Byul tilted her head to the left and to the right, with an expression of unsure. This is my house, where are we going?
However, unlike her laid-back mother, her mother seemed urgent. As if she didn’t have time to explain, she grabbed her little star and stormed out.
Coming out of her mother’s arms, Byul stuck her head out to her side and said,
“Mom, there is something strange over there.”
“…Byul, you have to be quiet. Shh, do it.”
“Ugh…”
Star couldn’t figure out why, but decided to follow her mother’s advice. She was a child who always listened to her parents well.
Just like that, the star quietly looked behind her, and she moved away from it. What was reflected in the bright amber eyes was ‘Drakan’, a monster that looked half like a human and half a dragon.
Her mother ran out of her village and headed for the nearest city. When she reached the city, her mother said something urgently to the guards, and the guards turned pale and began to move quickly.
As if a little relieved, the star’s mother let out a deep sigh. Seeing such a mother, the star asked.
“What about Mom and Dad? I can’t see my brothers either.”
“Dad and older brother…”
Her mother swallowed her drool and shed tears, as if she couldn’t bear to get the words out of her mouth. However, there was no way that her young star could understand her mother’s heart.
“Mom? Why are you crying…?”
She doesn’t understand that, but when a child sees her parents cry, she cries as well. I don’t know why, but it’s just that her parents are sad.
“Ahh, don’t cry…Ahhh.”
Eventually, the star burst into her weeping in her mother’s arms. Watching her mother and daughter cry, her guards looked at them with pitying eyes as they busily moved.
“Look at me.”
One of the guards came up and talked to me. The sobbing Star Mother raised her head slightly at the words of her guard.
“The child must be cold. Come inside the guardhouse and warm up at least by the fire.”
“Ah…Thank you…”
“And… I don’t know if that’s a consolation, but our lord is a very kind-hearted person. If you explain the situation, you will be allowed to come and live in the castle, so don’t worry too much.”
“…Yes, thank you very much.”
With the consideration of a warm guard, the two mothers and daughters came to live in the city.
As the guards said, the lord provided the mother and daughter with a decent place to live, and provided subsidy to cover basic accommodations for a while.
Still, she couldn’t live forever with her support money, but Byul’s mother always went outside to find work, and Byul, who was left alone, always prayed.
“Let my mother earn a lot of money.”
How nice it would have been if there had been a rule that such efforts always lead to results. This world wasn’t so friendly.
There wasn’t much that the star’s mother, who was a housewife in an ordinary farmer’s family, could do. She helps others with housework or repairs. It was all a dime.
Neither the mother nor the young star eat much, but the income was enough to cover her living expenses.
In addition, the star was growing up. She couldn’t be forced to starve at the age when she should be eating well. That’s how the mother fed the star as much as possible, and she starved herself as much as possible.
Several months have passed. As the years changed, the star turned five years old.
From noble mtl dot com.
Winter is passing and spring is coming, but it is still a chilly season. The star’s mother, who was doing her mending work as usual, suddenly grabbed her by the head and collapsed.
Byul, who was praying in the room, rushed out at the sound of a chair falling over.
“Mom?”
But there was no reply. Star didn’t know, but the reason her mother collapsed was ‘overwork’.
She worked a lot and didn’t eat much in order to live on even a small amount of money, so she got sick. Perhaps she was destined to come.
That’s how the star became alone.