Abandoned by my Childhood Friend, I Became a War Hero

60 – Counseling for Problematic Children #2

I took Saladin down the back mountain and exited the main gate of the academy.

Since Saladin’s student ID was already taken from the room, there was no problem leaving the academy.

Saladin did everything he could to get off my shoulders at first. However, he soon realized that he couldn’t escape, or he felt ashamed of being carried like a burden, and he said that he would stay calm and walk on his own feet, so he finally dropped it off.

“Where are you going?”

“You will know when you go.”

Saladin walked with a nervous expression on his face as if he felt a little bit afraid that I was just going somewhere without asking anything or saying a word.

“My, if I die, the Al-Kamil royal family will definitely protest to the Empire-“

“… It’s not like that, don’t worry.”

Did you ever imagine being dragged somewhere and silenced? How many assassination threats have he suffered in his homeland that even the academy instructor thinks he might kill himself?

Saladin might have thought that some mysterious men might be waiting for him in some dark alley, but I took Saladin to the tram stop.

We took the tram to Islands District 8, Free Market Street.

The streets of the market, which had been involved in protests a few days ago and were in turmoil, were crowded with people just like back then, as if the protest had never happened in just two days.

The free market was as busy as ever, to the extent that merchants calling out customers, customers bargaining to cut prices, and various languages other than the official language of the empire could be heard from everywhere.

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I’ve visited once before, at Marianne’s request, but Saladin looks a bit overwhelmed by the crowds on the market street.

“Huh… what people….”

He seemed much more relaxed than before, as if he had thought that nothing would happen to him in such a crowded place.

“Um, isn’t that wine from Gaul? You have to give five gold coins to get it in the kingdom, but here it’s only one gold coin… ! Heck, they openly sell magic scrolls in the market? Is that precious? Even though the empire’s magic technology is the best, I couldn’t even imagine it in the kingdom….”

No, are you just a tourist?

Anyway, I’m glad you’re relaxed.

I walked the streets of the market with Saladin, whose eyes wandered here and there. The place we arrived soon was in front of a merchant’s shop selling spices.

“Welcome! Black pepper, cumin and saffron! They deal with any spice from the desert!”

He was swarthy and dressed in the style of al-Kamil, just like Saladin.

I didn’t have a personal relationship with this merchant, but I did remember that the merchant’s shop was being attacked by protesters on the day that the future of the empire was rioting.

I thought maybe I would have closed my business and left, but I’m glad I didn’t.

Saladin frowned as if surprised to see people from his hometown selling goods here.

“Huh? Kingdom people… ?”

“Hmm? Hee hee, you meet all the people from your hometown here. You look quite young, but what are you doing to this distant empire, kid?”

“What? I’m not a kid- billion!”

Saladin got angry at the word kid and tried to raise his voice, but I grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back to ask the merchant a question.

“Are there any restaurants around here that Al Kamil people frequent?”

The merchant looked at me and Saladin in response to my question, then nodded his head as if he understood something.

“Aha, that was it. Go one more block behind me and find the building with the yellow roof. If you look closely, there will be a store selling our food.”

“I see. Thank you.”

I gave the merchant a silver coin in return and visited the shop the merchant told him about. It was not difficult to find because it was very distinctive from the signboard even on the market street where all races were mixed.

As soon as I entered the store, the smell of exotic spices hit my nose.

It was an unfamiliar scent to me, but Saladin looked around the store blankly as if he had smelled a nostalgic scent.

Inside the store, not only the people of the kingdom with the same skin as Saladin, but also the people of the empire like me were often seen.

I led the dazed Saladin to a table. Then I called the clerk and ordered everything on the menu one by one.

Then Saladin erased his dazed expression and spoke in a puzzled voice.

“You really came here just to eat?”

“Yes.”

“No, if you’re going to do that, eat at the dorm. What are you doing here….”

I shook my head.

After her training with Gwynne yesterday, I asked her if her Saladin knew her favorite food.

The two aren’t very close, but since we’re going to eat together at a restaurant, I was wondering if you might know something.

But Gwynn gave her an unexpected answer.

‘Saladin? Um, well? Except for always getting up first after eating… Ah! Come to think of it, I barely ate. At first, I thought he didn’t like eating with us, but now that I think about it, the food just didn’t suit his taste.’

I heard and understood.

I was kicked out of my homeland and came to the empire, but did the food really suit my taste?

When I first enlisted in the army, there was a time when I was forced to eat low-quality food that was tasteless and just to fill the calories, and there was a painful time thinking about the stew Ella made over and over again.

When people are tired and suffering in a distant place, they miss the familiar food they have eaten all the time.

As if my prediction was correct, as meat and fish dishes full of spices and various stews piled up on the table, Saladin began to turn his eyes to the food.

Saladin struggled to open her mouth, as if suppressing her desire to eat her food at any moment.

“No, that’s ridiculous… You can’t do this….”

“Hmm?”

“The Empire is the enemy… It is a pagan country… Selling food to a group of infidels? Do not serve anything to those who do not believe in the Father… It must have been written in the doctrine….”

“Poop! Fuhahahaha!”

It wasn’t me who answered that, but a dark-skinned man who was eating at the next table.

He was armed with light leather armor and a sword, probably a mercenary. He put down the tableware he was holding in his hand, grabbed his stomach, and giggled for a while.

“What, what? Why are you laughing… yo. This?”

“Khehehe… A very devout follower of my father was here. Don’t you understand how Al-Kamil people cook and sell food here? Is it against the doctrine?”

Saladin nodded slowly.

“Really? Then, according to the doctrine, you shouldn’t even eat anything made by someone who doesn’t believe in your father, so even in the kingdom, you buy the food ingredients from the empire and use them well, right?”

“That, that… Lastly, the person who cooks the food is a fellow believer, so it’s okay… Yo. This?”

“Then what about alcohol? According to the doctrine, you shouldn’t even drink alcohol. But everyone knows that everyone is secretly drinking behind the scenes, making all sorts of excuses, right?”

Saladin kept his mouth shut, probably at a loss for words.

Then the mercenary smiled and said.

“The Empire does fuck with us. I’m not good at empire either. Did the kingdom treat guys like us well? That’s another story.”

“What, what?”

“Baby. Why do I and the others here come and live in this far-off land of the Empire?”

The customers inside the store were eavesdropping on the conversation between Saladin and the mercenary with excited expressions on their faces. Even the store owner came out of the kitchen and was looking this way.

“It’s the same everywhere that it’s filthy and hard to live for a bottom life like us. Rather, the empire is slightly better. Because it is a country with a lot of money, there are many jobs and opportunities.”

“But, the Empire and the Kingdom don’t get along well, do they? People don’t like… Yo. This?”

“What do you think? When church bastards pass by me, they stare at me. Still, just as I’m not a devout follower of my father, not all of the Empire’s people are devout followers of the Goddess. Like this guy here.”

The mercenary pointed at his party across from him with his chin. The man was an Imperial mercenary, and he grinned at Saladin as he casually nibbled at the spice-filled meat.

The two mercenaries seemed to have just finished their meal, and with their greasy fingers, they put some fairy tales on the table, slapped Saladin on the shoulder, and said,

“If you look around, people are the same wherever they live, kid.”

Saladin looked at the entrance from which the men had exited with confused eyes.

I was quietly listening to the story with my arms crossed, then spat out.

“The food will be cold.”

“… Yes?”

“Stop fooling around and eat.”

At those words, Saladin slowly grabbed the tableware. Then he slowly took a spoonful of soup and put it in his mouth.

“Eup… !”

From that moment on, Saladin began eating hastily as if a dam had burst. It’s like a person who starves for a few days and then finally eats something worthy of food.

Looking at that, I also lifted the tableware.

***

“Ugh….”

Saladin soothed his aching stomach by grabbing his stomach. Even though it was a hometown food I hadn’t seen in a long time, I had a feeling that I didn’t restrain myself too much.

But there was one person who was the least restrained.

Saladin looked at Instructor Ion, who walked silently beside him.

Although Saladin ate quite a bit, he was full from the middle and had no choice but to leave some food. On the other hand, Ion ordered all the menus in the store one by one and ate all of the vast amount of food.

The sight of him eating more than 10 servings alone in one sitting made Saladin and even the store owner stick out their tongues.

“… ….”

Instructor Ion still didn’t ask Saladin anything until he went back to the academy after the meal, as if it were true that he had only come to eat.

Saladin began to think of the instructor, who had no idea what he was thinking, more and more like a different creature. Not to mention the strength, I felt that way in a part where I couldn’t grasp the intention at all.

But.

For some reason, when I saw that blunt face, I thought of this.

If that person were to hear my story, he wouldn’t sympathize for nothing.

I’m not ignoring or laughing at you, I’m just calmly listening to you.

Until now, I thought that the people of the Empire hated the Kingdom people unconditionally. I figured that even if I pretended otherwise, everyone would turn away from me, and that I would end up feeling uncomfortable.

So, if I was going to be hated anyway, I chose to distance myself first.

But looking back now, it’s possible that people didn’t like me because of my skin color or where I came from.

Maybe my attitude also played a role.

The tram arrived at the academy before I knew it. Instructor Ion didn’t say anything until the moment he entered the main gate and boarded the school tram.

I just lightly opened my mouth when the station in Gangnam-dong approached.

“I submitted an absence notice in the morning, but please go to class on time in the afternoon.”

At the end of the day, he lowered his head at the words that he would not ask anything until the end, nervously scratched the back of his head, and finally opened his mouth after thinking for a long time.

“That… School, Instructor!”

Instructor Ion stopped before getting off the station and turned around to look at Saladin.

Saladin couldn’t bear to look directly at Ion, and spoke in a low voice like an ant crawling on her.

“Consultation… Please listen.”