Chapter 239

Chapter 239 - A Blessing in Disguise

An always calm and composed personality, the experience of having already licked up the horrors beyond death down to the bottom, and combat power that doesn't suffer a single wound no matter what enemy he fights.

The most fearless human in the world is Eugene. However, the memory of the mother who gave birth to him in this land passing away. That memory of losing the family he had for the first time was something he couldn't drive out of his heart.

Eugene has nothing to fear in the world, but he couldn't do anything about the anxiety lurking in his unconsciousness. Because one cannot outrun their own shadow.

- You shall realize when he lets out his last breath in your arms. That even if the time spent together was happy, the remaining time is only silence and sorrow.

When the anxiety about death planted by the prophet dug into his heart, the Eugene in the dream returned to the cabin in Kingdom End from his childhood.

"This place is..."

The day he buried his mother and became alone. Exactly the first day he lost the happiness of having a family after enjoying it.

Sabak sabak.

A little boy's feet step on the rotting wooden floor.

- Please try this on. Knight. It's shoes made from the hide of the wild boar we caught last time.

- Thanks. Rex. By the way, what are these tusks protruding on the instep?

- I attached them for style.

- ...Amazing.

The highest-quality leather shoes he was now accustomed to, and the socks Chief Alesa had diligently made and gifted, were both absent. There were only roughly made straw shoes and bare feet stained with dirt.

Looking anywhere at the ceiling, the dried meat or fruits that hung in clusters tempting him were also absent. That is a matter of the future where destiny connected him with Homi after more time passed.

The extinguished fire and the emptiness of the vacant house. The sensation of being left alone in the world. It is a hateful sensation that had been buried in his memories.

The feeling that made Eugene, who didn't cry even at the moment he met his first death, shed tears for the first time revived.

However, there is exactly one thing different from his memory, and that is the kitchen.

Dalgeurak dalgeurak.

The sound of tableware coming from the corner where the kitchen is.

Bogol bogol bogol.

The sound of stew boiling.

Eugene headed toward the only place in the dark house where orange light was leaking out.

'Slow.'

Because it's the body of a child, not an adult, the speed is frustratingly slow.

When he passed the corner and entered the kitchen, what he saw wasn't the nostalgic appearance of his mother. It is the back figure of a certain unfamiliar young girl.

She is a girl slightly taller than Eugene, but the countertop was still at a high position. The appearance of her standing on tiptoes and lifting her two arms up to around her chest to touch the vegetables on the cutting board is adorable.

"Who are you?"

It isn't Homi. Because her hair reminiscent of a snowy mountain, or the tail that acts happy when stroked were absent. Instead, hair that looked like melted gold sways to and fro.

Who are you, he asked. It is a foolish question. Even if her appearance changed, there's no way there are two people in the world possessing that kind of hair.

"You don't recognize me?"

The girl who turned around was a figure Eugene saw for the first time, but had heard countless stories about from various people.

"The girl walking over the wheat field."

"That's a nickname I haven't heard in a long time."

Her face became much younger and her voice was also delicate, but her smiling appearance is exactly the same.

"Sister Valda?"

"Kuk."

No matter how he looks at it, it's an appearance more fitting for 'Sister' than 'Lady'.

Valda, with both hands gathered behind her waist, bounded over like a sparrow. Huk! She thrust her face at Eugene, then placed the blade of her hand against her forehead and moved it exactly to Eugene.

"I am taller."

"That's because girls grow faster during childhood. Besides, you are older than me... Ugh!"

The blade of the hand that was measuring height horizontally changed to vertically and dealt punishment.

"You shouldn't call a lady older in front of her. There isn't even that much of a difference."

"I'm sorry."

"A quick apology is good. It keeps married life stable."

"Calling ourselves a married couple with this appearance gives a feeling like playing house."

"Fufu."

The young girl Valda hugged the young boy Eugene.

"Usually, even if I embraced you from my side, it felt more like I was the one being embraced. But it's different now. I can fully embrace you like an older sister."

Is it because they are magicians where the boundary between body and soul is weak? Even in the dream, both maintained clear minds like in reality. Both Eugene and Valda could tell that the other party wasn't something originating from their deep consciousness, but their real spouse.

However, perhaps because it's a dream, a strange haziness is filling the world. Like playing a faded film.

Bogeul bogeul bogeul.

"Won't the stew dry up at that rate?"

"Have you forgotten that this place is a dream? That is not a dish, but an instrument. One that fills this desolate cabin with pleasant sounds."

Valda seemed to like right now where she could embrace Eugene with a larger build. Changing angles and arm postures this way and that, she hugged and hugged the young boy Eugene.

And Eugene too didn't dislike this unfamiliar yet snug sensation.

"By the way, you're being very calm, huh?"

"Yeah?"

"Although this isn't the first time, you're currently inside someone else's dream, aren't you?"

"I suppose it's strange because it seems like I'm accepting it too naturally."

"Exactly. No matter if we are a married couple, no matter if we are outstanding magicians, no matter if we fell asleep hugging in the same bed, no matter if that place is the spiritually fulfilled Moving Castle... Uum."

Eugene stopped his words.

"I think you've said the reasons sufficiently with your own mouth? If all those things overlap, it wouldn't be impossible for such a bizarre thing to happen."

Valda unraveled the embrace and looked around.

"This is the cabin of yours I've only heard of in words."

"It's not exactly the same. There are distortions in parts. It's also more desolate."

"But it's strange. This place should definitely be a nightmare. It is a dream where your anxiety materialized because of the prophecy at the banquet. However, it is a world where suffering cannot be found."

Valda looked at Eugene as if wishing for an answer.

"Is that important?"

"Isn't it your dream? No, come to think of it, you haven't had any interest in the dream world at all since earlier."

Eugene was only keeping his eyes on Valda from the beginning. He grinned.

"The girl walking over the wheat field. Every time I heard that story, I was always curious. Lady Valda's childhood appearance. You were truly cute. Imbued with dignity unfitting for a little lady."

"You have a face like a neighborhood rascal."

A young girl's face, a married wife's expression. Eugene, who was admiring the appearance where the two coexist, suddenly said.

"This must definitely be a nightmare. Because right up until I found you, Lady Valda, I felt like crying."

"Crying? You? No way!"

Valda was genuinely surprised.

"When children become adults, they don't fear thunder. It's the same. Both of us are outstanding magicians. We have the power to face nightmares. It might be difficult if alone, but there's a spouse who would run even into a dream for you."

The dream born from anxiety tried its best to give Eugene the pain of being left alone. However, every time, Valda's face, voice, and body temperature blocked it.

"So a blessing in disguise that you informed me of sometime in the past is like this."

"Yes. To think the nightmare gifted by an unpleasant prophet would become a gift like this."

Eugene stroked the young girl Valda's cheek.

Bogeul bogeul bogeul.

The boiling pot contained a thick stew filled with plenty of pork fat.

"I was definitely boiling moss stew, though."

"Because this is my dream. Since the most impressive soup dish recently was this, you see."

It was the stew the mermaids went crazy eating, but to Eugene, it was still a terrible visual.

"Let's go outside. There is something I definitely want to see before this dream wakes."

"Something you want to see?"

Eugene grabbed the hand of the Elf girl who had a puzzled face and led her outside the cabin.

Swaaaa-!

Stepping out the door, a vast wheat field is spread out. The appearance and sound swaying against the wind is like seeing a giant ocean. Originally there should be a mountain, but Eugene is a magician and this is his dream. Giving this much variation was not difficult.

The wheat field in all directions is dying in an ashen hue. The brilliant Valda could immediately tell what the sparkling boy's eyes wanted.

"I've never walked over a wheat field not even once since passing the coming-of-age ceremony, though."

"Because you're heavy?"

Pak!

The second hand blade strike.

"Since your outward appearance became a boy, did your mind also revert to a boy's?"

"Originally in a dream, brain functions deteriorate. Please show me quickly. Before this dream wakes. The appearance of walking over the wheat field."

"Haaa."

Valda sighed yet lived up to her husband's wish. The blonde girl who took off her shoes gave a little jump. She rose afloat as if she were in the moon world without gravity.

Her cute bare feet, clean like porcelain, landed safely on the dying wheat. Then, the withered stems lifted their heads as if waking up from a deep sleep.

Sappun sappun.

A golden autumn follows the Elf girl's footsteps. The barren field started being filled with bountiful grains.

Valda's blonde hair fluttering profusely is a brush coloring the world. Every time she roamed over the wheat field as if dancing, color returned to the faded dream world. It transforms into a beautiful and vivid world.

A dream space that had no sun. A dim sun rises from beyond the field. Newly awakened birds soared flapping their wings from between the wheat field. As if a painter had freshly drawn them in a world that was incomplete.

'Is it the end now?'

A world so clear that Eugene's dream, the nightmare, could no longer maintain itself was created.

"Let's see each other in reality."

Between the sounds of wheat brushing against each other, the girl's final word rang like an echo. Like that, Eugene woke up from the dream.

Bureup.

Opening his eyes in the bed with a refreshed mind, Eugene discovered his wife's face right under his nose. A pure white face like shining in the darkness and two suns are staring at him.

"I slept and woke up to find 20 years had passed."

"What are you saying suddenly?"

Eugene embraced his smiling wife to his heart's content.

* * *

The breakfast after the nobles all left was peaceful. Specialties like flying wine glasses can no longer be seen.

"Even though the people drastically decreased with the banquet ending, it's still warm."

Maria is dressed in a dress with revealed shoulders. Soon it will be winter, but the inside of Moving Castle was as warm as spring, so she could stay in comfortable clothes.

"Because the pipes extending like blood vessels all over the castle send heat."

"It doesn't seem like they only transmit heat, though."

"They can also transmit sound, and cold air flows in summer too. If it's something that can travel based on air, anything is possible."

"And all the residents of the castle enjoy that?"

"Even the livestock in the stables."

Maria made an astounded expression.

Appearances several times more loyal compared to even the Barcia citizens who are devoted to their lords. Maria could clearly know the reason for that. Because the average quality of life was at an absurd level.

From heating and cooling to hygiene, medicine, food, and consumer goods. Even a lowly guard's family was enjoying things above a decent minor noble of the outside world.

Meanwhile, Marcus paid attention to the more military aspect.

"It's a condition custom-tailored for raising military horses."

"Right. Because there are no deaths, and their growth is maintained all year round."

Usually, even if well managed, foals falling ill or freezing to death due to the cold of winter appear. Because they spend energy on maintaining body temperature, their growth slows down, and sometimes their weight even drops. However, there is no such thing in Moving Castle.

The growth of muscles and skeleton takes place exactly as they eat, and they can engage in military horse training even in winter, so no waste of time occurs.

Likewise, livestock also have no need to be slaughtered all at once. Maintaining the population, they could always obtain fresh meat or sell it expensively to nobles.

"I saw the first generation of military horses that spent their growth period here, and their strength and size were extraordinary."

"Because the environment is always constant. It's also thanks to the stable keepers putting in the effort."

Marcus, having looked around Moving Castle, further expanded the military horse trade they had originally concluded.

- I want to buy nomad racehorses and desert military horses, would that be alright? I think there won't be any guys better than these for light cavalry purposes.

Thanks to that, Eugene could also obtain more Barcia military horses than his initial plan. It was effectively a win-win exchange for each other.

"I heard the Count declined the contract proposals of the mercenary captains at the banquet."

Maria asked.

It wasn't only nobles who attended the banquet. There were also several captains of famous mercenary groups. Instances where they are in contract with a King or a Great Noble, or created and led by a renowned knight.

Among them, there were many who appealed diligently hoping to win the next contract, but Eugene didn't accept them.

"Don't you need more army? Considering the territory you command and the businesses you run, you should be able to lead more troops."

Eugene is at a level where he could handle increasing it to about twice the current troops without a problem. But there was no need to do so.

"Even now, we are continuously supplementing troops. Even as a minimum, at least 10 or more people are coming in every month."

Thanks to the increased birth rate, new recruits from each household are steadily flowing in.

"Since an elite battalion will be created one by one every 10 years, there would be no need to forcibly bring in outsiders."

Considering the increased birth rate and the Dwarf households that settled down a while ago, the replenishment speed will continue to increase in the future as well.

"Are you planning to construct your army only with blood kin?"

"An army bound by a single discipline, following only one leader, and keeping money in a single safe. A warrior group truly equipped with the same sense of belonging. Wouldn't that be exactly what a real army is?"

In Eugene's eyes, no matter how good their equipment is and how much experience they have, mercenaries are just mercenaries. As his power and wealth grew, he craved a standing army united by loyalty to the nation.

Although it seemed like a concept difficult to understand for Marcus or Maria who are accustomed to feudal armies.

Thus, around the time winter had just begun, the military horse trade was completed. They effectively moved from stable to stable the exact same way, but the horses' reactions were the exact opposite.

Hihihing-!

"W-Why are these guys crying like this?"

"There aren't any places hurting, though."

The horses that departed from Moving Castle to the Pierce family fell into sorrow with expressions of having lost their country once they realized this relocation was permanent. It was definitely a comfortable facility compared to the stables of other nobles, but there's no way it would satisfy the horses' eyes.

The stable keepers who had never been to Moving Castle didn't know the cause and were just flustered.

"You like it?"

Prrrr-!

On the other hand, the Barcia military horses that migrated from the Pierce territory to Moving Castle looked all around with wide-open eyes.

Just when they first entered the castle, the anxious expressions of knowing they had been sold off evaporated cleanly. Now, they constantly perked up their ears with reactions along the lines of 'Ooh!' or 'Ooooh!'.

Perhaps this exactly is a true blessing in disguise.

Eugene obtained honor, friends, spoils of war, military horses. He obtained everything he wanted in Barcia and more than that.

The time to leave had approached now.