chapter 17
Even after saying something so shocking, Raven calmly flipped a few more pages. He even smiled.
“It says that the Bumpy-Skinned Demon Frog can only be cut if you have aura. If you’re not at least a Swordmaster level, you’ll be eaten. It tells you to run away.”
‘S-Swordmaster? It eats people? A frog eats people?’
“Hehe, so it even has that kind of content? I’m looking forward to it.”
Even though the content was shocking, Baron just smiled brightly and nodded.
“W-Wait! Then isn’t this book too dangerous for you, Baron? You’re still young.”
Is it rated for adults only?
But since the library lent it out, it probably isn’t.
‘Or maybe they don’t even have age restrictions?’
Even Raven still looked calm, which made me feel like I was the strange one for panicking.
“Any imperial citizen with verified identity must serve at the Northern Gate at least once because of the Gate in the north. There’s no harm in learning about these vicious creatures early.”
“The Northern Gate service? That’s mandatory?”
“Yes. Anyone between fifteen and forty must serve for five years at a time of their choosing. If they serve longer, they get paid more.”
My mind went blank.
I knew that monsters poured out of the Northern Gate and that the Emperor, who possessed special powers, led the army to protect the Empire. But I had never seriously thought about Baron being drafted when he grew up.
When I thought about it, the Emperor’s army was made up of imperial citizens. That meant Baron would be included too.
“Even if I’m young, I’ll face the bad frogs in this book someday. So the sooner I learn, the better.”
At his words, I imagined his future.
Baron standing in the snowy fields of the north, where icy winds howled, drinking antidotes and fighting monstrous frogs that threatened human lives.
High-ranking commanders might direct from the rear or have better equipment for safety. But Baron probably wouldn’t.
‘Baron isn’t a noble anymore. He’ll have to start from the bottom.’
I pictured a low-ranking soldier, exhausted from fierce battles, sitting by a campfire eating poor-quality soup.
It felt like a hidden part of the original story was connecting in my mind.
‘Ah… so this is how he earns achievements and becomes the knight commander?’
Baron was talented enough to survive. But that didn’t mean it would be easy.
‘He’s still so young, and he already has to think about war!’
The hardships waiting for him made my heart ache.
“Huh? Noona, are you crying?”
“Oh… I didn’t know it was a draft system. I never thought that when you grow up, you’d have to go there…!”
I dropped what I was holding and pulled Baron into a hug.
“I wish you wouldn’t grow up. I wish you could stay beside me forever, peacefully, without going to war.”
Baron stiffened, but after a moment he hugged me back and patted me.
“Come on. I’m a man too. When I grow up, I should protect people.”
His voice was firm. The way he said it so naturally made my eyes well up again.
“Oh, Baron. You’re still so young, but you’re already so mature.”
Raven handed the book back to Baron with a smile.
“By the way, I’m surprised you’re so fluent in a foreign language at your age. If you like books, Baron—”
He pointed to the house still under construction.
“I plan to fill it with books like this and other specialized texts.”
Baron’s eyes sparkled. Anyone could see he was interested. Raven smiled.
“I thought so. If you’d like, you may come read anytime.”
I was the one who asked,
“Anytime?”
“Yes. Day or night. The construction will take about a week, and I’ll move in quickly.”
“That fast?”
“I hired many workers and used a lot of equipment. I want to rest soon.”
Baron looked at me.
“Noona, can I go to his house to read books?”
“Do you want to?”
“Yeah.”
Raven added,
“And once I finish moving in, how about we have a meal together to celebrate becoming neighbors?”
I was very grateful for his kindness. But he was giving us so much that I felt a little burdened.
‘Baron looks so happy. I can’t refuse…’
I felt like I should repay him somehow.
“Thank you for being so considerate. What do you usually eat for lunch?”
“These days, since I’m checking on construction, I just eat sandwiches.”
“Then… may I prepare your lunch tomorrow? It’s a bit embarrassing to call it payment for showing us your books, but…”
Raven rolled his eyes for a moment, then nodded.
As soon as I returned home, I soaked soybeans in water. Then I rolled up my sleeves and put my gloves back on.
“Baron, you read your book.”
When I picked up the hoe, Baron raised one eyebrow but nodded.
“Don’t overdo it. You’ll get muscle pain.”
“Yeah. I won’t do as much as yesterday. Just a little.”
Outside, I looked over the field.
‘Did I make it too big? But it should be at least this size.’
Thinking about removing all the stones from such a wide field felt overwhelming. But I had to do it.
‘I need to stabilize our life and earn a lot of money.’
The conversation with Raven and Baron had shocked me. But if I prepared early, maybe I could reduce Baron’s hardships.
‘Baron is smart. I’ll earn money and send him to a good academy.’
I didn’t know if I could afford the tuition. But if I could at least pay the entrance fee, maybe we could manage the rest somehow.
People say a promising tree shows its quality from a sprout.
‘He’ll probably rank first in the whole school and get a scholarship.’
Baron seemed like that kind of kid.
Even if not, if he graduated well, he could join the knight order.
‘Even if they go to the same battlefield, there’s a big difference between a soldier and an officer.’
The more I thought about it, the more determined I became.
If we couldn’t avoid conscription, then I would make sure Baron suffered as little as possible.
‘If I’m going to raise him, I’ll raise him well! For that, this little stone field is nothing!’
I took a deep breath and drove the hoe into the ground.
Thud.
“Huh?”
I had expected to hit a hard stone.
But the hoe sank easily into the soil. There was almost no resistance. When I flipped it over, rich earth turned up.
It was too easy.
“What?”
I tried another spot. No stones—just fertile soil.
“?”
Scratching my head, I struck the place I had first dug yesterday. This time, I felt the heavy resistance of a solid stone.
“Huh?”
I laughed.
It seemed that only the area where I had started digging yesterday was full of stones.
“What the heck. I got scared for nothing. I just need to clear that part a bit more.”
I began turning over the soil with ease.
<Northern Gate Record, 12th Entry.>
Baron sat alone at the cabin’s table, quietly turning the pages of the book he had borrowed from the library.
The gentle purple smile he showed Hayley was gone.
Right now, he was not Baron.
He was Bloden, with a cold aura that made the redness of his eyes seem insignificant.
After studying the book for a long time, Bloden took out a small pouch from his clothes. From it, he pulled a fountain pen filled with red ink.
It looked like an ordinary small pouch, but it was actually a pocket space bag—an heirloom passed down through the imperial family.
He began adding notes to the book with neat, elegant handwriting, as if the text had always been part of the original.
To ordinary people, it would look like a foreign language. But it wasn’t.
Long ago, nobles in the imperial capital created their own language and script to hide secrets and maintain confidentiality. The language had become dead, but the script remained for classified records.
His mother, the former Emperor, had written information about monsters in this book. Now Bloden was updating it.
Once he finished editing, Raven would retrieve the book and mark it as returned to the library.
The records about monsters wandering outside the Gate were relatively accurate, and Bloden and the army had used them in battle.
Originally, Bloden had not planned to change the book. But after fighting inside the Gate, he changed his mind.
‘If we can fight inside the Gate, there’s no reason for the Empire to be the one destroyed.’
Because monsters invaded, the area around the Northern Gate was always ruined. Some monsters even drifted into other regions.
In Bloden’s view, the ones who caused the problem should suffer the destruction. So future battles against monsters should take place inside the Gate.
That way, it would naturally prevent monsters from spreading elsewhere.
However, even the same type of monster behaved differently depending on whether it was inside or outside the Gate.
Bloden was the only one who knew those differences.
So he had to revise this information himself—so that the army of imperial citizens could win even inside the Gate.
He quickly turned the pages, adding and correcting notes. For parts that required illustrations, like maps or monster appearances, he drew from memory.
Then suddenly, his pen stopped.
‘I wish our Baron wouldn’t grow up. I wish he could stay beside me forever, peacefully, without going to war.
