Chapter 80
“I used to work under a blacksmith, so I know how blacksmiths or carpenters use a hammer, but that wasn’t it at all. Your style was much closer to how mercenaries swing their hammers.”
“R–Really…?”
“Yes. I, too, sometimes use a hammer to crack open skulls…”
The rest of what he said was so grotesque and gory—like it was determined to turn my life’s genre into 19+ horror—that I cleanly erased the memory from my mind.
“D-Don’t explain… Yeah, you’re definitely hardcore…”
Flustered by Sanchez’s words, my eyes darted around, and I noticed Caron, still looking like he didn’t understand a single thing.
He’d said his imperial adoptive parents raised him, since his biological parents, border defense soldiers, had died.
If he grew up in a normal home, there’d be no reason to smash people with hammers.
What on earth did you do, Caron?
For the next task, I handed Caron a bucket and sent him to fetch water from the river.
Of course, that was just the excuse. I wanted him to wander the village slowly and see if anything jogged his memory.
Sending him alone made me uneasy, but if I left too, the work wouldn’t get done, so I had no choice.
Meanwhile, I was repairing the damaged palisade with Aquila.
The fence posts that had been embedded in the ground had been completely uprooted during the flooding, and it was our job to set them back in.
“So you sent Caron alone?”
“Yeah.”
Aquila, having heard what happened, fell into thought.
“Aquila, do you have any guesses?”
“Not really. I haven’t heard anything.”
“I figured. Ugh, this is still bothering me…”
I said, letting my eyebrows droop.
“Sigh, I hope he brings the water back safely. Feels like the first time I’m sending a kid on an errand.”
“I agree. Parenting is hard.”
“Yeah… it’s hard.”
“It’ll be fine. We practiced this.”
“…Did we?”
We were digging into the soggy ground, our voices sinking along with the mud, when—
“Saruvia.”
“Yes?”
I no longer even flinched when the owner of that voice appeared without warning. I lifted my head and saw Winter.
The moment Aquila saw Winter—with his attribute the polar opposite of his own—discomfort flickered across his face.
“I need you for something. Follow me.”
“Ah, yes.”
I immediately stood and gave Aquila a look saying see you later. His eyes held what looked like dissatisfaction—probably because he’d have to finish all the work alone.
But it couldn’t be helped.
Winter walked ahead, and soon we arrived at a building.
Now that I thought about it, the village had said they’d provide a place for soldiers to rest during repair work. Of course, as someone at the bottom of the hierarchy, I hadn’t gotten close to it.
The place Winter took me now seemed to be that rest area.
The building looked like it had originally been a normal home, with hastily placed tables and chairs.
“Saruvia, just sit here and do this.”
Winter handed me a stack of documents after I sat down.
It was paperwork listing the equipment needed for reconstruction. It looked like meaningless formality more than anything.
At the same time, it was extremely easy. Compared to the digging I’d been doing moments ago, this was like cheating.
Hmph.
If one were thinking in cliché romance-fantasy terms, one might mistake this for Winter being secretly in love with me and giving me an easy job…
But I’m not falling for this anymore, you damnable romance-fantasy logic.
At the table beside me, our current commanding officer, Jay, was face-down, snoring.
Judging by that, he probably didn’t even want to do this ridiculously easy task and dumped it on me.
In other words, he just passed his work to me because I was lower rank.
Winter, meanwhile, was shuffling through other documents—busy with his own duties.
Instead of drinking delusional romantic Kool-Aid, I picked up a pen and began my work silently.
“Saruvia.”
“Yes?”
“Eat while you work.”
Winter slid a paper bag toward me.
“This is what the village provided.”
“Thank you…?”
With a puzzled expression, I accepted the bag—and my eyes widened the moment I looked inside.
T-This is—
Contraband food!
Bread topped with sweet, fluffy whipped cream. Sugar.
The mere sight of it made my hands tremble.
It had been ages since I transmigrated here and lost access to desserts.
And the problem was—if I didn’t get sugar, I became extremely irritable. My personality would visibly deteriorate every time my glucose levels crashed…
Sorry, junior soldiers.
I looked at Winter with eyes silently asking are you sure I’m allowed to eat this precious contraband? and he replied in a blunt tone:
“Is there a question?”
“A–Ah… Is it really okay for me to eat this?”
Even though he’d personally handed it to me, I wasn’t sure there weren’t regulations about outside food on outside missions.
“There is no rule forbidding outside food during outside deployment. In fact, during long-term outside missions, we sometimes rely on it for meals.”
Winter, being Winter, gave a long explanation—but the answer was basically: it’s fine.
Of course. Winter wouldn’t break regulations; he only allowed it because it’s permitted.
And before long, I was happy.
The soft cream melted on my tongue, the sweetness was heavenly, and I felt more relaxed and gentle than ever.
This is the taste of contraband!
While I ate the bread like it was sacred treasure, Jay continued to snore away next to me.
Winter watched me with a strangely relaxed smile.
Well, he gets to process papers instead of digging in the mud, so no wonder he looks comfortable.
“Saruvia, you’ve got cream.”
“Ah, yes.”
I wiped the cream off my lips, picked up my pen, and got back to work.
It wasn’t until we were heading back to base after finishing the day’s tasks that I finally remembered Caron’s existence.
The contraband food had been so overwhelmingly delicious that he slipped my mind…
When we reunited, Caron looked uncomfortable.
His usually bright brown eyes were scrunched with unease, and his always-smiling lips were stiff.
“What’s wrong? Did you remember something?”
“Ah, well…”
Caron tried to speak, then suddenly clutched his head with one hand. He winced, shook his head as if trying to fight it, winced again—repeating the cycle.
“I’m sorry. My head… suddenly hurts.”
“You okay? Should I stay quiet?”
“N-No, it’s fine… I’ll try.”
“What do you mean, try when your head hurts?”
I anxiously patted his back. Something in this village was definitely triggering him.
Did he used to live here before moving away?
But seeing how confused he looked, I decided not to meddle too much.
Even on the walk back, Caron stayed unusually quiet.
Normally, he’d try to chat with me nonstop to get my attention. Now he seemed lost in his own thoughts.
“Caron, does your head still hurt?”
“No, it’s fine now.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm. Strangely unfamiliar.
I glanced at Aquila with wide eyes, and he looked just as shocked.
What the heck? Why is he so quiet? You think it’s weird too, right?
Definitely weird.
He didn’t seem bothered by the headache anymore, but he stayed composed the entire walk. Even his bright brown eyes felt… dimmer.
On the way back, all we could do was sneak glances at Caron, observing him carefully.
“Aquila… do you think it might be that?”
During our free time back at base, I grabbed Aquila and pulled him into a corner. There was no way I could relax otherwise.
“He looks like he’s regained at least some of his lost memories. Maybe his original personality is resurfacing?”
Maybe he used to be calmer and more mature?
If Caron continued regaining memories, he would gradually change—becoming more composed than before.
“Our baby growing up… feels weird…”
It was like watching a kid hit puberty. A bittersweet feeling.
Still, I guess it’s not a big problem.
All that worrying, and it turned out to be nothing major. A bit confusing at first, but ultimately, recovering his memory would be better for him long term.
…But wait. Was this even part of the original story?
Right, think. When Caron later tells Dalin why he followed Saruvia…
When he said Saruvia took care of him while his memories were confused…
“Then Caron regained his memories later?”
“No! But I guess it didn’t matter.”
In the original, Caron never regained his memories.
I always assumed it was some setup for future plot twists, but nope—it simply served as a convenient explanation for why Caron was always cheerful and simple. To this day, I don’t understand how that novel was so popular.
Although, to be fair, the four male leads were cool and dramatic as hell…
Anyway, Caron never regained his memories in the original. He stayed sunny and clueless.
So what the hell is happening now?
I hadn’t done anything that would magically restore his memories.
…Did asking him to practice hammering actually help?
