Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Into the Storm
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Aron, the son of Baron the salt worker, was bored.
The reason was the storm.
A few days ago, word had spread that a storm was coming, and the entire neighborhood had thrown itself into preparations.
Aron had helped his friends tie down the school building with ropes and tarps so it wouldn't blow away. Then he'd gone home and assisted his mother in securing their house the same way.
After that, he and his friends had hunkered down in the shelter.
The adults had taken over the final preparations, deeming it too dangerous for the kids anymore.
While playing with a ball made from a pig's bladder in the shelter, the door suddenly burst open.
Bang!
"Gah!!! You scared me!!!"
"Huh? Nibel, where'd you go?"
There stood their friend Nibel, soaked to the bone from the rain.
Nibel grinned confidently as he approached the kids.
"Hey! From today on, you all gotta call me Lord Nibel!!"
The swaggering Nibel showed Aron and the others what he held in his hand.
It was a small stone that gleamed like a blue-green gem—a Haeseok.
"Is... is that a Haeseok!?"
"Whoa!! Nibel!!! Where'd you get that!?"
"Where else? From the sea! Heh heh."
Haeseok A rare gem occasionally found on the beaches of Cron during raging storms.
The kids were stunned and amazed that Nibel had actually brought back the gem they'd only heard about in stories.
Aron remembered the adults saying one of those could feed a family bacon for a whole year. He asked Nibel,
"Nibel! If I go to the sea, can I get one too?"
"You might find one on the beach... but you scaredy-cats wouldn't make it. Kekeke."
Nibel glanced out the shelter door.
The storm was almost upon them, unleashing furious rain and wind outside.
No one could go out in that. Most of the kids' faces fell.
But Aron alone stared out at the raging storm beyond the door.
Moments later, he steeled his resolve.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The storm had reached the territory.
Gray storm clouds blotted out the sky, dumping torrents of rain like mad.
Gale-force winds that could hurl boulders began whipping through the land.
Calix had seen it in his memories before, but damn, it was a real bitch.
It reminded him of Typhoon Maemi from his past life.
That had been a total nightmare...
Whiiiiiish!!!!
"My lord! It's too dangerous now! Please, get inside the castle!"
I'd been making one last round of the territory to check for any issues.
Only Steward Hart, Knight Captain Rikain, and advisor Noah were braving the storm with me.
Hart, advanced in years, had insisted on coming because he was worried about me. He looked like he was really struggling against the wind.
I figured it was safe enough and was about to head back to the castle when I spotted territory folk in the distance.
"Aron!!!"
"Aron!!!! Baby!!!"
People who should have been in the shelter were emerging, one or two at a time, calling out a name.
A chill ran down my spine. I spurred my horse toward them.
"What's going on!? Why are you out of the shelter!!"
"Well... it's like..."
The man, who looked like one of our territory workers, seemed at a loss now that I'd arrived.
Then his wife—or so she appeared—grabbed my pants leg with a desperate face and screamed in utter anguish.
"Aron!! Our son is gone!!"
"What!?"
It was the voice of a mother gripped by terror.
Her words were all I needed.
I grasped the situation and shouted,
"Hart!!! Release everyone who can move!!"
"R... right now!?"
"When else!? Do it now!!"
The worst-case scenario had happened.
Shit!!
I ordered Hart and Rikain to gather the workers and knights to search for the kid, then wheeled my horse around.
"My lord!! Where are you going!?"
"I'll head to the beach just in case!! Hyaah!!!!"
"My lord! It's dangerous!! My lord!!!!"
Dark memories flooding back, I galloped toward the beach.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
At that moment, on the beach,
Aron was locked in a desperate struggle against the storm.
"Just a bit... just a bit... more..."
The moment the adults looked away in the shelter, Aron had slipped out and headed for the beach.
The storm winds threatened to carry him off, but he could still walk. He raced to the spot Nibel had mentioned.
There, amid the gray sea, he spotted the blue-green glow of a Haeseok.
To snatch the precariously bobbing gem, Aron waded waist-deep into the surf.
The waves were powerful, but manageable.
Grab it and get back to the shelter like Nibel—then his friends would respect him, and he could help his family.
That thought in mind, he stretched out his hand one final time...
SPLASHHHHHH!!!!!!
"Gaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!"
A wave twice Aron's size swallowed him in an instant.
It happened so fast he couldn't process it.
He just couldn't breathe all of a sudden,
And the whole world flipped, shaking him violently.
In his fading consciousness...
Aron was simply terrified.
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I'd had one little brother.
Four years younger than me, but he spoke early and walked fast for his age.
Thanks to that, he grew up showered in family love.
I still remember it vividly.
He'd toddle after me calling "Big bro, big bro," and that wobbly gait was so cute I'd run ahead on purpose to make him chase me.
Then I'd get scolded by Mom when he tripped. It felt like yesterday.
It was a stormy day like that one.
We lived close to the sea.
Dad was late coming back from fishing, so Mom went to the beach, worried.
Concerned for her, I told my brother not to leave the house under any circumstances and went after her to the beach.
I figured it'd be fine.
He was four now, understood words well, and knew it was dangerous outside.
So I left him alone at home, confident, and ran to join Mom.
And that day...
My brother vanished into the waves.
"Hyaah! Hyaah!!"
Whiiiiiish!!!!
I whipped my horse and arrived at the beach in moments. No sign of life.
Only savage winds, crashing waves, and the gray sea.
But then I saw a blue glimmer.
"Glub! Glub!!"
Far out in the water, a child thrashed desperately.
"Kid!! Hang on!! Kid!!"
"Glub! Gasp! Glub!!"
The kid couldn't hear me, just flailing to survive.
Each time, a blue gem flashed in his hand.
The sea was telling me...
This child's life was hanging by a thread.
"......"
That day, the brother swept into the waves returned as a cold doll.
His limbs like ice, unresponsive no matter how I called.
Even promising the toy I'd been saving for...
Even offering my hoarded candy...
No response.
I remember it so clearly still.
Dad's howling sobs.
Mom's wrenching wails.
Those sounds haunt me to this day.
Was I about to witness that again?
Watch another child turn into a cold doll before my eyes?
If reliving that was the price of my second life...
Better to die right here.
I stripped off my clothes.
And dove into the sea.
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Moments later, people arrived at the beach.
Hart, Noah, Aron's parents—everyone in Cron who could move had come searching for Aron.
"My lord!!"
"Aron!! Baby!!!!"
Spotting Calix's horse on the beach, Hart's face went pale.
The horse was there, but not the lord.
Baron and his wife paled too.
"That's..."
Their eyes caught a child's shoe on the beach.
How could they forget?
It was the leather shoes Baron had bought Aron with his first double pay.
"No... no! No! No!!!!"
"Baby!!!! Baby!!!! No!! No!!!!!!!"
A shoe washed up from the sea meant one thing.
And falling into that sea in this weather meant death.
Aron's mother wailed and lunged for the water.
Baron, desperate not to lose his wife too, clung to her, sobbing.
Everyone thought it.
Aron was gone... swallowed by the sea... by the storm...
No one said it, but they were giving up.
Then a miracle happened.
"What's that...?"
Noah spotted it first.
Something gleaming amid the gray on the beach.
Familiar silver hair.
A silver figure emerged from the surf, cradling something tightly.
It was Calix with Aron.
"My lord!!"
"Lord Calix!"
Hart and Noah rushed forward at the sight.
Before they could speak, Calix yelled,
"I'm fine! Get a doctor! Now!!"
Calix laid Aron on the beach.
The boy's body was limp, eyes closed.
"Please... please..."
He dropped to his knees and checked the boy's mouth.
No breath.
No consciousness.
But not yet... not too late.
I stacked my palms on the center of his chest.
Took a deep breath, then began compressions calmly.
"One... two... three..."
Precise, rhythmic presses on the fragile ribs.
Calix's eyebrows twitched faintly with each one.
No room for error.
I'd imagined this a thousand times.
Regretting that day's tragedy, practicing CPR over and over.
No way I'd mess up.
So wake up, kid...
Wake up... WAKE UP!!
"Cough!"
In that instant.
A small cough.
Aron's body twitched weakly.
"Cough!! Cough!!!"
"Aron!? Aron!!!"
Aron turned his head and vomited seawater.
His breathing returned—ragged, but steady.
I paused a beat, then cupped the boy's face in both hands.
Definite warmth.
The kid was alive.
"M... Mom...?"
"Baby! My baby!! Thank goodness!! If anything happened to you!! I would!!!"
Aron's mother rushed to her recovered son.
She touched his limbs over and over, confirming he was alive.
Baron, who'd run up too, shed tears indistinguishable from rain, relieved Aron was safe.
He bowed repeatedly to Calix in the sand.
"Thank you!!!! My lord!! Truly...! Truly!!! Thank you!!!!"
Drained, Calix watched the scene blankly.
Then he approached the recovered Aron quietly.
Aron lay dazed in his mother's arms, confused.
"Glad you're alive, kid..."
Calix simply stroked his head a few times.
As he turned to leave, his strength gave out.
Stagger
"My lord!!"
Noah, closest, supported Calix's body.
It was ice-cold.
He'd saved the child in this state?
Noah couldn't hide her shock and awe as Calix spoke.
"Sorry, Noah... mind helping me?"
"Yes... my lord..."
With Noah's aid, Calix trudged back wearily.
All gathered there that day witnessed it.
Their lord...
His staggering, frail retreating figure...
So powerless and wretched.
So noble and beautiful.
"My lord..."
"My lord..."
And then, unbidden, one by one they knelt.
They didn't know why.
They just felt they had to.
Meeting his gaze straight felt like committing a lifelong sin.
Cron's people, great and small, had lost something to every storm.
They'd accepted it as fate.
The lot of the powerless, scraping by day to day.
But today, that changed.
The young lord showed them it wasn't inevitable—that some things were worth risking life for.
That day...
Cron's people were saved by him.