There Was a Porter Who Would One Day Be Called a Prophet

Chapter 86

86 – Past and Now

“What the hell are you talking about bro…”

It was an answer that came out without even thinking about the shocking news that came out of his mouth.

“I don’t even remember his face anymore because I was so young. Me and my parents were passing through this forest. They were plundered by the head captain.”

He continued with a bitter expression on his face.

“My father died as a slave and his mother…”

I didn’t finish my words, but I could guess what had happened.

“And I was taken in by them and raised as a rogue.”

“Then why are you stealing here…? You’re an enemy! Then you shouldn’t be here…!”

“I’m the youngest.”

He cut me off and said in a sad tone.

“I was young at the time. I couldn’t understand the death of my parents properly. What could such a child do?”

Having said that, he also caught his breath for a moment, perhaps feeling overwhelmed.

“And by the time I realized that, I had already spent more time with the captain and his family.”

“…”

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“To me, they killed and humiliated my parents, but at the same time raised me.”

Then, when I looked at my older brothers, I followed their gaze in the same way.

“The subordinates under me. I mean your older brothers. The funny thing is, these guys are just like me. They can’t plunder and don’t know how to do anything.”

The older brothers just listened to Burke in silence.

“There are people who can’t adapt, but how can it turn out well? Still, it’s enough to make a living while sticking to the mouth.”

Burke then looked at me.

Those eyes seemed to say something like this.

I can’t help it.

Adapt to the circumstances.

“Do you understand what I mean?”

It was a very realistic answer.

It was a story that made me think what it would have been like if it were me.

Actually, he and I were similar.

Around the East.

I didn’t go directly to plunder like him, but I blocked the road to prevent him from escaping.

I turned my eyes away, saying that it was something I couldn’t help, and that it was something I couldn’t do.

Then what about now?

Am I still stuck there as I was back then?

“Brother.”

My voice rang out in the silence.

“Then what will you do if there are more children like that in the future?”

“If I can’t adapt, I have to accept it. It’s my own atonement.”

“It would be great if the number of subordinates increased.”

“Hey, you bastard! What kind of habit are you talking to hyung-nim? That’s it!”

“When I asked if I was the youngest, where did you dare…!”

“I don’t know my parents’ faces, just like my older brothers. I’m weak-minded, so I can’t plunder, and even live with losses like idiots.”

He was like me.

If I were still robbing in the East, I’d be living a similar life.

It’s not that I’m bad, but I’m rationalizing that the environment is like this.

“But I know what’s right and what’s wrong.”

I was talking to myself.

“Because I’m a thief. I’m a thief. If I have to, I’ll stop here.”

Because the me of now is different from the me of the past.

***

The place where the porter left.

His subordinates, who had been watching, approached the distraught Burke and asked.

“Brother, are you okay?”

When there was no reply, they spurred on even more.

“Even the youngest must have said it out of anger, don’t worry too much about it.”

“That’s right. When I get back, I’ll be sure to tell you.”

“…”

When there was still no response, one of the men began to suspect the other.

“Did you do something strange to the youngest? Like that hostage last time.”

“Am I crazy? And that’s because he seduced me first! How long are you going to hold on to what you agreed to!”

Burke eventually opened his mouth as if he couldn’t see his subordinates fighting over a strange topic.

“Stop it.”

Then, as if they had been waiting, the subordinates asked.

“Are you all right now bro?”

“Haa…”

He sighed and looked at the place where the porter had disappeared, lost in thought.

‘Similar.’

I remembered the last question I asked.

-If you have ever had the same thought as me, please help me.

‘What is similar? I can’t move it with actions like you.’

Burke was just secretly wishing the youngest the best.

***

“I never thought a place like this would exist.”

A thief’s hideout.

Even there, a place that was hidden out of sight.

These were the impressions of the porter who arrived at the area where the slaves were staying.

In the end, I was able to come to Buckduck who reluctantly informed me.

– KANG! Kang! Kang!

The sound of stabbing to the point of hurting my ears came to me in a very different way.

When I turned my head to where the sound came from, a person who looked like a blacksmith, not suitable for a thief’s lair, was silently tapping on a piece of hot iron.

If you strike iron, that’s a blacksmith. Why do you look like a blacksmith?

– It’s okay.

It was because his appearance with the chains attached to his ankles and the bones overlapping made him more reminiscent of a slave than a craftsman who handled iron.

It’s a pity, but there were not one or two people around him who were in a similar situation.

People who take bread out of an oven, people who grind herbs to make medicine, and so on.

They all wore chains in common, and it was difficult to find even a hint of hope on their faces.

Perhaps the people over there were plundered once and were saved because they judged that they were useful.

“…”

My heart felt heavy when I saw the miserable situation. I can’t take my eyes off of them like that.

Stare.

The man who was pounding the iron met his eyes.

I was surprised to see my hair color, and I saw dilated pupils. He soon returned to normal and sent a look of guilt.

It didn’t take long to understand those eyes.

Because the identity of the iron he hit was like a chain hanging around their ankles.

He probably thought that the stuff he made would fill my ankles too.

Leaving behind the pitying gaze, I approached the thief who was sleeping incessantly with a bundle of keys on his waist.

“Over there.”

“Wow! Surprise! What are you?”

The thief, who woke up in surprise when I talked to him, was able to calm down after seeing the color of my hair.

“Are you the youngest?”

“The other older brothers told me to go here to learn how to handle slaves, is that correct?”

“Again? These bastards are for real. Send them a little work.”

He grunted, saying he was a nuisance, and then stood up when he realized that the surroundings had become dark.

“It’s already this time. Hey, take this.”

The thief who threw the package with the key at me pointed at the slaves and beat them.

“With that, unlock the lock on the stake and bring it to me all at once.”

Then he sat back down and went to sleep, his teeth grinding, but he held back and turned around.

-Click.

He didn’t tell me what kind of key it was, but I put it in one by one and engraved the shape of the key in my memory.

When it was the man’s turn to strike the iron for the last time, I noticed that his gaze had changed from before.

A gaze filled with weak hatred, not sympathy.

The eyes looking at me were now the same as the other thieves.

“…”

-Click.

As I silently led the slaves to the thief, the thief, awakened by the sound of chains dragging on the floor, stretched and stood up.

“It’s pretty fast, isn’t it? There’s a reason everyone is praising it.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s not fun.”

He grumbled that the reaction was hard, picked up the club that was standing next to him, and started heading somewhere with the slaves at the front, and I followed him.

How long did it take?

– Fluffy.

One of the slaves collapsed as if his legs were weak, and the thief started cursing at the fallen slave.

“You useless bastard, don’t wake up soon! Where is this guy who hasn’t done much work!”

However, the man’s hands, spread out on the floor and moaning, were full of blisters, and it didn’t look like he was hurting at all.

“What? Didn’t you wake up until the end?”

The thief, who was holding the stick and slammed it into his palm, seemed to be angry.

“Sah, save me…!”

Although he was a slave who squeezed out his remaining strength and begged for his life.

“What? I have to tell them so they understand. I’m not going to do anything about saving them or not!”

This bastard did not disappoint either.

I hit the slave with his club before it was directed at him, and I raised him up.

“Can you walk?”

“…!”

It made me uncomfortable to see him frantically nodding his head in fear.

– Sweep.

Contrary to what he did, seeing his legs tremble, I put my arms around his shoulders and supported him.

I heard grunts from behind asking me to do that, but I ignored it.

“Anyway, it’s so lazy to just eat and not work.”

As we walked, enduring the intermittent dog barking, we came to a place.

“…”

Arriving there, I was at a loss for words.

A greater number of people than expected were trapped in the stench.

Among them, there were those who could not endure the hard life of slavery and were locked in cages like the corpses of those who had gone before them.

“Ooh!”

After seeing that scene, I felt sick to my stomach, but maybe it was because I didn’t eat anything, only gastric juices poured out.

A thief came up to me and patted me on the back.

“I understand everything. When I first came, the smell was so terrible that I poured out a bowl. How did you come home without food? Did someone tell you beforehand?”

It wasn’t because of the smell.

It was because of the disgust I felt towards myself for having been teased by these bastards.

A stone of a suitable size caught my eye next to the gastric juice that stained the ground in a dark color.

A stone the size of a hand.

“Huh? Why didn’t you say anything…”

-Paak.

The thief, who was hit in the face in an instant, was scattered on the floor, clutching his face and struggling like a bug.

“Ahhhhh!”

The blow knocked out his teeth, so his screams leaked out.

Suddenly noticing that the other side of the stone was sharper, I fixed it so that it was facing down and approached the thief.

“Oh, Ohia!”

-Shhh.

The thief, with blood flowing from above and yellow water flowing from below, is trying to get as far away from me as possible using both arms and legs.

– Jerking away.

The thief begged for my life as I was quickly caught up in the distance I had worked so hard to widen.

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

It reminds me of what happened when I came here.

You looked down on others earlier.

That’s why you can’t be a thief.

“What? I have to tell them so they can understand.

He will know now.

I mean you can’t find mercy anywhere.

As I thought, the guy in front of me started trembling like crazy.

“I feel dirty. Here, you have to recite nice lines to get the taste.”

Kwak.