Taimanin: The Weakest's Resolve

Five Days Break - 05

While taking a detour around town, Kotaro whistled a lighthearted song to clear out the deafening silence.

He came across some interesting places asides from the shrine. They all kept a traditional appearance of the former era so he was somewhat hoping to enjoy the old-fashioned experience. Unfortunately, they were all closed. The dango shop was closed. The convenient store was closed. The marketplace was closed. They had a restaurant, even that place was closed.

Kotaro began to question his luck. Maybe he should have stayed in Gosha and helped with others' requests. Peace and quiet were everything he needed for a high-quality reading time. But it wasn't like he planned on reading books throughout the entire break, there were other things he wanted to do. Probably a bit too late to regret coming here for a vacation.

Try to imagine going to an amusement park during a holiday and there's nothing for you to play because most of the staff have already left to enjoy their own holidays in another amusement park. At this rate, spending time in a lockdown city in the middle of a pandemic might have been a better scenario to think about.

Five days break was something he rarely earned.

And yet, he arrived at a ghost town. And yet, he couldn't access to the network because there was no reception. And yet, the food tasted bland. And yet, he stayed in the same inn with Ingrid and she became a neighbor next door. And yet, he found out the inn owner was actually having an unhealthy obsession towards the great tree, and for generations, the town worshipped it like a deity. Worse of all, he took with him the note that was supposed to stay on the desk back home.

The whistling stopped. Kotaro let out a sigh, his foot hit a tiny rock by the roadside in boredom. It actually struck a window glass of the house not far from his spot, a crack visible much to his horror.

"S-Sorry!" Kotaro quickly apologized.

There was no respond to his voice. He pressed the doorbell. No sound, the thing was broken. He knocked on the door, nobody answered. It was like this. This kind of silence was unnerving. Kotaro slipped a money bill inside the mailbox hung by the door, he hoped the owner of the house could use that to fix the mess he caused when they returns home.

Damn it, he'd already blown up fifteen percent of his allowance this month!

Now there was nothing else to do but reading. Heh, good idea. That was the plan anyway.

"Fuuma."

"Ah, Ingrid."

Unexpectedly, he met Ingrid who was standing outside a large door as he reached another part of town. She was in her casual clothes, arms folded under the ample chest while she was staring at the name plate attached to the wall.

It was actually the name of the building. A blacksmith's forge. No news flashed, they probably closed it too.

"Are you taking a stroll?" Kotaro asked.

Surprisingly, he was not that nervous around her anymore. Perhaps due to Ingrid's well known nature as someone who will follow through with her own words. They were companions on this trip. That fact will remain until the day they leave this place.

"I want to get some fresh air after a good rest. It seems you are doing the same thing as I do."

"Done mine. Now I just want to head back and read some books."

"Care to join me? This place has pinched my interest."

Her words earned a glance from Kotaro. She wanted to visit a forge?

"Human also creates weapon in this kind of place, no?"

Oh, so that was her intention. She wanted to know more about the place where human's weapons and metal tools were made. Ingrid might be disappointed. Blacksmiths who produce and craft weapon are rare nowadays, not counting everyone in the Weapon Research Department of Gosha Village.