STABLE BOY ; Trash of the Count's Family

08. REST TIME

"What happened to your arm?"

"Gyah! Young Master, can you stop showing up out of nowhere?" South protested, an apple in his hand feeding one of the horses.

Cale stared at him, ignoring his words and just waiting for an answer.

South ran his hand through the horse's mane, trying to calm his heart. "One of the bandits got too close, that's all. It's not a big deal."

Cale squinted like he didn't believe that, but he huffed, like he decided it wasn't worth asking about.

Choi Han also squinted from a distance, very skeptical.

"What, you don't think I can do my job with my arm like this?" South accused, a little offended. "Fine. Hillsman!" he called, "arm wrestle with me!"

In the distance, terrified, "what? No! Please!"

-

"Are you an idiot?"

South's wound reopened. But he won against Hillsman, so now all the knights were going through harsh night training now that Hillsman's ego has been hurt from both Choi Han's and South's show of strength.

Now, Hans was rewrapping the wound, with Cale giving South a very disappointed dad look. The cats were also staring up at South like he was some kind of fool.

"Generally, yeah?" South supposed. "All I can do is take care of horses."

The red cat climbed up his leg, coming closer to sniff curiously at his arm. He seemed intrigued by the tattoos, and the silver cat was staring warily from a distance.

Hans chuckled at South's callousness. "But no one else in the stables can lift a horse with one arm, so there's no one more capable than him at his job," he defended, probably to try and alleviate some of Cale's annoyance.

Cale scoffed.

"How can we trust this fool to take care of the horses, when he doesn't even know how to take care of himself?"

South pouted at that.

"Well, the young master has a point," South admitted. "But I don't think you have the right to criticize me about that."

"What?" Cale raised a brow.

"What?" South challenged.

Silence.

Hans looked between them, utterly befuddled.

Cale walked away with a groan, holding his head like he was experiencing a headache, "I've had enough. I'm going to rest."

South watched him leave and decided he won that one.

"Hypocrite young master," he hissed, and Hans burst out laughing.

"There, all done," Hans told him, fixing the bandages neatly and sticking a little star-shaped sticker on it so he wouldn't pick at the latch and make it come undone.

South stared at it.

And then Hans realized what he did and blushed. "Oh! Sorry, I did this all the time for the kids on the street so I just— I'll take it off."

South pulled his hand away, "no, it's mine now."

Hans sighed.

"South-nim, maybe the next time we get attacked, you can come into the carriage with us," Hans said. "You're not a fighter, so it's better if you stay inside with us."

South pursed his lips at that.

"I'm not a kid. I have to protect the luggage, even if I'm not fighting," he said. "And how could you ask a dirty stable boy like me to go into the same carriage as the young master?"

"Even then," Hans said, "you're the youngest on the trip, so you get treated like the youngest."

"I'm not the young master's pets, so I don't need to be pampered," South sulked. He knew Hans liked taking care of people and animals, but it was embarrassing. "You don't have to treat me like you treat them."

"Yes, but at least let me take care of my only hoobae, okay?" Hans patted him on the head, and South found that he liked it.

-

South found Choi Han training at night. He hunted some animals, which were then used for meals, and he was of course very strong. It was almost enchanting how seamlessly he used his sword, without a single wasted movement.

South sat down on a barrel, having nothing to do after he was done brushing all the horses. Now they were just resting until it was time to go again.

He was bored, so he just stared at Choi Han.

Choi Han then stopped and turned toward South, uncomfortable at having such a blatant audience.

"Do you not need to train as well?"

South blinked confused at that. "Whuh?"

"You have decent strength, but you don't hone your skills, so they're going to waste," Choi Han said.

South considered that. He had a point— unlike the young master or Hans, South didn't get specifically protected during trips. He did have weapons for self-defense, but he wasn't capable like Ron.

Even the head coachman had proper training. He had to be able to react promptly with the carriage in case of emergencies, after all.

"Well... even if I trained, I can't do a lot," South said. "With my condition, even if I trained my whole life, I could die in any battle at any time, just because of my bad luck."

Choi Han frowned. "What do you mean?"

South considered explaining.

Then he drew his dagger, "I'll just show you."

-

Later...

"Cale-nim! He just dropped! I definitely didn't hit him but he just fell like that and stopped moving suddenly— he's not dead, right?"

Cale choked on his food.

"...did he fall asleep in the middle of a spar?"

"Yes— actually no. We didn't even get to start."