Chapter 8
Elphis was distracted, thinking about whether he should persuade Uncle Will to buy a few more horses and bring a few more young men into the city to do business.
The cash crops they planted before were growing well, and their town was making more money year by year. Recently, he always brought back a bag of coins from the city, which made him feel very insecure on his way back.
Robbery is inevitable in a society ruled by law with cameras everywhere, not to mention in this era, it is safer to bring a few more people, equipped with swords and bows and arrows, and have some fighting power when walking on a deserted wilderness road.
The chapel was just ahead, on the edge of the town. There were no other people around. Elphis was thinking seriously, already selecting members for the caravan in his mind. As he was walking with his eyes straight ahead, he did not notice a shadow at his feet.
A thin little hand quietly lifted a corner of the linen covering the basket, took away the food, and quickly ran away.
Elphis felt a gust of cold wind and came back to his senses. Hmm? The basket seemed a little lighter... He looked down in confusion, pulled open the linen cloth and saw - a loaf of bread that big as mine!!!
The young man raised his eyes and locked onto a short figure. He put down the basket and chased after him. At the same time, he felt annoyed. He had lived smoothly in this place for eleven years and he really had lost all his vigilance.
The thief was obviously a very young child, but he was wrapped so tightly from head to toe that it was impossible to tell who he was.
Life is pretty good in their town now, and there's no news of any irresponsible parents abusing their children. Who would lack food?
Moreover, Elphis believed that he was a generous person in his daily life. Anyone who encountered difficulties would come to him for help openly. No child in the town would do such a thing. Could it be a foreigner?
In a flash, Elphis made his judgment and at the same time he caught up with the man and grabbed the child by the collar, preventing him from running away.
How could a child who had been hungry for a long time run faster than a young boy who was more than a head taller than him? Moreover, Elphis was in good physical condition.
The moment he was caught, the child quickly lowered his head so that no one could see his face, and stuffed the stolen bread into his mouth, obviously thinking of eating as much as he could.
Elphis couldn't help but be shocked by the way the bread was swallowed. Shit - this thing can't be swallowed, aren't you afraid of scratching your throat?
Uncle Tony's toast has improved over the years, but the texture is still a little harder than baguette. He doesn't like toast usually, mainly because he's a little tired of other things recently and wants to change his taste. He plans to cut this big piece of toast into slices, fry it with oil to make it crispy, and eat it with jam...
This unlucky child, there was a bun in the basket, why did he pick the one that was hard to chew and steal it.
Although petty theft was something that Elphis disliked, seeing how hungry the kid looked, he really couldn't get angry with him.
He grabbed the child's wrists to prevent him from putting the bread into his mouth, and spoke to him in a gentle voice: "Slow down, don't you think it will choke you? I have some hot milk and soft bread in my basket, can I give you that?"
The child ignored him. He struggled, buried his head, and put it close to his hands to continue eating. Elphis could only see the back of his head covered by the hood.
Tsk, why are you still eating? "Little guy, did you hear what I said?"
Elphis' attitude became a little tougher. He snatched the bread and raised his hands to prevent the child from touching it. "Go get..." the basket over there.
Before he could finish his words, Elphis' voice got stuck and he stared at the revealed face with wide eyes.
The child's food was taken away, and he reflexively wanted to get it back. His eyes followed the bread. He raised his head, and his thin little face, conspicuous black hair and black eyes were exposed to Elphis's eyes.
Black is nothing special to Elphis, so why is it conspicuous? Because the double black is defined by the Church as filth, misfortune, the son of doom, and the dark race.
If you discover the existence of other dark races, the reporter will receive 5,000 gold. If you discover the existence of two dark races, the reporter will receive a reward of 10,000 gold!
In any town where there are pastors preaching, people with black hair and black eyes walking on the road are like a pile of shining gold coins. How can they not be conspicuous?
This child is not only a homeless vagrant, but also a person that everyone wants to kill...
The child soon realized that his face was exposed, and he unconsciously swallowed the bread before he had even chewed two bites. Then what Elphis worried about happened, he was really choked.
When Elphis saw the child suddenly bend over, cover his throat and cough hard, he realized what had happened.
He helped by patting the man's back twice and seeing that his face had turned red, he suddenly remembered that he had seen first aid methods for this situation at some point in his previous life and had some impression of it.
"Don't be afraid, I'll help you spit it out."
Elphis went around behind the child, put his arms around his abdomen, clenched his fist with his thumb placed just above his belly button, and pushed inward and upward. The child was light and short, and was lifted up by his force. After repeating this several times, the little guy finally spit out the bread.
Elphis breathed a sigh of relief. Actually, he couldn't quite remember the standard movements, but at this time he could only give it a try. Fortunately, it worked.
Just as I was about to ask the child if his throat was scratched by any hard object, my hand was shaken away.
Elphis saw the little guy running to where he put down the basket not far away, picked it up and ran into the forest. He stopped his steps and let it go...
The kid didn't trust what he just said at all, which showed how defensive he was.
If he chased after them, they would just run away in panic, so forget it...
Elphis glanced at the ground casually and saw that there was some blood on the bread that the child had just spit out. He frowned. Could this poor child have really scratched his throat?
When he noticed the small white hard object next to him, ah this...
The poor little thing is definitely in the period of changing teeth. One of its teeth was loose, so it is normal for it to be knocked out.
Baking bread shouldn't be so terrible as to knock out a good tooth...right?
With great sympathy, Elphis returned to the chapel in front.
Pastor Kawen saw him coming back empty-handed, "Al, has Tony's breakfast been sold out?"
"No, Grandpa, I bought it just now, but I met a poor traveler passing through our town, so I gave him our breakfast."
Elphis knew that his grandfather was a good man and would never want to hurt a child, but his grandfather was really brainwashed and believed that all the double-black people were evil. Reporting such people was the way to protect innocent people.
So he had to hide the matter of the double black child from Pastor Kaven, otherwise Kaven, who was loyal to the Vatican, would definitely bring people to capture the child.
Kevin smiled and praised him, "Good boy, you are right to do this. Believers in God should be compassionate and do good deeds."
Nine out of ten sentences were about God, and Elphis was really tired... He took another basket and a clay pot of milk, "Grandpa, I'll go to Uncle Tony's place again and be back soon."
"Well, go ahead."
Elphis walked on the road, still worried about the child.
It's winter now. Not to mention it's cold, there are not many wild fruits in the forest, otherwise the child would not risk being exposed to steal things.
What worries people the most is that they hope he won't keep going deeper and deeper to avoid being discovered, as it would be troublesome if he can't find a way out.
Elphis was a little thankful that Uncle Tony's milk was freshly squeezed every morning and boiled before being sold. Drinking the hot milk could also warm the child's body. If it was raw milk that had not been boiled and sterilized, the poor child might have problems...
After breakfast, Elphis packed some daily necessities and a quilt and prepared to go to the forest to look for someone.
Then he hesitated for a moment and put the matter off until after lunch.
Pastor Kevin still had to teach the children in the afternoon, so he needed to stay alert, so he took a nap after dinner. As a result, he didn't notice that Elphis was walking outside with a small basket in his hand and a bamboo basket stuffed with quilts and other miscellaneous items on his back.
Standing at the edge of the woods, before I even started looking, Elphis had already put on the mask of pain. How could I find him...
He remembered that the child ran straight at first, and then disappeared. God knows where he went after taking many turns.
Elphis first followed the path the poor little thing had taken, and soon discovered the white milk on the dead leaves on the ground.
By the way, it’s normal for the milk to spill since the child ran so fast. It’s a good opportunity to show him the way. It’s time to test his eyesight!
After walking for a while, Elphis discovered that the child's route later deviated towards the periphery. He didn't know whether the child was running around randomly or knew that it would be easy to get lost if he went too deep, so he consciously controlled the direction.
He glanced at the small bamboo basket. It would be better for someone who had been hungry for a long time to eat something easily digestible, so he brought vegetable porridge that had been cooked for a long time, and a big steamed bun, hoping to be lucky enough to find someone while these things were still hot.
If he really couldn't find it, he would shout a few times, leave the thing there and leave. Maybe the child would hear him and come over to take the thing away. Not having face-to-face contact might make him feel a little safer.
Wait, this is a bit like feeding stray cats and dogs that don’t like people… He wants to help a person, a child who lacks the ability to survive, and he can’t always be kept in the forest, so it’s better to meet him in person and talk to him.
Elphis was walking and suddenly stopped. He looked ahead and squinted his eyes.
He remembered... there was a small cave ahead, right?
The cave has existed for a long time and is located on the outskirts of the forest. Uncle Martin said that this should be the cave of a wild bear from long ago.
But now there is no need to worry about any wild beasts occupying the cave. There are always humans hanging around on the outskirts of the forest, and the smarter animals will not circle their territory on the outskirts.
All the children in the town who like to play around know about the cave. The vines and twigs hanging down from the mountain wall and the weeds at the entrance cover most of the cave, making it less conspicuous.
In the past, there were naughty boys who were not afraid of the dark or the dirt and went in to play adventure games. Later, they found a snake as thick as a wrist and were so scared that they ran away crying.
When the adults heard about this, they exaggerated the horror of the cave and strictly forbade the children to play in it again.
Because of this reason, no one goes to the small cave, so it is a good place for the child, at least it can shelter from the wind and rain.
There would be dead branches, rotten leaves, snakes, insects, rats and ants. If he really hid and slept there...
Elphis felt even more sympathetic.
——
When Winster ate the hot meat buns in the morning, he didn't know that this was a food unique to the town of Lisai and the city of Raphael, because he used to eat whatever he could and had no idea what good things normal people could eat.
He only knew that the soft crust with a wheaty flavor, the delicious soup, and the salty, fragrant and tender meat filling were the most delicious food he had ever eaten in his life!
The hungry child couldn't wait to stuff the delicious food into his mouth. If it weren't for the milk, he would have choked.
Half a day had passed and he was very hungry, so he drank the remaining half can of milk and tore off a piece of toast and soaked it in the milk for a while, which made it much easier to chew.
Winster curled up on the leaves, covered with several thin clothes. He had eaten two meals today and felt a little better. Besides, the afternoon was the warmest time of the winter, so he should take a nap now, otherwise it would be too cold to fall asleep at night.
It was safer to go out to look for food at night as there was no one guarding the fields. He wanted to steal some vegetables, but there was no way to cook them. But it was okay to eat them raw as he was used to it.
Winster was very tired and wanted to sleep, but there was always a string in his mind - the boy who saw his face today would ask someone to arrest him! He should leave here.
But where should he go if he leaves this cave? If he keeps running and hiding without finding the next place to avoid the cold, he will freeze to death.
Winster has never had a good life since he was born, and he has been hiding since he found out how much he is worth.
Despite suffering from hunger and cold so many times, Winster was too stubborn to ever think of giving up his life. He always felt that he would not be defeated by these little things, and that he would become stronger in the future - since he was a child, he had this sense of belief that he himself could not understand.
Suddenly, the dizzy child opened his eyes abruptly and sat up straight. There was no panic in his eyes, only a familiar indifference.
Winster quickly stuffed the thin clothes covering his body into the package and tied it around his body. He looked at the basket and pottery jar he had snatched from the ground, thinking that they might be useful later, so he picked them up and walked out of the cave.
There was clearly nothing unusual, but he just knew someone was approaching... He had always had an accurate premonition about this kind of thing, and he heard others say that he was the "Son of Darkness". Perhaps this was the magical ability of the Son of Darkness?
Winster looked around and picked a tree with thick branches and many leaves and climbed up.
He didn't want to be chased by a group of people in an unfamiliar forest, where there was a high chance he would get lost.
Winster had never heard of the saying "The most dangerous place is the safest place", but he had a vague idea of this concept in his mind, and hiding would save more energy.
If Elphis knew that he could think so rationally at such a young age, he would definitely sigh that this child would be a great talent after being well educated. What a pity... feudal superstition is deadly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
