Chapter 122 Veteran Interview (Part 1)
Wearing a straw hat, Dimitri braved the scorching sun to place the last bundle of dried firewood on his cart, then limped along, pushing it from the drying yard to the homes that had ordered the firewood.
It was very hot today. Big beads of sweat slid down his face and body, wetting the towel he had placed under his straw hat to absorb the sweat. The sweat dripped down his rough linen clothes and even made a "crackling" sound when it fell on the scorching road.
Dimitri, wearing his own straw sandals, walked on the cobblestone road that was scorched by the sun, pushing a heavy cart full of firewood, and moving forward with difficulty.
A large piece of muscle tissue was missing from his right thigh. The wound was very old and had long since formed a hideous scar, with faint traces of the teeth of a wild animal still visible... This was an injury he received when he joined the army in his early years in the northwestern frontier.
Their team was on night patrol when they were attacked by a pack of demonic wolves. Dimitri was lucky; he escaped the wolves' jaws with only this piece of flesh lost, and his life saved. That night, however, five young lives in their team were lost forever in the vast Gobi Desert.
That night, the accompanying military doctor exhausted his magical powers, nearly collapsing, before he managed to barely heal his wound. Dimitri's life was saved, but the loss of such a large piece of flesh and tendon made it difficult for him to exert force or walk normally with his right leg.
Whenever it was rainy or cold, the excruciating pain was always with him, like the ghost of war, always lingering around him, whispering to him when he was alone: "They are dead, and you are still alive."
This curse-like voice might have come from his imagination and guilt, but Dimitri was not fooled by it. He still had a wife and a daughter who was studying at the Royal Academy of Magic to support. They were his life.
He and his wife were childhood sweethearts. After retiring from the army, they had planned to use the compensation given by the king and the general to settle down in the northwest frontier and make a living by doing some small business. However, their daughter Ellie was very promising. She had an outstanding magical talent and was accepted into the Royal School of Magic.
Originally, it would have been enough for Ellie to come to the capital to go to school, but Dimitri and his wife discussed it carefully for a long time and decided that the whole family of three should move to the capital.
"There's a better life and more opportunities in the capital. Perhaps there's a powerful enough magician at the Royal Magic Academy who can heal your leg injury," his wife said. "Besides, I'm worried about Ellie living alone in the capital."
Indeed, his daughter was only fifteen years old and was very thin and small due to malnutrition. Dimitri was also worried about letting such a young daughter travel across half the kingdom to study alone.
So the three of them supported each other and made their way from the borderlands to the capital. They endured hardships along the way, but they had spent a considerable amount of money. The last bit of compensation allowed them to buy a small house in the suburbs outside the capital's fighting zone. It was true that this was a slum on the outskirts of the capital, but at least they had a home of their own.
The disabled Dimitri had a hard time finding work in the capital. Despite his limited mobility, he was a hardworking man. Early in the morning, he would go to the wild woods outside the city to collect branches, bring them back to dry in the sun, and after drying them, he would bundle the qualified firewood into neat piles, fill a cart, and deliver it to the homes of the people in the slums.
The people of the slums were generally unskilled in magic. They couldn't afford a magic stove, and even if they could, they couldn't generate enough magical energy. Firewood was essential for cooking, boiling water, and heating. If they were frugal, a five-nickel bundle of firewood would last them three days.
Dimitri earned this kind of hard-earned money, hobbling from house to house delivering firewood. When he returned home, he was soaked as if he had just been pulled out of the water. He wiped the sweat off his face with a towel and counted out his earnings with great care. Six copper coins in total—not much, but if they saved, it was enough to feed their family for three days.
Ellie was a student admitted to the Royal Academy of Magic on special admission. She had a scholarship from the academy that barely covered her tuition. Occasionally, she would bring home a few bottles of magic mud. It tasted terrible, but it was very filling. The three of them would share a small bottle of magic mud, and it would last them a day.
Even in the slums on the outskirts of the royal capital, the prices here are much higher than in other remote places. Life has its richness and life has its poorness. Dimitri's family lives a hard life, but they are content with it.
Dimitri scooped up a bucket of water from the water tank and drank it down with a gulp. He finally replenished his water and quenched his thirst. He took a few breaths, walked to the shade of the tree in the yard, sat down on the roots of the tree, took out a vine from under the tree, and continued to weave the basket that he had not finished before.
A wicker basket could be sold for three nickels, and the cost was just the vines pulled from the wild forest and some rest time, which was rounded up to nothing. Dimitri had weak legs, but his hands were very nimble, and having something to do with his hands was just enough to distract him from the pain in his legs.
He was weaving baskets almost absorbed in it until someone knocked on his door.
"Come in, the door is open," he called out, and the person who came in opened the door. It was a familiar face. In fact, he had just met the new viscount with black hair and green eyes a few days ago.
"Viscount Andrei," Dimitri sighed, "I've already refused you. My daughter attends the Royal Magic Academy. She's here, and this is my home. Even if the two cities were closer, I wouldn't go to Eston West with you."
"Oh, I'm not here to persuade you to go to Eston West City." Andre said, "Uncle, I want to open a snack bar at the Royal Magic Academy. I heard that my aunt's cooking skills are good. Are you interested in coming to work here?"
Dimitri stopped weaving the basket. "Royal School of Magic?!"
"Yes, the shop is in the town of the Royal Magic Academy," Andrei said earnestly. "If you pass the interview, you and your wife can live in the shop and take care of Ellie nearby. She won't have to run back to the capital from the academy every now and then. Business at the snack bar might be busy, but it's definitely easier than selling firewood from door to door, and you'll make more money."
This time, Dimitri had no reason to refuse. He wiped the sweat from his palms on his pants nervously. "I, I need to discuss with my wife...how to conduct the interview?"
The interview requirements are quite a bit.
Dimitri and his wife took the cleanest bath ever in the bathhouse, and changed into a new set of clothes. When they came out, they looked at the husband/wife who had turned two shades paler, and for a moment they didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
Andre took them to the doctor for a full set of examinations, confirming that both of them were very healthy, without any infectious diseases or parasites, and each of them received a health certificate.
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