Chapter 60: Brothers and a Cold (1)
“Brother, do we really have to do this?”
“What else are you going to do, starve to death on the street?”
“Well, yeah, but… I really don’t like this. Breaking into an empty house….”
“We have no choice. If only you hadn’t argued with that overseer who tried to pull a fast one by lowering the taxes, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”
“That… there was no choice. That guy has done all sorts of terrible things. He’s even messed with the wives of the laborers on the construction site… He’s a downright villain.”
“And now, thanks to him, we’re the bad guys here, you idiot.”
“But you stood up to him too, brother!”
“Yeah, he was a bastard, that’s for sure. That was good, though! Are you going to regret it now?”
“No…”
“Then let’s hurry up and get inside.”
The brothers, who had lost their parents early on and lived their lives scraping by, were now at their worst moment.
Rinte and Mate were facing a dire situation.
The overseer, who had the authority to hire workers and oversee all construction permits, reporting directly to the lord’s manor, was named Ratanda—a name the brothers would never forget, even in death.
Ratanda, emboldened by the support of the corrupt noble family of Count Dedran, who was latched onto Grayke City, used his power to commit all sorts of evil deeds.
Rinte and Mate, after standing up to Ratanda’s wicked actions, found themselves kicked out.
The situation worsened when Mate stepped in to stop Ratanda from harassing the wife of a laborer, which escalated matters further.
As a result, Rinte and Mate were not even paid their wages.
Winter was approaching.
With the weather turning colder and no money left, the brothers were left with no choice but to face freezing to death. They tried to find other work, but Ratanda blocked their every attempt. They had reached a dead end.
“This is Ratanda’s house, right? Damn bastard! He needs to get a taste of his own medicine. And we need to survive the winter.”
“Yeah, but still…”
Desperate to get something in exchange for the unpaid wages, the brothers waited for Ratanda’s house to be empty before sneaking in.
Having learned of Ratanda’s habit of leaving a window on the second floor open, the brothers climbed up the side of the building.
Once inside, Mate hurried down to the first floor to unlock the door for his brother. Without a word, the two tiptoed into the living room.
“What… what is this?”
And then they saw the unexpected sight before them.
The brothers repeatedly mouthed “What is this?” to each other, gesturing with their hands. The problem was, the house wasn’t empty as they had thought.
Lying on the luxurious sofa in the grand living room was an elderly woman with gray hair.
“B-brother, let’s get out of here! This is bad.”
“Y-yeah, let’s.”
If they got caught, they’d be done for. The brothers quickly whispered and began moving quietly toward the front door.
“Ugh… ugh…”
But then they both stopped at the same time. The old woman’s groaning sounded unusual.
“Brother, she looks unwell. Isn’t this an emergency?”
“Really? Then what do we do?”
“What do you mean? We have to help her. She looks pretty serious.”
Mate approached the elderly woman with a worried expression. She was clutching her stomach, groaning in pain. No matter how they looked at it, her condition seemed critical.
Without hesitation, the younger brother lifted the woman onto his back. Even though he knew this would reveal they had broken into the house, he couldn’t just leave her.
She seemed to be choking on something, coughing and gasping for breath. It was clear she might die if they left her like this.
“There’s a clinic up ahead. Let’s go there, brother!”
“Y-yeah, we can’t let her die…”
The brothers hurried to a nearby clinic and, fortunately, managed to save the old woman. But just as they were catching their breath, disaster struck.
Ratanda, having rushed to the clinic upon hearing his mother had been brought there, shouted furiously at the brothers. His face was twisted with rage, and there wasn’t even the slightest hint of gratitude for saving his mother in what was clearly an emergency.
“You filthy scoundrels! I threw you out for good reason, and now you try to harm my mother?”
“That’s not true!”
“If that’s not it, then what? You probably got scared and brought her to the clinic! You scumbags, I can’t let you go free!”
“That’s not what happened, you bastard! You didn’t pay us, so we thought we’d steal from your empty house…”
“Brother!”
Rinte, in a fit of anger, shouted but then quickly covered his mouth, realizing what he had said. But it was already too late. Mate shook his head at his brother.
“Oh, is that right? You just confessed with your own mouth, huh? Everyone, these scum came to rob an empty house! An empty house! These pathetic criminals?”
Thwack!
Ratanda swung a punch at Rinte. Unable to resist, Rinte rolled to the ground, and Mate rushed to his brother’s side.
Soon after, the city guards, summoned by Ratanda, arrived, and the brothers were swiftly sentenced to prison.
The two brothers spent the next two years in jail before they were finally released back into the world. As they emerged from the prison, Rinte looked up at the sky and spoke to his brother.
“We got caught just before winter, and now here we are again, just before winter.”
“Yeah, brother… If it gets any colder, sleeping outside will be impossible… Maybe staying in prison would have been better.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. After all the torment we suffered in there, do you want to go back to that hellhole?”
“I don’t, but… at least we could survive…”
The brothers walked with slumped shoulders.
“No one wants to hire a thief.”
“Get out of here! Don’t ruin my shop’s reputation, tsk tsk!”
“Sorry, we’re not hiring at the moment.”
Having confirmed that the brothers were out of prison, Ratanda continued to hold a grudge and spread malicious rumors.
Because of this, they were turned away wherever they went. Even when there were signs saying they were hiring, they were told it was a lie, and they were chased away. Eventually, they found themselves huddled in the northern slums, staring up at the sky.
“This won’t do!”
“Brother?”
“I’m going to steal again! It’s better than starving to death like this!”
“But brother!”
Having been starving for so long, Rinte declared loudly to Mate and ran toward the commercial district. He scouted around the area where the restaurants were clustered and shouted back to his brother.
“We have no choice now; we have to become the greatest villains!”
“What do you mean, brother?”
Rinte entered the alley between the restaurants. He glanced around and grabbed a large container.
“Hahaha! Look at this, Mate! It’s full of food leftovers from the restaurants. This is what it means to be a true villain!”
“Brother… but isn’t this just food waste they’re going to throw away anyway?”
“No, no. By taking these leftovers, we’re stealing from the feral cats! I am the greatest villain!”
“Merun” meant cats. Specifically, they were talking about stealing food from stray cats. So, with a smug grin, Rinte started eating the food scraps.
“In that case, I won’t be outdone either, brother.”
“What?”
“In fact, I did something outrageous in the square as well.”
“What? In the square?”
Rinte smacked Mate on the head. The empty restaurant alley was nothing compared to the open square. Committing a crime in the square was much bolder. Thinking his younger brother had gone mad, Rinte stuttered.
“W-what did you do?”
“I didn’t steal anything. You know the big notice board in the square, right? I tore down all the papers posted on it and then put them back up. It was a major crime! I was so nervous someone would catch me!”
“You little brat? You did something worse than me?”
Rinte, chewing on the food, slumped his shoulders, admitting defeat.
“Eat this, Merurun. Merurun! Go on, cry out, Merururun!”
Mate laughed boldly, feeding some of the food he was eating to a stray cat. He felt bad about taking all of the cat’s food.
With Mate, who looked like a handsome young man, and the stray cat, it was a picture-perfect scene. Of course, they were holding food scraps.
But to Mate, it tasted better than the food they had in prison. Prison food was truly inedible.
“But brother, still, breaking into that empty house back then seems like a bigger deal….”
“Ugh… Don’t bring that up again. I could never do that again. Besides, back then, we were more focused on getting back at that damned Ratanda.”
The two brothers sighed deeply, hanging their heads. Instead of successfully stealing anything, they had ended up helping someone and getting caught right away, which led them to prison.
Such was their lot in life. Orphans, with no backing, no possessions, and nothing to their names.
But at least Rinte had his younger brother, and Mate had his older brother. For the two of them, that was their only reason to keep going in this harsh world.
“Oh, now that I think of it, brother, there was a notice on the board about hiring.”
“Hmm?”
In their early childhood, when their parents were still alive, the brothers had learned to read to some extent, so they could manage basic literacy. Remembering what he had read, Mate spoke to his brother.
“Let’s see, there was a ranch up on the hill that was hiring.”
“Hmm, a ranch? Do you think they’d hire us there? It probably won’t work out.”
“But brother… we have to try something, even if we get kicked out! If we stay like this, we’ll freeze to death. I’d rather go back to prison! We have to do something!”
“Yeah, I suppose…”
The brothers looked at each other and nodded.
“Besides, a ranch is a different field from the construction sites controlled by Ratanda, so he probably hasn’t spread rumors about us there. We should hope for that.”
“That would be good… Alright, let’s give it a shot! Better than going back to prison. Prison is out of the question because of those who tried to mess with you!”
“Brother…”
Compared to the rugged-looking Rinte, Mate was more of a pretty boy. Because of this, many wicked people had tried to mess with him.
Each time, Rinte would step in and fight back, getting beaten up repeatedly. Just watching this was painful for Mate.
Even thinking about it made Mate tremble with fear. He shook his head and nurtured his dream of working at the ranch.
It was their last hope.
With this hope in their hearts, the brothers began walking toward the hilltop ranch as soon as dawn broke the next day. On their way, they spotted a quaint little restaurant and both stopped in their tracks.
“There’s a restaurant here?”
“Brother, it’s too bright to steal food waste now.”
“No, it’s just surprising to see a restaurant here.”
“Is that so?”
The restaurant was not their main concern now. With urgency in their steps, the brothers resumed their journey.
After a while, they arrived at a large ranch that unfolded before their eyes. Rinte and Mate were stunned by its size and exchanged surprised glances.
“There’s no way… they’ll hire us here, right?”
Rinte sighed, and Mate nodded quietly.
“Yeah…”
“Are you here for the job interview?”
Noticing the two hesitant, like frightened puppies, Miltein approached them, patting the older-looking Rinte on the back. Startled, Rinte and Mate jumped back a step like scared puppies.
