Crown of Thorns

CHAPTER 12

Translator & editor : Cuties

The forest was wide and there was no end to the road. There was no distinction between day and night, and I couldn’t relax because I couldn’t tell when, where, and what would pop out.

However, the boy sometimes sat on a tree that has rotted away and had only its base left, or dug into the ground, blocked the entrance with rotten leaves, and slept for a while. It looked very smart of him to protect his body in the Witch’s Forest.

He was also adept at it. It seemed as if he had learned from someone. The boy was still young and visited the witch’s tower only twice. But by comparison he seemed to know too well about the witch’s forest and moved freely.

His ability to find something still edible among the rotten fruits that were left with nothing but poison was excellent, and he knew exactly where the water was flowing. He was also seen wetting his throat with clean water and cleaning up his surroundings so that his smell wouldn’t remain.

He dismantled and took monster carcasses that were long dead, put plants that grew up with strong energy and were either poisonous or medicinal in his pockets. He was not crossing the forest just to meet the witch, it seems.

As we moved away from the monster, our journey was getting longer. Tiredness prevailed on the boy’s face. No wonder, he couldn’t relax for a moment. However, he was still inside the forest and was getting anxious because he couldn’t figure out how much longer he had to walk with his bloody, callused feet.

I already knew it wasn’t easy to come to the tower of the witch, but I didn’t know it was this far, so I regretted my behavior of having just let the boy walk away previously. And I was grateful that I have a chance to rectify that.

How long did he go after me like that?

The boy’s steps slowly began to slow down. He was not always ready to run away anyway. Ever since he crossed the mountain, he has not tried to move around as if he would rather stay in the forest. He limped, finally feeling the pain in his feet become unbearable, fell down, and spent time resting for a long time.

The sun gradually penetrated the witch’s forest. Animal cries and bird chirping were heard from afar. The more he walked, the more fresh the trees became and the smaller plants under his feet were raising their heads for sunlight. The black fog, which had blocked the view, had already disappeared.

The sun brightened as if to bless the boy, and the boy’s hair shone dazzlingly as if to respond. Animals were also playing with grass, perhaps not afraid of the little man. A bird resembling the boy’s dark gray eyes came and rested on his shoulders for a while.

I think I’m dreaming because it’s so strange, but the boy enjoyed it all as if it were very natural. Unlike me, who was hated by the sun, the boy was shining more and more beneath it. It was a pity that such a dazzling boy had to be eaten by the dark.

And suddenly I had a strange feeling that stimulated my old memories. I couldn’t figure out what it was, so I stared at the boy and soon realized. The surroundings were filled with sunshine. I could feel the light that looked light gray to me pack together and care for the boy. I couldn’t take my eyes off because I thought I was mistaken. But the dispersed sun rays were definitely gathering around the boy. A crazy idea flashed through my mind.

Light will set the darkness aside.

It occurred to me that it might not simply mean killing the witch. It was too early to be sure, so I decided to concentrate on watching the boy. Then followed the boy who was walking again.

The boy’s pace slowed down even more as he passed the forest. There was a wall at the end of the road where the boy was so hesitant. A change in the boy’s face came from the moment the wall stretched out so long that no end could be seen.

He gradually lost his vitality and soon dimmed.

I was following him, but I couldn’t feel his presence. He seemed to have killed himself and made himself disappear. I saw in the boy a witch who was trapped in a tower, killing her thoughts, killing her mind, and eventually killing herself.

Like the witch trapped in a tower, the boy entered through the city wall with all his emotions gone. No, he was about to enter.

“You, you’re back alive! You came back here again!”

“That’s ridiculous. How can he come back?”

The soldiers, looking down at the forest from on top of the wall, were surprised to find the boy. I was confused as to why it was so unbelievable for them that the boy has come back from the witch’s forest.

“Where do you think you’re coming to?”

“Won’t you get out of here right now?”

The door did not open and the boy just stood there without saying anything.

“You’re persistent. You came back alive from the Witch’s Forest.”

“You’re just so filthy that you don’t even want to eat monsters, aren’t you?”

“You’re right!”

The soldiers burst into laughter. However, when the boy showed no response, they lost interest and cursed at him again.

“You sick bastard. If you were born under a human mask, shouldn’t you make up for it by seeking to be the prey of a monster? Do you want to live that much?”

“Even that Vonus, who died trying to save that monster, is pathetic. His body wasn’t even found, was it? He would have been better off if he’d let him die at the time.”

The boy reacted for the first time. When he raised his head and looked at the soldier who spoke out. The man trembled shallowly and became angry.

“You want to kill me too? Huh? Yeah, I’ll dig out those awful red eyes. Those ominous eyes will be thrown out to be birds’ food, and that cursed hair will be burnt, and the remaining four limbs will be thrown into the forest to be food for the monsters. Then you’ll never come back. The villagers will cheer!”

Soldiers around him began to stop the man, who had pulled out a sword as if he would come down immediately. They were also cursing the boy, nodding their heads as if they sympathized with what the angry man said, but stopped him from killing him.

“It must be hard, but bear with it. Aren’t you well aware that Lord has been looking for a boy to replace Vonus since his death? Who are you going to send when that monster is gone? Are you going to go instead?”

“Yes, that’s right. We also need someone to go in and out of the witch’s forest. It’s not the time yet, so you hang in there a little.”

“He’s going to rip off soon even if you don’t do it anyway. Why are you in such a hurry?”

The soldier put back the sword he was holding, though still gallant as if it were a little real. And said, spitting.

“Those red eye makes me feel dirty. I feel like I’m cursed. You’re an unlucky bastard. It’s disgusting to see you struggling to live. Where do you think this is, crawling back in every time?”

The boy, with his head downcast, was quietly accepting it all. He didn’t get angry, didn’t cry, didn’t get repulsed, I was just listening calmly. Looking at the scene, one soldier, who was grinding his teeth, cried out.

“Okay, I’ll open the door. Instead, we need to go to the bathroom right now, but there’s no toilet here and we can’t just discharge anywhere, can we?”

As soon as they realized what the soldier was saying, the surrounding guards quickly formed a sea of laughter. Then, they didn’t hide their joy and added one at a time.

“Oh, yes we can’t just do it anywhere.”

“But I see a toilet has come just in time. Someone must have brought it for us.”

“Are we supposed to do it there? If I get to relieve my urgent need, I’ll be glad to open the door.”

Still, the boy was just looking down at the floor with his head down. As if accepting their suggestion, the soldiers lowered their pants and began to do their business. The liquid pouring from the high walls scattered in all directions by the wind. But thanks to the utmost concentration they aimed with, most of them shot into the boy’s head.

It was a dry sky, but the boy was soaked as if he had been hit by the rain alone. The liquid that ran down the boy’s body was weting the floor, and the boy, who was already small, had become infinitely smaller in front of the big wall. The soldiers standing on the walls were huge enough to easily crush such a boy.

“Oh, that was refreshing.”

“Now that we’ve done our business, we can open the door.”

“You’re bad luck, but I can’t help it. I have to endure your existence a little more.”

At the end of his sentence, the gate of the wall began to rise. The boy moved slowly. Footprints were drawn clearly wherever his feet touched. I deliberately swept over the boy’s footprint as if to erase them. The boy’s footprints were like blood from the wounds on his heart, so I couldn’t just leave them.

Perhaps the reason why the light disappeared from the young warrior was not only because of the witch’s darkness.

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