vncnus Chapter 13 Two Slices of Toast
Chapter 13 Two Slices of Toast
The pockmarked man said, "This is Caogang."
Gao Zhugan said that Baron Peyton was the Earl of Montero's most trusted vassal and always obeyed his master's every command.
Crispy Potato said his family was very rich.
Dirty Braids—her braids were not only dirty but also smelly—said that Mary was a whore who seduced her sweetheart Jerry, and she vowed to win Jerry back.
Natalie felt she should take a shower first.
Little Eye Mouse said he wanted to be a sailor and had once sailed at sea for a month.
Natalie bet he was lying; the skinny boy couldn't possibly have boarded the ship.
She spent eleven days on the trading ship, either vomiting by the fender or on her way to the fender.
If someone accidentally vomited in the cabin, they would inevitably get a beating.
For eleven days, Natalie barely slept and vomited up almost everything she ate.
Natalie pressed her hand to her flat chest, feeling dejected. If things continued like this, she would never be as good as her mother.
However, Little Eye Mouse didn't mention the hardships on the ship at all, so he must have been bragging.
"And you, little one," Crispy Potato asked Natalie, "who are you?"
Yes, who am I?
Natalie blurted out a name: "Casey".
She meant to say Catherine, but that was a girl's name.
"Cassie?" Crispy Potato looked around at the people in confusion. "Who is he? Do you know him?"
The others shook their heads.
The man with the pockmarked face asked, "Did you just arrive here?"
Natalie nodded, then noticed the dreadlocks staring at her.
She asked, "Is your hair color... natural?"
Natalie nodded again.
"Really!" Natalie's eyes lit up when she saw the dreadlocks. "Then... do you have someone you like?"
The person I like...
I love my mother, and that answer immediately came to Natalie's mind.
But she knew that the "like" the man with the dirty braids didn't mean that.
Almost everyone Natalie cared about was dead; apart from her mother, only two people remained in her memory.
The curator is handsome, but she doesn't like him because he's a conman, albeit a gentle one.
She would rather like Henry, but Henry was too boring and listened to the curator's every word.
Therefore, she has no one she likes.
But Natalie understood what the dreadlocks were thinking when they asked that question. She really didn't want to be too close to the dreadlocks; their smell was too overpowering. So Natalie chose to lie.
Natalie nodded for the third time.
The dirty braid stopped talking, and the crispy potato asked:
"Hey, is your family rich? My family is very rich. I saw my dad hide a gold coin with my own eyes."
Natalie shrugged: "One gold coin isn't considered rich."
Crispy Potato's face contorted, spitting as he yelled, "You've never even seen a gold coin! You have no right to say that!"
"Of course I have seen them," as Catherine herself stated, "I have noble blood."
Crispy Potato gritted his teeth, and Tall Bamboo Pole stepped forward, raised his chin, and mimicked the accent he had heard:
"Since you are a nobleman, are you illiterate?"
"I am not only literate, but I also frequently read books in the library. Besides, nobles don't speak like you."
Then Gao Zhugan lowered his chin and took a step back.
The pockmarked man asked again, "Then what are you doing here?"
"They came by boat."
"You're lying!" The little mouse's eyes widened in surprise.
"I'm not lying. I boarded a trading ship. They agreed to let me ride on the ship on the condition that I work on it."
The little mouse, with a ferocious expression, roared and pounced on Natalie.
Then, Pockmarked Face, Crispy Potato, Tall Bamboo Pole, and Dirty Braids all surrounded Natalie, kicking and hitting her.
What a bunch of useless bastards, they don't even have the strength to hit anyone, Natalie thought. I couldn't take even one punch from a sailor on the ship.
Natalie endured the blows and kicks, only protecting her face, because her mother said that a woman's face and chastity were more important than anything else.
When they got tired of fighting, they dispersed.
Natalie sat on the ground, dazed for a moment, then slowly got up, smiling as she brushed the mud off her body.
Natalie doesn't like reading, except for storybooks.
Therefore, during the three years that Natalie lived in the library, she read quite a lot.
Natalie had read "Catherine's Amorous Adventures" many times with her mother. If she were truly Catherine, she would surely retaliate by picking up a stick and striking back.
But Natalie disliked Catherine, especially not understanding why Catherine, being a woman, always liked to hang out with other women.
Natalie likes stories about mermaids.
Mermaids are beautiful, kind, and adventurous. When faced with harm from greedy people, they do not choose to retaliate directly, but instead adopt a smarter approach.
Natalie wants to be a mermaid.
So she took the money out of her pocket and counted it.
She stole it from the group of unruly children when they ganged up on her.
There are a total of seventy-seven copper coins.
It turns out the crispy potato was a fraud, because only four of them belonged to him.
Natalie was a little hungry, so she used six copper coins to buy two slices of lard bread.
Actually, she could get free food as soon as she got back to the ship.
But the air there made her feel nauseous, so she preferred to spend some money.
The trade ship doesn't depart until tomorrow, so Natalie doesn't plan to go back tonight; she intends to just find a street corner to sleep in.
The nights may be cold, but there are worn-out blankets in the cabin.
But at least the land didn't shake, allowing her to enjoy a peaceful night.
After eleven days at sea, Natalie found herself loathing ship travel.
Nevertheless, she will return to the trading ship tomorrow.
The trading ships were laden with salty cheese from Shoepad Island, golden grapes from the Blois Peninsula, and huge quantities of cod products.
After leaving Caogang, it is estimated that several more large boxes of Aoyama tangerines will be loaded.
The ships will then continue south until they round Elbow Point, then turn north and sail for a distance before entering the Sogo River and finally reaching the royal city.
That was Natalie's destination.
She set off in search of her mother.
If Henry was not lying to her, and her mother sought revenge, then her destination would inevitably be the royal city where the king resided.
Natalie's reason for searching for her mother was simply that she didn't want to be alone.
Her mother was her only remaining support, and all she wanted to do was stay by her mother's side.
The bread was very hard, and because there was too little oil, the side facing the open flame was almost completely burnt.
But Natalie couldn't bear to throw it up; the feeling of fullness was more precious than the delicious taste.
After finishing one slice, there was still half left of the second slice.
Natalie suddenly felt a suffocating sensation, turned around, and realized that someone had grabbed her by the back of her collar.
It was a man dressed as a knight, covered in dust and dirt, his armor dull and lifeless.
He said, "I recognize you. That unique orange-yellow hair color, I can't mistake you."
Natalie, with half a slice of toast in her mouth, was gradually spreading fear in her eyes.
"You're a girl!"
These words were like a judgment, robbing Natalie of her future.
Natalie instinctively kicked her right foot back, and then "Knight" released his grip, clutching his groin in pain.
Natalie ran in the opposite direction, running desperately, not even having time to spit out the bread in her mouth.
He recognized me, Natalie thought in horror, and as a wanted criminal, what would happen if I were caught...
Natalie didn't dare to think any further.
She didn't know how long she had been running, but she felt like she was about to collapse.
Did they escape?
Natalie turned around, wanting to confirm.
Then despair struck.
The "knight" was almost touching her back.
Then, she saw the afterimage left by the swift slash of the hand through the air.
The world was plunged into darkness.