Future Knight

Chapter 119

“I want to eat this.”

“Oh, yes! How much would you like, cute customer?”

“How much can I get with this?”

This was Loki’s first transaction ever, having never spent money before.

However, what Loki pulled out was gold, and the tavern owner’s eyes widened.

A plate of wild boar barbecue for one person only cost 3 silver.

Even though 3 silver was an exorbitant price, the 1 gold Loki had put down was equivalent to 100 silver.

It was an amount no child would typically have, so the tavern owner bit down on the gold coin with his molars to check if it was real.

The clear bite mark proved that it was indeed genuine gold.

The tavern owner was bewildered.

He didn’t have enough cash to give change for this large sum.

But the tavern owner, deciding to feed Loki first, responded eagerly.

“For this amount, you can have all the wild boar meat we have in the tavern today. Please enjoy as much as you want, dear customer.”

“Really? Then give me the wild boar and some liquor!”

Loki had tasted liquor for the first time when they went out on leave together and had wondered why anyone would drink such bitter stuff.

Strangely, the taste occasionally came to mind, a curiosity hard to understand.

So today, Loki decided to try the liquor seriously once more.

“Liquor, you say? Which one would you like?”

“The strongest one.”

Since Kang Chan and Zikyon had sought the strongest back then, Loki followed suit.

“Ah, then I recommend the Blatania Karthas.”

Of course, it was the most expensive one.

“I’ll have that.”

“You have an excellent eye. Just a moment….”

The owner pulled out a bottle from a rather luxurious box and placed it on the table with a glass.

Karthas wasn’t that expensive in the big cities, but in this warzone, it was the highest quality liquor, with a price to match.

“The meat will be sliced and served immediately. Just a moment.”

The tavern owner brought out a whole golden-brown wild boar, roasted on a skewer over charcoal.

Skillfully slicing the meat with a large knife, he piled the pieces high on a plate and set it before Loki.

“There you go! Eat to your heart’s content, customer!”

“Alright, thanks. I’ll enjoy it.”

As Loki took a bite of the wild boar, its unique gamey flavor brought back memories of the forest where he used to live.

It was a place he had once wanted to leave due to loneliness and desolation, but being in a foreign land now, he missed it dearly.

While Loki was reminiscing and chewing the wild boar barbecue, the tavern owner asked,

“Does it suit your taste?”

Loki nodded enthusiastically.

Seeing Loki’s happy face, smeared with grease, the tavern owner thought,

‘Ah, if only I had a daughter like that….’

He had been single for 45 years.

Having traveled the continent following money and time, he was still a bachelor.

In his youth, he left home to become a merchant, wandering through big cities and learning the trade, but the world was not so kind and had dealt him several blows of despair.

Eventually, he gathered what little money he had to set up this portable tavern.

Selling liquor on the roadside like this had been his life for the past ten years.

Family was something he longed for dearly.

Seeing Loki, he wished he had a daughter her age.

“Please, have as much as you want, customer.”

“Okay, I will.”

While Loki enjoyed his barbecue and washed it down with liquor, there was a group watching him. They were soldiers from Terbia.

They had come out for a group break, soothing their loneliness with cheap liquor and snacks.

The pay given to low-ranking soldiers was a pittance.

“Hey! Look over there!”

“What?”

“A stunning beauty at 12 o’clock!”

“Where? Where!”

The soldiers’ gazes all turned to the 12 o’clock direction.

“Wow! She’s really something!”

“No way, how can such a beauty be in a place like this!”

They couldn’t close their mouths in awe at the sight of a stunning beauty drinking alone.

Though there were women around, a young and fresh beauty like Loki was extremely rare.
“What kind of woman is she?”

“Judging by her outfit and appearance, she doesn’t seem to be affiliated with the military.”

Most of the women here were either involved in the military or were prostitutes.

However, since she was not dressed in a military uniform, they assumed Loki was a prostitute.

“Hey! Look at the drink she’s having! Kartas!”

“What, Kartas?”

The soldiers watched Loki sipping Kartas, a drink that cost over 30 silvers, with expressions of envy and jealousy.

Then they looked at the cheap cinnamon drink they were drinking.

Cinnamon was a diluted alcohol mixed with water, the drink of poor and destitute workers, the lowest-grade alcohol.

It was a drink consumed for its intoxicating effects rather than its taste.

“Ah, damn it! I’m so jealous! She must be pretty successful, huh?”

“Exactly, she’s here drinking Kartas all by herself.”

“Unbelievable! Some of us risk our lives to drink this cheap cinnamon, while others just have to sell their bodies to drink Kartas! It’s filthy, filthy! Ugh, spit!”

The soldiers grumbled as they drank their cinnamon more irritably, and bottles began to pile up.

Meanwhile, a giant woman, drinking alone in another shop, was also watching Loki.

This giant woman was so enormous that even sitting, she was taller than a standing average person.

Remarkably, she was a woman. The beer mug she held was 3,000cc, but it looked like a teacup in her hands.

Her expression as she watched Loki was filled with envy.

‘Ah, if only I were small and delicate like that…’

She envied Loki’s small and slender figure.

As she sighed and watched Loki, the men around her whispered.

“Hey! It’s Giant Mama!”

“Whoa! Where? It’s really Giant Mama.”

“Wow! Is that a real person? That’s insane!”

Although she knew they were talking about her, she silently drank her beer.

It had become a routine she was used to.

Due to a rare disease that prevented her growth from stopping when she was young, her height reached nearly 3 meters.

Her appearance was more beautiful and slender than most women, but her gigantic stature made her the object of everyone’s ridicule.

Her nickname was Giant Mama.

It was a name that implied she was the mother of a giant tribe said to have been destroyed by dragons in ancient times.

With her enormous size came tremendous strength, and her athletic abilities were exceptional, which earned her the full support of the state for knight training.

Although she was a woman, her nearly 3-meter-tall body could provide a significant intimidation factor to enemies.

Thus, trained as a strategic weapon, her current skill level was at the beginner stage of a Sword Expert.

She was at a stage where she could emit an Aura Sword but was somewhat inadequate.

However, with her enormous build, she could easily handle an intermediate Sword Expert.

Her name was Britina. A knight from the Silverline Republic and a member of the Silverline Guard.

“Hey? Why is that monster drinking here?”

“Who knows?”

It was a valid question. There was no need for a guard like her to use such a roadside bar.

There were separate bars for guard knights where they could enjoy premium drinks without paying.

But as a farmer’s daughter, she missed beer and came here.

Besides, whether here or there, she was treated like an animal in a zoo, so she felt more comfortable drinking among soldiers who couldn’t openly ridicule her as a knight.

The soldiers watching her whispered among themselves.

“No way? Is she sitting there to hunt us?”

“No way? But her face is really pretty. What a waste. Should I try hitting on her?”

“Don’t even think about it. Do you want to have a funeral after a night?”

“Just kidding. Do you think it would even fit?”

“She might not even notice it’s in! Haha!”

“Haha!”

Britina endured the soldiers’ crude jeers and quietly drank her favorite beer.

Meanwhile, she noticed a commotion on the street and looked over.

“Why do you keep bothering her when she said no?”

“Hey, miss… Come on, have a drink with us… Thud!”

“Don’t be shy, we know all about you. Where do you work? Huh?”

“I said, go away nicely.”

“Oh, look at you, got some spirit, huh?”

The Terbia soldiers who had been eyeing Loki earlier were now drunkenly surrounding and harassing him.

“Hey, you guys! What are you doing? Didn’t she say no?”

“Old man, stay out of this! Are we hurting her? Thud! We’re just asking her to join us for a drink.”

“Stop this and keep drinking. I’ll give you service.”

When the poor Terbia soldiers heard about the free service, they became furious.

“Damn it! Are we beggars?”

“You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Cut it out!”

An agitated soldier kicked the table beside him.

It seemed he had a particularly nasty temper when drunk.

“Guys, please stop this.”

Loki, having had enough, stood up to intervene.

“I told you to leave nicely.”

The soldiers whistled and mocked Loki’s bold move.

“Whiiistle! Hey! That feisty look is cute, huh? I bet customers line up for that fiery attitude?”

Loki issued one last warning. If it came to bloodshed, their chances of survival were slim.

After all, he was an ogre who loved the taste of blood.

“I’m warning you…”

But Loki couldn’t finish his last warning.

A giant hand appeared from nowhere, grabbed the soldier by the neck, and lifted him into the air.

“Keck! Keck! Spare me!”

As the soldier vanished into the sky, his comrades screamed, looking at the woman lifting him.

“Oh my god! It’s Giant Mama!”

Instantly, the soldiers’ faces turned pale. Their drunkenness vanished along with their color.

“Help! Spare me!”

The soldiers abandoned their comrade and fled without looking back.

Her enormous stature was sheer terror itself.

Britina hurled the soldier she was holding at them.

“Waaah!”

Thud!

The soldier who hit the ground couldn’t get up easily. After coughing heavily for a while, he crawled away with difficulty.

Watching him, Britina dusted off her hands and said,

“Hmph! Pathetic.”

“…”

Loki looked up at her with wide, shining eyes.

And he thought,

‘Is this how humans see me?’

For the first time, Loki looked up at someone with a craning neck, his expression full of surprise.

Such was the massive build of Britina standing before him.

Britina spoke to Loki, who was looking up at her with bright eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Loki nodded vigorously.