When we arrived at Old Woman Farla’s farm, we were immediately greeted by the sight of Sherry working hard on the fields. It seemed she was busy watering the crops, as she was carrying a large steel watering pail with her. And by large, I meant “half her height” kind of large. And yet, she could carry it with no problems whatsoever, though she had to carry it on top of her head thanks to her not being tall enough to carry it normally.
“Hey, Sherry!” I shouted to her, waving my arms.
She looked up towards me, and a flash of a smile came to her face. It quickly disappeared when she noticed Marina however.
"What do you want? And who is she?" She glared towards her.
"Hello." She returned with a smile. "I'm Marina. Hugo's sister."
"You have a sister?"
"Yeah. Sorry for not telling you beforehand."
She seemed to not appreciate me forgetting to tell her about Marina, judging from her frown. But then again, she's always frowning, so who could tell?
"Thank you for playing with my little brother." Marina gave a little now. "He doesn't have many friends, you see, so I'm glad he can have a playmate of his age."
"I-I'm not his friend though…" She averted her gaze, blushing a little. What's this? Did I just witness a genuine, honest-to-goodness tsundere moment? Now that I thought about it, she fit every stereotypical tsundere characteristics out there! Bad temper, super strength, no hesitation to punch people she didn't like--the only difference was her long black hair, which usually belonged to a prim and proper Yamato Nadeshiko type instead.
"Hmm?" Marina's smile turned into a smirk. "Hugo always talks about you though."
"H-he did? What did he say?"
"That you are really cute and he wants badly to become your best friend."
H-hey, Sis, I never said that! Don't make up things just because you wanted to matchmake me with her!
Her face reddened once again, and of course, I was the one who earned her glare.
“T-then he should say it himself! Not hide behind his big sister like this! I-I don’t like cowardly little boys, you know!”
See, Sis! Now I ended up looking bad in front of her! Hey, don’t just laugh!
"Alright, alright." She finally stopped, wiping a tear off her eye.
And then, all of a sudden, her expression turned all serious.
"Hey, Sherry." She looked at her straight in the eyes, bending her knees. "Do you like working here?"
"H-huh?"
"Here? In that old hag's farm?" Holy hell, did she just straight up call her an old hag?
Sherry didn't answer immediately. Instead, she looked down, almost as if she was too scared to answer.
"I… I do not…"
Her answer was uncharacteristically weak for such a strong-willed girl.
"Then, I have a better offer for you. What do you think about living together with Hugo?"
Wait, what?
"We can adopt you, you know. Take you in, and raise you like you're Hugo's sibling."
Sis, what? You hadn't even talked about it with Father and Mother yet! You couldn't just give her empty promises!
"R-really?" O-oh God, her eyes! They're like a puppy's eyes when you tempted them with a biscuit they loved very much!
"Really! Here, why don’t we talk to her now right away?”
With a smile on her face, she took her hand while gesturing towards me to follow her.
Oh Sis, sometimes, I couldn’t figure out what you were thinking in the slightest.
----
Old Woman Farla's house was on top of the hill overlooking her farm. It was smaller than ours, yet it still was a nice house, certainly a reflection of her upper middle class status.
Big Sis didn't hesitate. She walked straight to the front door and knocked on it. Loudly, I might add.
"What in damnation? Who is that?" I heard an old woman's voice coming from behind the door.
The wooden door opened, revealing the most stereotypical looking witch-like old woman that I had ever met. Really, if she just wore a witch's robe and hat instead of a normal dress, she would be perfect for the role.
“You? Who are—Sherry, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be working right now?”
“Hello.” Big Sis gave her the most polite smile she could muster. Yet, at the same time, said smile didn’t reach her eyes. Whoa, scary. “I’m Marina Greenwood, and I’m here in Father’s behalf. We are interested in taking in Sherry here, and we wish to ask for your permission first.”
“Marina… Greenwood? You mean, you’re the daughter of those Greenwoods? Hmph, I see. Just as uncivilized as your parents.”
What the—what’s up with the snide remark? Hey, we were the guardians of this region, you know. Or at least, my Father was.
“Of course, Mrs. Farla,” my sister replied. “We are certainly less civilized than you, who are a descendant of King Marchen The First. Even if that lineage is really, really distant from the current King.” The way she said it was full of venom. I could tell straight away that she was offended by her remark about our family, and that she was striking back by mocking her bloodline.
Eh? I never knew Old Woman Farla was of nobility! Was this another thing our parents told her but not me?
“Better than being a child of adventurers to be sure.” She wrinkled her long, crooked nose. “A bunch of ruffians, those lot. To think that Lord Eriol would employ them to be his knights--Hmph, unbelievable."
If I remembered correctly, Lord Eriol was Father's boss. He was the Baron of the region. Actual nobility, unlike our father.
"If your father truly wants that wild, ungrateful child—" Uh, I could see Sherry’s temper rising at this. "—then he must come here himself. I have no interest in talking to his brat. Good day." She then slammed the door in front of her.
Marina sighed. "Well, that's that. Let's go back home, sha—"
CRACK
"Wild and ungrateful?! How dare she?! I have worked so hard for her! Day and night! And yet she never gave me a single gratitude! She's the ungrateful one!"
CRACK
CRACK
CRACK
Holy hell! D-did that just happen? In her anger, Sherry just destroyed the stone pathway she was standing on! Just by stomping on it! Every time she did, pieces of rock flew off to all directions—luckily not hitting either of us—and we could even feel the tremor!
"C-calm down, Sherry, calm down!" I grabbed both of her hands from behind.
Only to end up with my world turned upside down as she threw me over her head as if she was some kind of a pro wrestler. I would’ve landed on the hard stone, if not for Marina running straight at me and catching me mid-air.
When she regained her senses, she looked at us with a horrified expression on her face, before looking down at her own, shaking hands as if she was looking at a smoking gun that she just fired and killed a person with.
And then, she ran away. With her speed, there was no way for any of us to catch up to her.
Marina sighed, patting me on the shoulder once she let me down.
“You got a hard road ahead of you, Hugo, if you really want to be friends with her.”
Comments (0)
See all