Chapter 5 - People (4)

Translator: Kimmy

Editor: Ship

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Brigitta was often told that she cooked better than she looked. 

Her tribe lived in a cold and barren place so most of the food they had were either dried or not fresh. So, regardless of gender, they all learned to cook to eat their meal in the most delicious way. 

She was not an outstanding cook in her tribe but, judging from the people’s reactions so far, she was a pretty good cook. 

She only used the kitchen in the Northern Walls ever since she moved to the Kingdom so she thought her cooking skills would get rusty but fortunately, it still seemed good enough, looking at how well Eva was enjoying the food. 

Brigitta was really surprised yesterday.

Eva was a clumsy and unskilled cook despite looking like a cute lady that bakes cookies for fun.

Eva was fine with eating just bread and water and when Brigitta suggested her to eat more, Eva enthusiastically tried to cook and almost burned up the kitchen. 

It was then evident why there were so many preserved food in the cabinets and burnt stains on the kitchen ceiling. She must have almost burned the whole house multiple times. 

It was quite remarkable how she managed to not completely burn her house down all those times.

Brigitta admired Eva for that. 

“It’s delicious! Amazing…..”

“It’s just an omelet.”

“But, I can’t…..make it. This shape….is so hard.”

Eva made an omelet shape with her hands. She was unbelievably adorable that no one would believe she was 27.

Brigitta never could have imagined that Eva would be a year older than her.

She even doubted her knowledge of the Kingdom’s numerical system.

“So, Eva. I will come to outside. Ah, no I mean I will go out.”

“Are you going somewhere?”

“A short visit to the palace.”

Eva’s hands abruptly stopped delivering the omelet to her mouth. 

The palace. She tried to rethink the meaning of that word. It was where the Emperor of the Kingdom lived. Where other officers and noble people worked. The huge and shiny place she saw when she passed the capital. 

Eva’s frozen eyes restored with a look of astonishment. 

“The p, palace?”

“Yes. I will arrive there tomorrow. No, I mean, come back from there.”

This knight could be perhaps a very important figure. Eva nibbled on her fork, her eyes beaming with curiosity. 

*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*

Brigitta tidied her hair again and checked her uniform. After making sure they were all appropriate and neat, she nodded to the servant in front of the chamber. 

“Your Majesty, Lord Emmerich is requesting for your audience.”

“Enter.”

Brigitta took a deep breath.

Has it been 3 years since they last met?

She didn’t move from the Northern Walls and neither did the Emperor from the capital so this was the first time they met after the war. 

She wanted to calm herself a bit more but the door was opening and she couldn’t make the Emperor wait. 

The discomfort of the audience chamber overpowered the discomfort of the newly granted uniform. 

A heavily sank atmosphere. The room was filled with the familiar stench of monsters she had to bear with on the battlefield.

She bowed according to custom.

The Emperor–the one she could never defeat even after 10 years, the one who was blessed by the God of War–made a welcoming smile. 

“Bri! It’s been so long! Has it been 3 years?”

“I apologize for not visiting often.”

“No, no. You were occupied with your duties. You must be tired from the journey. By the way, your speaking improved.”

She was actually tired from the things that happened after she arrived here but she kept silent and smiled. 

The Emperor was always an easygoing person, unlike the intimidating aura he had. He laughed and came closer to her. 

He was even a palm taller than Brigitta, who was taller than most of the Kingdom’s men. He placed his hand on her shoulder and greeted her. Brigitta was a little relieved from nervousness. 

Yes, he wasn’t a bad person. She did know. It was just that his presence and aura was so intimidating.

It was because they haven’t met for a long time so she knew that she would be comfortable after a few hours. 

“Ah, have you had lunch yet? Would you like to join me?”

“If it’s not inconvenient for you, sure.”

“Your vocabulary really expanded.”

The Emperor smiled pleasantly. It has been 8 years since they first met, but his face was still the same.

*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*

Speaking of it now, the Emperor’s first impression was really horrible to Brigitta. 

It was not that he did anything pathetic like boasting about his family name, making trouble, or being needlessly violent. 

Even when he approached her in a gentle way, her first impression of him was terrible.

Now she was older and more mature so she knew how to handle people peacefully regardless of their first impression but her 18-year-old self couldn’t. 

‘Karlos Josef Rumillesa the Second is scary.’

That was her initial impression of him.’

It was inevitable. When there is a lion in a herd of sheep, the herd fears it. Even if the lion didn’t do anything, they all instinctively avoided it. That was the law of nature. 

Except when once in a while a crazy sheep went wild and provoked it. 

Her misfortune here was that she was that ‘crazy sheep’. But to defend herself, her 18-year-old self was still unfamiliar with the social hierarchy and norms. And to be honest, she was basically a reckless hog on fire.

The Brigitta back then was upset that she was intimidated by him. 

She couldn’t understand the Kingdom’s language anyway so the best resolution she came up with was to attack him. 

The result was rather embarrassing. 

She lost in a single strike and it hurt her pride as a strong Genovian. It was such a shameful memory that thinking of it now still made her embarrassed.

As soon as she realized her limbs and head were still intact, she dashed back to him again. And of course, lost again.

She repeated that for about 5 times and was breathing heavily from exhaustion. Then, he tilted his head and approached her.

Was he finally going to finish her? The teenage Brigitta had 1 part of fear and 9 part of frustration and glared at the monster.

She was horrified when she realized that his breathing didn’t alter at all and as a result, she dropped the ax she was holding on to even as it pierced through her skin. 

She gave up and waited for her fate to come. Then, surprisingly, instead of the Kingdom’s language, she heard weird Holkan words. 

“Nice to meeng chu. I always want to meeng you peengpol! people! Henlo?”

She didn’t remember to which direction but the moment she heard that she lost her conscience from the absurdness and collapsed.

*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*

Even though their first encounter was terrible, he approached them, trying his best in speaking Holkan—among that the Genova tribe dialect.

Whenever few competitive young men attacked him, he defeated them with ease without even flinching. Even so, he never used a sword nor hurt them in the process as he patiently tried to communicate with them. It was later that he found out that doing that was even more insulting to them.

As the representative of the tribe, Brigitta was about to go crazy but the other Genovians favored him for his effort in trying to communicate with them and invited him over at dinner.

{What’s your scheme huh?}

{I want ‘berserkers’ to shwepp vida}

She couldn’t understand any of that so she made him rephrase it multiple times, then the phrase finally made sense as: “I want you berserkers to join us.”

Then he pulled out a proposal document. The proposal was written in proper Holkan and listed the benefits they would get when they join the Kingdom’s Army, the pay they would receive when they win, and the number of berserkers–Genovians–wanted. 

When asked why he didn’t show them the proposal in the first place, he answered that unlike the person who wrote that proposal, he wanted them to be more than hired soldiers. He wanted them to immigrate to the Kingdom. 

And that was why he kept trying to communicate with them in Holkan despite being terrible at it.

They found out later that him saying that was part of the Chancellor’s plan but back then, the Genova tribe suffered under Holka’s oppression for a long time so they were intrigued by the proposal. 

This matter was voted on the spot. The result was 2 opposition with everyone else agreeing. Thoughts like ‘Was it that suffering to live here’ and ‘Can we really trust this stranger’ conflicted in Brigitta’s head. For the record, she agreed. 

When they left few Genovians to protect the pregnant and the children and joined the Kingdom’s Army, they were shocked to find out that he was the Emperor.

After that, Brigitta found out more things about him. 

Such as that his emotionless face was because he was shy, he didn’t have many close people because of the intimidating aura he had since 10, and that he was not shy with Brigitta because of her strong impression. 

That he was far from being tyrannical, even bearing a commoner advisor nagging him. That he succeeded the throne during the war. And that he was like a monster on the battlefield.

And that his face was her type. 

There were some things she found out about herself too. 

She was what people would call a genius. Her martial arts and the swordsmanship she learned directly from the Emperor improved significantly day by day. 

She never felt like she was a genius since her standard was the Emperor but to Count Siegfried back then, she was his number one priority to bring back with him to the Northern Walls.

*scroll down for a smol gift from the translator!*

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[TL NOTE]

berserker: strong warriors

Genova tribe people = Genovians 

The Genova tribe is located in Holka, but Holka oppressed them and maltreated them.

Holkan: the people of Holka/the language of Holka

here’s the gift enjoy~

An illustration of Brigitta //owo//