Overwhelming Firepower

Milos exited the train with the craftsmen, Robert, on the other hand, stayed to enjoy the magnificence of the train.

When Milos looked around Dorsen, he could not believe his eyes. It had been just a few years since he left, but the village he once knew had changed so much.

In the past, you could look around and see far away, but now your sight would be blocked by the high walls.

In the past, there were so few people passing through that it was like a big family who knew what everyone was doing, but now there was a densely packed amount of people. Milos could not recognize most of the faces present.

There were now many shops as far as he could see, many new houses, and the roads made of stone were clean. He could no longer see where the farming areas were under all the new things.

’I wonder if I could still find home.’

Milos started walking through the city. Milos walked without a clear direction, letting his feet carry him where they would.

The stone beneath his boots was smooth, well-laid, nothing like the dirt paths he remembered. Each step felt strangely out of place; it didn’t feel like he had returned home but arrived in a completely different place.

Voices filled the air, vendors calling out prices, children laughing while playing, the clang of metal from distant workshops. It was louder than he remembered, busier than when everyone was just farmers and hunters.

He passed a bakery, the warm scent of bread drifting into the street. For a moment, his steps slowed.

’There used to be a field here,’ he thought. A small one, poorly fenced, where old Farmer Taren used to shout whenever children trampled the crops.

Milos could almost see it, patchy soil, crooked scarecrow, the way the wind bent the wheat unevenly. Unfortunately, Taren was one of the people who had died in the bandit attack.

’I wonder what he would think if he saw Dorsen now?... Heh, he would most likely be grumpy about the noise.’ Milos chuckled a little at the thought.

Milos shook his head lightly and kept walking. He turned down a narrower street, one less crowded.

Here, the buildings were taller and closer together, their stone walls casting long shadows. Banners bearing the Thornefang insignia hung from iron brackets, fluttering softly in the wind.

In the past, the banner they would have raised was either of Thornehart or Stellhart if they had any, but after being rescued by Thornefang, he understood that the people wanted to show their loyalty to their saviors.

Lucen Thornehart, the man who saved them, and the person who had changed everyone’s lives. The person he followed, the one he believed whose story would be remembered in history.

As he continued walking, he arrived at what seemed to be the town square, as the density of people and shops had tripled.

In the middle of the town square was a bronze statue of a younger Lucen Thornehart. It was what Lucen looked like when he was twelve, of course, the current Lucen looked far older now and taller.

Milos couldn’t help but smile as he remembered the day he followed Lucen back to Ironhold. Back then, he was just a weak teen who could not protect anyone and tried his best to at least save the children.

Now he was a warrior who was wearing armor, learned how to use a sword, and the arquebus.

A lot has changed not only the village he lived in, but he himself has changed a lot. Milos continued to look around, trying to find at least one familiar person or thing.

He stepped out of the square and into another street, narrower than the rest. It was then he saw a familiar place, it had of course been rebuilt, but the sign was something he remembered.

The only tavern, no, what used to be the only tavern in Dorsen, the sleeping willow. Of course, now there were more taverns, but this was the one, although slightly different from the one in Milos’s memories.

Milos stopped in front of the tavern. For a moment, he didn’t move as he continued looking at the sign. There had been many memories in this place.

This place used to be loud only at night, filled with tired farmers and hunters nursing cheap ale after long days.

He remembered sitting in a corner once, listening more than talking, watching adults argue about harvests and weather like it was the most important thing in the world.

He pushed the door open. Warmth spilled out immediately, along with the hum of conversation. The smell inside wasn’t just alcohol anymore, but also roasted meat, soup, and fresh bread.

The second he came in, someone had immediately noticed him. ”Milos, is that you?”

Milos looked at the one behind the bar table and finally saw a familiar face. A middle-aged man with no hair in his face, which made him look younger than he was. Seeing this person, Milos smiled as he replied.

”It’s been a while, Uncle Gran.”

Hearing Milos’s reply, Gran approached the other party slowly, then he rushed forward and hugged Milos. ”It’s been some time, my boy! It’s great to see you!”

”It’s great to see as well, Uncle Gran.”

Gran parted from Milos and patted the other party’s shoulder. ”Last I heard, you followed the young lord to become part of Thornefang. Now that I look at you, it seems that you succeeded. Wait! Have you seen your parents?!”

”I was actually looking for the house, but everything has changed so much,” Milos replied.

”Oh, right,” Gran realized what had happened.

He glanced around the tavern for a moment before gesturing toward an empty table near the wall. ”Come, sit. It’s better we talk there.”

Milos followed without a word. Once the two were seated properly, Gran spoke. ”As you know, your house, like most houses back then, had been burned to the ground by the bandits. Then there were the refugees, whom the young lord brought. Then there was the huge sum of gold coins the young lord gave to remake Dorsen to what you see today.”

Milos nodded his head to indicate that he could follow the story being told.

”So, naturally, your house, like everybody else, kept on moving around while being made. Right now, I’m sure that Dorsen to you is like a maze. You won’t be able to find your house just by wandering. How about you wait for a few minutes? Anna is about to come by for work. She could guide you to your parents’ new house.”

Milos reacted when he heard Anna’s name. He gulped and awkwardly spoke. ”Anna works here?”

Gran noticed that Milos’s reaction was weird and very quickly realized why as he grinned. ”Oh, right, I remember you and Anna used to be close.”

”... Yeah, we were. So is she seeing anybody these days?”

”I don’t really know. As you remember, Anna was quite the beauty, and there were only a few men her age back when we were a small village, but now there are many suitors buzzing around her.”

”Is that so?... Um, did she look like she was interested in any of them?”

Gran did not respond and instead just smiled as he stood up from his chair. ”Who knows... I’ll bring you something to drink. On the house. You look like you could use it.”

Milos nodded and leaned back in his chair as Gran walked away. He hadn’t thought about Anna in years, not properly.

He had been so focused on training to become a warrior worthy of being a part of Thornefang. He knew that he had no right to feel this irritated.

He was the one who left her here in this city, looking for adventure, wanting to be a part of Lucen’s story, not hers.

Yet now that her name had been spoken, memories surfaced unbidden. Anna laughing while carrying water buckets too heavy for her.

Anna scolding him for picking fights he couldn’t win. Anna standing beside the other villagers when the bandits came, fear in her eyes, yet refusing to run.

He even remembered the day he left. He and Anna stared at each other in silence for several seconds. It was Anna who broke the silence first.

”Hmph. You’d better make something of yourself out there,” she said, wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand.

”Because when you come back, I’ll be even more beautiful, and you’ll regret leaving. Who knows, I might have someone by my side who’ll never leave me.” She forced a smile through her tears.

Those were the words she said on that day, and it would seem that what she said had come true.

While he was thinking, the door of the tavern opened, and the person who appeared was the one he kept thinking about.

Anna quickly noticed him, and the two locked eyes for several seconds. For a brief moment, the noise of the tavern seemed to fade.

Anna stood near the door, her hand still resting on the handle. She looked older, more composed. Her hair was tied neatly, her clothes simple but well-kept.

Milos rose from his seat without realizing he was doing so. ”... Anna,” he said.

Her lips parted slightly, as if she hadn’t expected her own name to sound like that coming from him.

”Milos,” she replied, and neither of them moved.

If Lucen were her,e he would have said that this scene reminded him of some K-drama he saw while scrolling through the internet.