f0Ri5
patreon
Damned If I Do, Damned If I Don't (Chapter 5)
🕑 Added 2023-06-15 17:10:33 +0000 UTC-----------------------------
As I neared the main house, I heard people talking and laughing. Even Lily sounded like she was having a good timeâa rarity, at least when I was around. It actually made me feel a bit bad, knowing the mood would sour as soon as I showed up, but I had my orders.
Carefully rounding my house; that is to say, the wood-shed I slept in, I could see the three of them through the kitchen window. From the plume of white smoke rising out of the chimney, I knew they were preparing lunch. Here, people usually ate their first meal around noon after working up an appetite.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the kitchen side door before walking in. The talking stopped for a moment before Grace stuck her head out from behind a shelf, spotting me.
âAh, itâs Arne!â
I almost returned her smile, but then Lily emerged with her hands on her hips. She was actually a pretty good-looking womanâdark-haired and in her mid-thirties. She had a great figure too, though her usual modest dress warded off any indecent gazes.
My stepmother looked me up and down, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.
âLunch isnât ready yet.â
I stood there awkwardly, scrunching my wool cap in my hand. Despite knowing I wasnât at fault for my presence in this household, I couldnât help feeling a misplaced sense of guilt for existing.
Frankly, I didnât understand what drove Jed to cheat on his wife. As Iâve already said, Lily was an attractive womanâthere werenât many who compared to her in Westbrook.
Aside from Jed not being able to keep it in his pants, the only thing I could think of was her not being able to have kids after Erik. I mean, she and Jed were still⊠you know. At least, I assumed that was the case from hearing certain odd noises now and then.
What Iâm saying is, itâs strange my brother didnât have a few extra siblings by now. Maybe Jed felt the same way, which is why he did what he did.
Anyway, returning to the present, I lowered my head before clearing up Lilyâs misunderstanding.
âThere wasnât anything else for me to do in the forge, so I was sent to helpâŠâ
An uncomfortable silence stretched in the kitchen as I just stood there, waiting for my stepmother to say something. After staring at me for a while, the look in her eyes not exactly approving, she sighed.
âThe kitchen canât take four people. Wait outside, then take the scraps to feed the pigs.â
After speaking, she turned and disappeared around the corner, not sparing me another glance.
Grace, whoâd watched the entire exchange quietly, gave me a secretive smile.
âDonât worry, Iâll save you some-âŠâ
However, before she could finish, Lilyâs voice suddenly rang inside the kitchen.
âGrace, darling, Erik needs your help with the vegetables. You know he canât peel to save his life.â
A moment of awkwardness passed between the blonde and I before she grimaced apologetically, her head disappearing back behind the shelf.
Suppressing a sigh, I didnât loiter any longer, doing as I was told.
----------------------
While feeding the pigs, I reflected on the fact that my brother didnât greet me. Honestly, I wasnât surprisedâhe always acted indifferent when his mother was around. I donât blame him either; there was nothing to be gained from involving himself in our quarrelâŠ
âŠthough it was less a quarrel and more a one-sided dislike on Lilyâs part. That being said, I didnât really have any ill-feelings toward herâwhile she didnât like me very much, my stepmother never doled out anything more than a tongue-lashing. Not like Jed.
âHey.â
Suddenly, a boyish voice â seemingly in the process of cracking â spoke from behind. Turning my head, I immediately spotted Erik standing behind me.
âSpeak of the devil and he shall appear.â
Though, the devil in question was only fourteen this year, in the middle of a transition toward adulthood. He was tall, rapidly closing the gap between himself and Jed, but a bit too rakish. His hands and feet also seemed a little large, like theyâd grown faster than the rest of him.
That being said, he was still a handsome young man, having inherited the best qualities from both father and mother. Like Lily, he had fair skin, dark hair and blue eyes, but with Jedâs solid build. It was in contrast to myself, who looked the most like Jed, but more thinly-boned.
Returning to the present, I gave him a smirk.
âWow, Grace came all this way to see you, but you actually left her to greet your little brother. Iâm impressed.â
I gave a thumbs-up with my one hand while scraping out vegetable peels with the other.
Erik frowned, but I didnât miss the hint of color appearing on his cheeks. Handsome as he was, he was only a teenager and insecure about those types of things.
ââŠMom says to come eat after youâre done, Arne.â
After speaking, he turned and left just like that, leaving me to scratch my head in silence. It wasnât normal for an older brother to allow his younger brother to tease himâat least in the past, Erik wouldnât have hesitated to start a fistfight over a comment like that.
Recently, heâd grown in more ways than oneâthe boisterous kid Iâd known turning into a silent, stoic young man.
âCould he be going through âthatâ phase?â
Recalling my own journey into emo-ness, I shivered inwardly. In light of that, I supposed I couldnât tease him too much; it would be hypocritical of me. But then again, I never claimed to be a morally upstanding individual.
Putting thoughts of mischief aside, I tossed the last scraps to the pigs, checking to see if they all got their share. There was a tendency for the bigger ones to âhogâ all the food, if youâll pardon my pun.
When I was certain theyâd all eaten, I stowed the plank bucket before going to wash my hands.
-------------------------
Two straight tables stood in the kitchen, arranged into an âLâ shape. As custom dictated, we seated ourselves on the outside ends, leaving half of both tables empty.
I was surprised to see Jed there, not having noticed his arrival. He took the âheadâ seat in the middle with Lily and Erik on both sides, and Grace sitting next to Jason. Despite there being space next to Lily, I sat at the other table.
Understandably, our guest found this odd judging from the glances she kept sending my way.
âArne, for goodnessâ sake, why are you sitting over there?â
The question came from Lily, staring at me with exasperation.
Suddenly being called out like that, I felt my face turning red. However, it wasnât exactly out of embarrassment, but more out of anger. Usually, I was made to eat outside. The fact that things were different today was simply because of Lily and Jed not wanting to look bad in front of Grace.
However, I didnât say any of that, simply apologizing, getting up and sitting next to Lily.
âUhm, sorry.â
When we were all neatly seated like ducks in a row, Jed clasped his hands and prayed a few short sentences. Honestly, the words sounded extremely out-of-place coming from him, but it was something he did now and then, so I wasnât too surprised.
After he was done, I shoved my wooden spoon into my bowl without preamble, bringing the food to my mouth, tasting the thin soup. As a person from the modern world, I always had a misconception about how food worked during medieval timesâthat is to say, I thought winter was the hardest season of the year.
Contrary to expectations, the period right after winterâs end and before the next harvest was the most difficult, peopleâs food stores being at their lowest point during the year. For that reason, we were basically eating gruel without even a scrap of meat.
Yet, as I was thinking such thoughts, my eyes involuntarily wandered to the othersâ bowls, noticing their soup seemed a bit thicker, more flavorful and aromatic.
Sighing inwardly, I put such envious thoughts out of my head. Even if they ate a little better than myself, the difference was extremely small. It was like having a couple of pennies in your pocket when someone else had a dollarâeither case was still poverty.
Aside from the subdued sounds of eating and scraping cutlery, the room was silent. However, it wasnât awkwardârather, everyone was too busy enjoying their first meal of the day. Despite my arguably poor food, I counted among them.
Hunger was indeed the best cook, but Lily wasnât too bad either. Salted and seasoned, the gruel wasnât completely tasteless. A thin film of oil also gleamed on the surfaceâan unexpected treat. Usually, excess fat was skimmed off to be used for other stuff like greasing metal joints, or just greasing tools to prevent rust.
âHowâs your mother doing, Grace?â
Eventually, Lily broke the silence, making eye-contact with her future daughter-in-law. It might have seemed a bit premature of me to say something like that, given she was only thirteen and Jason fourteen, but things worked differently hereâwhether my modern sensibilities approved or not.
The blonde finished chewing with some embarrassment, holding her hand in front of her mouth.
âSheâs doing fineâŠâ
Lily nodded, her expression not showing much change.
âThat makes seven, doesnât it? You must be used to taking care of your little brothers and sisters by now.â
Grace laughed embarrassedly.
âMy big sister does that because Iâm not very good at it. Theyâre so naughty and always complain too much. If you donât give them what they want, they throw tantrums and break things. Especially StevieâŠâ
She stayed silent for a moment, apparently mulling over her next words.
ââŠthatâs why itâs always nice to come visit. Itâs quiet here and everyoneâs so polite to each other. I wish it was like this at my house.â
As a home-maker, Lily was understandably pleased from having her household complimented. However, aside from her lips curving slightly, she didnât much show it. In that sense, she and Jed were rather well matched, being about as emotional as two blocks of woodâunless we were talking about anger, which neither had trouble expressing.
Considering this, I started to wonder whether their behavior and mannerisms were rubbing off on Erik. Certainly, children followed their parentsâ example. It would be unfortunate if the happy-go-lucky kid Iâd known for years disappeared due to bad influences.
However, before I could continue that track of thought, Lily spoke.
âYouâre always welcome here, dear. In fact, go ahead and think of it as your own houseâweâre all glad to have you.â
Smiling warmly, she reached over and patted Graceâs hand.
It needed to be said that, not only was this more affection than sheâd shown me in a lifetime, even Erik didnât usually hear such kind words from his mother. Honestly, aside from sleeping and eating inside the house - as well as the odd head-pat â his treatment wasnât all that different from mine.
âDid she always want a girl or something?â
Fixing my eyes on the incomprehensible woman, I absentmindedly spooned some brined cabbage into my mouth.
âItâs not polite to stare so hard, Arne. And donât eat so slowly, the food will get cold.â
Without even looking at me, Lily apparently found a few things to criticize.
Lowering my eyes, I automatically brought the bowl up to my chin.
âYes, sorry.â
My obedience was basically conditioned at this point. However, before someone calls me out for not having a spine, Iâd like to say I didnât have much of a choice. While Lily never hit me, Jed certainly would if I talked back to his wife.
âBy the way Grace, I heard father John started teaching you how to read.â
Returning her attention to her new favorite child, the thirty-something woman put her chin in her hands, waiting expectantly for a response.
Grace nodded shyly.
âUhm, yes. Iâve been learning for a few months now and can read most simple sentencesâŠâ
Lilyâs expression brightened, her eyes filled with admiration and praise.
âThatâs incredible, dear. I wish my boys were as smart as youâjust teaching them how to tie their shoelaces was already difficult; I doubt theyâd ever be able to string a sentence together.â
The matter-of-fact-ness in her tone caused both my and Jasonâs faces to distort, feeling inexplicably wronged. Me in particular, since I tried to get that fat, old priest to teach me, but not only did he refuse, he wouldnât even let me take a look at one of his books. As it was, Iâd barely gotten a handful of glances at this worldâs text.
Exchanging glances with my brother, I could see he was starting to regret bringing his girlfriend home, a sentiment I certainly agreed with.
-----------------------------
Comments
f0Ri5
I understand. The only thing I can say is he's already lived here for ten years, he's gotten used to how things work and how people treat each other. Its difficult for me to really show it properly without the context of his whole childhood, but I guess he just feels that it's not so bad, other people in the village treat their actual flesh and blood kids way worse. It's a case of keeping expectations in check in a world where basic needs cant be taken for granted. I'll try to show more of that though so it doesnt feel so... i dunno, hard to believe.
Boyo
I think my only complaint so far is how ambivalent to all the abuse the MC is. If he were just a regular child it might make sense, but he is a reincarnated adult. Maybe you arenât getting into it yet, but there doesnât seem to be any anger or resentment. I thought he would just be pissed all the time.
f0Ri5
Sorry, I tried to set expectations in the first few chapters that the MC is very weak, very average. I know people will find it hard to accept that there isn't some way for him to get OP early, but that is how this was set up. For that reason, I made the world an AU, it's not like what you'd see in WoW, magical abilities are rare and inherited, most people are just normal humans. He does have his own talent related to reincarnation, but it's something obscure that's basically impossible to figure out by himself. It will only be revealed a long way into the story.
Big ToFu
Raise my hand in confusion as I look around, Sir, where is the magic blacksmith construction and boom boom of the horde?
