Chapter 10: Inside the Castle
by Foreigner · 2026-08-21
Gihun opened his eyes the following afternoon.
There was a ceiling.
Gihun stared at it for a long time.
For over 70 days, there had been no ceiling.
There were tree branches. There were rock overhangs. But there was no ceiling.
'.......'
Gihun found that a bit strange.
It wasn't strange; it was good.
That it was good was strange.
Eda: Are you awake?
A voice came from beside him.
It was an old woman. The one who had cut his clothes with scissors yesterday.
Eda: Don't move.
Aron: ......
Eda: Three of your ribs are broken.
Gihun sat up.
Eda: I told you not to move.
Aron: I'm fine.
Eda: You're not fine.
Aron: I really am fine.
The woman looked at him.
Then she unwrapped the bandage.
Eda had been making medicine for forty years.
She had seen a lot in that time.
She had seen people with broken ribs, people with their bellies cut open, some of whom lived, most of whom died.
So Eda knew how old a wound was just by looking at it.
This wound was six days old.
Eda herself had stitched this wound a day ago.
Eda: ......
Aron: Excuse me.
Gihun said.
Aron: What's wrong?
Eda re-bandaged him.
Eda: What are you?
Aron: ......Pardon?
Eda: Never mind.
Eda stood up.
Eda: Stay lying down. Just stay lying down.
Gihun lay there for three more hours.
He got up three hours later.
When he opened the infirmary door, there were people.
A lot of them.
A dozen or so people were standing in the hallway.
The moment Gihun opened the door, they all fell silent.
Aron: ......
Gihun closed the door again.
Sounds came from outside.
Soldier 1: It's closed.
Soldier 2: It is closed.
Soldier 3: Why would they close it?
Gihun leaned against the door and stood there for a moment.
'.......'
Gihun opened it again.
Aron: Hello.
A dozen or so people bowed simultaneously.
Bedrun shooed the people away.
Bedrun: Don't you have anything to do?
Soldier: ......
Bedrun: Three sections of the wall have collapsed.
The people dispersed.
As they scattered, they kept looking back.
Bedrun: My apologies.
Bedrun said.
Bedrun: They've been like that since yesterday.
Aron: ......
Bedrun: Because you came from the sky.
Gihun was about to say something but stopped.
Bedrun led him up to the wall.
A field came into view.
It was the spot where he had fallen yesterday.
Now, bodies were strewn across it.
Bedrun: About a hundred out of three hundred died.
Bedrun said.
Bedrun: We killed about forty.
Aron: What about the rest?
Bedrun: Among themselves.
Aron: ......
Bedrun: The other two hundred are over there.
Bedrun pointed east.
There was something black about twenty li away.
It wasn't one mass.
It was several masses.
Aron: They didn't leave.
Bedrun: No.
Aron: Why?
Bedrun was silent for a moment.
Bedrun: Because there's food.
Gihun understood the meaning of those words.
There were a hundred bodies in the field.
Bedrun: You.
Bedrun asked.
Bedrun: Where did you come from?
Gihun pointed east.
Aron: Over there.
Bedrun: That's a mountain over there.
Aron: Yes.
Bedrun: You came from the mountains?
Aron: Yes.
Bedrun looked at him.
Bedrun: How many?
Aron: ......72 days.
Bedrun said nothing.
Not for a long time.
Bedrun: You.
Aron: Yes.
Bedrun: You're not very good at lying.
Aron: It's true.
Bedrun: That's why I said you're not good at it.
Just then, the sky darkened.
Dummy tried to descend the city wall.
Dummy didn't know how to descend.
There was a warehouse inside the city wall.
To be precise, there had been one.
After the dust settled, Bedrun asked.
Bedrun: What is that?
Aron: ......
Bedrun: Is it yours?
Aron: It's not mine.
Bedrun: Then.
Aron: I fed it.
Dummy poked its head out from the warehouse wreckage.
It poked its head out and looked around.
Six soldiers were holding spears.
Aron: Don't shoot.
Gihun said.
Soldier: There's nothing to shoot.
The soldier said.
Soldier: We only have spears.
Aron: Don't even do that.
Gihun descended.
He walked towards Dummy.
Aron: Hey.
Dummy looked at him.
Gihun reached out his hand.
Dummy bit.
Aron: ......Ah.
Gihun pulled his hand back.
Aron: Right. Food first.
Gihun went outside the city wall and dragged an orc corpse back.
Three soldiers followed him as he dragged it.
It was unclear whether they followed to stop him or to watch.
Gihun threw it.
Dummy ate it.
About twenty people on the city wall were watching it.
Karin: Commander.
Karin asked.
Karin: What is that?
Bedrun: I don't know.
Karin: Does it have a name?
Bedrun asked downwards.
Bedrun: What's its name?
Gihun looked up.
Aron: Dummy.
Bedrun: ......
Aron: I named it.
Gihun said.
Aron: But that's how it looks.
From that day on, the castle people threw orc corpses to Dummy.
They weren't ordered to do it.
There were a hundred corpses in the field that needed to be cleared, and coincidentally, there was something in the sky that cleared them.
Beliston arrived that evening.
Gihun was sitting on the stairs outside the infirmary.
The old man sat beside him.
It took him a moment to sit down.
Beliston: You.
Aron: Yes.
Beliston: Does your shoulder hurt?
Aron: A little.
Beliston raised his hand.
Beliston: Don't move.
The old man said something short.
Aron's memory understood it.
'Pain relief. Lower grade. Court examination, third-grade subject.'
Gihun waited.
Nothing happened.
Beliston: ......
Beliston looked at his hand.
And tried again.
Still nothing happened.
Beliston: How is it?
Aron: How is what?
Beliston: Your shoulder.
Aron: ......It still hurts.
Beliston lowered his hand.
Beliston: My apologies.
Aron: It's alright.
Beliston: I suppose it's because I'm old.
The old man said that.
As he said it, he knew he didn't believe it himself.
It was a third-grade spell.
He had used it about ten thousand times in sixty years.
'.......'
Beliston couldn't sleep that night.
It was on the second day that Erarion found Gihun.
To be precise, he had been prevented from meeting him for two days.
Eda had stopped him.
On the second day, Eda left for a moment.
Erarion: Brother!
Aron: ......
Erarion: I'm Erarion! I'm seventeen! I'm Master Beliston's disciple! Brother, how did you do that yesterday? The part where you lay down and kicked with your feet at the end! I saw it from the top of the city wall, but can a person lie down and spin like that? I tried it, but my waist won't turn! And where did you get that bird? Master said wyverns don't carry people, but you rode one. So is Master wrong, or is that not a wyvern?
Gihun listened to him until the end.
As he listened, he confirmed one thing.
This child wasn't breathing.
Aron: Erarion.
Erarion: Yes!
Aron: Breathe.
Erarion's eyes widened.
Erarion: The Commander also said so.
Aron: ......
Erarion: My brother also says so.
After that, Gihun couldn't get Erarion to leave him alone.
On the third day, my lord called him.
There were two cats in the office.
My lord was not wearing his armor.
my lord: Are you Aron?
Aron: Yes.
my lord: That's a noble name.
Gihun didn't answer.
My lord looked at him.
He was sixty-eight and had been in this castle for forty years.
When he was young, he was in the royal capital.
my lord: There are many Arons in Heness.
My lord said.
my lord: I know at least four Arons.
Aron: ......
my lord: Well, never mind.
My lord stood up from his seat.
And bowed his head.
Gihun was surprised.
Aron: My lord.
my lord: I am the lord of this castle.
Aron: ......
my lord: There were two hundred and seven people, and now there are one hundred and nineteen.
Aron: ......
my lord: If it weren't for you, there would be none.
Gihun stood there.
'.......'
Aron: Um.
Gihun said.
Aron: I didn't come to help.
my lord: ......
Aron: I was going that way, and that castle was there.
my lord: ......
Aron: And the bird couldn't land.
my lord: ......
Aron: It fell.
My lord raised his head.
And smiled.
my lord: Is that so?
Aron: Yes.
my lord: Then it's fine.
My lord sat down again.
my lord: Thank you.
From that evening, Gihun started doing strange things.
He asked for names.
He asked when they met on the ramparts. He asked when they ate. He asked when they went to fetch water.
“Aron.”: “What’s your name?”
“Raon.”: “I’m Raon.”
“Aron.”: “Raon.”
“Raon.”: “Yes.”
Gihun nodded and left.
The soldiers liked that.
There was no one who wouldn’t like it when someone from the sky asked their name.
Bedrun noticed it on the third day.
“Bedrun.”: “You.”
“Aron.”: “Yes.”
“Bedrun.”: “Why do you keep asking for names?”
Gihun paused for a moment.
“Aron.”: “...Just because.”
“Bedrun.”: “Just because?”
“Aron.”: “Yes.”
Bedrun didn’t ask any more questions.
He also knew all two hundred and seven names.
So he knew it wasn’t “just because.”
On the night of the fifth day, Gihun climbed the ramparts.
He looked east.
There were mountains.
At night, they were just black masses.
There were a few fires in the field in front of them.
The two hundred were still there.
“Karin.”: “They’re not leaving.”
Karin had climbed up beside him.
She had a bandage on her left shoulder.
“Karin.”: “It’s been the same for five days.”
“Aron.”: “...”
“Karin.”: “They’ll leave when they run out of food.”
“Aron.”: “What if they don’t?”
Karin didn’t answer.
They would come when they ran out of food.
Gihun made that calculation.
There were a hundred corpses in the field.
Dummy ate three or four a day.
The orcs ate too.
‘...’
They would run out in a week.
“Aron.”: “Excuse me.”
Gihun spoke.
“Aron.”: “You picked up a bow then, didn’t you?”
Karin looked at him.
“Karin.”: “Yes.”
“Aron.”: “You didn’t shoot.”
“Karin.”: “Because there was a person on it.”
“Aron.”: “...”
“Karin.”: “Otherwise, I would have shot.”
Gihun smiled.
“Aron.”: “You did well.”
“Karin.”: “What did I do well?”
“Aron.”: “Not shooting.”
Karin looked down at the base of the ramparts.
“Karin.”: “I still find that strange.”
Aron: What do you mean?
Karin: That a person came out of that mountain.
Gihun didn't answer that.
'.......'
He hadn't come out of the mountain.
He had fallen into the mountain.
That night, Gihun looked at his belongings.
There was a sack.
Inside was one shoe.
The club was gone.
It had broken yesterday.
'.......'
Gihun made a calculation.
If he went west from here, he would find inhabited areas. There would be villages, then cities, and eventually the royal capital.
He just had to go.
That's what he had come for in the first place.
'.......'
Gihun tied the sack again.
There were a few fires in the field.
And in this castle, there were one hundred and nineteen people.
Gihun now knew the names of thirty-one of them.