“The price for help” These words resonated in Hendrick’s head.
“Also, you have to make a sacrifice to God. You have to pay the price to get help. ”
They were difficult, confusing words, but he naturally interpreted them. It was as though you had to pay money to enter the temple. Yet, he was aware that in his situation, he had nothing to offer. There was just one small, pitiful body. He could not give himself up. If he did, he wouldn’t be able to take care of his younger siblings.
Hendrick looked around. There was still quite some time left for the day to set, so he decided to move again.
It had not been long since he nourished himself with the bread and milk. He managed to get up. He tried walking to see if his body had regained a bit of strength.
The novelty didn’t end there.
The voice of God lingered, and he could hear it.
He looked around and fixed his gaze at what had attracted him. It looked like a letter. It appeared to be floating in the air. At the same, he heard a voice explaining into his ear.
―This is a suitable destination for transmission.
―It is possible to consume the help connection target Ko Jin-Hwan.
He kept hearing that kind of story again and again.
At that time, he discovered the kind of herbs that could be harvested from the mountain. He plucked them.
“Ko Jin-Hwan.”
Hendrick then realized that that was the name of the being that helped him. That is, the name of God. It was a name he’d never heard of anywhere. Yet, he was also a kind of God that was not worshipped at a temple. Well, through his father, he knew that there were many religions in the world. So it was possible to have other gods besides those that the village people worshipped.
Hendrick would later come to learn that the voice he kept hearing was not the voice of God. Whenever he was thinking and asked himself questions within his thoughts, his voice would answer tenderly.
―I am the voice service of the help system.
―In short, I can be called a helper.
―If you don’t want to, you can also disable the voice function.
―However, depending on your language skills, it is recommended to turn on the voice function and communicate.
Perhaps the ‘helper’ was a divine agent or a divine tool. Hendrick also found that there was more he could do with it. For example, he learned that some of the grasses he had seen before were edible and others unpalatable for ‘Ko Jin-Hwan’.
―[Lychnis.]
―There is no rating.
“Uh?” Suddenly Hendrick stopped walking. He concentrated and was able to catch something in the voice that was a little loud.
‘Lychnis?’
That was the name of the herb that Hendrick also knew. He quickly looked back at the place he had just been browsing, and he was able to find the root of the herb. It was hidden in the bush, naturally, because of its small size. The herb also had medicinal properties.
‘I’m going to offer it to God.’ He told himself. He tried to remember how much it would cost. Not that it was an expensive herb, but he preferred to dedicate it to the gods, rather than selling it to the adults in the village.
―This is a suitable destination for transmission.
―It is possible to consume the help connection target Ko Jin-Hwan.
―Sent.
Little by little, he walked around the mountain until it became dark. Thanks to the aid of the helper, he was able to dig a lot of wild vegetables. However, when he turned back to the village, he was still almost empty-handed. For most of the mountains produce he had obtained, he sacrificed intact.
Hendrick still felt weak in his legs. However, he admitted to himself that he felt much stronger than the previous day. Perhaps it was because of the bread and milk. He remembered that he had taken a little more milk, but the bread had remained untouched.
“I am sorry for the lack of sincerity. I will work harder in the future, so I hope you don’t get angry.” He told himself as he descended the mountain. Hendrick bowed to the sky. He was convinced that he had given a satisfactory offering, among them, medicinal roots and herbs. But he knew that the offering did not commensurate what he had received. That is, it wasn’t just bread and milk. He had received a second chance to live. He was saved when he almost died on the mountain.
* * *
“Well, I see you’ve got some herbs today. It is a grass that kids don’t know very well, but you found it well.” Aunt Hopa said with a rather happy face after offering the leftovers to God.
Rather than rejoicing for having taken care of the children, she could see that Hendrick was elated. She also realized that Hendrick probably needed something to eat, so she brought a bowl of cold porridge and handed it over to him.
“You have not had anything to eat, right?” She offered, “Eat this first.”
“Thank you, aunt.”
“It’s alright, child.”
Hendrick was grateful for the kind gesture.
Aunt Hopa seemed to understand his pains. Contrarily, while Hendrick lost his parents to war, Aunt Hopa lost her children. Hendrick had heard that caring for the children in the village by the aunt was not just for money or rewards, but mainly because she loved children.
“By the way, why are your clothes this soiled?”
“It was quite muddy.”
“Where did you fall?” She showed concern, “Look here. There are a lot of wounds.”
“Ah. Easy. It’s okay.”
Everybody had one or two wounds on their body. It didn’t seem like a big scar for Hendrick. More so, it was already healing. Aunt Hopa nodded silently and moved away from the other children. She served a bowl of porridge and placed it on a simple table.
Hendrick stared at the wooden spoon and then turned to where his younger siblings were gathered.
“Eat,” He urged, “Eat brother.”
The second eldest, Belter, offered it to the third born, Dorothy. However, she offered it to Tian, the youngest, instead. Tian had a good appetite, but Hendrick could tell that he was holding back.
“Eat.” he continued to urge them even though the little porridge could not bring them to satiety. One of his brother’s stomachs began rumbling. Out of shame, they all looked away with a similar expression.
“Well then, let’s share.” Hendrick said. He ate a couple of spoons first and handed over the bowl, Belter who shook his head, almost pretended to eat and handed it over to Dorothy. It was the same with Dorothy. They knew, after all, that it was Tian who ate the most.
“Thank you again today, aunt.”
“No, thank you!”
“Okay, okay.”
They bid goodbye and went outside the village, for the village was not their hometown, to a hut where they lived.
They had inherited the hut from their parents. Their parents had left their original home and had immigrated to the new home. They lived there for a short while, for they had contracted some sickness on the evacuation route and later passed away. They were not well off. The little they had at the time could only secure them a simple home- an ordinary shack at the village’s outskirts, not even inside the village
Hendrick knew that there were bad adults everywhere. However, he kept vowing to protect his younger siblings because he knew they would grow into good adults.
“Where are you going?”
“This is my home. I’m at home.”
“Hmm.”
He explained to the person that was trying to occupy their home for the night. The huts in the outskirts of the Manahan village fence were used as warehouses by hunters in the past. But this particular one was now their home.
Many people were living under similar circumstances, so there were no complaints about the house itself. However, his greatest regret was that he could not use his parents’ property as freely as he would have liked.
He felt sorry that he was taking care of his younger siblings by himself. Nevertheless, he never complained about it. Neither did he ever complain of his predicaments. He understood that it had to be done anyway.
It would just require a lot of effort.
“When I grow up and become stronger like the adults, I will be able to work a little bit more and give you better things.” He was still walking and thinking about that brighter future when a commotion happened.
Belter had hit Mark. Hendrick could not figure out why. Tian, who had seen it, tried to explain. However, because of his age, his remarks were incoherent.
Hendrick looked at Belter for a moment, and after a glance, asked him, “You did something, didn’t you?”
Belter looked back, not willing to respond.
Dorothy, who saw Hendrick’s face harden slightly, quickly intervened between the two.
“He hit Mark!” She informed Hendrick, “because he made fun of me.”
“Can you tell me in more detail?”
Mark was the son of the family that ran a business in the village. He was a little bigger than his peers because he was more privileged. They were better off, but he was not raised in good discipline. He enjoyed reproaching or harassing others. So often, he was a troublemaker.
“You whore!” Mark was shouting at Dorothy. She blushed with shame, unable to connect.
Hendrick’s gaze turned behind him, to Tian, who was then pestering him with questions, “Hendrick brother, what is a whore?” Tian asked with a flat face. But Hendrick could not answer him.
“Mark said it. Is Sister Dorothy a whore?”
“Tian!” Dorothy shouted at his brother. Tian was so startled that he ended up hiding behind Hendrick.
Hendrick could see Belter shake his head from the corner of his eyes.
He asked Dorothy again and again, and she eventually gave in. She narrated to her elder brother how mark had taken advantage of her.
“Actually, it’s not wrong.” Hendrick consoled his sister. “If you are an orphan of war, you may have to do whatever you have to in order to live and eat. It would be nice to be a normal adult, but as you already know, things are not easy for us.”
It was not uncommon for an orphan girl to be caught and sold by someone to become a prostitute.
Theirs was a village where vigilantes existed. However, they had not have protected their younger siblings from outside intruders and bandits. And even though there were bad adults in this village, they couldn’t leave, for it was more dangerous to leave the town.
“Do not worry about it. I’ll keep you guys safe.” Hendrick promised.
Then Belter, who had been silent all the while, spoke up.
“As skinny as you are?”
Belter’s gaze was directed at Hendrick’s naked torso, a body smaller and thinner than peers of the same age as his. It was a dire situation, considering that his parents were a little bigger than other adults.
“Okay. It will be different now.” Hendrick responded with a rather said with a brightened face, which puzzled everyone. They felt that it wasn’t the usual bluff as the eldest.
“Just a second.”
Hendrick had been behaving weirdly. He kept looking around and could not sit still. He looked like a person hiding a great treasure.
“Close the door.” he said as he went inside, hurriedly picked up his rag, and meticulously put it down on the floor. They did not own a table. He opened the package. It was twilight, so everyone could recognize what was in the package.
“Bread!” the siblings said in unison, almost shouting in delight.
“Shhh, quiet.”
Tian cheered. He couldn’t take his eyes off the bread as he drooled.
Dorothy and Belter looked at Hendrick silently with a similar blank expression.
“You are asking where it came from?” He said, reading their faces. “God has given it to me.”