Chapter 62: Phantom Thief Dauphin (6). What It Means to Live Strong
“Dad, the villagers are so unfair.”
A girl with orange hair and bright green eyes pouted as she grumbled.
“Just yesterday, they were calling you a savior, a hero. But the moment a rumor spread that the lord found you inconvenient, they started asking you to leave. How can they be so shameless?”
The girl kept turning her head back to glare at the village behind them, clearly still fuming. A middle-aged man offered her a wry smile as he tried to console her.
“My sweet daughter. You’re upset because you got kicked out without even getting to eat your pancakes, huh?”
“That’s not it, okay? I just hate how shameless they are. They cursed the lord for ignoring the trolls near the village, but the moment the lord showed up and cleared his throat, they all went quiet and looked the other way. It’s pathetic.”
“Dahlia.”
The man stopped walking, crouched down, and looked his orange-haired daughter in the eyes as he spoke.
“The villagers didn’t turn their backs on us because they’re evil or selfish. It’s just that they’re so powerless... living each day is already a struggle, so they can’t help but be afraid of what others think.”
In the girl’s eyes, she saw the man before her.
A scruffy beard. Skin weathered and scarred.
His armor was dirty and patched over again and again after countless repairs, with none of the splendor people typically imagined when they heard the word “knight.”