Chapter 41: The Wind and the Handkerchief
In the forest where birds cry “gyaagyaa”. We came to the middle of the mountain for the purpose of the training.
The comfortable, autumnal wind cancels out the strong heat of the sun.
“It’s kind of… just looking at it makes me feel dangerous, Will.”
“Well, I feel like I’m about to get the hang of it…”
Finlay, the prince, looks at William with fearful eyes and doesn’t take his eyes off the machete and wood chips in his hands as he responds to William. Charlotte encourages William, who is like this.
“William, do your best! You have the basics down. Just work on your posture!”
Charlotte, who says this, is loudly making a lot of noise and continuing to split wood at high speed.
“Charlotte is so skilled with the machete…
“Ara, Finlay, for a commoner like me, it’s just natural?”
“Uh… really?”
Finlay, with a good sense, looked uncertain for a while, but eventually he started splitting wood again, without taking his eyes off of William and Charlotte. He may have grasped the knack in this short time, and although it is not as flashy as Charlotte’s technique, he seems to be splitting the wood safely.”
While we watched the peaceful scene of the three of them, Edward and I carried water.
“The stew of pork and vegetables that we made ourselves was delicious. We also studied a lot about the vegetation, it was a completely satisfying day!!”
“All that’s left is to sleep.”
While the three of them talked, looking at the sunset, the tents set up by the students were lined up on a relatively flat part of the mountain.
“Tomorrow we’ll be studying the plants near the swamp, right? Honestly, I’m more interested in fish than the swamp vegetation…”
“Why not observe the vegetation while also looking at the fish? I think the nearby environment is also an important element of the vegetation.”
As Charlotte began to speak, listening to the conversation between William and Finlay, the prince, she glanced at William’s face.
“Oh? William, there’s mud on your face.”
As she said this and took out a handkerchief, approaching William’s face, a gust of wind blew violently and Charlotte’s handkerchief flew high into the sky, away from her hand.
“Aah?!”
The white handkerchief fluttered in the air and then eventually fell, losing altitude, near the edge of the cliff.
Charlotte widened her eyes and brushed back her hair that was blown around by the wind.
“I was a little surprised that such a strong wind was blowing. I’ll go get the handkerchief.”
As Charlotte took a step towards where the handkerchief had fallen, William stopped her.
“I’ll get it. It flew away because you tried to wipe my face. Wait here.”
Saying this, William began walking towards the handkerchief. I followed him from behind.
When we arrived at the edge of the cliff, William picked up the white handkerchief after squatting down.
He lightly tapped the dirt off the handkerchief and then he stood up and tried to return to us.
At that moment.
A crack ran through the ground under William’s feet.
In the blink of an eye, the ground under William’s feet collapsed and he fell, staggering. In the dazzling setting sun, it seemed unusually slow to see him fall with his eyes open.
Charlotte’s scream and the prince’s urgent voice echoed around us.
Without thinking, I stepped towards William and reached out my hand. I grabbed his clothes and pulled him towards me, embracing his upper body as he fell to protect him.
And then, William and I tumbled off the cliff together, tangled up.
