Summoned and Unwanted

675 The books left for future generations

While Vincent acted proud of his women, Awa wanted to find proof to check if she was entering some elaborate trap.

Awa had somewhat accepted Vincent as a warrior, but she was still weary about the harem part. It was fishy in her books.

Awa moved her gaze to the painting. She wanted to look at the expressions of his wives and check if Vincent’s words were true. Or if Vincent was lying straight to her face.

Awa keenly looked at the details of the painting to examine if the painter faked their happy relationship or not.

The more Awa examined, the more she wondered if the painter painted a happy family as told, or if Vincent and his wives were actually a happy family.

Awa deemed their apparent happy relationship to appear real for now. It caused Awa to feel terrible after recalling calling Vincent a slave trader many times, and his women must be his slaves.

“Awa. Can I know more about extracting nutrients from herbs? Are you a herbalist by chance?” Vincent curiously asked.

“Huh?” Awa was shocked to hear this question.

“I am going to be a proud Dullahan warrior and not a herbalist. ” She answered while frowning. Awa didn’t look happy to have a job other than a warrior.

.....

“Hehe.”Vincent chuckled and teased, “Sure. I understand.”

Awa frowned deeper. She felt Vincent was making fun of her. However, because every question Vincent asked awarded her with a choice of food or water, Awa had to overlook her pride being questioned for now.

“One of the books our ancestors left for the next clan chieftain intrigued me. ” Awa answered.

“Was it a book that teaches ways to utilize herbs? Or were the contents...”

“It was not a herbalist book. OKAY!” Awa interrupted angrily as if her pride of a proud Dullahan was on the line. “The book did not have cooking teachings or anything around healing balms.”

“The book explained in detail how after many generations of trial and error, one clan chieftain managed to figure out how to make a portion of food become multiple portions. To share the nutrients of one food item like herbs or vegetables into many portions fascinated me the most.”

Awa faintly blushed after the outburst and added while averting her gaze. “I learned intending to reduce food consumption. I wanted my family to have food saved because we had to relocate a couple of times because of danger. R

Awa revealed a sad expression while saying, “Relocating with little food is not nice.”

[Awa and the Dullahans appear to have suffered a lot. The Dullahans reminds me of Iris’s people. They also relocate from one place to another because of danger.]

-Food without the strength to acquire it is not a nice experience. Aero Forest showed us how difficult it was to find food. We also learned that without limiting ourselves, the food we found would be used before finding the next meal.-

[Ahem. I will change the negative subject, and I got to say, Awa is pretty honest when it comes to certain things.]

[I wonder what book made her so interested, though. Do the Dullahans have some special knowledge, perhaps?] Kazumi curiously questioned.

The more Kazumi talked about the book Awa read, the more she became curious to see the contents of the book. Kazumi wanted to learn what the previous generation of the Dullahan clan left for future generations.

“I know what you mean, Awa.” Vincent gently nodded. “Two of my wives and I survived in a forest full of danger. We were starting out, and we were weak. Every fight was with our lives on the line. Every fight felt similar to fighting Orso.”

Awa became interested. A faint smile appeared on her face, and her gaze focused on Vincent curiously.

*Cough* “But that is a very long story, and I do not want to bore you.” Vincent said as he did want to spend an hour summarizing what dangers he had faced up until now.

Awa frowned, and she became unhappy.

“Awa, regardless of what the book was about, your hobby was born from a noble cause. Furthermore, a noble cause that you chose to follow when you were young with the intention of helping your parents to live a better life.”

“Ye... yes...”

“I like people like you. ” Vincent said with a straight face.

“Hu-huh?” Awa lightly blushed.

“I like people who treat their parents well. I lost mine when I was young, and I blamed myself for taking them to a place where an accident took their lives.” Vincent warmly smiled and continued, “Now I feel I need to help you more.”

“Thank you...” Awa could only say after hearing about Vincent’s past. Awa wondered how her parents were currently doing and how devastated she would feel to lose her parents.

“Hehe. You look embarrassed, I see.” Vincent teased before he offered, “I would not mind taking care of your family on my property. Not only will you not have to marry that scum of a clan leader, but your family will live a prosperous life. You will also be able to seek the path of a warrior instead of the path of a food alchemist.”

[Ho Ho. Are you going to steal a bride-to-be now? And here I thought Lilith was going to be the last wife or bride-to-be you were going to steal.]

“...” Vincent didn’t know how to respond as he could now understand how bad it sounded.

Vincent worried about acquiring the title of wife snatcher now.

Awa didn’t utter a single word. She remained silent while staring blankly at Vincent.

*Cough* “I am not trying to be on the same level as your clan leader. I can help you and your family without the need to marry me or become my woman. ”

However, the words were already spoken, and the thoughts were already spiraling. Awa remained staring at Vincent as if his words shocked her.

*Sigh* “It looks like you are thinking I am a person like your clan leader now...”

“I need to marry the clan leader. I can not accept your offer.” Awa said before averting her gaze embarrassingly. “Keep what happened between us a secret, or I will not be able to marry the clan leader. I already feel ashamed asking this.”

“Okay. I was also going to ask you to forget about seeing my body, hehe.” Vincent said in a sarcastic tone.

However, Vincent was being serious as he believed Awa must have seen his hero mark, even if it was covered black.

“N-n-naked?” Awa blushed like a bulb after recalling how she saw Vincent naked.

Vincent was the first man Awa saw without clothes because all the women who trained to become a clan chieftain needed to remain pure until the next son of the clan leader was born. Even if they married before the next clan leader’s son was born.

“What is the problem? “Vincent questioned before casually continuing, “Even though we saw each other’s bodies, you saw a part of me that I did not want anyone to see.”

Awa flustered while misunderstanding which part of his body Vincent meant. She barely noticed the hero mark on his side as she gazed at his entire body.

“Ahem. How about we change the subject that is going nowhere and say something about your people?” Vincent asked.

“O-okay. I will tell you something about our clan, but I want double the reward.” Awa negotiated.

“I accept. And can you also tell me about other contents in the different books you read as well?”

“I...” Awa paused and contemplated on accepting or declining Vincent’s last request. After a while, Awa asked, “Is non-important information fine with you?”

[Tell her yes, Vincent. I want to know if the previous generations of the Dullahans race wrote anything regarding the second hero.]

Vincent chuckled after hearing the curious Kazumi seek information. However, he also was starting to become curious about what kinds of books Awa read.

“Any information is fine, but I am mostly interested in the person who brought the Dullahans to this world.”

“You!” Awa exclaimed out of shock. “How do you know the information of the first book ever written by the clan chieftain?”

“I heard this from a person who knows a lot. ” Vincent responded casually.

“But... I was taught not to reveal our secrets... how can there be someone who knows we were the chosen warriors to fight in the front lines with our mighty steeds.”

[Chosed ones? It looks like some proud Dullahans wrote the history books in their favor.]

[Could the Dullahan pride be the result of the books their predecessors wrote? The more inflated egos, the more skewed the history became.]

-It could be.-

After Awa revealed how her people had no chance to defeat a monster like Orso, both Vincent and Kazumi doubted the Dullahan’s race power.

“Regardless of what we know, can we read the books?”

“I can’t...”

“Worry not.” Interrupted Vincent. “All you need to do is to flip the pages, and I will know everything.”

Awa blankly stared at Vincent. She couldn’t believe the strange thing Vincent had mentioned.

Awa couldn’t understand how flipping pages in the protected house to the clan leader would allow Vincent to know the contents of the books.

[Tell Awa a reasonable lie.]

“I can control a spirit. She will be the one reading all the contents of the books. Additionally, she is invisible to everyone but me.”

[...] “...” Both Kazumi and Awa were at a loss for words. One didn’t know why Vincent chose to reveal her identity to Awa, while the other couldn’t believe Vincent commanded spirits.