Siblings And Colds (2)

“The interview is over there at the barn. Senior! We have two more here!”

Miltain, laughing mischievously, relentlessly pushed the frightened brothers forward. Before they knew it, the two found themselves in front of the barn, looking around nervously.

Their confidence, which had been high just before climbing the hill, vanished instantly, leaving them extremely timid.

To make matters worse, a group of men, looking very disappointed, walked past them, mumbling to themselves as if they had just failed the interview.

To Linte and Mate, the men looked very fit and robust.

“Brother…”

As his younger brother hung his head in despair, Linte felt a surge of defiance and shouted. They didn’t come here expecting to be chosen anyway; they had nothing to lose.

“It’s okay, Mate. We’re used to being kicked out, aren’t we?”

Linte led his brother to the back of the line of people waiting and waited for their turn. Soon, their turn came.

Linte and Mate walked into the barn. They saw a table. Four people sat at the table, two men and two women.

One of them wasn’t even human. She had long, pointed ears. And she was incredibly beautiful.

The brothers, having only heard of elves in stories, blinked in astonishment at seeing one in person.

“Welcome.”

Ment gestured for the brothers to come closer. Linte, who was about to take the plunge, was completely overwhelmed by the elf’s presence and hesitated like a lost puppy. Mate had been in that state the whole time.

Elena, observing Linte and Mate, smiled and nodded to El. It meant they had passed the first impression test.

They were in a state of complete innocence, like blank slates. Elena thought it had been a long time since she had seen humans with such pure hearts. It was like looking at El in front of her.

Of course, compared to El, they seemed utterly lacking in confidence and unrefined.

It was rare for any man to pass Elena’s first impression test. That’s why Ment, with a look of relief, began questioning the two.

“Let’s see, do you have any experience working on a ranch?”

“N-no!”

“We don’t!”

As the two answered simultaneously, Elena nodded earnestly. The lie detector was working hard today. Unaware of this, Linte and Mate answered truthfully, true to their nature.

“Are you two brothers then?”

The robust woman, Mrs. Seral, who had been silent until then, asked the brothers. She was actually as nervous as they were, thinking she was not suited to be an interviewer.

“Yes, we are!”

Linte answered loudly again. Mrs. Seral nodded and looked at Ment, indicating she had done her part.

Ment, as if resigned, began bombarding the brothers with questions.

“So, what kind of work have you done so far?”

“Well, um, my brother and I mostly worked at construction sites… and…”

“And?”

Mate hesitated for a moment. Linte did too.

“That is…”

It’s something they’ll find out eventually anyway. It didn’t seem like Latanda had spread any bad rumors about them to the ranch.

So Mate thought it might be better to explain the situation honestly before any prejudices formed and looked at his brother.

Linte took his brother’s hand.

“Brother, they’ll find out anyway. So it’s better if we tell them everything ourselves…”

The lifelong shackle. Thinking about its weight, Linte felt his brother was right and finally nodded.

Of course, they weren’t innocent. Entering an empty house was a clear crime. But despite serving their sentence, the overseer Latanda continued to harass them.

Isn’t that too much? With that frustration, Mate began to tell their story.

The desire for someone to understand.

The feeling of wanting to spill everything to someone.

Rather than expecting to be believed, they just wanted to explain why they ended up like this.

After listening to Mate’s story, El looked at Elena. Elena nodded, indicating it was all true.

The two young men, who identified themselves as brothers, had been telling the truth from the beginning. That’s why they hadn’t been kicked out yet.

Flaws don’t matter. Everyone has their circumstances.

The important thing is whether they are truthful.

Especially when hiring employees, honesty is a prerequisite. At least El thought so.

Having a stronger sense of justice than others, he was a fragile being sacrificed by power.

Some say that if you are weak, you should just endure it. That it is the wisdom of life.

But if you just endure the absurdity, the world will never change.

Because of this, El wanted to observe the brothers a bit more. The past is not important. Their honesty has been proven.

So what’s important is not that they were in and out of prison.

It’s how diligent they are.

How hard they work.

Those two things are important.

Besides, it’s the first time someone hasn’t been filtered out by Elena’s detector.

With their sincere confession, El made a proposal to the tense Linte and Mate.

“How about working for a week first? We will pay you for the week. After that, we’ll decide whether to hire you.”

“Huh?”

Linte and Mate looked bewildered. It was an entirely unexpected response.

“Do you believe our story?”

When Mate said that, El just nodded.

“Elves can see through lies. So we have no choice but to believe you. Thank her.”

“Is that so? If you give us a chance, we will definitely do it! We don’t even need the money for the week!”

“That won’t do. Fair wages must be paid. So, will you start tomorrow morning?”

“Of course!”

“Understood!”

The two brothers looked at each other in disbelief. It was the first time someone believed their story, and the first time they were given such an opportunity.

The brothers wake up in an abandoned house in the northern slum, which only provides a bit of shelter from the wind. The temperature is quite cold at dawn. When they wake up after a night’s sleep, their whole body feels chilly. But it’s still better than sleeping outside.

They stretch their stiff bodies upon waking and immediately look for discarded food to satisfy their hunger. Then they head to the ranch to learn the work.

Morning at he ranch.

The first task is to release the water buffaloes from the pen. The buffaloes run freely on the vast hill. That is the key to producing healthy milk.

Tired from playing, the buffaloes roll around in the artificial lake.

That is the path of the buffaloes. They cannot go beyond the hill because Rurin’s 10th-class magic blocks the way.

So once they are released from the pen, nothing significant happens even if they are left alone.

Until it’s time to bring them back to the pen.

Of course, the real work begins after releasing the buffaloes from the pen.

Recently, the number of buffaloes increased due to breeding, making it impossible for Ment and Miltain to handle them alone, so El decided to hire more people.

The buffaloes naturally graze on the hill’s grass to fill their stomachs. Mrs. Seral takes care of the pregnant buffaloes and milks them in turns.

In fact, milking the buffaloes is the most important task on the ranch. Ment assists with this while Miltain monitors the playing buffaloes to ensure nothing goes wrong.

Linte and Mate were assigned to clean the buffaloes’ manure and urine from the pen.

“Brother, it’s splashing!”

“So what if it splashes? It’s great that we’re working.”

“That’s true, but…!”

The brothers spent the whole morning sweating while cleaning the barn. But Mate suddenly wondered why one person was missing.

The very person who suggested they work for a week was nowhere to be seen.

So during their break, Mate approached Miltain and asked.

“Excuse me, senior…?”

“Huh? Senior? Me?”

Miltain, who always called Ment ‘Senior’, had been the youngest wherever he went, despite being in his late twenties.

So being called ‘senior’ for the first time made Miltain happy, and he started laughing loudly at Mate.

“Hahaha! Yes, junior, ask me anything!”

“Well, the short-haired man who interviewed us yesterday, isn’t he coming? I’d like to thank him…”

“Oh, Mr. El is the owner of the ranch. He usually doesn’t come out because he has other work to do. Isn’t that what bosses do? The Senior over there manages the ranch.”

“Oh, I see.”

So he was the owner of the ranch. Mate mumbled and immediately understood. It was the first time someone believed in him and his brother, and that person was the owner of the ranch.

It felt reassuring in some way.

Having learned that, Mate hurried to Linte and spoke.

“Brother, that man from yesterday is the owner of this ranch.”

“Really? Somehow, he did seem like it. From the moment he suggested we work, he had that aura.”

Mate nodded vigorously in response.

Then lunchtime began. The brothers were naturally planning to go hungry, but Miltain called them over and offered them a meal.

“Lunch is provided, so eat plenty. And you’re both younger than me, right?”

Miltain was in his late twenties. Linte and Mate were in their early twenties. So they both nodded at the same time.

“Alright, alright, work hard! Ask anything you don’t know.”

“Then, senior, I have a question! Are you really giving us this?”

“Of course. Our ranch treats its employees very well, you know? The pay is good too. I even quit being a mercenary to work here.”

Linte and Mate just nodded at the cheerfully laughing Miltain, thinking to themselves how impressive it was that he used to be a mercenary.

But that was only for a moment. Their eyes were more drawn to the warm, steaming lunch than to Miltain.

Since getting out of prison, this was their first proper meal.

“Brother! This is delicious!”

“Yeah, it’s really tasty!”

They didn’t even know the name of the food, but the brothers were too busy eating. Their hands moved so fast that their forks were a blur.

Lunch at the ranch was Mrs. Seral’s responsibility. El covered all the food expenses, so Mrs. Seral prepared lunch every day.

“Is it? Hehe, eat more.”

Mrs. Seral smiled at Linte and Mate, who were around her son’s age. Despite it being their first day, the brothers felt an overwhelming emotion from the warmth of Seral, Ment, and Miltain.

Other than their parents, no one had treated them so well before. And even their memories of their parents were just faint nostalgia from early childhood.