I'm The Only One With Cancer-Chapter 178: Travelling

Inside a carriage...

Looking at the around six to seven-year-old child sitting in front of him with his feet dangling, Zen had no choice but to throw all his imagined scenarios to the back of his mind.

"..."

He could not help but feel underwhelmed as he saw what the young master looked like, ’He’s just a kid...’

"Hi!"

Zen tried being as friendly as possible, yet his voice sounded muffled because of the iron helmet.

The young boy in front of him also tilted his head, his eyes expressing curiosity.

Taking off his helmet, he could not help but breathe heavily, "Ah, finally! I wanted to look cool, but the design of his helmet is not... ideal."

"Hi, I’m Deadman!" Zen smiled as he spoke to the boy.

However, for some reason, the boy only tilted his head the other way, his expression not changing in the slightest.

At this moment, the butler, Ferd, peeked at the carriage window from the outside, "I apologize, Sir Deadman, there were some problems regarding the guards, but all seemed to be fine now."

"Don’t worry too much about it. After all, you’re my employer." Zen responded with a respectful tone.

Ferd looked visibly relieved as he sat in the driver’s seat and commanded the horses to move.

As the carriage began moving, Zen tried talking to the young master from time to time, yet the boy only looked at him with a clueless expression.

’Hmmm, maybe he’s a foreigner? But there shouldn’t be any language barrier due to the System... or is there? Or maybe he’s just an introverted little guy?’

Random thoughts filled his mind as he soon gave up speaking to the boy.

’Maybe he just doesn’t wanna talk to me...’

Feeling a little sad, Zen looked out the carriage window to distract himself.

’Hmmm, there are no other players or soldiers... It looks like I’m the only escort for this mission.’

Seeing this, his expression fell, ’So there’s no chance that there will be traitors amongst our mids... Heck, there isn’t even any beauty to impress...’

Zen was not really a hopeless romantic nor a skirt chaser who would not dream of being a hero and saving a beautiful damsel in distress.

’Anyways, priorities first.’

He calmed himself with rhythmic breathing, "The distance between Lumina and Listarte, according to the map, is quite long... We’ll also be going through four forests where monsters thrive..."

The young boy, looking at the man before him who kept talking to himself, could not help but feel a little taken aback.

"Maybe I’ll just have to wait until monsters or even bandits show up before I can show off..."

Zen was currently troubled by some quite useless problems as he realized something, "Oh, I also need to ascertain the amount of XP killing monsters gives."

"Once I do that, I’ll be able to decide whether quests or grinding monsters would be more worthwhile..."

Along the ride, he kept talking to himself and to the boy who kept ’ignoring’ him.

Since the boy only looked at him and did not have any trace of annoyance on his face, Zen took it upon himself to speak and comment on everything he noticed outside the window.

Every time he did so, the boy also looked in the direction he was pointing to, making him feel a little better.

It was not that Zen was inherently talkative.

Like Sera, he preferred being alone— the only difference being the fact that he did not really have any choice, as he was bedridden from a young age.

Still, RPGs are popular because of their role-playing aspect. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

People have always had a certain persona that they would like to try embodying.

And Zen was similar to Sera in this aspect.

Unlike their real-world selves, they wanted to try ’acting’ as someone with a differing personality.

It did not help that Zen had been deprived of social interaction, having spent years bedridden and isolated in his private room.

Along the way, he saw many lush trees, fields of flowers, and beautiful landscapes that were mesmerizing to the eye.

For the first few hours of their travel, nothing really happened.

It was quite uneventful, which made Zen confused whether he was lucky or not.

The sun soon disappeared on the horizon, replaced by the night sky with the moon and twinkling stars.

They then set up camp on a nearby hilltop, where they can see their surroundings clearly.

Ferd, the butler, took out some mats from his storage pouch and placed them on the ground.

He then made some gestures with his hand to which the young boy immediately nodded, sitting down on the mat a few moments after.

"..."

Witnessing what had just happened, Zen was at a loss for words, ’Don’t tell me that’s... sign language?’

His mouth opened and closed as a hesitant expression appeared on his face.

Ultimately, he could no longer endure it and spoke, "Um, Ferd."

"Yes, Mr. Deadman?" The butler replied promptly as he knelt on the ground and took out some firewood from his storage pouch.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"The young master... is he deaf?"

Hearing his question, Ferd could not help but facepalm, "I apologize, I seemed to have forgotten about it earlier... But, yes. Young Master Verso has some disabilities that have plagued him since birth."

"Oh... It’s all good. It’s just that I thought he hated me or something, because he didn’t talk to me, no matter how much I said." Zen scratched the back of his neck.

Ferd had an apologetic expression on his face, "I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to inform you about it..."

"It’s fine, I’m sure you just had too much on your plate."

"Thank you for understanding..."

Ferd then began narrating Verso’s background as he lit the bonfire and made sure everything in the camp was neat and tidy.

It turned out that the young boy, Verso, was the sole descendant of the Belvedere Familia, a noble family with a hereditary title of marquis.

The Belvedere Family was a long-forgotten noble family from the Pendragon Kingdom, but due to the number of its enemies, it had no choice but to flee.

Verso’s mother died when she gave birth to him, while his father died in battle when they were escaping from the Pendragon Kingdom.

As the butler spoke, Zen could not help but glance at the young boy, who was currently sitting on a wooden stool and looking at the campfire with a calm gaze.

’That child...’

A gentle smile appeared on his face, "He’s really brave, huh?"

"Pardon?"

Ferd could not help but be surprised at the otherworlder’s words.

Zen looked at him and continued, "Verso, I mean. He’s brave. Despite everything he went through, I could still see light in his eyes."

"Well, that’s to be expected from a descendant of the Belvedere Familia."

Ferd tried to keep his tone steady, but Zen could sense the pride hidden within.

"Ferd, can you teach me a few words in sign language?"

"W-Why?"

"I just want to communicate with my employer."

"..."

Ferd really did not know what was going on in this otherworlder’s mind.

It was not the first time they hired someone for an escort mission whenever they travel between places; in fact, they do it quite often, as they refrained from staying in one place for too long.

However, no matter if they were a native or an otherworlder, they were not as nosy as the one currently before him.

’Well, I can’t really sense any ill intentions from him... I guess this isn’t too bad.’

Ferd reassured himself inwardly as he began teaching Zen some phrases.

To be honest, he was really drained.

It had already been a few years since he and the young master left their home in order to escape from their pursuers.

Speaking to Zen casually like this also made his heart a little lighter than ever.

...

"Hello!"

Zen smiled widely while waving his hand as he crouched in front of Verso.

The young boy had an interested look in his eyes as he looked at the otherworlder before him.

Zen then slowly moved his hands and made some simple gestures, much to Verso’s shock.

*Do you want a sweet treat?*

Verso froze for a moment before happily replying with his gestures, *Yes!*

’He’s quite good...’

Ferd could not help but be amazed as he witnessed Zen’s smooth gestures, ’Had it not been for the fact that I just taught him sign language a few minutes earlier, I would’ve thought that he’s fluent.’

Zen then looked at a certain tree branch and waved his hand three times.

Woong— Woong— Woong—

Three waves of mana shot out from his hand in the process, turning the falling tree branch into three thin sticks.

Zen caught the sticks flawlessly as he handed one to Verso along with a gesture, *For you.*

Question marks could be seen on the young boy’s face as he looked at the stick in his hand with a puzzled gaze.

Zen then offered one to Ferd, "This one’s for you."

"Pardon?"

The butler pointed at himself with a confused expression, "May I ask what this is for, Sir?"

With a confident smile, Zen responded, "We’ll be making some S’mores."