My Wife Waited in the Wheat Fields

PR: Badman

Aman was embarrassed.

He wondered if he hadn’t gathered enough information about the man to know that he would be so disrespectful as soon as Tyria and the Madame were gone.

‘I thought they said that he was nothing special?’

The information had come from someone he trusted after all.

Tyria’s husband has just returned… in other words, the head of the Portman Family is undoubtedly an uncultured bumpkin who never received proper education as a nobleman.

He had no backbone, and had brought in a knight to hunt demons from a neighboring estate.

But there was something about him.

‘What…?’

He didn’t seem out of the ordinary at all.

But one’s instinct was always more honest than their reason.

Aman’s body stiffened.

His eyes had been too sharp for him to formulate a proper retort.

It was a sensation all too familiar to Aman, who had lived his life as a Nimrud.

It was an unfamiliar fear of unfamiliar things, unfamiliar situations, and unfamiliar opponents.

As was the habit of the human species, Aman began to exhibit a typical reaction.

“How dare you!”

“How dare I what?”

“How dare you speak against Nimrud without even understanding the subject?!”

It was to lash back.

In Ferdinand, the Nimruds were a family with the stature to do so.

His father, Count Nimrud, had enough connections to rewrite the laws of the kingdom.

Thus, he had broadened his shoulders and called out loudly, but it was all for nought.

After all, no matter how much a frightened herbivore might call out, it would only appear to the predator that it had gained weight.

Unable to comprehend this, Aman’s cries became paroxysmal.

“Do you think that merely Lady Wyvern can protect you? What? Education? Culture? Do you think you’re in a position to argue those with me!!!”

Here was the end of his tirade.

“Know your place! If you’re a viscount from a rural, backward territory, you should keep your head down! A greenhorn like you dare…”

“Pfft!”

A snort of laughter escaped Elric’s mouth.

No, it was a full blown laugh.

“Kkkk…”

His shoulders shook with laughter, and his expression was truly peculiar.

“Stupid, stupid motherfucker….”

He stroked his chin and muttered, “Hmm,” but his eyes weren’t on Aman.

It was as if he was thinking about something else.

That was the impression that came to Aman’s mind, and it was actually right.

“I’m sorry I laughed. This just brought back some memories.”

Elric sat down on the couch and leaned back.

Aman stopped looking up at him.

He didn’t feel the least bit relieved.

He felt his breath catching in his throat.

His knees felt weak.

It was a natural reaction, after all, Elric had released some of the energy he usually kept in check.

“It’s a bit of an old story. It was the autumn when I was 16, I think…”

Elric began to reminisce.

“I was very immature back then. I still am, but back then, I was even more so. Besides, I was living in a town that was far from caring about it, so I had a pretty nasty temper, wouldn’t you think so?”

“What…?”

“I had a very ugly mouth. I used to curse and swear all the time… that’s what the person who was in charge of me said.”

Tap, tap,

Elric tapped the floor with the tip of his cane.

A hint of nostalgia flickered across his face.

“Words are a reflection of a person. Therefore, no matter what you think inside, speak as politely as your words. Then, your vessel will grow accordingly.”

“…”

“That’s why I started to change the way I spoke. I thought the way my idols spoke was polite, so I started to learn the language; but then it became a habit, and now I’m using old people language without even realizing it.”

He couldn’t seem to get the point across.

But Aman could not escape the feeling that he was just demeaning him.

Just as he was about to speak up,

“Well, that aside, I suppose the important thing is that I’ve finally become someone who can be polite on the outside.”

His gaze shifted to Aman.

There was something different. He was a little more flushed than before.

“But I don’t think a person’s fundamentals truly change much.”

The words became stuck in his throat.

“Sometimes, people’s personalities leak out, and then I find that their words weren’t somewhat that trustworthy.”

Whoosh–

In a single moment, Aman’s world flipped upside down.

Thud!

It wasn’t until the impact hit him in the head that Aman realized he was pinned to the ground.

“Keugh!”

The pain was unbearable, as his head was pinned to the floor.

Aman had never felt pain like this before in his life, and it was somewhat baffling to him.

His eyes rolled back into his head.

He searched for the cause of his body’s downfall.

Then, his eyes caught sight of the cane slung over Elric’s shoulder.

Only then did his ankle start aching.

It seemed that Elric had struck him on the ankle with the staff, causing him to fall.

“T-This….”

“It’s so hard to hold back the cursing, isn’t it? Sometimes, humans have to treat things that aren’t even people like people, but I don’t think I’m that kind of person.”

Once again, Aman found himself looking up at Elric.

No, he was now more miserable than before.

You see, Aman had to look up at him from the ground.

It was in that moment.

“Our eye levels seem appropriate now, no?”

Elric smiled coldly.

“Why would I even think about looking up to you? You couldn’t even understand the situation you were in.”

With a tap, Elric’s staff was planted on Aman’s forehead.

It was insulting.

But he couldn’t bring himself to protest.

The man’s aura was more alien than that of any human Aman had ever known.

Even his father, whom he feared, was not as frightening.

Aman’s eyes started quaking.

And Aman’s mouth quivered in prideful protest, but he only managed to get one sentence out.

“D-Don’t think you’ll get away with this…”

“And what will you do about it?”

Elric pushed Aman’s forehead with the tip of his staff.

He angled it to meet his eyes.

He still remained cool, relaxed, but also fierce.

“Do you want to run up to the pompous count and whine about it, or do you want to hire a knight and challenge me to a duel, or do you want to… fight me yourself? Personally, I’m quite fond of the last option. I’m pretty good at fighting you see. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to keep you alive.”

He wondered what the source of his confidence was.

His size? His power to knock people over with his staff?

Whatever it was, all Aman could do right now was cower in shame.

It was no wonder.

How could a noble young master from a small, insignificant Eastern country like this be on the same level as one of the Seven Powerhouses revered as the masters of the continent?

There would be no use of status or under the table deals.

Edward the Goldsmith may have been able to do it, but Kasha the Swordsman was not a man to be intimidated by such little beings.

All who knew him in the West could say, without exception, that he had the fiercest temper a man could have, and was further removed from worldly statuses than anyone else.

He was a madman who, if he didn’t like something someone said in a rude manner, would immediately reach for his sword.

“I doubt there is much more to be said between us, and in truth, this isn’t a conversation that I desire.”

Tap, tap.

Tapping Aman on the head with his staff, Elric said.

“Go ahead. Rack your brain as hard as you can to think of a way to repay this insult. I will await your response with pleasure. Just, keep one thing in mind.”

In that moment,

“Heuk…!”

Aman choked.

It was due to a tangible manifestation of mana, but Aman had no way of knowing that.

All he knew was that he was now shaking and choking.

Panic arose within him.

“You can try anything you want on me, as long as it doesn’t affect my wife.”

He then proceeded to say it over and over again, as if to imprint it into his mind.

And it worked.

Aman’s untrained, mushy mind was spitting out affirmations through tears all the while.

“Keuk…”

Trembling, Aman began crawling towards the tailor’s door.

Elric didn’t bother trying to catch him.

He just stared at the water left in his path.

“You’re like a snail, leaving a trail of bodily fluids in your wake.”

Aman had peed himself.

Elric waved him off.

“I’ll see you at the banquet. I’ll be waiting with great pleasure for your attempt at fighting back.”

With that, the tailor’s door swung open, and Aman scurried out without a backward glance.

Elric let out a long breath and stared at the door Aman had left through.

‘What the hell did I just do?’

He wondered if he’d been too harsh, though he was sure he hadn’t.

His regret didn’t last long.

‘I’ll just have to negotiate with the Count.’

The way Aman Nimrud spoke convinced him once more that his father, Count Nimrud, was quite a powerful man.

Elric knew what such men had in common.

By and large, they tended to value the good of themselves and their families more than the good of their children.

If he wanted to, Elric could just make the man wield his sword for him.

‘There’s nothing more to think about.’

Since he’d already broken all bridges, he could only start thinking about his options now.

But he had nothing to fear from Aman Nimrud, no matter what he did.

With that thought in mind, Elric waited for Tyria to return, and only later did he realize why Aman Nimrud had come all the way here to flirt with her.

“…He was the one I had predicted would be my betrothed when I was younger in the Wyvern family, though, of course they refused. And with the situation in Wiven not being favorable, it fell through.”

The moment he heard those words, the handful of regret he had inside himself dissolved.

“Is that so?”

Elric felt very uncomfortable.

This, too, was an unexpectedly surprising emotion, even to himself.