Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

A slightly childish voice penetrated the gloom of the cell. Gorkas squinted his eyes, and the bruises at the corners of his eyes were stung by the light. He saw a little boy about twelve or thirteen years old pushing a wooden cart, slowly moving along the corridor of the cell.

The boy's footsteps were light but regular, and each step made a slight "tapping" sound on the bluestone slabs.

The boy was wearing a black uniform with washed-out cuffs and collar.

When he came to each iron gate, the boy would stop, take a piece of bread and a steaming wooden bowl from the cart, and carefully place them on the tray outside the iron gate.

"Hey!"

Gorkas suddenly raised his voice, breaking the silence of the cell corridor.

"Kid, do you know where the other captured mercenaries are being held? Are there any...anyone named Jiedu or Bibin?"

Gorkas asked eagerly.

The boy's hand pushing the cart paused slightly, but he did not stop.

He came to the cell where Gorkas was, lowered his head, looked at Gorkas with his clear, almost transparent eyes, and then replied calmly:

"do not know."

As he said this, he placed the food on a tray outside the iron fence.

"That's it?"

Gorkas frowned as he looked at the piece of bread and the soup in the wooden bowl in front of him.

The piece of bread was as black as burnt charcoal, the edges were toasted crisply, but there were still some hard lumps in the middle that were not fully roasted; the soup in the wooden bowl was turbid, with a few unknown vegetable leaves floating on it.

"correct."

The boy nodded.

"Can you give me more?"

Gorkas asked persistently. His stomach had been growling with hunger for a long time, but the food in front of him could hardly arouse his appetite.

When in the mercenary group, even during the most difficult marches, we could always get a piece of dried meat and a bowl of hot soup, not to mention that we used to eat meat and drink wine with big mouthfuls.

"No, each person only gets a piece of bread and a bowl of soup. If you want more, go find the guard here."

"what!"

Gorkas was already upset, and he had eaten too much meat and fish when he was in the mercenary group before. Now he got angry when he saw such simple food.

He turned his body and said directly:

"Then I won't eat it!"

Then he went back to his bed angrily, turned his back to the iron bars, covered his head with a torn blanket, and sulked.

The boy looked at Gorkas with a hint of doubt in his eyes, but soon he asked:

"Are you sure?"

"Sure!"

Gorkas replied in a muffled voice.

"Okay, if you don't, I'll eat it! I'm hungry, so I'll treat it as a snack."

After saying that, the boy picked up the bread and took a bite, then took a sip of the soup in the wooden bowl.

He chewed slowly and rhythmically, as if savoring this simple meal.

Gorkas looked at the boy's every move in surprise through the gap in the blanket, unable to believe his ears and eyes.

“Oh, no.”

Seeing the boy finish the food in no time, Gorkas immediately rushed forward, but there was nothing in the tray at this time.

The boy had eaten all the bread and soup, even licking the wooden bowl clean.

"How come you ate it all!" Gorkas shouted while clinging to the iron railings, his voice full of anger and disbelief.

"I haven't eaten yet!"

"You don't want to eat it, right? We have regulations. It's shameful to waste food."

The boy said as he chewed his food, with a few crumbs still sticking to the corners of his mouth.

"What's the noise?"

Just then, an angry shout came from the door, which scared the boy so much that he almost choked.

Two fully armed Blackwatch mercenaries strode over. They were wearing heavy black armor, with sharp daggers at their waists, and had serious and indifferent expressions on their faces.

One of them asked the boy:

"Karl, what's the situation with these prisoners?"

"This guy refused to eat because he felt the food was bad. I tried to persuade him but he refused to listen, so I helped him eat."

Carl replied with a hint of innocence in his tone, as if he had only done something insignificant.

"Good fellow, even after being captured, he still has a bad temper, complaining about this and that!"

The mercenary said this, his tone full of sarcasm and disdain.

He then said to the mercenary next to him:

"Go tell the kitchen to prepare less food for these prisoners and starve them for three days. I want to see if they will eat!"

……

Jie Du rode his horse back to the mercenary group's temporary camp. After getting off the horse, he immediately found Griffith with a hint of excitement on his face.

"I've found out that the Black Watch base where Gorkas is being held is near a town about twenty miles away."

Jiedu said.

"According to the locals, a Black Watch team of 1,000 men is stationed there, specifically responsible for guarding prisoners and important supplies."

"Then there's no time to lose. I'll bring a team to exchange the prisoners."

Griffith said as he left the tent to go find Greer, who they had captured.

However, when he arrived at the place, Griffith found that the people guarding Grill were chatting with the tied-up Grill, and the atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed.

"Grill, does Helderlan really have no worries about food and drink?"

A young mercenary asked, his eyes twinkling with longing.

"Are there any gang fights going on there?"

"How much does the tax collector collect every month?"

Greer coughed and replied:

"At least we can eat meat every meal, usually dried meat or sausages. During festivals, we can eat whole chickens or whole pigs and sheep. Gangs can't exist because there are troops everywhere. Taxes are usually one-tenth of personal income. Besides that..."

Listening to Grill's description of Helderlan, the faces of several fifteen or sixteen-year-old mercenaries were full of longing, and their eyes were shining with longing for a better life. After all, if they really had no worries about food and drink, who would come here to be a mercenary and live a precarious life all day long?

"Cough cough."

Griffith coughed a few times, and several mercenaries looked back and immediately stood up with a hint of awe on their faces.

"Captain..." they greeted respectfully.

Griffith waved his hand. He would not take his anger out on others because of this matter. It is human nature for people to always yearn for beautiful things.

"Greer, you'll be back at Blackwatch soon. We're going to take you back."

Griffith said, his tone calm and firm, but he had his own plans in mind.

Blackwatch must remember his mercenary group. He hopes that Grill can go back to Blackwatch and speak well of them to their leader so that the mercenary group can survive.

In order to close the distance, Griffith said:

"Actually, I used to be a soldier of Blackwatch, but I got separated from them during the war?"

"Ok?"

When Greer heard this, his eyes showed surprise, his eyebrows raised high, and he was obviously surprised by the news, so he asked:

"How do you prove you are?"

Griffith took out a wooden identity card given to him by his former Blackwatch instructor from his arms and handed it to Greer.

The wooden plaque was old, its edges frayed, but the Blackwatch insignia and serial number were still legible. Greer took the plaque and examined it carefully. It was indeed issued by Blackwatch, and the information on it was consistent with what he knew.

Just when Griffith thought the other party would be less wary of him, Greer suddenly asked:

"If that's the case, why don't you return to the team? Aren't you a deserter now?"