Isaac did not move.
As he had expected, the fall was not enough to break Nathaniel’s neck.
This world had mana. Even the food that everyone ate had mana—however minute the amount—and people’s bodies were stronger than those of people from his old world. It was one of the reasons there were no differences between girls and boys here.
Although Nathaniel did not die instantly, he was choking from the lack of air.
His legs thrashed. He gagged. Tears streamed down his eyes.
Isaac looked around.
’Where is Knight of Famine? If they don’t come out soon, Nathaniel will die.’
No one was nearby. He moved around but found none. His brows creased.
’Did my actions cause enough changes to the future that Knight of Famine isn’t here in this loop?’
Isaac was aware such a thing was possible.
He had no more time to think. Nathaniel was almost dead.
He moved swiftly and cut the rope, then caught the falling Nathaniel.
The old man looked at him, coughing, before he fell unconscious.
Isaac took him to his hut. It was decrepit and old. Two straw beds lay on the floor, covered with stitched-together cloth that served as mattress covers.
One was clearly unused for a long while, but still remained clean.
Isaac lay Nathaniel down on it. He wiped Nathaniel’s tears, sat on a nearby stool, and stared at the old man’s face.
’Why was he trying to kill himself?’
Isaac’s gaze went to the empty straw bed. He looked around, noticing two sets of differently sized clothes in the wardrobe built into the wall. An extra pair of slippers, different from the ones Nathaniel was currently wearing, lay near the door.
It looked as though someone still lived in the hut with Nathaniel.
Isaac removed the old man’s slippers as he thought,
’His daughter died one year ago.’
’Is that the reason?’
The old man woke up a dozen minutes later. He seemed to have calmed down. He sat up and looked at his hands, silent.
"...thank you," the old man said.
"Why were you doing that?" Isaac asked.
There was no answer.
Isaac could guess it was related to his daughter. But Isaac cared more about the Knights of Human King.
He wanted to know if Nathaniel knew about the poisoned lands. Even though Nathaniel had spent the last year living as a farmer, it was possible that he had been in contact with the Human King’s faction before that.
’The possibility that he had been stationed here to watch the farmlands still exists. The fact that he never informed anyone that I dealt with the poison doesn’t prove anything. Strider’s presence may have prevented him from contacting his allies.’
"Do you know about the poison in the farms?" Isaac asked, shooting in the dark. His eyes watched Nathaniel like a hawk. If Nathaniel showed the slightest suspicious reaction, Isaac would kill him or apprehend him.
"Poisoned... farms...?" Nathaniel asked, raising his shocked gaze to look at Isaac.
"Yes, someone had poisoned the farms. I took care of the poison," Isaac said.
"That can’t be true. The baron invited mages several times to check the farms when our yield was low," Nathaniel denied his claims with a trembling tone.
"I started dealing with the poison last year. Hasn’t the yield increased since then?" Isaac answered with logic.
"No... but..."
Nathaniel stopped speaking. His face warped. Anger overshadowed his previous grief. He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
Just when it looked like he would shout, tears started to fall from his eyes. He wailed. It was a loud, ugly wail, full of grief and helplessness.
He started to have trouble breathing. His face turned red. Those were the signs of a panic attack.
Isaac gave him water, then swiftly went to his house to bring some herbs. These herbs were poisonous. They had a mild sleep-inducing effect, but one of their side effects was that they temporarily dulled a person’s emotions.
By suppressing overwhelming feelings, they calmed people and prevented panic attacks. The herbs would help Nathaniel survive the night. Using poisons indirectly like this was something Isaac had learned from the elves.
He fed them to Nathaniel with water.
It took Nathaniel an hour to calm down. He looked to have aged a decade.
Seeing that he could now somewhat talk, Isaac made tea for two people and sat down with him. The cups were made from hardened mud that commoners could afford. Isaac passed him one cup and took the other himself.
"If you have something you want to share, you can tell me. People’s burdens are lightened when they talk about them to others. Also, I’m a noble. I’m sure you know that already. I might be able to help with whatever problem you have," Isaac said. He wanted to fish out information from Knight of Death. It was possible that Human King’s side had used this information to have the Knight of Death work for them.
Nathaniel kept staring at his reflection in the tea.
"I had a daughter," he said.
Isaac nodded and waited patiently for him to continue.
"You must’ve heard she died from heatstroke. But that’s not true. She was killed by the Baron."
Nathaniel’s grip tightened around the cup, and his hand trembled as he continued, "We were one of the few farmers who still hadn’t sold our land to the baron. To make an example of us, his soldiers broke my child’s leg and hung her on the tree for a whole day. I..."
Tears started to fall from his eyes.
"All I could do was watch as my child died. I couldn’t protect her... I couldn’t..."
Isaac could not say anything. He felt as if he had been punched in the gut.
He saw himself in Nathaniel. A father who lost his child to someone far above him.
He had been treating Nathaniel as a monster. A slaughterer who would murder countless people.
But the Nathaniel in front of him was not a monster.
He was an old, poor farmer. He was a father who couldn’t overcome the grief of losing his precious daughter.
Isaac had never looked at him for who he was, but for what he would become.
’All this time I was wondering how the Human King recruited Nathaniel. Turns out he must have just offered revenge and power.’
It was sickening.
For the first time, Isaac understood why Nathaniel had accepted the Human King’s offer.
Isaac couldn’t understand the cause of his anger. Was he angry on Nathaniel’s behalf, because he reminded him oh himself?
Or was he angry that a noble’s selfishness created a monster who killed countless people, including Isaac’s friend?
"I..."
Nathaniel talked about his daughter. She was born in the first month of spring. She had black hair like him and blue eyes like her mother. She was a reserved and shy child. After a monster took the life of her mother, she watched her father crumble and fall into despair.
So, she became his emotional support. She put on a cheerful mask to save her family. She became the sun brightening his life, and now she was gone.
Nathaniel had nothing left. He tried to live, as that was his daughter’s last wish. But after a year, he realized he was not strong like her.
He wanted to end his suffering, and return to his family.
After Nathaniel was done speaking, Isaac took both of their cups and washed them with the water stored in a bucket at the corner of the room.
"Sleep," Isaac said as he washed the cups. "I’ll take care of everything."
When he was done and turned around, he saw Nathaniel had fallen asleep from exhaustion.
He didn’t know if the old man had heard his words.
But that was okay. It didn’t change what Isaac was going to do.