The Biography of Albrecht - Chapter 8

The Biography of Albrecht – Chapter 8

Translator: Nezu

A child was building a fire near the hideout’s cabin and roasting something to eat. He recognized Albrecht running from a distance and shouted.

“Oh?! It’s the captain!”

Two children came out of the cabin when they heard him.

“Wow! Captain’s here!”

The children were happy to see him after being gone for ten days. They told him that Eric has been shaking in fear after all the cruel things Albrecht did to him.

Albrecht ignored them and went straight into the cabin.

Eric’s face was pale, his eyes were sunken. He looked like he was going to die. His eyes were open but he didn’t seem conscious. He just looked at Albrecht, his eyes looking very dull.

The children put clean clothes filled with cotton on the parts that were inflicted to cover them, then changed it often. But that’s all they did. He didn’t receive treatment, he remained tied up to the post for three days.

They couldn’t even feed him because his teeth had been broken. They couldn’t even make a soup to feed him without Albrecht because the adults would always oppress them before they could even find pounded wheat on the watermill.

Albrecht immediately untied the rope and the gag, and put his arms around Eric.

“Eh? Captain, how about your revenge?”

“I won’t do it.”

He couldn’t run at his full speed because Eric’s injuries were serious. He hastened to the castle, keeping Eric as steady as possible.

All the people looked at them on their way to the castle. Women covered their mouths, as if they were frightened. Men looked on with serious expressions.

He climbed the Hoenkaltern Mountain and went straight into the castle, but he didn’t know where to go specifically since Peter went out with his father.

Albrecht decided to go to the place he was most familiar with.

When he arrived at the fortified tower, he went to his room and put Eric down on the bed. Eric has become fully unconscious.

Adelheid came to his room when he heard Albrecht coming in.

“What’s wrong… Aaaaah!”

Adelheid covered her mouth and yelled. She looked at him, her face solemn. “Albert! What have you done?!”

“Mother, I was wrong. Please help me, I don’t know what to do.”

Though he remembered memories from his modern life on Earth, he had no specialized knowledge. In fact, his knowledge didn’t have much to offer in this world. What should one do when a person is looking pale, bleeding to death but can’t get a blood transfusion? Albrecht didn’t even know what his own blood type was.

Adelheid rushed to bring water and a clean cloth. With trembling hands, she removed the pieces of cloth covering Eric’s ears and nose and saw his unsightly wounds. She took a deep breath and washed the wounds with water, then covered it again with a new clean cloth.

She tried to give water to him. Eric, who was previously unconscious, immediately gulped down the water as soon as the glass was placed on his mouth.

“Get me the olive oil.”

Albrecht ran out fast and went to the castle’s food storage as soon as he heard her words. He quickly returned to his room with olive oil on his hand.

Adelheid scooped a few spoons of the olive oil and fed it to Eric even though they weren’t sure if it would be effective. She looked at Albrecht who seemed to have done everything he could possibly do.

“Can you explain to me what’s going on?”

Albrecht told her the truth, but Adelheid seemed to have found something strange when she listened.

“Then why did you do that if you were going to save him in the end?”

“I don’t know either. I’ve been resentful of my past self ever since I hurt my head. I’ll ask forgiveness from Father.”

“No. When Eric wakes up, the first thing that you should do is to ask for his forgiveness. Asking your father to forgive you comes second.”

Albrecht bit his tongue and felt terrible. He had memories from a modern world but he didn’t even think of doing that. He felt pathetic.

Adelheid looked dispirited. He hugged Albrecht without saying a word.

Time passed. Eric had not yet woke up. Burkhardt returned earlier than usual.

Burkhardt stormed into Albrecht’s room and looked at Eric. Then he grabbed Albrecht by the collar, lifted him up and slapped him hard.

Albrecht’s head jerked abruptly. His mouth was suddenly filled with a fishy taste as it got torn.

Adelheid put her hand on her husband’s arm but didn’t actively try to stop him. She just hoped that he wouldn’t hit him too hard.

Surprisingly, Burkhardt didn’t hit him again. He stared at his son for a long time as he held his collars tightly in his hands. His eyes turned red and he looked close to tears.

Albrecht was shocked. He had never seen his father like this. He followed suit and looked like he was on the verge of crying. Being hit to death would’ve been better than this.

Burkhardt took a deep breath and held back his tears.

“After you were born, you became the hope that kept me going. Never would I have imagined that you would disappoint me like this! Solely for you… I’ve been living my life solely for you!”

Albrecht bowed his head down, speechless. Guilt and self-hatred enveloped his whole heart.

At that moment, Eric woke up. He looked at Burkhardt and spoke.

“My… My lo… lord.”

Eric was dying. He had a lot of his teeth missing and couldn’t even pronounce his words properly.

Burkhardt loosened his hold on Albrecht’s collar and looked at Eric, but he didn’t answer.

Albrecht carefully approached Eric and said, “Eric… It’s me, Albrecht. I know that it would be shameless of me to say this but… I’m really sorry. I want to sincerely ask for your forgiveness. What I did to you was terrible. I was wrong. I’m really sorry…”

Eric looked at Albrecht. He did lose his consciousness on the way, but he knew that Albrecht was the one who brought him here. Their eyes met as he looked at him solemnly. He seemed like he was staring deep beyond Albrecht’s eyes. After staring at him for long, he took out a pendant from his pocket.

“This… to my mother… Penba…t…”

Albrecht took the pendant carefully.

Eric handed over the pendant, shifted his eyes to the ceiling and let out a long breath. It was his last.

Burkhardt called Peter who was looking from outside the room.

“Peter.”

He stepped carefully inside the room and placed a finger under Eric’s nose.

“He’s dead.”

Burkhardt was silent for a long time before he spoke.

“Peter, we will hold a funeral for him and let the people pay their respects. Albrecht, you are to stay put and wait until everything’s done.”

Burkhardt left the room with his shoulders drooping. Adelheid looked at Albrecht with sad eyes and followed Burkhardt.

“He probably said Penbacht. I think there’s a parish there in the South, or so I’ve heard.”

With that, Peter picked up Eric and walked out. After everyone went out, Albrecht stood inside his room in a daze with his head down.

Albrecht, who had divine physical abilities, sat on the floor with his weak legs. After some time, Adelheid came in to change the bed sheets. She leaned against the wall with her head down and sat next to Albrecht.

“You know what, Albert… Mother loves you no matter what happens. Even at this moment, I still love you more than anything else in the world.”

Albrecht didn’t say a word.

“Actually, after your Father and I got married, we didn’t have a child for a long time. Then after being married for 10 years, I finally birthed a child. But…”

Adelheid looked very sad. She sighed and then continued.

“The child died right after he came into the world. Hopelessness, right, that’s the right word. It made living feel like a curse.”

Albrecht looked at his mother and saw her shed tears. This was the first time he’d heard of this.

“Maybe your father was the same. He would spend the whole night drinking, not even bothering to talk with our people. Some scoundrels who came to the foot of the mountain even got tangled up. Your father might have vented his anger to the world, perhaps to the god who took away his son, on those people.

Later on, I saw the situation of the people on our territory getting worse, and I knew then that I had to wake up and help manage our territory. I made up my mind to look after your father,” Adelheid said as she stroked her son’s cheeks.

“And then, Albert, you came. To us two, you’re the reason that kept us going.”

Albrecht threw himself in his mother’s arms and asked for forgiveness.

“I was wrong… Mother… I’m sorry…”

Albrecht, who asked for forgiveness, could no longer restrain the feelings that came to his heart and cried.