WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Abood

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Friedrich's Battlefield

Epilogue chapter: Arc 1

My childhood memories are hazy, as if veiled in mist.

What I remember is a bleak room that windows barred with iron grates and a door that couldn't be opened from the inside.

A bed shoved into the corner, and a worn-out stuffed toy for comfort. The blanket on the bed was always torn, the toy always frayed with stuffing leaking out.

That was where I spent most of my time, alone. By the time I became aware of my surroundings, this was already my life.

I vaguely recall strangers occasionally visiting, adults I didn't know. They'd make me drink something (medicine, I realize now) or perform ritualistic gestures like praying over me.

And several times a day, a woman would come to care for me. I think she was kind, but I can no longer remember her face.

She taught me words, though only in fragments, and she'd leave as soon as her duties were done. I learned little.

But one day, she stopped coming. Meals appeared instead, delivered by faceless hands.

Then one day, I was taken to some forest and abandoned there. At the time, I didn't even know the word ‘forest,’ and didn't understand what kind of place this was. I lacked the vocabulary to comprehend my circumstances, the language needed to contextualize my situation.

Yet I knew I'd been discarded. I knew the word "discarded." Just like the torn blankets and ragged stuffed animals I'd destroyed with my own hands, I too had been thrown away.

I didn't know what would become of me. Back then, I didn't even know the word "death," let alone its meaning.

Still driven by some primal instinct, I wandered through the woods. I found a river and drank. When hungry, I caught and ate whatever I could find—insects, small animals. Looking back now, I must have been surviving on pure instinct.

And then... I met Friedrich.

He found me in the hollow of a tree, my cheeks stuffed with squirrel meat, in what had become my makeshift bed.

That's when my life truly began. My memories gain clarity from this moment onward. Everything before this, those hazy childhood recollections means nothing to me now.

・・・・・・

After meeting him, I was taken by the adults he called to a place called a church.

Until then, the only places I had known were the room where I was raised and the forest where I was abandoned. So the bustling streets full of people, buildings unlike the one I grew up in, and women dressed in strange attire called nuns, everything was completely new to me.

The nuns showered me with words, and I was terrified. I could tell they were asking me things, but I barely understood what they meant. The only answers I could manage were my name and age, the two things the woman who had cared for me had taught me.

The only reason I managed to stay calm despite my fear was because Friedrich stayed by my side. Seeing this boy, younger than me, standing next to me with such a composed expression made me suppress the urge to run or lash out.

From that day on, I lived by imitating Friedrich. I ate meals with him, slept beside him, and helped the nuns together with him. He even read children's stories to me - having learned to read simple words himself.

This life was infinitely better than starving in the woods. Like a stray cat gradually getting used to its new home, I was becoming accustomed to living alongside him.

Then one day, a young nun approached me holding something sharp - I later learned it was called scissors. ‘Let's cut your hair,’ she said.

I understood what cutting hair meant. But in that room where I'd been raised, it always happened with my eyes covered and my body restrained. I'd only realize my hair had been cut when the blindfold was removed.

So when she approached with that sharp object, I panicked about what might be done to me.

I was terrified. And I lashed out.

What happened next is blurry. The next thing I knew, Friedrich was screaming.

Blood was pouring from his arm. My mouth was smeared with blood too. There were fragments of something in my mouth that I instinctively swallowed.

The nun who had tried to cut my hair stared at me with horror in her eyes.

After that, I was taken away from him. Locked alone in a small room, I spent several days there. The moment I was left by myself, overwhelming anxiety surged through me, and I screamed and thrashed about in the room.

Then one morning, Friedrich came to see me alone. His arm was wrapped in bandages.

Suddenly, he threw his arms around me and began to sob with loud, wracking cries that echoed through the entire church.

The nuns came rushing in, alarmed, only to find me standing there bewildered while Friedrich clung to me, weeping uncontrollably. They hesitated, unsure what to do.

Then Friedrich started speaking to them rapidly, his words pouring out. He used so many complicated terms that it was hard to believe he was younger than me.

Soon, the elderly nun he called Sister Alma and the priest he referred to as Father arrived. Everyone seemed flustered as they spoke with Friedrich and somehow, he seemed to be the one steering the conversation.

The commotion, which had started in the morning, lasted until evening. Eventually, the priest and the nuns relented, forced into some kind of agreement with Friedrich. Only then did the chaos finally settle. Exhausted from crying, he fell asleep right there in my lap.

・・・・・・

And so, the days of living alongside Friedrich began again. This time, he never left my side nor did Sister Alma or the other nuns ever try to separate us again.

He taught me words. He taught me so many things. Through him, I came to understand just how little I had known before. He made me human.

When I came of age, Sister Alma finally told me the full story of that childhood incident. I learned just how desperately he had fought to protect me.

Even though I left a permanent scar on his arm, he never abandoned me. On the contrary, he saved me. He stayed by my side.

He stayed with me always. Truly, without ever leaving me for even a moment.

I love Friedrich. I love everything about him.

I don’t even remember when it began. It feels like I’ve loved him since the moment I was born.

I love the look on his face when he reads. The way his crimson eyes devour the words on the page makes me feel like I could lose myself just watching from the side.

I love the way he thinks. The way he uses words I don’t yet know, weaving thoughts more complex than I could imagine, so strong yet sometimes so fragile. When I see him like that, I want to reach out and touch him.

I love the resolve in his expression. When he decided to use his wits to earn a living so we could stay together. When he stood against bandits bearing down on us. When he outmaneuvered an enemy force three times our size. And when he chose to carry the weight of his fallen comrades and keep living. He never acts on impulse, his strength comes from quiet and deliberate resolve.

I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. So much it feels like madness.

So I stay by Friedrich’s side. I press close to him. Where he goes, I follow. What he does, I share. Now and always.

・・・・・・

"This crest is proof that you are now a member of House Hosenfeld. Proof that you are my adopted heir."

In a chamber of the Hosenfeld estate, Count Matthias Hosenfeld addressed Friedrich, who stood clad in his newly tailored military uniform. I watched from behind Friedrich as the scene unfolded.

Today, the tailor had delivered Friedrich's completed uniform, along with a new cloak. Adorning the left breast of the jacket and spanning the back of the cloak was the Hosenfeld family crest - a design featuring the Nouzenharen flower, as His Lordship had once explained to us

Until now, only the Count himself had been permitted to bear this emblem. But from this day forward, Friedrich would wear it too - alongside the Hosenfeld name.

More than a week had passed since the Ferdinand Regiment's return to the royal capital after the war with the Kingdom of Arelia.

Immediately after their return, His Lordship took Friedrich to report their victory to Her Highness, the Crown Princess. It was then that he declared his intention to adopt Friedrich, formally making him his heir with the Crown Princess as witness.

Once the post-war respite ended, the Ferdinand Regiment would resume its training. At the first full assembly, Friedrich’s status as the heir to House Hosenfeld would be announced to all.

"I will become a man worthy of this crest, Your Lordship."

"...Indeed. I have no doubt you will."

As he gazed at Friedrich in his new uniform bearing the family crest, the Count’s voice and expression softened in a rare display of warmth.

Then Friedrich turned to look back at me. Seeing his faint smile, I returned it with my own.

Your position, your life, and the burdens you carry, they’ve all changed. Irrevocably.

But even so.

My place at your side remains unchanged. That, above all, will never change.

You are my everything. A life with you is my everything.

My Friedrich. My beloved Friedrich.

Footnotes:

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