Starting with the sentries on the frontier

Chapter 41 Persuading Mrs. Marsh

"You can leave them here at the mill; I'll take good care of them."

After feeding Herford several pieces of creamy fishbread, Mrs. Marsh belatedly remembered what Zag had just told her and offered a suggestion.

Honest advice: if Snowball and Helford were really just ordinary cats and dogs, he might think this method is pretty good.

Unfortunately, one of them was a fairy and the other a werewolf, and Zag was not comfortable letting them stay with Mrs. Marsh.

Especially since Helford has such a big appetite, what if he eats up Mrs. Marsh's own food rations?

Since Mrs. Marsh had no idea of ​​Snowball and Helford's true identities, Zag could only rack his brains trying to persuade her: "Well, actually, I mainly heard that your illness might be curable, so I went to the big city to inquire. Maybe there will be an opportunity. When you recover, you can do whatever you want and won't have to stay in bed all the time anymore. Wouldn't that be great?"

Mrs. Marsh showed great distrust of Zag's words, but her inner hope made her tone less resolute: "Can it really cure it? I've never heard of such a thing in all these years!"

Zag lied with utmost sincerity: "It's true, some outsiders have recently come to town, some mages from the Tower of Solitude and some from the Dawn Mage Tower. I inquired with them, but they all said they weren't proficient in alchemy, so they didn't know much about your illness. However, they all said it didn't sound difficult to cure, and that we just needed to look for a solution in the realm of magic. There are always more opportunities in big cities, and a weekly wage of 45 shillings is more than enough to support us!"

Snowball couldn't take it anymore and meowed a few times. Mrs. Marsh even bent down to coax it, but to Zag's ears, it sounded perfectly normal: "To be honest, your lying skills have reached a master level, it's truly amazing! It seems I'll have to carefully consider every word you say to me from now on!"

Upon hearing Snowball's complaint, Zag quickly mouthed to Snowball while Mrs. Marsh looked down, "I—never—lie—to—Haki—Mi!"

"Bullshit! You even lied to me the other day, saying 'coal ball' meant something else!"

Snowball has an astonishingly good memory when it comes to holding grudges.

But then he added, "However, you are right, Mrs. Marsh's illness is not incurable. I can sense that it is a kind of pollution, and a bit like a curse, a very rare and unusual curse."

"To be honest, I really can't understand who a country woman like her could have offended to be cursed, but... who knows! This disgusting continent has no shortage of innocent victims. Fortunately, at least Mrs. Marsh's illness is not fatal, otherwise, one bottle of [Healing Hand] a week wouldn't have been enough to prolong this curse for so long!"

"Snoring..."

Snowball meowed for a long time, which worried Mrs. Marsh a lot.

She gently stroked Snowball's head with her rough hands, scratching it lightly while bombarding Zhage with questions: "Why does this little one keep meowing? Is she hungry? Or does she not like the creamy fish paste bread? What should a kitten like her eat? How do you usually feed her?"

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 10 ...

Although Snowball was snoring comfortably from Mrs. Marsh's caresses, the old lady still looked worried.

"Maybe he's just tired or..."

Zhage couldn't come up with a reason, so he gave a nonchalant reply: "Or maybe it just wants to meow. Look, isn't it enjoying being petted by you? Don't worry too much!"

"How can I not worry? She's so tiny, still a kitten!"

Mrs. Marsh glared at Zag with displeasure, then carefully "carried" Snowball to the table, broke the creamy fishbone bread into smaller pieces, placed them on a plate, and put it in front of Snowball. Afterward, she slowly walked towards the kitchen, seemingly intending to prepare something else for Snowball to eat.

Zag glanced at Snowball, who was smugly munching on a creamy fish paste bread, and helplessly changed the subject: "Mother, think about it. Let's go live in Eastgate together. Didn't you always talk about your hometown? Maybe when you get better, you'll have a chance to go to Fox Town and visit your hometown!"

Zag's words made Mrs. Marsh pause in her tracks. After a long while, she sighed, "Foxtown...it's such a faraway place..."

Zag followed them to the kitchen and continued to persuade them, "It's not far. Once we move to Eastport, we can take a ship to Hewingmouth—there were no steamships when you were young. Nowadays, steamships only take a little over a day to get from Eastport to Hewingmouth, it's very fast! And once we get to Hewingmouth, we'll be very close to Forks!"

"It does sound like it's not far now..." Mrs. Marsh's cloudy eyes flickered with something as she slowly spoke, "I haven't heard that name in years. I used to work in a tavern in Whitmouth, but then I heard from passing merchants how beautiful Margarita Island was, as dazzling as a pearl in the ocean. So I spent half a year's salary on a ticket to Margarita Island."

"It was really beautiful there. It was the first time I had ever seen what an island in the sea looked like. Coconut groves, beaches, and reefs. Seasonmouth is also by the sea, but it doesn't have any of these features."

"Then, I met your father, a poor boy from the eastern border. He studied at a church school for a while and thought he had acquired some skills, so he wanted to make a fortune on Margarita Island..."

At this point, Mrs. Marsh hesitated, unable to continue.

Zag felt a pang of sadness, but to be honest, he didn't have any strong emotions about Mrs. Marsh's story, since it had nothing to do with him.

He was just a strange soul from another world.

After a moment of silence, Mrs. Marsh picked up the conversation again, saying, "Eastern Harbor is a nice place. If you really want to go there, then come along. I'll take care of them for you, Snowball and Mei... Mei..."

"Coal balls, snowballs, and coal balls are a niche term in the South, referring to the color of their fur."

Zag continued.

Mrs. Marsh said, "Hmm, Snowball and Coal Ball, very unusual names. I guess there won't be any with the same names in the Eastern Territory."

Zag laughed and said, "There's probably no one with the same name in the entire Dawn Continent!"

Mrs. Marsh nodded, then asked, "When do we leave?"

"Uh, maybe... before Monday?"

Zag glanced cautiously at Mrs. Marsh's expression.

Mrs. Marsh nodded again: "Okay, I'll go pack my things now."

Zag quickly stopped him, saying, "There's still one day left, no rush! Don't tire yourself out!"

Mrs. Marsh replied, “It’s alright. There’s just too much clutter at home and a lot of food stockpiled. I need to deliver some to the neighbors before I leave and ask them to look after the old house… There are too many trivial things to take care of. It’s better to finish them sooner rather than later. Besides, for the first few days after I drink the Healing Hand, I feel just like a normal person, so don’t worry about my health, Zag.”

"Okay, okay, I'll help you, but please take good care of yourself."

"I will."

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[Snowball's Commentary]: Given that cunning dragonborn's notorious history of lying, I seriously suspect that "Hakimi" has something wrong with it!