4. Confusion

After he finished digging, Leo managed to get 10 potatoes of the same size from one plant. Holding them in his hand, he couldn't suppress the smile growing on his face

[ wild potatoes 200g ]

' a medium size potato ' thought Leo in surprise. One benefit of being poor in his previous life is that you know your food so you know how every dollar is spent

Wild potatoes are much smaller than specially bred potatoes and yet they're this size. Leo couldn't imagine how big they'd be able to get with proper farming techniques and fertiliser

" potatoes? " Asked Rebecca as she squatted down and dug out a potato, holding it in her hand while looking at Leo, waiting for an explanation

" these are food " said Leo, as he moved to another spot and started digging while talking to Rebecca only to pause as he suddenly heard her spitting and retching

" that was disgusting " said Rebecca as she wiped her mouth and dropped the potato that she had bitten unto the ground

" I wasn't done....talking " said Leo as he walked towards her and picked up the potato " they need to be cooked. But with our limited conditions, we'll have to roast them. They'll taste much better then. Plus they're almost poisonous when eaten raw " explained Leo as he handed her the potato

' there's no place to properly store them, so taking more than necessary is pointless. Plus judging by the multiple footsteps around, many people frequent this area. So I'll take what we need for a week at a time ' thought Leo as he dug out 3 more plants

Before turning to look at Rebecca who had dug out one

" we have 12kg of potatoes, eating them one at a time, three times a day means we'll have about 10 days of guaranteed food " said Leo as he took off his shirt and started putting the potatoes in it before dragging it to Rebecca, as he definitely couldn't carry it back to Rebecca's tarp

" you " Rebecca didn't take the shirt but stood still and looked at Leo hesitantly, opening her mouth several times while glancing at the potatoes but never finished her sentence

Noticing this, Leo spoke " something wrong? " he asked while internally growing wary incase she wanted to attack him and keep them for herself

" you're.....you're planning to share them with me? " Rebecca finally spoke, lowering her head and waiting for Leo's response. A reaction which surprised him

" of course. Why wouldn't I. You're the one who brought me here, so we split everything evenly. That's what partners do " said Leo calmly, while internally sighing with relief as he gauged her reaction to his words

" partners...but...but I'm a... " said Rebecca in shock as she raised her head and looked at Leo, not expecting his response

" a what? " asked Leo in confusion

" .....a red one, are you sure you want to be my partner? People say that we're cursed " said Rebecca as she slowly took off her hood, exposing her blonde hair, as she stared at Leo, wating for his response

She had been alone for as long as she could remember. People would treat her nice until the moment they saw her eyes. Then they'd beat her and try to kill her, blaming her for the death of their family members

It's only as she got older, that she found out that she's not the only girl like this. But some of them are even worse off than her

So she avoided going to town, and lived in the forest, eating what she could while avoiding people. Surviving this long by the grace of God

She had seen the boy in front of her floating in the river. She hesitated on if to rescue him, but before she could make up her mind. He was rescued by two men. Usually she'd have just turned around and went home but she unconsciously found herself following them....

Which led to her rescuing him from the road, after watching his desperate attempts to survive, bringing him back to her home

Unaware of the girls thoughts. Leo finally got a good look at her face. It was dirty, like she hadn't taken a bath for a long while, but it couldn't hide her delicate features but what caught Leo's attention were her eyes

He had seen them at a glance before, but now that he's seeing them full on, he found himself speechless at how beautiful they were

Rebecca didn't know his thoughts and her expression slowly turned disappointed as she slowly raised her hood and turned to leave,

" beautiful " muttered Leo catching Rebecca off guard

" huh? " asked Rebecca as her eyes widened in confusion, her hand pausing mid air

" your eyes, they're really beautiful " said Leo calmly as he took in her reaction

" I don't know what curse you're talking about, and frankly, I don't care. You saved my life. Ontop of that, you were willing to share your last food with me, who's nothing more than a stranger. All I see is a kind girl " said Leo as he bent down and took up the bag of potatoes before he put them in Rebecca's hand

Before turning to leave

" you coming? " asked Leo as he saw the girl staring at him with her mouth agape, tears glistening in her eyes as she rushed towards him and hugged him

' oh shit ' thought Leo as he fell to the ground with a thud as he felt his chest getting wet with tears as the girl sobbed on his chest....

***

Back at the tarp, Leo absentmindedly poked at that potatoes roasting in the flames, ignoring the lingering glance, coming from beside him as he processed the information Rebecca told him

They're currently in the forest west south west of Baron Abraham manor. A few kilometres away from fishing village number 9.

A pretty desolate baron by noble standards but that's like comparing millionaires to billionaires, while you yourself is homeless

The territory consist of 10 fishing villages, each with 100 people on average, 1 mayor per village which control the villages for the Baron. With 50 guards in the entire territory, 5 in each village.

What Leo found confusing is why they're so little people for such large villages, based on the words of Rebecca, each village can hold 1000 people comfortably, 3000 if they squeeze. Meaning 30,000 people and yet the population of the entire territory is slightly more than 1000 people

' what am I missing here ' thought Leo with a frown....