Don’t mess with moles (3)
Burning buildings.
Statues collapsing.
The sound of something collapsing was loud here and there, as if there was a war, but the shouts of the people actually destroying it were not heard.
There was only suffocating silence.
The faces of the dwarves rushing through the city were covered in pitch-black ash to the point where their original skin color was unrecognizable.
Their proud beards were scorched by the heat, and the equipment they had honed their entire lives was now being used to destroy the shining legacy of their ancestors.
With each blow of the hammer, sadness that could not be contained was flowing from their eyes.
If you have something shiny, you must know how to protect it.
But the dwarves failed at that.
All that remains is a miserable downfall, and now you must begin an uncertain wandering in order to survive.
The tears of the dwarves who knew this mixed with the pitch-black ashes and flowed down.
“······The fire here hasn’t gone out yet.”
At this moment when everything was tragically falling apart, there was still one furnace that had not lost its shine.
With the eyes of an old man staring at the furnace, as stiff as a stone statue.
“Someone needs to see the end.”
The word ‘last’ spoken by the old dwarf does not simply mean the furnace.
The brilliant era was coming to an end, and the old man was the one who would witness the end of that era.
“Is that so.”
The man thought as he looked at the end of a brilliant civilization that was about to come to an end.
Still, I’m glad.
Because I’m not too late.
“I came to make a request.”
“······Now?”
Kuguagagagang-!
Mines collapsing with a loud noise in the distance.
The tearful sounds of hammers destroying everything in the city they had spent their entire lives with.
In this tragic moment of destroying everything that his father’s father’s fathers had built, the only people who did not shed tears were the unknown man and the owner of the last furnace.
“I brought you a metal that only the Eternal Flame can control.”
With those words, the man took out something from his old backpack and showed it to the old dwarf.
“······that.”
When the man removed the cloth covering it, there was a silver lump emitting a soft glow.
The metal, which did not lose its shine even in the face of the red-burning flames of the furnace, was enough to attract the old dwarf’s attention even in this situation.
“Please make it.”
The man’s hands, visible through his collar, were full of fresh wounds.
Is it because the times were like this?
Although he was a dwarf who got excited just by looking at rare metals, the old man’s eyes were drawn more to the man’s scarred hands than to the silver object in front of him.
“What do you want me to make?”
After hearing the answer he had been waiting for for so long, the man straightened his posture and looked at the old dwarf.
The man who came all the way here to say this was finally able to smile a little.
“I need a sword that can kill a dragon.”
I will kill the most perfect dragon in the world.
Even for the worlds that are crying at the bottom, like the collapsing dwarf city.
The man’s eyes, looking at the owner of the last furnace, were hotter than an eternally burning flame.
※※※※
Dusky dawn, in front of the stables provided at the Yeongjugwan.
“······.”
There, Vlad was chewing on a piece of food with a worried expression on his face.
Chat Noir looked at Vlad like that and had a puzzled expression on his face as to why humans were chewing on food, but Vlad’s eyes, which were supposed to answer, were looking elsewhere.
“······Are you the boss?”
“uh.”
Got came out early in the morning, rubbing his sleepy eyes, and was surprised to see Vlad in front of him.
“Why did you wake up so early?”
“I had a bit of trouble sleeping.”
Goth rubbed his hands happily and leaned against the cage, seeing that Vlad had already done all his work.
“Well, it was my first time seeing a troll, so it’s worth noting that I can’t sleep. “The lord here was very surprised to hear that he was also a troll.”
The powerful roar of the troll that rang out last night was enough to freeze the hearts of the people of the territory.
Although it was a sound that resonated far away in the deep forest, the troll’s roar, reminiscent of death, was enough to make the Dalmatian Baron gather his few soldiers.
“What’s a little disappointing is that it would have been more perfect if there had been a corpse. “Troll blood is an expensive commodity.”
Vlad clicked his tongue after hearing Goth’s words.
It was a real shame that we couldn’t secure the troll’s body as Goth said.
“I didn’t know it would burn like that.”
The body of the troll I killed last night was burned in an instant without any time to do anything.
No matter how high the firewood is piled, it is impossible to burn it so cleanly and without traces.
The clean-up was so blatant that anyone could see that the intention was not to leave any traces.
“······I guess I’ll have to report this to Joseph.”
Looking at the troll’s traces, which were nothing but pitch-black ash, Vlad remembered what happened in Barony Utman.
Suspicious, ominous, and familiar, Dobrechti’s headless troll is definitely an incident that needs to be reported to Josef.
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“But there are no wizards here. Are you planning on sending it to Pabal?”
“no.”
Pabalo is not acceptable.
It has been a difficult winter to move around, and the situation looks very suspicious, so it would be best to report it as soon as possible.
“Which city in the east is closest?”
“It’s a city… Let’s see.”
Understanding Vlad’s feelings, Goth opened the map he received from the Dalmatian Baron and quickly began looking for the next destination.
“The closest city where a wizard might be located is Tanovo. It’s a city in the County of Vitskaya. “If you just look at the map, it will take a week.”
“good.”
Wizards are people who deal with the mysteries of the world.
Although they were the type of people that the church did not like, they quickly delivered news through telegrams and gave advice to the lords through various miscellaneous knowledge, so from the nobles’ point of view, they were people who wanted to have at least one person by their side. It was.
“Let’s make our next destination Tanovo. “Know the way.”
“okay.”
The Dalmatian Baron was a poor lord who could not invite even a decent priest to certify the pilgrim’s mark, let alone a wizard, as he was the owner of a poor estate.
Therefore, Vlad was thinking of going to a bigger city than here and borrowing a wizard from the lord there.
Even though he belonged to a different family, he was a knight with a certain status, so if he had to, he could just help out with something like he did now.
As Goth left the stable, saying that he would look for directions, Vlad began to stare blankly into the distance again.
The reason I came out to the stable early in the morning was for Noir, who had helped me yesterday, but it was also because I had a dream so intense that I couldn’t easily fall back to sleep.
“······But I don’t really remember.”
But strangely enough, the intense dreams that had made me toss and turn in my sleep barely remembered anything like a mirage.
All I remember now is the faint sound of a hammer and the flying piles of ashes. And those were the last words the man spoke resolutely.
“Slay the dragon.”
Vlad closed his eyes and thought.
The last words of the man I heard in my dream were clearly the voice I had been familiar with.
Perhaps the dream he had was not a dream, but one of the fragments of memory left behind by the remnants of the voice.
The dark dawn of winter is gone.
Today’s sun was rising from a mountain ridge in the distance.
The tip of Vlad’s sword begins to shine as bright as the morning.
Unlike before, there were white lightning flashing around Vlad’s aura, which became a little clearer.
They were all remnants of voices floating around Vlad’s world.
That day, the voice asked Vlad to meet again in a deeper world, and Vlad responded that he would do so as today’s Auror.
The knight closed his left eye toward a deeper world.
※※※※
“Why do you want to go already? “Why don’t we go after the snow stops?”
Despite the cold weather, Baron Dalmatia, who came out to see Vlad off in person at the residence, looked at Vlad with a truly subtle expression.
There had been a terrible incident, so he felt like he didn’t want to leave for a while, but a conflicting feeling was also rising in a corner of the Baron’s face, wanting him to leave as soon as possible.
Especially when I see Goat smiling brightly behind me.
“I have done everything I had to do, and now it is time to leave. “Baron.”
I know that the Baron’s face became as dark as the gold coin that left his hand.
However, the former pickpocket and conman had no hesitation in accepting fair compensation for his labor.
Slaying bandits, finding barley thieves, hunting trolls, and even a missing girl.
Still, since he wasn’t pulled out in a vicious way, he will probably be receiving the same send-off as he did now.
“Please don’t forget what I said yesterday.”
“okay. “I will take note of it.”
“Consider this my sincerity to Him.”
Vlad did not say anything about the glowing mole, but instead asked the lord to tell him several things.
“As you said, I will not burn the forest or cut down trees carelessly to expand the barley field.”
It was a difficult time to openly talk about the existence of spirits or the sacred oak tree, no matter how remote the estate was located in a corner of the countryside.
Because now it was a world where only one God could be the truth.
“And sometimes it might be nice to pay a little tribute to the forest. “I definitely felt his will flowing through the forest last night.”
Therefore, Vlad took care of the mole by borrowing the existence of a god instead of the name of a spirit.
No more hungry moles stealing barley seeds.
“I understand! “If only I could protect the barley fields that way!”
“Here is my offering to God who blessed me with my victory.”
Vlad said as he handed a shiny gold coin to the Dalmatian Baron.
Even though he has shown sincerity like this, he will not ignore his words.
“iced coffee. “The knight from the north is even faithful!”
The poor baron’s face brightened a little as he got some of his money back.
It was exactly as shiny as a gold coin.
Vlad saw the Dalmatian Baron nod and looked at the Dobrechti Forest in the distance.
This should be enough.
A small flag was waving behind Vlad’s saddle as he left with greetings from the villagers.
Before I knew it, the Dalmatian family emblem was engraved there.
※※※※
In a quiet forest with no one around.
The oak tree that the troll had hit with the ax was still full of scars, but it wasn’t as devastating as it had been that night.
This is because someone had sloppily applied green moss to every corner of the wound.
Although I don’t know if it is an effective method for injured trees, the oak tree seemed to like it and simply shook its branches neatly in the blowing wind.
Wow!
Underneath the quietly swaying oak tree, there was a mole with its head in a small basket and wiggling its hind feet.
A basket full of bright red raspberries.
The raspberries in the basket were prepared by the girl for the mole who saved her.
Since spirits do not have a real body, they do not need to eat to survive.
However, what they need to live is presence.
Things like memories of someone who thinks of them, or emotions, allow spirits to exist on this earth.
Therefore, today the mole was able to satisfy its hunger for the first time in a long time.
The girl’s emotions contained within the raspberries were truly warm.
What?
The mole, who had been preoccupied with raspberries for a while, sensed a presence in the distance and wrinkled his nose.
Unlike usual, people come carrying small baskets rather than axes or pickaxes.
Although they were bringing an offering to the gods, just believing that there was something in the forest would be a great help to the glowing mole.
Because the emotions, memories, and beliefs contained within were important.
Kkkkkkk!
Now you don’t have to forget.
Realizing that fact, the mole smiled and raised his small finger as if he was in a good mood.
The direction in which the finger is raised.
That was the direction where Vlad was leaving.
The first thing the land spirit did after regaining some of his strength through today’s offering was to bestow a small blessing on the knight leaving the forest.
Today, a shining yellow star forgotten in the name of God returned to the forest of Dobrechti.
Like the lemon trees in Hainal, the oak trees in Dovcherity seemed to have regained some of their green color.
