City of Steelworkers (3)
Bastopol, the capital of the Baranov Duchy.
This city, perched on a cold cliff, gave the feeling of being somehow separate from this world.
“Still, the road was paved better than I thought. “They even had a carriage ride around.”
As Vlad said, there was some unavoidable incline because it was located on a cliff, but it was clearly a well-paved road.
It’s also a well-maintained road that’s hard to find anywhere.
Vlad thought that the feeling of the smooth floor through the soles of his shoes was refreshing.
“When I saw it from a distance, I thought the road would be rough because it was in a cliff.”
“But it’s still a duchy. “If you just look at the size, it’s a much bigger city than Sturmma.”
The city of Bastopol was not located in a place with a good climate for people to live in, but it was also a safe city.
From the most perfect era of dragons to the present era.
The northern city, which was said to have never been captured for hundreds of years, was a city worthy of prosperity as it had survived for so long.
“But I think if we build a road like this, it will be easier for the attackers. “I guess there’s no reason to go to the trouble of settling down in a rough place.”
“okay?”
Vlad was now thinking from a commander’s perspective, but Rutger just smiled quietly.
“Well, there was a time when I thought that too.”
Sometimes one experience is better than ten explanations.
Rutger, who knew it well because he experienced it firsthand, did not bother to explain it to Vlad.
“Take out the flag. “It’s almost the gate.”
As we left the winding cliff road, we finally began to see the gates of Bastopol from afar.
It has now been three full weeks since we left Shoara.
When we finally arrived, the City of Steelworkers was still sparkling, reflecting the sun’s rays, just as it did when seen from afar.
“……huh?”
“Now you realize it.”
However, unlike when I saw it from a distance, there were things I could see when I got closer.
Vlad’s eyes widened as soon as he saw the surface of the castle wall, which looked somehow smooth enough to be called stone.
“Why is a steel worker called a steel worker? “The answer to that is there.”
The black-gray stones that Vlad had vaguely thought were stones were actually not stones.
They are all steel.
Even if you look up, the castle walls, which are hard to see at a glance, are all filled with steel.
“…What the hell is this?”
The black-gray castle walls sparkled from afar.
Now that he knew the reason, Vlad just stared blankly up at the walls of Bastopol without even thinking about taking out his flag.
The great steel city that approached beyond the boundaries of common sense was leaving deep footprints in Vlad’s world.
※※※※
“Everyone has finally arrived.”
There was a man standing alone by the window with his back to him, slowly turning a glass of wine.
Timur the steelworker saw the procession coming to his mansion beyond the castle gate in the distance and lifted the glass he was holding to his mouth.
“Fortunately, thanks to Baron Alicia, we will be able to organize the meeting.”
“That’s right. “Duke.”
The wizard Fernand, who was also in the office, nodded to Timur’s words.
The Northern Council was composed of seven families for a long time, but lost one of its long-standing pillars due to the extinction of Baron Utman.
However, it was clearly a happy thing for Timur, as Haynal filled the unsavory vacant position at the right time.
“…Is the seal still running rampant?”
“That’s right. Duke. “It’s getting worse as time goes by.”
However, there was a reason why Timur could not smile easily now.
It was the presence of dragon fragments that were running rampant in a way that could not even be compared to the time of Lindwurm.
This warning-like signal was also a warning that a serious threat was approaching this city.
“Blonde hair, blue eyes… and the possibility of a dragon coming.”
Timur’s eyes, which had been lingering on his clinking glass of wine, suddenly began to look towards the procession that had arrived in front of the mansion.
Where his eyes landed, there was a blonde knight holding out his hand toward a woman with light blue hair.
“Well, if that’s the case, then I guess I can understand what happened so far.”
Timur, who had been watching Vlad silently, nodded as if he finally understood.
There is no result without reason.
After only a few years of picking up the sword, he became a knight and became an Auror.
And the talent to bring out one’s own world and paint it over reality was, as far as Timur knew, a talent that had never existed before.
“Get ready. “I want to check it for myself.”
“All right.”
The old wizard quietly bowed his head at Timur’s words and dispersed like smoke.
“…That tree was bright in color.”
However, the tree I saw in Moshiam was too beautiful to be dismissed as the remnants of a vicious dragon.
The golden light that could never have come out if he had simply been born with it was still fluttering in the corners of Timur’s eyes.
“I hope not.”
There was the last sip remaining on the glass I was holding.
Timur raised his clinking glass of wine and looked at Vlad from a distance, and frowned as if he was disappointed.
※※※※
The group that passed through the gates of Bastopol and arrived at the Iron Duke’s mansion was now divided according to their respective flags.
The seventh flag slowly begins to rise next to the six flags that were fluttering above the mansion. High day.
——————
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The moment he had to move only under the flag of Hainal, not under Rutger’s guidance, Vlad felt so many eyes on him that he flinched.
-Baron Hainal of Deremar! Welcome to Bastopol!
The door to the mansion slowly opens with a loud welcome.
Beyond that was a wide garden path that looked like it could accommodate several carriages moving at the same time.
[Not now.]
“…….”
[Think about why you are here. Vlad.]
And even the knights lined up on both sides along the well-groomed road as if they were waiting.
On the surface, it looked like a crowd welcoming Alicia, but there was a sharpness among them that was difficult to ignore.
“Lord Vlad?”
Duncan, the old knight holding the flag of Hynal in front of him, quietly looked back at Vlad.
His innocent appearance, as if he didn’t feel anything.
Several young knights lined up did not bother to hide their sneers at the old knight who could not even feel his own world.
[Anyone holding a sword is bound to have a burning desire to win. So don’t pay any attention to their provocations.]
If you are holding a sword, you are a swordsman.
However, if you have a duty above the sword you hold, you are a knight.
In order to fulfill his duty, Vlad tried to ignore the provocative looks and quietly knocked on the door of the carriage Alicia was riding in.
“Im here. “Baron Alicia.”
“all right.”
With Vlad’s signal, the carriage door began to quietly open.
The eyes of the knights had been glowing just a moment ago, but as soon as the carriage door opened, everyone around them was instantly distracted by the watery sparkle that came out as if unraveling.
“Thank you for your hard work escorting me here. “Lord Vlad.”
“no. “Baron.”
Those who are currently watching with bated breath probably don’t know.
Even now, I can’t take my eyes off Alicia, and the fact that her sparkle is not showing its full potential due to exhaustion from the long journey.
“Then will you please open the way for me one last time?”
Vlad quietly nodded at Alicia’s request to make way for me.
Because it was for this moment that we stood under the banner of Hainal and not under the name of Aureo.
“I am here to do that for you. “Baron.”
It was Aureo who was invited, but right now, I am Lady Alicia’s knight.
Under the waving flag of Hainal, Vlad extended his hand toward Alicia.
[You can do it now.]
But just being decent is not enough.
In order to open the right path for Alicia as she hoped.
“…Tsk!”
“Hmm…”
Duncan, who was holding the flag of Hainal, began to wonder when he saw the knights suddenly staggering.
However, if he had looked back even for a moment while he was very nervous raising the flag, he would have fully understood the current situation.
“Everyone bows their heads.”
“It would be a sign of respect for Hainal.”
“What a relief. “I was worried that I might be ignored.”
In keeping with the old tradition, a knight unfolds his cloak for a noble lady.
Vlad, who had blocked all insults that might reach her through my cloak, was now quietly recalling his own world through his closed left eye.
“Let’s go. Alicia.”
Following Vlad’s guidance, Alicia slowly began to walk towards the Steelworker’s mansion.
The knights of the North bowed their heads as she moved forward.
Seeing their hospitality, Alicia began to whisper quietly.
“It was a good thing I asked you.”
There was no Hainal tree here now, but Alicia was still standing under the tree.
The color of the tree is golden.
It wasn’t a big tree, but it was definitely a tree reaching high.
※※※※
“Yajang (冶匠)! Yaman! “Let me see!”
A man’s loud voice began to echo over the island where only seagulls leisurely floated.
“ah! If you’re inside, please tell me it’s there!”
“……I told you, you b*stard. “It’s because your voice, which was boiled in a flower pot, is eating up everything.”
The old dwarf called the night captain clicked his tongue as he watched Sigursson and his crew running towards him.
“I thought the wind outside would kill my temper, but it’s still the same.”
“I’ve been like this my whole life, but can it only last for a few months? “Anyway, take a look at this.”
Sigurson, who returned from his mission, had to report to the tribal leader first, but the first person he came to was an old dwarf called Yajang.
“blast furnace? “Why is this?”
“As you get older, it seems that even your eyes have become dull.”
Sigursson waved his hands as if he didn’t want to complain anymore and quickly took out the glasses he had in his arms and put them on the old dwarf.
“Look now. Can you see it?”
“What’s so great about an old blast furnace?”
Seeing Sigursson looking even more impatient than usual as to what was so urgent, the old dwarf began to focus his glasses by turning the screw next to the frame.
—-!
“huh?”
Then a small tail appears.
The old dwarf was startled when he made eye contact with a small lizard hiding in an old blast furnace.
“What is this.”
“Is this him? No, we only read it in books and have never seen it before…”
“What is this!”
Hearing the old dwarf’s sudden cry, the young lizard quickly hid in the blast furnace.
The tail was still wagging, as if all it had to do was hide the head.
“Where did you get this!”
As Sigursson watched the old dwarf gradually losing his composure, he was convinced that he had brought the right thing.
“I guess that’s right. Salamander.”
Sigursson began to grin as he watched the old fieldman shaking his hands.
Long ago, there was a dwarven furnace that was said to be able to melt anything.
However, the heat from the furnace did not come from burning something.
Because it was born with heat, it could melt anything.
“But, Mr. Yard. “There’s something I want to ask before I go to report to the tribal leader.”
Now that we’ve finished checking, it’s time to report.
However, the old dwarf who was hugging the old furnace was already completely absorbed in the young lizard inside it.
“okay. okay. “Wow, you’re so kind.”
“…Have you ever made daggers or something like that for humans? “Back in the old days, when you were a slave in the West.”
“yes. yes. “It won’t hurt you.”
Sigurdsson scratched the back of his head as he looked at Yajang, who was squirming around as if he were looking at his young grandson.
“When I looked at it when I was repairing it, it was faint, but it looked like the field manager’s seal, so I asked… I’ll just come back later and ask again.”
As Sigursson snatched Goro to go to the tribal leader, the old dwarf’s eyes began to grow dim.
“dagger……?”
The old dwarf began to recall a very old memory in response to Sigursson’s question, which had been in his ears, but only then entered his mind.
“…I made it for you once before.”
He couldn’t answer because he was already walking far away, but as Sigursson asked, the old dwarf had made a few daggers for a human knight.
Although he couldn’t make a proper one because he was in the middle of running away, it was clearly a dagger he had engraved with his seal out of gratitude and gratitude.
With the promise that whenever you come back, we will make something right again.
