Now is the time to go back (2)
The walled city of Sturma.
Peter Bayezid, the owner of the place, let out a sigh as he held on to the telegram that Ragmus had delivered.
“······Count Ravnoma has fallen.”
Peter stroked his temple with one hand and closed his eyes.
I had been aware that the West’s movements were unusual, but I had no idea it would lead to this kind of result.
“······Did the Count Gaidar family have that much power?”
“It is said that the western families have united. “It seems like it was a heavy burden.”
“Why did the royal family stay quiet?”
“······We couldn’t find out what was going on at the central government.”
He was saying it as if he was sorry, but Ragmus probably couldn’t help it either.
The North is a place with its own unique color stronger than any other region.
Because they had built a wall, they were free from influence from the royal family or central power, but they were inevitably ignorant of what was happening in other regions.
In everything, there were pros and cons.
“······It is impossible for a country’s earl family to collapse so vainly. “As long as it is a family that keeps its oath.”
No matter how turbulent the empire was, there was a line that had to be maintained.
However, the newly started torrent was swallowing up the rules that had been established so far.
It looks as rough as it has been forcibly blocked so far.
“······These are difficult times.”
Through the current telegram, Peter clearly realized what era he was in.
To those newly in power, the rules and traditions established in the past must have felt like chains that were constricting them.
The order in the West was reorganized.
By the Gaidar family, who overthrew Ravnoma, the long-time rulers of the West.
The fall of the Count Ravnoma family may have been the first signal of a new era.
“······this.”
Peter, who had been lost in thought for a while, got up and walked towards the window as if he realized something.
A procession of carriages entering the mansion with the late spring rain falling steadily.
As he watched the pilgrims coming into the mansion, Peter bit his lip as if he had finally figured it out.
“······They weren’t pilgrims.”
Those who enter the Bayezid mansion holding the church emblem high.
They were not pilgrims who went to the steelsmith in the north to see the traces of the dragon.
They were refugees who brought with them an old oath.
※※※※
Vlad was carrying luggage in the pouring rain.
The boy’s breath was coming out white in the cold spring rain.
‘The atmosphere is strange.’
Until last night, we were a group of people laughing with each other in a warm atmosphere, but not now.
With the suddenly decided forced march, the atmosphere of the procession hardened and at the same time, a subtle tension began to flow.
As a result, Vlad arrived at Sturma a day earlier than scheduled and was carrying the luggage brought by the priests under tight security.
“Be careful, be careful!”
“Acolytes, leave. “This is on us.”
When he heard a loud noise, Vlad naturally turned his head towards it.
There was a dark wooden box with a strange sentence engraved on it.
It was a wooden box that caught the boy’s attention without knowing why.
Exciting-
However, Vlad just turned his head away from the wooden box he was interested in and hurried away.
Because the blood flowing from the death worm’s body was mixed with the rain.
‘I guess it’s not right.’
Maybe it’s the smell of blood that makes my heart race.
Like people who sometimes react sensitively to certain foods or scents.
In my case, maybe it’s the death worm’s blood.
“Good work.”
Vlad, who had carried his luggage to the front of the hall of Bayezid’s mansion, lowered his head and waited for the door to open.
It was only a matter of walking a few more steps to get inside, but this was the only place Vlad was allowed to go.
Rutger and his knights quietly patted their shoulders and said, “Thank you for your hard work” and then went inside.
Even the priests following them, surrounding the black wooden box.
They were all people who had been together all along, but the boy did not deserve to be with them until the end.
‘······.’
Vlad gently raised his head as they walked through the gap.
With curiosity about the space that is not allowed to him, and a little bit of resentment.
“······!”
And there our eyes met.
The highest place in the Bayezid family.
Where Vlad’s gaze landed, a world so vast that it was difficult to fathom was already looking down upon the boy.
Vlad, completely frozen by Peter’s presence, remained frozen, unable to avoid his gaze until the door was completely closed.
Until the door to the hall that divides the boundary between qualifications and non-qualifications is completely closed.
※※※※
“I’ll go and see.”
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“Sure.”
Portley seemed to have had his own expectations, too, as he said goodbye to Vlad with a sullen expression.
The two squires returned to Sturmah, expecting to receive some kind of reward or a small banquet after catching a great game called a death worm.
However, they had no choice but to return to their original location with the heavy feeling of the late spring rain.
Vlad took a step forward as he watched Portly trudging back to his dorm.
Even if the situation is the same, Vlad can be said to be in a slightly better situation because he has someone who calls him.
“······.”
As Vlad walked down the hallway, he thought about the look in Peter’s eyes that he had met briefly earlier.
‘I don’t remember.’
It was clear that it was a strong first impression, but the problem was that there was nothing left to see.
Because rather than Peter’s appearance, only his presence remained in the boy’s mind.
“Hmm.”
It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember.
Because it is clear that the count looks similar to the person I am about to meet.
“I’m here. “Mr. Josef.”
“Come in.”
Vlad announced his presence in front of Josef’s office and opened the door with a familiar gesture.
Although Bayezid’s glorious hall did not give way to Vlad, he willingly gave up Josef’s office.
“You came a day early.”
“That’s how it happened.”
“okay. “I heard roughly.”
Josef’s office, which Oksana had a special place for, was the space where sunlight stayed the longest in Bayezid’s mansion.
When Vlad first came here, the sunlight was burdensome, but he had now gotten used to it.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Thank goodness.”
Vlad was a little nervous as he looked at Josef calmly asking a question and Zayar standing next to him.
I was worried that there might be some reprimand coming.
Helping to defeat the death worms that were targeting the pilgrims was certainly a commendable act.
However, from Josef’s personal situation, it may have been a little inconvenient.
In the end, it turned out to be helping Rutger.
It was something that Josef, who was in competition with him, might have thought was a bit scary.
“Why do you look at me like that?”
However, Josef was just looking at the documents without any sign of discomfort.
“······it’s nothing.”
Vlad answered with an internal sigh of relief.
Rather than saying he wasn’t reprimanded, he was relieved because he was exactly what he thought Josef was.
“I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling fine, but it’s still a good idea to pull yourself together as much as possible.”
Josef, who had been shuffling through documents for a while, raised his head and looked straight at Vlad and said.
“That’s because I don’t know much about the back alleys of Shoara.”
Vlad looked surprised when he saw Josef suddenly talking about the back alley.
“I heard that the struggle between organizations ends when all members die or surrender, is that correct?”
“······yes. “Maybe so.”
Vlad thought with his head down.
Why are you suddenly asking this question?
Vlad cringed a little as he watched Josef trying to enter his most delicate part.
“So you couldn’t even send a letter?”
“What letter are you talking about?”
“To your lover in the convent.”
“······A friend.”
“Well, whatever.”
Josef stood up while listening to Vlad’s answer.
“It’s not that I wasn’t aware of the situation in which we couldn’t even send proper news for fear that people in Shoara might get hurt.”
Josef walked to the window, leaned back, and watched the spring rain fall for a while before opening his mouth.
“I wanted to be considerate, but it took time and performance to resolve it. “One-armed Jack was a man of worth.”
Vlad quietly nodded while listening to Josef.
Probably so.
No matter how much of a back alley it is, it is also an area belonging to the County of Bayezid.
In order for a man named One-Armed Jack to go on a rampage in the back alleys, he must have had connections with those in power in the sun.
Because he was a man with a lot of wealth, as his nickname was, a money maker.
Even though it originated from the tears of people in the back alleys.
“······.”
Vlad quietly looked at Josef standing by the window.
And even the small flag hanging next to him.
Although it was Josef’s office that I had visited countless times, it was something I had never seen before.
‘What about that?’
Rectangular white flag.
It was a flag that was a little smaller than the flags I had seen before, but was as big as one could hold with one hand.
Josef was lost in thought for a moment before opening his mouth.
“······But you have proven your worth admirably.”
With those words, Josef carefully took out the flag next to him.
“You worked hard for me, so I should repay you as I promised.”
“······yes?”
As Vlad looked at Josef slowly approaching him, the image of Peter he had seen earlier seemed to come to mind.
The elegance emanating from Josef holding the flag reminded me of his presence at that time.
“They say that the knights of my grandfather’s generation carried the same flags that I am carrying now.”
Josef looks at the flag he is holding with mysterious eyes.
Josef smiled bitterly as he looked at the item he could never have for the rest of his life.
“A flag that symbolizes one’s honor.”
But Josef was the chosen one.
Since I cannot hold the sword and the flag, I will hold the knight holding them.
And in front of Josef was a boy who could do it.
“You are worthy of carrying your own flag. And that qualification is guaranteed by Haynar and Bayezid.”
Vlad looked at the white flag handed to him with a surprised expression.
It looked completely empty, but there were two small sentences engraved on the top left of the flag.
It was the coat of arms of Haynal and Bayezid.
“B-but. “Not yet.”
“Take this and go to your hometown.”
“······!”
After hearing Josef’s words, Vlad felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
The words were so sudden that my mind was going blank.
It was a moment I had longed for, dreamed of, and decided that I would do it someday.
But I never imagined that that moment would be today.
“Vlad, the one named by Lady Alicia and the squire of the Bayezid family, raise your head proudly under the flag.”
The boy raises his head with a blank expression while holding the flag that Josef gives him.
However, although his expression was blank, the boy’s body was trembling.
The moment I had longed for was approaching.
“You must cut off the treacherous things that bound you there, find yourself truly free, and come back to me.”
Vlad didn’t answer.
I just looked at the flag I was holding with increasingly blurry eyes.
“As promised, everything is sponsored by Bayezid. Vlad of Shoara.”
In the contract of the day.
The boy and the young man promised to give and receive from each other.
And that promise was confirmed under the honorable banner the boy now holds.
Vlad of Shoara.
Go back to your hometown.
Cut off the evil ties that are binding you there.
And take back what is yours.
“I will follow your orders.”
The boy held on tightly to the flag he was holding.
Until both hands turn white.
