As wide as the bowl (3)
Even though they were appointed to the same mayoral position, Josef’s position was completely different from that of the previous mayor.
If the former mayor’s goal was to maintain Shoara smoothly and secure tax revenue, Josef was a person who needed solid achievements of his own.
“Will this guy named Age bow properly to Vlad?”
“······At least you understand your current situation.”
He raised a promising boy named Vlad and gained firm control over the territory called Deermar.
After achieving such success, Josef’s next plan was to deal with the barbarians above the northern limit.
“I’m sure you understand that the offer I made was made with the utmost sincerity.”
In the meantime, Bayezid’s authority has been challenged by many families, and now is the time to show his answer through action.
And before that, the first priority that Bayezid must accomplish is to somehow eliminate the elements of anxiety that may lie behind him.
“······So, you probably know what will happen after you kick my offer away.”
After receiving such a heavy blow from Mirshea that the tribe’s foundation was shaken, the Buda’at tribe had no choice but to take the hand that Josef extended.
And Josef planned to use them to control the barbarians in the future.
“It would be nice if it moves as intended.”
“That’s right.”
It was worth a try, but it wouldn’t be easy.
Josef, who knew this, poured warm wine into a glass and let out a small sigh.
“······I don’t know when we started being so divided.”
Although they are from the same northern region, barbarians and northerners have been opposing each other for a long time.
It is unknown when the chain of hatred began, but Josef did not think that the current situation would be beneficial to the North.
Your world and mine are connected, but they cannot become one.
Because there were so many differences separating our worlds that it was difficult to even count them.
“I hope he does well this time too.”
Still, the reason why Josef attached Agge to Vlad would be because he saw a small amount of potential in the boy.
A boy riding a black horse considered sacred by barbarians.
And the boy who saved the barbarians by riding that horse and hunting the northern dragon.
Vlad, unlike the northerners he had been with so far, felt a little bit like the barbarians.
Josef just hoped that Vlad would show results that exceeded his expectations this time.
※※※※
Ever since Vlad left that evening, Dice’s gambling house has not been able to open.
On the surface, it was known that it was closed for repairs to the internal facilities, but in reality, it was because Vlad had ordered a one-week suspension of business.
“Is this enough?”
“Well, that’s fine. “You’ll have to see.”
Arriving at Bordan’s office, Vlad put down the stack of papers he had been carrying with both hands on his desk.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Just knowing that words are written is a wonderful thing.”
All of the papers Vlad brought with him were financial documents from Dice’s gambling house.
It was seized in order to estimate the profits from the fraudulent activities, but Bordan, who was actually supposed to do the work, just quietly pushed the documents aside.
“······Would you like me to take some of it off?”
“no.”
Although he didn’t really know what was written, Vlad knew that it was a meaningless document.
In order for Dice’s gambling house to open again, shiny gold coins will be the answer rather than a clear calling.
“Don’t accept any kickbacks yet.”
“who?”
“You are my friend.”
Bordan shrugged his shoulders after hearing Vlad’s answer.
“I don’t know who he is, but he’s a smart friend. “It is the basis of the art of living.”
Haven told Vlad that it was time to sow seeds rather than harvest.
The advice was to aim for the fruit that would be higher up rather than focusing on the profit right in front of you.
“Please visit Sir Gregory later.”
“why?”
Bordan seemed admirable that Vlad had managed to find the right path.
The boy who couldn’t even read the command properly so he read it for him had already become a worthy knight.
So it would be okay to give a little help.
“Because it’s exactly what you two want.”
“······?”
Seeing Vlad looking at him as if he was wondering what that meant, Bordan searched through the drawer and threw him a piece of candy.
It was truly a dessert suitable for a child who knew nothing.
“I’ve told you everything, so go out.”
Seeing Bordan waving his hand while saying strange words, Vlad had no choice but to go outside.
“what.”
Vlad, who came out into the hallway with ambiguous words, just scratched his head.
Jorge looked at Vlad and commented that he was a guy who would lead any alley, but the problem was that the idea itself was still confined to the alley.
Regardless of whether he was smart or not, Vlad, who had just risen to the top, did not yet have enough time to understand the world of knights.
“Vlad, Vlad.”
But it will be okay.
“Mr. Gregory?”
Even in unfamiliar environments, Vlad always found what he needed to do.
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“Now, take this.”
Just then, Vlad followed Gregory, who called to him with a hand gesture, at the end of the hallway and accepted the item he handed to him.
An item wrapped in luxurious wrapping paper.
It was the Kannor family’s salted meat that Potli often gave to him during his days as a squire.
“I was already planning to come see you.”
“okay?”
It was said that he would follow Bordan’s words, but Gregory seemed to have interpreted it a little differently and began to show great enthusiasm.
“Good. “I thought we would get along.”
“is that so?”
Gregory is Portli’s maternal uncle.
In other words, he was a person with close ties to the Kannor family.
“Did you say black bear? “An organization that runs a meat-packing business in a back alley.”
“yes.”
The Kannor family was famous for its livestock farming in the County of Bayezid, but its territory was limited to Sturmah and nearby villages.
“It seems like Joseph doesn’t like those guys either. What do you think? “Shall we sweep it together?”
“······.”
In order for the Kannor family to smoothly expand its influence to other regions, it would be best to occupy existing commercial areas.
And in the city of Shoara, there happened to be a young knight sponsored by the Kannor family.
“That was the story.”
“huh?”
A knight is a sword and a sword is strength.
Knights who open the way with a just cause were always followed by people who wanted to make a profit.
“great. “I was just trying to fix it anyway.”
Vlad smiled and nodded, holding the salted meat that Gregory handed him.
“Are you going to lend me people?”
“of course. “If you want, I will come forward myself.”
Dice in the gambling house and Captain Hoover in the smuggling business are okay, but black bears are not.
Because he was someone who crossed the line.
And knights were people who had the authority to punish people who crossed the line.
Vlad thought that he could finally complete his revenge for Anna’s death.
※※※※
Squeak-squeak.
On the white alley that temporarily covered the dirty things, Vlad quietly blew his breath.
The dockside road to Haven.
And the alley leading to the blacksmith shop.
When Vlad walked these two paths, he was able to forget reality for a moment.
Even though the reality I was in was dizzy, I might have thought that the road to these two places was a straight line.
bang-!
Finally, Vlad opened the door with a harsh sound and entered a dark forge with no lights, accompanied by the cold winter wind.
“······.”
The first thing I saw when I walked in was the dusty work surface and the small, cold brazier.
The furnace was supposed to always have a fire going in a blacksmith shop, but now it was only filled with pale ash.
“I guess I came too late.”
The snow outside the door that had not been cleared for a long time had piled up and turned into a hard block of ice.
It was standing there blocking the shabby door, as if to show that no one had come for a while.
“I had a favor to ask you.”
Vlad came here because he had something to ask the old man and something to show him.
However, the old blacksmith just lay motionless on his old bed even though the guest came.
Vlad, seeing him motionless, pulled a chair nearby and sat down.
“I came to ask you to attach this to the pommel.”
Vlad held the yellow amber stone given to him by Alicia in his hand and looked down quietly.
I thought the old man would like this.
Although he couldn’t escape the back alleys his whole life, the old man who longed for the outside world always liked the stories of Vlad told with his sword wounds.
“······.”
And Vlad also liked the sound of the old man’s laughter accompanied by the sound of a hammer.
Vlad suddenly raised his head and looked at the ceiling of the blacksmith shop.
A wooden pillar deeply dented by something.
It was the place where the unadorned sword always hung.
“It’s been a while since I last saw you, so you look unfamiliar again.”
The old man’s dream hung in the back alley for a long time, and the boy was able to see that dream and not lose hope.
Perhaps the old man had been saving Vlad even before the night he escaped to Shoara.
“Actually, I came to give you this.”
Vlad stood up with a heavy sigh and took out an item that had been wrapped neatly in cloth in his arms.
A sword without decoration.
A sword from a back alley that only has a handle that can no longer be called a sword.
Vlad placed an unadorned sword in the arms of the old man who was lying coldly.
“Thank you.”
I wanted to say a lot, but in the end it would just be one word.
He said he was grateful that he saved him.
Vlad lit the embers in the old man’s brazier one last time and stood up.
The warmth spreading from there eased Vlad’s heart a little.
“Have a nice dream.”
The cold winter wind came in with a squeak, and soon the door closed with the boy’s back moving further and further away.
The boy leaves and the old man stays.
That’s how time flies and no one will complain about it.
“······.”
A shabby blacksmith shop with no one left after the boy left.
There, the old blacksmith was holding the hilt of the unadorned sword as Vlad had told him.
He was dreaming with an unadorned sword.
In his dream, he saw a white snowy mountain he had never been to before, and a dragon he had never seen before was running around the field.
Now that he was out of the back alley, there seemed to be a small smile on his face.
An unadorned sword that started in an old man’s dream but was completed in the hands of a boy.
The star that had been hanging towards the sky finally returned to the old man’s arms.
Shining brighter than anyone else.
