Silent Night, Holy Words (2)
It was a snowy night.
It was a quiet night where you could even hear the sound of falling snowflakes hitting the ground.
Vlad, who was sitting alone on the wooden fence of the stable, hugged his cloak and looked at the snowflakes falling gently.
“It snows a little late here.”
If it were my hometown, Shoara, this would be the time when snow would pile up.
However, it was only now snowing in Valletta, a city located inland in the central region, that Vlad was able to realize how far he had come.
“Is it delicious?”
Purr –
Chat Noir, who had his head down in the trough, purred at Vlad’s words, expressing his willingness.
It was a winter when food was scarce, but Noir’s trough was now full of large beans.
“You are very lucky too. “After all, today is Liberation Day.”
The abundance of food that Noir ate today wasn’t just for the upcoming mission.
As Vlad just said, today was also Liberation Day, commemorating humanity’s liberation from the most perfect dragon.
Today, commemorating the founding king of the country, a saint recognized by the church, and the Sword Master, who was also a knight of knights, was also a day for everyone, including humans and livestock, to eat a bountiful dinner.
“Mom said my birthday was around this time too.”
[Really?]
And I also said that the day Vlad was born was probably around this time.
I heard it when I was too young to remember it clearly, but the boy in the back alley was definitely born in a snowy winter.
“Anyway, they’re kidnapping the kids again. “Have they lost some kind of enemy to those kids?”
Vlad, who was helplessly scraping the floor with a branch, remembered what he had heard from the Count earlier and blew out a loud breath.
Count Arnstein said that there was an unknown monster that went around the outskirts of the city and territory and kidnapped children, and when Vlad heard that, he could sense that he had come to the right place.
Just as in the fog-filled village and Moshiam, the same thing was happening here at the Arnstein estate.
[There must be a reason. [There is a reason why only children are taken away.]
There must be a reason.
But Vlad would never understand, no matter what reason they gave.
“No matter what reason you give, you will never be able to understand it.”
Vlad, who had been silently lowering his head, suddenly raised his head and looked down at the houses below.
Among the houses with lights on, there were sparse houses filled with darkness.
“Especially for the people sitting in those houses with the lights off.”
It was a day that everyone should be happy about, but there will be people who will be even more sad because it was such a day.
Vlad, who knew their feelings well, stroked Noir’s back and quietly exhaled deeply.
※※※※
There was a village where everyone was holding their breath.
It was now a small village with only a few dozen households living together.
However, the reason why the villagers here today were holding their breath and staying indoors was not simply because the night was deep.
Quad deuk!
At that moment, a loud noise was heard in a village that was filled with silence, breaking the silence.
It was the sound of a small house collapsing.
That house was the house of the only herbalist in the village, and it was also the house of a child who had recently celebrated his 4th birthday.
“no! kid! “My child!”
On a moonlit night, a woman whose child was taken away was crying towards an unknown man.
The child the man was holding now was the only treasure the poor couple had, a kind of hope that allowed them to survive the next day.
-…….
However, the man’s eyes as he looks at the crying woman are just cold.
The blue natural flower, which looked even dimmer perhaps because of the moonlight, simply turned its head in its own direction with an indifferent look.
The sound of a child crying could be heard coming from the old net that the man was carrying on his shoulder.
Kwaang-!
“…I finally found it.”
And there were knights who followed the cries and came.
As the door crashed loudly, the knight with his back to the moonlight was smiling.
“I can finally see your face.”
Although he was out of breath from running so hard, Pablo had a cool smile on his face that was difficult to hide.
This was because the tragedy that he had been unable to prevent until now was standing in front of him.
“Would you like to put down the child you are holding first?”
-…….
Arnstein’s Pablo.
His world began to flow out from his closed left eye.
His world, burning yellow, was also the world that brought about the possibility of being Vlad of Shoara.
“Then I’ll kill half of you.”
Today is the day when the Sword Master, a knight among knights, killed the most perfect dragon.
To honor him, who was where he should have been, Arnstein’s knights did not hesitate to hide in this shabby village.
※※※※
Heeeeeeing-!
Stop it! Stop them from going out!
Block the way forward, even if it means putting your body on the line!
The kick of the hind feet of a horse with its blue natural flowers blooming is fierce.
The horse the man was riding seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation and was running wild, but Pablo did not hesitate to walk into the storm himself.
“Huh!”
Quang! bang!
There was a backlash that seemed to shake the earth, but Pablo did not hesitate to move forward even though he stumbled greatly.
Because what he was holding was a castle wall and what he wanted was a crying child.
Pablo’s advance to protect his young potential was nothing short of confident, both at Deirmar and now here.
“I told you to come down first!”
Pablo’s swordsmanship was neither flashy nor fast.
Although it was a simple thing that was only faithful to the basics, it could still be threatening because it had a shield that could block all of the opponent’s intentions.
Squeak-!
Heeeeeee!
Pablo crawled closer despite the harsh kicks and raised his sword high.
Eventually, the horse, startled by the movement of the flashing blade, raised its body and the tight balance began to collapse.
“Now!”
“Go in!”
The unknown man’s sword was one, and there were more knights charging at him.
In order to prevent a family tragedy that might occur today, some people used their whole bodies to block the path of the sword, while others began to block the horse’s path.
“Pablo!”
“Good job!”
And when a knight rushed in with determination and broke the man’s right arm and picked up the crying child, Pablo, who had been waiting for the right moment, gritted his teeth.
“How dare you tell me where this is!”
Taang!
Pablo, who could no longer be rough, clashed his sword and shield with all his might.
Then, the world of Pablo that appears is like a solid castle wall.
No matter how much the newly bloomed boy’s world was bumped and bumped, the walls of his castle, which had not even a single scratch, began to advance roughly.
“I’ll show you what half-killing means!”
bang! Quang!
Sword and sword clashed, but the sound heard was like the sound of a cannonball being fired.
Even though Pablo was fighting against an opponent on horseback, it would have been more advantageous for him to be on the ground in a situation like now where there was no way to spread out.
-Dara is half-killed.
However, even in the midst of a desperate crisis, the unknown man’s response was only calm.
-Do we have such vain threats?
“what?”
Pablo sensed an ominous sign in the man’s words.
“we?”
An unknown man who has always moved alone.
However, the people crawling out of the darkness with giggling laughter were clearly not just one, but many.
-Traps are not something that only you can sell.
“…!”
An unknown man was laughing as he looked at the embarrassed Pablo and the knights.
Under his hood, which he politely took off as if to say hello, was his head, which had been smiling at Pablo just a moment ago.
“You evil b*stard!”
Under the clouds that obscured the moon, unidentified men began to rush in.
They all laid down their necks and, looking at Arnstein’s knights struggling on the ground, began to laugh at them with fierce kicks and flying sword blades.
“Everyone is dustproof! “Focusing on children and families!”
The screams of the knights were filled with the blood spraying out.
He thought they were game, but looking at them who were hunters, Pablo once again tried to evoke his own world with deeply closed eyes.
Kwasik-!
Wow!
-……!
Suddenly, a headless knight was violently thrown away by a flying spear.
The throw was so strong that the spear stuck in the ground was still shaking.
-Who are you?
A small town located on the plains.
The sound of strong horses’ hooves began to be heard from beyond the wooden fence that the village’s residents had barely erected.
Arnstein’s flag, the flag of the Imperial Gendarmerie, and even the Northern flag, which was small but had numerous patterns embedded in it.
Seeing the dust on the horizon approaching, the headless man had no choice but to hastily remove the javelin from his subordinate’s body.
“Was it right?”
[That’s right. It was definitely right.]
“It was my first time throwing it, and it hit me. “It’s a good thing I took a look at Volkov’s in advance.”
He was a man with impressive blue eyes.
The bulging shoulder muscles made it clear who had thrown the javelin that had just flown.
Shoot!
Sigh!
“I guess you didn’t like the gift I sent you.”
The knights around were shocked as they saw Vlad casually accepting the javelin that came flying from far away.
Although he was displaying the most divine powers, the senses derived from the dragon’s blood simply accepted even the current situation as if it were natural.
“The enemies are running away!”
“Damn it! “You can’t miss it!”
Arnstein’s knight commander was relieved to see the intruders escaping from his knights, but on the contrary, he was growing impatient.
“Run! “Don’t miss it again!”
If we miss them now, there may be children who disappear again.
However, contrary to the leader’s earnest cries, the intruders who attacked the village were already on horseback.
“Holy shit! “You shouldn’t be allowed to ride a horse!”
Dozens of knights were rushing towards me, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch them in the end.
Arnstein’s territory was a land full of fertile plains and a place with no obstacles to block them.
“…….”
Before I knew it, there was a sparkling yellow light from the village passing by.
Vlad was able to recognize at a glance who that familiar light in his eyes came from.
[A favor borrowed must be repaid.]
“I know.”
The headless knights were chasing, but they only ran away.
As the knights following behind became tired of the increasingly wide gap, there was a black shadow leaving the formation alone.
“Anyway, my life was a life of paying back.”
From the unadorned sword given by the old man to the tears shed by the girl.
Vlad knew very well that I am now on a path of repaying and repaying and repaying.
Finally, the clouds cleared and the blue moonlight illuminated the wide plain, pointing to a single path.
Vlad looked at the light shining brightly, as if he could just run along that place, and tightly gripped the reins he was holding.
“let’s go!”
Heeeeeeeee-!
A son of the grassland who inherited the unicorn’s bloodline.
The horns of Noir, which are gradually rising through the worlds they meet, have begun to pass by the flags of the central region.
“I, uh…”
The speed surprised not only Arnstein but also Rodrigo.
-……!
“Are we spherical?”
The Headless Knights were astonished as they saw Vlad running away like that.
Although they were running away from death, they had no choice but to give up their backs in front of a black horse with bright horns.
“You have to have a head to figure out whether it’s spherical or not.”
-You are…
“Vlad of Shoara.”
The heartbeat heard right next to you resembles someone who has lost all color.
The scent of tea wafting along the wind was similar to what the woman in black usually drinks.
However, the smile he saw at himself was very different from what the two had.
“I came to replace Arnstein’s Pablo, who you guys have been shaking off.”
The sword was crying.
Now it is his turn to use the sword to kill the howling dragon.
“Go and get the heads of those you left behind!”
I hope today will be a quiet night where no one cries.
Vlad, who had his eyes on the unlit windows, was swinging his sword and sincerely hoping for that to happen.
Thinking that that was the only fair reward he received.
