Watchman in the Barley Field (1)
A dusky dawn with the darkness not yet gone.
Josef entered the office earlier than usual and pulled back the curtain with familiar movements.
When I open the curtain, I see a familiar scene.
A city covered in white snow.
Josef crossed his arms and took a step back to look at the scene outside the window, as Shoara’s appearance made him feel cold just by looking at her.
“I should be there by now.”
Anyone who wants to go on a trip should leave Shoara by now to reach their next destination before the sun sets.
Although I don’t know where the destination is.
“······.”
He could have given the departing Vlad a mission or arbitrarily set a destination, but Josef deliberately did not do that.
This is because I thought that a boy who had lived his entire life following orders from others needed to experience moving with his own thoughts at least once.
“A knight with his own banner (Knight banneret)… “It must be a sight I haven’t seen in a long time.”
Although leaving Shoara in the form of exile, Vlad will be repeating an old northern tradition.
A knight who sets out on a journey with only his own honor in mind.
It was one of the old traditions that could only be found in my grandfather’s generation, not even my father’s generation.
In the distance, the gates of Shoara were opening to welcome this day.
You can’t see it because it’s far away, but there must be a knight out there right now with his own flag.
A knight born to Shoara and raised by Bayezid.
His name was Vlad of Shoara.
※※※※
“······He’s not coming.”
Vlad, who had his collar pulled up to the end of his neck, was watching the castle gate open with Chat Noir.
In the cold winter, when neither merchants nor travelers were moving, the only person waiting for the castle gate to open was Vlad.
Hehehehe-
“Why is this guy who used to live outside making such a fuss about it being cold?”
Noir, who had already become accustomed to the comfortable stable, was annoyed by the current situation of going outside in the cold, but now the good times were over for him as well.
Now is the time to find our original intention and face the snowstorm with a resolute attitude.
And that attitude would be one that not only Noir but also Vlad should remember.
“let’s go.”
A black horse begins to move forward with a slight urging.
The small flag hanging on the back of the saddle began to flutter little by little in the cold wind.
“······.”
Vlad, who was taking steps out from above Chat Noir, thought that perhaps now might be a good time to leave.
Shoara, the city where I have lived my whole life.
There were goals I dreamed of here.
My goal is to hold a sword and my dream is to become a knight.
But now that I had achieved everything I dreamed of in this city, it was time to look up and see the wider world in order to move forward.
“Leader! wait for a sec!”
Vlad, who was recalling old memories, heard a voice calling him from behind and turned his head.
“Let’s go together!”
A man running down the street at dawn with the loud sound of horse hooves.
He was a Goth, Bayezid’s stablekeeper.
“oh my. “I barely got this right.”
“You’re late.”
Vlad smiled discreetly as he looked at Goth, who was sticking out his tongue next to him.
“It’s not too late at this point. “You haven’t even gone out of Shoah yet, have you?”
Even though Goat was breathing heavily, he did not neglect to answer.
It was indeed the attitude of a former conman.
“Did you even think about following me?”
“I guess it’s unfair.”
Goth puffed out his chest and spoke to Vlad in a confident voice.
“I have invested in you for a long time, so I can’t just blow it away here.”
Investment always involves risk.
With low stakes, Gott had to take risks to make big, life-changing gains.
And Goat knew well that people like him, who were at the bottom of the ladder, did not easily come across even dangerous opportunities worth risking their lives on.
“I heard you bought a boat for a friend called Haven? “Will I also take care of that later?”
“I saw you doing it.”
It was just the usual grumpy reply, but Goat just nodded his head.
Because I already knew that Vlad was a dishonest person.
“But where are you going?”
In response to Goth’s question about the destination, Vlad took a deep breath and looked at the white field in front of him.
“······It hasn’t been decided exactly.”
The current Vlad was created through two contracts.
One is Josef’s contract to offer his faith along with his sword.
And another contract with the voice to find the name.
“I’m thinking of going east for now.”
There was a world that was last shown to me by a voice that I can no longer hear.
A maple tree swaying in the wind that blew quietly along with a large wheat field.
And the voice said it had seen that tree.
“There’s something you need to find there.”
In response, Vlad raised the scabbard and looked at Alicia’s amber stone embedded in the end of the handle.
Now only the remnants of the voice remained, only a faint shadow could be seen, but Vlad was the only one who could recognize the last traces of the voice.
“Let’s go now.”
The knight, burdened with duty, left behind the object of his sworn loyalty and moved forward to keep another contract.
A swindler and a knight were leaving Shoara.
What saw them off was a wine glass held by a noble man and a pillowcase soaked by a red-haired girl with the sadness of parting.
※※※※
Dobrechti.
This area, located in the northern part of the central region, was ruled by the Dalmatian family and was a territory mainly devoted to barley farming and forestry, taking advantage of the cold climate.
“And again and again!” “It’s been four months again!”
And what does it mean to say that they mainly engage in barley farming and forestry?
“What on earth are these people doing who are waiting for the barley seeds to be planted?”
It meant that it was a poor territory with no industry of any note.
And, fittingly with its circumstances, Dobrechti was also a poor territory without a city worthy of its name.
“Even though I stationed soldiers and guarded them all night, when morning comes…”
“Stop making excuses in front of me!”
The knight commander speaks at length about failure.
The Dalmatian Baron, who was watching this, seemed to be feverish and kept fanning his hands to relieve his anger.
“······Don’t you guys know that? “If we can’t even sow seeds this season, we will all starve to death in the coming spring.”
“That’s right. “My lord.”
“They are the ones who know that!”
Poor land and cold climate.
Dobrechti, whose only place to lean on was dense trees and barley farming, could not just ignore the current troubles.
“But the soldiers alone…”
“If you don’t have enough troops, you can at least get shackled by the territory’s residents! “I look like I’m going to starve to death right now, so what’s the big deal?”
The Dalmatian Baron, whose chubby cheeks were trembling, threw everything he could find around him and began scolding the knight commander who had come to report.
Any lord would have no choice but to become angry if he saw a knight who could not react flexibly in the face of an incident.
“Oh my, my head…”
But what can you do?
The Dalmatian family was a poor family that could only collect articles like this.
“Gather all the troops you have and protect the barley field! “I’m sure that’s what the monsters in the forest are doing!”
“All right. “My lord.”
Winter is not the season when only humans starve.
Winter was the season when monsters also had nothing to eat, when the fruit on trees and the grass to chew disappeared.
I don’t know why they only eat the seeds sown in the field, but the important thing is to prevent this situation.
“Should I at least hire mercenaries for this?”
In the empty office, Baron Dalmatia sighed.
There was a scene visible to the eyes of the Dalmatian Baron, who approached the window in frustration.
The forest of Dobrechti densely surrounds the estate.
Although it had been expanded a lot for land clearing after he became a lord, the forest that had been there before the Dalmatian family was established still seemed to be dark even though it was midday.
※※※※
“······Pepper, salt, beef jerky, what is this?”
“Pilgrim’s Certificate.”
A dark forest where the sun begins to set.
Vlad, who was squatting in the forest and rubbing against a tree branch, looked at the paper that Goth had taken out and answered earnestly.
“Just go to any church and register. “Priest Andrew wrote it.”
“Why not do it in Shoara?”
Vlad’s hand, which had been rubbing a tree branch, suddenly stopped in response to Goth’s question.
“Ahhh. It did. sorry.”
If the church in Shoara had submitted this certificate, there would have been no need to bring it here, but the problem was that Vlad had become so offended that he could not even dare to speak to the church.
“okay. okay. okay. “I understand this.”
Got was searching through his luggage again, avoiding Vlad’s harsh gaze, but gritted his teeth when he still couldn’t find the item he was looking for.
“But how can you bring all these precious and expensive things with you without even bringing a flint? “I don’t understand that.”
“······.”
Vlad’s hands, which had been paused for a moment at Goth’s angry words, began to move quickly again.
“······I was busy in various ways on the last night.”
Of course you were busy.
Because popular people are usually busier at night.
“But you only brought a flint with you.”
“At least I brought my own!”
Goth angrily pointed at the wreckage around Vlad.
The remains of flint stones rolling around in pieces.
All of them were brought by Goth.
“The strength is good too. “You destroyed it all and ate it.”
A man named Vlad was not so inexperienced that he could not even light a fire.
Rather, I could say that I was more accustomed to this kind of thing because I had lived a rough life.
“There is no such thing as bad luck. “Are they all defective?”
However, as a result, Goat broke all the flints he brought and ate them, and he himself was unable to bring even a flint, which was essential for camping, so there was no way he had anything to say.
The mistake was clear to anyone who could see it, so in this case, there would be no choice but to sit quietly and stoke the flames.
“Ac.”
“Why stop? “Aren’t you going to light a fire?”
Goth opened his eyes as he saw Vlad suddenly throw away the branch he was rubbing, but Vlad had already picked up the sheath of his sword instead of the branch.
“Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
No matter how deep the relationship was, Vlad was a knight.
Vlad’s momentum holding the sword was bound to be completely different from when he was rubbing the tree branch earlier.
The evidence was Goat’s slightly trembling voice.
“I’ll rub it. Leader.”
“it’s okay.”
Vlad spat harshly on the snow floor, silently raised his sword sheath, and stood up.
“Captain, I’m sorry…”
“I’ll borrow some embers.”
At Vlad’s sudden words, Goth began to look around without realizing it.
A winter forest where darkness begins to fall.
A rustling sound and the men’s giggling could be heard from among the woods.
“Wow, it seems you have sharp ears.”
“If you had noticed, you should have run away. “What were you stretching out for?”
A group of men who roughly look like twenty.
Traveling in winter wasn’t just about being careful of cold and monsters.
“If you sell something that looks nice anywhere, you will get the right price for it.”
“Where did you come from, Master? “If you tell us about your parents, we can hand it over to you for a reasonable price.”
A group of only two people moving.
One of them was a young hen that looked as if it had just shed its down, and from the eyes of the bandits, there was no prey like this.
“Brothers. “Let’s borrow some fire.”
“huh?”
However, rather than being intimidated, the blonde young man who was greeting the bandits was just smiling brightly as if everything had gone well.
“What is this crazy guy saying now…?”
They were bandits with absurd expressions and fierce weapons raised, but they fell silent when they saw the object reflected in Vlad’s cloak.
Shiny plate armor.
There were items there that were difficult for a mere child to wear.
“Borrow some embers. and.”
Of course, if you are a master from a wealthy family, you may be able to wear it.
However, the presence radiating from his blue eyes was unusual to call him just an immature master.
“Give me everything you have. “You guys.”
A wild smile began to form on Vlad’s face.
The old Vlad was a man who was hungry and always longing.
And now the blond young man, who had finally ventured out into the world, was just as hungry as when he was a boy.
“I’ll take care of everything.”
One thing I decided to do after leaving Shoara.
It was a decision to find the original intention.
