What do you want (1)
In a muddy back alley, a scruffy-looking child was glaring at someone.
He was a child with a color that did not fit in this street where everyone was dying in black.
“That bastard…”
“Leave it alone. “I guess I’m hungry.”
A man who was eating skewers sold at a stand on the street called out to a boy who was glaring at him while shaking his hand.
“Come here. “Yes, you have blue eyes.”
“······.”
The boy who followed the man’s gesture and came closer was indeed a mess, befitting a child living in a back alley.
“Where did it come from?”
As if he had just been hit by someone, his eyes were black and bruised, and the shabby clothes that could barely cover his body were torn here and there.
“Good. a look.”
Although it was a miserable sight, the child’s eyes did not die.
The man liked it.
“Here, give me another skewer.”
The huge man took a skewer from the owner and handed it to the beggar-looking little boy.
“eat.”
It was just simple sympathy.
However, being able to arouse sympathy for the people living in this alley meant that the meal was worth the price.
“What are you doing. take it.”
“······.”
I could see the beggar boy’s mouth filling with saliva at the wafting smell of meat.
“I told you to take it.”
The child was worried.
And it seemed like he had decided.
Instead of grabbing the skewer, the child talked to the man.
“I can do well.”
“what?”
“Anything.”
The child was looking.
Not a skewer handed by a man.
“I can do anything well. “As long as you tell me to.”
The person who hands the skewer.
When the boy saw him, he was like a shining star in the back alley.
“······What is your name?”
The man who was watching the child suddenly became curious.
Who is the back alley beggar who confidently talks to himself instead of grabbing the food that will get him through the day?
The name of the guy who looked like he had rolled in the mud and had no sound, but his eyes still had light in them.
“Vlad.”
The eyes of the boy I finally met were blue.
The man also liked the color.
“Are you going to my house?”
So I decided to pick it up.
Because it was a color that reminded me of someone I left behind a long time ago.
The child’s blue eyes resemble stars.
※※※※
“Heo-eok, heo-eok.”
In the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep, Vlad woke up out of breath.
“······I’m done sleeping.”
It was a dream from a long time ago.
It was a time when it was difficult to survive each day.
Vlad woke up and looked around.
It was a tent full of the musty smell and snoring of unfamiliar men.
“The rose’s smile smelled like powder.”
Vlad, knowing that sleep would not come easily, picked up his sword and went outside.
[Maintaining the best condition at all times is also a basic requirement of a prosecutor. Vlad.]
“······.”
Vlad did not answer the voice.
“Who are you?”
“Leemann.”
“Where are you going at this time of night?”
“pray.”
“······I’d rather be a priest than a mercenary, Leeman.”
Vlad, who revealed his whereabouts to the personnel on watch, headed towards the hill illuminated by the moonlight.
Then he held the sword and closed his eyes.
[It was a difficult life.]
“saw?”
The voice said it had glimpsed Vlad’s dream.
[Because dreams are the manifestation of strong wishes.]
“What did I wish for?”
The voice didn’t answer.
“I miss you.”
There was a man praying under the moonlight with no one around.
He was a sad man with blond hair blowing in the cold winter wind.
“······But how long do I have to talk to myself like a crazy person like this?”
[Until you create your own world within your soul]
“Creating the world, what kind of god am I?”
[This is what it means to communicate through thoughts alone. Only a strong will can make your world express itself.]
He was a man who pretended to look like that.
“I’m going to be doing this crazy thing for a long time.”
[That’s up to you.]
Riemann praying.
It was a method I thought of as a last resort because I couldn’t talk to myself and mumble in front of others.
“Are all knights like that? “Is there a world within the soul?”
[Those who handle Aurors.]
“When you say that, I have nothing to say.”
And although unintentional, this method was quite effective.
The act of praying not only allowed him to have alone time without anyone disturbing him, but it also gave Vlad a special feeling that was different from other mercenaries.
Something special that is different from others.
It was another way of saying something was valuable.
“But I did as you told me earlier, but it didn’t work.”
[Why doesn’t that work?]
But now, the boy was regretting it.
[If you hold your sword and lean forward, your opponent will attack you. They say you can just do it then. No matter how many times I tell you, why don’t you know?]
“······That’s it. now?”
Because what I was trying to achieve through prayer was failing.
There is such a saying.
No matter how great a swordsman he is, not all of them can be good teachers.
That was the correct answer.
I don’t even know if his voice was a great swordsman.
“Is that what you want people to understand now?”
[······No, I told you to shoo when you tilt.]
“Oh God. “Please take away this scum of a devil who can’t even speak properly.”
A ray of tendon rose on Vlad’s forehead as he heard the different explanation.
“Kill this, save me.”
[You can hear everything.]
The voice seemed to be aware that it was terrible at explaining, and it answered in a strangely withdrawn tone.
“Just show me now.”
[I’m going to be exhausted, will you be okay?]
“I said I wasn’t going to subdue tomorrow anyway.”
The good news was that the boy and the voice had other ways to exchange learning.
[good. Close your right eye.]
Vlad followed the voice’s instructions and closed his right eye.
“Umm…”
Then, for a moment, I felt as if my vision was fading away.
It felt like taking a step back and looking at the world.
[Feel it well.]
“······.”
Vlad closed his right eye and quietly drew his sword under the moonlight.
A different momentum and atmosphere than just now.
Right now, Vlad was overwhelming everything around him, as if he had become a different person.
The blowing wind and the ground we stand on.
[Occupying the possibility with an unexpected move.]
There was a sense of dominating the world.
[Control the battlefield with insight that is one step ahead.]
And swing.
[That is the trick of killing with one strike.]
There was a flash of light under the moonlight that should shine alone.
It was a glimpse that could not even be seen.
But Vlad could feel it.
The flow of air that splits for an instant.
The tearing and howling scream of the wind.
[Open your eyes. Vlad.]
Vlad, who opened his right eye again, stumbled and fell to the ground.
“OMG. “It’s so intense.”
Vlad frowned, clutching his cramped calf.
Even if it was just for a moment, I felt a sharp pain in the muscles that were overloaded beyond their limits.
[Did you feel it?]
But even through the pain, Vlad was smiling.
“Approximately.”
Because I saw it, felt it, and also had a glimpse of it.
The unidentifiable voice pounded vivid experiences into Vlad’s temporarily borrowed body.
And the clever boy was able to learn by following the traces left behind for him.
“I think I can do it next time.”
[I said that last time too.]
It was a teaching on a different level from teaching through words or demonstration.
To experience it firsthand.
Because there is no teaching in the world that remains as strong as that.
Through his natural talent and vivid teachings, Vlad was growing rapidly.
As if it was originally planned that this would happen.
“The moon is really bright today.”
Vlad looked up at the night sky while holding on to his twitching legs.
“Now whenever I look at the moon, I think of him.”
[······.]
There was a knight who resembled the blue moonlight.
He was the first world the boy saw, and he was the one who destroyed Jorge, his own world.
“······I will destroy the moon someday.”
[You will be able to do it.]
Vlad was a boy who always looked up at the shining stars.
Even before looking at the star made by the old blacksmith.
“To get revenge on Jorge.”
That star was the most imposing and gigantic star in the back alley.
The boy held the broken star he longed for in his heart.
“That’s enough for today.”
[good.]
And the star bought with the girl’s tears was draped over her shoulder.
The blue moonlight was watching the back of the boy going down the hill carrying the stars.
※※※※
“······So, I was able to deal with the hobgoblin through my improvisation.”
Late at night.
Josef sat back in his chair and looked at the driver reporting to him.
Thick cheeks and a bloated body that couldn’t be hidden even by armor.
And even an unassuming look in his eyes.
It seemed doubtful whether he was truly a person who lived with a sword.
“Lord Bordan.”
“yes. “Mr. Josef.”
Josef swallowed the sigh that escaped his mouth and opened his mouth.
“Do I look like an asshole?”
“······.”
Josef knew that he was in a situation where he should be furious, but instead of being angry, he was laughing.
“How ridiculous must I have looked to report it this way?”
“Hey, Josef…”
The knight in front of him is mocking himself.
It was unclear whether it was to protect himself or to inflate his reputation, but either way, he was telling a lie in front of himself, the commander of the punitive force.
“More than twenty mercenaries followed you. “Did you think that not a word they said would have caught my ear?”
“······.”
It was unspoken.
Zayar, who was standing next to Josef, was breathing heavily as he watched Bordan rolling his eyes.
Josef knew.
If he were to just tell me to kill him here, that ugly face would end up rolling on the floor.
“······Heed my words today.”
“Thank you for forgiving me. Josef!”
However, Josef could not tell him to kill the knight called Bordan.
This was because this incompetent, stupid, old, damn bastard was one of the few knights in the family that followed him.
“trash······.”
As soon as Bordan left the tent, Josef patted his head and sighed.
Even in the Bayezid family that revered martial arts, not all knights had high-level skills.
A knight means someone who wields a sword, but it also means a title.
“I would rather see that damn family go bankrupt. “Then I would have cut you without hesitation.”
If one had the money and connections to cross the high threshold of the Bayezid family, an article about Bordan’s case could be published.
That can also be said to be strength and skill.
“Does my father see me as a trash can? “So you’re just pushing trash in front of me?”
Josef, finally filled with anger, stood up and spoke with trembling lips.
“Please calm down.”
“······I need a sword. “Not that trashy sword, but a very sharp sword.”
A flame-like desire was boiling around the corners of Josef’s shadow-filled eyes.
“If only that were the case, there would be no reason for me to lag behind my brother.”
I was upset.
I could admit that I lacked skills, but I couldn’t bear to be judged for something I was born with that I didn’t have.
All of the heads of the Bayezid family so far were among the knights representing that era.
His father, Peter Bayezid, was like that, and his older brother, Rutger Bayezid, also had the talent to become a knight representing the next generation.
“God does not give everything. Josef is a man who has much more than what he does not have.”
Zayar was right.
Josef was not born with a healthy body, but he was carrying weapons that Rutger did not have.
A smart mind, a calm heart, and a strong spirit.
And even great support from my maternal family.
Of course, all of those things were also considered a low priority in the Bayezid family, which revered radish.
“Did you recognize me?”
“yes.”
Josef thought.
If you cannot be the sword yourself, you will become the sword bearer instead.
“Are you a nobleman?”
“no.”
“Or is he a promising member of some swordsmanship guild?”
“I am not tied down anywhere.”
Josef’s lips lifted at Zayar’s report.
“He is a man without a master.”
“That’s right. They say he comes from the back alleys of Shoara.”
If there were no swords around for me to carry, I would make one and carry it.
If only it could be made perfect.
“good. “It’s late today, so we’ll see you tomorrow.”
“All right.”
Josef sat back down in his chair as he watched Zayar quietly slip away into the tent.
In the tent where I was the only one, I took a deep breath and thought.
“What do you want? “Vlad.”
Josef did not give up.
“What should I give you so you can’t reject me? “Vlad.”
He was always struggling to survive.
In the flickering candlelight, eyes with a strange desire were flickering.
