Following the footsteps (2)
The window seen from the unfamiliar office was filled with the blue sea.
Peter, who was standing by the window, opened his mouth quietly as he watched the sunset gradually spreading across the blue light.
“Did the dwarves send you off well?”
The head of the Bayezid family was looking out the window with her back to him.
The scarred man who was looking at Peter answered his question.
“That’s right. “There were about 20 people.”
Beyond the window I looked at with narrowed eyes, there was a ship slowly heading towards the sunset.
A small ship where the enslaved dwarves and Vulcanoe, who had infiltrated to rescue them, would be riding.
“I sent them out as you commanded.”
“okay. Good work.”
Although Vlad may think he was sent away secretly, the city of Nassau already belongs to Bayezid.
The ship that contained Joseph’s wish was able to leave because Peter gave permission.
“In the end, that guy chooses Josef over Rutger.”
A young knight still stands alone in the harbor, watching the ships leave.
As always, Peter was standing high up watching Vlad looking into the distance.
“It seemed like their resolve was strong. Josef, you definitely got a good article.”
“okay.”
Peter smiled bitterly at Marcus’ report.
One thing is perfect, but two people are trying to receive it.
Peter had no choice but to worry a lot as he watched Josef struggle to survive.
“… Nassau is a warm place even in winter.”
Her son, Josef, is smart and thoughtful, but was born weak.
It’s definitely not the child’s fault.
However, the world sometimes places an unfair burden on someone.
“With weather like this, it will probably be a lot less difficult on your body than in the north.”
Peter quietly looked down at his palms.
His palms, illuminated by the setting sun, were stained bright red.
Hands that seemed to be stained with blood.
Looking at that color, which he could probably never erase, Peter thought of his brothers who were no longer in the world.
“…Still, as a father, I would like to suggest at least one alternative.”
Bayezid’s history must be repeated again as his sons grow up.
However, Peter wanted to provide them with at least a small emergency exit that would allow them to escape from a tragedy that would repeat itself.
“All right. “Count.”
Peter is constantly torn between his duty as the head of the family and his compassion as a father.
Feeling his feelings, which could be guessed even without saying anything, Marcus quietly disappeared into the darkness of the office.
“…….”
The place where the nameless shadow left.
Now standing alone, Peter clenched his red palms and raised his head to look out the window at the sea.
A wide sea that you can’t get used to no matter how much you look at it.
However, even if it is an unfamiliar expanse to oneself, it may be a breathing passage for others.
Peter was hoping that could happen.
※※※※
A group of what seemed to be twenty people were walking slowly on horseback.
The Budaat tribe led by Age, the Thornwood mercenaries led by Stefan, and even Vlad who is at the forefront among them.
Those who had left Nassau were now heading north toward Deirmar.
“That’s good. “If I had played in this condition until the winter, I would have suffered quite a few bone problems.”
Fortunately, there were no deaths, but there were some injuries.
They had been fighting since the beginning of the intense war, so as Stefan said, everyone needed some rest.
“…But you said you knew.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Northern Orthodox Church.”
Vlad’s eyes looking at Age were quite sharp.
How dare the adjutant hide something from the captain.
Faced with that sharp interrogation, Age just smiled heartily, gently suppressing Vlad’s gaze.
“It’s not that I knew, it’s that I was aware of it.”
Agee’s eyes began to widen as he mindlessly drank the beer that Vlad had brought.
“what is this. “It tastes better when it’s cold, right?”
“Just answer the question.”
Northern knights, central mercenaries, and barbarians.
The only topic worthy of conversation among those who have nothing in common would be the Northern Union and the Northern Orthodox Church, which are hot topics these days.
“Actually, I don’t know much about the process. “Bayezid gave me a hint and my father noticed it. That’s it.”
There is a world that cannot be mixed.
Just like imperialists and barbarians who believe in different gods.
However, the biggest barrier that separated the two worlds had a hole in the name of the Northern Orthodox Church, so even barbarians would have thought about it at least once.
“They say that even the ancestral spirits that we worship are acknowledged. “If it weren’t for that promise, we probably wouldn’t have cooperated.”
They were a Budaat tribe whose power was greatly diminished by the raids of Lindwurm and the Dragon Slayer Knights, but even so, they would not have easily cooperated with an empire that did not even treat them as human beings.
However, since the newly created northern vessel, not an empire, was created with expansion in mind, it was an alternative that even the barbarians would have to consider at least once.
“But they say some tribes are going on a rampage to kill us too. So, I was thinking of going back to the tribe this winter.”
Even so, there is nothing that can be done about the history of long-standing hostility between the two sides.
That is why the chief of Buddhaat sent his son out into the world in advance.
The decision as to whether it would be right to continue cooperating with Bayezid was likely to begin with Ageh.
“okay?”
The question was sharp, but the answer was short.
Vlad’s mind was becoming complicated as he heard about the events of the Northern Union, which he had no idea about.
I believed that I had reached a certain level, but the waves of the world were still crashing against Vlad’s will.
“It’s Deremar in front of me!”
At that moment, there was a report from someone who broke the silence.
As we leave the forest path, we see a meadow where the smell of blood has not yet gone away.
However, regardless of the ominous smell, the view of the city in front of me was suddenly cozy.
“huh?”
Everyone was excited to see the destination they had finally arrived at, but Vlad narrowed his eyes as he felt an unfamiliar sensation coming from Deermar.
“Why are you doing this? “Vlad.”
“……wait for a sec.”
Vlad quickly closes his left eye and begins to summon the aura.
The men, who knew that Vlad’s senses were sensitive, quickly began to be alert to their surroundings.
As they had been working together for a while, the mercenaries and barbarians quickly came together and began to take a firm defensive posture.
“What is that?”
However, despite their sharp caution, Vlad did not raise the Aurors with that intention.
Deirmar is familiar but looks somewhat different.
“Are we having a festival or something?”
“yes?”
Beyond the fading twilight, the trees of Hainal were blinking loudly in the distance.
On top of the tree, which was constantly blinking with excitement, was a white snake with its head raised high and its mouth wide open.
“hmm?”
Vlad, who had been watching the White Snake’s bizarre behavior for a while, could feel a drop of water falling on his shoulder.
“……damn. “It’s raining.”
If you go a little further, you will reach Deremar.
But as if he couldn’t stand the bird anymore, the surroundings began to get dark.
The last rain of summer, as someone had called, was falling.
The rain that fell before fall still had a warm energy.
※※※※
“……Saffron Saffron.”
Alicia’s pupils looked grotesquely dilated as she looked through the magnifying glass.
A spice called saffron given by the elves.
They said it was a spice mainly used for cooking, but it had a nice scent that seemed like it could be used as a perfume.
“Could this be something like that? I heard that the elves’ car called Absilon was actually a drug…”
Duncan, who was old and old, was wary rather than happy about the sudden good news.
It would be worth it.
I heard that the series of purges that took place far away in Brigantes originated from Absilon, the car of the elves.
“They say they didn’t know, so we have no choice but to believe them for now.”
To elves it was an ordinary car, but to humans it was a drug.
Varadis’ explanation that it worked that way because of different body structures was quite understandable.
I don’t know what the actual intention is, though.
“We can experiment first among ourselves before distributing. “This is something worth bearing the burden of.”
What Varadis brought wasn’t just a gift.
Aussrin truly wanted a relationship with Deirmar, and as proof of this, he brought not only the processed saffron but also the flower’s bulb.
With the cryptic statement that flowers will bloom in Deremar, although it may not be anywhere else.
“Are you sure you want to grow this?”
“Is there any reason not to?”
The water-colored eyes with the magnifying glass down were sharp.
“In a small estate like ours, it is a loss to grow cheap things. “It’s barely enough to feed the residents of the territory.”
Alicia was able to feel it painfully through this war.
Deermar is truly a small territory.
“We are completely broke now. “I don’t have any money.”
Alicia couldn’t help but feel angry as she looked at Deermar, who was just swaying around in the midst of huge families.
Ultimately, all of this humiliation happened because of lack of power.
“My father probably knew that, which is why he focused on the lemon business, but we need a more valuable crop than that. That’s how we make money and attract drivers.”
Alicia’s father, the previous head of the family, also tried a lot to overcome this situation, but Hainal’s power alone had its limits.
However, there was now a crop in front of Alicia that was ten times more valuable than lemons, so there would be no reason to worry.
“……Bayezid will not sit back and watch this incident. “They also know how to smell money.”
Alicia wasn’t the only one surprised by the elves’ visit.
Even Josef, who was lying in a hospital bed, wanted to get up and meet them, but this was something that even Bayezid could not compromise on.
“But it doesn’t matter.”
It doesn’t matter though.
Alicia had already made up her mind, and if she was going to win, it was now.
“I can’t compromise on this much.”
Apparently, it was said that Vitskaya, located far to the east, also expanded its power at once through trade with the elves.
There is no law preventing Deermar from doing the same.
Knock knock –
Alicia had been thinking for a while when a polite knocking sound reached her ears.
It was a sound so neat that it could not even be compared to when the elves arrived.
“Alicia. It is said that Lord Vlad has just arrived in Deermar.”
“is it so?”
Alicia’s eyes began to shine after hearing the butler’s words.
Now that everything is uncertain, the person she most welcomes will inevitably be Vlad.
“Tell Lord Vlad to come to me immediately.”
A man who always brings more than what he gives.
If it weren’t for Vlad, this opportunity wouldn’t have come.
“…I was so busy last time that I couldn’t even say thank you.”
Alicia looked at Duncan’s suspicious eyes and hurriedly came up with an excuse, but even so, there was no change in her order to bring Vlad.
What lies ahead is saffron.
The people walking on the hill are elves.
And the person who has arrived now is his knight, Vlad.
A smile appeared on Alicia’s face as she looked at the pieces that seemed to have some form.
※※※※
“Are you that happy to meet me? okay?”
In front of the castle gate, where rain begins to fall with a dark sky.
Varadis, who hurried inside the castle gate, was smiling as he saw the cat-shaped spirit playing on his shoulder.
The cat-shaped spirit, which looked healthy to anyone who saw it, was informing us that the white snake had been taking great care of these children.
“Yes. Just as you said, they are coming over there.”
As the meowing spirit said, the name Vlad began to be heard among the guards’ cries.
The gates of Deermar slowly begin to open.
Varadis, looking at the gorgeous blonde hair visible through the dark space, took out a letter he had kept in his arms.
“It would be best to quickly convey this to the child as he said.”
The letter, which still carries the strong scent of maple trees, was given to him by his younger sister, the priestess of the World Tree.
A letter from a priestess that wasn’t even sealed.
However, instead of words, the letter contains a childish drawing that looks like it was drawn by a child.
The priestess’s prophecy, which could only be understood at that time, depicted a blonde knight looking worriedly at a young canary.
