A place to return to (1)
Morning time filled with only the sound of chirping birds.
The employees were busy moving around the inn, which had become quiet perhaps due to the regular customers being driven out.
“It smells good. Marcella.”
“Are you awake already?”
With natural steps, Vlad sat down at the small bar that only employees could use.
This place used to be used by Jorge and other members of the organization, and is now mostly used by Vlad and Haven and the others. The smell of fragrant soup was now filling the air.
“What about Haven?”
“I left early in the morning. “I guess he guides the dwarves.”
“is it so?”
Haven seemed ready to take a ride on the dwarves’ ship.
Even if it wasn’t for that purpose, making friends with dwarves wasn’t a bad thing at all, so Vlad decided to do so and picked up the bowl of soup in front of him.
“I will eat well. Marcella.”
“Is that something that Zemina made?”
“…….”
Vlad just quietly lifted his spoon while looking at Marcela, who was smiling mischievously at him.
A redhead who is busy moving around in a small bar.
Vlad only whetted his appetite as he looked at Jemina, who turned around as if she didn’t want to make eye contact with him.
“How long will you be sulking? “I didn’t even give it to you in the first place.”
“…What am I?”
Jemina’s lips were sticking out as she turned around, as if she couldn’t bear to say no.
“The dwarves said directly that they would do it at the old man’s blacksmith shop. I also tried to divert my attention to another blacksmith shop.
““…….”
I know it’s something that can’t be helped, but that doesn’t mean it’s not upsetting.
Although she had many memories with Vlad since her childhood, Gemina’s most cherished memory was related to the unadorned sword.
Vlad wasn’t the only one who took pride in his unadorned sword.
“It’s good for dwarves to use it in the first place. As if the rose’s smile is attracting attention now…”
“Oh, I don’t know. “I guess I’ll just go to Chat Noir, who is obedient.”
If it’s going to be thrown away anyway, it would be good for anyone to use it.
In addition, since it was used by dwarves who were called artisans, it could be said to be an honor in its own way, but Zemina’s inner feelings were still complicated.
“Why is he like that?”
Vlad was furrowing his brows as he watched Jemina run down the stairs as if to avoid him, but the person who was actually feeling sick to his stomach was probably Marcela, who was watching them.
“In the past, we would have put them both in one room.”
“yes?”
“no. The soup is getting cold. “Hurry up and eat.”
Marcela just smiled, lamenting that she had to go back and forth on something that would have been resolved in one go in the past.
“Anyway, where are you going today? “It seems like Vlad is the busiest in Shoara these days.”
“I plan to stop by the blacksmith shop first and then go to the church. “I have a favor to ask from Andrea.”
“Are you exchanging favors with the bishop? You’ve grown a lot. “Vlad.”
Marcella gently stroked Vlad’s head as he ate soup.
It’s inevitable that both of us will feel sorry for each other.
As you can see now, Vlad had a lot of work to focus on, and Jemina must have endured a lot while looking at Vlad like that.
“But how much did you pay?”
“what?”
“It’s a donation. “I gave it to the convent.”
Marcella’s eyes widened in surprise as she looked at Vlad’s hand holding out for another bowl.
“I heard the convent didn’t even open the door at that time.”
“……”
Vlad always ate a light breakfast, but today he held out his bowl as if he had a lot of work to do.
“I heard later that the kids there were only fed one meal a day.”
“……okay. “They said it was like that.”
Just as Jemina has unforgettable memories, Vlad also has unforgettable memories.
The day I went to the convent for the first time, the red-haired girl I had met with so much swelling in my heart was so skinny that it brought tears to my eyes.
“So are you going to the convent today?”
“That stupid girl doesn’t know anything.”
After making a fuss at Marcella for no reason, Vlad looked at the soup bowl that was filled again and picked up the spoon.
Even from Vlad’s point of view, it was unfair because I thought of him like this and all he got in return was sulking.
“okay. “Do well today.”
They were a little out of sync, but in the end, Marcella stopped laughing as she saw the two facing each other.
As expected, it was a good thing I quit my job.
This kind of scene would have been something that could not be seen in the dirty smile of the rose before.
Seeing Vlad eating soup for a while, Marcella smoothed his hair again as if he had done well.
※※※※
The eye shadow is as deep as the height of the piled documents.
The old man looking at Josef was not hiding his concern.
It hasn’t been long since I heard the news that he collapsed, but I can’t help but feel worried as he is carrying out such a murderous workload.
“You seem a bit busy these days.”
Josef looked into the old man’s eyes and smiled sheepishly, but it only seemed to emphasize the darkness of his eyes.
No matter how grown up Josef was, in the eyes of an old man, he still looked pitiful like a child.
“No matter how busy you are, you must take care of your health. young master.”
“Still, seeing Sir Ramund for the first time in a while makes me feel tired.”
A person who can refer to Josef, a descendant of the noble Bayezid and the mayor of Shoara, with the word master.
Ramund, a retired knight of Bayezid, saw Josef with thin cheeks and glared at Zayar out of resentment.
“Anyway, what brings you here? “Is there anything urgent?”
“I didn’t come here because there was anything particularly urgent about me.”
Ramund, who had achieved a perfect retirement by fulfilling even the duties of the lowest person, had returned to his manor near Varna and was engaged in pastimes.
Ramund, who was living the retired life that every knight dreamed of, was, as Josef said, a man who would not bother to come all the way to Shoara unless there was something special to do.
“Are you here because of Vlad?”
“oh. Of course, there is a reason why I came to see him.”
Ramund, hearing Vlad’s name, began to smile happily.
For Ramund, the nearest city was Varna, but the city he welcomed was Shoara, and it was an undeniable fact that one of the reasons was Vlad.
“I plan to check it out while I’m here, but I didn’t come because of him.”
However, Vlad was not the only reason Ramund came all the way to Shoara.
“Would you like to see this?”
Ramund put down a piece of paper with those words.
The paper was dirty here and there, as if it had rolled on the floor, but the letters written on it were preserved and clearly identifiable.
“…It’s the emblem of the Vatican.”
“That’s right.”
However, Joseph’s eyes caught the pattern stamped underneath rather than the words written on the paper.
The emblem of the church is similar to the Northern Orthodox Church, but takes a completely different form.
The traces of the Holy See that the Northern Alliance had pushed out were now before Joseph’s eyes.
“It is said that these days, these types of papers are spreading from villages and small communities. Of course, it didn’t matter because the employees of our manor were illiterate…”
Traces of the Holy See were spreading from the outskirts, cleverly avoiding the eyes of the politicians.
It would not have had much of an effect on ordinary, illiterate farmers, but if anyone recognized it, the rumor that started in writing would spread far and wide through word of mouth.
The pattern engraved at the bottom of the paper was one that even those who were illiterate could recognize.
“…People of the North, listen. “God was angry at the emergence of false paganism.”
Josef read aloud the paper Ramund brought.
However, it may not be Josef’s fault that he stuttered and couldn’t read it all at once.
The handwriting, which is embarrassing to even be called bad, was so messed up that it would be better to say it was drawn rather than written.
It’s as if it was written by someone who doesn’t know how to write.
“Faith in false idols is an act that greatly dishonors the one and only One. We can already see that woe is coming on you…”
But what it contained was certain.
It was a shallow number and clearly visible intention.
Anyone could see that it was a piece of paper with the intention of inciting incitement, but Josef could not help but feel strangely uncomfortable with this piece of paper.
“…A pandemic will come. “Before the year is over.”
The beginning was a warning, but the end was a curse.
A deep silence began to fill the office as the last sentence said that woe would come to those who follow false words.
“…It’s quite specific. “The time and events were specified precisely.”
“That’s right. “There’s something strange about it that it was created simply to scare people.”
If it was simply used to scare people, it would have been more correct to express it in a general way.
However, the problem is that the text on the paper is too specific to match the intention.
“…If these words go astray, it will have the opposite effect.”
Josef quietly looked down at the crumpled paper.
A crudely written but confident text.
This kind of agitation was worse than not doing anything at all, but Joseph knew very well that the Vatican was not an easy existence.
Those words, which seemed closer to prophecy, continued to weigh on a corner of Josef’s heart.
※※※※
A street in a back alley where even the cold energy can be felt now.
This street is not as noisy as Rose’s Smile, nor is it crowded with people, but there are only a few old, crumbling buildings.
However, warmth began to spread little by little, as if a bonfire had been lit at the end of the cold street.
The warmth started from an old blacksmith shop that had been closed for a long time.
Kyaang-! Kang-!
The beat was different, but the sound was similar.
The sound of hammers coming from the blacksmith shop, along with the warm orange light, began to travel through the dark back alleys like before.
“…I don’t understand.”
Sigursson stopped hammering for a while and scratched his head when he saw an iron ingot still radiating heat.
“Is this what’s going to happen here?”
The dwarves around him shook their heads at the same time as he muttered to himself.
The reason the dwarves were puzzled was because the iron ingot, which smoothly reflected the surrounding light, could easily be said to be of high quality.
Even if you look at it through the eyes of dwarves, who are artisans from birth.
“Just looking at the cancer, it’s ridiculous. This.”
“You can never do it with me.”
“With the equipment we have here, you can probably only repair a kitchen knife.”
Sigurson and the dwarves, who had been thinking for a while, looked at the old blast furnace inside the blacksmith shop at the same time.
—-?
A young lizard who is embarrassed when so many eyes look at him.
However, contrary to his innocent expression, this guy was now swimming in red-hot molten iron.
With an expression that says this is enough to warm you up.
“I heard there was something called an ember, but this is the first time I’ve seen it.”
“None of these will be the first. “Captain.”
“That’s right, I just heard it as a story.”
Because it collapsed so miserably, the dwarves’ little lore that remains, as Sigursson said, is only left floating around as a story.
Even at this very moment, the potential of the dwarves was slowly fading away as the pride they had to cherish and the pride they had to protect were fading away.
“…I have to get it somehow.”
However, everything had collapsed, and now, in front of Sigurdson and his crew, there was a spark that was said to have heated up the glorious blast furnace in the past.
A young spirit who came here riding the sword of a knight named Vlad.
The two worlds, which we had only just encountered and had met for the first time in such a long time, had been looking at each other for such a long time.
“Uh huh?”
“No, that’s not it!”
But maybe it’s been such a long time since we last met.
Because they had forgotten how to communicate with each other, the young lizard looked at the anxious looks in the dwarves’ eyes and made a guess.
Do you think we need this again?
“no! “Don’t throw up now!”
Sigursson,
guessing what was going on, quickly waved his hand away, but the young lizard was too excited.
A world that expands through borders.
For the young embers, the world of dwarves was like a piece that fit perfectly.
Bring sand, not water! sand!
It’s all here! no!
Argh!Stop spitting!
The screams of the dwarves erupt along with high-purity molten iron.
Vlad, who had just arrived, made a startled noise as he saw the dwarves bursting out of the door because they couldn’t stand the intense heat.
“huh?”
That was the scene that Vlad saw when he stopped by the blacksmith shop to receive the armor he had brought for repair.
A young lizard breathing fire as if excited and an old blacksmith shop burning out.
And the dwarves screaming.
However, even in the blacksmith shop where the heat was growing beyond warmth, the young lizard was wagging its tail as if it was happy to see Vlad.
