There is a way in the darkness (1)
It was early in the morning, just as the sun was starting to rise.
It was the end of winter, but Vlad was still feeling the cold wind as he looked down on the city of Nassau.
“It seems like this incident was beneficial to Captain Haven.”
Vlad quietly shook his head as he heard Josef’s voice coming from next to him.
“Haven wouldn’t think so. “I originally cared about pears very much.”
“okay? Actually, the captain seemed to have a special attachment to the ship.”
The sea sparkles with the rising morning sun.
A large ship was slowly leaving the port of Nassau, cutting across the sparkling water.
The Galleon-class ship, which is said to be hard to find in the North, was the ship that Vlad and his crew had captured by Barbossa’s men.
“I’m glad that at least the flag was saved.”
Vlad quietly opened his mouth as he watched the ship slowly sailing alone into the sea.
Although it lost its original form, Haven’s new ship was able to retain its name.
As if to prove it, a flag with a red rose engraved on it was waving from the highest point on the mast.
It was the only trace that Vlad took from the sinking Gemina.
“Where are you going now?”
Vlad opened his mouth as he watched the new Gemina sailing towards the north.
The work with the dwarves is over.
Through this incident, Josef got what he wanted and Vlad was able to safely complete the contract that he had thought he could not complete.
In other words, there were now no obligations or debts between Josef and Vlad.
“I’m going to the central region. To be precise, I plan to meet the lords in the northern border area.”
“Central?”
Josef, who opened the carriage door, smiled at Vlad and answered.
“Because there is no one in the north who supports me anymore. Now I have to pull it from somewhere else.”
“……is that so.”
“The final destination is my mother’s family, Count Oscar. “When I get there, I’m sure they’ll give me something.”
Josef was still saying that he would aim for the position of head of Bayezid, but Vlad could only sense an unfamiliar sensation in his words.
Unlike his fierce past self, his smile has somehow become lighter.
Vlad felt a sense of strangeness that was difficult to explain in words due to the subtle change in attitude that only those who watched closely could recognize.
“What do you plan to do?”
“I…”
Vlad was speechless for a moment at Josef’s question.
I was certain about what I had to do, but I still had no idea where to go.
“They say the dragons are dying.”
“yes?”
“From the West. “There was information that the bodies were lying all over the place.”
Josef shrugged his shoulders and continued as if he knew all about your concerns.
“The direction those traces are moving is probably toward the central region, right?”
“……”
With those last words, Josef entered the carriage and stuck his head out through the open window.
“If you want, I can lend you some fodder and a campfire for your horses to eat on the way.”
“thank you.”
“No, not my carriage. “This one is a lot narrower than before.”
Now, it’s not about repayment, but about the direction we can move forward in.
Vlad followed Josef’s slowly moving carriage and grabbed Noir’s reins.
As if the sea was now leaving, the son of the meadow began to thrash roughly.
“You’re following along well.”
“Because he was always clear about what he wanted.”
Josef quietly looked out the window as Zayar, who was sitting across from him, spoke.
The winter road is still frozen.
However, in just a little while, the spirit of spring will be felt.
“Still, unlike before, you seem to have gained a little more sense.”
However, Josef, who had been unable to bear the cold until then, carefully opened the box the dwarves gave him.
The tea utensils were contained in a box that looked old-fashioned.
The teacups inside were items made with such exquisite craftsmanship that it was difficult to touch them, but Josef simply took them out with his hands without any hesitation and brewed tea.
“I’m glad that teaching was worthwhile.”
Zemina Ho, Vlad, and Josef.
Nassau is a city where those who were supposed to be there are now leaving.
There, in the deep sea, there were silver waves moving along the ship heading north.
The deep places where humans could not dare to approach were full of squid heading north in search of cooler nests.
※※※※
People were lined up along the richly decorated hall.
The red carpet on the floor was decorated with gold thread, and the white marble walls were decorated with all kinds of jewels and colorful flowers.
‘…I end up taking it.’
The faces of the people gathered were as wonderful as the appearance of the gorgeous banquet hall.
Noble royals, shining nobles, and even honorable knights.
However, a shadow that was difficult to erase was cast on the face of Armand, the highest-ranking courtier among them.
“…From the day the empire was founded until now. “I was wondering how I should express my gratitude to the Dragon Blood Lord who did his duty so well.”
In this place full of noble and shining people, the first person to speak was a boy who didn’t even look like he had lost his breast fat yet.
However, on top of the boy’s head was a heavy crown that seemed difficult for someone at his age to bear.
“So I decided. “I have to give something in return for Duke Sarnus, who was more loyal than anyone else in the history of the empire.”
The words he spoke were fluent, as if he had practiced them, but his voice was constantly shaking.
Perhaps the young emperor was overwhelmed by the aura of the man kneeling in front of him.
“Get up. Dragon blood ball. “For your loyalty to me, I give you this box in the name of the Emperor.”
Following the instructions of the young emperor, servants were carrying out strange-looking boxes.
The box, which looked like a coffin, was tied tightly with silver chains.
“…It’s too much for me. your majesty.”
The man who kneels before the emperor and tells him that he is too good for him has brilliant blonde hair.
“I am afraid that I will repeat the mistakes of the past.”
His raised eyes were bluer than any of the jewels embroidered here.
“But if this is another duty the Empire gives me, I will gladly accept it.”
However, when he finally stood up, his presence was greater than anyone else here.
Even more so than the young emperor standing in front of him.
“This piece is yours now. Duke of Sarnus.”
The oldest dragon. Sarnus Dragullia.
He was reaching for the box that had been broken into pieces by the founding king and kept by successive courtiers.
“thank you. your majesty.”
Courtier Armand could only look away as he watched the oldest dragon reach for the most perfect piece.
Blue eyes were shining.
Until now, it had been a human eye, but now through eyes that were narrowed vertically.
What he had been waiting for for a very long time was now before his eyes.
※※※※
“……It’s a sinister basement, unbecoming of a duke.”
The moisture that stays around is thick.
The spiral stone stairs were slippery, making it difficult to take a single step, and the air getting cooler as you went down still made my neck stand on end.
“Was it necessary to make it this deep?”
In the capital Brigantes, there was a mansion with a shadow as dark as the passage of time.
The carvings here and there were gorgeous, but it was somehow gloomy, and perhaps because of the direction in which it was built, it was a mansion that didn’t usually get much sunlight.
The mansion of Dragon Blood Prince Dragullia.
Bishop Pierre, who was secretly wandering around the unoccupied mansion, looked at the bottom of the stairs with the torch he was holding.
“…There’s no end in sight.”
Then, all I see is a darkness so thick that it seems impossible to handle with the light I was relying on.
At the bottom of the stairs lit by the torch, there was only darkness that even the faithful servants of God could not dare to fathom.
Crashing
down the stairs that seemed like they would never end, Pierre finally reached the floor and was unable to hide his nervous expression as he heard the dull sound of his toes.
Feeling reluctant, Pierre hurriedly waved the torch and realized that he was now standing in a huge circular hall.
‘…It looks like there’s another mansion underneath the mansion.’
If it had been an ordinary mansion, the basement would not have been dug this deep.
Pierre’s senses as an Inquisitor seemed to be revived as he looked at Dragullia’s secret basement, the intentions of which were difficult to discern.
“……Save me….”
“……!”
A faint voice is heard momentarily.
Pierre, who heard someone’s faint voice, like a lamp about to be extinguished, hurriedly pointed the torch towards the darkness.
“Who?”
The circular hall illuminated by light was filled with strangely erected bars.
Looking at the place that looked like a prison, Bishop Pierre quietly made the sign of the cross over his chest and pointed the torch toward the direction from which the voice was heard.
“Hmm…”
In the middle of the darkness I saw, there was an old man.
An old man who has dried up like a fallen leaf in autumn.
“Get me out of here…”
The old man, who was waving his hands in the light, recognized the gray-white eyes looking at him and began to make a strange expression.
“Bishop Pierre?”
The place we first reached. The old man we saw for the first time.
However, Bishop Pierre, who heard my familiar name echoing there, tried hard to hide his embarrassed expression.
“Do you know me?”
“It’s me. Bishop Pierre.”
The old man’s eyes, which had been hazy as he looked at the bright torch shining from the exorcist, were finally returning to their original color.
“This is Radu. Radu Dragulia.”
“……what?”
The color of the light that returned was blue.
The face was a mess with wrinkles all over, but the color of the returning eyes was clearly familiar.
“my. Please take me out. “Bishop.”
“…Radu? Radu Dragulia?”
“yes yes. That’s right. “Please, please, Bishop!”
Bishop Pierre unknowingly took a step back as he saw the old man sobbing sadly.
This was because the unknown discomfort rising inside me warned me not to approach any further.
“…Please look down on me and answer me. “Give light to my eyes so that I may not sleep in death.”
As the exorcist chanted the verses, the torch he was holding began to burn brightly.
Then, pure white light began to wave from the depths of Dragulia, which was filled with only darkness.
“……oh my god.”
However, this place illuminated by the divine light was a terrible hell.
A hellish prison only for dragons.
Inside the bars, there was a sticky, bloody smell that made me wonder why I only felt it now.
“Please take me out of this den of vampires…” The
hidden depths of Dragulia were filled with the suppressed screams of dragons.
It was the scream of pitiful sacrifices forced to sacrifice their blood for the oldest possibility.
