Burnt Church (2)
I opened my eyes, but it still felt like they were closed.
Because all I could see now was pitch black darkness.
Josef opened his eyes in a small room with no idea where it was and let out a short sigh as he looked at the space where not a single light penetrated.
“…Still, I’m glad Xayar escaped.”
It was a darkness he had to get used to by now, but in it, Josef still felt like a blind man.
There was my faithful knight who reached out to me every time, but now he will be in a forest full of green light, not in the coffin-like darkness.
Squeak –
Even though he was still left in this darkness.
Josef, who felt relieved that Zayar was not by his side, got dressed with fumbling hands and left the room.
‘No matter how you look at it, it’s amazing.’
The hallway that Josef was walking through after leaving the room was still as pitch black and dark as when he first saw it.
However, there was no problem in identifying the surroundings, which may be thanks to the mystery laid down by the woman named Ramasht.
“…….”
Josef, who was walking alone along a long corridor, began to quietly lower his head every time a warlock appeared in front of him.
Trying not to attract their attention as much as possible.
Josef, who had carefully moved towards the wall, was able to overhear their conversation as if nothing had happened.
-I heard the Northern Union Army is coming down here now.
-I guess we couldn’t just leave the Dragon Blood Ball moving north like this.
-If you keep doing this, you won’t cause trouble to us for no reason, right?
Strange beings that you can’t find even if you normally look for them.
However, the sight of them gathered together so much that he could not properly straighten his head, which was now lowered, made Josef feel a chill on the back of his neck.
‘…I can’t believe there were so many.’
Josef, a noble nobleman, knew very well how much of his father’s budget was pouring into finding evil beings.
However, there were still so many people hiding in the dark, and Bayezid’s hardships were just like a captain who took the wrong rudder and was swinging the distant sea.
-If anything happens, you can just sprinkle gold coins again.
-Baron Salonta is a person full of the consciousness of the chosen people to his core. If we just awaken the hostility towards the North like before, they will cooperate with us without any hesitation.
-Well, what can I do when they say they hate northerners more than warlocks like us? Sometimes, humans even burn themselves because of vain hatred.
“…….”
With those words, the signs of the black magicians gradually disappeared from behind.
After confirming that the signs had disappeared far away, Josef was only then able to raise his deeply bowed head.
‘It was like this.’
Expressing his anger with slightly bitten lips.
Josef, who realized that their efforts so far had been in vain, was trying to quell his burning anger little by little.
‘That’s why I couldn’t find it.’
Black magicians who live hidden in the dark.
They were evil beings that I thought could not be found because they were hidden deep in the depths, but Josef, who had walked into the darkness on his own, was now able to realize why he could not find them.
There are those who are laughing through the cracks.
Because the ground we step on is different, the skin color we were born with is different, and the gods we believe in are different, there is a gap between worlds that cannot help but be drawn.
Those who had constantly fostered hatred and discrimination in the midst of this gap were now raising pitch-black fingers and telling each other to kill each other.
“…I can’t leave it like that.”
I couldn’t tell when I was outside, but I knew when I reached the darkness.
Ominous poisons are still leaking from the cracks in the world that the authors cleverly created.
Those hiding in the dark were still smiling as they raised their pitch-black fingers and saw the hatred and discrimination moving according to their own intentions.
“Now it’s just me.”
With those words, Josef was walking forward once again.
Now, the only person standing where he should be in the dark with no one around is himself.
Even though he couldn’t swear to anyone, Josef was still heading deeper into the darkness alone to do what he had to do.
※※※※
“We, Aushurin, will never forget your help.”
Old Geronimo, who had grown even older, was smiling at Vlad.
However, his powerful gestures conveyed through joined hands were just full of life, contrary to his appearance.
“Thank you for accepting the Luga family. Grand Elder.”
Now that you know where to go, it’s time to leave.
Vlad, who was shaking hands with Geronimo in farewell, looked at the godmother of the Luga family standing next to him.
“The kids loved it. After all, a green forest is better than a dirty alley.”
The Luga clan’s godmother nodded as if she recognized that gaze.
“At first I thought it was a bad relationship, but now I see it was a benefactor. “Well, sometimes, no matter how blessed things are, they come wearing ugly masks.”
They were wandering people who were not welcomed by anyone, but the elf forest was wide and the young world tree welcomed them.
It was only then that Vlad was able to relieve the burden he was carrying in his heart as he watched the young Luga children who had walked together along the tunnel opened by the glowing mole, waving their hands at him.
“Wait a minute.”
“huh?”
At that moment, there was a delicate body breaking through the gap between the elders.
The priestess walked out with a small mole on her head, and the bandages wrapped around every joint were clearly visible.
“…It’s my first time doing something like this. “It’s a little strange, isn’t it?”
The priestess’s eyes, looking up at Vlad as if she were embarrassed or sorry, were somehow filled with moisture.
However, Vlad was focusing more on the small flag she was holding than on the embarrassment the girl was showing.
“no.”
Starting from Bayezid in the north to Arnstein in the center.
The numerous family seals that Vlad had collected to prove who I was were placed in the palm of the young priestess’s palm.
Looking at the countless sentences in front of him, Vlad couldn’t help but think of his own journey so far.
“This is much better than the pictures I’ve drawn so far.”
“huh?”
And now, at the end of the flag, there was a tree carved by a young priestess.
The sentence carved by a young priestess who had never heard of a needle looked a bit like the young world tree seen above.
“These are full of sentences. “About half of the empire will be under this flag.”
Varadis placed a hand on the head of the priestess, whose eyes were wide open as if she could not understand what was being said.
“Thank you so much. “Baradis.”
The leader of the rangers, who had gone through hardships together regardless of age and race,
continued speaking while holding Vlad’s hand in front of him without hesitation.
“Repaying and repaying in a continuous chain is meaningless. So, if you need help at any time, please call me.”
When we first saw each other, there was an impassable gap, but now there was only contact between them, no uncanny valley needed.
Vlad, who knew that fact, just turned Noir’s reins as if there was no need for any more awkward greetings.
“Don’t forget what I said.”
Behind Vlad, who was about to leave, there was a message from the Luga clan’s godmother shouting softly.
Please don’t delve too deeply into other people’s worlds.
If you do that, your world will definitely get hurt.
“……All right.” With the words of his
godmother,
who worried about him until the end, a small path began to appear in the forest.
The path that the rooted trees had made for themselves was carved out toward the village where Vlad was heading.
[I guess it’s a greeting to say goodbye.]
“I guess.”
Vlad began to laugh quietly as he looked at the forest path, which was now wider than the road made by humans.
I felt like I could still hear the voice of a young tree that I could hear because I had once held it.
“let’s go.”
Purr-
When Vlad said that he should leave now, Noir began to look back, as if he felt regretful about something.
A landscape that is recognizable because it shares the blood of the same spirit.
When Noir looked back, his eyes were filled with the image of the World Tree waving its branches towards him and the young spirits sitting on it.
※※※※
What was visible above the pitch black darkness was not the sky but the water surface.
No, more accurately, it would be the surface of a bunch of bubbles.
“……that.”
Josef, who had finally been able to enter the center of the warlocks thanks to a small amount of trust, was able to see the large courtyard waiting for him there.
And even one tree that fills that large garden.
“She is the tree that took root.”
“…!”
Josef was startled by the sudden sound of a man’s voice and turned around.
Now that Xayar was gone, the only people who could talk to Josef were the evil warlocks.
“But it’s still incomplete. “It seems that the art of creation cannot be created with the core of the spirit tree alone.”
However, the person standing behind Josef was not one of the warlocks he had just seen, but a man with completely faded colors.
Frausen quietly walked past Josef, leaned his arm on the railing, and began to look at the tree outside without saying a word.
“……Mr. Frausen.”
How should I explain why I secretly came here?
Josef was trying to be as calm as possible in front of the man right next to him, but he couldn’t help but hear his voice leaking out.
“Are you Josef Bayezid?”
“yes? yes. That’s right.”
However, despite the tension just now, it was Frausen who spoke first.
Frausen just opened his mouth without turning his head, as if he was not curious about the situation of Josef, who was standing in the center, even though he was not permitted to do so.
“okay. “I wanted to call you sometime.”
“…….”
Even though he was saying the same thing as when I saw him yesterday.
Josef began to raise his stiff head little by little as he felt a strange sense of discomfort.
“Do you have anything to ask me? your majesty.”
However, is it because of the pressure surrounding me, or is it because of the bizarre appearance of the tree I am seeing for the first time in my life?
Although he tried to answer as politely as possible, Josef realized that he had just made a big mistake.
He had momentarily forgotten Frausen’s words yesterday, when he had told him not to call himself “Your Majesty.”
“…Don’t call me Your Majesty.”
As if those words had indeed been a mistake, the energy emanating from Frausen began to become fierce.
However, rather than being overwhelmed by his strength, Josef was only puzzled by the voice he heard next.
“okay. “I heard you were the first to hire a guy named Vlad, right?”
“…!”
And the doubt he had just had turned into certainty.
Josef finally raised his head and let out a silent expression of astonishment at the man in front of him.
“Answer that guy sincerely. “If you give it to me, I will pretend not to have seen today’s rudeness.”
A man who can’t even properly remember the conversation we had yesterday.
The man Josef is facing now is like a glass bottle that has already been broken.
Don’t poke too deep into other people’s worlds.
If you do so, you too will get seriously hurt. You will be
very swollen . In the bubble-like world that rose up, Josef was facing a man who was completely wounded.
A man who was still losing himself little by little.
The man, whose memories were pouring out through the broken holes, was ignoring Josef in front of him as if he had not forgotten the name Vlad. I just looked.
