Side story – Sunset-colored liquor
bottle The green forest of the east. Aushurin
This place, surrounded by trees that grew like castle walls as if someone had painted them, was now filled with the sound of children playing.
“Isn’t this it?”
There was a platinum-haired girl sitting in the summer sunlight under the World Tree, as if happy to hear the sounds of children.
“Hmm.”
There is seriousness in the eyebrows that are furrowed as if in great concentration.
The way he raises his pencil and measures the angle, as if he doesn’t like something, is like that of a professional.
However, unlike the girl’s serious appearance, the drawing paper in front of her was filled with childish drawings.
“I don’t think my lips have ever looked like this.”
Even the World Tree, which I bent down to see what kind of painting it was, was shaking its branches.
Of all the priestesses I had met so far, she was considered the most sensitive, but her drawing skills seemed to be the worst.
“Mistress.”
“huh?”
Varadis appeared behind the priestess as she pondered for a while about what was wrong.
Although he was wearing light clothing as a ranger who had to roam the forest, the shining badge on his shoulder clearly proved that he belonged to the Council of Elders.
“No matter how summer it is, being outside for a long time is harmful to your health.”
“No, that’s it…”
The girl, who gave up her original name to become a priestess, seemed upset that her older brother was speaking respectfully to her.
However, Varadis’ smiling face still showed affection for her sister, so the girl decided to be satisfied with that.
“When are you going to Sturma? Oh…no, Mr. Varadis.”
“Sturmayo?”
“There is a succession ceremony. “Did you say his name there was Bayezid?”
She was a world tree priestess who was intelligent, but not yet well-versed in the situation on the continent.
Varadis couldn’t help but make a puzzled expression as a story related to the North suddenly came out of her mouth.
“Why is it suddenly…”
The Bayezid family, one of the winners of the Continental War.
This succession ceremony, in which the new head of the family was crowned, was an event that attracted attention not only from the North but also from the continent, so Aushurin also planned to send an envoy.
“I wish Varadis would go there.”
“Why are you doing that?”
The girl’s face, scratching her small chin, looked somehow awkward.
The girl, who was tapping her feet as if she was a little embarrassed to speak, confirmed that no one was around and motioned for Varadis to come closer.
“I wish my brother would go there.”
For now, I am not the goddess of the World Tree, but my own self.
The girl who opened her mouth like that quietly whispered into Varadis’ ear with a smile on her face.
“Because that way I can follow along.”
“…….”
A girl who was destined to spend her entire life with the World Tree, but wanted to go outside at least this time.
As if to make an excuse, the girl picked up the picture she had been drawing and opened it to Varadis.
“I’m not just saying I want to go because I’m curious about the outside. “I’m doing this to show Vlad.”
The drawing paper the girl was holding was full of crooked drawings.
The picture, like previous revelations, was drawn in an esoteric drawing style that was difficult to interpret.
“Is it…a revelation?”
However, even though the drawing style was the same, there did not seem to be a need for difficult interpretation this time.
Because even Varadis was able to recognize the meaning depicted in the painting at a glance.
“I think Vlad will like this. yes?”
The children of the beastmen and elves were playing under the same tree, although their ears had different shapes.
Looking at the girl smiling brightly with the children behind her, Varadis seemed momentarily confused as to what was a picture and what was reality.
※※※※
The highest hill in the city of Shoara.
There was a man walking carrying his luggage towards the convent located on the hill.
“oh my. “Why is this so heavy?”
Thump –
With a heavy sound that shook the floor, bundles of bright red meat began to reveal their colors.
Each bundle of meat that was put down had the Kannor family’s emblem stamped on it, making it a luxurious piece of meat that looked expensive to anyone.
“……who are you?”
“Marcella. “It’s me.”
Perhaps because I intentionally made a loud noise, a woman started to come out of the kitchen.
The woman’s tightly tied headkerchief was hiding her abundant black hair.
The skirt she was wearing was heavily stained, as if she had just come from work.
“Vlad? Vladni?”
“long time no see. “Has it been half a year?”
However, despite his shabby appearance, the bright smile he smiled at Vlad was still beautiful.
“No, who is this! “A precious person in this squalid place!”
“Where should I put this?”
“Oh, look at this meat. “I was already wondering what to feed the kids today.”
Madame Marcella was once called the Rose of Shoara.
However, the smile she had was much brighter than in those glamorous days, so Vlad somehow felt like Marcela seemed more comfortable now.
“I deliberately brought it with meat that is easy to boil and eat. “It’s work to bake each item one by one.”
“yes. yes. “As expected, I’m glad you’re so considerate.”
Vlad, holding meat again, followed Marcella’s gesture and entered the kitchen.
The kitchen where a red-haired girl once washed dishes while crying.
“oh. Vlad! A long time!”
“Who is this? “Look at how his shoulders have gotten wider!”
“Don’t touch me carelessly! “You are the Sword Master.”
In the kitchen where Marcela followed, many women were welcoming Vlad.
Each and every hand that approached me looked familiar, and it felt as if the smile of the old rose was here and now.
“Everyone was here.”
“I don’t have anywhere to go after retirement.”
“It’s better to take care of babies than boys.”
These were women who once sold alcohol and laughter for a shiny coin.
However, the generous smile you see now was something that money could not create.
“I’m glad everyone looks healthy.”
“Come visit often, Vlad!”
“Okay, now I’m stuck at home! “Jemina, stop being so upset!”
They were talkative women who, when asked one word, responded with ten words.
As the kitchen atmosphere became increasingly noisy, perhaps thanks to a welcome guest she hadn’t seen in a long time, Marcella hurriedly grabbed Vlad’s shoulder and pulled him out.
“But you happened to have a convent. “Has the Vatican remained silent?”
“The Vatican? “I don’t know.”
Vlad followed Marcela up to the second floor, past the chapel where he had previously taken Jemina, and stood in front of the door with the name of the director’s office written on it.
“I just told the mayor that I wanted to use it since it was an empty building anyway.”
“Was this place empty?”
“huh. “It’s been empty for some time.”
A small room on the second floor that used to be the nun’s office, but is now the orphanage director’s office.
Vlad, who remembered the place where he had growled at the abbess, whetted his appetite by looking at the church’s still-remaining emblem.
“Maybe everyone ran away. “Actually, it’s strange that I’m holding on even though I lost a fight with that great Sword Master.”
Marcella, who sat down, laughed out loud and said, “I didn’t know that the nuns would run away at night.”
“And what if I say something later? “How much is the donation I’ve made here so far?”
“That’s right.”
The convent of Shoara, where the name of God was once sold for the women of those who were.
However, looking at this place, which has now become an orphanage for children who have nowhere to go, Vlad burst into laughter as if his emotions were endless.
“It’s really great. Marcela. “In any city in the North, I don’t think anyone other than a church has established an orphanage.”
“I do it because I want to, but whatever. “It’s not that it doesn’t take effort, though.”
No matter how much money one had saved, stepping forward to feed orphans was not an action that anyone could easily do.
It would have been even more so if it had been a woman’s body alone.
“In that sense, why don’t you make a donation? “Vlad.”
But Marcella did what no one else could.
Like building the tallest building that no boss has ever had in a dark back alley.
“cool. Marcella.”
“I told you to donate instead of saying empty words like that.”
Marcela is holding out both hands towards the smiling Vlad as if to give him something.
Outside the window of the director’s office where they were sitting, there were a lot of children who craned their heads in hopes of seeing the Sword Master.
A debaucherous prostitute who knocked on the door of a convent on that cold winter day, leading a group of innocent girls.
Some people said she did not deserve to be in God’s arms, but the place where Marcella was smiling now was a place closer to God’s will than any other place.
Perhaps no one would sit down in front of the convent’s door this coming winter.
※※※※
“Why? “Let’s go and have dinner together.”
“no.”
“Do you want Jemina to come in quickly?”
“It’s not like that.”
Marcella’s hand held her and told her to go after dinner, but Vlad, who already had plans, just quietly left the orphanage.
“I’ll come back soon, okay? “We’ll be in the same Shoara anyway.”
“okay. “Come again.”
A crowd of children came out behind Vlad as he left.
Vlad scratched his chin for a moment, looking at the sparkling eyes that looked similar to those of the children in the back alley.
“For now, you can use this place as you wish. “I will tell the mayor separately.”
“okay.”
“And this.”
After thinking for a moment, Vlad took out a small pouch from his pocket and handed it to Marcella.
“What is this?”
“Seeds.”
Wondering what this was, he opened the bag and found a fruit that Marcela had never seen before.
The fruit, which sparkled like a jewel, looked unusual to anyone who saw it.
“What seed?”
“I don’t know about that. “You have to grow it to know it.”
Vlad, who handed over the seeds, smiled slightly and continued.
“Still, I think those seeds will fit well here.”
“okay?”
A small seed from Aussurin.
Vlad didn’t really know what the seed Marcela was holding would become, but he knew that after a long time, it would probably become like the trees in Dobrechti or Dermar.
“I’ll go now.”
“okay.”
Someone must plant green seeds for young possibilities.
Like the sword master of a previous era who secretly traveled the world, and like the woman in front of me now.
“It’s already been a day since I did anything.”
Vlad left, waving his hand as he watched the red sunset setting over the hill.
“I said it was time to come here.”
Vlad comes down the highest hill in Shoara and walks towards the dock, which is now filled with a fishy smell.
Perhaps because the temperature dropped as the evening went on, mist began to gradually form on the shores of the Shoara River.
“Nothing has changed here either.”
A quiet dock where even workers don’t leave because there are no ships coming and going.
Vlad, who was standing alone in an empty place, raised his hand toward the increasingly red sunset.
“But we can still have dinner together.”
Today’s sunset is now setting below the riverbed.
There was a boat coming up the river with its back to the sunset.
The ship, which had strange-looking waterwheels on both sides of the hull, was waving the now recognizable red rose flag.
“It’s a little late, Haven.”
Vlad was walking along the dockside as the sunset gradually set.
With a boat walking right next to you.
In Vlad’s right hand as he walked like that, a bottle of alcohol he had brought specifically for his friend was stained with the color of the sunset.
