moonless night (1)
A convent on a quiet morning.
Sunlight shining through the window illuminated the gray stone dining room floor.
“They say there is a famous squire in the Bayezid family.”
“I heard you pulled out an auror from Deremar?”
Although it was a convent made of gloomy gray stone, the atmosphere itself was not that heavy, perhaps due to the chirping of young girls who had not yet become nuns.
Moreover, the rumors currently circulating within the convent were enough to warm up the atmosphere.
“But I heard that the squire is extremely handsome?”
“I have blonde hair and blue eyes. “Maybe he comes from a noble family.”
Because the story about someone who stimulates the pink imagination of young girls was in full swing.
‘blond hair?’
The red-haired girl, who was crouching down and brushing the floor, heard the words she missed from the girls next to her.
“You were selected as an Auror at a young age, so you will definitely become a knight, right?”
“I might become a knight representing the North in the future.”
‘······Then I guess not.’
Gemini listened intently to see if anything could happen, but eventually stopped paying attention to the false story being told.
Blonde hair and blue eyes. And the boy who dreamed of becoming a knight.
Words that were obviously close to Vlad were being heard, but the moment they were all combined, the possibility dropped significantly.
There’s no way that guy who barely escaped from a back alley could already be doing so well.
It would be nice if I could just stay healthy.
Tuk-
Jemina smiled for a moment, thinking of the blonde boy.
Something fell next to the girl.
“Hey redhead.”
“······.”
One of the girls who had been talking for a while came up to Jemina, dropped one of the brushes she was holding, and said,
“You do everything else. “It’s okay if we get to this level, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. You’re not even paying donations. “On the topic of eating for free.”
“I have to work for the rest of my life to repay just what I received that day. Rather, thank us for giving you the opportunity.”
The girls giggled and laughed as if they had just been punched.
However, Gemina did not react in any way and just did everything she had to do in silence.
‘That’s true.’
Because what the girls said was right.
It was true that there was no one who could provide donations so that she could live comfortably here, and it was also true that she did not know what would have happened if the convent had not accepted her that day.
At least it wouldn’t have been better than it is now.
“You have to spend the rest of your life here anyway. Because I have nothing to do and no one to take it out on me. So it’s not a bad idea to get used to working here in advance, right?”
“······.”
This was also correct.
Even if Jemina left here, she had nowhere else to go.
Because the destruction of the nest was not the only tragedy experienced by the boy.
Like anyone else, the girl who survived in the back alleys was not the type of person to give in to such harassment or bullying, but she decided to endure it for now.
“Then let’s go.”
“Do everything before lunch!”
If you act like your usual personality, you will be kicked out of the convent.
If they did that, they wouldn’t have the honor of seeing Madame Marcella, who sacrificed herself for them that night.
“······It’s a good thing I learned it in advance.”
Jemina, who had been doing chores at Changgwan, just squatted alone in the restaurant and wiped the floor as if nothing had happened.
However, there was a memory of that day that could not be erased no matter how much I wiped it away.
This was the scene of the woman who forced herself into the convent walls and dragged her into the darkness by her hair.
I shouldn’t have sent her away like that.
“Black…”
So the girl pushed the brush even harder.
Because I wanted to push away the memories that could not be erased even if I erased them.
A girl swallowing back tears in her big eyes.
The girl’s red hair, which had not yet settled down, was fluttering awkwardly on her shoulders.
※※※※
“Are you sure you really tried it as an Auror?”
“······.”
It was a sonorous voice, but it was not a very welcome sound for those who heard it.
It will be even more so if you are constantly harassing yourself with that voice.
‘Aren’t you tired?’
Vlad was barely holding his position on the cart that was shaking back and forth.
There was a woman driving a horse next to him and constantly talking to him.
“How can you get an Auror and still not be able to ride a horse? “Even if the order is changed, doesn’t that change too much?”
“······As you live, this and that may happen.”
Vlad turned his head and looked at the woman speaking to him.
Jet black hair, jet black eyes. And even the pitch-black ears that are twitching.
“What you looking at?”
White fangs were visible between her pulled up lips.
They look too sharp to be called human canines.
Vlad didn’t like those fangs.
Rutger’s knights were laughing heartily next to them while listening to the argument being heard.
Perhaps he had been captured by them after the peanut incident.
‘Let’s endure.’
So you have to be patient.
It wasn’t his intention, but in a way, it was something he brought about.
The boy had endured this ridicule his whole life.
‘This is what it looks like because I went on a vacation that didn’t work out.’
However, even the sigh that was boiling from within was something that could not be helped.
Currently, Vlad and Portli were following Rutger.
When Vlad said he was here for a vacation, Rutger suggested that they go falcon hunting together.
‘If you don’t follow suit this time, I’ll send two boxes of peanuts to Josef.’
‘······.’
It was a threat that didn’t even seem like a threat, but Vlad, who had a bad record, had no choice but to accept it.
The head of the Kannor family, who fed him plenty of meat, was looking at him with earnest eyes.
From his perspective, it would have been a golden opportunity to connect Portli and Rutger.
“Are the beast people usually this talkative?”
“Is that by any chance racial discrimination?”
If she were an ordinary maid, she would have quietly told her to shut up, but she wasn’t that kind of person.
Next to Bayezid’s head, Peter, is Ragmus, a wizard and advisor.
And there she was next to Rutger.
She, with her black ears pricking up, was a wizard.
“Don’t scratch too much. Dorothea. “He’s a borrowed guy.”
“Every time that bastard looks at me, he makes a shit-eating face.”
“Everyone does that when they bully you like that.”
It was very unpleasant for Vlad to see Rutger respond with his black tail, which was the exact opposite of how he treated him.
‘Cat-like bitch.’
The way it acted and looked exactly like the cat he hated, Vlad just frowned.
“I guess this will be enough.”
“The surroundings are so open that you can see clearly from anywhere.”
“It certainly is.”
Rutger seemed to have finally arrived at his destination and was looking around.
“······?”
I was just looking around.
In fact, the falcon to be used for hunting was not even taken out of the cage.
“I can see it over there.”
“Right.”
Rutger and his knights, who had been constantly looking around to find something, raised their fingers and pointed at the place as if they had finally found what they were aiming for.
‘hmm.’
Vlad also naturally looked in the direction they were pointing.
Although it was far away and dim, there were people walking across the meadow.
People dressed entirely in white from head to toe.
They were priests.
“I’m lucky to see a group of pilgrims.”
“That’s right. “This too may be fate.”
‘······I think I came here on purpose.’
While listening to the loud conversation between Rutger and the knights, Vlad realized that his current falconry trip was an outing with a different purpose.
“Raise your flag. “Let us show our intentions so we don’t have to worry.”
“All right. Mr. Rutger.”
As soon as Rutger gave a glance, a knight next to him took out a flag and hung it on a pole, as if he had been waiting.
It looked as natural as the pole brought for that purpose.
“Let’s take our time and look for our prey.”
Although they said they would hunt, no one here was prepared to hunt.
They were just walking along a shallow ridge as if protecting the pilgrims below.
The pilgrims walking below must have seen the flag that Rutger had hung up, so they hung a flag on a pole and began to move.
A pattern hanging high on a pole.
It was the same pattern engraved on Vlad’s identity card.
As the group began to move slowly, Vlad quickly jumped out of the cart and got away from Dorothea.
If you can’t deal with it, it’s best to avoid it.
“Wow. “I’m motion sick.”
“are you okay. “Vlad?”
Perhaps because I came on a very shaking cart, not even a carriage, my heart was constantly pounding.
“Do you feel like throwing up?”
“Not really.”
Still, it didn’t seem to be in good condition, so Vlad did as the voice said, plucked a nearby blade of grass and put it in his mouth.
[Remember this grass too. It has a weak awakening effect.]
‘What did he really do?’
Every time he heard the voice speak, Vlad was often surprised.
This is because his knowledge and insight surpassed that of Josef and Zayard.
His insight is superior to that of well-educated nobles and experienced knights.
‘You’ll find out someday.’
Thinking that the identity of the voice was a matter that only time could solve, Vlad chewed bitter-tasting grass and looked out at the open meadow below.
Not everything went smoothly, but at least I liked the scenery.
A grassland so open that you can see the horizon.
Vlad took a deep breath as he looked at the refreshing scenery.
“huh?”
At that moment, as Vlad looked into the distance, a group of people moving slowly began to appear.
These were things that moved very quickly.
Exciting-
“A herd of wild horses.”
Rutger must have spotted them too, as he frowned and focused his gaze on the herd of wild horses running towards here.
It was a wonderful sight, but it was not something Rutger was happy about.
When protecting something, there is nothing more burdensome than an unexpected situation that suddenly appears.
“But why are you moving south?”
“······That’s right. “A herd of wild horses at this time of year would rather go up north.”
The article was right.
When the weather warms up and the grass on the grassland becomes full, the animals in the grassland tend to head north, not south.
There will be young sprouts there that are just popping out their heads now.
However, the herd of wild horses was not coming down from the north, but towards the south, where the group and the pilgrims were.
And that too while sprinting.
Exciting-
As the herd of wild horses got closer, Vlad’s heart was pounding.
“Hmm…”
Vlad, like Rutger, stood on the hill and looked at the herd of wild horses running, thinking it was like a feeling he had experienced sometime ago.
Looks full of vitality.
The sight of wild horses galloping across the meadows with bulging muscles and no hesitation was enough to arouse admiration in those who saw the sight.
“······.”
There was not a single person here who admired the wild horses.
I just watched with a worried expression to see where they were moving.
“Increasingly, we are going to where the pilgrims are.”
“The movement is strangely urgent. “It feels like I’m being chased by something.”
Exciting- Exciting-
Vlad was holding his chest to calm his racing heart.
“······?”
Our eyes met.
Although he was so far away that even his figure was barely visible, Vlad seemed to have made eye contact with the leader of the group running at the front.
A guy all pitch black.
Although it was impossible for them to make eye contact in the first place, the two clearly exchanged glances.
“······.”
He couldn’t explain it, but Vlad felt as if the guy was talking to him.
It felt like that.
“Lord Rutger!”
One of the knights, who sensed something suspicious in the wild horses’ appearance, hurried to the ground and urgently looked for Rutger.
“What’s going on?”
“The ground is shaking!”
Exciting-
Even the boy who made eye contact could tell.
That the wild horses are scared.
Kurrrrrrr–
As soon as the knight finished shouting, the ground shook like an earthquake.
A group of pilgrims in front of me collapsed, startled by the shaking.
Kaaaaaa-
A huge roar echoes from the middle of the grassland along with an earthquake.
The ground turns pitch black and cracks.
From there, a huge thing with an open mouth popped out.
Heeeeeee-
I finally caught up with him, but in reality, the pitch-black guy running in front was crying bitterly.
“It’s a death worm!”
Wild horses being torn apart by ferocious teeth.
The blood of the poor things pouring down like rain.
“······!”
The boy’s heart was pounding ceaselessly, but what was coursing through his body was a cool sensation, not hot blood.
A herd of wild horses was running away.
I was asking for help.
