Dragon with a cold heart (2)
“It will take a month this time.”
With those words, Vlad pulled up a small chair, leaned against the wall, and began to polish his sword.
The unadorned sword illuminated by the candlelight, as always, put the boy’s mind at ease.
“Hmm. “It’s good to be busy.”
Zemina, who answered Vlad’s words insincerely, sat down on the bed, picked up the flag, and was in the process of sewing.
A sentence sewn by a red-haired girl was engraved next to the sentences sewn in by a noble lady.
“You’re doing well these days. “Vlad.”
Gemina, who had been concentrating all her attention on sewing so as not to be embarrassed when compared to the sentences pinned next to her, raised her head and looked at Vlad in front of her, as if she had suddenly remembered something.
“The lady would have been happy to see this too.”
Vlad suddenly looked at the girl who was talking about her mother with a subtle expression.
Jemina would sometimes embarrass Vlad with these out-of-context conversations.
“······Why did you suddenly bring that up?”
“No, a thought suddenly occurred to me.”
Now, more than ten years later, there are only a few people who remember Vlad’s mother, but Zemina was one of those few people.
One of the very few people who can talk about memories that no one remembers.
“I don’t remember my mom, but I remember your mom.”
“······okay?”
Traces of wounds were visible in the words the girl spoke carelessly.
Vlad’s mother let her son die, but Jemina’s mother did not.
Jemina, like many other children in the back alleys, was an abandoned child.
“I don’t really remember my mom either.”
There are bound to be wounds that you cannot take care of on your own.
Vlad, who found traces of that in Gemina’s words, only answered calmly as if nothing had happened.
Because it was one of the few considerations that could be given to a girl.
“It’s done.”
As if she had properly listened to Vlad’s worried words, Zemina just shook her hands and stood up, waving the white flag as if to show off.
“It won’t be noticeable at this level, right? “The Countess’s skills were so good.”
A white flag where the boy proves himself.
There was a new sentence engraved there by a red-haired girl.
“······It won’t be noticeable if you look at it from a distance.”
The coat of arms of San Logino was sparkling in the candlelight.
Just as Vlad pretended to be indifferent and cared for Jemina, Jemina also cared for Vlad, who went to a dangerous place as usual.
I haven’t seen the dragon in person, but it’s definitely a dangerous creature.
Otherwise, the experienced old knight in the next room would have had no reason to prepare well.
“It won’t come until winter. then.”
“I guess so. “Because fall is a season that passes quickly.”
“Then take this too.”
Vlad looked at the piece of cloth that Zemina had casually thrown onto the bedside with a puzzled expression.
“What’s this.”
“It’s a handkerchief.”
Vlad smiled as he looked down at the handkerchief, which was as white as the flag.
I guess I’ve been paying attention to that until now.
“I guess you didn’t have anything to do?”
“I made it for you because I felt sorry for you carrying around a handkerchief that you couldn’t even use.”
At Zemina’s words, Vlad grabbed the handkerchief and looked at it closely.
Alicia’s handkerchief, as Jemina said, was made of gorgeous silk and was not intended for actual use.
“It’s pure cotton. “It will be good to use here and there.”
Vlad quietly held the handkerchief in his hand as he looked at the traces of Gemina, who had done the best she could.
Jemina left, leaving a message telling her to be careful.
In the only room left alone, Vlad carefully folded a handkerchief with Jemina’s name written on it and placed it on his chest.
“······It was made to be written, but why did you engrave the name?”
It seems that Gemina’s handkerchief, which fell asleep with Alicia’s handkerchief, was not destined to turn out the way the girl intended.
Vlad embedded it deep into the breastplate so that it would not fall out easily.
※※※※
The group moves north along the endless white plains of snow.
After advancing for over a week, they finally reached the northernmost part of Bayezid County and had about half a day’s distance left to their destination, Bernhem Fortress.
The knights that Rutger had placed in advance will be waiting for the party there while they are stopping the barbarians from moving south and scouting Lindwurm.
“I definitely asked for just you.”
“······.”
“But I obviously asked for one, but they gave me three. “What does this mean?”
“······Isn’t it consideration for your brother?”
Rutger shook his head firmly at Vlad’s uncertain answer.
“That guy Josef must be dissatisfied with me for something. “Is that what you think?”
Looking at Rutger speaking with a confident expression, Vlad could only shrug his shoulders.
Josef couldn’t have done it on purpose, but seeing the two men glaring at each other behind them was a situation where such a misunderstanding could have occurred.
A barbarian warrior and an old knight of Bayezid.
If handled well, it would definitely be of great use, but for now, seeing the two people who couldn’t get along was just a headache for Rutger.
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“I haven’t even arrived yet, but I’m already exhausted. From now on, you will take care of those two.”
“I’m not in a position to do that.”
Although the refusal had his own reasons, Vlad had no choice but to nod when he saw Rutger, whose eyes were as downcast as Josef’s.
Age aside, Ramund was a knight who had worked for Bayezid for a long time, so Rutger would not have been able to speak strongly to him, even out of respect.
“······I’ll try my best.”
“thanks.”
For that reason, Vlad, who could at least stick together, might have been a better alternative.
From Rutger’s perspective, Ramund’s attitude towards Vlad was clearly soft.
“I managed to crawl out of prison without dying.”
“Young Master has still managed to survive and is still alive. “I can smell the dirt just by being next to it.”
“Hehehe. “There is no order in which we go.”
The moment Rutger closed his eyes tightly at the sharp sounds of the barbarian and the old knight that he could still hear, Vlad raised his hand and stopped the group.
“Wait.”
It’s already working.
Rutger nodded with a satisfied expression, saying that he had done as he was told, but Vlad’s restraint came from a direction completely different from Rutger’s wishes.
“······I think there’s something in front of me.”
“hmm?”
After hearing those words, Rutger looked at the direction Vlad’s finger was pointing with nervous eyes.
A snowy field in the north where only white snow continues endlessly.
Vlad pointed to the beyond, which he could not clearly see, and looked at Rutger with a stern expression.
“Take the lead.”
During the week heading north, Vlad showed great sensitivity.
Hearing, sight, smell, and even a subtle sharp energy.
This time too, Rutger, who thought he had discovered something unusual through his senses, did not pass over Vlad’s report easily.
“You went on a wild rampage.”
“······.”
And following Vlad’s guidance, the group reached the middle of the snowy field and discovered a terrible scene there.
The corpses of barbarians are scattered everywhere in a gruesome manner.
The horses, sheep, and even people that were being dragged.
Age’s expression became increasingly hard as she saw the warm beings lying on the snow frozen and frozen.
“It looks like you came down here.”
Rutger got off his horse and turned over the bodies lying on the ground.
A gruesome wound that cuts through the chest.
Rutger looked at the wound and frowned at the reality that was different from his expectations.
“······You got cut.”
They certainly looked like people who had been chased down by the rampaging Lindwurm, but the wounds they were bearing told a completely different story.
A cut from something sharp, not from something being violently torn or burst.
Rutger looked at Age, looking at the wounds that could not have been created by anyone but a human.
“Is it your tribe?”
“······Not really.”
In response to Rutger’s question, Age quietly shook his head.
At first glance, the corpse of a barbarian with tattoos all over it looked similar to Agee, but it was not from the Budaat tribe to which he belonged.
“We are not from our tribe, but we are familiar with each other.”
It was fortunate that it wasn’t a lack of age, but that didn’t mean we could breathe a sigh of relief.
The barbarians were moving south simultaneously, and the reason for this was a being called Lindwurm.
The Budhaat people who followed that trend must also be wandering around somewhere in this area.
“Northerners wouldn’t have done it.”
Rutger nodded at Ramund’s words coming from behind him.
Although the barbarians and northerners hated each other, they were still rubbing shoulders, so there was no reason to carry out such extreme massacres as now.
Because both forces knew very well that if they did that, a long struggle would break out that would have to be washed away with blood.
This would be especially true for Rutger’s knights at Bernhem Fortress.
“Move quickly.”
Something unusual was happening on the northern border.
Rutger, sensing this fact, planned to quickly arrive at Fortress Bernhem and investigate the situation.
“······.”
The group moves forward, urging their horses urgently.
However, Vlad just frowned as he held his chest above the pitch-black guy.
Exciting-
Vlad, who remembered the heartbeat he felt when he met the Death Worm, just bit his lip, holding his heart as it beat strangely as he moved forward.
In an urgent situation, Mal, who sensed the boy’s discomfort, carefully fixed his upper body and tried to reduce the vibration.
※※※※
Bernhem Fortress.
A military facility that forms the northernmost border of Bayezid County.
After reaching the place that Peter cared about as much as the three cities owned by the county, the group just looked at the highest point of the fortress with puzzled expressions.
“There are two flags?”
Vlad, who was in the darkest of circumstances, asked while looking at the flags waving at Bernhem Fortress.
One flag was the emblem of Bayezid, which he was familiar with, but the other flag was a type of emblem he had never seen before.
“Why are those people here…?”
However, Rutger and Ramund, who recognized the flag, were also confused as they could not understand the situation.
Vlad walked up to Ramund, who was blinking, and gently tapped him on the shoulder.
“What kind of flag is it?”
“······It is not the flag of the North.”
In response to the boy’s question, Ramund narrowed his eyes and savored his appetite.
“It’s the central one.”
“The center?”
“okay. center.”
When Ramund said that it was the center, not even the central region, Vlad raised his head again and looked at the waving flag.
The shape of a dragon breathing fire.
“This is the emblem of the Dragon Slayer Knights, an order of knights directly subordinate to the Dragon Blood Prince.”
The image of a fire-breathing dragon depicted on the flag had a strange drawing engraved on it.
It was a drawing that symbolized a sword cutting sharply through the dragon’s neck.
