Star-Embracing Swordmaster - Chapter 164

You will reap what you sow (4)

The red color the man was wearing was deep.

It is sticky and does not move easily even in a shaking wine glass.

However, Sarnus was smiling as if he liked the thick and weighty feel of it.

“In the end, Duke Armand did what he wanted.”

Sarnus is leisurely drinking a glass in front of the rising morning sun.

With his oiled blonde hair neatly slicked back and his timeless, old-fashioned attire, he looked like a typical aristocrat.

“Sporadic territory wars are taking place throughout the central region. “It seems like everyone has accumulated a lot, not just because of Duke Armand.”

“I tied it up for too long. “Humans are inherently beings who follow their desires.”

Sarnus just nodded at Mirshea’s report as if he had expected it to happen.

It may have been thought that the knight who founded the great world of the empire would always be one, but the existence of the dragon was actually sleeping in everyone’s soul.

“The more you trample on it, the higher it becomes, and the more you eat it, the bigger it becomes, so who can resist it?”

As peaceful as it was, they must have been cowering and building up strength and justification.

If you pour water into a small glass, it will eventually overflow.

Expansion into the wider world was not only the West’s aspirational goal.

“Anyone would do it like me.”

Sarnus poured out the last remaining wine and quietly put it down on the desk.

When I turned to look in the mirror, I saw only the image of the noble noble Sarnus Dragulia.

It seemed like his old self, shriveled up in the dark, could no longer be found in him now.

“This guy is not pure.”

A red gray hair was visible among the brightly shining blonde hair.

Sarnus, who discovered it, smiled with a frown and started combing his hair.

As unpleasant as it was, it was a problem until the end.

“He came back in a funny way, but he still carried out Baron Utman’s work well, so it was worth praising.”

“……Is that so.”

A hair pulled out carelessly.

The hair nestled among the blonde hair was red, reminiscent of someone else.

“I wish the kid in the north was a little darker. “Now is the time to harvest that one.”

You have sowed, now it is time to reap.

What possibilities will my seed, which I went all the way to the North and planted in the mud, show?

An empty wine glass and a pulled red gray fish.

The old dragon was smiling as he waited for them to be refilled.

※※※※

“Hmm hmm.”

Sigurdson was concentrating, but Vlad standing next to him looked somewhat nervous.

This was because Sigurdsson, wearing a strange monocle that I had never seen before, was examining his sword as if licking it.

Seeing the blue sword being peeled off one by one by someone else’s hands, Vlad felt like he wanted to pick it up right now.

“…I think that’s right.”

The morning after the wild night, the dwarves had thrown away their favorite drinking glasses and were all gathered around Sigurdson.

It was quite funny to see the men with long beards standing so close to each other, but the looks they gave were serious and cautious.

“…The spark is right.”

The dwarves all clenched their hands as they heard Sigursson’s quiet declaration.

All kinds of cries were going on among them, but the only thing that didn’t make a sound was probably the young lizard waving its tail on the sword.

No one should surprise this young spirit.

“Where did you say you got this guy from?”

“Didn’t you say it earlier? “It’s Aushurin.”

In response to Sigursson’s question, Vlad took his sword and threw it away.

Sigurdson’s strangely enlarged eyes under the monocle were watching the young lizard going between the swords as if it were pitiful.

“But how can there be such a young spirit? In the first place, the spirits would have eaten all the most perfect dragons…”

“I’m not sure what this means, but why don’t you ask the elves for more details?”

Vlad growled, pushing the men who were getting closer and closer as if possessed by something.

The stinging feel of the men’s beards was driving Vlad’s spirit wild.

“The people who made this are elves. “Stop being so sticky!”

When Vlad scolded that there was a gap that knights must keep, the dwarves clicked their tongues and began to retreat.

However, even though they had returned to their original positions, the two letters of regret were falling from their gaze.

‘…Is this the first time the dwarves here have seen spirits?’

Geronimo, the elder of the elves, told me that the sword master had gone to the dwarves.

However, the dwarves were now very pleased with the sight of the young spirit, so it seemed that the sword master’s traces had not reached them.

Their way of checking spirits through parchment records was clearly quite different from that of the elves.

“…Like I said yesterday, I’d like to take a look at your armor.”

It was a sudden armor request, but anyone here would be able to guess Sigurdsson’s intentions.

Sigursson’s eyes, which had been magnified by the monocle, were still looking at Vlad’s sword wistfully.

“Anyway, I would like to use this opportunity to tinker with some of the equipment on our ship.”

“…Are you serious about that?”

Vlad smiled to himself as he looked at Sigursson who quickly nodded.

Giving the sword was an unpleasant experience, but the opportunity to have the equipment inspected by the dwarves was certainly rare.

This time, I felt like I could see why the West tried so hard to keep the dwarves out.

“There is an empty blacksmith shop nearby…”

Although it was small and shabby, there was one blacksmith shop that was deeply entrenched in Vlad’s memories.

Right now, no one is using it, so it’s getting cold, but I think it can be done if it’s a simple task.

“……?”

However, Vlad turned his head when a hand urgently grabbed his collar.

There was Jemina, with her eyes wide open as if she was surprised.

‘no. ‘There!’

Although he was just looking at him calmly, Jemina’s eyes were constantly talking to Vlad.

It seemed like the red-haired girl didn’t want to give up her precious blacksmith shop, which contained their memories, to those drunkards.

※※※※

“……That will last a long time.”

“It can’t be helped. “It’s the only empty blacksmith shop there.”

Haven whispered to Vlad while looking at Jemina, who was still wiping the table with her mouth closed.

It’s been like that ever since the dwarves went up to take a nap.

“Even if you say that, please say no in front of me.”

It’s probably not just because of the blacksmith shop.

He must have been angry at the indifferent response from Vlad, who shared the same memories.

I had endured it for a long time, but the memories related to the unadorned sword were something that even Gemina could not compromise on.

“Anyway, since when have you been here? “Don’t you know that this has been a no-entry zone since yesterday?”

“You shouldn’t take your anger out on me. “You two should resolve your fight on your own.”

Haven smiled slyly and tried to escape Vlad’s question.

As just said, Rose’s Smile was off limits yesterday, but Haven still wanted to have a seat with them.

Because I wanted to ride their boat, which still glimmers in my eyes, just once.

“……so. “Did you get anything?”

“I didn’t get anything, but I heard something.”

Even though I knew, I came in anyway, and even though I noticed, they didn’t really kick me out.

The two had been in the same boat for a very long time and had a common interest that they could communicate without even saying anything.

“The ship the dwarves came on.”

“huh.”

Haven lowered his voice as if he had heard a great secret.

Vlad, who followed Haven, also began to listen.

As much as the existence of dwarves, the ship they came on was one of the topics that shook Shoara, and it was something that even Vlad, who didn’t know much about ships, would lose his attention.

“They say they heat the water in there.”

“what?”

However, even though I had high expectations, the answer I received was completely absurd.

Heat the water.

They say that then the watermill will start turning.

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

“……I know. “Now that I say it, it’s bullshit.”

There are times when something seems plausible when it’s in your head, but when you say it out loud, it turns out to be quite strange.

Haven suddenly made an expression that said this was not true, but there were many steps omitted between heating the water and running the watermill.

“What do you mean you built a bathhouse on board the ship?”

“No, it was water vapor… What happened next?”

He provided an opportunity, but in the end, Vlad clicked his tongue as he looked at Manhaven, who ended up drinking in vain.

If I had discovered any secret about the ship, I would have benefited greatly.

“Move. “I have to go to city hall to report.”

“I will organize my thoughts by today. “You can do it.”

“You even drank the alcohol Hoover made with the dwarves yesterday. “I’ll never remember.”

“……ah.”

When Vlad said that he had been drinking alcohol that he should not touch, Haven quietly held his head.

From my experience of drinking it a few times, as Vlad said, you won’t remember what happened yesterday.

“I’m going.”

“Ugh.”

Leaving behind Haven’s groan-like words, Vlad left his rose-like smile and headed toward the city hall.

The hospitality I had ordered yesterday had been successfully completed, and satisfactory lodgings had been prepared for them. Now, all that was left was to report to Josef.

“…I guess I’ll have to take a look.”

Just turn around a little bit.

While speaking, Vlad decided to stop by the old man’s blacksmith shop for the first time in a while.

It was a path I had walked almost my entire life, but walking down a back alley in broad daylight was just awkward.

The appearance of day and night was clearly different, and the same was true for the closed old blacksmith shop.

Seeing my hometown after such a long time felt as awkward as it was welcoming.

“There is no sign of anyone coming in.”

It was an empty house, but it was also a house where no vagabond would come.

It wasn’t really managed, but anyone who had been wandering around the back alleys wouldn’t be able to trespass on this place related to Vlad.

“Cluck cluck. Wow.”

Like a cold winter day, the door of the blacksmith shop that had been twisted open was covered with accumulated dust.

The chair the old man was sitting on and the old anvil that was full of loud noise.

And even the small anvil that was always lit.

“This is enough to use… Did you do it?”

Vlad looked around with eyes as complex as the accumulated dust, and could not decide whether it would be good to give this place to the dwarves.

I really felt like it would be better to leave it as a place of memories, as Jemina said.

—-!

However, unlike Vlad who was sighing, the young lizard peeked his head out from the sword and his eyes were sparkling.

Even though he was cold, he looked familiar.

The young lizard hesitating on the flower of the World Tree clearly remembered the old blast furnace that had burned down with the old man.

“If I didn’t like it, I would have asked you to find another blacksmith.”

The friends who had been riding the sword together left one by one to find a place that suited them, but the young lizard could not find a place that suited his heart.

But that small, ungainly old blast furnace was more to my liking than any other place I had ever seen.

A young seed quietly fell from the sword through the gap in the quietly closing door

.

As the twitching butt disappeared into the blast furnace, a warm energy began to be felt from the blacksmith shop, which had been dead silent just a moment ago.

※※※※

It was a familiar wheat field, no different from anywhere else, but somehow it looked as if a drop of black paint had added to it.

Is it just a feeling that not only the wheat fields but everything in this territory feels that way?

“Justia. here.”

“…….”

Holy knights who used to belong to San Logino, but now belong to the Northern Orthodox Church.

They were currently coming to the territory formerly called Baron Utman to check the prognosis of the evil being.

“It’s all rotten.”

“It’s not just rotten.”

The driver immediately started rubbing the wheat grains between his palms, as if asking him to take a look at this.

Even among the black, rotting wheat, the ones that still had their color.

However, things that were supposed to be inside the wheat were not visible.

“Even living things are reduced to chaff.”

“…….”

Justia looked at the remains of wheat fluttering helplessly from the top of her palm.

Broken wheat grains drifting helplessly along the wind.

“Why did it end up like this only here?”

It was the worst drought in history.

However, what was strange was that except for Baron Utman, other places showed normal harvests as in previous years.

Not only Justia but also the other paladins were left speechless by the sight of the fields as if they had been stamped with an ink-covered finger.

“I need to investigate further. “Let’s call for support.”

“I understand. Justia.”

Even now, behind them, there were farmers crying, saying that this year’s crop had been ruined.

For them, who had neither a lord to protect them nor land to accept them, the black, dead wheat fields would be like a death sentence.

“…….”

Justia’s thin eyebrows were making a deep mark between her eyebrows as she looked at them.

Baron Utman, who had caused an uproar in the North, was gone, but the scars they left behind seemed to still linger here.