Star-Embracing Swordmaster - Chapter 172

There is a voice calling in the darkness (2)

The burning bonfire was as warm as a mother’s embrace, and the surrounding darkness was as comfortable as a soft carpet.

To be honest, it was such a comfortable and nostalgic thing that I wanted to head there right now.

“…!”

But now Vlad was looking forward, not back.

Someone shouting at you to get out of here.

The voice of the faceless man was the sound Vlad had been searching for.

[Vlad!]

Now that he has completed his revenge on Godin and the contract with Josef, all that remains for Vlad is one promise.

It was a promise to find the name of the voice.

Vlad never forgot that promise even for a moment.

“long time no see.”

[……Okay.]

Seeing Vlad say it’s been a while since the man said, he finally put down the hand that was shaking his shoulder as if he was relieved.

Although his face was obscured by the backlight, Vlad could tell that he was smiling happily at him.

※※※※

“Vlad Vlad?”

“…Ugh.”

The first thing I felt as soon as I opened my eyes was a bone-chilling chill.

My whole body throbbed, as if I was suffering from body aches, and the breath I exhaled felt cold enough to make my breath sting.

I definitely think I was in a warm place in my dream.

“……Justia?”

“long time no see. “Vlad.”

In front of me, which had finally come into focus, was a lot of flowing platinum-blonde hair.

A woman looking at herself through her flowing hair.

There was a warmth in her eyes that took away the chill from earlier.

“I guess I was very tired.”

Justia, the paladin of San Logino.

She, who had been together in the fog-filled village, now stroked the tip of Vlad’s chin with a worried expression.

This was to wipe off the sweat that Vlad had created while shivering.

“…Did you ever have a dream?”

“yes?”

Justia’s thin eyebrows were furrowed mercilessly as she looked at Vlad, who still hadn’t come to his senses.

Along with worry, a ray of anxiety began to form in her eyes.

“Wake me up first.”

“yes.”

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice came from behind Justia.

I don’t know if it was because of that voice, but the surroundings suddenly started to become bustling.

“Deacon! wake up!”

“You need to come to your senses!”

It was a noisy movement that was too much for Vlad, who had finally come to his senses.

Men’s voices and prayers echo from everywhere.

Sharp sound vibrations were hitting Vlad’s ears.

“…What is this now?”

When I turned my head to look next to me, there was Nibelun, who was frozen in embarrassment.

And even the image of Jean, still asleep, leaning on his shoulder.

The young deacon, who could not easily wake up even when the Holy Knights shook him roughly, could only faintly repeat the lyrics of a song as if he were talking in his sleep.

“…Keep the matches going.”

Familiar words that seem like you’ve heard them somewhere.

Jean’s faint singing voice penetrated the paladins’ prayers and entered Vlad’s ears.

‘matches?’

Vlad’s armor and sword were getting hotter to the sound of Jean’s faint singing.

It was the heat of the time in the dream when the voice grabbed Vlad’s shoulder and pulled him up.

※※※※

“Nice to meet you. “I am Günter, the second commander of the Northern Orthodox Church.”

“This is Vlad, the knight of Bayezid.”

Perhaps because of the fog, proper sunlight did not enter the office even though it was midday.

Perhaps that was why Vlad could not properly recognize the face of the man whose back was now facing the window.

“okay. Vlad. “I already knew the name.”

A man with impressive turquoise hair, oiled and neatly slicked back.

The man who introduced himself as Gunter was also the person currently controlling the city of Moshiam.

“It’s an honor that you recognize me.”

“Rather, I am more honored. “Let’s shake hands.”

Vlad looked at the hand being passed across the table.

His hands were too smooth and without any scratches to be considered a swordsman holding a sword.

“Thank you for bringing Andrea’s deacon home safely.”

“What will happen to Jean?”

But this was not what was important to Vlad.

The external appearance of the man in front of him or the public comments he made toward himself had no meaning.

“They say he’s still asleep.”

“…He’ll probably be asleep until evening. “According to our research.”

Günther, rubbing his head with a troubled expression, took out a large cigarette from a drawer and started lighting it.

“What is the investigation about? “Has Moshiam not been purified yet?”

“There’s probably someone in the Vatican who can really tell you about that.”

Smoke pulled deep into his lungs slowly began to flow out of his mouth.

“We are the ones who came to investigate it.”

“…….”

The cigarette smoke spreading in the air was blocking the light that had barely penetrated through the fog.

A city where everything is blurry and unclear.

The dark fog floating around reminded Vlad of the picture the priestess had sent him.

“I will take the deacon with me.”

“That child belongs to the Northern Orthodox Church. “It’s not something you can mess with.”

“I am the person who has been asked by the bishop to look after the deacon’s well-being.”

“Even that bishop belongs to us.”

The

ring the leader was wearing was shining on the slightly lowered desk.

A ring signifying the rank of Knight Commander, a position of which there are only two in the Northern Orthodox Church.

There was probably no one here now who could stand against that authority.

“Thank you again for bringing the deacon here. “We will take care of all matters related to that child from now on.”

“…….”

Gunther’s eyes began to grow fierce as he looked at Vlad who dared to invade his authority.

A leader of the Holy Knights who is so noble that it is difficult for a single knight to even dare to look at him.

But now Vlad was staring straight at him through the smoke.

“Let’s go out.”

“……The city of Moshiam is also the land of the Northern Union.”

There was work to be done, but it could not be completed.

Bishop Andrea said he would take good care of Jean, but leader Vlad did not yet acknowledge handing over the young deacon.

For Vlad, Günther’s authority was merely secondary.

“I know that I am worthy of being a knight of Bayezid in the Northern Alliance.”

“What qualifications?”

A strangeness began to appear in Günter’s eyes as he looked at Vlad.

When I thought about it, this pale blue guy in front of me had never lowered his head even in front of me.

“From now on, I will activate my investigative authority.”

“what?”

A knight’s duties and responsibilities are not the only things he has.

Inherent rights of articles.

Knight Vlad was entitled to exercise those rights on this land where Bayezid’s banner flew.

“Since you won’t tell me the details of why you are trying to take Jean away, I have no choice but to do this.”

“…This is worse than rumors.”

A heavy silence began to fall, accompanied by flowing cigarette smoke.

Gunther, the owner of the silence, was not particularly angry.

He was just looking at Vlad with curious eyes.

“They said he was a loser.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

The cigarette burning between his fingers represented his absurd feelings.

Actually, the guy in front of me was the guy who tore up the indulgence issued by Bishop Pierre.

※※※※

“Vlad.”

“Justia.”

Justia approached Vlad and Nibelun, who were leaving the city hall.

“Are you going back now?”

“no.”

“Well, I guess I should take a break before heading back.”

“…That’s not it.”

Justia, who may not yet know the details of the situation, had no hesitation in her attitude toward Vlad.

I was curious to see what Vlad’s face would look like if he found out that he had just gotten into a fight with Günther.

“Anyway, why can’t Jean wake up yet? “As someone who brought him here, I’m worried.”

“iced coffee.”

Seeing Vlad wondering where to go in the fog, Justia naturally began to take the lead.

Vlad and Nibelun naturally begin to follow her.

The platinum-blond head, clearly visible even in the dark fog, filled Vlad’s field of vision.

“I can’t explain in detail because it’s not certain yet. “It wasn’t long before we noticed the anomaly in Moshiam.”

“What’s wrong?”

Justia, who turned around in response to Vlad’s question, began to look at Nibelun.

“Is this person trustworthy?”

“No.”

“…….”

In response to Vlad’s response being so firm, Justia had no choice but to motion for him to come closer.

Nibelun, standing alone in the fog, just pricked his ears in confusion.

“When Baron Utman was there, the city was sealed off, so I didn’t know much about the situation. “But since the Vatican had stepped forward, we thought that only a few evil traces would remain.”

Vlad sent a warning with his eyes to Nibelun, who was blinking from beyond the fog, and focused on her story being told in a whisper.

“But I sense a faint but sinister energy in this city. “I don’t know where the source is.”

The holy war declared in Baron Utman was enormous in scale.

So much so that even the steelsmith who tried to create the Northern Union flinched.

However, there were still unidentifiable roots in the place they left, and the Northern Orthodox Church had only just confirmed the reality of those roots.

“So Jean…”

“So, I have to look into the deacon you brought in.”

Now that everything was obscured by the thick fog, the only clue in front of the Paladins was the young deacon who was in a deep sleep.

“Although it was in bad form, the subtitle Jean somehow connected us to the source we were looking for. “It seems like a curse targeting children…”

If there is a result, there must be a beginning, and following the thread that connects them is the basis of investigation.

Perhaps Günter was trying to find the root of the evil that was spreading in Moshiam, using the existence of Jean as a clue.

“But when I saw you earlier, I saw you were sweating coldly.”

Justia, who had conveyed what she had to say, now hinted at the question she had been harboring before.

The question was also related to the curse I had just mentioned.

“Did Vlad also have a strange dream?”

“A dream?”

“yes.”

The first thing the Holy Knights did when they came to Moshiam was to investigate a strange epidemic that only occurred to children.

The children of Moshiam, who fell asleep when the sun rose and opened their eyes when the sun set, all said they had the same dream.

“There’s a bonfire and all the kids are singing. “Such a dream.”

“…….”

“There is testimony that children told their parents they had such dreams before they died. “If you ever had a dream….”

What is the standard that separates children from adults?

Vlad felt a dizzying sense of despair as he recalled his own dream, which was exactly the same as the dream the children had.

‘Holy shit.’

A young deacon still sleeping in a city where the sun cannot be seen.

It seemed that the child that Andrea had asked for was still singing with the children of Moshiam.

※※※※

“Okay. “Even if he didn’t say anything, I roughly understood the situation.”

After checking that Jean was still asleep at the church he entered following Justia’s guidance, Vlad was now walking towards the inn.

It was hard to make out because there was a lot of fog, but the sun was setting in the evening.

“Is there anything you can tell about being a wizard?”

“Uh um.”

Despite Vlad’s question, Nibelun was still stuttering as if he couldn’t escape his own thoughts.

“It seems like the curse is hidden in something that cannot be grasped like fog. “Because it has no substance, you can’t hold onto it.”

“No, don’t say such nonsense.”

Vlad ruffled his hair in frustration and began to growl with his teeth set.

“Is there no way? If not, you’ll be leaving here tomorrow.”

“oh! It’s not possible. that!”

Vlad’s threat seemed to have worked as Nibelun’s amber eyes returned to focus.

“Actually, I also recommend the method used by the paladins. “No matter the method of the curse, it is tied to the entity called Jean.”

“Then what about Jean?”

“What about Jean…”

In response to Vlad’s question, Nibelun scratched his head with a troubled expression.

“It wouldn’t be good to leave it alone.”

“…There’s no need to wait until tomorrow. “You get out now.”

I thought about lending the cat’s hand to see if it would help, but the cat turned out to be a cat.

In that case, there is no need to take him with you….

Pop- Pop-pop-pop-

“What is that?”

“It’s a fumigator. “It’s something that beekeepers usually use to ward off bees.”

The item that Nibelun hurriedly took out of his bag, perhaps in response to the threat, was something Vlad had never seen in his life.

“Why is that?”

“Fog is something that obscures what originally exists. “The intention is obvious.”

Pop-pop-

pop- Nibelun pulled the handle, and the fumigator began to move with an alarming sound.

However, what was strange was that, contrary to the explanation, no smoke came out of the fumigator’s spout.

“Is it broken?”

“I tested it to see if that was the case, and it seemed to work well.”

Nibelun’s face was turning red, as if pulling the handle was difficult, but Vlad seemed to understand why he was going through such trouble.

“…It’s gone?”

“It’s because it’s a false fog. That’s what this fumigator is for.”

In the middle of the empty city street, Vlad was looking curiously at Nibelun, who was waving the fumigator with all his might.

As the frivolous sound gets louder, the surrounding scenery becomes increasingly clear.

The cat’s magical object was absorbing the fog and illuminating the surroundings.