Star-Embracing Swordmaster - Chapter 280

Quihano Side Story – Stars that have lost their light (2)

Today was a very quiet day.

The villagers who would normally have been chatting on the first floor were away due to something that had not happened in a long time, and now on the second floor it was only Quijano and his group.

“You look in a good mood. “Mr. Andrew.”

At the inn where they were the only ones left, the group was truly enjoying leisure for the first time in a long time.

Like an old frog swimming and splashing in the washbasin.

“If you look at it like this, it really looks like a frog.”

“……You rude guy. “Can’t you take back what you said right away?”

“A frog is a frog.”

“Oops! “Is there a talking frog in this world?”

Andrew puffed out his cheeks and shouted as if he was very uncomfortable with Jan’s words.

However, it is difficult to refute that statement because anyone can see that the current Andrew is a frog.

“Kihano, you bastard! How long do you plan on leaving me alone like this?”

“…….”

“So, if you’ve seen everything you need to do, you should have thought of leaving quickly! “Isn’t it because you were so sloppy that you ended up getting caught?”

Andrew got out of the wash basin with a grumpy expression, adjusted the cone hat next to him, and looked at Quijano.

However, despite Andrew’s torch, Quijano just looks at the scenery outside the window without saying anything.

Andrew felt a bit impatient at the sight of Quijano sitting still with a white bandage wrapped around his left eye.

“You haven’t forgotten the contract we made, have you? “Shouldn’t we hurry and go find my body?”

Andrew, who had turned into a frog in an unexpected accident, was still obsessed with finding his body.

However, without Quijano to move that goal on your behalf, it would be nothing more than a wish that would be difficult to achieve.

“…Anyway, are your eyes okay? “Is there anything wrong with holding the sword?”

No matter how busy your trip is, you still need some rest every now and then.

However, since Quijano was too weak to be considered resting at the moment, Andrew, who was busy at one o’clock, was understandably anxious.

“Actually, it’s not easy to ignore the flying insects that are flying around these days, isn’t it? So hurry up before I turn into a real frog…”

“It’s not okay.”

Andrew was raising his voice by slamming his hind leg, but he silenced himself when he heard Quijano’s low voice.

“what?”

“I thought it was okay, but I found out later that it wasn’t okay.”

With those words, Quijano pulled down the bandage around his eyes as if to take a look.

“I guess she touched my eye by mistake.”

right eye left eye.

Quijano, who was taking turns opening his eyes like this, began to make a gloomy expression as he looked at Andrew.

“If you look at this with your left eye, the color appears darker.”

The world seen through my injured left eye somehow seemed darker in color.

Kihano sighed as he looked around at the surrounding scenery, whose colors had deepened like an oil painting.

※※※※

A basement somewhere that is a little too shabby to be called a prison.

Potato sacks scattered here and there showed that this was an ordinary warehouse, but what was actually surrounding the priestess was an iron bar thicker than an adult’s forearm.

It was also a bar that the wizards had carved spells into that could not be escaped.

The priestess, who couldn’t even call spirits because they had engraved them so hard, was now looking at the brown-haired man wandering in front of her.

“What is this picture? “Are you angry for a living?”

The Goddess of the World Tree was now locked in a large cage, as if she were a dangerous animal.

Although it was a hastily constructed cage, its performance was solid, so Quijano was now able to approach her with peace of mind.

“Your skills are pretty decent, right? “You’re much better than the painters I saw when I was young.”

“…….”

“I shouldn’t have chosen to make a living this way. “Don’t just call on spirits and smash them here and there.”

The picture Quijano was holding now depicted a windmill standing on a hill.

Anyone who saw the painting could recognize it as the windmill of Samonte, but what really impressed Quijano was the scene of Consuegra painted around it.

“Seeing it drawn in such detail, I guess I’ve been looking at this village for a long time. “You didn’t like Samonte’s experiment that much?”

Quijano’s attitude as he asked the question was too gentle to be called an interrogation, but it was too crooked to be called a simple question.

That was because he knew very well that he wouldn’t answer if he asked a question that hurt his mouth anyway.

Today was the fifth day since she was captured here, but Kihano knew very well that no one had made the priestess open her mouth.

“…I haven’t been watching it for a while.”

However, her lips, which had never opened their mouths despite any threats, were now opening little by little in front of Quijano.

“……what?”

“I haven’t seen it in a while. “It is true that you tried to stop the experiment you were conducting.”

Unlike the harsh voice I heard that night, the woman’s voice I was hearing now was quite impressive.

Unlike human intonation, the rhyming sound seemed like a bird chirping right next to me.

“Then when did you arrive here?”

“Four months ago.”

“Did you come here and draw this picture four months ago?”

“That was a year ago.”

“……huh?”

However, even though he heard that nice voice, Kihano’s expression was becoming more and more frowning.

This was because they were talking to each other, but they were not actually communicating.

“Then what? “Are you saying that this picture was already drawn before we even arrived here?”

“huh.”

“You drew this detailed picture without even looking at it?”

It was an absolutely nonsensical answer, but the priestess just nodded quietly.

Kihano’s expression began to become increasingly complicated at her silent response.

“……Ok, fine. “You can tell the details later to the interrogators, not me.”

What about anything? Now he is free from the mission he was given.

Since I could be free again as long as I treated Dragulia’s people who would arrive in a few days, all I had to do was ignore the troublesome situation.

“That’s a revelation.”

“what?”

However, even in a conversation that seemed impossible to reach, the priestess was persistently trying to hold on to Quihano.

“And he said that revelation can only be recognized at the moment it comes.”

It is an effort that must be made to connect your world with mine, even if just for a moment.

The priestess was holding on to Quihano, who was about to turn around, for the revelation of the World Tree, which she had just learned.

“Like me now.”

With those words, the priestess’s raised finger was pointing to her left eye, as if telling her to look here.

For some reason, Kihano’s left eye, which was covered in a bandage, felt numb due to that sudden action.

“You have to see now. Quijano. “If you keep doing this, the star inside you will die.”

Mother World Tree told her to go to the village of windmills.

With the words to save the child who would be there.

Therefore, the priestess who arrived here tried to save the spirits that had been captured in the windmill, but the child that the revelation spoke of was not one of the captured spirits.

“If you really want to find your own world, don’t look away anymore. Quijano.”

“…….”

The priestess was looking through Kihano’s eyes.

A crying child trying to pick up a dying ember.

That child was a child who had a brightly shining star, but was never able to show its light.

※※※※

The colorful sunlight coming through the colorful glass was dazzling.

However, what was more dazzling than that was the sight of the large crowd crowded around the duel arena.

“……”

The young boy felt as if his heart would explode at the fact that all the nobles on the continent were looking at him.

Because this was a place of honor.

And because it was a precious stage that he grabbed with his own strength.

“The contestants go forward!”

And it probably went from there.

There was a time when the boy was so excited by the current scene that he forgot what his father had told him.

“Both duelists, please remember that the current duel is for honor.”

Right in front of the boy stood a young dragon with blond hair and blue eyes.

The sight standing beneath the colorful colors is truly perfect.

However, Kihano did not feel intimidated at all even in the face of eyes that he would not normally dare to meet.

“preparation!”

Sometimes there are days like that.

Today is a day filled with the feeling that I can do anything.

And for young Quijano, today was that day.

“…Begin!”

The colors you see are vivid and the sounds you hear are clear.

The current scene felt so clear that I was able to guess where the young dragon in front of me was going to jump towards.

Kyaang-!

So Quijano stretched out his sword.

He blocked the dragon’s teeth, which a young boy would not have dared to react to, and smoothly deflected the path of the sword that tried to enter again.

“…!”

Every time the swords collided, gasps erupted from the surroundings.

Every time that exclamation erupted, the young dragon’s eyes shook with embarrassment.

And young Quijano just enjoyed each and every scene.

“haha!”

The boy’s world was expanding with laughter coming out of his mouth.

The young dragon’s eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at the boy’s sword shining with that smile.

“……This!”

I don’t know why, but today I feel like I can do anything.

In a sensation that some swordsmen have never experienced before, young Quijano began to spread his wings with all his might.

Kaaaaang-!

The sound of swords meeting each other rang loudly.

The hilt of someone’s sword floated above the battlefield along with him.

Looking at that brilliant star rising above my head, the young boy raised his sword high.

“father!”

Quijano, who was flushed with joy over the victory, hurriedly scanned the stands.

However, my father’s eyes, which I met from afar, were filled with indescribable embarrassment and fear.

“……father?”

Frausen’s son defeated perfect odds in front of everyone.

A ray of white burning aura was still shining on the sword the boy was holding, but no one here could congratulate Quihano on his flowering.

“…….”

This place, surrounded by colored glass, is a duel arena for boys.

However, the color for today’s victor, Quijano, was nothing more than the blue eyes of dragons filled with anger.

Among the dragons that rose up with ferocity, a flower that a young boy had bloomed was withering.

He was a younger and more brilliant flower than anyone else here, but it was the boy’s potential that no one could protect.