Star-Embracing Swordmaster - Chapter 281

Quihano Side Story – For Young Potentials (1)

A deep night when everyone in the village is asleep.

In the quiet Consuegra, where only the sound of insects could be heard, the sound of someone sniffling was heard.

“……Sorry.”

A ray of moonlight was seeping through the sloppily woven boards.

A world tree priestess who was locked up in a warehouse somewhere because there was no proper prison.

As she bowed her head with her knees together, the blue moonlight enveloped her as if comforting her.

“I was really trying to save you.”

She was a priestess who had come all the way from Alfheim, the forest of elves, to Consuegra, but now she was trapped in a cage made by wizards.

She was probably a priestess who would be taken to the capital by Sarnus, who would arrive tomorrow, but the reason she was actually shedding tears was not because of the uncertain future ahead.

-It hurts so much! Stop it now!

-sorry. Please take me out!

What really bothers her is the cries of young spirits that she still hears in her ears.

Even now, from Samonte’s brightly lit windmill, the screams of young spirits could be heard continuously.

“…Why are you leaving those children alone? mother.”

Sounds so feeble and pitiful that it makes one resent the revelation of the World Tree that sent him here alone.

However, unable to do anything, the priestess could only bury her tear-stained face between her knees.

The priestess’s shoulders were shaking as she lowered her head helplessly.

The young spirits who were hurt by the wizards’ experiments were crying.

But there was no one here to listen to their sobs.

“…….”

Except for only one person.

Tonight is a night where only the wounded are awake.

Therefore, the knight who was awake alone in the inn room was still stroking the corner of his left eye and quietly glaring at Samonte’s windmill.

※※※※

Consuegra used to only hear the sound of sheep bleating, but for some reason it seemed bustling today.

This was the case with the children who had changed into neat clothes unlike usual, and the images of people sweeping here and there with brooms.

“I heard a very important person from the Dragullia family is coming today.”

“I heard it’s a dragon. “He is also a pure-blooded person.”

“They say you really have blonde hair and blue eyes. “Oh my god, I get to see all the dragons before I die.”

The villagers were very excited about the news that the dragon was coming to Consuegra.

Beings who are beautiful like jewels because they were born from perfection.

People were busy moving around to meet the dragon, which would be an honor just to catch a glimpse of.

“He’s coming! “You have now arrived at the entrance of the village!”

“Everyone, stand in line first! “Crack down on the kids so they can’t run away!”

At the sound of the village chief shouting fiercely, the villagers quickly began to retreat to the side of the road.

He seemed nervous at the sight of a dragon he would meet for the first time in his life, but he seemed unable to hide the excitement rising in his chest.

“……”

Indeed, not long after, a brilliantly shining golden carriage was approaching from afar.

The everlasting golden color is a color that only dragons born from perfection can have.

The villagers who recognized the color began to bow their heads without any hesitation.

“welcome! Sarnus Dragulia!”

As the carriage passed by the villagers stopped, the wizard Samonte began to walk hastily.

With a very polite attitude, unlike anything he had seen in the village so far.

“It’s really a shame that you came all the way to this squalid place…”

Eventually, a noble dragon began to walk out from the door that opened.

Her hair was a brilliant blonde in the sunlight, and her eyes that looked at people were cool blue.

However, the presence that is more powerful than the external appearance is probably due to the possibility of perfection that has been present since birth.

“Good work. Samonte. “Now you’ve finally found a usable power source, right?”

“That’s right. Sarnus.”

Everyone here was bowing their heads towards him.

Therefore, Sarnus’s eyes, which could freely look down, began to slowly scan the surroundings.

“Thank goodness it’s not too late.”

The reason he, a noble dragon, came to this secluded village was to check Samonte’s experiment.

However, what Sarnus wanted to pay more attention to was Chihano Frausen, a young potential they had previously trampled on.

“But I can’t see it.”

“yes?”

But no matter how much he looked around, he couldn’t see the brunette he was looking for.

The youngest son of the Frausen family, who showed such brilliant potential that even the dragons were surprised.

It was a spark of possibility that must be confirmed, but he was not visible from where he was told to be.

※※※※

“Keueuung!”

The windmills of Mansamonte, where everyone leaves to greet the noble dragon.

Therefore, someone was now carefully climbing up a place where no one would be there.

“Why did you build it so high!”

The windmill that Quijano is currently climbing was the tallest and largest windmill in Consuegra.

Therefore, it was a windmill that was difficult for anyone to climb, but for some reason, Quijano was able to climb up with great strides even without a single rope.

“…This is really going to return to its original hand later, right?”

“That’s right! “Has this guy been deceived?”

Andrew, who was placed on his shoulder, tapped his hind legs as if to stop him from being suspicious, but it was inevitable that he would feel anxious.

If the hand of a prosecutor who has to hold a sword turns into a frog, anyone would have no choice but to react like Quijano does now.

“So why are you climbing up the wall instead of leaving the entrance intact? “Aren’t you really crazy?”

“I heard you have to see Samonte’s workshop.”

“so why?”

“Ah… I told you earlier!”

The sight of him climbing up the wall like a frog was quite shocking.

Jan, below, was looking at Quijano with anxiety, but before he knew it, the knight he was serving had passed through the winged area and had reached the window where Samonte’s workshop was located.

“I heard kids crying all night!”

I knew there was no one there, but Quijano’s hushed voice was still urgent.

“Even so, this windmill. “I was very suspicious from the first time I saw it.”

Quijano, who had been carefully observing Samonte’s workshop through the window, turned his head and looked back.

Then what you see is the wings of a windmill that are difficult to capture at a glance.

“Look. “These kids didn’t even put a wind cloth on their windmill.”

However, the wind cloth, which would have been attached to a windmill, was not visible on the wings, which were heavily rusted.

The original purpose of a windmill was to catch the wind and move its wings, but it was as if there was no will to do so in the first place.

Kwasik-!

“So, I’m going to take a closer look.”

Quijano lowered the window with his elbow so that no sound could be heard and carefully removed the cracked glass.

It was a skill I learned for secret meetings with ladies, but as expected, if you learn something, you can use it at any time.

“…….”

Quijano removed the window lock through the opened hole and began to enter Samonte’s workshop with careful gestures.

Even though Andrew said he didn’t see any other security measures in place, there was no harm in being cautious.

“The room was really dirty. Are all wizards like this?”

“I didn’t do that, you idiot.”

“The documents are scattered all over the place. “Wizards, this won’t work.”

“…….”

It was Samonte’s workshop, which was not allowed during the official visit.

Therefore, Samonte’s workshop, which I was seeing for the first time, looked like a complete mess with all kinds of documents rolling around on the floor.

“……What’s this. “Is it a blueprint?”

The documents were full of hard-to-read letters, but among them, there was one piece of paper that caught Quijano’s eye.

A piece of paper with only one picture instead of troublesome-looking letters and formulas.

The drawing that even Quijano, who was unfamiliar with magic, could easily recognize was a cross-sectional view of the windmill he was currently in.

“Why are there so many cogs?”

As I began to look at Samonte’s windmill, there were so many gears and pipes hanging from it.

I don’t know what they made so many of them for, but there were a lot of mechanical devices that an ordinary windmill would never have installed.

“…Kihano.”

“why. “I’m busy.”

Kihano looked around again as if he had lost interest in the picture he had glanced at, but Andrew, who was actually hanging on his shoulder, was blinking as if he was surprised by something.

“This… This is where we are now. “I guess it’s not just a windmill.”

“That’s right. “I told you earlier that I was suspicious.”

Andrew’s voice was trembling as if he was nervous as he spoke carefully, but Quijano was busy looking for the children’s cries that he had heard yesterday.

As Kihano looked around, something sparkling began to appear in his field of vision.

“Because it’s not just a windmill. This…”

“Shh! “Try to be quiet.”

When I looked up and looked at the highest point of the workshop, the glass tubes I had seen last time were hanging full of them.

The glass tubes are tightly fixed as if they were parts of a mechanical device.

Kihano, who was watching the scene, felt like his injured left eye was throbbing even more for some reason.

“I can not hear that?”

“what?”

“I think I can hear crying somewhere now.”

Honestly, it didn’t matter to Quijano what the wizard named Samonte did.

In any case, the experiment he was conducting was supervised by Dragulia, so it was not an area where Quijano could particularly intervene.

“…Can you hear it from up there?”

However, if there are young children involved, it may be a little different.

This is especially true if the experiment causes children to suffer so much that they cry all night long.

“Keuung!”

Quijano frowned at the wound on his left eye that was getting more painful the higher he went.

Therefore, although the bandage that had been removed was already full of red blood stains, Quijano’s hand that was trying to climb up did not stop at all.

“Kihano! “The wound burst!”

“I know it too!”

Because the closer I got to the empty glass tube, the clearer the children’s cries I heard last night became.

Therefore, the highest point of the workshop was climbed without stopping.

There, where the large gear wheel was lying flat, the glass pipes I had seen before were stuck everywhere like decorations.

“Where are you?”

Quijano looked urgent as he turned his head, blood dripping from the corners of his eyes.

However, no matter how much he looked, all he could see were empty glass tubes, and the crying children that Quijano was looking for were nowhere to be seen.

“There is nothing. “Let’s go down first.”

“but.”

“You idiot, I just told you! “This is no ordinary windmill!”

-……!

Andrew was urging him to come down quickly, but Quijano started to turn his head at the sound he had just heard.

Quijano thought he heard it with his ears, but in fact he saw it with his eyes.

Quijano turned his head to follow the sound, and a whitish image passed through his left eye.

-Stop harassing me!

A ray of white lightning crackled from a large glass tube in the center of the gearwheel.

It was a glass tube that was much larger than the others, but now it was even shaking.

Quijano walked towards the glass coffin and widened his eyes as if he couldn’t believe it.

-Stop harassing my friends! You damn humans!

A world that could not be seen with the right eye, but could be seen with the injured left eye.

In a place where the colors were all dark, like a scene from an oil painting, a young, heavily wounded snake was howling at Quijano.

※※※※

A young boy was crying in the empty duel arena where everyone had left.

The tears the boy was shedding now were not tears of injustice or anger.

“……father.”

Those were tears that started from helpless fear.

The dragons of Dragullia were furious when they saw the world I had created.

That’s because those blue eyes explored the boy’s world as they saw the potential of Quihano, which was created by sacrificing their own young dragon.

“Did I do something wrong?”

However, no one made eye contact with Kijano, who was now crying.

Both the father he respected and the mother he loved had no time to look at young Quijano because they were busy appeasing the angry dragons.

-Don’t look away anymore, Kihano.

A boy’s world that no one could protect.

Therefore, the cries of the little boy that even he had ignored continued to reverberate within Quihano.

-If you keep doing this, the star inside you will die.

Perhaps the cries that Quihano heard last night were not the cries of the young spirits in front of him, but the cries of the boy he had been ignoring until now.

Therefore, Quijano decided not to look away anymore and took a step towards the glass tube in front of him.