Quihano Side Story – Suspicious Village (2)
The end of the green pastures under the white moonlight.
There was a shadow quietly rising from the forest, which led to a green grassy bush and then to a lush tree.
“…….”
Even under the brightly shining moonlight, the darkness of the shadow did not disappear.
It was completely dark, as if the surrounding trees were blocking it out themselves.
Therefore, the only thing that shines is a pair of eyes that shine like a beast.
“Damn you humans.”
There was anger in the small voice that could not be hidden.
Like tea in a kettle quietly boiling.
And the anger flowing through the delicate voice was directed at the human windmills visible below.
“…I will definitely save you.”
With those words, the unidentified doll began to seep into the darkness again.
A being hidden in the darkness created by the lonely trees in a lush forest, overlooking the village.
The moon that was floating in the sky was finally discovered, and it clearly had platinum-blonde hair that shined coldly.
※※※※
“Hmm.”
Kihano, who entered the windmill, began to open his eyes wide as if he was curious.
Despite the shabby appearance on the outside, the inside seemed surprised to see Samonte’s workshop neatly organized.
Pajik-! Puzzle-!
Moreover, seeing lightning suddenly appear in an empty glass tube, I had no choice but to open my eyes wide.
Quijano shrugged his shoulders without realizing it as he looked at the lightning that suddenly flowed from the spot where Samonte was standing, the highest point in the windmill.
“…Is that magic too?”
Samonte’s workshop is full of strange-looking gears and pipes tangled like spiderwebs.
Quijano, who was casually wandering around there, realized that there were many things around that looked like glass tubes where lightning had just appeared.
“I don’t know what kind of experiment they’re doing, but it’s very noisy.”
They were clearly glass tubes containing nothing.
However, cold dew was forming on one glass tube and a bright red flame was burning on another glass tube. It was a sight that could only be explained as a phenomenon created by magic.
“Have you done enough research now? Mr. Quijano.”
A young man wearing a robe walked out from behind Quijano, who was looking around curiously.
He was his student who replaced Samonte, who was absorbed in the experiment above.
“Oh, investigation? Yes. “I’ve seen everything there is to see.”
When the disciple asked if there was anything else to look at, Quihano subtly touched his innermost thoughts.
Tap-
Then, a small vibration returns as if in response.
Quijano smiled and looked at Samonte’s disciple, hearing the vibration that seemed to have come to an end.
“It’s really amazing. “There’s nothing inside, but things are happening.”
“haha. It will happen. “If you see it for the first time, you can’t help but be amazed.”
Unlike Samonte, who had a bleak look, the young man in front of Quijano was dealing with him with a friendly smile.
However, Quijano was able to clearly see that even in that natural smile, there was a sneer towards him.
“Perhaps what you see now can be said to be the process of creating something from nothing.”
“……yes?”
Even now, the wizards were busy moving around inside the windmill.
However, even in this busy flow, there was only a strange awkwardness between Quihano and the young wizard.
“Actually, the experiments we are doing are related to those things. Something that makes useless things useful.”
After saying that, Samonte’s disciple playfully waved his palm as if saying any more would be a pain in the ass.
“Anyway, this is an experiment that the Dragulia family is particularly concerned about. But there are things that hinder such an important experiment.”
With those words, Samonte’s disciple nodded his head as if to look over there.
“…….”
As Quijano walked along with the nod, there was a scene visible through the window.
The surrounding scenery that can be seen from a high place.
From the window of the windmill that I was currently looking out from, I could see not only the wide-spreading village pastures but also the forest in the distance.
“These days, the barrier we put up is being damaged little by little. At first, I thought it might have been done by wild animals, but after investigating, it seemed like it had been touched by humans.”
With those words, Samonte’s disciple took out a small stone from his chest.
It was a stone that looked ordinary at first glance, but its surface was full of intricately carved inscriptions.
“It definitely looks like it was broken with a knife.”
“That’s right. “Someone is trying to sabotage us.”
The reason Quihano came here was to catch the witch who was said to be haunting the area.
And now, ominous evidence of the witch’s actions remained in the stones that Samonte’s disciple was hitting.
“The person who broke this barrier stone means that he or she knows how to handle at least the minimum of mysteries.”
He brutally killed the sheep and at the same time interfered with the dragon’s experiments.
Meanwhile, an unknown mystery was manifesting itself, so perhaps it was really the work of a witch as they said.
“So, please be kind to me. Mr. Quijano.”
“yes. I did my best…”
“How else would I know? If we resolve this matter well, Dragulia’s anger toward Quihano may be relieved.”
No matter what the situation in the village is, all you have to do is catch the so-called witch.
Kihano said hello to conclude the work, but he couldn’t help but flinch for a moment at the words he just heard.
“oh my. this! I guess I said something unnecessary about this. sorry.”
He was saying he was sorry in words, but his seemingly cheerful attitude was quite rude.
That means that what was just said was not a mistake.
Perhaps the words just uttered were a small revenge for Quijano’s attitude towards Samonte yesterday.
“Anyway, our experiment toward perfection. I believe that Kihano, a member of Frausen, will be of great help.”
Samonte’s disciple was smiling as he looked at Quijano standing silently like that.
This is towards the bastard of the Fraussen family, who is rumored to have fallen out of favor with the dragons.
“……Sure. I will do my best.”
However, even though Kihano saw the man laughing at him, he had no choice but to smile back.
Because in today’s world full of perfection, everyone has no choice but to smile.
Quihano, who had swallowed up the ridicule directed at him, had a bitterness that was difficult to hide on his face.
※※※※
“Mr. Quihano. Mr. Quijano?”
“…….”
“You need to get up now. “The sun is setting.”
It was a hill in the village where the sun was setting.
It was a landscape that would have been like a painting if seen from afar, but right now, Jan’s voice, trying to wake Quijano up, could only be heard loudly.
“……kid. “I told you to wake me up in the evening.”
“Is it evening now? “It’s almost time for the sun to set.”
Hearing Yan’s words coming from next to him, Quijano began to look around as if that had already happened.
As expected, the green pasture was suddenly filled with the red waves created by the sunset.
“Where is the sheep?”
“yes?”
“Where have the sheep gone? “I was over there earlier.”
Quihano, who seemed to have not yet woken up, was suddenly looking for the sheep.
However, his eyes were more serious than usual as he looked around.
“It’s that far. So, is this how it started from here?”
With those words, Quijano took out a piece of paper from his pocket and started marking something.
A small map that seems to depict the periphery of the village.
But now, on the map, there were a lot of unidentifiable marks drawn by Quijano.
“What’s this. Mr. Quijano?”
“A road where shepherds move.”
“Why are you displaying this?”
“To find out. “Which pasture will the sheep go to today?”
Jan was looking up at Quijano, amazed by the marks drawn so meticulously.
That’s because it didn’t seem at all consistent with the sloppy appearance he had shown so far.
“…Usually shepherds let their sheep go around the pastures. Otherwise, the pastures will quickly become desolate.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“I’m telling you in advance not to say anything.”
Looking at Jan, whose eyes were twitching as if wondering why you were doing this, Quijano was scratching his head as if he was in pain.
“Anyway, if the shepherds wander around like that, there will be at least one pasture where they can rest.”
The job of a shepherd was originally meant to tend sheep.
However, their other role was as watchmen protecting the village, so if there were suspicious groups or monsters nearby, the shepherds had no choice but to notice them before anyone else.
“And today, this place just happens to be empty.”
In that case, the unknown intruder who was said to be staying in the forest would probably want to avoid the gaze of the shepherds.
Therefore, Quijano, who was secretly aware of the rules by which the flock moves, was able to figure out that today was the right time for the being called a witch to move.
“……It’s towards the windmill? “It’s also the windmill we went to earlier.”
“okay.”
The only pasture with no shepherds to look around and no flock of sheep to bleat.
Therefore, Quijano’s finger was now pointing to the place where it would be easiest to reach Samonte’s windmill.
“That’s why I asked you to wake me up in the evening. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well tonight.”
“…….”
After finishing speaking, Kihano chewed his mouth as if he still had trouble sleeping.
However, even as Jan looked at Quijano yawning carefree, he could not find anything to say.
“…Would you like to have dinner? “I brought you a packed lunch from the inn earlier.”
“oh. It’s good. Solve it quickly.”
The brat of the Fraussen family who constantly flirts with women and gets beaten up by his older brother.
Everyone pointed at him, saying he was pathetic, but for some reason, it seemed to Jan that the appearance that others knew of him was not all that Quijano was.
“What is this? “Is it a lemon?”
“yes.”
“…Why did you bring this? “You’re not eating things like lemons.”
“It’s delicious if you sprinkle it on something like meat. “In our village, everyone eats like that?”
The night was getting deeper.
Today was a moonless night.
However, as Jan waited for the upcoming night, his heart seemed to be pounding for no reason.
Because I was more curious about the other side of Kihano in front of me than the unknown witch.
※※※※
There was a shadow moving secretly, taking advantage of the night sky where even the moon was obscured.
A shadow running from a distant forest toward a wide meadow.
The shadow, which was moving at a speed so fast that the expression ‘shot’ was appropriate, was literally running down a quiet hill without even making the slightest sound.
“…….”
Indeed, it was worth hiding in the forest and watching closely.
Because there were no shepherds with good eyes or sensitive flocks of sheep in the direction where the shadow was moving now.
Therefore, all you can see before your eyes is a human windmill standing in an ugly shape.
The golden eyes staring at the windmill were suddenly filled with ferocity.
-Ugh-!
“…!”
However, the shadow flinched at the screams of the young ones carried by the wind.
-it hurts! It hurts!
-stop it! Hehe!
It was the sound of young spirits born from the Mother World Tree.
The children all left smiling, but the sounds coming from that windmill were too painful screams to just listen to quietly.
“You damn humans!”
The screams were more vivid than ever before.
Her heart began to grow increasingly impatient as the children’s cries shook her ears.
‘…We have to go quickly!’
Therefore, an unknown entity moves forward with more urgent steps than before.
Unlike before, when I approached cautiously, the steps I took now were imbued with a helpless impatience.
-Grog.
-Grog. croak.
‘Frog sound?’
So she didn’t know.
What was a green field just a moment ago has now become a pond filled with fog.
“Looking at your body type, does it look like a woman?”
“…!”
Spot-!
An unknown shadow suddenly retreated from the protruding blade of the sword.
However, this is not the field from before, but a pond that has already filled with moisture.
Instead of the fresh grass that had supported her feet just a moment ago, the floor was full of mud and was still holding onto her ankles.
“Who are you?”
I managed to avoid it by forcefully breaking my body, but it was a very sharp sword.
If it weren’t for the words I just heard, it was such a secret movement that I wouldn’t have anything to say even if my head was blown off.
“If I tell you who I am, will you tell me your name too?”
From beyond the fog I was looking at, a man was walking out.
He is tall and has brown, almost red hair.
However, more than his handsome appearance, what caught her eye was his relaxed, smiling expression.
“My name is Quihano. Quijano of the Frausen family.”
One of his teachers once said:
Controlling the battlefield is the shortcut to victory.
And now this is Quijano’s pond created by an old frog.
“Now that I’ve revealed my name, will you tell me?”
The bent posture, as if ready to pounce at any moment, is like a sharp blade.
It was as if he was saying he would split you with a single blow.
“Say your name. “Before my sword touches your neck.”
The bastard son of the Frausen family. Quijano Frausen.
However, the name given to him in the past was Quihano Frausen, a rare genius born to the Frausen family.
