Episode 598: The scene of that day (3)
Gulp.
Ludger swallowed his saliva without realizing it.
The words of the human trafficker driver were so shocking that Ludger, who usually maintains his composure, instinctively reacted this way.
If you look at it objectively, you completely understand.
At best, Grander’s appearance is nothing more than a girl in her early teens.
Moreover, she was as pretty as a doll and dressed appropriately.
Even if we met in the middle of a forest like this, it was common sense that curiosity would take precedence over caution.
However, there were times when such common sense responses did not work.
That was it now.
-Hehe.
A laugh escaped Grander’s lips.
The moment Ludger heard that sound, he felt the hairs on his entire body stand on end.
Oh, that was wrong.
The moment Ludger saw Grandeur’s red eyes curved like a crescent moon, he had no choice but to pray for the fat knight to rest in peace.
-You disciple. Take the child and get out of here. It’s too early for you to see what I’m going to show you now.
-…All right.
Ludger, carrying Freuden around him, quickly left the position and took Rine with him.
-Oh brother?
-We have to get out of here quickly.
-why?
-I’ll tell you why later.
Despite her young age, Line followed Ludger well without being particularly irritable or stubborn.
The moment when Ludger was just about to leave the border of the forest.
Tooung!
A huge wave occurred in the center of the forest, and a red pillar rose up.
Ludger’s expression instantly became astonished when he saw something as creepy as blood.
Line tried to look back to see what was going on, but Ludger covered her eyes with his other hand.
-I can not see.
-Nothing. Don’t look.
After the blood-red pillar disappeared, the forest became eerily quiet.
Ludger quietly looked into the forest for a moment.
Even though it was still broad daylight, the inside of this coniferous forest was strangely dark as not much light came in.
Red eyes appeared in the darkness.
Ludger asked after seeing Grander slowly walking out.
-Is it all over?
-I also cleaned up all the other guys nearby.
The nobleman kidnapped the next head of the Ulburg family, one of the three major dukes of the empire.
Of course, that one man would not be the only one with knight-level strength.
The roots were spread out all over this forest, and Grander said he cleared them all in that split second.
If you ask Ludger if it is possible, you will say yes.
Even if it is impossible for others, it is possible for Grandeur.
And the fact that Grander had cleaned everything up also meant that they couldn’t even leave a body behind.
It would have turned into a handful of blood and entered Grander’s mouth.
-I feel bad after drinking tasteless blood for the first time in a long time.
Grander lightly flicked his index finger toward Ludger.
Ludger, not knowing what that meant, sighed and placed the unconscious Freuden on the floor.
-Rine. Please take care of this little boy for a while.
-huh!
-And cover your eyes. Understand?
-huh!
-You can count to 60 in your head and then look.
Line kindly followed Ludger’s words.
The only thing that Line, who covered her eyes with both hands, failed to do was say the number 60 out loud.
-58. 59. 60. I counted them all!
Line, who had counted to 60, looked back at Ludger.
What was visible there was Ludger adjusting the shirt on his shoulders and Grander smiling somewhat with satisfaction.
-brother. My face is white.
-I have to go and eat some meat today.
Ludger shook his head and carried Freuden, who was lying on the floor, again.
-What is this kid?
Grander seemed curious about Freuden’s appearance and followed Ludger’s side and asked.
-I do not know. He appears to be a child of a noble family who was kidnapped, and judging by the clothes he is wearing and the attitude he gives me, as well as how arrogant he is, he appears to be from a well-to-do family.
-Huh. He is the child of a nobleman who was kidnapped to a place like this. This is really fun. What happened? We can take care of it ourselves.
-This is something you should tell Line’s mother, not us.
-Isn’t that what it is?
It was an arrogant thing to say, but since Grander was like this from the beginning, Ludger thought it would be like that.
-More than that, Master has been traveling around a lot these days. Is your work finished since you came back?
-That is not yet.
-Are you there yet? For a teacher, it takes quite a long time.
-What. Are you putting gold on this teacher’s face? Unfortunately, the vampire who is your teacher is not that omnipotent. There are things that can’t be done and things that can’t be done.
-Like cleaning or organizing the house?
-That’s something you don’t need to do. Isn’t there a faithful child who does it for you?
-You don’t consider my position at all.
It was about three hours later that Freuden came to his senses.
-How dare you touch this body!
As soon as Freuden opened his eyes, he remembered Ludger hitting him and ran wild.
Ludger looked at Freuden and clenched his fist again.
This tiny little boy hasn’t come to his senses yet. So, I guess I need to help you come to your senses.
Freuden must have noticed Ludger’s look in his eyes and kept his mouth shut.
-It’s good that you’re quick to notice.
Ludger relaxed his clenched hands.
Freuden glared at Ludger with a stern look on his face and opened his protruding lips.
-Contact the family. This body is Freuden Ulburg, the eldest son of the Ulburg family. If you bring me safely to my family, you will receive a great reward.
It wasn’t as brazen as before, but it was still an arrogant tone that was hard to shake off.
However, judging from the fact that he mentioned the Ulburg family, he was more than qualified to do so.
The problem was that not a single person here accepted the family name.
-Interesting name!
Line said that and smiled brightly.
Freuden looked dumbfounded at the completely unexpected reaction.
-Poetry is fascinating? The Ulburg family, with its deep history and tradition?
-huh! Interesting!
-You’ve never heard of it?
-yes? Is this your first time hearing this?
For Line, who lived quietly with her mother, news from the outside world was completely new to her.
But Freuden couldn’t close his mouth, perhaps because he was shocked by even that fact.
-Would you like to eat this instead?
Line said that and handed out a plate to Freuden.
It was leftover food from dinner a while ago.
Freuden was passed out and missed meal time, so Line personally brought him something for him.
-Why do I have to eat this kind of food!
Freuden was about to say that he wouldn’t even eat a dish unless it was made by a famous chef.
Grumble.
Now that I think about it, I haven’t eaten anything except water since I was kidnapped by the kidnapper.
Even if the kidnappers tried to feed them, all they could do was mashed potatoes and season them with salt.
Even that was touched by his dirty hands, so Freuden refused to do it.
Compared to the lump that didn’t even look like a dish, the meat on Line’s plate looked quite appetizing.
In the past, I wouldn’t have even paid attention to it, but now I’m in a situation where I can’t do anything because of my empty stomach.
-…Well, it’s the duty of a noble to accept something like this.
-Oh my goodness.
Line’s mother smiled happily as she looked at Freuden.
This was thanks to the fact that he seemed strangely mature, despite his age, which seemed to be Line’s age, which stimulated cuteness.
-hmm? What is this taste? Who made this dish? You can bring me in as my family’s cook right now!
After eating a piece of meat, Freuden’s eyes lit up and he heaped praise on it.
Rine laughed as he saw that.
-thank god! brother! They say this meat is delicious!
-what?
Freuden stared at Ludger with an expression that said, ‘I guess not.’
Ludger glanced at Freuden, then frowned and raised one corner of his mouth.
This was the part where I could immediately tell who made this meat.
-Keuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.
Freuden clenched his fist in frustration, but couldn’t stop eating the food on his plate.
No matter how stubborn and arrogant a noble was, it was difficult for him to resist eating meat after starving himself at a young age.
-I will pay for this shame someday.
-Oh yeah. If that’s the case, I’ll have to practice cooking harder.
Freuden made one resolution at this moment.
Let’s make a dish so delicious that it will make that arrogant person laugh.
But since there was no other way now, Freuden turned his attention elsewhere to relieve his anger.
-You there. What is your name?
-yes? me? I’m Line. Hi-Hi. you?
-Uh-huh! You! How old are you?
-me? 7 years old!
-I’m 8 years old! Since I am your older brother, use respectful language.
-and! I got another brother!
What was so good made Line jump up and down in her seat.
Freuden looked at Linne with a mysterious gaze.
Freuden, born into the Ulburg family, did not regard people as human beings.
No, to be exact, it was closer to being impossible to see.
The intentions of those approaching the matriarch who would lead Ulburg were very obvious.
Either he is a dark-hearted person who looks good to him and wants to take his place someday.
Or, he was someone who was jealous and envious of his position itself and was trying to pull him down in any way possible.
Because Freuden was smart, he could sense the inner thoughts of such people from an early age.
So Freuden always behaved arrogantly.
The other person’s smiling mask was also prone to cracks in the face of the young noble’s childish behavior.
Freuden deliberately maintained this attitude because he wanted to unmask his opponents.
But Line was different.
Starting with the family in which Freuden grew up, all the environments he had encountered until now were nothing but gray.
A dull, monochrome world where black and white things are mixed together.
In it, Freuden encountered for the first time a child as colorful as a bright flower petal.
Freuden felt possessed by Line’s pure innocence, without any insidious intentions.
-let’s play together!
That might have been why.
Even though Line took his hand and led him out to see the sights in the middle of the night, he couldn’t shake it off and followed along.
Ludger got up as if he had no choice and did not even see Ludger following along.
Line went with Freuden and Ludger to a forest near a small pond at night.
Freuden saw beautiful lights twinkling there.
-look! Isn’t it pretty? Hi-Hi.
Flying fireflies illuminated the forest beautifully.
The light of the fireflies reflected in the pond and mixed with the starlight in the sky.
In the midst of the moonlight pouring in, the sight of Linne smiling was so sacred and beautiful in Freuden’s eyes.
Excited.
A childish child who knew nothing.
No, the boy was so smart that he had no choice but to act like that.
That was the first time I became aware of the feeling called love.
* * *
The wolf ran.
Stepping on the earth and riding the wind, much faster than a train.
‘ah.’
Freuden opened his closed eyes.
It’s been a while since I had an old dream.
‘I can’t believe I remember something that happened almost 10 years so vividly.’
Freuden woke up, raised his head, and realized that he was riding on the wolf’s back.
‘Oh, it was like that.’
Freuden was now continuing to move while riding on the wolf’s back.
To say that the wolf spirit beast was amazing was an understatement.
Even though he fell into a deep sleep while riding on his back, he didn’t feel any discomfort.
Even though it is normal to feel nauseous and have difficulty coming to your senses due to the wind pressure when driving at this speed.
Warm and soft.
I didn’t feel any vibration in my body enough to relax my hands holding the fur and open my arms wide.
It felt as if I had become one with the wind itself.
Tadat!
Even though the huge wolf was running so fast, no one paid any attention to it.
A driver driving a farmer’s car digging wheat for a woman passing by.
They just slightly closed their eyes and savored the wind passing by.
‘This is the spirit beast that has protected our family for a long time.’
A sacred wolf that lives only in the forest adjacent to the Ulburg family.
The wolf was running toward its destination with itself on its back.
‘How far does it go beyond that?’
It was questionable whether this wolf knew the exact location of what he was looking for, but seeing as its steps never stopped, it seemed like there was something there.
It was only after the horizon beyond that cliff was visible that the wolf spirit, which had been running across the entire continent, stopped.
“ocean?”
This is a coastal cliff.
The sound of waves coming from the front meant that we had reached one end of the continent.
The wolf lifted his head, sniffed, and gazed out across the sea.
“Surely Rine is out there?”
The wolf nodded as if yes.
Freuden’s expression hardened.
If we were somewhere on the continent, we would definitely have been able to meet.
But across the sea.
“Thank you for guiding me here. “You should go back now.”
But I couldn’t give up.
Freuden was thinking of finding a boat in a nearby town or city.
Freuden thanked Youngsu and tried to get off, but Youngsu snorted and rejected Freuden’s offer.
“Why are you doing that?”
The moment Freuden was puzzled, the spirit beast’s body began to be engulfed in magical energy.
Then he jumped off the cliff with Freuden on his back.
In an instant, I felt the exhilarating sensation of my body floating, and the sight of the waves crashing against the cliff quickly became closer.
“sleep…!”
The moment Freuden was confused, the wolf stepped lightly on the waves with its four legs and ran quickly across the sea.
If you look closely, you can see that Youngsu’s legs were not stepping on the water, but on the wind in between.
“…Amazing.”
I never thought I could run on the sea.
But thanks to this, I was able to shorten the time.
“Okay, shamelessly, please.”
The wolf roared at those words and ran across the sea.
A storm followed the wolf’s path, raising a series of huge water columns over the sea.
