◈ 303. [Side Story] Winter is coming (3)
The meeting between Lark and I was over at dawn.
As chiefs of the Western and Southern Fronts, we quarreled fiercely and reached agreements moderately.
“ash.”
But eventually the story comes to an end and says,
“Don’t forget. We are brothers.”
personal… … It came down to the topic of siblings.
Lark looked at me blankly and nodded.
“So I want to trust you.”
“You can trust me bro.”
Lark added to me with a grinning smile.
“And I want to believe Fernandez too.”
“… .”
No, that Fernandez and you will fight to the death… … I poured out advice from the heart in my own way, but he didn’t listen.
“Both of you are precious little brothers to me. I don’t want a future where the defenders of our empire fight against each other.”
Lark said with a firm face, but with a confident tone, as if he had made up his mind.
“If you truly want the Duke of Bringer to survive, I will turn a blind eye to it. And if Fernandez wants the throne, I will gladly yield.”
“… .”
I forgot what to say about this declaration.
Even so, do you want them to be together within the framework of family? This first older brother.
“So Ash. my little brother I would be happy if our only three brothers in the world could get along well and be friendly.”
“… .”
“I am… I just hope for it.”
Lark spat out silently and brushed his ole white hair. I smiled warmly.
“Me too bro.”
Still, I thought that a conversation like this would be necessary among family members.
It was something I didn’t like. I also answered.
“Everything worked out, the misunderstanding cleared, and our brothers again… I hope the Guardians can have a peaceful meeting.”
No way.
The imperial capital is engulfed in the flames of civil war, and the empire is split in two. I can never go back to those days when the four of us had a guardian meeting.
However, just as the greeting ‘let’s eat once’ has a strong personality of conveying regards rather than actually meaning to eat.
I just said that with a wish.
Lark smiled bitterly as if he had read the meaning, slowly got up and put on his hood.
“Then see you again. little brother.”
Unlike the first time, leaving only a light hug that hurts less.
Lark strode out of my mansion.
Without bothering to see him off, I stood at the entrance of the mansion and watched the back of the first prince as he walked away.
Maybe it’s because he’s tall, but his steps are wide, so he moves away in an instant.
“… Did you go?”
After Lark’s presence completely disappeared, Dusk Bringer peeked out from the roof of the mansion.
“Did you really go? Is that Larque? You didn’t swing a sword, settle the ground or uproot a building, talk a little, and then quietly back away?”
Dusk Bringer looked down at me in disbelief. I shrugged.
“Because he has a special brotherly love.”
I care about me and I also care about Fernandez. Right now, I had no choice but to run to the ecliptic.
Given the magnitude of the crisis, the change in direction has become absurdly easy.
Thanks to Fernandez’s well-timed plotting of treason, I passed this side with ease.
Tadak!
Following Dusk Bringer on the roof, her knights descended one by one.
At the warehouse side of the backyard of the mansion, the heroic characters under my command came pouring out before I knew it. I clicked my tongue.
“I didn’t order it, but everyone was ready for battle… .”
“A strong man like that is sitting in front of you, not hiding his momentum and showing it openly. Could you have stayed still because it was your men?”
It seems that everyone was preparing to break in if I was in danger.
All of my party members who were hiding were covered in cold sweat. Looking at my subordinates who looked like wet puppies, I smiled.
Lark is obviously out of specification.
It is a holder of strength far beyond the human ark. He must have felt more pressure than when dealing with quite a few boss monsters.
Now that the incident is over, go in and sleep, and everyone gave you a light pat on the back. The party members went back to their respective accommodations with exhausted faces.
“By the way, exactly what conversation did you have that made Lark withdraw?”
Dusk Bringer asked me after confirming that Lark was exiting the Crossroads through the West Gate with a smile on his face.
I told you simply. Fernandez will cause a rebellion, and Lark will return to the ecliptic to stop it.
“Reverse mother… Indeed, the issue of wine and the southern front is such a big event that it becomes ‘something like that’.”
Dusk Bringer, who clicked his tongue and understood, lowered his eyes and said,
“… ash. Do you know that all descendants of your imperial family are entrusted with an oracle?”
He suddenly opened his mouth on a subject he had never heard of.
“yes? An oracle?”
It was a completely unfamiliar story, so I narrowed my brows. What is an oracle?
“The guardian tree of the empire… Everblack, a dark beast, is also a magical beacon that foretells the future.”
A black thorn tree that was frozen with the emperor in the deepest part of the imperial palace.
It was a story about the tree from which the Empire took its name.
“The fate of direct descendants of the imperial family is directly related to the future of the empire. That is why the royal grandson is predicted what kind of life he will lead even before he is born.”
Is it because he is the king of the Principality of Bringer, a brother state of the Everblack Empire?
The Duke of Bringer, who had once been on good terms with the Empire, was familiar with all the customs of the Empire.
“According to that prophecy, a middle name used only by the royal family will be created.”
“aha… .”
I was wondering which school of philosophy came up with the middle name of the royal family, but it was like getting a score from the black thorn tree.
“I was also in the position of the oracle. Emperor… At Traha’s request, we looked into Everblack’s future together.”
Dusk Bringer casually called the name of the current emperor, Traha ‘Peacemaker’ Everblack.
Before the relationship between the two countries went wrong, it seems that they were close in their own way.
After all, this duke is older, and he must be higher in terms of rank. Wouldn’t that be the position of a relative’s grandmother to the emperor?
anyway.
“What kind of future was it?”
“Traha said that he sees three of his sons as heirs.”
I was amazed inside. Since it’s a future prophecy, I thought it would be as accurate as a weather forecast, but I got it right, starting with the number of children.
“The first son will suffer because he is too warm and compassionate, and the second son will cause trouble because he is too cold. Everblack prophesied.”
“Wow, isn’t accuracy a joke?”
I think I would have made a ton of money if I had been a fortune teller in Korea, but that thorn tree.
Dusk Bringer chuckled.
“So Traha reversed the middle names of his two sons.”
“Eh?”
“It is literally. Contrary to the prophecy, I attached my middle name.”
For the warm-hearted Lark, ‘Avalanche’, which means ‘avalanche’.
For the cold-tempered Fernandez, ‘Amber Keeper’, which means ‘Ember Keeper’.
Not from living according to the destiny that each other was born with, but from the desire to compromise with each other. that it was changed
I put my chin on my chin and made a whooping noise.
“It’s fun.”
I’m not a fatalist, but this story itself is interesting.
“Then, in fact, Lark is ‘Amber Keeper’ and Fernandez is ‘Avalanche’… ?”
“Well, it’s a middle name, but it’s something the emperor likes.”
Dusk Bringer crossed his arms and sighed lightly.
“Listening to the story of Larc and Fernandez, it suddenly comes to mind. What happened decades ago… … .”
Suddenly, I felt a chill on the nape of my neck.
Winter is near. Maybe it will snow soon.
I thought that when I heard about the middle names of the two.
If so, the blizzard of the winter that is about to shut up. The avalanche that will fall upon this empire.
Is it Larque? Or is it Fernandez?
Which one is the true master of this winter?
“… Archduke there. Then.”
I sneaked up next to Dusk Bringer and poked her side with my elbow.
“As the third person, what kind of fate was predicted?”
“huh?”
“I’m a bit curious about what kind of fate was prophesied to give me this middle name.”
It’s a boneheader.
After receiving such a terrifying and terrible prophecy, how could they give their lovely youngest son a middle name like this?
I was curious inside so I pricked his side, but Dusk Bringer is great! He coughed and turned around.
“… I don’t remember.”
“no! Where is that! Does it make sense that I can’t remember the other two?!”
“It’s hard to say this, but Lark and Fernandez are two of the greatest geniuses in the history of Everblack’s royal family. On the other hand you… … Didn’t the buds turn yellow from an early age? Compared to my two older brothers, I thought I didn’t have to pay attention.”
Dusk Bringer poked at Ash Kim’s career as an arrogant bully, and when I was making a hurt expression, hehehehe again! I was embarrassed.
“So it seems that I forgot it from my memory. Please understand.”
“You’re doing too much… Makes me wonder… … .”
While I was babbling, I became curious about something else.
Moving to the other side of Dusk Bringer, I stabbed the other side with my elbow. Dusk Bringer struggled in embarrassment.
“No words! Why do you keep stabbing my side from earlier!”
“I’m pretending to be friendly… anyway. Speaking of names, I have another question.”
Actually, I was curious from the beginning.
“Why is your name Dusk Bringer, Grand Duke?”
How come someone’s name is Dusk Bringer?
… Not the same teasing meaning.
It was because the girl duke in front of her was taking the name of her distant ancestor and using it as her own.
The Empire’s guardian dragon and the world’s last fire dragon. Duskbringer is the name of the legendary red dragon that married the Emperor of the Empire hundreds of years ago and gave birth to the first Duke of Bringer.
He must be the dragon who stopped Jormungandr, the serpent that overturned the world, and saved the empire.
Dusk Bringer inherited that name. Why? Is it the same feeling as Jupiter Junior?
“… .”
Then Dusk Bringer just looked up at me. No, why do you look at me like that? Was it a rude question?
“… ash. You deserve it.”
“yes? Qualification?”
What are you talking about all of a sudden? Were you talking about names?
“You accepted my subjects and, as you boasted, Larc… The pursuers under his command were also shaken off. Rejected by all allies and abandoned by the world, you have embraced us. You have already earned my trust.”
“No what… haha. Thank you for saying that.”
I’m happy to receive compliments, but no, why is it leaking to Samcheonpo while talking about the name?
“… But not yet.”
“yes?”
“I want to wait a little longer to see if you are the one who deserves to know the meaning of my name.”
Dusk Bringer, slowly taking his gaze away from me, whispered softly.
“When the time comes, I will let you know first. The meaning of my name.”
“uh… yes.”
It was a light question, but I heard an answer that was somewhat heavy.
I shyly scratched the back of my head.
I didn’t know, but this neighborhood seems to have a deep meaning in its name. Doesn’t a middle name engrave fate, or does it contain a meaning that can’t be told to others?
“Now, let’s talk about names!”
Dusk Bringer, who had become his usual humorous face, grinned, showing sharp teeth.
“Today was great, Ash. I will trust your words even more from now on.”
Lark and the 1st Corps of the Imperial Army, which must have been the biggest worry, retreated without fighting, so it seems that he is much relieved. The face is bright.
I smiled softly.
“I will closely monitor the movement of the western front and the ecliptic. Please feel free to spend the winter here.”
“Yes, thank you very much.”
Dusk Bringer, who smiled at me, bowed his head and took his knights out of the mansion.
I saw her heading north, then I looked west again. There is no sign of Lark anymore.
Now the world is changing.
I just desperately run to the road next to the collapsing cliff.
***
“… .”
Heading for shelter outside the North Gate, Dusk Bringer was thinking.
In fact, she remembered it clearly.
The fate of the third prince of the imperial family.
A prophecy that was like a curse that Everblack, a dark beast, spat out on the emperor.
– Your third son will tear the empire apart and ruin it.
– But at the same time, your third son will make the empire prosper forever.
