People who don’t know each other (3)
Vlad opened the bag the Count had given him and counted the gold coins in it one by one.
A total of 20 gold received from the Count.
“It’s ambiguous.”
Glittering gold coins greeted him in front of him, but Vlad was only frowning.
If you look at it only as a reward for escorting the carriage, it must have been a lot of money, but if you consider the cost of your life, it was an excessively small amount of money.
It seemed that Count Vitskaya would compensate for the lack of compensation with resentment.
“Goat.”
“huh?”
Goat reflexively caught the coins flying towards him.
“salary.”
“Oh…oh oh.”
Three shiny gold coins.
Goth stamped his feet when he saw the income that an ordinary peasant would have to earn for a full year.
“what! “Are you going to give me 3 gold each from now on?”
“If you have money.”
“Big!”
Goat thought as he bit into a gold coin.
As expected, I did well to follow along.
No matter how capable a person is, if he is stingy when it comes to opening his pockets, it will be difficult to follow him.
However, the knight here did not hesitate to take care of the people under him.
It’s as if the bosses in the back alleys are generously throwing away money.
“And this is security.”
“also!”
A gold coin flies again with indifferent words.
Goat’s expression as he looked at the flying gold coins seemed happy again.
“I also pay the hotel fee with that.”
“of course.”
“I even gave things to the person in the next room.”
“Of course, I have to give it to the person in the next room. huh?”
Got was very excited about the shiny gold coins, but he couldn’t help but frown at the sound he heard now.
“Why the room next door? Are we really going to move together with that person from now on?”
Vlad was not the only one attacked by the gray hooded man on the stone bridge.
Even now, his bluish cheekbones continued to remind me of the pain of that day.
“The 3 gold pieces I gave you also include the price you pay for peeling.”
“……He said he wanted to follow us?”
Vlad simply put Goth’s complaints to rest with a gold coin and stood up.
“Where?”
“To Stefan.”
If you use it, you have to pay for it.
Moreover, because the Thorn Mercenaries followed Vlad, they fell into Vitskaya’s eyes, and they will have to pay the price for that.
“Those people didn’t run away. “That’s enough to know.”
Goth nodded while listening to Vlad.
As two people who had worked in the mercenary industry, they knew very well how valuable a mercenary who stayed until the end was.
“Goes.”
“Go ahead. Leader.”
Vlad puts on his cloak and steps out into the cold, leaving only a short greeting.
Goth scratched his chin as he watched Vlad open the inn door.
“…I’m starting to get a little tan now.”
When they first met, Vlad was just a wild boy who didn’t know anything about the world, but when he came out now, anyone could see the back of Vlad as a knight with a sense of weight.
It was the same winter as then, but Vlad’s shoulders had already broadened as he went outside.
※※※※
The end of the cold winter.
Although it was not as cold as the north, it was just as cold here at the end of the central region.
“You said you got a lot of money, so why is this all you get for dinner?”
The man in the gray hood was clicking his tongue as he tossed around the pot that Goth had boiled.
“Don’t you have to eat meat to use your strength? “A driver doesn’t save money on food.”
Goat pouted his lips as he watched the man pounding the stew he had worked so hard to cook.
However, the reason I didn’t say anything was because I had a good understanding of the skills of the person in front of me.
“The prices in Tanovo are crazy.”
“No matter how expensive it is.”
“I didn’t have any more money because I had to buy someone’s horse.”
“…Then there’s nothing we can do.”
The man in the gray hood listened to Vlad’s words and quietly grabbed the ladle he had been stirring and put it in a bowl.
Those who were wandering in the lowest places had to be grateful for even small donations.
“You don’t know who your teacher is?”
“If I knew, I would have told you a long time ago. “At that time, the sword was up to my throat.”
The gray hooded man looked at Vlad closely over the bowl he was holding, but the young knight’s eyes did not waver even slightly.
To the point where it’s embarrassing.
“I kept saying it. “I’m also looking for someone.”
“hmm.”
It wasn’t the complete truth, but the statement that Vlad was looking for a teacher was not a lie.
If he had answered falsely, no matter how clever Vlad had been living in the back alleys, he would not have been able to deceive the man in front of him.
Because he was a person skilled at detecting truth and lies.
“The imperial sword must never be let out…”
After listening to Vlad’s words, the man with the gray hood frowned and raised his spoon as if he was in pain.
“But is what I’m using really the swordsmanship used by the Imperial Knights?”
“To be exact, it is the imperial sword. “The art of killing with a single blow is something that only a few people in the Imperial Knights are taught.”
The gray hooded man said.
A person born with imperial blood.
Or that it is a swordsmanship that only a few of their closest knights can learn.
Vlad was completely embarrassed that he had been using such great swordsmanship all this time.
“Then I can’t use it?”
“Is your father the emperor?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then you could get in trouble.”
It cannot be used because it is unauthorized.
Because the art of killing with a single blow was the imperial family’s.
To be exact, it was the swordsmanship of Frausen, the founding king and only sword master, so if the imperial family found out about this, they would not remain silent.
“Only people in the north may not know, but as you move towards the central part, people will recognize you. “If you do something wrong, you could be dragged into charges of insulting the royal family.”
“…Then what should I do?”
As a huge accusation came out of the man’s mouth, Vlad’s voice became quiet without realizing it.
Vlad had never even thought of the word imperial family in his life, so the current situation was bound to be burdensome.
“It’s not like there’s no way.”
The man in the gray hood looked at Vlad with a faint smile.
“Once I saw your swordsmanship. “I think the technique for the single-hit killing technique you use was leaked quite a while ago.”
The man with the gray hood clearly recognized Vlad’s swordsmanship as he was struck with a blow that took out everything.
Vlad’s swordsmanship was clearly that of the imperial sword, but it was different from the swordsmanship he was currently using.
“Why do you think that?”
“What you’re writing is a bit closer to the original.”
The man picked up the ladle and began to gently turn the pot containing the stew.
“If this bland stew is the one-hit killing technique you are currently using.”
The sausages to be used tomorrow began to be cut into the stew.
The fragrant meat aroma and spreading oil droplets began to deepen the flavor of the boiling stew.
“This is the one-hit killing technique currently used by the imperial family.”
Time passes and all things that have a form change.
It has been 300 years since the empire was founded, so it was natural that the imperial sword would also continue to develop in line with the long-standing trend.
“It’s a little more delicious than before.”
“…….”
Vlad looked at the stew with pieces of meat floating around.
I felt like I had some idea of what the gray hooded man was trying to say.
“……then.”
“The secret to killing with a single blow comes from its unexpectedness.”
The man said as he moved the sausages into his bowl.
“And unexpectedness comes not from refined rules, but from a truly mysterious idea.”
The man who finally removed all the floating pieces of meat looked at Vlad and smiled.
“Now you’re going to add your own ingredients here. So much so that even people in the imperial family tilt their heads when they see it.”
Even if it started from the same roots, bloom your own flower.
The trick to a single strike is the swordsmanship that pursues it.
“Is it possible?”
A northern knight who wields the imperial sword.
A young knight whose very existence is nothing short of unexpected.
There was a truly subtle smile on the face of the former commander of the Imperial Military Police as he looked at Vlad.
※※※※
“No…how did you get here?”
An office filled with elf decorations.
Count Vitskaya was hurriedly moving to welcome the unexpected guest.
“Didn’t you ask me to come?”
“no. still.”
He asked me to come, but he didn’t say he would come.
Therefore, the count could not help but be embarrassed when he saw the knight in front of him.
Mirshea, the leader of the Dragon Slayer Knights.
Because he was a noble knight who was difficult to invite anyone.
“How can I have a cup of tea?”
“…The elves’ tea doesn’t suit my taste.”
Blonde hair and blue eyes.
When Count Vitskaya saw Mirshea looking at him sharply, he naturally remembered the northern wanderer who had left this city a few days ago.
“yes! Yes, that’s right. “It’s definitely not a car worth giving to someone special.”
However, even if it is the same blue, the depth is different.
The count heard Mirshea’s sharp refusal and quickly began to heat the water again.
“Is Absilon being made well? “I received a report that there was an unknown attacker.”
“It’s resolved. “It worked out well!”
The Count serving him and the Duke’s son sitting at the head table as if he were the owner.
It may not be an illusion that it seems as if the owner and the guest have been swapped.
Because the current appearance of the two clearly revealed the relationship between Vitskaya and Dragulia.
“how?”
It feels as if something is coming right between the eyes.
The Count felt as if his mind had become cold as he faced Mirshea’s cold eyes.
“Didn’t you say that he is a powerful person that cannot be defeated by the knights here alone?”
“It was… it was like that.”
The Count moistened his lips with his tongue and answered while trying to erase his nervous expression.
“There was a knight from the North. “He was young, but he had good skills.”
“…In the North?”
Mirshea’s eyebrows twitched as she listened to the count’s report.
“yes. “It was a guy named Vlad, but he still used a sword.”
The Count, who had freshly heated the tea, poured it into a teacup and spoke carefully.
“Still, he was a northern guy, so he didn’t know his place and behaved rudely.”
“…….”
“As expected, lowly bloodlines are evident everywhere. Where will the blood of the barbarians go? ”
With those words, the Count looked at Mirshea with a smile.
His face looked peaceful as he lifted the teacup and smelled the scent of black tea.
As expected, the tea ceremony skills learned from the elves are enough to satisfy even the nobles in the center…
Clink –
the sound of breaking.
It was just the sound of a teacup breaking, but the count was startled and opened his eyes wide.
The red tea water leaking out between the broken tea cups ominously soaked the table.
“Did it really look like that?”
A heavy silence descends into the office in an instant.
The crack that started in the teacup was spreading to the air in the office.
“……yes?
“Veins that are evident no matter where you look.”
The count held on to his trembling hand without realizing it.
Awareness was slow, but instinct was already there.
The sound of tea cups and plates clinking was loud.
“I mean, did that bloodline you recognized really seem so humble?”
Count Vitskaya swallowed his saliva and raised his head in response to the question being asked.
Blue eyes looking at you.
It contained a ferocious force that even the blue blood of a nobleman could not handle.
