When the World Tree blooms (1)
A crying sound spreads from somewhere in the mansion.
The voice of a woman crying sadly is pitiful.
Even though she could no longer breathe, only dry tear marks remained around the eyes of the woman who was crying bitterly.
It seems that the sadness contained in the tear ducts alone was not enough to shed all the pain of losing a child.
“Lord Auguste.”
broken window.
Teaware scattered everywhere.
However, unlike the dizzy surroundings, the tea in the teacup had a brilliant green color.
“From now on, we will manage the site ourselves.”
The imperial military police captain turned around at the sound of a voice.
Armor with ornate gold embossing.
That armor was armor that only the emperor’s guards could wear in the empire.
“…Crimes that occurred in the capital are the responsibility of our military police to manage.”
“Of course I know so.”
The middle-aged man standing in front of the military police captain took out a rolled-up piece of parchment from his arms with a small smile.
Gold seal edict.
The middle-aged man, holding a golden edict that only the emperor of the empire could issue, nodded and opened his mouth.
“But it’s something His Majesty directly ordered, so I can’t do anything about it.”
“Everyone in the empire knows that he is bedridden.”
A middle-aged man wearing royal guard armor.
He just shrugged his shoulders with an exaggerated gesture after hearing Auguste’s words.
“What kind of blasphemous talk is this? Apparently, I just came out to see His Majesty this morning.”
“……”
Auguste bit his lip as he looked at the man talking nonsense.
The captain of the guard, who was supposed to protect the emperor, was actually waving his name in his hand.
The spirit of the military police officers who noticed Auguste’s anger began to sharpen.
“By order of His Majesty the Emperor, transfer investigative authority immediately. Auguste, Commander of the Imperial Military Police.”
However, even as the situation became more violent, the middle-aged man simply rolled up the unfolded parchment.
With a faint sneer on his lips.
“From now on, our Imperial Guard will take charge of the scene here.”
A cause heavier than a sword.
In front of the captain of the guard wielding a noble golden sword, Auguste could only bow his head with a feeling of resentment.
The still dark mansion was filled with the sad cries of a mother who lost her child.
※※※※
“But how are you going to stop it?”
Snow that sinks down to your ankles.
The group wandering deep in the forest got off their horses and were moving forward, holding on to the reins.
However, even though his steps were moving forward, Vlad’s eyes were focused on the man with the gray hood.
“If we keep looting wagons, won’t the cars sell? “I heard it’s doing really well.”
I don’t know exactly what he was doing, but he was related to the imperial family.
Moreover, since he was someone who recognized the sound of voice, it was natural that Vlad would express curiosity towards him.
At 18, I was still old enough to crave experience and knowledge.
“…Like you said, we couldn’t stop it from being sold.”
The man with the gray hood looked at Vlad with a bitter smile.
As Vlad said, the military police, whose hands and feet had been cut off, could not clear away the cobwebs that were deeply rooted within the empire.
“That’s why I hit him right away.”
“What?”
“Beehive. “I need to find out what’s inside.”
If you can’t dig out what’s hidden deep down there, you have to pull it out.
Auguste, who knew this, used himself as bait to rob Vitskaya’s carriage.
“…By the way, you said the Count had asked for help from the Dragon Slayer Knights, right?”
“They said so.”
Although it was only a young knight named Vlad who was dragged out contrary to his initial intention, the young man in front of him still asked for the one piece of information he wanted.
It was information about a fallen dragon nestled in a beehive.
‘He asked for help from Dragulia directly without going through the imperial court…’ It
was not unusual for a local lord to ask for help from the Dragon Slayer Knights to solve a difficult task.
However, there was an order and procedure in everything, and Auguste had never heard of the Vitskaya family following that procedure.
“Why the Dragon Slayer Knights?”
“no.”
The young knight in front of you may be curious about everything in the world, but sometimes it is better not to know.
If the fallen dragon is biting its leash like you think, then simply knowing about it will make you very angry.
“Look over there, boss! “I guess it’s over there!”
“……and.”
Vlad, who had been conversing with Auguste for a while, opened his mouth without realizing it when he heard Goth screaming.
“What’s so big?”
There was a forest.
A forest that does not lose its green color even in winter.
Although it was stained white by the falling snow, a warmth that even the cold snow could not control was felt from the forest in front of me.
“That is the forest of the elves.”
A forest of elves who hide deep in the depths and do not easily open the door to anyone.
Vlad could not close his mouth as he looked at the seemingly endless green horizon.
“So that’s the World Tree?”
“okay.”
Forest of elves. Aushurin.
A huge tree towered over the green sea, looking down at Vlad.
※※※※
Someone’s office filled with sunlight.
In a place entirely covered with brown trees, the girl’s platinum-blonde hair was sparkling in the sunlight.
“brother.”
“yes. Lady.”
There was a chair, but the platinum-haired girl who was sitting at the desk was frowning her thin eyebrows as if she didn’t like Varadis’ answer.
“…That’s it.”
He said it like he was pouting, but he knew that it was something he couldn’t help.
Still, I couldn’t help the disappointment welling up in a corner of my chest, and I was puffing out my small cheeks.
“Take this with you when you go.”
“yes?”
Varadis had a puzzled expression on his face as he looked at the basket the girl held out.
Before I knew it, a basket filled with fruits had been piled up around the room.
The girl’s golden eyes sparkled with the shine of the glossy fruit.
“It seemed like he was hungry.”
“…Who is hungry?”
Varadis could not hide his puzzled expression as he accepted the basket.
Even when she was young, she had a quirky side, but after becoming a priestess of the World Tree, she became even more difficult to understand.
“Mr. Baradis.”
“hmm?”
However, the answer to the question just came out of the mouth of someone other than the girl.
“During reconnaissance, we found humans wandering nearby.”
“Kick them out.”
A report that you don’t have to worry about.
However, the elf who came in to report looked troubled and continued speaking.
“That…”
“What is it?”
Varadis’ expression was completely different from when he faced the girl.
Before we knew it, the look of a cold-hearted manager and leader had taken root on Varadis’ face.
“Intruders are looking for Varadis.”
“……what?”
“To be exact, they say they were invited by Varadis.”
Varadis frowned and looked at the reporter in front of him.
The elf, who recognized the question with his eyes even though he did not say it verbally, brought out a name he had brought in front of him.
“The intruder introduced himself as Vlad of Shoara.”
“…….”
After hearing the adjutant’s words, Varadis looked down at the basket he had been holding without realizing it.
“Did you say you were hungry?”
“yes?”
Varadis turned his head and looked at the girl.
The girl was laughing and tapping her feet as if telling her to go ahead.
※※※※
“Elves also have prisons.”
“It’s my first time coming here too.”
“Don’t they use nails? “There is no trace of anything connected.”
Unlike Goth, who was crouching in the corner with a gloomy expression, Vlad wandered around and snooped around the elves’ prison.
“Leader. “Are you really invited?”
“I heard it’s true.”
“Then is it polite for elves to fire arrows at everyone who is invited?”
“…But it wasn’t right.”
Vlad looked at the gray hooded man and the goth looking at him and scratched his cheek with his finger as if embarrassed.
Since they had been invited, they thought they would be able to enter with confidence, but in reality, what greeted them was only deadly arrows and a cold prison.
“You haven’t paid for your life yet.”
“You did come in first.”
“Are northerners really this shameless?”
Vlad pretended not to notice the criticism and resentment coming from him and held on to the bars with both hands.
‘If you’re going to do this, why did you invite me?’
Vlad has a clue about the voice.
Auguste has a clue about Absilon.
There was no reason to hesitate because what both of us wanted was here in the forest of the elves.
Even if I knew it would end up like this, it was a place I had to come to.
‘…It was subtly sharp.’
However, what was getting on Vlad’s nerves was not his current situation in prison.
A feeling that only people in the back alleys who are sensitive to crises can sense.
The elves who encountered them felt that familiar feeling. Hearing the sound of the door opening in front of him
,
Vlad put his face close to the window.
“I’m sorry.”
Black-ish blue hair and navy blue eyes.
An elf with a cold expression had mobilized his lieutenants and was approaching with a basket in one hand.
“Vlad of Shoara. “Welcome to our forest.”
“Do the elves say welcome in the prison?”
“okay. “Let’s take this first.”
Varadis was superior to Vlad when it came to ignoring people’s words.
“Are you going to get me out of here?”
“Just eat that and wait a day. “There are procedures we have to go through to get you out.”
Vlad’s eyebrows narrowed when he was told to wait one more day.
“I hope you understand. These days, it’s time for everyone to become sharper. “Once people are in prison, the process is complicated to get them out.”
“But why are you all so sharp? “When I came here, it seemed quiet nearby.”
The overly sharp attitude of the elves.
Vlad sensed a strange wariness in their cold attitude, as if they were very wary of something rather than hostility towards humans.
“…The dragon is coming.”
It was a story that did not need to be told to humans, but Varadis calmly explained it.
Blue eyes looking at you.
Because those eyes were what the world tree priestess was paying attention to.
Varadis thought that there must be a reason why they arrived at Aussurin at this time.
“It’s soon time for the World Tree to bloom.”
“flower?”
After hearing Varadis’ words, Vlad unconsciously touched Alicia’s amber stone.
In the amber landscape shown by the girl, the red maple tree was clearly in bloom.
“okay. flower.”
The name of one God.
And the young world tree that managed to take root while avoiding the imperial ambitions.
However, humans were not the only ones targeting young roots and fragrant flowers.
“The sharpest dragon has always targeted the flowers of the World Tree.”
The young petals are fragrant and the young roots are desirable.
However, there were countless beings all over the world who coveted fragrant and desirable things.
Even though all young and delicate things in this world definitely deserve to bloom.
“I’m sorry to welcome you at a bad time.”
“……no.”
How remote is the possibility of a world taking root and blooming safely.
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
So you should protect that moment.
And I swore before my discipline that I would do so.
“Thank you for just saying something.”
Men’s souls are light and their mouths are rotten.
Beings that can never be trusted.
But now the spirits surrounding the blue-eyed knight were speaking.
This person is the one who was protected.
The white snake on the armor and the mole under the sword said so.
“…….”
A memory of a tree carved into amber was reflected in Varadis’ eyes.
A nostalgic world tree that can no longer be seen, blooming bright red.
The knight standing below was clearly holding a familiar sword.
