People who came back (1)
The sound of someone praying was echoing in the empty prison.
Even though the stone floor felt the coldness of winter, the man was kneeling reverently.
Bishop Pierre was chanting a prayer while looking through a small window in the prison.
“…Dragullia was aiding and abetting this.”
Günther, who was watching the scene outside the window, frowned at Pierre’s last answer.
You may not believe everything he says, but Bishop Pierre was also a person deeply connected to the current situation.
“Is there any reason for someone bound by an oath to do something like that?”
“I think it’s my turn to ask a question now.”
Pierre, who had finished praying, slowly stood up.
A bishop of the Vatican who returned to Moshiam to finish unfinished work.
A small ray of morning light was hovering behind his tall, towering back.
“Did you tell Bayezid’s child by any chance?”
“What do you mean?”
“The majestic will of God. “The blade of the faithful who defeats the devil.”
Pierre’s eyes were sharp as he stood in front of the bars.
Pierre and Günther decided to exchange questions and answers instead of foolish attempts such as interrogation or torture.
Pierre, who had answered Günther’s question honestly, was now asking a question as promised.
“I am now asking whether the Northern Orthodox Church taught a guy named Vlad the essence of the Trinity.”
“…….”
Yesterday’s dark dawn.
There was a majestic divine will rising from the fog-filled city.
In fact, it was a pillar of light that was so straight and tall that even Pierre, who prepared the magic, was surprised.
“You should have shared what you had to share. “Are you trying to become independent from our school just a job for nobles?”
That’s why Pierre has no choice but to be suspicious.
Because the sword that Vlad showed yesterday was too great to be achieved by a single knight’s improvisation.
The essence of unity, which cannot be achieved without learning, was clearly at the tip of the youngster’s sword.
“If you wanted to sell something, you should have sold indulgences. If you give up the essence of the church like that…”
“We have never taught.”
“…You’ve never taught me?”
But his anger was mistargeted.
As Günther said, the Northern Orthodox Church has never taught any essence to outsiders.
“Then are you by any chance Andrea?”
“Bishop Andrea is not an exorcist. “There is no way you know our technology.”
There was a result, but there was no cause.
Pierre clearly witnessed the union of the worlds at the tip of Vlad’s sword, but it is said that no one actually told him about it.
So then, who on earth guided Bayezid’s child along the way?
‘Does this make sense?’
The essence of the Trinity can only be used if there is an authentic source.
In order for the essence to stand alone, there had to be a floor that supported all the worlds.
‘It’s a skill that can’t be used if there’s no one to properly support it…’
Pierre’s Holy Mystery of Nibelune, Vlad’s Auror.
And the lowest source that supports them.
Pierre had no idea what kind of world was underneath it.
However, one thing is certain: Aesongi’s world originated from someone who was much more knowledgeable than he expected.
Otherwise, there would be no way that the light that Vlad wielded yesterday would have cut down the evil Tree of Reverse Heaven.
※※※※
The room was filled with warmth from the fireplace, but Jean’s lips were still blue as he lay on the bed.
Vlad could not relax his stern expression as he listened to his breathing becoming increasingly shallow as his lips turned blue.
“Are there about three days left now?”
“Maybe. “Right now, the leader is doing his best to find a way.”
It was said that children infected with the curse showed common symptoms and died.
A deep sleep-like dream and a gradually falling body temperature.
The children, who fell asleep restlessly when the sun rose and woke up only when the sun set, shivering with chills, all said they couldn’t last a week.
And today was the fourth day since Jean fell under the curse.
‘I said please take care of me.’
Vlad became depressed as he remembered Andrea saying that she would take good care of the young deacon.
I should have somehow finished the damn tree then.
If he had done that, Jean wouldn’t have fallen asleep again.
“…….”
Justia was looking worriedly at Vlad, who did not leave Jean’s side.
Vlad was clearly blaming himself for pushing himself even though he should have been resting.
“Don’t blame yourself too much. “No one could have done as well as Lord Vlad if he had faced that situation for the first time.”
Nibelun, who was standing awkwardly in the doorway, nodded as if he agreed with Justia’s words, but Vlad, who was actually involved, just looked at Jean with his head down without answering.
“Are you busy?”
“Hi!”
Suddenly, Günter’s voice was heard in a room filled with silence.
All three people’s eyes were focused on his presence, which not even Nibelun, who was standing in the doorway, could sense.
“no.”
“Then, can you two talk for a moment?”
His well-combed but slightly matted hair gave an indication of Gunther’s distress.
However, the red and bloodshot eyes of Vlad were also pitiful to see, so the two, who had the same concerns, did not hesitate to talk about it.
“Let me apologize first. “The reason we tried to forcibly retrieve Jean’s body was because we believed that we could break the curse with our own strength.”
Vlad and Günther, who came out into the hallway, were looking at each other with wary eyes.
Even if their first meeting was a little different, the two of them now had to solve the same problem.
“I admit my shortcomings. “It turned out to be something bigger than I expected.”
“I understand.”
“good. “Then can we say that the problem between us ends here?”
“Because I have more urgent matters.”
If you were in a position like Günther, there would be no need to explain the situation to Vlad, who was just a knight.
However, Vlad of Shoara was the one who cut down the tree of Qliphoth, a symbol of reverse heaven, so this was also an act of respect in Günther’s own way.
“The situation is more serious than I thought. The city will be blockaded soon. “I plan to issue an evacuation order and vacate this area.”
“What about Jean?”
“That’s the problem.”
There is no doubt that Qliphoth’s tree is the cause of the current illness of not only Mosiam but also the Barony of Utman.
Although what they were trying to protect was slightly different, Günter and Vlad both agreed that the damn tree had to be finished.
“The hole through which the tree escaped has already become a space beyond the reach of God’s will. “It means you can’t physically touch it.”
The hole in the graveyard investigated by the Holy Knights was like an endless abyss.
It looks like an entrance, but it turns out to be a trick.
You will never be able to reach the tree in Yeokcheon through that hole, which is as intangible as the faint fog surrounding the city.
“Then what? “Is there no solution at all, Captain?”
“It’s not like there’s no way at all.”
With those words, Günther began to look at Vlad closely.
Vlad was taken aback by the look in his eyes as if it were something new.
“How old are you this year?”
“Why is that suddenly….”
“It’s important, so answer quickly.”
The question was ordinary, but the power it gave was considerable.
It was the kind of momentum that only those with confidence and alternatives could exude.
“I’m twenty.”
“Your current age.”
“Twenty, two months short…”
“You’re still nineteen.”
Vlad had put his age up, as was the habit of the back alleys, but in front of the head of the Northern Orthodox Church, it was out of the question.
“It’s breathtaking.”
I’m not even 20 yet, but I’m already here.
Günther made an expression of bewilderment, as if Vlad’s young age had struck him again, but in the current situation, it seemed like an appropriate age.
“Why are you suddenly asking my age?”
“I see one entrance that is still open.”
The tree of Yeokcheon, which is still eating away at the young deacon and the baron, does not belong to this world, so it cannot be physically communicated with, and it is already hidden in the dark and cannot be revealed.
However, Günther succeeded in finding the only way to communicate with the tree.
“It’s a curse that only children have.”
Günther pointed with the tip of his chin toward the room where Jean was lying.
“And just in time, there is a knight standing in front of me who is between age and youth.”
And this time towards Vlad.
Now standing in front of Günther was a knight with a strange appearance who seemed mature enough to be a boy but still young to be a young man.
“You might be able to get to that tree through a dream.”
“…!”
At Günther’s words, Vlad remembered the dream he had in Moshiam.
The darkness was like a mother’s embrace and a bonfire burning in the distance.
The dream in which I escaped with the help of the voice was clearly the same dream that Jean had had.
“And the entrance is a small one that only you, who are still young, can pass through.”
“……understand.”
At Günther’s gesture, a paladin standing in the hallway quickly approached and opened the box he was holding.
Inside the box was a shiny black liquid, along with a blunt-looking syringe.
“It’s a curse extracted from Jean. “It’s not perfect because it’s urgent, but this will be able to connect your world to Jean’s as well.”
Günther’s prediction was accurate, and Vlad, confident because of his experience, quietly nodded.
All the entrances were blurred, but as Gunther said, there was still one entrance left that could reach the tree.
The name of the entrance is Jean.
The young deacon and the tree in Yeokcheon were still connected by a thread called a dream.
“I won’t force you.”
The black liquid dripping from inside the syringe is ominous.
The same color as the tears of a woman wandering around looking for her child.
It would be a lie to say that I wasn’t shaken while looking at that familiar color.
“Let’s do it. “I will go.”
But Vlad decided not to hesitate in picking up the syringe.
Jean, who is now trembling like he was standing in the mud, will also need a light to lean on.
“Now I can finally live up to the name given to me by the bishop.”
“I understand.”
After confirming Vlad’s resolve, Günther nodded.
In fact, he must have had this level of power to be able to build up the reputation he has now at such a young age.
“I will definitely come prepared. “Please wait a moment.”
With a gesture from Günther, the door to the room opened again.
Justia and Nibelun, who were waiting for him with puzzled expressions, were there.
And even the image of Jean still lying down and breathing faintly.
“Huh…”
With a short sigh, Vlad walked towards the bed where Jean was lying and held the young deacon’s hand.
Jean’s hands that held hands again were a little colder than before.
It was a small hand that would probably harden permanently after three days.
※※※※
There was no time, the resolve was firm, and the preparations were complete.
Then all that’s left is to execute.
Vlad, lying next to Jean, closed his eyes while listening to the prayer that Günter recited himself.
The bed next to Vlad was already filled with the paladins and priests that Günther had selected.
I couldn’t open my eyes to check, but I think Justia was probably reciting the prayer I was hearing along with them.
“Tsk!”
A sudden dull sensation in the nape of the neck.
With that sensation, Vlad gritted his teeth as if he was being sucked in.
The strangely warm feeling reminded him of his mother’s embrace, but the chill running through his blood was constantly making Vlad shiver.
“Hmm…”
As warm as it was, the terrible sensation subsided.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was pitch black darkness.
It was pitch black, and the prayers that Jean, who was next to me, heard, disappeared everywhere.
“…You came to the right place.”
The bonfire he had seen at that time was not visible, but Vlad felt that he had come to the right place and quietly took a deep breath.
“hmm?”
Just like back then, all around was darkness, but there was one thing that was a little different.
When I raise my head, I see a light.
It looked like starlight breaking through pitch black clouds.
-If you are lost where you need to go there, follow the light I send you.
Günther did not place the entire burden solely on Vlad.
For Vlad, who was wandering through the world of curses, Günther willingly offered himself as a guide.
He is probably still quietly reciting a prayer next to Vlad to maintain the starlight.
“Okay.”
Vlad has not yet been able to relax from the chill that surrounds his body.
However, Vlad froze again as he saw a hand sticking out of the darkness.
[I told you to run away.]
A familiar voice is heard along with a hand sticking out.
Vlad, who recognized the man’s identity from that voice, smiled a little.
“What can I do? “You have to pay what you owe.”
[Anyway, knights are famous for not listening.]
There is a favor received and an oath made to be made.
The voice standing in the dark had no choice but to wake up Vlad, who came back to protect them.
Maybe this guy rolling around on the floor came back because of what I said.
[let’s go. I will guide you.]
“It feels new to hold it with my own hands.”
Vlad smiles, amazed at the fact that he is actually touching the voice he has only heard.
The voice said, looking at the young guy like that, he ended up laughing along with himself.
[Stupid guy.]
The two worlds that had finally come into contact were holding each other like that.
Just like when they first signed the contract, the starlight in the night sky was shining on them.
※※※※
All worlds in this world are precious, but not all of them can protect themselves.
But you are the ones sworn to protect.
If you are where you need to be, if you are standing at the right moment, do not hesitate.
That will be my second rule.
Do not hesitate to follow your oath and become a beacon to light the darkness. My knights.
