People who came back (2)
The man walks and the boy follows.
Behind the man’s footsteps walking through the darkness, the boy’s footsteps were newly overlapping.
Only the starlight following behind them quietly illuminated the overlapping footprints.
“I think I’ve seen that sword somewhere before.”
[Really?]
No matter how many times I walked down the unfamiliar road, there was no end to it, and surprisingly, the back of the voice ahead didn’t get any closer.
When even the surrounding darkness seemed faint, a sword sparkling in the starlight suddenly came into Vlad’s field of vision.
A silver sword richly decorated with colorful jewels.
However, the familiar shape hidden behind the splendor stimulated somewhere in Vlad’s memory.
“It looks expensive at first glance. “Is that yours?”
[That way. It’s a very unfamiliar title.]
“Then what should I do? “I don’t really have a name to call it.”
The voice stopped laughing as it looked at Vlad shrugging his shoulders.
Now that I think about it, we haven’t even exchanged names yet.
“Still can’t remember your name?”
[Well.]
“It looks like you got hit very hard in the back of the head. “If this happens, there is no point in looking for it here and there.”
[Then tell me. Who am I that you have been looking for all this time?]
The voice ahead suddenly stopped and looked back at Vlad.
His figure was close, yet somehow vague.
Seeing his appearance flickering like a candle, Vlad hurriedly began to open his mouth.
“…First of all, it has something to do with spirits. “It seems like you are moving lost spirits from place to place.”
[Continue.]
Following the voice prompting him to answer, Vlad began to follow him, lost in thought.
I don’t know if it was my mood, but it felt like his distant back seemed to have gotten a little closer.
“It also has a relationship with other races. Elves and dwarves. “Your traces led there.”
[And.]
“Seeing as the white snake of Deermar recognized him, he is also related to the first head of Hainal.”
The more he answered, the more Vlad’s steps slowly caught up with his voice.
However, Vlad was so focused on answering that he did not notice the distance between the voices that were getting closer.
“And…”
Vlad had always been thinking about this.
What kind of person is the voice?
What kind of person was this that came to me through black lightning?
“It’s the swordsmanship I use.”
[Yes.]
“I heard this is a sword technique used by the imperial family?”
[okay? Is that how it happened?]
The swordsmanship that the unknown voice taught me is a rare swordsmanship that is said to be taught only to knights of the imperial family.
Seeing the voice not paying much attention to the mention of the sword as an imperial sword, Vlad just pursed his lips.
“Hey, isn’t it…?”
[What.]
A word too great to say out loud was stuck in Vlad’s throat.
All the clues obtained through the journey so far were all pointing in the same direction, and there was only one person standing at the end.
Unless I made a mistake.
“Tsk!”
[It’s all here.]
Vlad, who had been thinking for a while, suddenly got closer and bumped his forehead against his back.
The distance between me and the man who had become so close to me was now only one step away.
[I almost got lost too. I don’t know who did it, but they put it up quite roughly.]
Vlad peeked his head out from behind the voice in front of him and was able to make out a large tree floating in the air in the distance.
It was a strangely shaped tree, with branches spreading down into the ground and rising fiercely into the sky.
“…I couldn’t even see it until just now.”
[That’s what the existence of the Other is. Even if you’re right next to me, you can’t see it, and even if you’re far away, it can be clear.]
Vlad, who had reached the border of his own world, was only then able to see the other world he was in contact with.
That is Jean’s sleeping world.
In reality, they were lying right next to each other, but the world of the young deacon who followed fate was so far away.
[My name is Kihano.]
“Yes?”
[I wish they would just call me Quihano. I don’t like all the other names.]
Vlad looked at the voice shaking his hand.
The man who finally found my name introduced himself as Kihano.
“…It’s Vlad.”
[okay. Vlad. Nice to meet you.]
A man and a boy were exchanging names in front of a tree that was all twisted.
Although the two could not overlap in either time or space, they were able to see each other at least in the world they faced.
※※※※
[You will notice the moment we enter Jean’s world. You did the same.]
“I found out because he talked to me.”
[Because it’s Kihano. Not that one.]
The two knights standing in front of Jean’s world took a deep breath and stepped towards the border of the world.
Quijano said.
Entering someone else’s world other than your own is an action that involves great risk.
“Let’s go.”
[Yes.]
But it was a path I had no choice but to take.
Even now, the strange tree floating in Jean’s world was slowly coming down and getting closer.
“…What is here?”
[Don’t be fooled.]
Tiptoe forward with firm determination.
It was clearly a space filled with darkness just a moment ago, but the surrounding area had now become a hallway filled with gray-white bricks.
[It’s a church. Actually, I said it was a deacon.]
“It’s like a church in Varna. “I’ve been here once.”
[Is this a building you know well?]
“…Just the basement?”
[I don’t know the place.]
It was the church in Varna that was building Jean’s world.
For Jean, who had lived his entire life as a deacon, the most vivid place would be the church in Varna, so it was only natural.
[If you think of a church, it must be a chapel.]
“Will Jean be there?”
[You’ll find out when you get there.]
The most important goal for the two right now is Jean’s safety.
The world of the young deacon, who was about to be eaten in three days, was still tilting with a creaking sound somewhere.
[Let’s go first.]
“The chapel is on the first floor.”
The two realized that they were underground through rescue and quickly began running down the hallway.
“I’ll take the lead!”
[Yes.]
The church in Varna was also a meaningful place for Vlad.
It was also the place where Andrea received the name Vlad of Shoara.
Vlad recalled the memory of carrying the cursed woman’s coffin and hurriedly found the location of the stairs.
“hey!”
[Good.]
Vlad reached the end of the hallway, which was much longer than he remembered, and kicked down the familiar door.
bang!
There was no point in being cautious since you would have already figured it out.
The only thing that matters is quick action.
A spiral stone staircase appears with a falling door.
However, the appearance was completely different from Vlad’s memories.
“Why is this so high?”
[I guess the boy named Jean was afraid of the underground.]
The stone stairs rising endlessly were incomparably higher than when Vlad came down carrying the coffin.
Vlad was taken aback by the sight of the stairs that seemed to completely separate the first floor from the basement.
[Let’s go up first.]
The two knights began to climb the stone stairs that were as long as the fear the young deacon harbored.
At the end of the seemingly endless stairs, I began to hear someone singing.
-Let’s turn, let’s turn, let’s turn around.
-Until all the matches burn out.
[I don’t think it’s a hymn at all, right?]
“It’s like a song I heard in a dream.”
It was a long, long staircase, but the two finally reached the end of the stairs and began to carefully raise their swords at the sound of singing coming from beyond the door they were facing.
[You want to do it. Or am I?]
“I did it so far.”
[The young man has no spirit.]
I pushed the door handle and the door did not budge.
The door that couldn’t be opened was like a prison, so Quijano quickly closed his left eye.
“Hey, Kihano.”
[Why?]
“I’m not urging you, but I want you to do it quickly.”
[Why?]
“It’s unusual down there right now.”
While Quijano was getting ready, Vlad looked down the stairs and clicked his tongue.
A dark fog slowly begins to rise along the spiral staircase, like rising water.
Following the fog, a familiar figure of a woman that both Vlad and Quijano knew was visible.
“I definitely put the nail in the coffin.”
[The subtitle must have been a strong memory of that time!]
There was a woman coming up from down there shedding black tears.
A woman who clung to Josef while looking for her child.
It seems that for young Jean, the memories of that day were a fear that was difficult to bear.
“Hurry!”
[Wait a minute, it’s a bit difficult since it’s been a while since I’ve done this.]
Quihano tilted his head once and smiled as if he had finally figured it out.
Pajik- Pajijik-!
Afterimages of lightning begin to flow from my closed left eye.
A matching color began to flow from the silver sword that was pulled out.
A brightly shining white world.
It was such a light that even the woman who was now crawling with tears in her eyes had no choice but to turn her head.
[Hmph!]
The large door was cut off with Quihano taking a deep breath.
Vlad’s eyes widened as he looked at the sharply cut cross section without a single speck of dust rising.
“I don’t think they taught me this technique?”
[This is not a technique, it is just a skill.]
Surprised when he saw Quihano’s sword for the first time, Vlad looked back in case the woman with black tears followed him.
“…!”
However, there was just a new door standing there, blocking the basement.
Only then did Vlad realize that he was in a dream world, as he stood there as if the previous blow had never happened.
[Chapel room. Where is the chapel?]
“Follow me!”
Although he had only entered the building once, Vlad had figured out the route according to his habit in the back alleys, and the hallway leading to the chapel was still clearly in his mind.
“Here you go!”
[good. If there was a subtitle here, it would be the icing on the cake.]
Inside the chapel, the strange singing voice they heard earlier could be heard, but the two had no choice.
I just hope Jean is here.
“Ugh…”
However, Jean, who was waiting for them, was not visible beyond the open door.
There were just countless gazes stained pitch black.
“Why are they all here?”
[It seems like the curse has already spread. Of course, these are children who do not exist in the deacon’s world.]
There were many children in the chapel.
The neat clothes and neatly combed hair were impressive, but the children’s eyes looking at Vlad and Quihano were empty.
[……Why are you so obsessed with children?]
Facing the children’s pitch-black eyes, Quihano looked up towards the highest point of the chapel.
The highest seat in the chapel, richly decorated with colored glass.
There, where the children had been looking, there was an ominous, overturned church emblem hanging there.
The appearance reminded me of a pattern I had seen in a village full of fog.
※※※※
In front of Moshiam’s castle gate full of fog.
There was a procession approaching there.
One carriage escorted by dozens of people.
It was a procession that looked as if they were attending nobles, but what was strange was that none of the guards here had heard them coming.
“stop! “The procession in front must stop!”
The fog was getting thicker.
It was as if the procession in front of me was emitting fog.
Now, in a fog so thick that it was difficult to recognize even the soldiers right next to him, the guard commander decided to step out and stop the unidentified procession.
“Where are you from.”
“…….”
As we got closer, the carriage we saw was painted pitch black, almost like a coffin.
However, unlike the ominous color, each and every joint made looked unusual.
“If you don’t reveal your affiliation, we won’t be able to let you in.”
The appearance of an eerily quiet procession, even though it seemed like anyone would step forward and respond.
Sensing a suspicious atmosphere, several guards slowly began to apply force to the spears they were holding.
“…Everyone is happy to have returned to their hometown.”
The guard captain listened to the faint sounds coming from inside the carriage.
It wasn’t the answer I was expecting, but the woman’s voice coming through the fog was a clear and beautiful sound that anyone could listen to.
“okay. Should we get off now? This is Moshiam.”
“Wait a minute…”
Hearing the sound of people trying to get off the carriage, the guard leader quickly tried to stop them, but the strange sense of discomfort he felt at that moment made him hold his breath.
Squeak –
The sound of hinges coming from the fog.
However, the guard captain was looking underneath rather than at the slowly opening carriage door.
“This…”
The guard captain lowered his gaze to the ground and only then did he realize how they had reached the castle gate without making a sound.
The wheels of the carriage must be in contact with the ground.
However, the wheels of the carriage visible through the thick fog were just floating in the air.
Eventually, even the tip of the woman’s toes.
