City of Steelworkers (1)
Shoara’s mayor’s office is filled with silence.
Rutger, who was quietly sitting in the mayor’s seat, heard the report just now and burst into laughter as if he were dumbfounded.
“You just sent the dwarves away? And without any promises?”
“sorry. Mr. Rutger.”
Anyone could see that Rutger had a handsome appearance, but the bitter energy in his black eyes was something he was born with.
The mayor of Shoara lowered his head because he did not dare to look into those eyes.
“I tried my best to hold on, but…”
“But?”
The dwarves who worked so hard to bring back were sent away without being able to do anything.
Although the report went beyond incompetence and bordered on irresponsibility, the mayor also had something to say.
“They only asked for a conversation with Lord Vlad or Joseph, so there was nothing I could do.”
Dwarves all had a single-minded side, perhaps because they were born with the temperament of craftsmen.
Despite the mayor’s request to please wait, they just turned their heads away, saying that they could not have any conversation without the two of them.
“In addition, it was difficult to ask them to wait any longer as ice was starting to form on the river. sorry. Mr. Rutger.”
“……I get it. “Go out.”
I could definitely say that I was incompetent, but even if I said that, it couldn’t be helped now.
Rutger, who had no intention of reprimanding, dismissed the mayor and looked at the scarred man sitting at the guest table.
“The Count wants to capture the dwarves somehow.”
“I know.”
But Marcus did not make eye contact with Rutger.
I just held the teacup and said what I had to say.
“Have you by any chance persuaded Lord Vlad?”
“……no. yet.”
“It’s difficult.”
The black crow sitting in front of Rutger right now is Jeon Seo-gu.
Therefore, everything he said now was also said by Peter, the head of the family.
“Please hurry. Even now, efforts are being made here and there to recruit Lord Vlad.”
“Let me keep that in mind.”
After hearing Marcus’ words, Rutger quietly got up from his seat and began to look at the scenery of Shoara outside the window.
A city that has no connection with itself.
However, for someone born in this city, it may be a place that cannot be easily abandoned.
“What happened to Baron Alicia?”
“It looks like our little lady managed to protect it.”
“Good.”
When Rutger said that everything went well, Marcus quietly put down the teacup he was holding.
“Not really.”
Rutger, who had been looking out the window, turned back with a puzzled expression on Marcus’s words.
“What does that mean?”
“Now they say they won’t accept anything.”
A woman named Zemina who gave Bayezid’s favor in order to tie Vlad up.
“He said he would not accept anything regarding Lord Vlad. “I think they realized the meaning of the favor we gave them.”
“……okay?”
But she was saying that she did not want to be the shackles that bound Vlad.
He said that if he had known this was the intention, he wouldn’t have accepted it in the first place.
“I guess it’s because it’s a place that Josef touched. “Nothing goes well here.”
Why is it so difficult to get an article without an owner?
A city where neither the rightful mayor nor the next head of state will listen.
Rutger just smiled bitterly as he looked at the scenery outside the window.
※※※※
Purrrum –
The inn’s stables were specially built for just one horse.
There, Noir quietly closed his eyes, feeling the touch of Gemina, whom he had met for the first time in a long time.
“I don’t know why everyone has a hard time with him. “He listens so well.”
“……okay?”
Vlad and Goth were looking curiously at Noir, who did not show any dissatisfaction despite Gemina’s clumsy brushing.
Noir’s eyes were closed tightly, as if savoring the touch, and it didn’t look like they would open easily.
“…That guy isn’t really that kind of kid.”
“I guess we’re compatible.”
Goat, who was also a stable keeper, scratched the back of his head as he saw a scene that was difficult to explain.
Although Goth was proud of being able to handle Noir, that pride always seemed to diminish in front of Gemina.
“Is your mother okay?”
“Not only my mom, but my younger brother and sister are also doing well. “It’s a little colder than where it was originally.”
Goth, who had taken refuge with his mother to avoid the aftermath of the war, had now settled down in Shoara.
Although the former mayor who had hired him as a stable keeper had left, Goth was still able to work as a stable keeper at the city hall, perhaps because of Vlad’s name value.
“By the way, the dwarves stole the blacksmith’s blast furnace?”
“huh. “They said they took it as if it were a very precious treasure.”
However, even though he had a good job, Goth’s nature of hanging around did not change much.
It was the same not only at City Hall, where I worked, but also in the back alleys where Rose’s smile was.
“Why did you go to such lengths to ask Madam for that furnace? Even when the captain came and told me he had to make a decision, he begged me to do it. So what can Madam do? “I have no choice but to give it to you since you are a precious guest.”
“hmm. okay?”
Even though he couldn’t see it in person, Goth was gathering all kinds of rumors with ears that he could hear, and was telling the story in detail about what had happened in Shoara.
“And Josef’s health seems to have deteriorated a lot. “I heard the Countess is looking around for doctors right now.”
“…….”
As Josef’s current situation came out from Goth’s mouth, Vlad’s expression began to become serious.
“I heard it’s not very good?”
“You don’t know that. “He’s such a picky guy.”
Even though the contract ended due to failure in the head of household competition, the trust the two had built did not end.
Vlad believed that he still owed him morally something, so he could not have been pleased with the bad rumors about Josef.
“Goat. “Please change the water bottle here.”
“hmm? “Does it look clean?”
“It doesn’t look like that at all to me, does it?”
Next to Noir, who was showing his gums with regret, was Gemina, who was looking at Goth with her hands on her hips.
“What should I do? Should I go?”
“no. “Madam, you shouldn’t do something like that.”
Gemina may have been a comfortable childhood friend for Vlad, but for Goth, he was one of the powerful people in the back alleys who was difficult to deal with.
For Gemina, having Goat carry a water bottle was an uneasy task in many ways.
“Actually, I was waiting for you to call me at some point.”
Goat was not dissatisfied with Gemina’s instructions at all.
I just smiled kindly and moved quickly.
This was because he knew very well that he needed Gemina’s permission to stay close to Vlad, who had now risen to the rank of nobleman.
“Why did you send Goat out?”
“Because I have something to tell you only.”
When Got went to fetch water, there was now only one horse and two people left in front of the stable.
Vlad was puzzled when he realized that Gemina had taken Goth off on purpose.
“What do you want to say?”
“This is what the dwarves say. “You’re so busy, you should have time to tell me.”
With those words, Zemina took out a coin from her pocket and handed it to Vlad.
He looked around to see if anyone would see him, and somehow he seemed to be enjoying the situation.
“This is…”
“I want you to tell it to me.”
Although the dwarves left without any promise to the mayor of Shoara, they left behind a message to Gemina that would allow them to contact them.
“Bojae from Nassau. “We can contact you at the bar where we first met.”
“…This is the bar where we first met.”
And Zemina handed over their message to Vlad as the dwarves had hoped.
‘This is a coin I’ve seen a lot of times.’
However, Vlad was more interested in the coin that the dwarves handed him than the message that he would see them in Nassau.
“huh? “Has there been anything else like that?”
“…Does it look the same to you?”
After checking the coins that the dwarves had delivered, Vlad took out the two coins that had been stored deep inside.
One to Ramund and one to Auguste.
Vlad’s eyes began to narrow as he compared them with the dwarves’ coins.
Coins that are so rusty that they look unsightly.
Although the places where they were received were different, all three coins looked the same when placed in the palm of one’s hand.
※※※※
Everyone in the north was cowering from the cold that was seeping right down to their bones, but the residents of Deremar were different.
It was still so warm that green grass could be seen everywhere in Deremar.
Some old people, seeing Deirmar warmer than ever, recalled old memories and expressed their gratitude to the lemon tree on the hill.
This gratitude, which was said to be something older people only did when they were children, was a sight that was difficult to see when the Vatican Church was standing in ruins.
“…It’s getting bigger every day.”
Varadis, the leader of the rangers, was looking up at the tree of Hynar perched on a hill and measuring the height of its top branches.
“It’s only been less than half a year.”
The tree of Hainal seems to be twice as big as when I first saw it.
It was a growth rate that was difficult to understand even from the common sense of elves who were well versed in plants.
And it wasn’t just the size of the tree that was difficult to understand.
“Mr. Baradis. “It seems like there is one more child who recognizes spirits.”
“Is this the fourth person?”
“……Yes. “I saw that they recognized the young spirits.”
As of today, it was the 4th person.
The number of children who recognize spirits.
After hearing the crew’s report, Varadis quietly began carving a pentagram into his left eye.
Then, the world of spirits began to become clearly visible.
“Is this all because of this spirit?”
In the world seen only through the eyes of the elves, there was a white snake coiled up on a branch.
An old spirit that is said to have originated from the Mother World Tree, not the World Tree of Aushurin.
It looked quiet, as if it were taking a nap, but even now, young spirits could be seen running around on top of the white snake.
“Mr. Baradis. “The whole world is flying from Aushulin now.”
“carrier pigeon?”
Varadis was able to see a white snake stretching its neck toward the sky before the crew could point out where to go.
His eyes were gloomy, as if he had just woken up, but a hawk, said to only live in Aussurin, was flying from the direction the white snake was looking.
“That’s right. kind.”
The hawk,
rolling its eyes, flew in from afar and landed quietly on Varadis’ wrist as if it was tired.
Varadis, who was carefully stroking the animal that had flown in from his distant hometown, could feel the gaze of the white snake looking intently at Jeon Seo-gu from above his head.
It seemed as if he was asking them to take a look together, so Varadis deliberately opened the book he had received and opened it wide.
“…It’s a revelation.”
The letter that came from Aushulin had a stigma engraved on it that only elders could use.
And behind the stigma was a crooked drawing that made it obvious who had drawn it.
“On the blue sea… a silver dragon.”
It was a drawing that looked as if it had been drawn by a child, but there was something about it that made it feel more clearly conveyed.
A small boat floating on bright blue paint that looks as if it had been spilled on the sea.
And a silver dragon charging towards the ship was depicted in the revelation sent.
“…Get everything ready. We have to move right away.”
However, Varadis was able to find one small, strange dot even in the all-blue painting.
A small boat floating on the sea.
The ship’s watchtower had a single golden light, like a dot, etched into it.
“Where are you moving?”
“Where we are going…”
Revelation comes like an intuition to those who receive it.
It was just a small dot, but when Varadis saw it, he was convinced it was Vlad.
“It’s north.”
Varadis was not sure where Vlad was, but he was eventually able to determine his direction by seeing the huge shadow that was casting him.
A white snake nods as if to indicate that it is over there.
“Probably the Shoah.”
Indeed, as Baradis said, the place the white snake was pointing was in the direction of Shoara.
