My villains, episode 331
, 57. Preface (12)
“I am indebted.”
Ruyan spoke to me as I had just left the tent with Theodora.
Six heavily armed guards stood beside the boy lord, as if to greet him.
“…You mean your debt?”
“You didn’t stop me from getting angry.”
aha. It’s the story of when General McNeil pulled out the treasured sword Hogar.
I smiled and shook my head.
“no. How can I be so indebted…
“I am indebted. Had he backed down himself in that situation, he would have seemed intimidated by Macneil, a commoner. Kyung saved my face.”
Seeing a thirteen-year-old boy talking about saving face somehow left me speechless. Either that or not, Ruyan, who had the hem of his cloak tightly closed, let a faint voice flow through the blizzard of howling blizzards.
“Thank you.”
“yes?”
“It’s okay to say it’s a reward, but I’ll pretend that nothing happened in the forest before.”
work in the woods? Could it be that he kept in mind the fact that he had his bicorn and die-golf stolen?
Before he could even open his mouth, Lu Yan turned around with the soldiers. I stared at the little boy walking through the blizzard.
“…a smart boy.”
Theodora, who was next to her, groaned while fiddling with a pendant the size of a fist.
“Maybe better than me.”
“yes? What do you mean?”
She walked away with a slightly sullen expression, and I quickly followed.
“I played tricks to defeat the army, but at least that boy kept his face as he said. I got caught up in the general’s narration and was disgraced.” I tried to swallow my laughter at Theodora’s distraught and mumbling appearance. Unconsciously, he reached out his hand and tried to tap her droopy shoulder, but then he remembered his status as a princess and naturally scratched his eyebrows.
“…Um, are you mad about General McNeil?”
“No, not like that. I neither resent him nor hate him.”
Theodora’s long eyelashes slanted to the ground.
“I can’t. Because I’m a paladin. I am just pathetic to myself.”
“You have nothing to blame. It was pretty, no, very cute.”
“…You’re making fun of me.”
“Then they say it was like a priest. You looked innocent.”
It didn’t seem to be much comfort, but Princess Theodora pressed down on the full helm she was wearing on her side.
I suppressed the laughter that kept coming out and changed the subject.
“Tell me a little about the Order of the Courage. Is it true that they can’t escape the 100-year castle?”
“…I don’t feel like talking.”
“Don’t do that, I’m curious, so please tell me. I was interested in dragon knights from the beginning.”
“To the brave knight?”
“yes. Aren’t they flying knights? I’ve only heard rumors, but the princess must have seen it firsthand.”
She moved without saying a word and reluctantly opened her mouth to my continued insistence.
“Since I was little, I didn’t like dragon knights very much.”
“yes? Why?”
“Although it is powerful and useful, it is harmful and goes against the providence of the Lord.”
“Your Majesty?”
“As General McNeil said earlier, these are gluttons. Do you know how many livestock the 60 Wyverns belonging to the Knights of the Dragon can eat in one month?”
“well.”
“There are over a thousand.”
“…it eats a lot of dirt.”
“Not only Topal, but they are plundered from all regions, from Jarsen Bülsru to Obdorf Angst. Even if there is a bad harvest and the villagers die, the wyvern’s boat doesn’t know how to go out.”
I can feel the sincerity in Theodora’s subdued voice. It seems that he really hates the Dragon Knights.
“Then what does it mean to go against the providence?”
“Wyverns are different from horses, so they can’t be easily tamed. Immediately after breaking out of the egg, they are gagged and whipped to suppress their malevolence, and even with that, they borrow the power of magic to control their instincts and emotions.”
“Is there such a magic?”
“To be precise, the magic is contained in the artifacts left by the ancient empire.”
“If it’s a relic.”
“It is a huge crystal sphere embedded in the center of the Centenary Castle, and is commonly referred to as ‘Wyvern Stone’. That’s why the dragon knights can’t get out of their family’s territory. I have to use the Wyvern Stone once every two days to suppress the Wyvern’s repulsion.”
“Once in two days.”
No matter how excellent the Wyvern’s flying ability was, it would not be easy to fly all the way here in one day and then go back to Topal again. It’s possible if you overdo it, but you definitely won’t have the energy to fight.
“But, listening to General McNeil’s words, did you hear the nuance that it was possible to fly further than that in the old days?”
“At that time, there was a main body of the Golden Gate in the Bülsruhe region. So it was possible.”
“…Younggeummun?”
It’s an unexpected name.
“The Younggeummun has an enchantment that instills fear in monsters and suppresses hostility.”
“So that enchantment replaced the wyvern stone?”
“exactly. Although it was only a temporary measure with a lot of side effects.”
Gradually, the camp where the party was gathered came into view. Theodora’s explanation continued while looking at the guys standing guard.
“After the powerful magic school ‘Linhau on the Mountain’ destroyed the main body of the Golden Gate during the Great War, the high-level necromancers withered and the scope of the Dragon Knights’ activities shrank.”
“There was such a story. I think I know why the princess hates dragon knights, since she tried to tame the wyvern even by using the magic of the golden gate.”
“…Actually, there are other worst things.”
Theodora stopped and looked back at me. Beyond Fulhelm’s groove, he met eyes with pale green eyes that were a mixture of anger and sadness.
“Sometimes a lucky wyvern survives many battles… and finally becomes ‘old and useless’.”
“Then the owner must kill the old wyvern who served him all his life. That’s a tradition.”
“Cruel.”
“It’s not even like burying a dead wyvern like that. We cut off the flesh and share it, and use the leather and claw bones to make armor.”
“The Dragon Knights pretend that it is a sacred and honorable event, but well. Wow, I don’t know if these times will agree.”
Theodora finally headed for the tent where the Paladins were gathered.
Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-
The gray-brown dried blades of grass fell in the cool wind. A cold wind blew through the hills, where the rounded borders were clearly exposed without a single tree.
The campground, where more than 1,600 soldiers huddled together and made a fire, shrank from the cold wind.
“…Ah, I’m going to freeze to death.” Gollman, a stoutly-built boy, grunted and lit the bonfire.
“I thought it might get warmer, but what kind of lightning is this?”
“This is a plateau, fool. It’s natural to be cold.”
To Shea’s clever words, Goleman replied with a sullen face.
“Who doesn’t know that? You’re just regretting being careless…
“Right. I should have bought some fur clothes from Lianwell.” The poacher Cavas grumbled
and cut the branches. He diligently moved the dagger, and the branch gradually turned into an arrowhead.
“…even if it’s fur, shouldn’t you have bought plenty of arrows?”
“I already have enough.”
“Then why are you doing that?”
“I’m just doing it. Because there are spare arrowheads.”
Goleman quietly admired.
“You are really great too.”
“what?”
“Every time you train, Hatanka hyung-nim torments you. isn’t it hard? If you’re like me, you’ll fall asleep whenever you have free time.”
“How difficult is this? And I’ve gotten used to it.”
Shea burst into laughter as Cavas shrugged his shoulders boldly.
“Yeah, it seemed like that. You don’t even cry at night these days.”
“what? When did I cry!”
“I know that you used to pull the blanket over yourself and wring it out because you were having a hard time. It was like that every day until recently.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, I didn’t!”
Only a goal caught in the middle quickly spoke out to stop the two bickering friends.
“But we ended up here.”
“what?”
“We mean it. The original plan was to leave around Antrum.”
Cavas pursed his lips and spoke as he sharpened his arrow shaft.
“There’s nowhere else to go anyway, and where can a kid like us be treated like this?”
“That’s right.”
The three friends received a weekly wage increase a few days ago and are receiving half a silver coin each. It was a very generous amount for youngsters who had been a mercenary for a little over a month.
In addition to that, thanks to the combat allowance, their pockets were already quite heavy.
Goleman continued, fidgeting with the pocket he kept in his bosom.
“Because everyone says we’re lucky.”
“Listen to it in moderation. Everyone is saying this because they want to annoy us.”
At Cavas’ cynical remark, Goleman shrugged his shoulders, saying ‘Well, that could be’, but he didn’t agree at all in his heart.
Among Phoenix’s subordinates, the three gathered here were all who could be called completely new. The rest were all mercenaries from the beginning or had military experience.
Of course, the recently joined Night Watcher Dylan was neither a mercenary nor a soldier. However, he could not be compared to Gollman and others, who served as constable in La Valton.
Such experienced colleagues often said that the three friends were very lucky. It’s unimaginably good treatment to pay for meals and earn money while receiving training.
Goleman, who was absentmindedly fiddling with the money bag, turned to Shea and asked.
“How about you? Do you think this is better than being a nun?”
“…now you say that? At that time, I felt like I would suffocate every day. It can’t compare to what it is now.”
“I’m glad. Then, wanting to see the prince-”
“Lower your voice.”
Shea looked around and glanced at Gollman.
“Yeah, my plan is the same, so don’t bring it up. You said there was nothing good about listening to other people.”
“What does it matter? I’m not going to tell you anything anyway.”
“You can do that. But what if Fritz or Dervish come and ask?”
The two people Golman feared the most were the ponytail Fritz and the heavy soldier De Revisch, so he just kept his mouth shut.
“If I keep my mouth shut like that, will Fritz just say ‘I can’t help it’ and move on?”
“…Absolutely not.”
“okay. So watch your mouth.”
As soon as Shea finished speaking, someone threw a word behind her.
“What are you careful about?”
Shea, whose heart sank suddenly, looked back with her eyes wide open, and then let out a sigh of relief.
“ha. Mr Confair.”
“Why are you so surprised?”
The veteran conjurer plopped down between Cabas and Shea, holding out a steaming wooden bowl.
“Come on, share.”
“What is it?”
“It’s water mixed with wine and boiled. I need something like this to keep my eyes open on this cold day.”
The three kids hurriedly drank the warm drink, and Confair stared blankly at them.
“Oh right. Mr Confair. I wanted to ask you something.”
“What?”
“The Bloodmane Mercenaries.”
asked Golman, who wiped his lips with Gambison’s sleeve.
“You said they were really bad guys? Everyone just says that.”
“Not famous. Because they do anything that makes money.”
“Are you going to fight them?”
“I don’t know. It may or may not be.”
“Didn’t you hear anything else from me?”
Confair scratched at the long scar on the side of his lip and replied.
“From what I hear, it seems that General McNeill is also hurting Gingamin. There are messengers and scouts everywhere, but I can’t seem to find any trace of them.”
“I heard that the entire mercenary corps are cavalry, but I think they are too fast to find them?”
“They aren’t the ones who just want to march nicely. There should be at least one or two looted villages nearby.” When Goleman and his friends made puzzled faces, Confair reassured them with a smile.
“You don’t need to be too scared. There are many powerful wizards here, so the cavalry will not be able to use their power.”
At his words, Shea suddenly asked a question.
“A powerful wizard like Heila?”
“miss? The young lady is not a wizard, she is a blood mage.”
“Is that different?”
“Uh, that’s…
Confair tilted his head with an ambiguous face before changing the subject.
“More than that, what we really need to be wary of is not the Bloodmane mercenaries.”
“sure?”
“The magic bottles of Viceroy Buckard. They are the real danger.”
As the three friends showed interest, Confair wet his dry lips and continued the conversation.
“They are like weapons. From a young age, they learn deadly magic only for war.”
“Aren’t all battle mages like that?”
“It is different from a wizard. Sorcerers are those who have a talent for magical powers and spells, but magicians don’t have that. So I only learn two spells.”
“Which is it?”
“First of all, it’s an offensive spell to use in war. Everyone learns different things according to their use.”
“What about the other one?”
“It’s a spell called ‘Burning’.”
Conveyor explained with a low voice.
“I heard a story from a saboteur in Obdorf, and he said it was a spell that burns my life to create magical power.”
“…Lifespan?”
“Yes, you use attack magic at the cost of the rest of your life. They are very terrible.”
As his story continued, Goleman suddenly looked up at the western sky.
Cool feeling as if the back bone is being pulled.
It was the same feeling he experienced right before meeting the ratmen at the ancient gateway.
“……uh?”
Golman, staring blankly at the night sky, noticed a black patch brushing the faint moon shining through the clouds.
“Oh, that’s Mr. Conveyor.”
” hmm?”
“Look over there.”
Confyer, who was quietly unpacking the story, looked up at the sky with a puzzled expression and narrowed his brows.
“……That one?”
Black pieces that are getting bigger and bigger.
Soon, Confair noticed that they were flapping their wings, followed by their identity.
“It’s a wyvern.”
Confair, who jumped up, shouted.
“Wyvern Wyvern!”
