Chapter 101 - Don't Mess with Moles Carelessly (3)

Burning buildings.

Toppling stone statues.

The sound of things collapsing here and there was deafening, as though war had broken out, yet there were no shouts from the people doing the destroying.

There was only breathless silence.

The faces of the dwarves rushing busily through the city were covered in black ash, so thick their original skin color could no longer be recognized.

Their proud beards had been scorched short by the heat, and the equipment they had honed and polished their entire lives was now being used to destroy the shining legacy of their ancestors.

With every swing of the hammer they brought down, sorrow too great to hold back streamed from their eyes.

If one possesses something that shines, one must know how to protect it.

But the dwarves had failed at that.

All that remained was a wretched fall, and now, in order to survive, they had to begin a wandering with no promise of when it would end.

The tears of the dwarves, who knew that, mixed with the black ash and ran down dark.

"... The fire here has not gone out yet."

At this moment, when everything was collapsing in grief, one furnace still remained that had not yet lost its light.

Along with the gaze of an old man who stood frozen like a stone statue, staring at the furnace.

"Someone ought to see the end, at least."

The end the old dwarf spoke of likely did not refer merely to the furnace.

The age that had shone so brilliantly was ending, and the old man was the one who would watch that age meet its end.

"I see."

Watching the end of a brilliant civilization that would now be over, the man thought.

'At least that is a relief.'

'I was not too late.'

"I have come to make a request."

"... Now?"

RUMBLE-CRASH!

In the distance, the mines collapsed with a tremendous sound.

The hammer blows that destroyed everything in the city they had spent their lives with were mixed with tears.

In this tragic moment, when they were destroying with their own hands everything their fathers' fathers' fathers had built, the only people who did not shed tears were the unidentified man and the owner of the last furnace.

"I have brought a metal that only the eternal flame can govern."

With those words, the man took something from his worn backpack and showed it to the old dwarf.

"... That is..."

When the man removed the cloth covering it, there lay a silver ingot giving off a faint glow.

Even before the red flames of the blazing furnace, the metal did not lose its own light, and even in this situation, it was more than enough to draw the old dwarf's gaze.

"Please make it for me."

The man's hands, glimpsed briefly between the folds of his clothes, were covered in fresh wounds.

Was it because of the times?

Though he was a dwarf who could not help growing excited at the sight of rare metal, the old man found his eyes drawn more to the man's scarred hands than to the silver ingot before him.

"What do you want me to make?"

Hearing the answer he had waited so long for, the man straightened his posture and looked at the old dwarf.

The man, who had come all this way to say this one thing, was only now able to form a small smile.

"I need a sword that can kill a dragon."

'I will kill the most perfect dragon in this world.'

'Even if only for the worlds lying crushed at the bottom and screaming, like the city of the dwarves collapsing now.'

The man's eyes as he looked at the owner of the last furnace burned hotter than an eternal flame.

* * *

In the dim light of dawn, in front of the stable set up at the lord's manor.

"..."

There, Vlad had a troubled look on his face as he held a strand of fodder in his mouth and chewed on it.

Noir watched Vlad with a puzzled expression, wondering why a human was chewing fodder, but the eyes of Vlad, who should have been giving him an answer, were turned elsewhere.

"... Boss?"

"Yeah."

Got, who had come out at the crack of dawn while rubbing his sleepy eyes, was startled when he saw Vlad in front of him.

"Why are you up so early?"

"I slept badly."

Seeing that Vlad had already finished his work ahead of time, Got happily rubbed his hands together and leaned against the stall.

"Well, you said it was your first time seeing a troll, so I guess that would keep you from sleeping. The lord here was shocked as hell when he heard it was a troll, too."

The troll's fierce roar that rang out last night had been more than enough to freeze the souls of the people of the territory.

Though the sound had come from a distant, deep forest, the troll's roar, which brought death to mind, had been enough to make Baron Dalmatia gather what few soldiers he had.

"The one regret is that it would have been perfect if we had the corpse, too. Troll blood sells for a high price."

Hearing Got's words, Vlad clicked his tongue.

As Got had said, failing to secure the troll's corpse truly was a shame.

"I didn't know it would burn up like that."

The corpse of the troll he had killed last night had burned away in an instant, before he could do anything about it.

So cleanly and without a trace that no stack of firewood, no matter how high, could have burned it that way.

It was a blatant cleanup, so obvious that anyone could see the intent had been to leave no trace behind.

"... It seems I need to report this matter to Lord Joseph."

Looking at the traces of the troll, of which only black ash remained, Vlad recalled what had happened in the Barony of Uthman.

The suspicious, ominous, and strangely familiar feeling of Dobrechiti's headless troll was undoubtedly an incident that had to be reported to Joseph.

"But there are no mages here. Are you thinking of sending a courier?"

"No."

A courier would not do.

It was winter, when moving was difficult, and the situation seemed deeply suspicious, so informing him as quickly as possible would be best.

"What is the closest city to the east?"

"A city... Let's see."

Understanding what Vlad had in mind, Got unfolded the map he had received from Baron Dalmatia and quickly began searching for their next destination.

"The closest city likely to have a mage is Tanobo. It's a city in Vitskaya County. Just looking at the map, it'll take a week."

"Good."

Mages were those who handled the mysteries of the world.

Although they were the sort of people the church did not like, they could quickly deliver news through telegrams in times like this, or advise lords with all manner of miscellaneous knowledge, so from the perspective of nobles, they were beings one always wanted to keep nearby.

"Then let's make Tanobo our next destination. Figure out the route."

"Got it."

As befitted the lord of a poor territory, Baron Dalmatia was a lord who could not invite a mage, let alone even a decent priest who could verify a pilgrim's mark.

Therefore, Vlad intended to go to a larger city than this one and try borrowing a mage from the lord there.

Though he belonged to a different family, he was a knight of certain status, so if need be, he could help with some matter just as he had this time.

After saying he would look into the route, Got left the stable, and Vlad once again began staring blankly into the distance.

The reason he had come to the stable at dawn was partly for Noir, who had exerted himself yesterday, but it was also because he had had a dream so vivid that he could not easily fall asleep again.

"... But I don't remember it well."

Yet strangely, almost nothing of the vivid dream that had made him toss and turn remained in his memory now, as though it had been a mirage.

All he could remember now was the faint sound of hammers, the scattering ash, and the final words the man had spoken with resolve.

"Killing a dragon, huh."

Vlad closed his eyes and thought.

The man's final words that he had heard in the dream had definitely been spoken in the voice he had grown familiar with all this time.

Perhaps the dream he had had was not a dream, but one of the fragments of memory left behind by the remnant of the voice.

The dark winter dawn passed.

Far away, today's sun was rising from the ridge.

The tip of Vlad's sword began to shine as brightly as the morning growing light.

Unlike before, white lightning flickered around Vlad's aura, which had become a little clearer.

All of them were remnants of the voice that had been drifting around Vlad's world.

That day, the voice had told Vlad they would meet again in a deeper world, and Vlad was answering with today's aura that he would do so.

Toward a deeper world, the knight closed his left eye like that.

* * *

"Why are you leaving already? Why not go after the snow stops, at least?"

Despite the cold weather, Baron Dalmatia, who had come all the way to the front of the lord's manor to see him off, looked at Vlad with a truly subtle expression.

Since there had been a sinister incident, he felt that he wished Vlad would not leave for the time being, but in one corner of the baron's face, the opposite feeling that he wished Vlad would leave as quickly as possible was also rising.

Especially when he looked at Got, who was grinning broadly behind him.

"I have done everything I needed to do, so now it is time for me to leave, my lord."

He knew that the baron's face had grown as dark as the gold coins that had left his hand.

But the former pickpocket and swindler had no hesitation in receiving proper compensation for honest labor.

Subjugating bandits, finding the barley thief, hunting a troll, and even recovering the missing girl.

Still, they had not squeezed him viciously, which was probably why they were receiving this kind of farewell now.

"Please do not forget what I told you yesterday."

"Yes. I will take it to heart."

"Consider this my sincerity toward Him."

Vlad had not spoken about the glowing mole, but instead he had entrusted the lord with several words.

"As you said, I will not burn the forest to expand the barley fields in the future, nor will I cut down trees carelessly."

No matter how rural and remote the territory might be, these were difficult times to speak openly of spirits or a sacred oak.

After all, this was a world where only the one god could be truth.

"And it would be good to offer small tribute to the forest from time to time. Last night, I certainly felt His will flowing through the forest."

That was why Vlad had borrowed the existence of God instead of the name spirit, arranging a consideration for the mole.

So that the hungry mole would no longer steal barley seeds.

"I understand! If that will protect the barley fields!"

"This is my offering to the god who blessed my victory."

Vlad said this as he handed Baron Dalmatia a glittering gold coin.

Having shown this much sincerity, the baron would not ignore his words.

"Ah. The knight from the North is devout as well!"

The poor baron's face, having gotten back even a little money, had brightened somewhat.

Precisely by the shine of one gold coin.

After seeing Baron Dalmatia nod, Vlad looked toward the forest of Dobrechiti in the distance.

This should be enough.

Behind Vlad's saddle as he departed amid the villagers' farewells, a small flag fluttered.

At some point, the crest of the Dalmatia Family had been engraved on it.

* * *

In the quiet forest where no one was.

The oak tree that the troll had struck with its axe was still covered in wounds, but even so, it was not in as gruesome a state as it had been that night.

That was because someone, with clumsy skill, had smeared blue moss into every corner of the wounds.

Though it was unclear whether it was a method effective on wounded trees, the oak tree merely shook its branches neatly in the blowing wind, as if pleased.

SQUEAK!

Beneath the quietly swaying oak tree, there was a mole with its head shoved into a small basket, kicking its hind feet.

A basket full of bright red raspberries.

The raspberries in that basket had been prepared by the girl for the mole who had saved her.

Because spirits have no physical bodies that truly exist, they can live without necessarily eating.

However, what they need in order to live is presence.

The memories or emotions of someone who thinks of them are what make spirits exist upon this land.

That was why today, after a very long time, the mole was able to fill the presence it had been starving for.

The emotions of the girl contained within the raspberries were truly warm.

SQUEAK?

The mole, which had been absorbed in the raspberries for a long while, sensed a presence in the distance and pricked up its nose.

Unlike usual, they were people coming not with axes or pickaxes, but with small baskets.

Though they were bringing offerings to give to God, simply believing that there was something in the forest would be a great help to the glowing mole.

Because what mattered were the emotions, memories, and faith contained within.

SQUEAK-SQUEAK!

It no longer had to be forgotten.

Realizing that, the mole smiled as if in delight and raised a tiny finger.

The direction in which the finger pointed.

That was the direction where Vlad was leaving.

The first thing the earth spirit, having recovered even a little strength through today's offering, did was grant a small blessing toward the knight leaving the forest.

Today, in the forest of Dobrechiti, under the name of God, one forgotten shining yellow star returned.

Just as Heinal's lemon tree had, Dobrechiti's oak tree, too, seemed to regain a little of its blue hue.