Chapter 106 - The Man in the Fog (3)

A bizarre atmosphere lingered over the table.

The golden eyes staring intently at him from right in front were burdensome.

Unlike before, her face was expressionless, but the girl's sparkling eyes shone like the butterfly that had fluttered in the illusion.

'Why are you acting like this?'

In contrast to those eyes, the elf man was glaring at him with a cold gaze.

The eyes of the elf called Varadis were somewhat fierce, the complete opposite of the girl's.

It was a look that suggested he had touched something he shouldn't have.

'And why are you acting like this?'

Facing the gazes of the two elves with clearly different temperatures, Vlad struggled to maintain a calm expression.

He didn't know why either of them was acting like this, but one thing was certain: the image of elves he had imagined all this time was slowly shattering.

'When on earth is the tea coming out?'

The knight and the elves sitting across the table, facing each other.

In the awkward atmosphere where no one dared to easily open their mouths, Vlad simply hoped that the tasteless tea would come out quickly instead.

Because enduring the focused gazes while doing absolutely nothing was quite uncomfortable.

"... The knight who protected the breaths of children."

It was Varadis who broke the heavy silence first.

"What does this mean?"

Varadis's indigo eyes were looking at Vlad's armor.

Along with the amber dangling from the end of his sword.

Although his mouth was asking about the inscription engraved on the armor, his eyes were clearly looking at something beyond that.

"The northern diocese San Rosino inscribed it."

Watching Varadis's reaction, Vlad clenched his hands tightly under the table.

Because just like the girl earlier, the elf named Varadis also recognized the items imbued with spirits.

His idea to ask the elves about spirits and the amber was indeed correct.

"It was a modest achievement gained during a mission to fight a wicked being."

However, unlike the joy bubbling up in his chest, Vlad's voice remained calm.

Because he knew well that he still had a long way to go to let a single achievement dictate his emotions. If Joseph had been here, he definitely would have acted like this.

"Fought a wicked being... Excellent."

Hearing Vlad's words, the two elves nodded their heads at the same time.

Watching Varadis and the girl, whose outward appearances were completely different but whose actions were similar, Vlad could tell that they had been moving together for a long time.

"It seems the tea is ready."

As soon as the cabin door opened, a fragrant scent began to waft in.

It was the fragrance emanating from the teacups brought in by the elf soldiers.

"Setting species aside, I pay my respects to the knight who stood against a wicked being."

"Thank you."

His expression remained cold, but the goodwill he showed was clear.

If they were willing to serve a tea so precious that it was traded for silver ingots, it meant he hadn't gotten on their bad side at the very least.

'This might just work out.'

Vlad had not forgotten the reason he had followed them all the way here.

His purpose in helping the Count of Vitskaya and coming here was entirely to enter the elves' forest.

If this good atmosphere continued, he might just receive a direct invitation without having to go through the count.

"It smells wonderful."

Vlad smiled as he looked at the clear green tea.

Even though the tea didn't suit his tastes, he could easily smile through it if just one sip could leave a good impression.

Or so it should have been.

"No."

However, Vlad couldn't lift the teacup.

"You can't drink this."

White fingers urgently snatched the teacup Vlad was holding.

Because of the wide table, the girl, who was practically lying flat across it, was looking at Vlad.

"..."

"..."

The sudden, unexpected action of the girl caused the air inside the cabin to freeze.

Not only the elves but also the Vitskaya knights turned to stone, not knowing what to do about the situation unfolding before their eyes.

"... Why?"

Vlad squeezed out the little air left in his lungs to barely spit out a single word.

However, the girl simply buried her face, deliberately avoiding his gaze, and quietly pulled Vlad's teacup toward herself.

The girl's feet, kicking at the end of the table, made for a pitiful sight.

* * *

Tea time was over.

His first encounter with elves in his life was as bitter as the taste lingering on the tip of his tongue, and Vlad had yet to easily snap out of the shock.

"Captain, calm down."

"I didn't do anything wrong."

Seeing Vlad's dazed eyes, Got tried to calm him down, but the answer that returned was nothing but hollow.

"Still, you have to snap out of it. The elves are still looking only at you, Captain."

It was a bizarre atmosphere.

Because the elves were wary of Vlad, yet also looking at him with curious eyes.

It was as if they were looking at some fascinating beast.

"Besides, that little kid seems to be someone of high status. When she climbed onto the wagon earlier, there were elves attending to her right beside her."

Among them, there was a girl who was staring at Vlad with the most fervent gaze.

The elf girl was clutching the waist of the elf named Varadis, only popping her head out to look at him.

Seeing the girl whose eyes were desperate for something yet whose actions pushed him away, Vlad let out a deep sigh.

"Anyway, it seems entering the elves' forest is a lost cause."

Even though it wasn't his mistake, something had definitely gone wrong during the meeting just now.

Elves already rejected humans, so they likely wouldn't view the current situation favorably.

"Let's go now. We need to leave before it gets too late."

"Understood."

At the Vitskaya knights' words that they needed to cross the cliff before sunset, Vlad powerlessly climbed onto Noir.

"Wait."

From behind the party preparing to return, Varadis's voice rang out.

The girl whispered something in his ear, and Varadis listened with his head bowed.

After hearing the girl's words, Varadis nodded and gave an awkward smile as he stopped Vlad.

"I feel bad sending you off like this."

Varadis had a peculiar expression that made it impossible to tell if he was smiling or angry.

Vlad thought the cold impression from earlier was much better.

"Please forgive the mistake our... distinguished one made against you."

"No. It is fine."

"I heard something happened at the wagon earlier as well."

"..."

Seeing Vlad silently confirm this, Varadis offered him a handshake with an exhausted expression.

"I would like to see you again soon. To apologize for today's rudeness as well."

Vlad quietly looked at the hand extended toward him.

Did handshakes mean the same thing to elves?

"It is the elves' own way of inviting someone. Unlike humans, we do not easily offer our hands."

"I see."

Hearing Varadis's words, the Vitskaya knights let out muffled gasps of astonishment.

They couldn't help but be surprised to see Vlad get permission in just one day for something they had poured effort into for a long time.

"Thank you for inviting me."

Seeing the girl waving her small hand in the distance, Vlad felt confused.

She had suddenly climbed on top of a sleeping person and plunged him into an illusion.

She had snatched the teacup from a person trying to savor their tea.

And yet now, she was inviting him to the elves' forest, saying they should see each other next time.

'What is she doing? Right now?'

Seeing the actions of the most capricious girl he had ever met, Vlad couldn't help but ponder for a moment.

However, no matter how suspicious the girl's actions were, he couldn't ignore the hand extended toward him.

"It will be a precious opportunity to broaden my horizons. I will definitely come visit."

"Yes. I truly hope you do."

Above the clasped hands, the two men's gazes met.

The Vitskaya knights, who had been tense while watching Vlad hesitate over Varadis's handshake, let out small sighs of relief.

"And make sure you bring that amber with you."

"Pardon?"

"Our distinguished one is very interested in it."

Releasing his hand, Varadis looked at Vlad with a cold impression once again.

"And in you as well, for that matter."

"..."

Listening to Varadis's words, Vlad looked at the girl standing in the distance.

The hand waving next to her head, which was peeking out from behind his back, seemed to say, 'See you next time.'

* * *

"In the end, I couldn't even ask for her name."

On Noir's swaying back, Vlad furrowed his brow as if he had just remembered.

Because everything had happened in such a chaotic blur, he hadn't asked what he should have.

"Why her name?"

"I have to call her something when I see her next time, don't I?"

"True, she was pretty as expected of an elf. It'll be hard to even look at her when she grows a little more."

Hearing Got's words as he smiled meaningfully at him, Vlad looked at him as if he were pathetic.

"Do you really want to have those thoughts looking at a kid?"

"And just how old are you, Captain?"

Vlad found himself at a loss for words at Got's retort.

Come to think of it, he had only been an adult for a few months himself.

"... Anyway, I'm an adult."

"She could be an adult too. She looked more mature than Zemina."

At Got's words, which cheaply hit back with the truth, Vlad could only keep his mouth shut.

Using Zemina as an example in a situation like this was basically cheating.

"Besides, you can't even guess an elf's age to begin with. She might look like that, but she could be over a hundred years old."

Since elves were a long-lived race, it was difficult to dare guess her age, but Vlad was certain the girl with golden eyes was not an adult.

Because her occasional incomprehensible actions clearly fell short of a mature individual.

"It's around here."

While he had ended the conversation by deliberately closing his mouth, a Vitskaya knight carefully approached and reported.

'This is more effective than beating them up.'

The sight of them subtly looking down on him as a drifter from the North just yesterday was nowhere to be found.

Varadis's invitation clearly had that much of an effect.

"From here to the bridge crossing the cliff is the danger zone. The plunderer usually jumped out from around this area."

At the knight's explanation, Vlad quickly unfolded the map and gauged their location.

The map-reading skills he had learned in Sturma were finally shining.

"... The stone bridge we saw on the way did look the most dangerous."

"We actually lost many wagons there."

Vlad fell into thought as he watched the setting sun.

The sun would set soon, so he wanted to set up camp if possible.

"How about we spend the night here and leave tomorrow?"

"That is impossible."

The Vitskaya knight spoke in a firm tone, as if this was the one thing he couldn't allow.

"Unlike the elves' territory, the forest here is far too cold. If we don't reach Tanobo as quickly as possible, the tea leaves will freeze solid."

The elves only picked and dried the leaves of the tea known as Tuzon, doing absolutely no other processing.

Therefore, unless they quickly returned to Tanobo to grind the tea leaves into powder and compress them into a block, the Tuzon leaves would rapidly freeze.

"From now on, we must move even if it means cutting into our sleeping time."

"... Understood."

He had prepared himself for it, but the conditions for the return trip were vastly different from when they came.

He suggested it thinking that just one day would be fine, but the knights' opposition was too fierce.

One misstep could turn all their efforts up to this point into nothing, so their stance was perfectly understandable.

"Let's go. Stefan to the rear."

"Understood. Sir Knight."

Himself at the very front, and the Thorn Tree Mercenaries at the rear of the procession.

With the Vitskaya knights flanking both sides of the wagons to form a formation, Vlad carefully began to move forward.

There was likely no bandit bold enough to mess with a procession that had six knights alone.

'But if someone does show up, they definitely have another purpose.'

No matter how expensive elven tea was, everything had a price to pay.

Someone willing to punch through six knights and ten mercenaries to steal the tea was definitely aiming for something other than money.

Looking at the increasingly darkening forest, Vlad quietly stared ahead.

Up ahead, a stone bridge spanned across the cliff.

Seen through the darkening sky, the stone bridge, which looked even more skeletal, awaited the party.

* * *

At first, he thought it was starlight.

Because it was a dark night, and the cliff area had such steep slopes that the boundary between the sky and the ground was unclear.

"Gah!"

However, the moment that starlight rapidly approached, Vlad realized the light wasn't suspended in the sky.

"Ambush!"

"Plunderers! The plunderer is here!"

Fiercely swaying torches, wailing horses.

In the procession that had instantly become chaotic, Vlad looked at the Vitskaya knight who had collapsed onto the ground before he knew it.

'... I didn't even see it!'

It happened in a flash.

The knight's gruesomely crumpled breastplate showed just how much of an impact he had taken.

"First, form a defensive square..."

"Everyone ride! We are breaking through the bridge right now!"

On the bridge, wide open on all sides.

Seeing the knights naturally trying to form a formation, Vlad shouted loudly.

"But Sir Vlad!"

"Follow my orders!"

Quickly hoisting the fallen knight onto a saddle, Vlad growled his reply.

"If we stop here, we'll only be playing right into his hands!"

The only one who understands a predator is another predator.

Deliberately striking down a single knight to show a warning was definitely an action with a reason behind it.

"Ride! Break through the bridge!"

"Everyone, grab your reins!"

On the dark bridge, Stefan and Got loudly repeated Vlad's order.

And the Vitskaya knights, overwhelmed by Vlad's instantaneously transformed momentum, had no choice but to hurriedly mount their horses.

THWACK!

CRACK!

"Rocks are flying at us!"

"The torches are being smashed!"

Perhaps flustered by Vlad's decision to charge across the bridge—unlike the others before—the plunderer in the dark was hurriedly putting out the torches.

A knight holding a sword ought to know how to face a threat head-on.

However, a knight from the back alleys was someone who didn't care in the slightest about running away.

"Ignore it and keep riding!"

Vlad quickly closed his left eye and raised his sword high.

"Just follow me!"

Vlad's aura condensed around his sword.

The wagons began to creak forward, following the only shining light on the dark bridge.

CLANG!

'Where do you think you're aiming!'

Striking down the rock flying toward him this time, Vlad quickly gauged its direction.

The violently trembling tip of his sword let him guess the power of the rock that had just flown in.

'It's just one person!'

They were flying in from multiple directions to add to the confusion, but they were definitely thrown by one person.

Vlad's sensitive ears caught the sound of someone's footsteps moving busily in the darkness.

'He's coming!'

Vlad gritted his teeth and looked at the end of the bridge.

Though it was definitely dark and unseen, the unidentified plunderer was now standing in front of the path they were trying to take, catching his breath.

"We charge through just like this!"

The party rushed forward like angry bulls.

A small horn was sprouting on the forehead of Noir, who was taking the absolute lead.

'I'll break through!'

Vlad intended to trample over the plunderer with this momentum.

The person currently blocking the party was clearly an expert, so if they lost their momentum now, they might never get the chance to cross the bridge again.

"Knights! Everyone prepare for an am—"

Vlad shouted loudly, but he couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence.

Because from the far end, it was brightening as if bathed in the light of dawn.

'Damn it!'

Sensing the plunderer's instantly changing momentum, Vlad quickly called upon his world.

The only thing that can oppose aura is aura.

And the only person here capable of manifesting aura was himself.

"Noir!"

NEIGH-!

At Vlad's shout, the spirit of the plains, which had pierced even a troll, slowly began to take form.

The secret to a certain-kill strike comes from unexpectedness.

And the best way to easily achieve unexpectedness is speed.

Only a speed that exceeded expectations could block the strike of the man right in front of him.

"Now!"

Vlad and Noir, who had been keeping pace with the procession thus far, quickly bolted forward on a bizarre offbeat.

At a speed three or four times faster than they had been running up until now.

Watching this, the unidentified man's eyes widened.

"Break through!"

Finish it in one strike.

Exactly the way the voice had taught him.

From Vlad's tightly squeezed left eye, white streaks of lightning that could not be contained were flowing out.

CRUNCH-!

CRACKLE-!

The light of dawn and the white lightning.

The lights, which shared the same color, created a massive roar on the bridge with a single clash.

* * *

"... The path of the sword must extend righteously, straight, and without hesitation."

A half-torn gray hood.

Red blood was splattered across the white hair and wrinkles visible beneath it.

"And the only thing that opens that path is an unhesitating strike based on unexpectedness."

"... Cough."

Through his fading consciousness, Vlad slowly reached out his hand to grab his sword, which had fallen far away.

However, at the voice that followed, he couldn't help but glare wide-eyed.

"That is the very secret of a certain-kill strike."

"... What?"

The halted wagons.

The collapsed Noir.

And Vlad, lying on the ground looking at the unidentified man.

"Who are you?"

A drop of blood was trickling down from between pure white eyebrows.

"Who are you to be using Imperial Swordsmanship?"

A thick fog was rolling in over the dark cliff where the two lights had vanished.

The gazes of two men walking the same path but unknowing of one another intertwined dizzily.