Chapter 141 - The Beast of Possibility (2)

The sunlight shining through the colored glass was dyeing the white corridor in a wash of many colors.

The wind carrying the breath of autumn was refreshing, but the expressions of the two men facing that coolness were stiff and hard.

Brigantes, the capital of the Empire.

There were people walking through a pure-white building erected in the middle of that glorious city.

“Even so, the timing is not good right now, Bishop Pierre.”

Two men in red vestments.

But if one looked closely, one would notice that the collars around their necks were different colors.

“The cardinals’ conference being held this time is not the sort of conference where an agenda like the one you’re talking about can be raised.”

“But, Your Eminence.”

Seeing Cardinal Edouard speak firmly without even looking at him, Bishop Pierre instinctively knew this would not be easy.

“I know as well. That this conference is being held because of the heterodox faith the Northern Alliance is putting forward. However...”

However, this much had to be said.

Bishop Pierre had pursued the wicked presence that had hung over the North and reached the Barony of Uthman.

But what had awaited him there was not an honorable holy war, but only a suspicious battle painted over with all manner of doubts.

“What happened in the Barony of Uthman was clearly different from any holy war I have seen until now.”

It had been an army raised in accordance with the will of God, yet even when it reached the darkness itself, it had only remained leisurely.

The central army, which had not budged even at his threats and pleas, only began to move after hearing that the Iron Duke of the North was approaching.

Their behavior, as if they had been waiting until the North could no longer endure it, was certainly enough to make Pierre harbor suspicion.

“Dragulia seems suspicious to me, Your Eminence.”

“Shh!”

Edouard was aghast at Pierre’s words and quickly shoved him against the wall.

Pierre was also a tall man, but there was nothing he could do against the urgent shove of the stout Edouard.

“... Have I not always told you? Even when following the will of God, you must always keep your eyes and ears on your surroundings.”

At the cardinal’s words, shouted in a whisper, Pierre could only quietly nod.

Dragulia was one of only four ducal houses in the Empire.

Since Pierre had openly called such a Dragulia suspicious, even Edouard, a cardinal, could not help but be struck with alarm and embarrassment.

“I value your faithfulness highly, but please think a little about what is going on around you.”

“... I apologize, Your Eminence.”

The Vatican followed the will of God, but as it existed among humans, it could not be completely separated from the secular world.

Among the cardinals, there would surely be those supported by Dragulia, so Bishop Pierre’s blunt remark was certainly dangerous.

“There is reason in what you say, but let us finish the matter of the North first and think about it then. A Northern Orthodox Church... What a bizarre thing this is.”

Edouard was not merely saying the words; as if he truly found it troublesome, he took out a handkerchief and began wiping away his sweat.

Pierre’s report was certainly suspicious, but before the Vatican right now lurked a definite threat that had to be dealt with immediately.

“In any case, stay here quietly until this matter is over. You will not be able to return to Soara now, either.”

“... Understood.”

Pierre watched Edouard leave, shaking his head as if he had a headache, and bit his lip hard.

As expected, they could not help but be more sensitive to the threat right before them than to the darkness hiding out of sight.

“... The light shone in the darkness, yet the darkness did not comprehend it.”

In the corridor where Edouard had left and only he remained.

There, Bishop Pierre quietly murmured a prayer and could only comfort himself.

A suspicious darkness he had clearly seen, yet could do nothing about.

And on top of that, that darkness was hidden beneath the glorious name of Dragulia.

“What am I to do?”

The light coming through the window was bright, but Pierre still felt as if he were wandering in darkness.

The faithful inquisitor, who had always followed the will of God, could only hope that this time as well, His will would descend upon his shoulders.

* * *

Nassau’s harbor, which would normally have been crowded with people.

But the harbor had become silent without a single person in sight because of the Bayezid army that had suddenly swept in, and that stirred a strange feeling in Vlad.

“I shouldn’t have come out here.”

An unavoidable emptiness, and a hollow feeling as if something were missing.

Even when he tried hard to steady his heart, the feelings about Godin that sometimes sprang up without warning still dyed Vlad in a melancholy blue.

“Hey. You standing there, blue-eyes of Soara.”

There was a voice that pulled Vlad out as he was slowly sinking into thought while looking at the sea before him.

“... Lord Rutiger.”

A black-haired man was approaching the harbor.

It was Rutiger Bayezid, the heir Bayezid took pride in.

“How impudent. Everyone is busy moving, so what are you doing here alone?”

“I apologize.”

The blond hair and black mane standing alone on the blue harbor were colors that could not easily hide.

Seeing Vlad and Noir looking at him with the same motion, as if they were one body, Rutiger quietly smiled.

“If you want to hide somewhere, you had better cover your head first.”

Rutiger’s gesture, deliberately raising his hand to point at his hair, was playful.

Surely Rutiger had gone out looking for Vlad in order to offer him a measure of comfort.

Because he was a knight as well, he could understand Vlad’s melancholy, and because he had been there with him, he could sympathize.

“At any rate, you brought it to an end, so that is enough. You handled it admirably.”

“...”

What Rutiger wanted to say to Vlad was clearly that he had done well.

Though the duel had ended in futility, everyone there had been able to see Vlad’s will to somehow bring it to an end by his own hands.

“What is this?”

“Can’t you tell by looking? It’s the church’s emblem.”

Rutiger came closer while stroking Noir’s back and handed Vlad an unfamiliar necklace.

“For the church’s emblem... it looks a little different.”

What Rutiger held in his hand was certainly the church’s symbol, but beneath it, one more horizontal line had been engraved.

A strangeness carved into familiarity.

Seeing Vlad raise his head as if asking for an explanation, Rutiger opened his mouth.

“It is the symbol of the newly born Northern Orthodox Church.”

The will of God was one, but there were tens of thousands of interpretations of it.

The interpretation of doctrine was certainly a headache for the religious world, one that had caused countless conflicts, but the Northern Alliance and San Rosino of the northern diocese had decided to make use of it.

If one wished to stand wholly on one’s own, one had to possess something of one’s own, no matter the world.

“I only believe in Priest Andreas’s words.”

“He is part of the Northern Orthodox Church now too.”

“Then this symbol must be right.”

In any case, for Vlad, the shape of the symbol was not important.

Because for Vlad, the entrance closest to God was none other than Priest Andreas.

The person who had given me, someone who had merely rolled around in the back alleys, a name to engrave upon the world.

Until he met him, no one had ever taught the boy of the back alleys the words of God.

“By the way, what are you going to do? Will you keep following us?”

“What?”

Vlad’s eyes went round as he looked at Rutiger, who had asked out of nowhere whether he would follow.

“This advance will not stop at Nassau. Though taking all of the West will be impossible.”

As Rutiger said, the Bayezid army had no intention of stopping here in Nassau.

Peter had already narrowed down several regions that absolutely had to be taken in this war, and that territory stretched across three baronies in the West.

“We will have to take at least those places for the sums to add up.”

Gaidar had started it, but Bayezid would be the one to end it.

The lords of the West who had sympathized with the usurper would have to pay a heavy price for it.

“But why are you asking whether I will follow...”

“If you want to go back, I will send you back.”

It was a time when even a single knight was precious, but Peter and Rutiger were paying attention to Vlad’s condition.

He was not yet of age, and there had been enough of a reason for him to be shaken, so this was a moment when he needed to be looked after.

“Joseph is laid up sick as well. It seems he may need some sound fellow to assist him.”

“...”

Though Rutiger was talking in circles, Vlad could understand the true meaning contained in his words.

You had better rest a little.

Because your condition does not look good at all right now.

“... It has been a while since I returned to Soara.”

“Yes. Take this chance to rest and come back.”

He wanted to protest against this forced vacation, but Vlad was no longer a child who would simply flare up.

He was one of the knights who had to know how to step back, look at himself, and check his own condition.

“The sea... was nice.”

“Was it?”

The high moon he had looked up at was gone now, so the blue sea was what he naturally had no choice but to face.

That sea was speaking.

It said that now was not the time to climb, but the time to broaden.

‘I want to hear it again for the first time in a while.’

No one had told him, but Vlad decided to listen to the resonance quietly ringing out within his own world.

The vibration of that resonance held a familiarity that seemed to call a voice to mind.

* * *

Deirmar still groaned under the scars of war.

The reports that continued to arrive even now were weighing down Alicia’s nerves.

“... In the end, we have ended up handing the battlefield over to Bayezid.”

They had been reliable allies, but the wounds belonged to Deirmar alone.

Because they had survived the war, they had managed to preserve the house’s existence, but from now on, it was their turn to groan under festering wounds.

“Do you think they intended this?”

“... Even if they did, it was an unavoidable decision. Even the previous Family Head would likely have done the same.”

Bayezid was still racing through the West and picking up trophies, but Heinal merely stood still, catching its breath.

Even as Alicia looked at Deirmar, which had collapsed so miserably, she could not burst out in anger.

“In the end, the only ones we can trust are ourselves.”

Because they had no strength, they were ignored, and because they could not stand on their own, they had no choice but to lean on others.

Before Alicia, who had to endure that suffocating reality entirely alone, countless hardships would be waiting even from now on.

“I should attend the conference.”

Before Alicia, who had been forced to bow her head beneath the crushing weight, lay an elegant invitation.

As Alicia looked at that invitation, her watery eyes began to blaze little by little in a way that did not match their color.

“We cannot keep growing only lemons forever.”

“...”

They needed soldiers, they needed knights, and they needed power that others could not ignore.

And the only thing that made that possible was glittering gold coins.

Even for the people of Deirmar, who were still struggling with their wounds, Alicia had to open a new path forward through this northern conference.

“... Come to think of it, he left so suddenly that I could not even greet him properly.”

Just then, the Heinal tree came into view through the window.

Beneath that tree, which now looked more unfamiliar standing alone, the figure of the knight who had always given her comfort was nowhere to be seen.

How nice it would be if he were here at a time like this.

“My lady. My lady!”

As Alicia was quietly firming her resolve while looking at the tree outside the window, the door to the office suddenly opened noisily along with someone’s shout.

“Right now, outside, outside...”

“What is going on?”

Duncan could not hide his puzzlement as he looked at the butler bent over before him, panting for breath.

The butler of Heinal, who had served loyally for a long time.

As seasoned as Duncan himself, he had always assisted Alicia with a calm demeanor, but his current appearance was nothing like that.

“Outside? What is it?”

“Lady Alicia...”

At the butler’s unusual state, even Alicia’s expression grew tense.

But the butler had not urgently come to find her because of ominous news.

“Right now... guests have arrived outside.”

“Guests?”

As she looked at the butler, who had barely caught his breath, Alicia somehow felt as if a familiar, refreshing wind was blowing from behind him.