Chapter 28 - An Invitation from Deirmar (2)

A white mansion surrounded by forest.

Behind the mansion, which had an old-fashioned air, sat a low hill.

A single tree and gravestones stood there.

The spring breeze stroked the woman's hair, but she sat there without the slightest movement.

"..."

Sitting beside a small gravestone with her knees drawn up, she quietly looked at the mansion.

The place where she had been born and raised.

The place where she would have to live from now on as well.

And the place that should rightfully have been hers.

The woman was looking at that place.

Clear tears gathered in her eyes and her vision grew blurrier and blurrier, but she did not stop looking at the mansion.

The woman's tears did not flow downward.

They merely hid their presence in silence.

Along with the sorrow that should have been shed.

The time for grieving was over.

Such a time comes for everyone.

* * *

"Ah, my heart keeps beating however it wants these days."

Beside Vlad, who was turning his head this way and that as he loosened up, Got idly chewed on a leaf and answered.

"Isn't that an illness?"

"I don't know. It just started all of a sudden. For some reason, I can't focus well either."

"Maybe you've caught spring fever."

"Maybe it's because it's been a while since I came out."

A halfhearted question and a halfhearted answer.

But it did not really matter.

After all, the two of them were only talking because they wanted to move their mouths.

"How much farther?"

"The coachman says we need to go three more days."

"Aren't you the coachman?"

"I'm the coachman's assistant."

Though they were traveling seated in a carriage, the journey could only be boring for a boy in the full flush of youth.

"We're setting off now!"

"They're setting off, boss."

"Oh, good grief."

Vlad made a sound that only an old man would make and rose from his seat.

"By the way, can't you give me just one slice of that jamón or whatever it is?"

"That's not mine anymore."

Got asked Vlad in a small voice, but Vlad simply walked on without looking back.

"So it would've been so nice if you'd given me a bite when it was still yours..."

Along with the leaf he had been chewing, Got spat out the hurt in his heart at Vlad's answer.

The blowing wind was warm, and the weather was clear.

The group was heading south along with the spring.

* * *

The city of Deirmar.

The only city held by the Heinal baronial house.

Its location was in the northern part of the central region, so if the weather was good, it was a place one could reach from Sturma, where the Bayezid Family was, in a week even by carriage.

"Lemons are famous there, of course."

"Aren't lemons fruit that grow in the south?"

"That is why there is demand."

This city, which lay at the northernmost climate where lemons could be grown, had lemon production as its main industry, and the goods made by processing them further were somewhat well known.

"They harvest them around the time others sell lemons, then sell them off when there is no supply left in the market. Though they cannot harvest large amounts because of the climate, their eye for timing was excellent."

"Ooh."

So things could be sold that way.

Even with the same item, its value could be raised like that.

As Vlad sliced off pieces of jamón, he nodded at Joseph's explanation, his eyes shining.

Being with the talkative Joseph was sometimes difficult, but the knowledge and experience he spoke of were excellent nourishment for Vlad.

"It is a grateful city for northerners, who rarely get to taste fruit. Besides, it is also one of the gateways into the central region, the center of everything."

Joseph continued speaking while carefully watching Vlad's fingertips as they carved the jamón.

"In other words, it is that important a city to northerners."

"..."

Vlad felt as though something red was flickering inside his black eyes.

"Cut it faster."

"I have to shave it thin. It's harder than it looks."

"Tsk."

Joseph clicked his tongue at Vlad's explanation and turned his head.

"... So that is why Sir Jager is moving?"

"That's right."

At present, the group was on its way to Deirmar, the city of the Heinal baronial house.

That was because they had received an invitation from Alicia Heinal, its rightful heir.

"A crisis is an opportunity. Even more so when it is not a crisis I myself am facing."

However, though her invitation had outwardly taken the form of an invitation, in truth it was no different from a plea for salvation.

"The world of nobles really is complicated."

"If you look at it in a complicated way, it is complicated. If you look at it simply, it is simple."

Jager finally accepted the slice of jamón handed to him and chewed on it.

"In the end, it is only a fight to possess the land called Deirmar."

"And between blood relatives, at that."

"... Conflict among those of the same blood is a long-standing tradition among nobles."

On Joseph's face as he said that was a bitterness difficult to hide.

"..."

Seeing that expression, Vlad simply focused obediently on shaving off the next slice of jamón.

Everyone had a weight they had to carry alone.

Alicia, who had invited Joseph to her territory, was no different.

She was currently embroiled in a succession dispute.

As with any fight, perhaps, the succession dispute taking place within the Heinal Family was currently sinking into an endless mud fight.

"Even so, this case is uncommon. It is truly a situation that exposes the family's shame."

Alicia's uncle, Endre Heinal, was claiming that his niece was not a child who had inherited his elder brother's blood, but someone born through an illicit relationship.

Whether she had truly been born through an illicit relationship could not be known, but it was certain that if Alicia disappeared, he would become the next Baron Heinal.

Alicia was the only child of the former Baron Heinal, but because of the inherent limitation of being a woman, her foundation could not help but be weak.

In order for her to overcome the difficulties before her, she had no choice but to prove her innocence through an honorable duel presided over by the church.

However, this, too, was ultimately the direction Endre wanted.

"We will use this opportunity to place the Heinal Family in our debt. Father agrees with that idea as well."

"I see."

Vlad looked at Jager through the window in the carriage.

A knight so outstanding that Alicia Heinal had invited him specially in order to entrust her honor to him.

'Amazing.'

Reputation and ability were not always proportional.

A knight who engaged in many outside activities would have many chances to make his name known, but a knight like Jager, who valued matters within the family, would not have many such chances.

"What are you looking at? The look in your eyes is rude."

"..."

Jager's mood once again soured at the suspicious gaze his squire was sending him.

"How does it feel, as a mere squire, to make the knight you serve ride a horse while you sit comfortably in the carriage?"

"..."

Even if he had ten mouths, he had nothing to say.

That was exactly how Vlad felt right now.

He should not have looked.

"Humiliating. It was truly a feeling I had not experienced in a long time."

"..."

To think he had been going around wrecking the other squires and walking with his shoulders squared, only to turn out to be a half-baked fool who could not even mount a horse.

The sound of certain people snickering at him still seemed to ring in Jager's ears.

"... The horses hate me."

"What makes you think only horses hate you?"

"..."

There was no knight who could not ride a horse.

There was probably no squire who could not ride a horse either.

Even Got, who was driving the carriage up ahead right now, knew how to ride.

"... I should be able to ride an expensive horse. Probably."

"You should be the one carrying an expensive horse around. It is more precious than you."

Seeing Jager's face twist as if to ask whether that was supposed to be an excuse, Vlad had no choice but to quietly lower his head.

It was not simply because he had no face to show.

'Why does this keep happening?'

His heart was pounding wildly, as if he had just come back from a run.

It was a sensation he had been feeling often over the past few days.

'Is it because I'm getting chewed out?'

Since Joseph was talking to him nonstop in front of him and Jager was chewing him out whenever he had the chance beside him, it was a reason that could readily come to mind.

After all, mental pressure was like the root of all illness.

THUMP. THUMP.

Vlad slowly took deep breaths and tried to calm his heart, but this time it would not easily settle down.

"Hm?"

And it was not only Vlad's heartbeat that was giving off a strange vibration.

"... The ground is rumbling."

Not only Vlad, but Joseph also felt the shaking vibration, and his face gradually began to harden.

It was not the sort of vibration felt from movement.

Everything around them was shaking.

"Everyone, halt!"

Jager, who was outside, seemed to have sensed something unusual as well, and after stopping the procession, he quickly looked around.

'The trees are shaking.'

Through the window, Vlad discovered that the trees around them were trembling.

When everyone held their breath in tension at the sudden situation...

RUMBLE!

With a roar, the ground began to shake violently.

"It's an earthquake!"

"Everyone, get down from your horses!"

WHINNY!

The sensitive horses began to rear wildly at the enormous rumbling that started beneath their feet.

"Damn it!"

As the carriage shook violently from the vibrations coming from the ground as well as the horses' thrashing, Vlad quickly wrapped himself around Joseph and kicked the carriage door open.

Vlad was greatly flustered by a situation he was experiencing for the first time in his life, but following instinctive movement, he got Joseph down from the carriage.

"Aaaah!"

"..."

Then he shielded him and threw himself flat on the ground.

However, Joseph, who was the one being protected, merely maintained his composure as if nothing were wrong.

"... Your devotion is admirable, but do not panic so much."

"Is this! An earthquake?"

"No. This is probably..."

RUMBLE!

Before Joseph could finish speaking, the vibrations of the ground were reaching their peak.

It was shaking so violently that even while remaining still, one could see dust rising from the ground.

'This is my first time experiencing an earthquake!'

No matter how much Vlad had been through, he could not help but panic in a disaster situation he was experiencing for the first time.

"It is over."

"... Eek."

Though it had only been a few minutes, Vlad, completely drained, rolled to the side and moved away from Joseph.

"This is my first time experiencing an earthquake."

"This is not an earthquake."

"What?"

Seeing Joseph stand and brush the dirt from his body as if it were nothing important, Vlad spoke in a stunned voice.

"Look."

Vlad turned his head in the direction Joseph was pointing.

"Huh?"

Far off on the plain, he could see the ground heaving.

It was the kind of movement one might see if a mole were digging through the ground and moving.

But since it was moving far away over there, even if it really were a mole, it would be an incredibly large one.

"It is a giant death worm. It is a monster that lives in the west, but around this time of year, it reaches the central region in search of food."

"A giant death worm?"

Seeing Vlad look at him with eyes that asked what that was, Joseph realized he had to explain.

The boy was a mass of potential, but he was also like a vessel lacking everything, one that remained insufficient no matter how much was poured into it.

"It is something born of dragons. In the sense that humans can hardly do anything about it, it is much the same as an earthquake."

"Dragons..."

"To be precise, it is a remnant of a fallen dragon."

With those final words, Joseph left, and while the group moved busily, checking their equipment...

"..."

The boy simply sat still and watched something move forward as it heaved up the ground.

The dust that had yet to settle naturally blurred the corners of his eyes, but the boy could not stop looking.

"That's incredible."

Something he was experiencing for the first time in his life.

Something he would never have seen in his lifetime if he had remained stuck in the back alleys.

As it moved farther away, Vlad's heartbeat also gradually subsided.

The boy's world was expanding.