Chapter 40 - A Vacation That Was No Vacation (3)

"Kh... Cough."

A middle-aged knight leaned weakly against the wall, coughing up blood.

Behind him as he slowly collapsed, only a dark-red smear of blood remained pitifully behind.

Cold sweat running down his face was making his eyes heavy, but the knight struggled to stay conscious.

Everything was over, but he was one who had a duty to see the end.

STEP. STEP.

The sound of someone walking reached the man's ears.

His dim vision, his ringing ears, and the screams of someone coming from somewhere.

The footsteps that mingled with all of it were quiet, yet nothing could have been more chilling.

"So this is where you were."

"... So you've come this far in the end."

The mansion was now being dyed in bright red blood.

The knight, who had borne the duty of protecting this place, looked up at the man who had walked down the corridor.

What one could see at the final moment of life.

Surely, it would be nothing but death.

"They say one's lord's command comes first... cough, and one's own honor comes second, but that cannot mean one must obey orders unconditionally."

"..."

Blue moonlight poured in through the corridor window.

Standing silently with it, the man only listened to the dying knight's final grumbling.

"The knights of the former Count Gaidar were not like this."

"... That is why they all died."

In his fading vision, slowly falling shut, a sword glimmering in the moonlight entered his eyes.

It was a beautiful light, one that did not belong here.

"That light, too, will someday fade."

"..."

With those words, the knight of blue moonlight raised his sword high.

Because of the backlight cast by the moon, his expression could not be seen, but the knight felt as though he knew it all the same.

"... Godin. Tell Count Gaidar."

The victor above, the loser below.

"I'll be waiting in hell."

THUNK.

Everything according to the victor's decision.

Red blood was flowing down the white corridor.

"... I will deliver the message."

A mansion somewhere that had been filled with screams only moments ago.

Now, only silence filled that place, and blue moonlight shone upon it.

Everywhere the moonlight touched, red screams had been painted.

* * *

There was a boy with his face propped on the carriage windowsill, looking outside with a sullen expression.

"When are we getting there?"

"We're almost there now."

"You said we were almost there before."

"..."

Vlad had been had.

Since Portly had said his home was inside Sturma, Vlad had thought they would arrive within half a day, no matter how long it took.

But contrary to Vlad's expectations, not only did it take more than half a day, they had to leave Sturma entirely and travel about another day's distance.

For Vlad, who was already sick and tired of carriages, it was a time like punishment.

"Around this time of year, my whole family moves to our summer villa. It's when the grass on the plains starts coming up."

"If we were going to a villa, you should've told me that from the start."

"... Sorry."

But what was done was done, and there was nothing to be done about it.

Portly's family had currently moved not to somewhere inside Sturma, but to a villa prepared outside the city.

Portly explained, practically spitting as he talked, that the time spent there would be far more enjoyable, but Vlad was simply annoyed by the fact that two days of his precious week-long vacation had been spent traveling.

"Oh..."

"The view's nice, right? I wanted to show you this."

But that mood lasted only a moment.

Just as Portly had said, they had only crossed one hill, yet the sight that had changed completely filled Vlad's eyes.

A meadow that opened even his field of view wide.

At the refreshing sight he was seeing for the first time in his life, even Vlad, who had been hanging his face sullenly on the windowsill, ended up opening his mouth wide.

"Wow..."

Looking at the scenery before his eyes, Vlad could not help but marvel.

It was the season just as spring was turning into summer.

In keeping with the warm weather, grasses had lifted their heads, and everything in every direction was nothing but green.

There were so few trees that the meadow lay wide open all the way past the horizon, and as Vlad looked at it, he felt as though he had come to the middle of a green sea.

Monsters do sometimes pop out, but since it's right after the monster subjugation Lord Joseph carried out this winter, we probably don't have to worry about that.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. You know, that subjugation you said you were part of."

"Ah. That."

Every action had a purpose.

To think that the subjugation where he had first met Joseph last winter had been carried out to use this meadow safely now.

"Then I guess I have a little share in the view right now, too."

Vlad felt somehow proud, as if he had lent a hand in making this green meadow.

"I want to shout."

"I get it. I feel like that sometimes, too."

The world of intense green made him want to kick the carriage door open right now, run outside, and sprint to his heart's content.

Feeling as though he could understand how the horses running far in the distance must feel, Vlad stuck his face out of the carriage, opened his mouth wide, and swallowed the rushing air.

"Yeaaaaaah!"

"... Yeah. I completely get it."

The boy's shout rang out loudly through the middle of the meadow.

For Vlad, who had spent his whole life in dark, narrow places, he only wanted to pour out without restraint the fresh emotions that came surging in without pause.

* * *

Like a buoy floating on a green sea, a villa announced its presence in a different color.

In front of it, someone was waving toward the carriage.

"That's our family's butler."

"Oh. A butler."

Vlad had thought it was family because he was waving so happily, but it was a butler.

"Your house must be big enough to need a butler?"

"Our family has two butlers in total."

"... Really?"

Though the Kannor Family was not noble, it was a family with a fair degree of influence in Sturma.

Vlad had become friendly with Portly with that in mind to begin with, but the wealth of the Kannor Family exceeded the imagination of a boy who had grown up in the back alleys.

"Long time no see, butler!"

"It is good to see you again as well, young master."

Dogs always tried to be held by their owners, regardless of their own size.

And Portly looked exactly like that now.

The old butler's legs were trembling as he somehow tried to lift plump Portly into his arms.

"Where's Father?"

As the youngest of the Kannor Family, judging from the way Portly behaved toward the butler, he seemed to be loved at home.

But even though Vlad, whom they had supposedly been eagerly awaiting, had arrived right in front of them, no one except the butler had come outside to welcome the guest.

"The thing is..."

The butler expressed the awkward situation with a bitter smile and asked Vlad for a small measure of understanding.

"The Family Head is first receiving guests who arrived unexpectedly... So perhaps you might first take a look at the ranch our family takes pride in."

Unexpected guests had come, then.

Looking at the butler's troubled expression, Vlad answered as if it was no big deal.

"Let's do that."

Saying that other guests had come and asking him to wait was close to rude, but Vlad did not particularly care.

"Thank you for your consideration."

Seeing Vlad like that, the wrinkles on the old butler's face spread wide in relief.

["Well done. A generous heart is bound to come back to you someday."]

'... It wasn't like I said it thinking that.'

Vlad quietly answered in his heart as he listened to the voice's words.

When had he ever been properly treated before?

Though he had been pushed back until later, even a situation like this was dreamlike compared to the past.

And if he tried to receive hospitality over nothing more than what had happened in Deirmar, then every time he did something from now on, his feet would grow sluggish and his chin would rise stiffly.

That was why the boy decided to become as broad-minded as possible in all things.

"Instead, I'd like to see where the horses are first. I was looking forward to that."

"Of course you should. The truly expensive ones will be introduced by the Family Head himself, but it would not be bad to look over the rest in advance."

Instead, I should find and eat what I'm allowed to have.

Because the life the boy had lived until now allowed him to give way, but not to tolerate taking a loss.

* * *

NEIGH!

SNORT!

WOOF WOOF!

"..."

"..."

Cows, horses, sheep, and even the sheepdogs.

All the animals in the ranch saw Vlad, were terrified, and fled far away.

"... This is rather serious."

Portly and Vlad had more or less expected something like this to happen, but the old butler, seeing such a scene for the first time, was so shocked his face turned pale.

"By any chance... have you been to the church?"

"The one who guarantees my identity is Priest Andreas."

"Ah... My apologies."

The butler had been asking in a roundabout way whether Vlad might be cursed, but after hearing the name that came out of Vlad's mouth, he had no choice but to lower his head.

As befitted the butler of the Kannor Family, who had carried on herding and livestock raising for generations, he too knew a thing or two about handling animals.

But he swore he had never seen horses and sheep flee from someone in such a panic as they did now.

'So riding a cow is impossible now too.'

Whether the old butler beside him was looking shocked or not, Vlad simply stared at the empty fence with a heavy heart.

Got had said as a joke that perhaps he would have to ride a cow, but judging from the current situation, even that seemed impossible.

Vlad grew depressed.

"..."

Watching him, Portly felt sorry for him and promised Vlad.

"We'll look at every animal on our ranch before you go. There might be one that suits you."

He said he would show him every one of the animals here.

Whether for battle, riding, work, or slaughter, he would bring them all out and show them to him.

"There has to be at least one that will follow me, right?"

"Of course!"

But a promise was not always something one could keep just because one gave an assurance.

Even so, the two of them searched every corner of the ranch, saying there might still be a chance, but all they found were animals busy avoiding Vlad.

In the meantime, only the innocent butler was overworked.

"I knew something like this might happen, but..."

Vlad had braced himself for the possibility, but now that the scene he had imagined was unfolding clearly before his eyes, it was enough to drive him mad.

It felt as though even the handful of hope he had barely held on to was shattering.

What was the point of using aura?

He could not even ride a horse.

"When everyone else does some cool cavalry charge, I'll just be eating dust and chasing after their tails..."

"... There are still the fine-blooded ones Father brought in."

But to bring those out, they would need the Family Head's permission.

His anticipation, which had been swollen full, deflated miserably, and Vlad had no choice but to return to the villa with heavy steps.

The sun of this day, setting beyond the horizon, merely stained the boy's drooping shoulders red.

* * *

CRACKLE. CRACKLE. HISS.

"..."

When Vlad entered the dining hall, he closed his mouth at the sight unfolding before his eyes.

Meats were being ceaselessly roasted over the brazier by the servants.

The heat coming from that place was warming Vlad's gloomy heart once more.

'I was right to come here.'

Though he had complained in the carriage that it was far, Vlad looked at the sight now and thought that sincerely.

It had been worth coming.

"Welcome! I'm sorry I could not greet such an honored guest myself!"

Vlad had frozen like a stone statue in front of the meats turning round and round, only his eyes rolling about.

Olson Kannor, Family Head of the Kannor Family and Portly's father, seemed pleased by Vlad's unadorned reaction and patted the boy's back with a thick hand.

"It is my first time meeting you. I am Vlad, a squire of the Bayezid Family."

"I know, I know! Rumors about you have already spread all throughout Sturma!"

Watching Vlad show him courtesy according to the greeting he had learned from Countess Oksana, Olson Kannor gave a broad smile.

A boy who had invoked the Swordmaster's rule for the first time in a very long while.

When the people of Sturma learned that boy was in their city, they talked endlessly about Vlad with a certain pride of their own.

The birth of a new star was always welcome.

'Portly made himself one good friend!'

Looking at the fine-looking boy before him, Olson Kannor fell into the illusion that his stomach was growing full despite having eaten nothing.

He had been worried all this time because Portly seemed to be having trouble adapting at the Bayezid mansion, but looking at the boy before him now, Olson felt as though all those worries were being swept away.

He was a tall, trustworthy-looking boy, and above all thin, giving the impression of someone one wanted to feed plenty.

"Sit here! I would like to hear about the Swordmaster's rule, something I have not heard of in so very long!"

Following his habit from the back alleys, Vlad tried to infer Olson's disposition from his attitude.

There was sincerity in his gaze and conduct, and confidence in his loud laughter.

He had the feeling of what people commonly called a good-natured man, and judging by how diligently he entertained his guests, he seemed to be quite extroverted.

In other words, he seemed like a person with a personality suited to doing business.

"Honored guests have come to my house today, so as the master of this house, I could not be happier!"

Hearing Olson's words, Vlad remembered that another guest besides himself had come here today.

'Is he seating guests from elsewhere together?'

Vlad did not know much about the rules of nobles or wealthy families, so he merely thought the master of this place must have handled it as he saw fit.

"And on top of that, everyone here is of Bayezid, so that too is a happy thing!"

'Bayezid?'

Hearing that the other guests who had come here were also from Bayezid, Vlad tilted his head.

Following Olson, who personally guided him, Vlad sat down, and only then did he learn the identities of the other guests.

"..."

Knights.

And not just any knights, but skilled men who possessed a tempered bearing.

If he had known nothing, he might have been able to hold his head stiffly up, but as Vlad had only now come to glimpse the world a little, the presence they gave off was simply too much to bear.

And among them, the man sitting in the center as if he were the master of this place was looking at him.

The man with familiar black hair was smiling as he looked at Vlad.

"Long time no see, right? Have you been well?"

A man who resembled his lord, but instead of the pitiful dark shadows beneath his eyes, wore a confident smile.

"... I did not know you would be here, Lord Rutiger."

Rutiger Bayezid, the eldest son of the Bayezid Family.

He was looking at Vlad and smiling.

"I wonder whether today, you will be able to eat something with me. The food is far too good to refuse, isn't it?"

No sooner had Rutiger finished speaking than the aura of the knights sitting beside him began to grow fierce.

It was only natural.

The brat who had refused the favor of the lord they served was sitting right in front of them.

"..."

Rutiger winked as he pointed with his thumb at the whole roasted pig turning ceaselessly behind him.

Looking at him, Vlad thought.

Why had he been so stubborn back then, refusing to eat the peanuts?

Against a man with such a ferocious presence, no less.

"... Today will be fine."

But though Vlad was cowed, he did not lower his head.

He merely grasped the fork placed before him with determination and looked straight back at him.

"I was looking forward to it, too."

"... Were you?"

Seeing the boy look at him with fierce blue eyes raised, Rutiger gave a deep smile.