Chapter 95 - When That Snow Melts (3)

Bishop Pierre of Soara.

A bishop dispatched directly to the North by the Vatican, and a man who had spent his entire life fighting evil, heresy, and the wicked.

Yet this affair had been nothing but a worldly matter, entirely removed from his beliefs.

He had even granted an indulgence to some back-alley thug to gain justification, but in the end, all that had returned to him was miserable failure.

“Your Excellency, a telegram has arrived.”

“Give it here.”

The Mirror of Saint Marello, which had been like his pride, was shattered, and now he was under fierce pressure from San Rosino and the mayor of Soara.

Perhaps he might have to step down from his bishopric over this.

The northerners had always considered him, a man from the Vatican, a thorn in their side.

“... Still, it worked.”

Still, it had worked.

In the end, this telegram had come into his hands.

For the sake of a greater purpose, one had to know how to take the long way around at times.

“If it is a knight who inherited dragon blood, he should be able to cut off Lamashtu’s breath.”

He had always wanted to walk only the righteous path.

There had been a time when he had believed he could do so.

But Pierre had realized long ago that one could not always walk through the world on a straight road.

The path that led toward God’s will was not always shining.

“It was worth overreaching.”

The telegram the priest had brought.

At the very bottom of the small slip of paper was engraved the seal of the Dragulia Family.

With them, he would be able to show the foolish northerners the radiant light of the Vatican once more.

※※※※

“How about it? Have you thought about it?”

Vlad, who had stopped by City Hall, went to find Got, who was working in the stable.

“You said it before, remember? That we should do one big job together.”

“... I’m not sure getting banished from Soara counts as a big job.”

Got brushed off his proposal, but Vlad was not particularly upset.

After all, he was in the position of someone being banished, and from Got’s perspective, it meant quitting a stable job and coming along.

No matter who looked at it, it was a situation anyone could understand.

“I’ve said my piece. Of course, the decision is yours.”

“...”

Got was certainly a useful person.

Unlike Vlad, who had spent his whole life practically shut up inside Soara, Got had wandered here and there, so he was widely experienced, and he was versatile enough to handle all sorts of jobs.

But useful did not necessarily mean necessary.

After all, the things he could do were things Vlad could do just as well.

“I’m planning to leave early tomorrow morning. If you’re interested, I’ll see you at the city gate.”

“...”

Vlad knew Got had tried to use him as an opportunity to climb a little higher.

But even if it had begun as a shallow ploy, he was someone who had stayed with him until the end in a moment of crisis, so Vlad had reached out to him sincerely.

Even if Got refused his proposal, it would mean he had shown him his final courtesy.

“You’re leaving already?”

“I’ve taken care of everything I needed to do here.”

Even if Got did not come, and even if he ended up alone, it would be fine.

Because now, wherever he was, he had earned the right to stand on his own.

Vlad’s back, as he turned away without hesitation, seemed to say exactly that.

※※※※

In the end, he could not meet Joseph.

He had wanted to greet him one last time before leaving, but as an exile no different from a criminal, that was not something permitted to him.

A distinction between public and private as sharp as a blade.

Joseph had even refused his farewell to avoid giving away so much as a single justification until the very end, but the reason Vlad could keep himself from feeling hurt was probably because he had learned so much from him.

“I’ve spoken with the Kannor Family. Haven, when the river thaws, use that ship to bring in meat from Sturma.”

“You’ve already opened up a supplier?”

“You should prepare for the next thing whenever possible.”

Always think of the next move.

Always prepare for the worst.

Vlad, who now had to stand alone, decided to engrave deep in his heart the advice he had learned from Joseph and Jager.

“Otar. Help Haven with his business. If you’re beside him, it’ll be a strength to him.”

“Mm.”

He had opened a connection with the Kannor Family for Haven, who owned a ship, and put Otar at his side in preparation for any unforeseen situation.

The two of them alone might not be enough, but for now it was still a small business, and there would be others to help from the side, so would it not be possible enough?

“Why this? You’ll need money if you’re going to live outside, won’t you?”

“I’ll be fine without this much. It’s not like I ever lived because I had money.”

From the pouch that now held only eighteen gold, Vlad quietly took out ten gleaming gold coins and handed them to Haven.

“Use this to take care of the kids outside. You know, the thing the bosses used to do around this time.”

“Ah...”

Back when the five bosses had been around, whenever a season came when it was hard to scrape by like now, each boss would release food into the back alleys.

It might have been nothing more than a perfunctory act to win public sentiment and solidify their base, but there were indeed people who kept themselves alive on the meals they gave.

“Now there are only two bosses left, so all the kids outside are going to starve to death.”

“Yeah. You’re right.”

He still believed the same as before, that if you were weak you were trampled, and that you had to struggle to survive.

But even in the back alleys, it was only right to look after the children, at least.

On top of that, lately, the looks in the eyes of the children watching him kept weighing on his mind.

“... The damn kids keep staring at me.”

“I said I got it.”

He could do it, so he decided to do it, and he was also in a position where he ought to.

For the children looking up at the knight born and raised in the back alleys, he decided to willingly put down ten gold or so.

With that much, at least no children would starve to death this winter.

“I think that should do it now...”

Now that he had even taken care of the back-alley brats, most of the things he had to do were finished.

“But she still won’t come out.”

Vlad’s gaze turned toward a certain room on the fourth floor.

It was Zemina’s room, the room she had dragged him next to, saying she would cover up his conversations with the voice.

※※※※

“When I get paid for my virginity later, I’ll buy you that.”

There had been a time when he stood in the mud on the road and stared at the old blacksmith’s sword.

“You said five gold would do it, right?”

And when he was staring blankly at that gleaming sword, there had always been a red-haired girl standing beside him.

In those cruel choices where, if she was not a begging beggar, she had no choice but to become a prostitute who sold her body, Zemina had smiled and said she would buy him an unadorned sword.

“Would your virginity even be worth five gold?”

“I say I’ll buy it for you, and you still bitch about it.”

Amid jokes and scolding, the boy laughed and the girl laughed too, but in truth, no one was laughing.

For those who lived back-alley lives, even protecting someone was little different from a luxury.

And yet Zemina had ultimately placed a sword in his hand.

The full red hair she had offered as the price of the sword had been like the last weapon Zemina, who had nothing, possessed.

The sword bought with the girl’s tears that day had made him a knight.

Perhaps all the achievements he had made alongside the unadorned sword until now had begun with Zemina.

“Where are we going!”

“I’m later than I thought.”

“... Are you not going to answer me?”

Vlad, who had practically slung Zemina, shut inside her room, over his shoulder and carried her out, was hurriedly running down the alley.

“Let’s run a little.”

“... Do whatever you want.”

Perhaps embarrassed by her swollen eyes, Zemina buried her face against Vlad’s back.

Through the cold winter wind, she could feel Vlad’s breath.

“You should’ve done a better job, then.”

“What?”

Back then, he had run away, but now he was being driven out.

Just when she thought they were finally together, he had done something stupid for no reason and made this mess.

Faced with yet another parting approaching her, Zemina felt neither sorrow nor anger, only a miserable ache.

“This is it. Is this the place?”

“... Where is this?”

Because she had been dragged out so suddenly, she had not even been able to put on shoes.

After being carried on Vlad’s back and running for a long while, the place they arrived at was not the back alleys she usually saw, but the central square in the heart of Soara.

“Did they close?”

If it were the back alleys, it would still be the hour when lamps burned bright, but for ordinary people, it was now the time to close up shop and go home.

Still, Vlad only had today, so there was nothing he could do.

If he had known he would be driven out like this, he should have placed the order ahead of time.

BANG! BANG!

Open the door, please!

“Hey! Are you crazy? What are you doing!”

“Shopkeeper! I said open the door!”

“The guards are looking at us!”

The guards on patrol came toward Vlad, who was pounding hard on the door.

The back-alley girl, who had always had no choice but to shrink before guards, panicked, grabbed Vlad by the nape, and shook him, but in truth, none of it mattered anymore.

“So what. I’m a knight.”

“... Ah.”

He could stand proudly even before the guards he had always feared.

Because Vlad had become someone who could protect at least Zemina, the one on his back.

“Who is it at this hour!”

“You have something I reserved, right? Is it finished?”

“... Please come in, Lord Vlad.”

No one treated Zemina, who was with Vlad, carelessly.

Not simple fear, but the authority and honor Vlad carried, made it so.

The shop, though past business hours, opened its doors again.

Inside the shop, brightly lit once more just like the owner’s suddenly changed attitude, Zemina could not close her mouth.

“Wow.”

Looking at the countless clothes surrounding her,

And the wonderful fabrics that made her step down onto the cold floor of her own accord, even though she was barefoot.

“But why did we come here!”

This was the most famous dress shop in Soara.

“It is finished, but because you came late, I was going to have it delivered tomorrow.”

“Sorry for being late. Let’s have her try it on now.”

Instead of answering Zemina’s question, Vlad only replied with a gesture.

“Me?”

“Who else here is going to wear this little dress if not you?”

Zemina’s gaze naturally turned toward the place Vlad’s hand pointed.

“Try it on.”

A dress swayed over the dress shop owner’s hands.

Its luxuriously dyed crimson color looked as though it would suit Zemina’s hair well.

※※※※

He opened the door of the jewelry shop and received a necklace and earrings.

He stopped by the tanner’s and received crimson shoes.

He picked up the cosmetics he had ordered, and from the accessory shop, he also brought back a splendid fan.

“When I saw you back then, it suited you well.”

“...”

Vlad was receiving the items he had reserved one by one and putting them on Zemina.

Along with the setting twilight, Soara’s square was growing darker and darker, but Zemina’s appearance alone was shining ever brighter.

“I figured you wouldn’t get any taller, so I had it made to fit perfectly.”

“You crazy bastard.”

“Don’t borrow from Marcella anymore. Wear your own.”

Vlad remembered.

That time when Zemina had come in a crimson dress to bring Noir in.

At least then, she had not looked like a back-alley girl talking about selling her virginity, but like a lady anyone would acknowledge.

“... How much is all this?”

There was no longer that awkwardness from having borrowed someone else’s things.

The dress and accessories made solely for the girl were making Zemina shine even more than the sight he had seen that day.

“Probably about five gold.”

“There’s no way this is five gold.”

Holding her skirt, Zemina laughed as though she found it absurd.

She had never bought such things, so she did not know well, but the crimson velvet dress alone would easily cost more than five gold.

“Good. You’re pretty.”

Vlad put both hands on his waist and wore a proud expression.

She looked nothing like a woman who had been shut in her room crying only moments ago.

“It would have been nice if I’d done your hair too, but I was too busy all this time.”

One week was a time busy enough just to wrap up the things he had resolved to do until now.

Still, it was fortunate that he could spend the last night in Soara wholly for Zemina.

“Take it.”

“What is it?”

As if to say it was enough now, Vlad nodded and held out a piece of cloth to Zemina.

“This is the handkerchief I made.”

A rough handkerchief that did not suit a woman wearing a splendid dress and accessories.

The thing with someone’s name clearly embroidered on it was the handkerchief Zemina had made for Vlad herself.

“I didn’t know, but they say nobles do it like this.”

Watching Zemina stare silently at the handkerchief she had made, Vlad knelt on one knee.

“... What are you doing?”

The etiquette of nobles that Oksana had drilled harshly into him.

Zemina was flustered by Vlad’s sudden action, but each and every one of his movements carried a dignity she could not dare say anything about.

“Would you please grant me your handkerchief, my lady?”

Though the girl may not have been born with noble blood, to Vlad she was someone he had to protect and repay.

And if she was a woman a knight had to protect, then naturally she deserved to be called a lady.

Zemina was a woman who deserved it.

“Now you just have to give it to me.”

“Huh? Uh. Uh-huh.”

Zemina quietly held out the handkerchief with her name embroidered on it.

Because from Vlad, asking for the handkerchief, she felt a solemnity she could not dare refuse.

“...”

There were two ways for a knight to receive a handkerchief given by a lady.

One was to receive it on the tip of his sword.

The other was to receive it from hand to hand.

“What are you staring at like that?”

Vlad looked at Zemina’s rough hand, held in his own.

It was different from Alicia’s smooth hand, but even so, it was a hand he could not help feeling fond of.

“Make sure you put on the stuff I bought you.”

“It’ll all wash off when I do the dishes anyway.”

When Zemina laughed as if she found it ridiculous, Vlad began to laugh along with her.

Now they no longer had to hide their feelings from each other with laughter.

In the empty square,

A knight knelt before a lady.

Her handkerchief was passed from hand to hand, and though Zemina did not know it, through that act, Vlad willingly swore to shoulder one obligation.

It was an oath that he would protect her.