Chapter 98 - Watchman of the Barley Field (3)

On a dark night, Vlad lay flat on a low hill with the soldiers.

It looked a little ridiculous, but if they wanted to see who came and went in the barley field ahead, lying in ambush like this was the best option.

"The child who went missing this time actually disappeared somewhere near here, you see."

"..."

The foundation of an ambush was stealth.

Common sense said they should hide close to the ground, as if they were both there and not there, but the captain of the knights chattering away beside Vlad seemed to have no such concept in his head.

"They say there was an incredibly deep pit dug right beside the place where the child vanished."

Vlad knew why he was sticking so close and acting so friendly.

He was a knight they could use on the cheap, so they wanted to squeeze as much out of him as possible.

Baron Dalmatia probably wanted to foist even the case of the child who had supposedly gone missing this morning onto him.

'That won't do.'

The child's disappearance was unfortunate, but that did not mean he could take on every problem in Dobrechiti.

He had accepted this task of guarding the barley field only because he thought it might very well be related to spirits.

He had accepted this watchman's task of guarding the barley field only because he thought it might very well be related to spirits.

"That little girl was such a well-behaved child, so it truly is a shame. Even today, her mother came to the lord's manor and cried and wailed..."

"Wait."

The captain of the knights had his mouth clamped shut by the hand Vlad thrust out in alarm.

Vlad had not done it on purpose, but the captain's face naturally twisted at the clump of dirt that filled his mouth.

"Can't you hear it?"

"Ptoo, ptoo. What are you..."

In the darkness, Vlad's ears began to twitch keenly.

The hearing he had trained since childhood for smuggling was doing its job.

"Damn."

Until just a moment ago, Vlad had even been trying to hide the sound of his breathing, but now he was rushing down the hill like a wolf charging toward its prey.

"Follow, follow him! Follow Sir Vlad!"

At Vlad's sudden charge, the soldiers who had been lying in ambush with him hurriedly followed after him, but in the dark hill, they only bumped into one another, fell over, and rolled about.

If anything, Vlad's nimble movements in a place without even a trace of moonlight looked strange.

"Huff, huff. Sir Vlad. Why all of a sudden..."

But the sight the soldiers, who had barely managed to come down the hill, saw was only Vlad looking down at the barley field with a hollow expression.

"We've been robbed."

"What?"

At Vlad's words, they hurriedly lit torches, and sure enough, in the barley field, the seeds they had supposedly scattered during the day had vanished without a trace.

"H-How could this..."

The captain of Dalmatia's knights was flustered by a sight that was difficult to believe even as he looked at it.

No matter how dark it had been, they had clearly been watching, so how in the world had this happened?

"Did you bring a shovel?"

"Yes. Here."

The captain and all the soldiers were flustered and at a loss, but Vlad alone took the shovel from the soldier standing beside him and began digging up the barley field.

They had failed to stop what happened, but if they were to find even a clue, they had to do their best until the very end.

'I definitely heard it.'

He had definitely heard something moving.

But now there were no footprints left nearby, and nothing had moved within the sight of his own sharpened senses from atop the hill.

If so, was there not only one possibility left?

"... Captain. How far is the place where the child you mentioned disappeared from here?"

"Not far. If we climb that hill, we'll be there in no time."

At last, Vlad finished shoveling.

The sight of Vlad staring hard down into the hole he had dug looked anything but ordinary.

"But why that place..."

"Torch."

Instead of answering the question, Vlad took a torch from a soldier and shone it over the place he had dug.

"What is this..."

"Huh."

At last, deep beneath the barley field they faced.

The captain and the soldiers could not hide their astonishment at the sight they were seeing.

Because in the place they faced with the raised torch, there was a deep pit already open, even though Vlad had not dug it out.

"You said there was a pit opened at the place where the child disappeared?"

A single pit dug deep beneath the barley field.

Though it was small in size, the pitch-black pit was so deep that even the light of the torch could not reveal its bottom.

"I suppose we'll have to go there."

No one dared open their mouth as they looked at the pit that simply did not look as if a human had dug it.

Because everyone could tell that something of unknown identity was wrapping itself around Dobrechiti.

On the dark night, Vlad stood beneath the lone burning torch, looking down at the pitch-black pit as he quietly closed his left eye.

※※※※

It was too strange to be the work of a beast or a monster.

If hungry things from the forest had come down, would they really have needed to leave the houses and livestock right in front of them alone and dig out only the seeds?

And while going to the trouble of digging pits, no less.

"So what did you say Sir Vlad is doing now?"

The captain of the knights who had guarded the barley field with Vlad last night bowed his head and reported to Baron Dalmatia.

There were only two knights in the territory, so as captain, knight, and advisor, he had to show his face here and there.

"After going with me to the place where the child disappeared... he is now gathering the village elders."

"The elders? Why on earth?"

Though it was something he had asked him to do, was he not poking around too much?

Still, what could not be helped now was the fact that behind the knight named Vlad was the enormous backing of Bayezid.

If he tried to restrict his right to investigate here, it would be no different from giving him a grave insult, so something even more troublesome than now might arise later.

"It seems he intends to ask the elders about things from the past."

"Things from the past?"

Baron Dalmatia listened to the captain's words and ended up making a slightly displeased expression.

A mountain territory on the outskirts of the central region.

Because this place lay outside the church's sphere of influence, old traditions passed down from long ago still remained here.

"The old men won't say anything strange, will they?"

"Would they not have grown wiser with age? They will not speak of anything before an unfamiliar knight that the church might use against them."

At the captain's answer, Baron Dalmatia rubbed his temples and let out a sigh.

He had thought this would be settled by simply catching some monster, but he had never imagined it would grow this large.

"Assign someone to him. Make sure he does not start digging into strange matters for no reason."

"Understood."

Even so, the fact that Vlad was someone needed to resolve this matter would not change.

Because it was clear that his sword would be sharper than that of the captain of the knights now bowing his head before him.

※※※※

"Elders. Do you not pity the missing girl? One clue from you may save that child!"

An old man was wise, but that did not mean he could make the right decision in every matter.

Especially if a swindler was babbling away right in front of him.

"Even now, she may be stuck in some pit, crying..."

"The knight I serve is not trying to harm you. He is only burning with passion for this matter!"

Before the gathered elders, Got was wagging his tongue without pause.

Watching him, Vlad thought he looked like a snake oil peddler selling medicine.

"Is there truly nothing that comes to mind? All of this is..."

"... There was something."

Trust in Vlad, pity for the missing child, and even the threat that danger was approaching.

"Ah, elder. Finally."

At the tip of the swindler's tongue, which skillfully used both threats and persuasion, one old man finally began to be bewitched.

"Barley disappearing has happened since long ago."

"When we were young, we used to hold rites."

"But then the church came and told us not to do that."

As soon as one person fell for the swindler's temptation, testimonies began popping up here and there.

It seemed the elders had also been feeling stifled by the current situation in their own way.

"But a child had never disappeared."

"There were times one was carried off by wolves, but never sucked into a pit. Yes, indeed."

The knight of Dalmatia, who was listening to the elders, began to grow restless.

Because the smile Vlad showed was that deep and meaningful.

"What were the rites for?"

"..."

The elders, who turned their heads at the sudden question, looked at Vlad's blue-shining eye and began closing their mouths again.

"What rites? Elders. If you do not tell us this, we cannot save the child."

"A ground ghost. There is a ground ghost in the forest."

"It is not such a bad one, and if we held rites for it, it would make the soil fertile."

"But lately, they burned the forest to clear the land."

Got listened to the elders and shrugged at Vlad standing behind him.

It was a reaction Vlad, with his fierce gaze and gleaming armor, could never have drawn out.

"Find out what the ground ghost is. I'll be outside."

"Got it."

As soon as Vlad realized he was only getting in the way, he quietly whispered to Got and went outside.

As expected, people had to be used in the right place, and Got was talent better suited to being a swindler than a stable keeper.

"Sir Vlad. These rites are not anything strange..."

"I know."

At the knight's excuse, the meaningful smile that had been on Vlad's face until a moment ago was replaced before long by an elegant smile.

It was the smile Countess Oksana had taught him to wear in front of women.

"When one has lived here for a long time, there are bound to be rules one has no choice but to keep. I understand."

Rites offered to beings other than God were no different from idol worship.

Though not only in Dobrechiti but in other places as well, treatment for ancient beings still remained, all such things were acts forbidden by the church.

If they were exposed, it could become a matter for severe punishment, which was why the knight was now so flustered.

"I swear to God that I will concern myself only with finding the missing child and the barley thief."

But Vlad was saying that he would pretend not to know about it, so the knight of Dalmatia had no choice but to nod.

"Ah. Thank you, Sir Vlad."

Inside, a swindler, and outside, a pickpocket, were deceiving people.

Even so, the reason they could stand proud unlike before was probably because it truly was for the sake of resolving Dobrechiti's problem.

Because Vlad and Got, who now stood with a banner, were no longer criminals, but a knight and a squire.

※※※※

"It feels like some kind of spirit. They said they used to hold rites for them long ago."

"Hmm. Good."

It was fortunate this was a backwater village where old customs still remained.

Because in Dobrechiti, customs related to spirits truly did remain.

"Now, they said the lord burned the forest and cleared the land to expand the fields. Apparently, the place where they held the rites was the barley field where you dug into the ground back then, boss. Doesn't that give you chills?"

Even though Got had said it himself, he wrapped both arms around his shoulders as if goosebumps were rising.

From Got's perspective, it might have been an eerie story.

Holding rites and offering tribute to an unknown being.

But to Vlad, who was actually listening, it felt as if he had found water in a dry desert.

"What is a ground ghost?"

"The ground ghost is about farming."

The being Dobrechiti had served since long ago was a being related to the earth.

For the people of the territory, who lived by farming in barren soil, there could have been no object of reliance greater than a spirit related to the earth.

"They say if they held rites, the soil became fertile and all. To farm, you have to dig deep into the ground, you see. They're saying the ground ghost did that for them. It makes no sense."

Why would it make no sense?

There was even a snake that lived in a tree.

That snake was even a creature with the ability to make the weather warm.

Compared to a white snake that could make lemons grow even in the cold North, making the earth a little fertile would be a simple thing.

"... In any case, it seems to be a creature that likes barley and lives underground."

Vlad raised his head and looked up at the sky.

Night was coming.

"And it seems to like dark places too."

The barley had always disappeared at night.

If they were creatures that lived underground, they would naturally prefer dark places to sunlight.

He did not know whether it was connected or not, but with the weather so cold, he would have to move quickly if he was to find even the missing girl.

"Go get some barley."

"Barley?"

Joseph had always liked predicting his opponent's movements.

He was a man who laid out the board, predicted, and created results that way.

"Yes. Barley."

He still did not know its exact identity, but he knew what it liked.

If so, he could predict a little too.

Because he had learned something by watching the man with deep shadows under his eyes all this time.

Night was coming.

※※※※

A pitch-black night.

Vlad and Got.

BRRRR.

And a dark mountain path with only Noir.

"Boss, will this really do?"

Got looked at Vlad with a doubtful face. They had scattered the barley they had brought all night here and there along the mountain path, but could they really find the barley thief with only this?

"But why did you tell me to put it on top of the rocks?"

"Shh."

Still, Vlad thought it could be done.

He knew it was something that dug through the ground, but it had not been able to break through rock.

The hard touch of stone he had felt while shoveling testified to that fact.

"I see it."

Then, in order to come get the barley, it would have no choice but to climb up onto the rocks.

Whatever its identity might be.

On a dark night, something that had caught the scent of the scattered barley seeds was digging its way up through the ground.

It sniffed with a damp nose, climbed up onto the ground, and then onto the rock.

SQUEAK!

The remnant of the voice, the blessing of the white snake, Alicia's amber, and even the black horse that inherited the blood of a unicorn.

Vlad, who had come out carrying everything related to spirits, finally looked at the being that had crawled up onto the rock and gently closed his left eye.

"It's a mole."

"It is not an ordinary mole."

A single tiny mole illuminated beneath the moonlight.

That mole, seen together with the remnant of the voice, was giving off a faint yellow light even in the dark night.

"It is a glowing mole."

Even now, when the church was spreading God's will far and wide under one name, the forest of Dobrechiti still held mystery.

The name of that mystery was a glowing mole.