CHAPTER 47

Kraaaaah-!

"······."

Rutger closed his left eye deeply, hearing the roar of the deathworm spreading from afar.

To see himself deeper within, to summon his own world, stronger and more resilient.

Rutger's world was red.

A world filled with anger and passion like a volcano.

"There's something shiny stuck on his forehead. Seems to be related to magic."

The mage said as they came down with their exhausted body.

Someone is controlling the deathworm.

Who dares to disturb the land of Bayezid with peculiar tricks, disrupting the land of his ancestors?

"······It is coming."

With his left eye closed, Rutger was capturing the world of wrath.

Kraaaaah-!

"Aaaah-!"

With the boy's scream, his eyes opened.

At the same time, Rutger's sword slowly rose.

His sword was ablaze.

※※※※

"······!"

[It seems like the preparation is complete!]

Riding the moonless night, Vlad guided the deathworm and sensed someone's fiercely burning world from afar.

"······This is!"

[He is temporarily expanding his world. He is a much more remarkable knight than I anticipated.]

Feeling the momentum originating from Rutger, Vlad involuntarily trembled.

It was rougher than any knight he had ever seen and, above all, burning fervently.

'It's a different level!'

Rutger's world, simmering red-hot, seemed capable of swallowing up his own feeble world without much effort.

As per the voice's judgment, Rutger temporarily expanded his world through deep meditation.

It was a method only knights who could deeply contemplate themselves could use.

Someone who knew who they were.

There wouldn't be anyone with roots as firm as his.

-----!

Even the deathworm, chasing Vlad, noticed Rutger's world.

Even if there were ignorant beings here, no one would fail to notice the momentum emanating from Rutger.

The deathworm gradually slowed down and turned its head.

"Shit!"

Realizing the disturbance in the deathworm's focus, Vlad raised his unadorned sword high.

But the boy's world was still surrounded by feeble light.

Vlad couldn't divert the deathworm's attention from Rutger's blazing momentum.

Fwip-

"Huh?"

The black horse realized the situation, and suddenly turned to face the deathworm.

Vlad was caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, so he merely clenched the mane tightly.

[······Wow.]

"Hey, you!"

Vlad was baffled and shouted at the incomprehensible actions, but his exclamation seemed more like a sigh of disbelief than anything else.

The black horse continued its running momentum and quickly took a step back, glaring at the deathworm.

Vlad might not have known, but the voice could see.

The faint movements of mist gathering towards the black horse's forehead.

Heeeey-!

Vlad was left speechless by the movement of the black horse who not only took a step back but also quickly shook his body from side to side to provoke Death Worm.

The black horse's intention succeeded.

The faintly sparkling mist successfully confused the deathworm's senses.

Kraaaaah!

The deathworm began to glare at Vlad, who was atop the horse, daring to provoke it.

It didn't have eyes, but it felt like it did.

'I didn't do anything!'

Vlad was taken aback as he saw the deathworm rushing toward him, dripping with blood, but his intention was successful anyway.

Heeeey-!

The black horse howled with all his might and raised his front paws.

Receiving the blessings falling from the boy's armor.

Gathering the aura flowing from the boy's world.

The sparkling mist above the black horse's forehead gradually began to take shape.

It was visible not only in the world of voices but also in reality, to everyone.

Now, forgotten mysteries were once again rising from the depths of the world's memory.

"Let's go!"

Heeeey-!

The moonless night, which revealed the possibility of a unicorn, took a turn again and started running with a deathworm on its tail, heading towards the burning volcano ahead.

The sight of the moonless night running, carrying the shining boy.

There was a world expanding here too.

Where you and I meet on the horizon.

We become us.

The hornless unicorn and the silent knight were becoming more perfect through each other's worlds.

Finally, a single white star rose into the black night sky.

Kraaaaah-!

"Narrow the gap!"

"Brat! Get out of here now!"

The knights of Bayezid, who had been waiting for the right moment, instantly rushed in to surround the deathworm on both sides.

Kra-!

Bayezid's knights are slowly closing the gap as if strangling the Deathworm to prevent it from escaping.

With the help of knights summoning their own worlds, Vlad found a momentary respite in the space provided.

"Lord Rutger!"

"······Well done."

As the swiftly passing star and flame met each other's gaze, the deathworm, gaping to swallow the boy, was taken aback as it watched the horse suddenly depart from its path with the assistance of the knights.

The black horse and the boy who dared to provoke it.

However, now that they had escaped, what stood before the deathworm was...

"It's my turn."

Rutger Bayezid.

The enemy and eldest son of Bayezid, a knight who burns himself.

"This is the land of Bayezid."

Rutger quietly spat out his anger towards someone who was leading this situation.

"It's a land that shouldn't be disturbed by people like you."

The burning sword of Bayezid rose high towards the sky.

Rutger's sword emitted a strange resonance, burning everything around it.

Kraaaaah-!

Bright red lava exploded from deep within the soul and exploded towards this world. Through the tip of the knight's sword, which strikes down without the slightest hesitation.

His sword.

The anger embedded in the sword.

And even the air existing between the deathworm and Rutger.

Everything began to burn.

"So, begone!"

A red flash of light shot out under the blue sky along with Rutger's words.

The burning anger precisely cleaved through the vast world with the knight's restrained movements.

Kraaaaah-!

The shadow of the fallen dragon split in half, emitting a pitiful wail.

The last cry of the young deathworm echoed long across the green meadow.

The sparkling thing on Death Worm's forehead was slowly losing its shine due to the flame burning stickier than lava.

※※※※

"Argh!"

Feeling the fierce heat from behind, Vlad flinched.

[It seems it's done.]

"······."

The sight that met the boy's eyes as he turned around.

Kre-e-e-!

There, a deathworm writhed on the ground, its torso engulfed in flames.

Half of its body already severed, wriggling weakly on the meadow.

The unpleasant smell, belatedly carried by the wind, now reached the boy's nostrils.

"······Can he really do this much?"

Vlad asked in a breathless voice.

There had been a world of knights he had dreamed of.

But the scene unfolding before his eyes now was larger and more overwhelming than any he had imagined.

Could even the knight of the Blue Moon accomplish this?

Can a knight like the castle wall that accepted him be able to split the Deathworm?

Was this the true world of knights?

[······If your world is strong enough not to be shaken by anything.]

Vlad was lost in deep thought as he saw a scene that went beyond common sense.

The world of knights was like an endless mountain to climb.

Vlad keenly felt that he was just barely at the starting line.

Rutger is kneeling on one knee with his sword in the red-hot ground.

Bayezid's sword smiled at the boy.

※※※※

"Welcome back."

"······."

The appreciation is over.

Now it's time to return to reality.

Following the lead of the black horse, Vlad walked steadily and then leaped off the horse.

"Are you alright?"

".... I could use a cold beer right about now."

Rutger, struggling to stand with his sword supporting him on the scorching ground.

"Oops."

But whether it was due to exhaustion or sheer fatigue, he stumbled and fell back onto the ground.

The price for temporarily expanding the world was catching up to him now.

"······Can't you pick me up?"

"I'm dying here too."

The deathworm's corpse still wriggles intermittently.

Vlad also collapsed to the ground in front of that huge thing.

Vlad lowered his head as he felt his warm buttocks.

This wasn't what he had come on vacation for.

"You ride well."

"It wasn't me."

Rutger simply chuckled at the boy's cheeky reply.

The knights, who had been driving the deathworm to give Vlad a chance to escape, gradually began to gather around Rutger.

"You're quite something, kid."

"Let's meet again sometime."

"Well done. You little rascal."

It would have been nice to say something good, but Bayezid's knights passed by the boy, slapping his back and ruffling his hair.

"······."

Vlad felt an unfamiliar emotion as he watched the knights displaying familiarity with him. 

Even in such a harsh place, if one could smile, it was because of the warmth created by people.

Even in the back alleys.

And in front of the burning corpse of the deathworm.

The boy and the knights, faced with such a formidable foe, were comrades today.

"Lord Rutger! Are you alright?"

Other knights came running with the sound of a creaking cart.

The knights who were waiting in front, guarding the pilgrims, realized that the situation was over and led the priests towards Rutger.

"······Huh."

Vlad smiled as he saw Andrea, one of the priests, being carried on a cart. His world was safe because of them.

"Vlad?"

Andrea, who was nauseating on the cart with a pale complexion, recognized Vlad and made a puzzled expression.

"Yes, Priest."

Vlad, standing up with trembling legs, approached Andrea.

The sight of Vlad moving while trembling was enough to make the priests who were perplexed look pitiful, perhaps because they were relaxed.

"Oh, I see······"

Andrea, with a tired expression, opened his arms wide to welcome the approaching boy.

".... You've done well. Thank you."

Though he didn't know all the details from a distance, the minor injuries on Vlad's face told the story well enough. He had done his best.

"Come here, Vlad of Shoara."

Vlad closed his eyes as he embraced the priest, feeling the warmth as if it were the sun on that day when he was named before the god.

"Oh god. The boy who received your will here today and acted upon it with his own will, please show him mercy and······."

As he listened to Andrea reciting the prayer, Vlad finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He could not protect Rose's Smiles.

Because he was weak at that time.

But today, he had saved Andrea by his own choice.

The boy who protected one of the roots that made up his world was someone who deserved comfort.

Because the boy had been struggling for this moment.

The knights quietly closed their eyes as they listened to the priests' prayers quietly echoing across the green meadows.

※※※※

As the twilight descended over Sturma, Lagmus spoke up towards Peter, who was gazing out the window of the Bayezid's mansion with a burdened expression.

"My Lord, a message from Dorothea has arrived via the crystal ball," Lagmus said.

Peter accepted the note handed to him by Lagmus with an indifferent expression and began to read through it.

His dark eyebrows furrowed and twisted as he read the words written on the small piece of paper.

"Surely not... after all this time," he muttered.

The letters on the small piece of paper conveyed ominous tidings.

"Is it the work of the Black Mages again?" Peter inquired.

"It seems there are some that have settled in the north," Lagmus replied.

Peter turned his gaze towards the red sun hanging over the city wall.

Sturma.

A city built upon the blood of the Bayezid.

The walls surrounding the city were a testament to the history of the family.

"As the Empire weakens, the cursed remnants of the past rear their heads once more," Peter remarked.

Lagmus could only sigh in response to Peter's lament.

Time marches on, and eras change.

And perhaps Peter Bayezid, the current head of the family, was facing one of the most tumultuous periods in the family's history.

"But there is one comforting piece of news, isn't there?" Lagmus said.

".....Yes, indeed. That squire," Peter recalled the name mentioned in the last sentence of the note.

Vlad, the squire brought by his son.

"I keep hearing his name these days," Peter mused.

"Exceptional individuals have a tendency to make themselves known, regardless of where they are," Lagmus remarked.

The squire who had captured his attention even during the sparring with the squires. Had it not been for that lad from last winter's monster subjugation to the current pilgrim's affairs, Bayezid might have faced disgrace.

He was an admirable lad.

"Those deserving have the right to enjoy it," Peter said, as he rang the small bell placed on his desk.

The clear sound of the silver bell resonated throughout the study.

"Did you call for me, my Lord?" asked the butler as he entered the room.

"Call Josef for me."

"At once, my Lord."

After hearing the order, the butler left the office.

"Will you permit it?"

"He is deserving."

Although he wished to praise the lad profusely, the admirable squire belonged to Josef, ultimately. 

It was right to do everything through Josef, whether it be support or reward.

The deeds of the blonde boy were essentially those of Josef's.

Peter's gaze drifted back to the city wall outside the window.

The walls of Sturma are bathed in red at dusk.

The walls built through bloody history were unshakable.

Just like Peter, who is now standing with his back turned.