CHAPTER 59

Her long hair began with a blue hue but ended in black.

Her stride was smoother than anyone else's, yet it never touched the ground.

Her tightly closed heart was so cold that no one could embrace it anymore.

She came with death.

"······Will my son truly be saved if we do this?"

"Of course, Baron."

A weary man, a weeping woman.

And a dying child.

Everything around the man was steeped in despair.

He was trapped in deep darkness.

"We will do it. Please."

"I will prepare, Baron."

The presence of despair comes like an accident, gnawing at their lives.

And it chooses only the brightest parts.

Baron Utman was naturally a rational man, but the presence of despair was consuming his shining reason.

The fading breath of his only son and the agonizing cry of his wife made it so.

"Don't suffer too much."

Baron Utman looked at the woman before him with moist eyes.

Though pale, she looked at him with a warmth warmer than any smile.

"People like me exist because God cannot look everywhere."

The desperate man hoped for salvation, but in the end, the touch of God never reached him.

Only the woman who came with death smiled.

The mansion's windows were being battered by the fierce storm.

※※※※

Raindrops scattered with the fierce wind.

The group, passing through the rugged mountains with no shelter from the rain, had to endure the downpour with their whole bodies.

"······The clouds seem ominous."

As Gregory said, although it was still daytime, the rain clouds obscured the sky, making it as dark as night.

It was futile to continue through this rain and darkness.

"Kade!"

"······Let's go over there!"

Despite the raging rainstorm, Kade, with his keen eyes, could spot a distant tree.

Though the tree had sparse leaves for summer, it seemed preferable to being drenched in the rain with nothing to rely on.

"It wouldn't get hit by lightning or something, right?"

"Even if it does, we must go now."

Although Gregory uttered a word out of sudden unease, it wasn't possible to just stand here and get soaked in the rain.

With the weather turning ominous, the group had no choice but to stop their journey and prepare for camping.

"This weather is driving me nuts."

Having safely reached under the tree despite the rain and wind, the group quickly shook off the moisture from their bodies and began to tie up the horses they had ridden.

Shooaaa-

Suddenly, the rain clouds covering the surroundings were pouring down thick raindrops like raging waves, but Gregory heaved a sigh of relief.

"It's fortunate that we brought the carriage."

They hadn't specifically intended to bring it, but someone in the group needed it.

Considering the current mission, they worried it might be cumbersome luggage, but now it was proving to be a great help to the group.

"Shall we prepare for camping?"

"Yes, let's do that."

Gott, who had accompanied them on the mission as a coachman and handyman, busily began to unpack camping gear from the carriage.

Using the carriage roof as a pillar and connecting oiled canvas to it, then tying it to the ground, a makeshift tent was soon completed.

Even now, amidst the downpour of raindrops pounding fiercely around, the tent provided enough cover for the surroundings.

"It's a pity. We were almost at our destination."

Vlad, helping Gott set up the tent, clicked his tongue in disappointment and looked towards the faint light in the distance.

There were traces of humans there, glowing faintly like torches shining alone in the darkness.

"Life never goes according to plan."

Although their plan to enter the village today had gone awry, Gregory, who wanted to keep his plan of drinking, opened the small bottle of liquor he had in his arms and started drinking.

"It's a bit chilly today, isn't it?"

"······."

As a mere member of the group, what could Vlad say when the leader decided to drink?

Vlad nodded and decided to make final preparations for camping.

"I'll gather some branches."

"They might not catch fire easily since they're wet."

"Still worth a try."

While Gott set up another tent on the opposite side of the carriage to make a temporary stable, and Kade kept an eye out for anything suspicious, Vlad, who couldn't just sit around drinking like Gregory, gathered nearby branches to prepare for a campfire.

".....These should do. They're hollow inside."

"Thank you."

As Vlad rummaged around in the rain, Kade suddenly approached him and began to help.

Though it seemed strange for a knight to assist squire with such a task, Kade didn't seem to mind.

"I didn't have a chance to say this before, but thank you for back then."

"······I just did what I had to do. Don't worry about it."

Vlad and Kade had never formally met, but they were familiar with each other.

Last winter, during the monster subjugation in Varna, they had been in the same place.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"I think I'd prefer losing a limb."

Kade replied with an awkward smile to Vlad.

The woman shed black tears as she searched for her child.

During a time when Zayar was absent, two knights who had remained at the camp to protect Josef found themselves wandering in a crisis due to her attack.

If the boy hadn't borrowed the world of voice at that moment, there would be no Kade as he is now.

"Now that I think about it, I did a good job selecting the personnel. There are plenty of knights who just lounge around instead of doing their duties."

Gregory tilted the bottle of liquor as he watched the men who naturally found tasks to do without being ordered.

"Let's keep going like this. From here on out, we're mercenaries, not knights."

Everyone nodded at Gregory's words.

That was the nature of their mission.

Rather than boldly revealing themselves, they were tasked with secretly infiltrating and scouting the village.

If the village they were heading to belonged to the jurisdiction of Count Bayezid, they would have immediately mobilized soldiers to investigate. However, this village belonged to the Baron Utman family.

Having found the whereabouts but lacking concrete evidence, Josef had reached his limit.

The group started camping with their destination in front of them and decided to preserve their stamina for tomorrow.

The sound of the wind howling fiercely, the pitter-patter of rain hitting the tent.

Vlad, wrapped in his cloak, looked at the newly lit campfire.

The cloak made of high-quality wool absorbed the heat from the fire, keeping Vlad warm.

"Why are you grinning like that?"

"It's nothing."

"Ha, dull."

Vlad chuckled as he lay comfortably with his cloak covering him.

He couldn't help but wonder if Oksana would be proud if she saw him like this.

Night passed like day.

Vlad, who understood her affection even though she wasn't his own mother, lay back, basking in the warmth of the campfire, hoping that the sad cries he heard on that winter day were not present here.

※※※※

A village built of gray stones.

In the village that had been swept by rain, something dense like mist was rising.

Gregory clicked his tongue as he looked at the thick fog that obscured his vision.

"It feels like something is about to jump out."

"..."

The group, perhaps aware that there might be people hiding here related to dark magic, cautiously followed the road, urging their horses forward.

It was either still early in the morning or the weather was unfavorable.

Even though they entered quite deep into the village, there were no people walking around, making the atmosphere of the city increasingly gloomy.

"There's an inn up ahead."

"It's a nice thing to hear."

It wasn't a particularly large village, so they only spotted one inn as they ventured closer to the center.

Perhaps they didn't even realize how fortunate it was to find an inn.

"Let's go in."

The four men, along with their horses and carriage, entered the inn.

With the creaking sound of the carriage, Gregory opened the door to the inn.

"Is the innkeeper here?"

"....You're quite early guests."

"We couldn't enter the village even though it was right in front of us due to the rain yesterday. Please give us a bowl of hot soup."

While Gregory pretended to be a mercenary and conversed with the innkeeper, Vlad noticed a girl peeking out from the corridor connected to the inner kitchen.

"..."

A child who wouldn't even reach his knees.

Maybe 3 or 4 years old, still at an adorable age.

Vlad gently waved his hand as he looked at the girl who reminded him of Zemina's childhood.

The pink cheeks of the chubby child seemed to have become a little redder.

"...With so many ominous events happening nearby these days..."

"Even if it's because of the weather, are you going to send us away like this? We were planning to stay here for a while and even have our meals here."

While Gregory and the innkeeper negotiated prices, Vlad slowly walked around the inn, checking his surroundings.

It was a habit that stemmed from a long time ago, but the child seemed uncomfortable with Vlad's gaze and started to shyly follow the group.

In the middle of the inn was a large pot bubbling over the fireplace.

Vlad, intrigued by the pleasant smell emanating from the pot, was about to taste it when...

[Vlad... Vlad!]

The usually quiet voice urgently called out to the boy.

'What's wrong?'

As Vlad reached for his sword handle, the voice became clearer.

[...It seems like this is the right place.]

The voice with a gloomy tone told Vlad to turn his head and look at the girl approaching him.

"..."

Vlad noticed a girl standing opposite the fireplace, looking at him from outside.

The girl who was hiding behind the chair and looking at Vlad, probably because she was embarrassed, looked cute to anyone.

[Borrow my world.]

Vlad, feeling tense, opened his left eye.

'...!'

The girl smiled brightly as she looked at Vlad, who had closed one eye, as if he was giving her a blink, but Vlad actually felt a chill coming from behind when he saw that smile.

[It's a curse.]

In the world seen through his left eye, the girl's neck was held by a black hand, resembling that of a corpse.

It looked like it was going to twist the girl's neck at any moment.

'....Damn it.'

Vlad felt as if he could hear the woman's cries from the past winter in the current situation, so he quickly closed off the world of the voice.

Ding-ding-ding-

The sound of the church bells, signaling the time, resonated throughout the damp village.

Though it should have sounded solemn, to Vlad, it felt like the sound was enveloping him like a sticky fog.

Vlad, who closed the world of voices and returned to reality, looked closely at the girl's neck, which had been held in a black grip just moments before.

There was a necklace around the young girl's neck.

It was a necklace with the emblem of the church engraved on it.