CHAPTER 167

Now in a room that felt even narrower because he couldn't be in the mayor office anymore.

There, Josef stood by the window, carrying his burden.

He had always avoided the sunlight, but today he seemed to want to see the incoming sun.

"What will you do?"

The sight of crows flapping their wings and leaving could be seen from the window.

Marcus's crows, which had been borrowed for some time, were leaving Josef one by one.

"If you want, I'll let you change your affiliation. It's only natural."

He had to leave because it was given to him by someone else, not by his own choice.

The crows, the knights, and even the position of mayor of Shoara were all leaving.

Josef was watching the things that had never truly been his, leaving one by one.

"Our contract was for seven years."

"The contract is over. I have now been eliminated from the succession competition."

You have the opportunity to wield authority.

But now that he couldn't guarantee anything, Josef had no right to hold onto Vlad.

"..."

Vlad, who was only chewing on his lips in the heavy atmosphere, looked at Josef out of habit.

A man carrying his burden, gazing at the incoming sun.

The atmosphere was gloomy, but his back, which seemed somehow light, caught Vlad's attention for a long time.

"Go where you want to go. I will do what I want to do."

Facing today's sun, letting go of everything.

In the sunlight, his expression, for some reason, seemed to be smiling.

※※※※

In an empty courtyard of the city hall.

Larmund, seeing the blue sword shooting like an arrow, involuntarily shook his head as if startled.

"······!"

The creaking of his aging joints as he struggled was pitiful.

However, Larmund had no time to lament his old age; he had to quickly brace himself for the next attack.

"Who dares to steal from me again!"

The intrusive steps were sly, not appropriate for his age, but the space where the toes were heading was precisely blocking Larmund's intentions.

Rigidity overlaid with flexibility.

Looking at Vlad filling in another piece of the world, Larmund realized there were more victims like him.

"Where did you learn such tricks!"

Although it was too noble a skill to call it a trick, the edge of Vlad's sword still wasn't firmly set.

He had greedily consumed it but hadn't properly digested it yet.

"Damn it!"

Vlad clicked his tongue, feeling the flow of the offense suddenly change.

Indeed, Larmund was a formidable knight.

Old but not dead.

Vlad was momentarily surprised by the sudden change in Larmund's sword, but Larmund had already predicted Vlad's reaction.

Thwang-!

His shoulder, which was forced between the sword blades, shone.

It was the original form of Body Strengthening Technique, which he had learned but dared not to imitate.

"Consider your age! You're still clashing with such force!"

"Even a clash like this is better than you!"

It started with a light sparring, but Vlad became furious when he saw Larmund, who spared no effort despite his old age.

At this age, if anything broke, it wouldn't be easy to mend.

"And you said you wouldn't use your aura!"

"That's why I'm warning you. There are knights who deceive like this!"

Vlad closed his left eye as he looked at Larmund's shoulder, which was as shiny as his smooth forehead.

To stand against the aura of that knight, Vlad knew he had to bring out something of equal measure.

"······Oh-ho."

Vlad's world, which reached the blue moon but could not surpass it, was unfolding through the sword.

Yet Larmund's struggles weren't in vain. Seeing the golden light flowing through Vlad's left eye, Larmund nodded repeatedly as if in approval.

"Look!"

Knowing that a strand of his own color was also present in the shining golden light, Larmund gripped the sword with apparent joy.

No matter how quickly youngsters grow, the sight of the lad's growth before him was always astonishing.

"Don't blame me if anything breaks."

"The young man's got some bark in him."

There's a growling beast in front of him.

However, that growl, which was only pitiful when he first saw it, now became a real threat and held Larmund's gaze.

The level of Knight Vlad had already reached Larmund's level.

"······!"

He observed, but his old body couldn't keep up with the youthful movements.

The unexpectedness, which could not have been predicted based on his previous appearance, deceived Larmund's eyes.

'Much faster than before!'

It seemed to transcend time, with movements and steps that outpaced expectation.

Vlad, who deceived his intentions through his footsteps and movements, jumped out right in front of Larmund through that split-second gap.

"Hmph!"

A creaky response due to old age.

Seizing the gap, Vlad swiftly shifted the balance of power through a brief breath and began to cut through Larmund's toughness mercilessly.

An attack as dazzling as the colors he possessed.

However, contrary to its apparent brilliance, Vlad's sloppy swordsmanship was gradually wearing down Larmund's strength.

Vlad knew very well that if he couldn't deliver a fatal blow in one strike, all that was left was a serious challenge.

"You're going even more ruthlessly!"

Gradually, Larmund's body strengthening technique began to unravel under Vlad's relentless onslaught.

Parrying the sword and seizing the opportunity, Vlad struck with another powerful blow.

Crash! Clang!

Vlad's tactic of wielding the sword two or three times more than Larmund accounted for the difference in stamina as well.

Vlad was now controlling the battlefield.

"Now! Stop! Let's finish this!"

And Vlad's eyes shining through the gap that was created.

Sensing something big coming his way, Larmund quickly adjusted his stance, but Vlad's attack was faster than expected.

'······What?'

Right in front of him was Vlad's forehead, glimmering.

In the moment Larmund's sword was deflected and left unguarded.

What crept in at that moment was Vlad's forehead covered in body strengthening technique.

"No way!"

Larmund let out a startled cry, but Vlad's attack didn't stop.

If someone strikes you, you strike back by any means necessary.

That was the basic attitude of those surviving in the back alleys.

Crunch!

The sound of something bursting out echoed loudly in the empty lot inside the city hall.

The collision of foreheads made an excessively loud noise.

※※※※

"······You incompetent fool. Are you attacking me without even knowing the grace I taught you? Well, I guess someone like you destroyed convents without a second thought."

"Isn't this all because I learned it from great knights?"

Despite Larmund's jabs, Vlad just chuckled and sheathed his sword. 

Criticizing an incompetent person for being incompetent was futile; there was no impact to the incoming shock.

"Are you really not injured anywhere?"

"Oh dear······."

Now, as if sensing the pain for the first time, Larmund writhed, and Vlad reached out his hand.

It was a hand held out to support him, but before he knew it, Vlad's other hand was sparkling with Body Strengthening Technique.

"Hold my hand and don't hit me. I've put aura on my left hand."

".....Hmm."

Looking at Vlad's clenched fist, Larmund clicked his tongue, seemingly disappointed. 

It was worth praising him for going ahead of what was taught, but it was rather unpleasant if he did too well.

"Well, what are you going to do now? Are you going to keep following your lord?"

"······Seems like that's why you called me."

Indeed, the elderly couldn't afford to be careless. 

As if sparring itself wasn't the goal in the first place, Larmund's question penetrated Vlad when he was most off guard.

"Don't do that. It's already over."

"······."

The once noisy vacant lot now began to sink into a heavy silence.

Larmund had to speak up, knowing what he knew.

"I don't know about Zayar, but the other knights will probably leave Josef's side. It's the right thing to do, and it's the law."

The advice of an old man for the young was never wrong.

Having experienced it already, Larmund's advice was aimed precisely at Vlad's well-being.

"Even now, if Lord Josef were to yield, lives could be spared. It may not be a prestigious position, but it's quiet······."

"I don't want to live like that."

Vlad plopped down next to Larmund, who showed no signs of getting up.

"What?"

"He said I don't want to live like that."

He didn't want to live a life handed to him. 

Josef firmly believed that there had to be more to a person's existence in this world than just that. 

Because the path he had walked so far hadn't been lacking or shameful.

Even amidst his coughing fits, Josef remained steadfast in his beliefs.

"I thought that was kind of cool."

"Ha..."

Vlad shook the sand off his hands and smiled at Larmund. 

Now, even if he looked up at the night sky, there was no longer the blue moonlight that he longed for.

The path Vlad now had to follow wasn't in the distant sky but in the cries within himself, just like Josef now.

"I've been so busy living that I've never thought about what I really wanted."

Stealing to eat, killing to survive—none of those were truly what Vlad desired.

"So, is following Lord Josef what you want to do?"

"I'm not sure about that either."

Doing what you want, not what you have to.

Vlad, once touched by the blue moonlight, now decided to walk the path he had to find for himself.

"Just, I prefer this way a bit more."

"You crazy..."

Not chasing after someone, but solely for oneself.

Vlad, who freely confessed his inner thoughts, seemed to understand why Josef was smiling.

※※※※

A few days after the duel with Larmund.

True to his words, all the knights around Josef were now being disbanded. 

The only ones left by his side were Jayar and the nowhere-to-go Vordan, and Josef was preparing to return to Oksana in a shabby manner.

"You're leaving tomorrow?"

"Yeah. To the Utman Barony."

Vlad, along with Zemina, was also preparing for a journey around the city. 

However, Vlad's destination was slightly different from Josef's Sturma—it was the Utman Barony.

"I've finished the urgent matters, so for the time being, I've decided to assist the Northern Orthodox Church. It's like a pilgrimage of sorts."

A knight of Bayazid, but also a knight endorsed by Bishop Andrea. 

Like Josef, Peter couldn't refuse a request from the highly respected bishop.

Knowing well whose name he received from, Vlad decided to leave to help Andrea's young deacon and cleanse the evil place.

"But isn't it dangerous there?"

The narrow alley made Zemina's nearby eyes tremble. 

It's unclear exactly what emotion caused her trembling, but perhaps her worry for Vlad was also included in that tremor.

"It's dangerous, yes. The place has already been trampled by the Vatican."

"Is it really safe there?"

"Have I ever deceived you? Why can't you trust people?"

"Because you're not there."

Walking side by side, Zemina's shadow was growing longer as if trying to catch the receding Vlad.

"You wrote nothing but lies in your previous letters."

"..."

"You said you were in a safe place and only by Lord Josef's side, that's bullshit. I heard you had run away alone, didn't you?"

Vlad could sense a hint of resentment and moisture in the voice coming from behind him.

The letters he had sent to reassure her seemed to have only brought anxiety to Zemina instead.

"Are you mocking me? Do you think I know nothing? Besides, what about Baroness Alicia?"

"What about the Baroness?"

With a sigh, Vlad turned to see Zemina, who wore a look of disbelief.

Once again, when Vlad had tried to leave, what came out of her mouth was not encouragement or comfort, but the pent-up frustration she had been holding back all this time.

"After all, you'd prefer Deomar over this boring place, wouldn't you? You're a knight of Lady Alicia, after all."

It was a slip of the tongue, but he couldn't stop himself, and Zemina continued to be hurt by his words.

It seemed really foolish to be hurt by what he said, Zemina had endured it all this time.

"Huh..."

Though she tried to hold it in, Zemina couldn't help but let her tears flow.

But Vlad didn't attempt to comfort her as he watched her cry.

"That's not it. You're just a really stupid girl."

"Ughhh..."

As if urging her to cry more, Vlad's behavior only intensified Zemina's crying.

Well, let her cry.

Red-haired Zemina was just a foolish girl who didn't know why Vlad was in such a hurry.

"You're always crying, but always in front of me. Nothing has changed. Huh? You're just the same as before."

Watching Zemina cry just like she used to, Vlad tried to get angry but ended up laughing instead.

She had been pretending to be Lady Zemina all this time, but now that she finally raised her head, the red-haired girl was so welcoming to Vlad.

"Let go of me..."

"The stupid girl who knows nothing is still blabbering away."

With one hand, Vlad easily lifted Zemina and strode through the dark back alley with his familiar gait.

The lights flickering on one by one in the back alley.

Vlad followed the sight, which had not changed at all as much as the weight of the girl he was carrying, and stopped in front of a store.

".....Why here?"

"Just look."

The place was always filled with the scent of metal.

It was a place where the heat continued to seep out, melting the cold ground.

"You stay here."

Vlad, who had placed the Zemina he was holding in the mud, took his own position and began to stand next to the girl.

"I'll be here."

Standing there naturally, the two of them instinctively raised their heads to look at the shop in front of them.

It was a gesture they had been doing for a long time.

Clang! Cling!

The bright light from the blacksmith's shop illuminated them even more in the darkness.

Though the people inside might be different, the sound was so familiar.

"Nothing's changed, has it?"

"Mm..."

Whether it was a response to his question or just crying, Vlad felt that his message had been conveyed well.

"If I come back, I'll probably still be here."

"..."

Nothing had changed.

The sound of hammers striking and the glow of molten metal remained the same.

And so did the boy and girl standing side by side.

For Vlad, if he were to call any place his hometown, it would be here, Shoara.

"······Have a safe trip."

"Yeah."

Yet, if there was one thing that had changed, it was perhaps the slight shift in the footprints of the two, now standing a bit closer together than before.

Though not narrow, Vlad and Zemina stood side by side in front of the old blacksmith's shop, as they had for a long time.

After standing there for so long, the deepened footprints of the two were gradually becoming more pronounced.

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