Chapter 191 - Uninvited guests (2)

A long and wide corridor.

A man was walking from afar in the bright yellow twilight.

The corridor the man was walking down was a path only nobles could tread, and at the end of it, the lords, the most powerful people in the North, were waiting.

"…"

The Iron Lord Timur pursed his lips as he watched Vlad walk towards the conference room.

Bright blonde hair and blue eyes. And even an aristocratic appearance.

'I looked at him consciously... They definitely resemble each other.'

Seeing Vlad walk with the setting sun, Timur, the Iron Lord, could recall a very old memory in his mind.

The impression is so strong that it is not easily forgotten. Duke of Sarnus Dragulia.

Vlad's current appearance was so similar to the impression of the Dragon Blood Prince that he remembered, that he wondered why he only recognized it now.

"Duke."

Timur, who was contemplating Vlad, slightly shifted his gaze at Fernand's soft call.

"It's trembling."

"…Mmm."

The scale held by the old wizard was trembling.

It was a small scale with an ornate brooch engraved with the image of a dragon on one side and an old coin with a sword engraved on the other.

"Which one?"

"I think we'll have to get a bit closer to find out."

Just as Fernand said he wasn't really sure, the old scale he held kept trembling.

And the trembling grew stronger as Vlad's steps drew nearer.

As Vlad's steps approached, those oscillations grew louder.

"…It seems he doesn't recognize it either."

Timur seemed to understand the indecisive heart that wavered like a scale.

The shadow of twilight grew denser as he approached.

That was because Vlad's face, walking towards them, was covered by the now fading evening light.

What was approaching from the end of the twilight, a dragon or a knight?

However, Timur felt that he would not be able to recognize who Vlad was, no matter how close he got.

***

Creak-

The figure of Vlad slowly disappearing through the crack of the door.

The seven knights left to protect him watched silently from the hallway.

"Seeing Lord Vlad enter, it seems the meeting is almost over."

"It appears so."

"It would be good to end well, just as we planned."

The remaining knights knew well what Vlad's entrance signified.

The meeting had ended, and what remained was only the declaration and resolution for one.

On such an occasion, the only thing needed would be a celebratory drink to lift the spirits.

"Did you say he was only 20 years old?"

"They say talented people are born in turbulent times, and that seems to be true."

An emperor without a cause ascended the throne, the war in the central region had not abated, and now even a sinister entity targeted the north.

In the current situation, where there were only grim news, Vlad's existence was surely one of the few symbols in which the North could find solace.

"Mm?"

As the knights were gathered and talking for a while, Rutiger suddenly felt goosebumps and grabbed his neck.

'What.'

It felt as if a bright blue blade had touched his neck.

The cold warning that his instincts first recognized was climbing up his neck and gradually spreading throughout his body.

"..."

"..."

Rutiger, looking around with a strange feeling, saw Valkov making eye contact with him.

It was not just an illusion, but a sensation that Valkov also noticed.

Through each other, the two could realize that their current chill was not just an illusion.

"Something's coming!"

"Ha!"

Rumble!

A dark hallway, a long distance with no end in sight.

However, Valkov shot the spear without hesitation toward the place that could be felt even if it could not be seen.

The movement was much faster than Rutiger's warning cry.

"Ugh!"

"What the hell is this...?"

Duncan and Ernst covered their ears at the sharp sound coming right next to them.

"...!"

Valkov's eyes sharpened as he looked toward the end of the hallway.

It was not visible, but now was the time to reach it.

However, the much-anticipated sound of the spear hitting was not heard, and the dark hallway was still silent.

"...This."

Thump!

Valkov, looking at the dark hallway, opened his eyes wide.

Because he saw the spear returning with as much force as it was thrown.

'You mean you caught it!'

Despite being a spear that even the fastest dragon, Lindworm, could avoid.

However, it seems the opponent neither dodged nor blocked it but simply caught it with their hand.

Claaang-!

"Ha!"

A strong flame flew out between the window and the window, hastily hit.

The powerful shockwaves spreading along with the flames were enough to make the knights without their world stagger greatly.

"Is this an attack?"

"...It seems it had a hole."

Karoy and Guillermo, noticing the situation by looking at the bouncing flames, quickly blocked the group's path.

A space located deep within the city and impassable.

The fact that it had reached here unnoticed was proof that the attacker in front of him did not have average skill.

"What kind of guy are you!"

Karoy's closed left eye began to glow, accompanied by an angry squeak.

It is said that Bastopol has never been captured in history.

Although Karoy was not a knight of Baranov, the city of Bastopol was the pride of the northern knights.

"Stop hiding and come out!"

With a loud shout suppressing his aura, Knight Karoy began to strengthen his defensive posture with his raised axe.

If the central region has Pablo of Arnstein, the northern region has Karoy of Harquita.

Like the wall of a castle, his posture was so strong that, no matter whom they faced, it would not be easy to break.

Kwaaang-!

It definitely had to be that way.

Karoy's protective posture is incredibly strong.

"Zup!"

A shadow emerges from the darkness.

However, when he realized it, the attacker had already approached and was smiling coldly at Karoy.

'This is…!'

When the axe and sword clashed, turbulence like a typhoon began to occur.

It was such a shock that one could tell how much force was released from the blow just by feeling the wind against their skin.

"Agh!"

Karoy could not resist the impact and fell against the wall with a single scream.

His defensive posture, which was like the solid wall of a castle, was uprooted with a single blow.

"Karoy!"

"You're not an ordinary guy!"

Guillermo and Ralph began to run towards Karoy after he had fallen miserably.

A dark hallway now filled with moonlight, not sunset.

There, a solitary blonde man smiled coldly while watching the northern knights charging fiercely.

"Dragonslayer knights?"

Guillermo, vigorously swinging his sword under the intense moonlight, could make out the shining emblem.

Dragons killing dragons.

The man's bright blue eyes gleamed on the armor with the Dragulia emblem engraved on it.

Thump-!

"It's obvious."

"What?"

It is said that Ronnie's sword is capable of deceiving any knight.

However, the blue-eyed man could halt Guillermo's movements with a single stab.

"It means your intentions are too shallow."

"...!"

Guillermo got goosebumps when he saw Mirshea smiling at him.

This was because he felt the cold touch of the sword stabbing into him along with his laughter.

"Aaaah!"

"Bastard!"

There was a knight running beside Guillermo, who was suffering.

A space where I had no choice but to pray because I was stabbing my sword.

Ralph of Maringen, an experienced knight, took advantage of Guillermo's crisis as an opportunity and swung his sword without hesitation.

'If it's here!'

Since he was stabbing Guillermo with his right hand, he could not easily respond to this attack.

Even if he reacts, it's just a slight evasive action...

Clang-!

"Cough!"

However, Ralph felt strong pressure in his stomach and fell back.

This is because the kick extended towards where Ralph was approaching as if he had been waiting.

Even in Ralph's faded mind, he could tell that his opponent had already predicted several moves ahead of him.

"Back off!"

"Ugh!"

Guillermo, whose shoulder was impaled, could only escape with Valkov's support.

As he retreated hastily, bright red blood splattered in the hallway.

"I can't believe there are so many knights and they say the North is proud. This is a great disappointment."

"..."

Valkov, who pulled Guillermo out, raised his spear towards the man in front of him.

The landscape seen when the moon, which had been floating awkwardly, matured completely.

The three knights who had fallen miserably were now writhing behind Valkov.

They were knights whose names could never be taken lightly.

"Mirshea... Dragulia."

"Long time no see. Lord Valkov."

And there was a man who destroyed those knights in the time it took to have a cup of tea.

Among the numerous knights of the empire, the Dragon Slayer Knights compete for supremacy.

"I came to see the Lord of Iron. Could you step aside?"

And the leader of the knights, Mirshea Dragulia.

"I also wanted to thank you for the kindness you showed in taking care of my younger brother Radu."

Now he laughed at a city that had never been captured.

***

"…!"

He can reach the conference room in just a few steps.

At a distance where he could even see the faces of Peter and Alicia in front of him, Vlad stopped.

Thump-! Thump-! Thump-!

The strange heartbeat he had felt since entering the city was becoming increasingly intense.

So much so that he could no longer control it.

'...What is this?'

As he advanced and approached Timur, his heart, which had been pounding heavily, began to beat on its own, beyond Vlad's will.

A heart that starts to race not by will but by instinct.

Vlad, who had never felt anything like this before, bit his lip and began to pause.

"…Duke."

"Tell me."

The lords who were seated also turned their heads toward Timur, as if sensing Vlad's strangeness.

However, Timur only looked at Vlad despite the lords watching him.

Timur's right hand, which naturally hung at his side, was in a position where it could either lift the edict next to him or the sword hanging from his waist.

"What is it?"

The man finally reached him through the setting sun.

The balance, which had been trembling due to Timur's question, finally tipped significantly.

"…It's a dragon."

The pendulum pointed by an old balance that tells the truth.

It held a richly decorated dragon-shaped brooch.

Sssss-!

"…!"

Timur quickly looked forward at the sudden sound.

There was Vlad with his left eye closed and his sword drawn.

'Vlad...!'

Vlad drew his sword toward the lords.

Peter was shocked by the extremely disrespectful action and Alicia let out an inward scream as she saw Vlad's eyes turning even bluer than usual.

"What kind of action is this now? Vlad Aureo?"

"…"

In response to Vlad's sudden action, the lords who knew how to wield swords slowly began to stand.

Only those who survive the harsh cold can become lords of the North.

The lords who were now rising, like Peter and Timur, were all knights who represented the previous era.

"I have not yet permitted you to draw your sword. Vlad Aureo."

The distance between the conference room and the corridor is just a step.

Vlad, standing at the border, silently clutched his chest with his bright blue eyes lowered.

Kihano's voice, rising through the sound of his heartbeat, echoed in Vlad's world.

[Do not look down. What is there is not yours.]

There was a place the inherited blood pointed to.

That place was at the lowest point of the city of Bastopol and had an intensity that even an experienced wizard's mystery could not completely hide.

[Where was your gaze always directed? Where was the blue moon called Godin hanging?]

But now even Vlad knew.

However, now Vlad could also know.

That beneath this city was a perfect piece calling to him. That piece, just by having it in his hands, could ennoble him, someone born in the mud.

[Remember where the sword you longed for so much was hanging.]

Vlad's heartbeat began to grow louder, as if trying to drown out Kihano's voice.

Vlad was about to lose his mind as the singing of the pieces filled his ears more and more.

'...Kihano. Am I a dragon?'

His mother was a prostitute in the alleys and it was common for him to be an orphan with an unknown father.

However, the piece beneath him whispered to his blood, and Vlad was deeply perplexed.

Come to me quickly. Young Dragon.

Find me here, where I am imprisoned.

I am someone who, by possessing me, will make you noble.

Join me and you will achieve eternal perfection.

Only those born as dragons can hear this whisper that kept resonating in Vlad's ears.

It was a tempting sound, almost impossible to ignore.

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