Chapter 11
In the midst of a biting cold wind that cut through the forest, three men who looked like mercenaries sat around a campfire.
Slurp...
They looked at the boy who was sipping soup with his nose stuck in the pot.
"You got lucky. A rabbit was standing not too far away."
"Good job."
Although the men had already finished eating most of the rabbit soup, the boy was savoring every last drop.
The mercenaries realized that it wasn't the right time to talk to the boy, so they began to converse among themselves.
"By the way, I heard they are gathering people."
"For a monster hunt?"
"It seems that Count Bayezid's second son is personally leading this one."
“I heard the Bishop of Varna is also there. I think it will be a big operation.”
"It seems he is struggling to impress his father."
They were talking about subjugating monsters like a mercenary, but their minds were entirely focused on the blonde-haired boy.
‘He looks like a child of a noble.’
‘Look at the sword he's carrying. He's from a well-off family, at the very least.’
‘Blonde with blue eyes? You think we could get some good money just by selling him?’
The men quietly exchanged glances and whispers so that the boy couldn't hear them, and they began to move slowly toward the boy.
They subtly block the boy's escape route.
"Ha... Thank you. Thanks to you, I survived."
"It's about helping and surviving."
"How can I ever repay this favor?"
The mercenaries smiled, showing their black teeth, as they looked at the boy who put down the pot and bowed his head politely to express his gratitude.
"If you're really grateful, there's a way to repay us."
"What should I do..."
"You can repay us with your body!"
A noose suddenly flew in from behind the boy.
"Uh? Huh?"
"Hey, what are you doing!"
However, one of the mercenaries was caught in the noose instead of the boy they intended to capture.
"You slippery rat!"
The boy skillfully evaded the noose, and the remaining two mercenaries swiftly drew their weapons.
"It seems the young master learned a bit of swordsmanship from the tutor his father hired. But the real world is different, you know?"
"Put the sword down when I am speaking nicely. We might just turn you into a punching bag before you know it."
While the tied-up mercenary quickly worked to free himself from the noose, the other two mercenaries blocked the boy and began to growl.
"That's right. Life is all about real-world experience."
Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a sword that gleamed but seemed unused.
It was evident to anyone that the boy had run away from a wealthy home. Yet, the smile on the boy's face now resembled that of a fierce wolf.
"What?"
"I thought about it as I walked here. If these people are truly kind to me, how can I repay them?”
Ssshh...
The boy's momentum showed no signs of wavering, despite the harsh threats from the mercenaries. Instead, the mercenaries found themselves involuntarily swallowing their saliva at the sight of the boy drawing his sword.
The boy was giving off a ferocious spirit with the sword in his hands.
"I have been worrying for nothing all this time."
The boy was smiling.
"What the hell?"
The boy and the mercenaries are the same kind.
He wasn't just some naive young master who didn't understand the ways of the world.
"Hey, what are you doing! Get up quickly!"
"Are you going to take all day to untie the rope!"
Even so, it was alright.
That young kid was alone, while they were three.
The boy seemed confident in his swordsmanship, but they had enough experience in real combat to overpower him.
"Ugh..."
They thought so, but the moans coming from behind them were unsettling.
"What are you doing?"
"Ugh! eww!"
Their comrade who had been tied up was scratching the ground in an odd, frozen posture.
It wasn't normal body movement.
‘He got him!’
The two mercenaries felt a profound sense of doom as they watched their comrade freezing as if he were addicted to something.
‘When did this happen?’
No one could say for sure.
The boy was smiling as he watched the frozen mercenary.
But they don't know when they get poisoned...
‘Rabbit!’
The mercenaries had finally figured out the situation, and looked at the boy with shocked expressions.
"There's nothing easy in this world, right?"
"You bastard, you planned this from the beginning!"
The wobbly rabbit they had thought was an unexpected stroke of luck turned out to be a trap.
"You, you also..."
The mercenaries felt a sense of despair as they slowly felt their bodies stiffening.
"Yeah, I had some too."
Vlad pulled out a leaf he had hidden under his tongue and said, "With the antidote."
"Ugh! Ugh!"
Their gradually stiffening bodies collapsed onto the frigid ground.
"You never know who might get eaten when it comes to real life. Isn't that right, seniors?"
A dark shadow fell over the three frozen rabbits. And the blue eyes of the shadow were the last thing mercenaries saw.
※※※※
Tadak, tadak...
The sun was setting in the winter forest, and a blonde boy who looked like a mercenary sat alone.
His attire wasn't a perfect fit, but he was dressed in a mishmash of armor and clothes that seemed suitable enough for surviving the cold winter day.
"This is really happening."
Vlad muttered to himself as he poked at the campfire with a stick.
At least, that's how it would appear on the surface.
[Lucky you. Yellow-striped mushrooms aren't that common.]
"You know about mushrooms that paralyze people and the leaves that detoxify them. Who are you?"
[..... I don't know that.]
The boy wasn't talking to himself; he was addressing the voice that could only be heard when he held the sword.
"You know so much about trivial things, but you don't even know who you are."
[....]
The boy’s question met with silence.
"It doesn't matter."
Ssshh...
The boy drew his sword.
“Because this is the most important thing to me.”
The sword, which he had merely watched until now, was now in his hand.
He will forever remember the tears she shed to have this.
"I'll help you, please help me."
[Aren’t you scared of me?]
Vlad asked the voice, who didn’t know itself, to teach him the way of the sword.
“I don’t care if you are the devil. What I'm truly afraid of..."
The boy's sword emitted a blue moonlight. And it reminded him of something.
"Is that I am nothing."
Aura that looked like blue moonlight.
The boy was nothing in front of that aura.
For a boy who had followed the shining path all his life, the helplessness brought by the blue aura was terrifying.
You are nothing.
Your life will rot away in the slums even if you crouch like this for the rest of your life.
That's what the moonlight aura was saying.
"If I'm with you, I can become something, right? Even if I just become a devil follower."
[..... All right. I'll tell you.]
And so, the boy decided to struggle.
Even if he wanted to give up, there was a weight in his hand that made it impossible to do so.
Moonlight and the campfire.
On that same night when he first saw the aura, the boy wanted to become something and the voice that didn't know itself decided to help each other.
The two of them were the only ones who could make such a contract. And The moon in the night sky was its witness.
※※※※ - Part 2
Now is the time to enter midwinter.
Tents were erected between white fields covered with snow, in front of a dense evergreen forest.
Inside the largest and most splendid tent.
"It is easy."
A man with black hair lifted an already cooled down tea cup and examined the documents on the table in front of him.
He appeared young, but the dark circles under his eyes gave him a frail appearance.
"It is too easy."
The black-haired man was frowning as he looked at the documents to see what he didn't like.
"Young master."
At that moment, a one-eyed man entered along with the cold winter wind as the tent flap was lifted.
“You are here, Zayar."
"Yes. Young master Joseph, I have just returned."
Zayar brushed the snow off his shoulders and approached the seemingly frail man cautiously.
"Is there something troubling you?"
Joseph, who had been sheltered all his life, didn't look well, so Zayar asked carefully.
"It's just too easy."
Joseph stared at the documents in front of him, lost in thought.
"Monster extermination is proceeding smoothly. There haven't been any casualties, and all of them are mercenaries."
"But what about the missing people?"
Joseph raised the cooled down tea cup and spoke.
"It doesn't change the fact even if we consider them deserters," Joseph muttered.
From Joseph's perspective, it would have been better if there had been injuries or deaths while monster extermination.
The emergence of deserters indicated that discipline had not been properly established.
"Deserters on top of unremarkable results. They will all doubt my commanding abilities, even Father."
For a moment, a sharp glint appeared in Joseph's eyes.
"My older step-brother as well."
Joseph.
Joseph Bayezid.
He is the second son of the Bayezid Count's family, so he was feeling anxious at the moment.
"The forces I've mustered have barely risen, avoiding interference from my older brother. If not now, I won't have a chance to showcase my military capabilities to those above me."
Joseph was an ambitious man.
He was the legitimate ancestor of the Bayezid family and was trying to become the next Count Bayezid by pushing out Rutger, who inherited the same blood.
“I will be destroyed if things continue like this.”
“······.”
Becoming the next Count Bayezid was not simply an ambition.
Two suns couldn't exist under the same sky.
If he failed to become the next Bayezid Count, it was obvious what Rutger, his stepbrother, would do.
"If he succeeds, I'll live the rest of my life in the monastery, or I'll die without anyone knowing."
History proved it.
His own father had risen to the top by trampling over his own brothers without hesitation.
"I am short of useful swords. Except for you, Zayar."
To become the next Bayezid Count, Joseph needed not only his own abilities but also the support of the vassals.
However, Joseph, who was born sickly, found it difficult to gain the support of the vassals, no matter how much help he had from his mother and maternal family.
The Bayezid family held the military in high regard.
".... young master, I have something to report."
"Speak."
Zayar hesitated for a moment and spoke to Josef, who was caressing his temple as if he had a headache.
"There is a suspicious mercenary."
"Suspicious mercenary?"
Joseph's eyes narrowed in surprise at the unexpected news.
"Is he a spy sent by my older brother?"
"He is not suspicious in that sense."
"Then what do you mean?"
Zayar is a knight, a strong one at that. However, the hesitance he showed while delivering his message to Joseph was unusual. He lacked confidence.
"Speak, Zayar."
Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Joseph urged him to continue.
"It's something you need to see for yourself. Would you care to come with me for a moment?"
"It seems something serious has happened."
Observing his knight's unusual behavior, Joseph realized that Zayar was about to disclose something of great importance.
"Lead the way."
Joseph wrapped himself in thick outerwear and added a scarf and gloves to avoid being hurt by the cold winter wind.
"Here we are."
It was a dirty tent.
"Is this a slaughterhouse?"
"Yes, it is. This is where we dismantle vital parts from the monsters we've hunted."
Joseph quickly covered his mouth with a handkerchief as he looked around.
It wasn't because of the dangling corpses or the nauseating smell of blood that filled the air.
Joseph's mind was tougher than that of any knight, but his fragile body was so weak that he had to be cautious even of the contaminated air inside the tent.
"This way."
Zayar led Joseph deeper into the slaughterhouse. At the farthest end of the slaughterhouse, various types of monster corpses were hanging.
"Have a look."
Zayar personally turned the hanging corpses to show Joseph.
"Do you see the wounds?"
"Yes."
Etched deeply into the hunched back of a goblin, which had been hanging there for a long time and had become stiff, were sword marks.
"It's crooked."
Joseph commented with little enthusiasm, noting that the sword marks shown were made by someone who had just recently acquired a sword.
After Joseph finished speaking, Zayar pointed to the nearby corpse of a monster.
Wounds.
The body was full of sword marks not only on the back but also all over the body.
From left to right.
From the old corpses to the freshly arrived orc's corpse.
Joseph unconsciously removed the handkerchief from his mouth after examining all the corpses.
"Could it be that all of these were made by the same person?"
"Yes, young master."
Upon hearing Zayar's answer, Joseph immediately moved back to where the first corpse had been.
Joseph, who always walked slowly, was now running faster than ever before.
"This is unbelievable..."
There was no other way to describe it.
"How long has it been since these corpses were here?"
"It's been a little over a month, young master."
"Only a month..."
In response to Zayar's answer, Joseph was astonished and carefully examined the corpses of the monsters once again.
Sword marks.
Crooked and shabby wounds.
However, as he approached the corpses of the new monsters, the marks made by someone became clearer and deeper.
"Who is it?"
It formed a consistent pattern.
"His name is Riemann. He's a young man with blonde hair."
"Riemann?"
Zayar approached Joseph and whispered quietly.
"The mercenaries call him 'Praying Riemann.'"
"Praying Riemann..."
Joseph repeated the title that Zayar mentioned.
"Find out more about this Riemann right away."
"Yes, young master."
Zayar left the slaughterhouse upon Joseph's command.
"..... This is truly unbelievable."
Joseph was left alone in the room, and he turned his head and once again examined the corpses of the monsters.
Although he couldn't wield a sword himself, he could still observe.
Joseph was a descendant of the Bayezid family, which revered the military, and there were many outstanding knights around him.
Because of this, he could recognize it.
"He is a genius."
From the crooked strikes with no proper foundation, and yet reaching the level of the recently carved sword marks in just a month.
It was something that only a prodigy blessed by the heavens could achieve.
The orc's corpse, which had arrived just yesterday, still had its eyes wide open, as if it couldn't believe its own death.
Chapter 11
In the midst of a biting cold wind that cut through the forest, three men who looked like mercenaries sat around a campfire.
Slurp...
They looked at the boy who was sipping soup with his nose stuck in the pot.
"You got lucky. A rabbit was standing not too far away."
"Good job."
Although the men had already finished eating most of the rabbit soup, the boy was savoring every last drop.
The mercenaries realized that it wasn't the right time to talk to the boy, so they began to converse among themselves.
"By the way, I heard they are gathering people."
"For a monster hunt?"
"It seems that Count Bayezid's second son is personally leading this one."
“I heard the Bishop of Varna is also there. I think it will be a big operation.”
"It seems he is struggling to impress his father."
They were talking about subjugating monsters like a mercenary, but their minds were entirely focused on the blonde-haired boy.
‘He looks like a child of a noble.’
‘Look at the sword he's carrying. He's from a well-off family, at the very least.’
‘Blonde with blue eyes? You think we could get some good money just by selling him?’
The men quietly exchanged glances and whispers so that the boy couldn't hear them, and they began to move slowly toward the boy.
They subtly block the boy's escape route.
"Ha... Thank you. Thanks to you, I survived."
"It's about helping and surviving."
"How can I ever repay this favor?"
The mercenaries smiled, showing their black teeth, as they looked at the boy who put down the pot and bowed his head politely to express his gratitude.
"If you're really grateful, there's a way to repay us."
"What should I do..."
"You can repay us with your body!"
A noose suddenly flew in from behind the boy.
"Uh? Huh?"
"Hey, what are you doing!"
However, one of the mercenaries was caught in the noose instead of the boy they intended to capture.
"You slippery rat!"
The boy skillfully evaded the noose, and the remaining two mercenaries swiftly drew their weapons.
"It seems the young master learned a bit of swordsmanship from the tutor his father hired. But the real world is different, you know?"
"Put the sword down when I am speaking nicely. We might just turn you into a punching bag before you know it."
While the tied-up mercenary quickly worked to free himself from the noose, the other two mercenaries blocked the boy and began to growl.
"That's right. Life is all about real-world experience."
Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a sword that gleamed but seemed unused.
It was evident to anyone that the boy had run away from a wealthy home. Yet, the smile on the boy's face now resembled that of a fierce wolf.
"What?"
"I thought about it as I walked here. If these people are truly kind to me, how can I repay them?”
Ssshh...
The boy's momentum showed no signs of wavering, despite the harsh threats from the mercenaries. Instead, the mercenaries found themselves involuntarily swallowing their saliva at the sight of the boy drawing his sword.
The boy was giving off a ferocious spirit with the sword in his hands.
"I have been worrying for nothing all this time."
The boy was smiling.
"What the hell?"
The boy and the mercenaries are the same kind.
He wasn't just some naive young master who didn't understand the ways of the world.
"Hey, what are you doing! Get up quickly!"
"Are you going to take all day to untie the rope!"
Even so, it was alright.
That young kid was alone, while they were three.
The boy seemed confident in his swordsmanship, but they had enough experience in real combat to overpower him.
"Ugh..."
They thought so, but the moans coming from behind them were unsettling.
"What are you doing?"
"Ugh! eww!"
Their comrade who had been tied up was scratching the ground in an odd, frozen posture.
It wasn't normal body movement.
‘He got him!’
The two mercenaries felt a profound sense of doom as they watched their comrade freezing as if he were addicted to something.
‘When did this happen?’
No one could say for sure.
The boy was smiling as he watched the frozen mercenary.
But they don't know when they get poisoned...
‘Rabbit!’
The mercenaries had finally figured out the situation, and looked at the boy with shocked expressions.
"There's nothing easy in this world, right?"
"You bastard, you planned this from the beginning!"
The wobbly rabbit they had thought was an unexpected stroke of luck turned out to be a trap.
"You, you also..."
The mercenaries felt a sense of despair as they slowly felt their bodies stiffening.
"Yeah, I had some too."
Vlad pulled out a leaf he had hidden under his tongue and said, "With the antidote."
"Ugh! Ugh!"
Their gradually stiffening bodies collapsed onto the frigid ground.
"You never know who might get eaten when it comes to real life. Isn't that right, seniors?"
A dark shadow fell over the three frozen rabbits. And the blue eyes of the shadow were the last thing mercenaries saw.
※※※※
Tadak, tadak...
The sun was setting in the winter forest, and a blonde boy who looked like a mercenary sat alone.
His attire wasn't a perfect fit, but he was dressed in a mishmash of armor and clothes that seemed suitable enough for surviving the cold winter day.
"This is really happening."
Vlad muttered to himself as he poked at the campfire with a stick.
At least, that's how it would appear on the surface.
[Lucky you. Yellow-striped mushrooms aren't that common.]
"You know about mushrooms that paralyze people and the leaves that detoxify them. Who are you?"
[..... I don't know that.]
The boy wasn't talking to himself; he was addressing the voice that could only be heard when he held the sword.
"You know so much about trivial things, but you don't even know who you are."
[....]
The boy’s question met with silence.
"It doesn't matter."
Ssshh...
The boy drew his sword.
“Because this is the most important thing to me.”
The sword, which he had merely watched until now, was now in his hand.
He will forever remember the tears she shed to have this.
"I'll help you, please help me."
[Aren’t you scared of me?]
Vlad asked the voice, who didn’t know itself, to teach him the way of the sword.
“I don’t care if you are the devil. What I'm truly afraid of..."
The boy's sword emitted a blue moonlight. And it reminded him of something.
"Is that I am nothing."
Aura that looked like blue moonlight.
The boy was nothing in front of that aura.
For a boy who had followed the shining path all his life, the helplessness brought by the blue aura was terrifying.
You are nothing.
Your life will rot away in the slums even if you crouch like this for the rest of your life.
That's what the moonlight aura was saying.
"If I'm with you, I can become something, right? Even if I just become a devil follower."
[..... All right. I'll tell you.]
And so, the boy decided to struggle.
Even if he wanted to give up, there was a weight in his hand that made it impossible to do so.
Moonlight and the campfire.
On that same night when he first saw the aura, the boy wanted to become something and the voice that didn't know itself decided to help each other.
The two of them were the only ones who could make such a contract. And The moon in the night sky was its witness.
※※※※ - Part 2
Now is the time to enter midwinter.
Tents were erected between white fields covered with snow, in front of a dense evergreen forest.
Inside the largest and most splendid tent.
"It is easy."
A man with black hair lifted an already cooled down tea cup and examined the documents on the table in front of him.
He appeared young, but the dark circles under his eyes gave him a frail appearance.
"It is too easy."
The black-haired man was frowning as he looked at the documents to see what he didn't like.
"Young master."
At that moment, a one-eyed man entered along with the cold winter wind as the tent flap was lifted.
“You are here, Zayar."
"Yes. Young master Joseph, I have just returned."
Zayar brushed the snow off his shoulders and approached the seemingly frail man cautiously.
"Is there something troubling you?"
Joseph, who had been sheltered all his life, didn't look well, so Zayar asked carefully.
"It's just too easy."
Joseph stared at the documents in front of him, lost in thought.
"Monster extermination is proceeding smoothly. There haven't been any casualties, and all of them are mercenaries."
"But what about the missing people?"
Joseph raised the cooled down tea cup and spoke.
"It doesn't change the fact even if we consider them deserters," Joseph muttered.
From Joseph's perspective, it would have been better if there had been injuries or deaths while monster extermination.
The emergence of deserters indicated that discipline had not been properly established.
"Deserters on top of unremarkable results. They will all doubt my commanding abilities, even Father."
For a moment, a sharp glint appeared in Joseph's eyes.
"My older step-brother as well."
Joseph.
Joseph Bayezid.
He is the second son of the Bayezid Count's family, so he was feeling anxious at the moment.
"The forces I've mustered have barely risen, avoiding interference from my older brother. If not now, I won't have a chance to showcase my military capabilities to those above me."
Joseph was an ambitious man.
He was the legitimate ancestor of the Bayezid family and was trying to become the next Count Bayezid by pushing out Rutger, who inherited the same blood.
“I will be destroyed if things continue like this.”
“······.”
Becoming the next Count Bayezid was not simply an ambition.
Two suns couldn't exist under the same sky.
If he failed to become the next Bayezid Count, it was obvious what Rutger, his stepbrother, would do.
"If he succeeds, I'll live the rest of my life in the monastery, or I'll die without anyone knowing."
History proved it.
His own father had risen to the top by trampling over his own brothers without hesitation.
"I am short of useful swords. Except for you, Zayar."
To become the next Bayezid Count, Joseph needed not only his own abilities but also the support of the vassals.
However, Joseph, who was born sickly, found it difficult to gain the support of the vassals, no matter how much help he had from his mother and maternal family.
The Bayezid family held the military in high regard.
".... young master, I have something to report."
"Speak."
Zayar hesitated for a moment and spoke to Josef, who was caressing his temple as if he had a headache.
"There is a suspicious mercenary."
"Suspicious mercenary?"
Joseph's eyes narrowed in surprise at the unexpected news.
"Is he a spy sent by my older brother?"
"He is not suspicious in that sense."
"Then what do you mean?"
Zayar is a knight, a strong one at that. However, the hesitance he showed while delivering his message to Joseph was unusual. He lacked confidence.
"Speak, Zayar."
Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Joseph urged him to continue.
"It's something you need to see for yourself. Would you care to come with me for a moment?"
"It seems something serious has happened."
Observing his knight's unusual behavior, Joseph realized that Zayar was about to disclose something of great importance.
"Lead the way."
Joseph wrapped himself in thick outerwear and added a scarf and gloves to avoid being hurt by the cold winter wind.
"Here we are."
It was a dirty tent.
"Is this a slaughterhouse?"
"Yes, it is. This is where we dismantle vital parts from the monsters we've hunted."
Joseph quickly covered his mouth with a handkerchief as he looked around.
It wasn't because of the dangling corpses or the nauseating smell of blood that filled the air.
Joseph's mind was tougher than that of any knight, but his fragile body was so weak that he had to be cautious even of the contaminated air inside the tent.
"This way."
Zayar led Joseph deeper into the slaughterhouse. At the farthest end of the slaughterhouse, various types of monster corpses were hanging.
"Have a look."
Zayar personally turned the hanging corpses to show Joseph.
"Do you see the wounds?"
"Yes."
Etched deeply into the hunched back of a goblin, which had been hanging there for a long time and had become stiff, were sword marks.
"It's crooked."
Joseph commented with little enthusiasm, noting that the sword marks shown were made by someone who had just recently acquired a sword.
After Joseph finished speaking, Zayar pointed to the nearby corpse of a monster.
Wounds.
The body was full of sword marks not only on the back but also all over the body.
From left to right.
From the old corpses to the freshly arrived orc's corpse.
Joseph unconsciously removed the handkerchief from his mouth after examining all the corpses.
"Could it be that all of these were made by the same person?"
"Yes, young master."
Upon hearing Zayar's answer, Joseph immediately moved back to where the first corpse had been.
Joseph, who always walked slowly, was now running faster than ever before.
"This is unbelievable..."
There was no other way to describe it.
"How long has it been since these corpses were here?"
"It's been a little over a month, young master."
"Only a month..."
In response to Zayar's answer, Joseph was astonished and carefully examined the corpses of the monsters once again.
Sword marks.
Crooked and shabby wounds.
However, as he approached the corpses of the new monsters, the marks made by someone became clearer and deeper.
"Who is it?"
It formed a consistent pattern.
"His name is Riemann. He's a young man with blonde hair."
"Riemann?"
Zayar approached Joseph and whispered quietly.
"The mercenaries call him 'Praying Riemann.'"
"Praying Riemann..."
Joseph repeated the title that Zayar mentioned.
"Find out more about this Riemann right away."
"Yes, young master."
Zayar left the slaughterhouse upon Joseph's command.
"..... This is truly unbelievable."
Joseph was left alone in the room, and he turned his head and once again examined the corpses of the monsters.
Although he couldn't wield a sword himself, he could still observe.
Joseph was a descendant of the Bayezid family, which revered the military, and there were many outstanding knights around him.
Because of this, he could recognize it.
"He is a genius."
From the crooked strikes with no proper foundation, and yet reaching the level of the recently carved sword marks in just a month.
It was something that only a prodigy blessed by the heavens could achieve.
The orc's corpse, which had arrived just yesterday, still had its eyes wide open, as if it couldn't believe its own death.
