A worthy being shines everywhere.
"There it is! Hurry up and drive!"
"What a ruckus!"
And everyone was compelled to covet the shining being.
"...!"
A black horse fled under a night sky of a similar hue.
It relinquished its duty as the group's leader and came to seek the boy for memories of that day, but humans' greed for possessing a shining being was blocking the boy's path to moving forward.
Ropes filled with sinister spells flew towards the black horse.
Everywhere.
On the horizon of the world where you and I meet, and become one.
A broader world would ensure greater possibilities, but the boy who had faced the worm of death like him that day was not here.
Therefore, the black horse had no choice but to handle all of this alone.
Neigh!
The black horse's whinny echoed under the waxing moon.
***
Under a sunny summer sky, a carriage full of hay passed through a meadow.
An old man with a straw hat and a yawning child beside him.
And even a young man with a long chin driving a horse while carrying them in a carriage.
Seeing them crowded in a small carriage seemed far removed from knights or swordsmen.
“Where are we going?”
“To Varna.”
“But is it okay to just relax like this?”
“We’ll get there on our own.”
Currently, the group was quietly following the ascending journey towards Varna.
According to Ramund, the horse that was supposed to be a ghost horse was not only fast, but it always watched from a distance and controlled whether people traveled in the carriage or cart.
“This guy has clear intentions. It’s definitely not something common.”
“…!”
Upon hearing the old man’s words, memories of that day naturally came to Vlad and Goethe’s minds.
A headless knight in a foggy village. With a ghost horse riding.
As soon as I saw it, I realized it was suitable for me.
“The sky is beautiful. The wind blows too.”
Regardless of the concerns of the two, Ramund seemed to like the current situation and moved calmly.
He pulled out a piece of hay from the cargo, bit into it, and started chewing it playfully.
“How long has it been since you learned to use Aura?”
“It’s been about three months. No, four months…”
“Did you get it from Deirmar?”
“Yes.”
“Mmm.”
The old man was lost in thought as he looked at the child’s back through the gap in his straw hat.
The purpose of coming here in the first place was to investigate the unknown horse, but honestly, it didn’t matter if he couldn’t find it.
Anyway, the main reason Ramund stayed in Soara was because of the boy in front of him.
All he wanted to do was stay by Vlad’s side for a few days while he searched for the horse, observe, judge, and teach him anything if he was good at it.
“Three months is a bit fast.”
“What?”
In response to the boy’s question, Ramund took off his straw hat and made eye contact with Vlad.
“Compared to when I woke up, my aura is stronger. It’s surprising that you still haven’t found your own color.”
“…”
When the Aura story came up, Vlad began to listen to the old man without showing it.
Jager and the voice always emphasized the basics and didn’t teach the boy much about Aura.
Just light up and move on.
“A user of Aura is the concrete embodiment of an image. Not being able to find the color also means that your world hasn’t been built yet.”
“How do I find the color?”
Ramund sounded as he looked into the boy’s blue eyes.
Still, you shouldn’t tell yourself too much.
Because Jager must have his own direction in mind.
“Expose yourself a bit more to the world. Don’t hide it too much.”
“What does that mean?”
Ramund pondered Vlad’s question for a moment, then opened his mouth, thinking everything would be fine.
“Try to create a device that brings out the world inside you outward. Knights call it a key.”
“A key?”
Vlad’s eyes moved quickly as he heard the words for the first time.
Ramund seemed amazed to see the boy trying to grasp even one of his words.
“It’s nothing special. Have you seen knights who use Aura?”
“I have.”
“Do you just think they use Aura?”
“…So they use it differently?”
“You lack observation skills.”
Ramund leaned on the haystack and gave the boy a meaningful smile.
“Think about it. Why don’t you perform certain actions before invoking the aura?”
“Action?”
When Vlad heard the old man’s words, he frowned and started thinking hard.
When other knights summoned auras, it was always an urgent situation, so there was no time to look at it properly.
However, there were several scenes that came to mind as he listened to Ramund.
“Sword and shield clash…”
Pablo, the knight who led him down the path of becoming an Aura user.
He clashed his sword and shield and asked the boy his name.
The sound of that moment was still alive in Vlad’s ears.
“Huh?”
Rutiger Bayezid, who killed the Worm of Death.
It was like an active volcano and seemed to have moved his sword with his fingers.
He couldn’t be sure because he saw it from afar.
“And…”
Godín, the Blue Moonlight Knight.
The Aura master the boy saw for the first time.
“Maybe also because you’re aligning your mouth with the sword?”
“That’s possible. It’s about invoking your own world intensely through certain actions.”
That was the key.
It was a tool to open wide your own imaginary world, like a ritual.
“But I only use it.”
“That’s why you’re wrong.”
Vlad had nothing to say in response to Ramund.
Certainly, compared to other knights’ auras, his aura only emitted a faint glow.
“Jager may have told you when the right time is, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to think about it in advance now.”
An awareness that opens the world wide.
Since it was a technique that only knights firmly established in their own world could use, he might still be far from being used by a child.
Feeling the state of other knights in the distance, Vlad felt a part of his heart suffocating, so he raised his hand.
[Bow!]
“Bow!”
“…Huh?”
As Vlad listened to the sudden warnings from the voice, he instinctively lowered his head.
Thump-!
"Huh?"
Vlad made a surprised noise and turned his head towards the sound.
There was Ramund holding trembling arrows.
"Things aren't settling easily."
Ramund's eyes through the straw hat began to turn fierce.
"It's an attack!"
"It's a group of bandits! Everyone, be on guard!"
The travel process came to a halt.
At the same time, cheers echoed all around.
And there were arrows flying from the hill.
"Turn the carriage around!"
"Where?!"
Ramund quickly pointed in the direction the arrows were coming from.
"Mount the horses! Don't let any of them escape! Coachman!"
"Yes? Yes!"
Although it was a regrettable situation, Ramund quickly assessed the situation and started giving instructions to Vlad and Goethe.
Thanks to such a natural and agile response, Vlad and Goethe were able to snap back to normalcy quickly.
"What is it? Are they a group of magic bandits?"
"...I think they're more troublesome than those types."
Vlad asked, peeking his head in the direction of the arrow.
A group of men who seemed to be at least twenty were standing on horseback on a hill.
Unknown leather clothing and tattoos covering their heads and faces.
And even the strange, incessant shouting.
"They're Barbarians."
"Barbarians?"
When unexpected words came out of Ramund's mouth, Vlad looked puzzled.
Kwasik-!
At that moment, an arrow pierced Vlad's side.
"..."
A barbarian man holding a bow on a distant hill.
Vlad seemed to have made eye contact with the man.
Two people with beast-like eyes were facing each other.
***
A carriage engulfed in flames with acrid smoke. And the sound of barbarians shouting at the top of their lungs.
"Shit!"
And the flying arrows.
Vlad, who was looking at the trembling arrow on the ground, quickly used the carriage as a shield and began to monitor the situation.
I never thought things would end up like this.
"Why are the barbarians here?"
“...”
The people from the North wouldn't ignore the barbarians who, it was said, lived beyond the North.
Vlad was well aware that there were people who rejected the teachings of the church and lived in their own realm.
"Is this Bayezid County? No matter how far you go, it's only a day's journey from Soara."
"That's right."
However, the issue was that it was Bayezid County, a zone far south from where barbarians usually appeared.
Even the experienced Ramund was lost in thought, biting his lip as if it were the first time he experienced something like this.
No matter how much they thought about it, they had no reason or benefit to come to Bayezid County.
But things happened, and now it's time to act.
Crunch-
"I thought it would be a little more comfortable."
Vlad complained that something must have gone wrong in his life and drew his sword.
Ramund also unsheathed his sword and instructed Goethe.
"Hey, coachman. Put the saddle on the horses. We need to ride to confront them."
Ramund was already thinking about how to handle the situation.
The deep wrinkles on his forehead showed that the current situation was not easy.
"Except for a few warriors, they can't even face the knights. We just need to neutralize the characteristic mobility of the barbarians."
Let's reconsider.
Vlad had no choice but to bite his lip when Ramund said that everyone, regardless of age or sex, were excellent cavalry soldiers.
The area related to words was one of the painful weaknesses of the boy.
"Listen carefully! We don't want to kill them all either!"
The barbarians, who had been threatening the process by launching arrows for a while, were now coming down the hill, making loud noises and pressing them, as if the time had come.
"I'll spare your lives as long as you pay the toll!"
“…”
Amidst the silent crowd, a man who looked like a merchant raised his hand and shouted.
He was the chief lord leading this process.
"I'll pay the toll! Please, stop the attack!"
The corners of the mouths of the barbarians began to lift upon hearing the merchant's words, which sounded like a surrender.
"How much do you want..."
"Everything you have!"
The leader of the barbarians shouted loudly as he looked at the puzzled look of the Lord.
"Leave with empty hands! For those who have something in their hands, it will become a fortune in the afterlife!"
The barbarians celebrated their victory in advance by loudly circling around the process.
The merchants were perplexed by the barbarians' excessive demands, and several mercenaries who had been hired to protect the trade only showed trembling eyes and loss of appetite.
Even if I leave my luggage, will they let me go?
"I don't like those bastards."
"I also tried to get along with them, but it didn't work."
No one in the group expected things to turn out like this.
However, life is always a series of unpredictable events, and sometimes there are moments when we must silently endure trials that come like a typhoon.
Now was that moment.
"I came here to hunt a horse. What is this?"
Even though things turned out this way, the approaching barbarians probably didn't expect the group to be here either.
Vlad quietly closed his left eye and listened to the sound of the horses' hooves approaching.
"Get ready."
"Yes."
A retired knight and a boy who wants to become a knight.
Although neither of them was an active knight, the swords they wielded held great power.
The only problem was that the power didn't reach the opponent.
Unlike Ramund, who grabbed the reins of the horse and prepared to leave, Vlad was only given one chance.
Just one moment when they approached the process.
That might be the only chance given to a boy who doesn't know how to ride a horse.
"Ah..."
Vlad held his breath silently as he waited for the men to approach with noisy noises.
However, the boy's weakness was not only his inability to ride a horse.
Neigh-!
There's something there!
The horses were startled!
"Shit!"
Vlad, who had been silently waiting for the barbarians, felt that things were going wrong when he saw them suddenly stop.
In the end, it was the strange force that the boy hadn't been able to control that held the child's ankle tightly.
"Get out! Now!"
"Damn it!"
We couldn't get as close as we intended and didn't even dismount from the horses.
But I couldn't wait any longer, so the only moment I had to wield my sword was now.
Although Ramund was old, he spurred his horse and moved like lightning.
His whole body was already covered in a sparkling aura.
"What are those!"
"Turn your horse around! Increase the distance!"
Seeing the two people charging at them with unusual momentum, the barbarians tried to retreat, but Ramund had already gotten too close.
"You! How dare you tell me where this is?"
Ramund stopped the barbarians with a thunderous shout and began to wield his sword fiercely.
Since they were destroying the land he had dedicated his entire life to protect, they didn't deserve mercy.
Red blood began to spurt onto his old sword.
"It's Aura!"
"Why is there a knight here!?"
The barbarians, surprised to see the radiant Ramund, grabbed the reins and quickly began to turn.
"Where are you going, you bastards!"
Although he arrived later than Ramund, Vlad rushed forward with his characteristic agile movements and grabbed the nearest barbarian.
[Aim for the horse!]
Following the advice of the voice, he cut the knees of the horse, and the barbarian riding it lost balance and began to topple over.
"Ahh!"
Pain and fear.
The horse, trying to escape everything Vlad gave it, began to run wildly without paying attention to its rider, and the boy seized the opportunity and quickly grabbed the barbarian riding on top of it.
"Keuuk!"
"Smile like before! You bastard!"
The sword gleamed, including the cost of making it work ungracefully.
Words of crying and blood bursting forth.
The spirits of the barbarians began to be disturbed by the two people who suddenly rushed out.
"Return, Vlad! Go and protect the people!"
Although it was a half-failed surprise attack, the two men managed to defeat the barbarians with their own skills.
"Aaaah!"
"No, no!"
But the process was long, and the only men who opposed the barbarians were Vlad and Ramund.
Because the barbarians were fleeing, using the crying people as sacrifices.
"Those bastards."
Vlad cursed quietly at the fleeing barbarians, but it was inevitable.
They were simply barbarians and had no reason to risk their lives in such an unfavorable situation.
"Captain!"
At least Goethe was fighting hard with a sword, but he was skilled at holding a sword, not wielding it.
There was blood and screams everywhere.
[Slowly consolidate your territory. You can't protect everyone here.]
‘Darn it...’
The voice was right.
The tip of Vlad's sword couldn't stop the barbarians who constantly attacked and fled.
I don't know if he would have moved with them on horseback, but Vlad was just a person stuck to the ground.
"Shit!"
Get down and fight.
Don't act like a coward.
However, as if mocking the boy's thoughts, the barbarians, like a swarm of bees, constantly swarmed around the procession, stealing, killing, and injuring people.
Horses and mobility.
The people who were trampled by the barbarians' unique tactics had no choice but to sit and release deadly screams.
"Mom, Mom!"
The blood-covered father grabbed the child, who lay in a mess on the ground, and hugged him.
Seeing the terrible scene, Vlad quickly looked for Ramund, but he too was found in a difficult situation.
Ramund's horse was a pack horse, and that alone wasn't enough to catch and stop the agile barbarians.
On the contrary, even in such bad conditions, Ramund's ability to cut down a man who looks like the leader of the barbarians and drive him out of the procession must be considered remarkable.
The boy became angry at finding himself once again helpless.
The world has many different appearances.
It's so high you can't reach it, it's so big you can't handle it, and it's so fast you can't catch it.
Vlad bit his lip as he felt various limitations on him.
It happened again like this.
Neigh-!
There was a sound that reached Vlad's ears in a moment and that he couldn't handle on his own.
"…!"
It was a sound he hadn't heard in a long time, but he recognized it immediately.
"What is that!"
"It's him!"
"Then he escaped!"
A black dot began to approach from far away.
However, in the blink of an eye, there was a presence approaching through the barbarians.
Vlad realized that the black eyes like a wolf's mouth now running towards him were looking for him.
"I'm here!"
The sunlight shone on the sword held high.
Look, I'm here.
The boy who couldn't move and the horse that had to dodge the lasso recognized each other.
"…!"
The dark night that passed quickly left a star above me.
Vlad suddenly looked up and reached out his hand as he had done that day unconsciously.
The flow of air between his fingers spoke.
"Let's go!"
Neigh–!
I can run now.
You don't have to endure it anymore.
The sword that had nowhere to go rose upward.
The world flowing through the boy's left eye.
A white horn rising smoothly on a black horse.
The two worlds began to meet at the end of each other's limitations.
A worthy being shines everywhere.
"There it is! Hurry up and drive!"
"What a ruckus!"
And everyone was compelled to covet the shining being.
"...!"
A black horse fled under a night sky of a similar hue.
It relinquished its duty as the group's leader and came to seek the boy for memories of that day, but humans' greed for possessing a shining being was blocking the boy's path to moving forward.
Ropes filled with sinister spells flew towards the black horse.
Everywhere.
On the horizon of the world where you and I meet, and become one.
A broader world would ensure greater possibilities, but the boy who had faced the worm of death like him that day was not here.
Therefore, the black horse had no choice but to handle all of this alone.
Neigh!
The black horse's whinny echoed under the waxing moon.
***
Under a sunny summer sky, a carriage full of hay passed through a meadow.
An old man with a straw hat and a yawning child beside him.
And even a young man with a long chin driving a horse while carrying them in a carriage.
Seeing them crowded in a small carriage seemed far removed from knights or swordsmen.
“Where are we going?”
“To Varna.”
“But is it okay to just relax like this?”
“We’ll get there on our own.”
Currently, the group was quietly following the ascending journey towards Varna.
According to Ramund, the horse that was supposed to be a ghost horse was not only fast, but it always watched from a distance and controlled whether people traveled in the carriage or cart.
“This guy has clear intentions. It’s definitely not something common.”
“…!”
Upon hearing the old man’s words, memories of that day naturally came to Vlad and Goethe’s minds.
A headless knight in a foggy village. With a ghost horse riding.
As soon as I saw it, I realized it was suitable for me.
“The sky is beautiful. The wind blows too.”
Regardless of the concerns of the two, Ramund seemed to like the current situation and moved calmly.
He pulled out a piece of hay from the cargo, bit into it, and started chewing it playfully.
“How long has it been since you learned to use Aura?”
“It’s been about three months. No, four months…”
“Did you get it from Deirmar?”
“Yes.”
“Mmm.”
The old man was lost in thought as he looked at the child’s back through the gap in his straw hat.
The purpose of coming here in the first place was to investigate the unknown horse, but honestly, it didn’t matter if he couldn’t find it.
Anyway, the main reason Ramund stayed in Soara was because of the boy in front of him.
All he wanted to do was stay by Vlad’s side for a few days while he searched for the horse, observe, judge, and teach him anything if he was good at it.
“Three months is a bit fast.”
“What?”
In response to the boy’s question, Ramund took off his straw hat and made eye contact with Vlad.
“Compared to when I woke up, my aura is stronger. It’s surprising that you still haven’t found your own color.”
“…”
When the Aura story came up, Vlad began to listen to the old man without showing it.
Jager and the voice always emphasized the basics and didn’t teach the boy much about Aura.
Just light up and move on.
“A user of Aura is the concrete embodiment of an image. Not being able to find the color also means that your world hasn’t been built yet.”
“How do I find the color?”
Ramund sounded as he looked into the boy’s blue eyes.
Still, you shouldn’t tell yourself too much.
Because Jager must have his own direction in mind.
“Expose yourself a bit more to the world. Don’t hide it too much.”
“What does that mean?”
Ramund pondered Vlad’s question for a moment, then opened his mouth, thinking everything would be fine.
“Try to create a device that brings out the world inside you outward. Knights call it a key.”
“A key?”
Vlad’s eyes moved quickly as he heard the words for the first time.
Ramund seemed amazed to see the boy trying to grasp even one of his words.
“It’s nothing special. Have you seen knights who use Aura?”
“I have.”
“Do you just think they use Aura?”
“…So they use it differently?”
“You lack observation skills.”
Ramund leaned on the haystack and gave the boy a meaningful smile.
“Think about it. Why don’t you perform certain actions before invoking the aura?”
“Action?”
When Vlad heard the old man’s words, he frowned and started thinking hard.
When other knights summoned auras, it was always an urgent situation, so there was no time to look at it properly.
However, there were several scenes that came to mind as he listened to Ramund.
“Sword and shield clash…”
Pablo, the knight who led him down the path of becoming an Aura user.
He clashed his sword and shield and asked the boy his name.
The sound of that moment was still alive in Vlad’s ears.
“Huh?”
Rutiger Bayezid, who killed the Worm of Death.
It was like an active volcano and seemed to have moved his sword with his fingers.
He couldn’t be sure because he saw it from afar.
“And…”
Godín, the Blue Moonlight Knight.
The Aura master the boy saw for the first time.
“Maybe also because you’re aligning your mouth with the sword?”
“That’s possible. It’s about invoking your own world intensely through certain actions.”
That was the key.
It was a tool to open wide your own imaginary world, like a ritual.
“But I only use it.”
“That’s why you’re wrong.”
Vlad had nothing to say in response to Ramund.
Certainly, compared to other knights’ auras, his aura only emitted a faint glow.
“Jager may have told you when the right time is, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to think about it in advance now.”
An awareness that opens the world wide.
Since it was a technique that only knights firmly established in their own world could use, he might still be far from being used by a child.
Feeling the state of other knights in the distance, Vlad felt a part of his heart suffocating, so he raised his hand.
[Bow!]
“Bow!”
“…Huh?”
As Vlad listened to the sudden warnings from the voice, he instinctively lowered his head.
Thump-!
"Huh?"
Vlad made a surprised noise and turned his head towards the sound.
There was Ramund holding trembling arrows.
"Things aren't settling easily."
Ramund's eyes through the straw hat began to turn fierce.
"It's an attack!"
"It's a group of bandits! Everyone, be on guard!"
The travel process came to a halt.
At the same time, cheers echoed all around.
And there were arrows flying from the hill.
"Turn the carriage around!"
"Where?!"
Ramund quickly pointed in the direction the arrows were coming from.
"Mount the horses! Don't let any of them escape! Coachman!"
"Yes? Yes!"
Although it was a regrettable situation, Ramund quickly assessed the situation and started giving instructions to Vlad and Goethe.
Thanks to such a natural and agile response, Vlad and Goethe were able to snap back to normalcy quickly.
"What is it? Are they a group of magic bandits?"
"...I think they're more troublesome than those types."
Vlad asked, peeking his head in the direction of the arrow.
A group of men who seemed to be at least twenty were standing on horseback on a hill.
Unknown leather clothing and tattoos covering their heads and faces.
And even the strange, incessant shouting.
"They're Barbarians."
"Barbarians?"
When unexpected words came out of Ramund's mouth, Vlad looked puzzled.
Kwasik-!
At that moment, an arrow pierced Vlad's side.
"..."
A barbarian man holding a bow on a distant hill.
Vlad seemed to have made eye contact with the man.
Two people with beast-like eyes were facing each other.
***
A carriage engulfed in flames with acrid smoke. And the sound of barbarians shouting at the top of their lungs.
"Shit!"
And the flying arrows.
Vlad, who was looking at the trembling arrow on the ground, quickly used the carriage as a shield and began to monitor the situation.
I never thought things would end up like this.
"Why are the barbarians here?"
“...”
The people from the North wouldn't ignore the barbarians who, it was said, lived beyond the North.
Vlad was well aware that there were people who rejected the teachings of the church and lived in their own realm.
"Is this Bayezid County? No matter how far you go, it's only a day's journey from Soara."
"That's right."
However, the issue was that it was Bayezid County, a zone far south from where barbarians usually appeared.
Even the experienced Ramund was lost in thought, biting his lip as if it were the first time he experienced something like this.
No matter how much they thought about it, they had no reason or benefit to come to Bayezid County.
But things happened, and now it's time to act.
Crunch-
"I thought it would be a little more comfortable."
Vlad complained that something must have gone wrong in his life and drew his sword.
Ramund also unsheathed his sword and instructed Goethe.
"Hey, coachman. Put the saddle on the horses. We need to ride to confront them."
Ramund was already thinking about how to handle the situation.
The deep wrinkles on his forehead showed that the current situation was not easy.
"Except for a few warriors, they can't even face the knights. We just need to neutralize the characteristic mobility of the barbarians."
Let's reconsider.
Vlad had no choice but to bite his lip when Ramund said that everyone, regardless of age or sex, were excellent cavalry soldiers.
The area related to words was one of the painful weaknesses of the boy.
"Listen carefully! We don't want to kill them all either!"
The barbarians, who had been threatening the process by launching arrows for a while, were now coming down the hill, making loud noises and pressing them, as if the time had come.
"I'll spare your lives as long as you pay the toll!"
“…”
Amidst the silent crowd, a man who looked like a merchant raised his hand and shouted.
He was the chief lord leading this process.
"I'll pay the toll! Please, stop the attack!"
The corners of the mouths of the barbarians began to lift upon hearing the merchant's words, which sounded like a surrender.
"How much do you want..."
"Everything you have!"
The leader of the barbarians shouted loudly as he looked at the puzzled look of the Lord.
"Leave with empty hands! For those who have something in their hands, it will become a fortune in the afterlife!"
The barbarians celebrated their victory in advance by loudly circling around the process.
The merchants were perplexed by the barbarians' excessive demands, and several mercenaries who had been hired to protect the trade only showed trembling eyes and loss of appetite.
Even if I leave my luggage, will they let me go?
"I don't like those bastards."
"I also tried to get along with them, but it didn't work."
No one in the group expected things to turn out like this.
However, life is always a series of unpredictable events, and sometimes there are moments when we must silently endure trials that come like a typhoon.
Now was that moment.
"I came here to hunt a horse. What is this?"
Even though things turned out this way, the approaching barbarians probably didn't expect the group to be here either.
Vlad quietly closed his left eye and listened to the sound of the horses' hooves approaching.
"Get ready."
"Yes."
A retired knight and a boy who wants to become a knight.
Although neither of them was an active knight, the swords they wielded held great power.
The only problem was that the power didn't reach the opponent.
Unlike Ramund, who grabbed the reins of the horse and prepared to leave, Vlad was only given one chance.
Just one moment when they approached the process.
That might be the only chance given to a boy who doesn't know how to ride a horse.
"Ah..."
Vlad held his breath silently as he waited for the men to approach with noisy noises.
However, the boy's weakness was not only his inability to ride a horse.
Neigh-!
There's something there!
The horses were startled!
"Shit!"
Vlad, who had been silently waiting for the barbarians, felt that things were going wrong when he saw them suddenly stop.
In the end, it was the strange force that the boy hadn't been able to control that held the child's ankle tightly.
"Get out! Now!"
"Damn it!"
We couldn't get as close as we intended and didn't even dismount from the horses.
But I couldn't wait any longer, so the only moment I had to wield my sword was now.
Although Ramund was old, he spurred his horse and moved like lightning.
His whole body was already covered in a sparkling aura.
"What are those!"
"Turn your horse around! Increase the distance!"
Seeing the two people charging at them with unusual momentum, the barbarians tried to retreat, but Ramund had already gotten too close.
"You! How dare you tell me where this is?"
Ramund stopped the barbarians with a thunderous shout and began to wield his sword fiercely.
Since they were destroying the land he had dedicated his entire life to protect, they didn't deserve mercy.
Red blood began to spurt onto his old sword.
"It's Aura!"
"Why is there a knight here!?"
The barbarians, surprised to see the radiant Ramund, grabbed the reins and quickly began to turn.
"Where are you going, you bastards!"
Although he arrived later than Ramund, Vlad rushed forward with his characteristic agile movements and grabbed the nearest barbarian.
[Aim for the horse!]
Following the advice of the voice, he cut the knees of the horse, and the barbarian riding it lost balance and began to topple over.
"Ahh!"
Pain and fear.
The horse, trying to escape everything Vlad gave it, began to run wildly without paying attention to its rider, and the boy seized the opportunity and quickly grabbed the barbarian riding on top of it.
"Keuuk!"
"Smile like before! You bastard!"
The sword gleamed, including the cost of making it work ungracefully.
Words of crying and blood bursting forth.
The spirits of the barbarians began to be disturbed by the two people who suddenly rushed out.
"Return, Vlad! Go and protect the people!"
Although it was a half-failed surprise attack, the two men managed to defeat the barbarians with their own skills.
"Aaaah!"
"No, no!"
But the process was long, and the only men who opposed the barbarians were Vlad and Ramund.
Because the barbarians were fleeing, using the crying people as sacrifices.
"Those bastards."
Vlad cursed quietly at the fleeing barbarians, but it was inevitable.
They were simply barbarians and had no reason to risk their lives in such an unfavorable situation.
"Captain!"
At least Goethe was fighting hard with a sword, but he was skilled at holding a sword, not wielding it.
There was blood and screams everywhere.
[Slowly consolidate your territory. You can't protect everyone here.]
‘Darn it...’
The voice was right.
The tip of Vlad's sword couldn't stop the barbarians who constantly attacked and fled.
I don't know if he would have moved with them on horseback, but Vlad was just a person stuck to the ground.
"Shit!"
Get down and fight.
Don't act like a coward.
However, as if mocking the boy's thoughts, the barbarians, like a swarm of bees, constantly swarmed around the procession, stealing, killing, and injuring people.
Horses and mobility.
The people who were trampled by the barbarians' unique tactics had no choice but to sit and release deadly screams.
"Mom, Mom!"
The blood-covered father grabbed the child, who lay in a mess on the ground, and hugged him.
Seeing the terrible scene, Vlad quickly looked for Ramund, but he too was found in a difficult situation.
Ramund's horse was a pack horse, and that alone wasn't enough to catch and stop the agile barbarians.
On the contrary, even in such bad conditions, Ramund's ability to cut down a man who looks like the leader of the barbarians and drive him out of the procession must be considered remarkable.
The boy became angry at finding himself once again helpless.
The world has many different appearances.
It's so high you can't reach it, it's so big you can't handle it, and it's so fast you can't catch it.
Vlad bit his lip as he felt various limitations on him.
It happened again like this.
Neigh-!
There was a sound that reached Vlad's ears in a moment and that he couldn't handle on his own.
"…!"
It was a sound he hadn't heard in a long time, but he recognized it immediately.
"What is that!"
"It's him!"
"Then he escaped!"
A black dot began to approach from far away.
However, in the blink of an eye, there was a presence approaching through the barbarians.
Vlad realized that the black eyes like a wolf's mouth now running towards him were looking for him.
"I'm here!"
The sunlight shone on the sword held high.
Look, I'm here.
The boy who couldn't move and the horse that had to dodge the lasso recognized each other.
"…!"
The dark night that passed quickly left a star above me.
Vlad suddenly looked up and reached out his hand as he had done that day unconsciously.
The flow of air between his fingers spoke.
"Let's go!"
Neigh–!
I can run now.
You don't have to endure it anymore.
The sword that had nowhere to go rose upward.
The world flowing through the boy's left eye.
A white horn rising smoothly on a black horse.
The two worlds began to meet at the end of each other's limitations.
