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Star-Embracing Swordmaster (Full)

Vlad, a destitute youngster from the slums, held an unwavering admiration for knights. Following an encounter with a bolt of black lightning, he started hearing a mysterious voice. One fateful day, a knight cloaked in the shimmering glow of the blue moonlight appeared, completely upending Vlad’s existence in the back alleys. This extraordinary event proved that even a faint star concealed among the darkest corners of the nocturnal firmament can still radiate its brilliance, should it yearn to shine. By Indra Scans Join discord! https://dsc.gg/indra

IndraScans · Fantasía
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258 Chs

Chapter 190 - Uninvited guests (1)

Although completely surrounded by dark gray walls, the space was quite bright due to the light shining from the ceiling.

Alicia found it impressive to see the conference room decorated entirely with swords and shields, unlike the central style.

This was because she realized that the weapons, full of scratches and breaks, were not simply made for decoration.

"Thank you for your hard work to come this far, Baron Alicia."

From the other end of the conference room, the Iron Duke Timur looked at Alicia and smiled.

"It must have been quite inconvenient to come here on this cold winter day."

Although I arrived last, it is understandable since I came from the farthest.

Rather, since it was Alicia who filled the empty seat left by Baron Utman, the six lords currently sitting were waiting for her eagerly.

"I hope you don't feel uncomfortable in the place I've prepared."

"Thank you for your consideration, Duke."

If the other person has shown consideration, you must respond courteously.

Although Alicia arrived as a lord, she quietly bowed her head to the duke, who was one of the only four in the empire.

"So it seems that everyone who was supposed to gather is already here."

7 flags.

7 chairs.

And seven lords.

As Alicia took her seat, Timur smiled slightly as he looked at the now fully crowded conference room.

"Then let's start the meeting now."

Following the gesture of the steel ball hand indicating the start, the door of the conference room began to close slowly.

Creak-

Blue snow particles drifting with the cold wind.

Pure white lake ice that will not break even if you hit it with all your strength.

The intense cold of the North is not only tough but even surprising.

However, the wildness that does not succumb to the cold may be the identity of the northerners.

An identity that was so solid that it could not be diluted until the end.

Looking at the slowly closing door, the gaze of the Iron Duke became deeper.

It was for enduring the discrimination of the empire, as if it were a badge of honor, all for this moment.

***

'It's magnificent.'

I've visited many mansions of noble families, but this was the first time I saw such a long and wide hallway.

Vlad scratched his cheek as he looked into the distance at the door to the grand conference room.

'There doesn't seem to be any way out.'

One of Vlad's old habits was to look around upon arriving in an unfamiliar place.

It can be said that the instinct of the weak is to find a way to escape, but Vlad never forgot that he started from the mud.

"From now on, we just have to stay here and watch."

"Yes."

Vlad turned his head to follow the voice coming from behind him.

When he turned around, there were six knights waiting to escort the lords, along with Rutiger, who shrugged and smiled.

"Of course, you're more of a guest entering rather than being protected."

Rutiger nodded and pretended to draw a line on the ground with his finger.

As he said, there was a gap between Vlad and the guard knights who were now standing.

Vlad, who had safely escorted Alicia to the conference room, was now there not as a knight but as a guest.

'So all those are the lords' closest confidants.'

Vlad heard Rutiger's words and observed the faces of the knights standing beside him.

Rutiger of Bayezid, Duncan of Hainal.

And among the knights whose names he still didn't know, someone who seemed familiar was looking at Vlad.

"We can finally introduce ourselves properly, Lord Vlad."

"I'm honored you remember me, Lord Valkov."

The man looking at Vlad among the knights was Valkov the Lancer, a knight of great renown in Baranov.

Although he was young, some of the knights had their eyes wide open as if surprised when they saw Vlad shake hands with Valkov naturally.

"In Moshiam, we were both busy and didn't have time to properly greet each other."

"That's right."

Although he had passed through Moshiam, Valkov remembered the young dragon slayer running towards the fastest dragon.

This is because the image of Vlad crying with his broken sword remained as a vivid image for Valkov that day.

"Congratulations on moving from squire to knight, and now to noble with a castle."

"Thank you."

After hearing Valkov's greeting, Vlad felt his heart, which he had worked so hard to calm, begin to beat again.

This is because through his words, he could once again see the process he went through to end up here.

"I'm Ralph, knight of Maringen."

"Guillermo of Romnie."

"I'm Ernst, from Podmills."

"I'm Karoy of Harquita. It's a pleasure to meet someone so famous in person."

When Valkov initiated conversation, the knights began to approach as if they had been waiting.

Some were heirs, others advisers, and others the closest to the lords.

Regardless of their ability, they were all names that any northerner would have heard of at some point.

"I heard the rumor that you even visited the land of the elves."

"That's right."

"Are you married?"

"Not yet…"

"My father wants to talk to you."

"I'll make sure to make time."

Some knights might have thought strangely when they saw Vlad suddenly appear.

However, the knights here were all the closest to the lords and were people who had to think first about the benefits of the territory rather than envy or jealousy towards someone.

"…Even if one is in a position to pursue a greater good, curiosity about Vlad is inevitable."

However, even if one is in a position to pursue a greater cause, curiosity about Vlad himself is something that cannot be avoided.

Vlad, looking into Guillermo's fiery eyes, realized that everyone there had some expectation of him, although they were different.

"Lord Vlad, it's time to prepare."

"Understood."

Just as the conversation was becoming more intense, Vlad realized it was time to enter when the butler called him.

Currently, he is Lord Vlad with the knights, but when he enters the conference room, he must become Aureo.

"Do well and come back."

Vlad looked at Rutiger, who smiled with his arms crossed, and nodded slightly.

"Yes."

Although his nervousness had not yet subsided as much as his heart was beating rapidly, he felt somewhat reassured by the fact that Rutiger was behind him.

***

"…It's truly steel. Real steel."

While Vlad waited to be summoned by the lords, his mage Nibelun was wandering around the city, satisfying his curiosity.

"But how can steel be made so easily?"

A beastman takes a magnifying glass from his backpack, clings to the castle wall like a cockroach, and talks to himself.

The guards narrowed their eyes at the suspicious appearance, but Nibelun didn't seem to care much about what others might think.

"No matter how rich this area is in iron ore, I don't think this mineral just appears on its own..."

It would be hard for anyone to get a mage who has been immersed in research for a long time to shift his attention elsewhere.

Therefore, Nibelun, who had been focused for a long time, couldn't even hear the voices of the people starting to murmur.

"Look there...!"

"Something in the sky...!"

"Is there a volcano nearby?"

Originally, steel was made under heat and pressure strong enough to melt pig iron.

It's necessary to burn all kinds of impurities in the heat of a furnace to produce steel of the current level, but it's unlikely that this amount of steel could have been manufactured in a blacksmith's shop.

"Eh?"

"I told you to run! What are you doing now?"

Nibelun, who had been focused on the castle wall for a while, suddenly felt his body being lifted.

This was because the soldier who had been assigned as his guide urgently took him away.

"Why?"

"Why do you think!?"

The frustrated guard shouted, while Nibelun remained stunned.

"Look at the sky!"

"The sky?"

Nibelun looked up at the sky with the magnifying glass he naturally held up at the guard's shout, and soon spotted something there, causing his eyes to widen.

"...What is that?"

As the guard said, there was a shining silver dot far off towards Bastopol.

At first, it looked like a dot, but the closer it got, the clearer it became.

"It's an attack! Attack!"

"It's coming from the sky! Everyone, raise your arrows!"

Behind the soldiers beginning to string their bows, the cries of terrified people could be heard.

Nibelun, heading to the mansion through the chaotic streets of Bastopol, finally recognized the identity of the attackers through the magnifying glass he held.

"Wyverns?"

According to a long-forgotten ancient legend, the walls of Bastopol were initially built with common iron ore.

However, the reason ordinary iron ore could turn into the solid steel it is today was because of the strong, hot breath of something that reached the castle walls.

"The dragons are breathing fire!"

"Everyone, move aside!"

The purest breath of the dragon.

It is said that the dragon's wrath, which wanted to leave only pure things behind, melted the walls of Bastopol into steel.

"...Make way, Northern knights."

There was a man who descended to the ground with the dragon's breath coming from the sky.

"I have come here now in obedience to the orders of His Majesty the Just Emperor."

He has bright blonde hair and blue eyes.

And he was a man who came with a dragon banner with the head of a decapitated dragon.

"Inform the owner of this land that Mirshea of the Dragonslayer Knights has arrived."

No matter how high it was hung, it couldn't be higher than the sky.

Before the flapping of the dragons born in the highest place, the seven flags hanging in Bastopol began to sway dangerously.

***

'I want to ask you something.'

[Ask.]

Vlad, standing in front of the door with the knights behind him, decided to ask a question that had been on his mind for a while.

It was a question he had when he was still a child standing in the mud, before entering the world of high nobility.

'Why did it have to be me?'

[Hmm?]

'Why did you come to me?'

When Vlad was a child rolling in the alley mud, Kihano appeared with a black lightning bolt.

At first, he thought it was an unfortunate coincidence, but now that he knew who Kihano was, he understood that he wasn't someone who just showed up by mere chance.

[...Why you?]

Kihano's voice began to fade with Vlad's question.

If Vlad had closed his left eye at that moment, he would have seen Kihano gazing at the sunset under a bright red maple tree.

- Lord Vlad Aureo is entering!

[When I was looking down from the sky, I saw you.]

The doors of the conference room began to open with a loud sound.

One big door opens, and the door behind it opens.

As the doors blocking Vlad opened, the lords seated in the distance began to appear.

[Of all the pieces scattered across the land, you were the brightest.]

After hearing Kihano's words, Vlad smiled slightly and began to walk.

Although born in the mud, he is now heading into the world of nobility.

However, for Vlad, Kihano's approval within him was more valuable than that of the northern lords in front of him.

Because, no matter who is in the conference room at this moment, there was no one who shone brighter than Kihano within him.

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