Chapter 113 - People who do not know each other (1)

My ears are ringing.

I felt something was wrong with the first collision.

"No, Noir…"

Vlad barely got up from his seat with blurred vision and walked towards Noir, who was far away.

Neigh-

A black horse recognizes Vlad, who approaches stealthily and rises with difficulty.

Fortunately, although his strength seemed to diminish, nothing seemed to be broken.

"…Damn."

Vlad, holding Noir's reins, gritted his teeth as he looked at the scene in front of him.

On a stone bridge covered in clouds and illuminated by moonlight.

Fragments of the armor that had just broken were flying.

People were seen lying among the debris gleaming in the moonlight.

"Perhaps you should have rested a little longer."

And a person standing on a stone bridge.

The unknown man, who had finally defeated the remaining knights, sensed Vlad's presence and turned around.

The man's white hair shone brightly under the hood that Vlad had torn apart.

"I think we have a lot to ask each other."

Upon hearing the words of the unknown man, Vlad once again raised his sword.

The stance of holding the sword to the extreme for a single strike.

The man, seeing Vlad's posture like an arrow about to be shot, smiled as if he knew that would happen.

"Well. That."

Two men stood facing each other under the moonlight.

With another sword raised as if it were the same.

 ***

"Good job."

An office tinted by a bright light.

Flowers planted here and there peeked their heads into the sunlight streaming in beyond the window.

"It was a tough task, but you did well."

"Thank you very much."

Vlad listened to the Count's words and stared fixedly at the teacup in front of him.

A light green elf carriage.

I walked the distance for over a week to take this sip.

"I heard it wasn't an easy match. It's a pity we didn't find his body."

Vlad raised his head and looked at the Count.

A man with deep wrinkles on his dry face.

In a body that looked ten years older than his original age, the only thing that seemed to have its own age were his bright eyes.

"I was lucky."

"Haha! I guess you were lucky."

The Count leaned deeply against the chair's backrest with a worried expression.

"You have no idea. How much trouble I went through because of that guy."

The Count closed his eyes with a relaxed expression, as if he had lost a tooth.

Since the city's main industry had been threatened by an unknown, his difficulties were understandable.

However, Vlad's eyes as he looked at the Count were cold.

"Who were you planning to call if it failed?"

"Mmm?"

The Count opened his closed eyes at Vlad's sudden question.

"He was of a very high level. It was a level of skill that the Count's knights couldn't match."

Said Vlad, stroking the rim of the teacup.

Small waves were forming in the transparent teacup.

"Saying I was lucky wasn't just a sign of humility."

Red began to spread over Vlad's teacup.

One of the countless wounds received during the fierce battle was hidden on Vlad's finger.

It was something he was willing to do, but the man I met on the bridge had even more extraordinary skills than the Count had mentioned.

The Count's request had been deceiving Vlad from the start.

"I guess that's why you didn't send the commander of the knights."

The Count knew it.

Even his own knight commander with outstanding skills would not be a match for the unknown marauder.

"…A person who is responsible for something always has to think about the future."

The Count replied and looked at Vlad sitting across from him.

A face covered in scars, a swollen eye.

However, the reason he made a strong impression instead of looking bad is probably because of Vlad's unwavering blue eyes.

"I was requesting knights from the Dragon Slayer Order in the capital."

At the Count's response, Vlad's fingers stroking the teacup stopped.

"We wouldn't have been able to drive him out with our forces alone. That's what I know of his skills so far."

To get the cooperation of the Dragon Slayer Knights in the capital, a reasonable basis is needed.

A reason like the appearance of a dragon or an enemy that is too difficult to handle.

If Vlad had failed in this matter, that would have also been used as evidence and noted in the Count's report.

The reason is that they are an opponent that not even so many knights can deal with, so please send the Dragon Slayer knights.

"Still, I'm very glad you've solved the problem. The Dragon Slayer Order knights are really costly."

With those words, the Count took out a leather pouch.

"I put in more than I promised. Anyway, you brought the carriage back safe and sound."

"…"

A pocket that looks heavy.

However, Vlad's eyes were deeply sunken as he looked at the pouch.

"You already received an invitation from the elves, so you don't need my letter of recommendation. That also comes at a price."

No matter how much money there is.

The gold coins in this pouch alone will not be able to replace the price of life.

Last night, Vlad was nearly dead on the stone bridge.

"I accept it gratefully. Count."

However, Vlad accepted the gold coin offered by the Count.

I need to know the exact amount it contains so I can charge the Count more later.

The price of deceiving yourself.

"Isn't it a waste to rot in the North?"

The Count's voice reached behind Vlad, who was holding the office door handle.

"Wouldn't it be better to work here than in the North, where there's nothing special? Of course, I'll pay more."

Count Vitskaya says he wants to hire him.

His voice coldly climbed up Vlad's neck like a snake.

"I heard you were banished from the city. Wouldn't it be better to work for someone who understands you than for a lord who abandoned you?"

Vlad slowly turned his head as he listened to the Count treating him like an abandoned dog.

There was the figure of the Count raising a teacup to him.

"I want a lord I can trust. Count."

The blood of nobles is blue.

Vlad seemed to know now what that meant.

The person in front of me right now did not see himself as a person.

"That's too bad."

Vlad left the office, leaving behind the Count who shrugged.

Vlad's steaming teacup hadn't diminished at all.

***

After leaving the Count's mansion, Vlad walked silently towards the outskirts of the city.

A strange yet familiar place.

Although not as bad as the alleys of Soara, the alleys Vlad was currently walking through were disorderly and dark enough to remind him of a poor neighborhood.

Vlad quickly concealed his armor with his cloak and walked through the alley with familiar movements.

Someone in the darkness laughed as if surprised, watching Vlad change from the appearance of an honorable knight to the appearance of a disheveled rogue in an instant.

Tap-

Vlad stopped at the agreed-upon spot and soon felt small stones flying towards his boots.

"…"

He couldn't see it or feel it.

All he could hear was the sound of the blowing wind.

Judging by the fact that not even the slightest sound of footsteps could be heard, the opponent seemed to have discovered in the previous duel that Vlad had a sensitive ear.

Tap-

Tap-

Thus, Vlad followed the direction of the stone and ventured into the slums of Tanovo.The darkest place in the city.

Scenes in every city were different, but people who had been expelled seemed similar everywhere.

All the people living in the darkness were gray.

"But you know how to keep your promises."

After passing by the gray people, Vlad finally arrived at a dead-end alley somewhere.

An unpleasant sound of metal began to flow through the black shadows.

"I thought you'd run away like crazy."

Marginal neighborhoods, darkness, and voices you didn't want to hear.

These were factors that would have pressed anyone, but Vlad simply spoke calmly.

"No one followed me."

Empty threats didn't impress Vlad.

The familiar smell of the slums reached his nostrils, and the rebellious spirit of the boy suddenly surged within the rider.

"So, could you stop saying those weird things?"

"Seriously?"

An embarrassed cough emerged from the shadows at the end of the alley.

It was a voice completely different from the sound of metal heard earlier.

"This worked well on the bridge."

A man finally emerged from the darkness with Vlad's rebuke.

He was an unknown marauder wearing a gray hood.

"Can we talk?"

"That's why I came here."

The two individuals were similar, even in the way their hands held swords.

A disheveled-faced knight and a man with a gray hood sewn into a mess stood facing each other, looking at the traces left by one another.

***

"Why don't you ask my name?"

"I don't think you'll tell me even if I ask."

Vlad sat down at a corner shop, a common sight in the slums, and placed an order with familiar movements.

A gangster with a fierce spirit that matched his disheveled face.

The man in the gray hood chuckled as he looked at Vlad, who had already assimilated into the darkness of the alley.

"I guess you're from some poor neighborhood?"

"Even if I ask, you won't tell me."

"…"

After receiving the ordered food, Vlad sat on a randomly placed chair nearby and skewered a piece.

"Retired knights usually don't give their names."

"To be exact, only those who have become the lowest."

"Most people don't have money."

"…"

Vlad recalled Ramund from the man wearing the gray hood.

Extraordinary skills and composure that only experienced individuals can possess.

However, he even tries not to reveal himself.

That day, beneath the hood he removed was the image of a man with white hair, just like Ramund.

"Why was a retired knight robbing there?"

"…Retirement came sooner than I thought."

The man in the gray hood pulled up his hood as if that were enough and smiled as he looked at Vlad.

"There's still something I haven't done."

Everyone dreams of an honorable retirement.

However, very few people can choose the ending for themselves.

"You owe me your life. You know that, right?"

"Approximately."

"Approximately what?"

"I mean, if you had stayed until the end, you wouldn't have known."

Probably not.

The man eating skewers beside me was the one who killed 5 knights, 10 dragons, and a group of men for dessert, then put a sword to his neck.

Honestly, he was the person with the most overwhelming skills of all the people I had ever crossed swords with.

"Don't talk nonsense."

The retired knight took the skewer from Vlad's hand and took a bite.

"Anyway, I have a lot to ask and a lot to do, so you'll have to help me for a while."

"Why is there so much to do?"

In response to Vlad's question, the man in the gray hood pulled out a small pouch from his chest and tossed it over.

It was a pouch containing elf tea leaves.

"They're elf tea leaves. What's this about?"

Thujon leaves with a fragrant smell.

Vlad still didn't know why the man in front of him was plundering the count's carriage.

"For the tea?"

Vlad looked at the man who was casually drinking his beverage.

There was a sneer on his face that Vlad couldn't tell who it was directed at.

Retired knights who left behind the name they had built and became the lowest of the low.

They were people who embarked on a pilgrimage-like journey and picked up their honor that had been trampled on the ground.

"This is not tea."

And now, an unknown retired knight calmly drinks in front of Vlad.

"It's a drug."

He was a man who poured his honor among the trembling tea leaves.

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