Chapter 169 - The Golden Knight (2)

Aureo (áureo).

That family name, which perfectly suited Vlad's hair color, was said to have been personally thought up by the Pope as he looked at the golden tree standing atop the ruins.

"It will become a very precious name that I hope remains in the North for a long time. Even if you search through imperial history, there are only a few family names personally bestowed by a pope."

"I consider it an honor as well."

Vlad quietly watched Timur, who was deliberately pouring liquor into a teacup.

Though his hair had gone white with age, the muscles around his neck still shifted and writhed.

His build, a full head taller than Vlad's, made anyone who saw him feel intimidated without realizing it.

If Peter Bayezid gave off the air of a sharply honed sword, then the Iron Duke Timur was a man who gave off the air of a solid axe that looked ready to smash anything apart.

"Well, even so, the imperial family won't acknowledge it."

After shaking the liquor bottle empty, Timur met Vlad's eyes and began to grin.

"It may be a precious and valuable honor to you, but in the end, it is only local."

"... Is that so?"

Vlad had some idea of what Timur was trying to say.

Since it had not been bestowed personally by the Emperor, it would not be entered into the imperial registry, and since it was a name given by the Antipope, it would not be acknowledged by the Vatican either.

"But at least here in the North, it will be a name spoken with reverence."

But even so, at least here in the North, the value of the name Aureo would not fall.

"Drink."

Toward Vlad, who was still lost in thought, Timur pushed the teacup filled with liquor with his fingertips.

A cup of liquor personally offered by one of only four noble dukes in the empire.

The young noble seated before that cup still did not know what this gesture meant.

"Come to the northern council that will be held this time. Even if there is no seat for you beside the lords, I will at least prepare one chair for you."

"... Thank you for your consideration."

A man born of the North, raised by Bayezid, and recognized as precious by the Orthodox Church. Vlad.

Timur, who had said through the offered cup that he would back him, was looking at Vlad's small flag tied behind the black horse.

'He's gathered quite the haul.'

A single small flag fluttering in the wind.

Following an old tradition, the flag was stamped with the seals of all kinds of families, and there still seemed to be room left to add one more crest.

※※※※

"Ahem."

After leaving Timur's tent, Vlad looked at the man who was hesitantly approaching him.

"Maksim! You were here?"

"Heh heh. One thing led to another."

A man with an impressive long scar carved across his buzz-cut head.

The man now smiling awkwardly was Maksim, the knight who had protected Rose's Smiles before the soldiers of the Vatican.

"Anyway, I suppose I can no longer dare call you my junior. Should I call you Lord Vlad?"

"Just call me Vlad. It is not as if I really have anything."

Though he was a noble who had been granted a family name, the current Vlad had neither a domain nor even a manor.

The money he had saved up had all been spent buying Haven's ship, and the only place he had particularly invested in was Rose's Smiles in Soara.

But even if his two hands were empty, the fact that he now had the right to grasp something was itself the greatest honor and gain he could have as a knight.

"Still, you are a noble lord in name at least, so how could I call you by name so casually?"

"Call me whatever you want, then."

Once Maksim grasped the relaxed mood and started chuckling, the Bayezid knights began gathering around the two of them.

"Oh my, my noble lord. I knew there was a reason you ran around so well ever since the Death worm. I did."

"Even if things go well for you later, you absolutely have to remember me. I taught you that sure-kill greatsword counter technique that could beat that bastard Ishtvan, didn't I?"

"If I remember getting beaten up while learning it too, wouldn't that work against you instead?"

Watching his senior knights rub their palms together with exaggerated gestures, Vlad could only laugh in disbelief.

It was also the first smile Vlad had worn in a truly long while since Justia's death had left him sunk in gloom.

"I told you, he was born in Soara from the start! He is pure Bayezid stock!"

"We are different from other families that recruit promising talents from outside. We raise them ourselves!"

But contrary to Vlad's intentions, the voices grew louder and louder.

The knights shouting in the main street were certainly an eyesore, but they were not doing this without any thought at all.

Bayezid Family had been criticized all this time for failing at a generational shift, so there were few chances as good as now, when knights of the seven families were gathered in force, to announce that Bayezid was still alive and well.

["Do not loiter here making a spectacle with them. Hurry up and secure that fellow first. As the old saying goes, a useful cat is a very precious thing."]

'I said I got it.'

Forcing himself to ignore his seniors, Vlad began walking faster.

As the noisy knights were saying even now, Vlad, who had become Bayezid's pride, had many things he had to prepare.

※※※※

In a ruined city, it was hard to find anything proper to offer a guest.

So what now sat before Vlad and Nibelun was only a single cup of water in a slightly cracked wooden cup.

But even that was enough for the two of them to begin their conversation.

"You're leaving already?"

"I have finished everything I came to do."

Vlad stuck out his tongue regretfully as he looked at Nibelun's backpack placed in the corner of the room.

He had wanted to keep him firmly at his side, but as befitted a wanderer, Nibelun's actions seemed to have no hesitation at all.

"Where are you going?"

"No one is calling me, but there are plenty of places my feet may take me, are there not?"

At Nibelun's words that he had no particular place to go, Vlad quietly nodded.

Beastfolk mages who spent their entire lives wandering in pursuit of mystery.

Vlad, who had already heard from Quijano about their weary lives, set down the cup of water he was holding and spoke.

"You go around looking for mystery, right? Things that are strange and impossible to understand, that kind of thing."

"That is correct. Interpreting mystery is not only for my personal improvement, but also the wish of my entire race."

"... Really?"

Vlad's eyes lit up when he heard Nibelun's answer.

Jorge had said it before.

The most important thing in negotiation was knowing what the other person wanted.

"Then how about something like this? A ship without sails."

"Pardon?"

And right now, Vlad knew very well what Nibelun wanted.

"It moves even though it has no sails. They say when you boil water, it goes forward on its own."

Cats were animals that were curious by nature.

And if one added the word mage on top of that, there was no need to explain any further.

At Vlad's hand gesture describing the wheels attached to the ship, Nibelun's ears began to perk up as if he had become interested.

"I think I will soon be invited to the island of the dwarves. You know the place where the dwarves live together still has not been found, right? The island Gaidar could not find even after combing through everything with a fine-toothed comb."

"Ohh."

Vlad, who was trying to propose a contract to Nibelun, tried his best to recall his memories of that time.

Joseph, who had known what Vlad wanted and shaken him by holding even the secret Vlad had tried to hide.

Though Vlad could not reproduce the weight Joseph had possessed, the ways of the back alley where he had been born and raised began flowing smoothly from his mouth.

"I was not going to go this far, but the truth is, I know some elves too. I am even on terms where I exchange letters with their elders."

"Ohhh."

The existence of a ship he was hearing of for the first time in his life, and the island of the dwarves whose location had not even been known until now.

And even the elven forest, which held mystery and was said to reject all visitors.

To Nibelun, who even had difficulty entering human cities, they were places he could only dream of seeing.

"If I introduce you, you might be able to enter with me. You said you were searching for mystery, right? Wouldn't places like that be full of mystery?"

"Of course. That is true."

As Nibelun watched Vlad bring up lands no one had ever set foot in, both of his eyes were sparkling.

To a mage who searched for mystery, they were such delicious bait that he could not possibly ignore them.

"Well, mages are precious, but if the connections line up, it is not impossible to get an introduction. Still, I thought it would be more comfortable to do it with someone I have worked with once."

Vlad leaned deeply back as if he had said all he needed to say, and contrary to his true feelings, he looked entirely relaxed.

The scheming and false leisure of a back-alley thug were enough to make even Quijano click his tongue.

"I think we can give each other what we want. What do you think?"

Beside Peter was his adviser Ragmus.

Beside Rutiger was the mage Dorothea.

Even Joseph, whose standing had been lacking, had somehow managed to obtain a mage and keep one by his side.

And now it was time for Vlad to have at least one mage with him as well.

"... Will you truly let me enter?"

"Of course."

"The elves and the dwarves..."

"Is that all? Barbarians, the Orthodox Church, the lands of the northern nobles."

Looking at Nibelun, who had somehow leaned far forward, Vlad delivered the decisive blow.

"I am telling you, all of it is possible. As long as you serve as my mage for a while."

"I will do it. Please let me do it."

Looking at Vlad, who was grinning, Nibelun found himself nodding vigorously before he knew it.

A noble and knight who could wander here and there precisely because he had no land yet.

But Vlad, whose shining honor was certain, was indeed someone Nibelun would have a hard time refusing.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

"Come in!"

"This is not your room."

"I spoke on your behalf. From now on, I will handle such matters for you."

Once again Nibelun had shouted for someone to enter in place of the room's owner, but Vlad did not particularly scold him.

Because from that attitude just now, he could sense that the contract between the two of them had been made.

"It has been a long time, Lord Vlad Aureo."

The man who entered with Nibelun's permission was a somewhat familiar-looking knight.

"Ahh. We met back then..."

"Do you remember me? I am Vastro, a knight of the Heinal Family. I once fought alongside you against Gaidar's army, Lord Vlad."

Standing politely by the door, he was one of the few knights belonging to the Heinal Family.

"So Heinal was here too."

"We are now a family of the North as well. We had a duty to answer the summons."

The knight who introduced himself as Vastro could not hide the flush on his face as he looked at Vlad, who had now become a noble.

"Congratulations on receiving a family name from His Holiness. Lady Alicia will certainly be pleased when she hears of this."

"I still have much to repay her for. I should visit her at least once."

Seeing Vlad say that his relationship with Heinal remained close even though his position had changed, Vastro smiled carefully and opened his mouth.

"In that sense, if it is possible... could you escort our Baroness at the coming northern council?"

"Hm?"

Vlad was taken aback as he looked at Vastro, who had suddenly bowed his head.

"Why would I escort Lady Alicia, who is a full-fledged noble..."

"The world of the North is a world of rough knights. But as you know, Lord Vlad..."

Vastro could only smile awkwardly.

The knight, speaking of the shortcomings of the family he belonged to and of himself, laughed in embarrassment and cleared his throat loudly.

"More than ever, Lady Alicia needs a knight at her side. Lord Vlad."

"..."

Among the seven families that would enter the northern council, Heinal would inevitably carry the least weight.

They had only just begun exchanges with the elves, but Heinal had neither a business nor knights worth putting forward.

"Lady Alicia has probably arrived around Soara by now."

["Baroness Alicia in Soara... For some reason, this makes me uneasy."]

As Quijano said, Vlad felt an inexplicable sense of unease and unconsciously began searching inside his coat.

Two handkerchiefs tucked deep inside his coat.

After confirming the feel of the handkerchiefs still clinging to each other, Vlad fell into deep thought.

※※※※

"This must be the place."

Though it was not even evening yet, there was a woman standing in the back alleys of Soara.

A refined figure that did not suit the shabbiness of the back alleys.

The woman, standing under the escort of an old knight, looked up at the building before her and widened her eyes with curiosity.

"Even in such an out-of-the-way place, they built it up to four whole floors."

"Soara is practically the center of northern logistics. Everything here is bound to be large."

Unlike quiet Deirmar, Soara was lively in every way, and Alicia's expression began to turn subtle.

The pride she held as the master of a domain was slowly being stirred.

"How about returning even now? A place like this is not suitable for a noble lady to enter."

"Is that so?"

The old knight Duncan was looking at Alicia with eyes that seemed tense in some way.

They were eyes that wanted to turn Alicia back from this place immediately, if possible.

But unlike Duncan's words, the building before Alicia was more antique and splendid than any other place around it.

"Still, I would like to see it at least once. They say it is like Sir Vlad's hometown."

"... Is that so?"

If she had to pass through Soara anyway, there was one place she absolutely wanted to see.

Rose's Smiles, said to be the place Knight Vlad cherished most.

Alicia's eyes began to sparkle as she tried to glimpse Vlad's old memories.

CREEEAK!

But the owner of this place now was not Vlad, but another lady.

To welcome the noble guest standing before the door, the Rose inn slowly began to open.

"Welcome to our inn, Baroness Alicia."

A woman slowly descended the stairs toward Alicia, who stood in the entryway.

The owner of this place, unlike Alicia, was a woman with red hair that seemed to burn.