Chapter 172 - The Value of Aureo (1)

When Vlad opened the door, the first thing he saw was the old knight Duncan sitting there, at a complete loss.

"O-Oh..."

It seemed that an unbearable tension had been weighing down on him all this time.

Only after seeing Vlad enter through the open door was Duncan finally able to let out a sigh that was almost a groan.

"... Nothing happened here, did it?"

Seeing Duncan's face drained white, Vlad's gaze began to sharpen.

He had realized that something capable of making even a seasoned old knight shrink back had been in this room until just now.

'The air feels strangely heavy.'

The lingering trace of tension, one that only a swordsman who handled a blade could sense.

And yet what was here now was not any clear sign of hostility, but only two women smiling at him.

Though both of them were wearing smiles far deeper than usual.

"You must have run all the way here. Seeing as you're even panting."

"Please drink this and catch your breath, Sir Vlad."

Vlad looked at the two glasses of water being offered to him at the same time.

He did not know why the two of them were sitting in the same place, but as it happened, Vlad was thirsty, and without thinking, he reached out toward one of the two glasses.

"Thank you."

Because he believed they were close, he failed to be on guard.

And so Vlad did not notice at all the coldly flashing gazes of the two women.

["Wait!"]

"...!"

At that instant, Quijano's warning rang out more powerfully than ever before.

At the sound of Quijano's voice booming like thunder inside his head, Vlad flinched hard despite himself.

["The moment you take either one of those, you will be in serious trouble."]

'Why?'

["Look around you."]

There was an atmosphere that could only be understood after one had experienced it.

In that sense, there was probably no one who could recognize the current situation as quickly as Quijano.

For a hero like him, troubles with women were a disaster that followed him like a shadow.

["It seems the ominous fortune the cat spoke of was referring to this situation."]

'...'

Prophecies and revelations that could only be understood when that very moment arrived.

Vlad looked around the room out of habit, and only then was he able to grasp that there was something odd about Zemina and Alicia.

"If nothing... happened, then that really is a relief."

Vlad, who had survived by cutting his way through the back alleys, knew well.

That sometimes, there were moments when one had to follow the judgment screamed by instinct rather than reason.

"Please continue your conversation. I will take my leave now."

Vlad raised both hands outright, as if to show he would not take either glass.

His movement as he hurried away from the two glasses of water before him was quicker than ever.

"You're not going to drink this?"

"I'll drink downstairs."

"I poured this for you, though."

"I appreciate your consideration. But there is something urgent I must take care of."

A pickpocket had to be perceptive.

He had to know whether this moment was one when he could reach out his hand or not.

And Vlad was one of the pickpockets who had survived splendidly until now.

"I will come to see you later."

The blond knight bowed politely as the door closed quietly.

At his clean exit, one no one could find fault with, the two women wet their lips with their tongues as if disappointed.

Vlad, who had not ignored the warning directed at him, was a man worthy of survival.

* * *

["I should treat that cat well. He really is useful."]

'I know.'

Vlad's movements as he went down the stairs were quick, as if he had escaped from hell.

Even as he descended the stairs, Vlad recalled the situation from earlier once more and realized what kind of tension he had felt.

["But you looked fairly used to slipping away, didn't you?"]

'Because this isn't the first or second time I've been through something like this.'

At Quijano's question, Vlad shook his head this way and that, as if old memories had come to mind.

'Zemina must have grabbed dozens of girls by the hair over the years.'

["No wonder that young lady did not seem particularly outmatched."]

Though she had been up against a noble, Zemina had been able to push back in her own way because she had that much experience.

The struggle of the girl who had tried to stand beside the boy struggling upward was by no means an easy one either.

'But why with Lady Alicia...'

But as for why such tension had formed between the noble Alicia and Zemina, even Vlad still found it a mystery.

Because Vlad was not ignorant of the signals between men and women, it only made him more bewildered.

["It means it is time you realized your own value as well."]

Was there any reason for Alicia, a noble lady, to go out of her way to engage in a battle of nerves with Zemina, a woman from the back alleys?

And the scene Vlad was looking down at now was answering that question.

"..."

With Vlad's appearance, the merchants began to rise all at once.

Seeing them stand as if a wave were sweeping through them, Vlad found himself briefly at a loss for words.

["Because from now on, your value cannot be judged simply by your sword."]

The merchants were bowing their heads to Vlad the knight, and to Aureo the nobleman.

Even Haven, far off in the distance, had taken off his captain's hat.

Vlad was briefly left speechless by the fact that he had created everything he was now seeing.

The staircase on the first floor, which he had always passed by without thought, had never looked as high as it did today.

* * *

Haven and Otar rose at Vlad's nod.

Looking at them, the surrounding merchants' eyes were gleaming.

Some of the quicker merchants were already stuffing not tips but bribes into Ned's pocket.

"Why are these people here?"

"Why, because the noble and esteemed Sir Vlad Aureo..."

"Stop joking. Before I take that cane away."

The men had come up to Vlad's room.

Though Haven's words were rough, he gave an awkward smile when he saw Vlad casually pull out a chair for him.

Even if the positions they stood in had changed, it seemed the relationship between the two had not changed in the slightest.

"The rumor that the elves have settled in Deirmar has already spread all across the North. Along with the fact that they cut ties with the Count of Vitskaya's house."

As Haven said, one of the rumors currently stirring up the North was about the elves.

The elves had cut off their connection with the Count of Vitskaya's house, with whom they had been conducting trade, and rushed out toward the outside world on their own.

The eyes of the merchants watching them were already burning red-hot.

"Of course that would happen after they even sold drugs."

"Well, either way, the merchants are extremely interested in the elves in Deirmar right now. And they say you brought those elves there?"

"I didn't bring them..."

He had not brought them, but it was true that they had followed him.

In any case, it was true that Vlad possessed a certain degree of influence over the elves.

"And then there are the dwarves, you know? That side is no small matter either."

"What about them now?"

This time, it was Otar, not Haven, who answered Vlad's question.

"This."

"Why an ax?"

A dark hand ax was slid over beside Vlad.

Vlad unconsciously took hold of the ax, and was briefly surprised when he felt its heavy grip settle into his palm.

"It's good, right? Even knights were coveting it."

It was a plain-looking ax, made without a single decoration and only for practical use.

But unlike its appearance, the way it fit perfectly in the hand was the feel of a masterpiece that only someone who had used such things could understand.

"The dwarves didn't just bring a ship with them. They released a few items as trade goods as a trial, and every single one of them was incredible quality."

Vlad knew well that Haven was not a man who enjoyed exaggeration or lies.

And yet now he was explaining with gestures as well, so Vlad could easily imagine the shock he must have felt when the trade goods were released.

"Some merchants I know said the quality couldn't even be compared to the weapons the West had kept under tight wraps. Well, I suppose there would naturally be a difference between things forced out by slaves and things made otherwise."

The western cavalry had been excellent not only because of the skills they possessed, but also because of the outstanding weapons they carried.

But the weapons brought by the dwarves of Nidavellir had been made not by dwarf slaves, but by craftsmen, and the difference between the two was clear without needing to compare them.

"And those dwarves, whenever they had a chance, got drunk and kept shouting your name and Lord Joseph's. Honestly, at this point..."

Haven lightly took the cane Otar had brought and spoke with a shrug.

"Even I'd come here. Wouldn't you?"

"..."

After hearing Haven's words, Vlad was able to vaguely realize what kind of position he now stood in.

A position where he was not the one with decision-making power, but could greatly influence things.

The man who would stand at the very center of the concentric ripples that would spread wide was Vlad.

"... You said that to me before, when you handed that ship over to me. That this would be an opportunity."

Along with a ship worth two hundred gold, Vlad had opened the way for Haven to do business with the Kannor Family.

He had told Haven that now was the opportunity to turn his life around.

"But the way I see it, I think that moment has come for you now too."

Haven picked up his captain's hat, now glossy from use, and smiled cautiously as he looked at Vlad.

"This is an opportunity. Isn't it?"

Until now, Vlad had relied on the winds and waves made by others.

But now, he could understand that the opportunity had come for him to make them himself.

After thinking for a long while, Vlad looked at Haven, who was smiling at him, and silently nodded.

* * *

"You came before it was too late, at least."

After roughly settling matters at Rose's Smiles, Vlad came to the mayor's office in Soara where Rutiger was, just as he had said during the day.

"The furniture has changed a lot."

"I hear the first thing the mayor here did after taking office was exactly that."

In the display cabinet where bottles of liquor had once been neatly arranged, there were now paintings and sculptures whose meaning he could not understand.

Looking at the mayor's office, where not a single trace of Joseph could be seen anymore, Vlad began to feel uncomfortable there for no clear reason.

"Where is my mage? Didn't he go with you?"

"That bastard passed out."

Rutiger shook an empty liquor bottle beside the desk and laughed playfully.

"His limit was only half a bottle of rum. Seeing as he can't even hold his liquor as well as Dorothea, I suppose he isn't from the North after all."

"Mm. I see."

The method of determining whether someone was a northerner through their alcohol tolerance was an old custom handed down from long ago, and a highly reliable one as well.

If only to endure the cold climate, the people of the North had to become familiar with alcohol, and those who could not endure it would all have died long ago.

"Care for a drink?"

"Thank you."

In the room where only the two of them were present, the moon was especially large and bright today as it shone in through the window.

Though many things around him had changed, Vlad could feel a little relieved that this scene at least did not seem to have changed.

"Was it back with the peanuts? When we first met."

"... Mm. Yes, it was."

There was a memory that came as bitterly as the taste of liquor touching the tip of his tongue.

A shabby boy who had flatly refused the kindness offered by the eldest son of the Bayezid Family.

Vlad's mistakes toward nobles had begun right then.

"When I first saw you, I wondered what kind of bastard you were. I was also worried about Joseph, who had gone out of his way to bring you in."

But unlike Vlad, who frowned, Rutiger, who had brought it up, was laughing loudly as if the memory pleased him.

At that laughter, which resembled Joseph's yet was hearty in a way different from his, Vlad found himself laughing along without realizing it.

"It was the same during the dragon drive. In any case, you were an amusing bastard."

"Thank you for thinking of me that way."

With each passing cup of liquor, the voices of the two began to loosen.

Just as Rutiger had said, Vlad and Rutiger were like comrades-in-arms who had gone through many things together.

If not for Joseph, the two of them might have become even closer than they were now.

"Yes. Since I think so well of you, you shouldn't hate me too much either."

"... What do you mean by that?"

Vlad, who had been laughing for a while, set down the cup he was holding at Rutiger's incomprehensible words, but the face looking back at him was covered entirely in pitch-black shadow.

"It means the time is coming to do what has been put off."

Unlike his usual nature, Rutiger began to speak around something.

Vlad tried to look into his expression, but the shadow cast by the moonlight thoroughly concealed his face.

"So when that time comes, I hope you will not refuse the peanuts I offer you. Vlad Aureo."

But even without seeing it with his own eyes, Vlad felt as though he knew what expression Rutiger was wearing.

Something he had to do because he was the rightful heir.

Rutiger, who spoke of the ruin that would soon come, was surely smiling sadly now in the shadow no one could see.