48 – 7. Recapture the City
It is self-evident that people’s hearts grow from treasures.
The Count of Villach, whose warehouse was on the verge of collapsing, gave us a large room in a building that was in good condition compared to the surrounding area, as if he wanted to prove this proposition once again.
This is a city that has already been embroiled in battle twice in the past few weeks.
The scars left on the city were by no means small, and the fact that the Count appeared here like this was a sign of goodwill. Even those who were itching to endure the looting as hard as they could to respond to the favor.
Anyway, everyone was tired after working hard all day, and it was also nighttime.
It was easy to predict that both knights and soldiers would fall into bed and drift off to dreamland before they could even think about anything else.
“Early bird wake up!”
I woke up feeling refreshed in a nice bed for the first time in a while.
After the battle, I often had trouble sleeping, but perhaps because my body was so comfortable, I didn’t open my eyes until morning.
“Fool around!”
Licia, who has recently started to cut down on everything, stood up when I opened the window for fresh air in the morning.
The girl who greeted the energetic morning let out a small yawn and rubbed her eyes.
“If you wake up, let’s go have breakfast.”
“Yes.”
It was said that in the evening, the count would use his personal resources to hold a banquet throughout the city to commemorate the victory.
For that time, I thought it would be okay to skip lunch even if I eat breakfast.
Not long after, a stew was brought to the room where I was staying.
At that time, when we were eating quietly in the room without being disturbed by anyone, the girl opened her mouth.
“… Sir.”
“Yes.”
“How long will it take to get to college from here?”
“The Papal States is just around the corner from Villach, so if nothing special happens and the weather is good, it will take about 15 days.”
I felt new. It started in spring and was already late summer.
In the process, I experienced things that no one would believe even if I went back to Bole and revealed them.
And as the journey is nearing its end, there are things to think about slowly.
“Lysia.”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any plans after arriving at university?”
“Oh, that’s what you mean… ….”
The girl stretched out her words for a moment. Since she is a smart kid, I think she was well prepared.
She had first said that she planned to receive the patronage of the nobles until she left Bole. And after she graduated she said she would pay me for taking her there.
Still, she had received something, so she had no intention of receiving anything more from her from Lisia. Rather, considering what she has received from me so far, she doesn’t have enough to give.
Since there was a reward promised by the bishop, she thought it would be a good idea to take a portion of it and give it to her to use for tuition.
Because Lisia played such a big role in what I achieved.
“Well, can you keep this a secret too?”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but I will.”
Since she was such a saint, there was no way she could have started to become obsessed with paganism, so how serious would it be if she kept it a secret?
With that in mind, I listened to her words.
“Actually, yesterday I met a saint from the university I was going to… ….”
Immediately, I had to put a question mark in my head again due to the unexpected information.
… No. Isn’t that quite possible for something like that to happen? It should not be thought of from the perspective of the general public.
Looking back, I should have known that there was no way a saint would ask me to keep a secret about such a trivial matter.
The girl who came here didn’t directly say that she was a saint, but from her actions and words, she couldn’t have known.
Yes, she acknowledged the reality, but it seemed like she didn’t want to wear the title of saint.
However, since she didn’t see anything particularly wrong with it, she decided to just hang out.
“He told me to come to college next spring.”
“Is that so?”
“… “Are you sure you believe it?”
“I heard you are like that, so what? “I guess so.”
I believed that the girl would not lie, at least about such trivial things.
This was also a response to my trusting that I would keep the secret and revealing it first.
“Well, that’s why.”
“Yes.”
“Could you please act as a guardian until then?”
“Sure, whatever.”
“Of course it will be a hindrance! So, as something that never happened… yes?”
I’m not some kind of scoundrel, and there’s no way I would just throw something at a university so irresponsibly.
The fact that an adult like me was following along so well made me feel like a child left out in the water.
I often felt lonely walking alone, but it wasn’t a bad thing to have a child by my side to keep me company.
After hearing the answer, Lisia seemed to be about to mutter something, but her voice gradually became quieter and she began to focus on eating quietly.
She was clearly the same silent as before, but there was a slight awkwardness for some unknown reason.
It was too late to say more here, so I decided to just go back to eating.
After a while, we put down our spoons. My stomach was full, and now I was wondering how to spend the afternoon.
-Knock knock knock
“Please come in.”
“Excuse me?”
For someone to come here, it wasn’t that long ago. At best, it is the owner of the building or someone involved in the battle.
The man who opened the door and came in is the count’s messenger, judging by the pattern drawn in front of him. He came up to me and asked.
“Are you the Raven of the glowing sword?”
“Yes.”
The messenger glanced at Lisia for a moment, then continued, as if he thought it was okay to listen to a child like this.
“The Count told me to bring the Lord quietly. “He just said it was a good thing to do.”
“Where should I go?”
“If you’ve finished eating, you can follow me.”
There was no excuse for the bowl to be empty.
I nodded once to indicate that I would go see Lisia, and then answered the errand boy.
“Okay, then let’s go now.”
“Oh, and one more thing. He told me to bring a weapon. “He said he would like to see in person the glow-in-the-dark sword that was used in this battle.”
There was no way he, even a count, would take away the sword of a free man, especially a knight who fought for him.
If so, this clearly means that he, like others, must have felt something impressive in the glow.
I grabbed my sword, realizing that not even the Count could bear this.
*****
“Count, I have brought you a luminous sword.”
“Please come in.”
The messenger bowed his head to the Count and disappeared, leaving only me in the room.
There was a count and a priest in the room. I did everything I knew to do to the Count, bending his body slightly forward.
“I’m sorry for bothering you this morning. “I heard that you did a great job in this battle, so I called to see you in person.”
“Are you saying this?”
“There is no need to be humble. First, I would like to see the hero of the battle and the weapon that made it happen. Can you show me the sword?”
I took the sword out of its sheath. Originally, it was something that shouldn’t be done in front of nobles, but it was allowed.
The priest approached and narrowed his eyes, observing my sword. He let out a small exclamation from time to time, but only after a while did he straighten his back.
“… “It is a very powerful relic.”
“To what extent?”
“It is no wonder that the armor kept in the church was torn apart. At least there doesn’t seem to be any lies in the story.”
“I understand. “Then I guess I didn’t mislead you.”
The count turned his head to me again and asked.
“When we first met, I asked him if he had a lord to serve. “What did you answer then?”
“I answered definitely not.”
“Yes, then is that answer still valid?”
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“Yes.”
“The contract I made with His Excellency Bishop was only about taking back the city, so it will no longer be effective. So, let me make a suggestion.”
The Count, who had often appeared cheerful and full of joy for a while, sounded serious for the first time in a while.
It didn’t seem like something out of the ordinary, so I also straightened my posture.
“Are you willing to sign a loyalty contract with me?”
I inadvertently took a small breath.
I knew better than anyone else what that meant.
The goal I have been working toward.
The dream of every wandering knight without a lord.
A knight’s success event.
It’s up!!
*****
He was uncharacteristically pampered.
Since yesterday, my head hasn’t been working properly and I’ve been spewing out words without logic or basis.
This would have been unimaginable a few months ago.
When I was a child, there was no one who would listen to me when I simply asked for something, so it was very different from the time when I used to give logical reasons for granting the request and the compensation I could give.
So, it wasn’t like himself.
No, I’m more curious than that.
‘… ‘What does it mean to be myself?’
Lycia, left alone in her room, kicked off the blanket. She felt like she was going crazy because she didn’t know why she was doing this.
Why did Amelie leave those last words yesterday, and why was she so embarrassed when she heard them?
She and why on earth is she so worried that Raven will ask her if she is a saint?
So, this is… It’s a nuisance.
He was to play an active part in the upcoming conflict between the emperor and the pope and receive the land that every knight dreams of.
But isn’t he clinging to Raven, who is busy on his way, and disturbing him?
Whenever this topic is discussed, he confidently says that he will graduate later and repay the debt, but in fact, he made the sword into a relic, so even if he said it was enough, it would be acceptable.
Then what she fears is.
“… “Soon, it will be time to part ways.”
As she got closer to college, the links she had with him were being lost one by one.
So, this was just a flimsy excuse to tie him up.
If you think about how he has to travel around the battlefield to get ahead, it’s only a matter of time before he stops.
“Huh? “Are you sleeping?”
“No…….”
Lisia, who had covered her head with the flimsy blanket that had been kicked in just a moment ago, answered softly.
There was no particular reason for covering her with the blanket, she just did it because she didn’t know what face she would be making right now.
Raven, who thought it was because he was tired because he was particularly weak in his words, opened his mouth to tell the big news he had just received.
“I went to see the Count, it’s good news.”
“What…?” … ?”
“He said he would give me land. “Then you are now my lord.”
“…… ?”
The girl, who couldn’t follow the story for a moment, was looking a little angry under the blanket.