"I hate stupid people."
Bayezid's office specially prepared by Alicia.
The one-eyed knight sitting there frowned and spoke with the only eye he had left.
"And you're the dumbest guy I've ever seen."
Vlad is now a knight.
However, in front of Jager, the boy, who was always a poor squire, politely crossed his arms.
"I think your foolishness, by using a single handkerchief, has already reached the level of talent, as you ruined all the preparations Joseph had made so diligently."
"…I'm sorry."
Facing Jager, who silently muttered angry reprimands, Vlad simply remained in a thoughtful posture as he always did.
'…In any case, it was that moment.'
I really wanted to do it right this time.
It was my first job after becoming a knight, and in a way, it was the mission I was the center of.
However, things in the world do not always move according to one's will.
"I didn't know it could happen like that."
The handkerchief Zemina gave me and the handkerchief Alicia gave me were both precious to me, so I held them in my arms.
It probably wasn't Vlad's fault that the two handkerchiefs ended up stuck together because he had stored them too deeply.
But whatever his intentions, Vlad ended up making another big mistake with Alicia.
"…Leave."
"I'm sorry."
Jager no longer hit the boy.
After this winter, Vlad will turn 18.
Now was the time to become an adult instead of a child, and since his title had become knight, like Jager, he had to treat Vlad in his own way.
"…"
However, Vlad, who was actually being treated, seemed very uncomfortable with his current appearance, so he stood there looking at me even when told to leave.
"Why don't you leave? Do you want me to hit you like before?"
I think it would be more convenient that way.
Vlad expressed his honest feelings, saying the words he had kept in his heart.
"Why don't you just accept it? It seems it would be better."
"…What."
Jager shouted upon hearing Vlad's absurd response.
When I first took him on, I thought he would be difficult to handle, but I didn't expect him to be so unpredictable.
"Stop talking nonsense and get out. Please."
When Vlad saw Jager stroking his eye patch and growling, he had no choice but to quickly leave the office.
The knight of the green world was preparing to venture into an even deeper world due to Vlad's strange words.
"…Why are they looking at me like that?"
Waiting for Vlad, who hurriedly left the office in response to Jager's murderous order to congratulate him, were the knights of Bayezid who had also gone on a mission.
"He's a great guy, but at least he should show his face."
"Aren't you the prodigious boy from the North I've only heard about? I really respect this."
"Carrying two women in one hand is truly the mark of a hero."
The knights laughed and laughed at Vlad's foolish behavior.
However, their teasing was not an act of contempt, but rather an act of affection.
Vlad had met the knights of Bayezid through his mission with Rutiger.
The knights here had always seen the boy fight and do his best, and now that he had become a knight, they did not raise any walls against Vlad, who had become the youngest of them.
In other words, the current teasing was just to tease the youngest knight.
"I want to be alone."
"Oh, then should we leave the place?"
"The youngest member who joined this time is different from the start."
Seeing the older knights laughing at him, Vlad could only sigh and leave the hall.
"Damn it."
Vlad, who left to avoid Jager's anger and the ridicule of his elders, walked down the hallway and ruffled his hair.
It was a stupid mistake that he had nothing to say about, so there was no way to respond.
"…Ah."
At that moment, familiar memories began to appear in Vlad's mind as he walked down the hallway.
The memories that came to his mind as a feeling of déjà vu slowly stopped Vlad's steps.
"It seems that people's lives are similar everywhere."
The smile of the rose of that time is now just a memory.
There were men who laughed at the boy, like the knights of today.
The laughter of the knights still coming from behind was like the noise Burleigh and his superiors talked about back then.
Slowly leaning his back against the hallway wall, Vlad played with the handle of the dagger Jorge had given him.
Longing was something that could be eased by sharing memories, but the boy had few people to share his memories with.
In the middle of the empty hallway, only the boy was reflecting on his memories.
***
"The more I think about it, the more absurd it is."
Alicia pursed her lips as if she were angry, but Duncan, who had been watching her for a long time, knew she wasn't really angry.
The attitude Alicia was showing now was just a minor complaint.
"As much common sense as you have, can you really keep the handkerchief that another woman gave you and mine? Don't all men do that?"
"…But the handkerchief was clean."
Alicia shot Duncan a piercing look upon hearing the words coming from his side.
"That's natural."
"Of course not. Especially for a boy of that age."
Duncan cleared his throat once and then opened his mouth.
It wasn't just something he said because the one-eyed knight who visited him last night bowed deeply on behalf of the boy.
"I heard that the missions assigned to him were difficult. Still, the fact that he kept it well clearly means he took special care."
"…"
Alicia listened to Duncan in silence, as if telling him to continue.
The documents she held were there, unturned.
"It was a mistake born of ignorance. In a way, it also means he's that pure. Wouldn't it be nice to see that at least there doesn't seem to be a scheme?"
"…That's right."
Knights are people who are always eager to rise in status, and from the perspective of those people, Alicia's handkerchief will definitely be an opportunity to ascend in status.
Even now, there were men everywhere drooling over her, so in that sense, the mistake made by the boy named Vlad seemed somewhat admirable.
"Whatever happens, it's true…"
Faced with Duncan's excuse for Vlad, Alicia finally released her bitten lips.
After hearing Duncan's words, it seemed there was no reason for her to be angry.
"Look over there."
Duncan glanced out the window as he watched Alicia slowly regain her composure.
"There must be a reason why Bayezid cares for the boy in each of those actions."
"…"
Alicia followed Duncan's gesture and turned to look out the window.
There was a boy kneeling on the hill.
Anyone who saw him with his hands clasped could see he was praying in a reverent posture.
"That hasn't changed since then."
The boy's blond hair fluttered in the landscape she had seen for a long time, but Alicia couldn't feel any discomfort at the sight.
That's because Vlad's appearance seemed sincere.
"But who is that?"
Alicia, who was observing Vlad praying in peace, suddenly began to see something unfamiliar.
From the base of the hill, someone was slowly walking uphill as if it were their own backyard.
The first sight of his back showed that he was not from Hainal.
"Damn it."
Duncan, who had discovered the man's identity before Alicia, quickly grabbed the bell and began to shake it violently.
"Chamberlain! Are you outside?"
Upon hearing Duncan's urgent ringing, Alicia slowly approached the window.
The boy had received permission from the owner of the place to climb the hill.
However, the person currently climbing the hill was someone who had never received his permission.
"Hurry up and inform Sir Jager!"
The most dangerous person among those currently in the mansion.
A knight from the west who was not allowed to do anything regarding Deirmar.
Stephen of Gaidar.
He was approaching the boy who was praying.
***
It's sad to be far away in a place where no one can see.
Even if you shine yourself, it will be sad if that light has no meaning."
Vlad, who knew the situation well, lifted his head towards the white snake that nobody remembered.
The snake that made eye contact with the boy through the voice world was smiling.
"Still, don't you have any specific memories?"
[I don't know.]
I climbed back up the hill of Deirmar to hear the voice, but I still didn't seem to have any particular memories.
"Didn't you say that some things came to mind when you saw Noir?"
[It seems I have something to do with the spirits.]
Still, Vlad's efforts were not in vain.
The voice could tell that he was obsessed with spirits and old forgotten things from the memories that emerged as fragments.
Although I couldn't say whether that obsession was a duty towards something or if it came from my own will.
[Someone is coming.]
Vlad slowly got up, feeling the warning voice and the confident expression as if telling him to look over here.
Although I didn't look back, I felt like I knew who it was.
"There's a cemetery in a place like this."
Vlad stood up, pretending to have finished praying, and turned to follow the sound he heard.
There was a knight from the West whose physique was as robust as his confidence.
"Do you think someone you know is buried there?"
Stephen Gaidar.
The eldest son of Count Sigmund and suitor of Alicia.
And the person brought by the Knight of the Blue Moonlight.
"This is a place you can only come with the owner's permission."
"Now that you're here, I think I can stay too."
"I have permission."
Stephen smiled as he looked into the eyes of Vlad, who was staring at him.
"Now you see me."
"…"
"At that time, you were only looking at Godin. I felt like I had become invisible."
Stephen, who passed by Vlad while casually joking, sat nearby and asked.
"I heard you have Baron Alicia's handkerchief."
A man who is proud even though he is not allowed to be.
Stephen said, looking down at the mansion below.
"Godin says if you hand over the handkerchief now, he'll pay you a second dried meat."
"…!"
Dirty chunks of meat fell on my head.
There was a boy whose life was saved because of it.
It was a moment when I could survive servilely because it was an unfair price.
"I don't know what that means."
Stephen said, reaching out to Vlad with an indifferent look in his eyes.
"Give it to me."
A confident posture, as if asking for something that is his.
Don't hide what you want.
If you want it, take it and get it.
The Western world, where only the greedy could survive, was in the palm of his hand.
"…Take it."
At Stephen's request, Vlad simply gave a cold response as if he had been waiting.
"If you have the ability to do so."
The North does not back down.
As witnessed by the red-stained walls of Sturma, they do not give up what they have in their hands.
The boy of northern blood had no intention of yielding to the extremely rude demands of the West.
"Well, they said they wouldn't listen to me."
The West came here to take and the North came here to block.
In the end, they were destined to end up like this.
With a small sigh, Stephen got up from his seat as if annoyed.
Under the Hainal tree, the knights of the North and the West began to face off.
"There's no choice."
With a grunt, Stephen's sword began to come out of its sheath.
A form not seen in the north.
Stephen's greatsword, filled with sharp teeth like fangs.
"I have no intention of going back empty-handed. Northern brat."
Stephen's sword pointed towards Vlad.
"I challenge you to a duel for Alicia's handkerchief."
The winners are up, the losers down.
An honorable duel where only the winner takes all.
"Again."
However, Vlad only crossed his arms at Stephen's request and did not accept his challenge.
"What?"
"Do it again."
The cries of the boy, crawling on the blood-soaked ground and shouting at the Knight of the Blue Moonlight, were empty.
Because the boy of that day was not qualified.
"I'm not a northern brat."
But the boy today was different.
The boy who had worked hard to earn his current qualifications was someone who deserved to have his name called out proudly.
"I am a knight of Bayezid and a knight of Lady Alicia."
A white snake began to descend from under the tree, matching the boy's momentum.
The boy was allowed and the lord and guardian of Deirmar acknowledged him.
"If you want to challenge me to a duel, call me by my name directly, West scoundrel."
Just a moment ago, Stephen thought he could suppress Vlad's impulse, but the boy looking at him now looked completely different from before.
Blue eyes burning brightly with a blessing.
At the same time, the boy's presence grew as large as the tree above.
The name of the knight who was more qualified than anyone and therefore allowed was Vlad of Soara.