Chapter 179. The Observer (2)
Paladin Tember.
I had forgotten his na for a mont because I had been calling him Tambourine so much.
My connection with that friend went way back.
Our first eting was, well, a ss.
At that ti, at Alina's request, I had been having clandestine etings with her every night.
It was also right after I had rescued her from the human necromancer Tribus, but it wasn't as if I was eting her out of simple pity.
It was, so to speak, a calculated decision.
Because I had learned that Alina was a person who should have originally beco a legendary hero of the vampire duchy, and that she was the granddaughter of Count Pewin, one of the real powers in the empire.
Anyway, our paladin, Sir Tember, who was once naive and had feelings for Alina, had thought of , who was eting Alina every night, as a romantic rival.
He had thrust a sword imbued with holy aura at without warning.
Of course, after I pretended to be an inquisitor for a bit, he got scared and avoided .
“…….”
By the way, co to think of it, that friend was also my teacher.
Because he was the one who had made a ‘necromancer blessed by God's grace’.
Thanks to him, I was later able to defeat Count Calvenia with holy aura and debut as a war hero chosen by Luark.
Of course, I had no intention of treating him like a teacher.
It wasn't as if only one or two people had taught skills.
My true master, the ‘Shield’ mage, was revered as a master only because he had taught a skill with his last breath.
As they say, a martyr is a martyr because he died.
If he died in battle, well, I might consider it.
‘Uh oh? That logic is a bit like a psychopath's…’
‘Hoho, Eyeball my boy. Is our master being strange a new thing?’
‘Kiuiing?’
When the local broadcast gets noisy, let's focus on the conversation again.
“Ahaha, yes. Sir Tambourine. He's in charge of training the new paladins lately. He's infamous for being such a strict instructor knight. I guess he doesn't rember his own foolish days.”
“As they say, a frog doesn't rember its tadpole days.”
“Is that a proverb you made up yourself?”
“It's a saying from my hotown.”
“Gunterburk, right?”
That's right.
When I first registered as a rcenary, I had recorded that as my place of birth.
Co to think of it, it was as if I had created a non-existent identity.
Looking back, it was a scam.
It was possible because the administrative processing of the rcenary guild was quite haphazard, as it was a group where people died commonly, and also because a proper mage had a status similar to a semi-noble among the common people, that is, a status similar to a priest.
‘But master, you were a swindler since you were young, weren't you? Even if I hadn't changed your face, you might have taken on the emperor's identity.’
‘Tick-tock tick-tock.’
As they say, when you beco famous, you get criticized no matter what you do.
I ignored the slander, which was like white noise, and walked.
The air in the forest was certainly clear.
One of the biggest evils of industrialization is environntal pollution.
Although it was less so because the fuel was magic stones, it was impossible for there to be no air pollution at all from hamring tal and running engines.
The residential area of Wolfskrig was separated from the factory complex.
A cool breeze brushed my face.
It was less humid than a while ago.
February was slowly coming to an end.
The winter rainy season was ending.
Kalisto, which was adjacent to the wasteland, and the regions further north would soon welco spring.
As I walked, I thought that even if it was a half-baked rest, it wasn't bad.
The doppelgänger in the form of the emperor was still diligently listening to reports, holding etings, and stamping docunts, but I still felt like I was resting.
I had heard that dolphins sleep with their left and right brains alternately.
Since they were mammals living in the sea, they had to co up for air periodically, but since they couldn't stay awake 24 hours a day, they would sleep with one half while moving.
Well, in my case, since I had two bodies, it didn't really matter if I slept alternately or at the sa ti.
Still, for so reason, I felt that my ntal fatigue was being relieved.
After a walk, we returned to where we had tied the horses.
“My noble lord.”
Alina said, untying the reins.
“You have nightmares often, don't you?”
I hesitated for a mont.
I nodded.
“I do. I always have.”
“Sotis, it's heartbreaking to see you carrying so many burdens.”
“It is a burden a lord should rightfully carry.”
“You are carrying the burden of two people, no, perhaps even more.”
At this point, I couldn't shrug it off as if it were nothing.
Have I ever told her?
No.
She knew I could use necromancy, but she didn't know that I was actively using the power of the sacred relics to act as Tribus or the emperor.
No.
I had overlooked one thing.
Alina's trait.
‘…The Scales of Good and Evil of the Four Angels.’
An ability to distinguish a target's essential disposition into good and evil, and to see a kind of aura of black and white energy with spiritual eyes.
Generally, it was almost impossible to distinguish people with this ability.
Because it was like distinguishing orange and green, red and reddish-brown, only by their brightness in a black and white screen.
However, she had said it once.
That I shone particularly white.
I didn't know why I, who wielded necromancy and even the church's sacred relics, was good by the standards of the Luark Church, but that wasn't what was important now.
She must have seen it.
What color the original emperor was.
I knew about [The Scales of Good and Evil of the Four Angels] because I had also used it in the ga.
I didn't know how differently the aura that reflected good and evil looked on the ga screen and in reality.
However, at least the good and evil of the emperor reflected on the computer screen was white, but not so bright.
It was closer to a light gray.
That light gray began to shine white, or in Alina's words, ‘truly white’.
From the day the emperor, who was dying of the plague, suddenly beca healthy.
It wouldn't have been difficult to know that that point in ti was after my last sick visit.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
A hand covered the hand that was holding the half-untied reins.
A white hand.
The soft, warm touch, without a single callus, enveloped the back of my hand.
“If my words were presumptuous, I beg your forgiveness. I just want to be of help.”
“…….”
“My noble lord, you are a saint sent by Luark. No, even if that is not the case, you have already saved many people, and above all, you are my benefactor.”
I turned my head.
Just then, the wind blew.
The cold air and Alina's hair, pushed by it, simultaneously tickled my face.
I could see her face between the golden waves of her hair.
This ti too, she was close.
“I would be happy if I could be your rest.”
A distance where our breaths could touch.
I was not unaware of what this gap ant.
I also knew the aning of the rest she was talking about.
It would surely be helpful.
Psychologically and ntally.
Alina was a good woman.
As is often the case with ‘saintesses’ in gas, not only her appearance, but also her personality and abilities were flawless.
She was the type to be loved wherever she went.
Quite different from .
The trust and support received from such a person would in itself be a motivation and a force.
Even if war was just around the corner, well, did people not have children on the battlefield?
On the contrary, children are often born in tis of war or when it is difficult to make ends et.
Being able to confide my secret would also help to charge the battery of my will.
It might not be particularly helpful for the physical battery of my disguise.
Because she was a terrible cook.
A smile suddenly appeared at the silly thought.
Seeing the brown eyes fill with bewildernt, I said.
“Let's go back. The sun will set soon.”
It probably wasn't the answer those eyes wanted.
***
The scene of my ho when I returned from school as a child was similar to that of a typical middle-class, single-inco family in South Korea at the ti.
The comforting sll of ho. The sound of sothing boiling in the kitchen. The ocher-colored faux-wood flooring. The ticking of the wall clock. The ever-changing clatter of dishes being washed or the whirring of the vacuum cleaner.
Especially the last noise changed every ti according to the procedure of my mother, who was in charge of the housework, but there was also a sound that did not change.
The television.
The one that was imdiately visible upon entering through the double doors of the front entrance.
My mother, who was in charge of the housework, always had the TV on like background music.
Variety shows or news would sotis be on, but what was usually playing was a drama.
At that ti, the TV programs my family enjoyed watching were foreign detective dramas or movies that aired on a few channels, so perhaps that was why the background music program was always a Korean drama.
I never sat down and watched them, but if you glanced at them while passing by, you would get a rough idea of the whole story.
I always wondered then.
Why did the drama protagonists act so frustratingly?
If you're going to kill them, kill them, and if you're going to love them, love them, what's with all the lodrama?
Did the writers all have a disease that prevented them from dragging out the story?
Perhaps if my past self saw my present self, he would think the sa thing?
“…….”
By the ti we returned to the city, the sun was setting.
A subtle silence had fallen between Alina and .
Awkwardness? Distance?
I don't know.
Although it wasn't as if I had built a wall with won, it was also true that I had spent most of my twenties without any contact with them.
The only romance I had had was a brief, puppy-love-like experience in my school days and around my first year of university before I went to the military.
In the noisy clamor of the city, the presence of silence was felt even more strongly.
We arrived at the stables of the lord's castle, handed the horses over to the groom, and ca out.
“My noble lord.”
Just as I was about to say goodbye after walking ahead, Alina pulled on my sleeve.
I obediently turned to face her.
“To be honest, I know it can't be helped, but it pains my heart that I cannot carry the burden for you.”
“…I know.”
“Well, I'll be generous. I'll be your sanctuary whenever you want. And I'll visit you once in a while when you look tired. For a walk or a nap. Because you need to rest to run again.”
“If you keep making rest, I might refuse the eting?”
“First of all, you won't be able to refuse because I'll visit you under the pretext of work. I'm a bishop, you know?”
Alina smiled wryly.
Yes.
This would be fine.
It felt like I was constantly making excuses to myself, but it wasn't the right ti yet.
I was performing a tightrope act with death, separated by a single line.
Beyond the peaceful and bustling scenery of the city, the flas of war were still surging.
Since I was not a psychopath like the Emperor, I thought it was not an appropriate judgnt to create a weakness at a ti like this.
However, it seed I was also human.
Seeing that I wanted to attach conditions derived from emotion to a rational judgnt.
So, a hypothetical like this.
If it wasn't now.
“Then, I'll be heading in now. I'll submit the report on the bishop recomndation list by tomorrow morning.”
“If. I an, soday.”
“Pardon?”
“…It's nothing.”
“?”
“I don't want to set up a death flag. We'll talk later.”
Alina tilted her head for a mont.
Soon, she chuckled and turned her back to walk away.
She smiled, glancing back with just the side of her face.
“Is that another one of those ‘sayings from your hotown’?”
I let out a dry laugh without realizing it.
After sending Alina off, I walked in the opposite direction.
The sun had set, but the streets were crowded.
Under the light of the street lamps, carriages, horses, carts, people, dwarves, and elves crossed each other's paths with busy steps.
Co to think of it, when I first settled here, it was a ruined city with only a few immigrants.
Now it was a city far from being quiet.
I entered the factory complex and looked up at the sky.
Sothing was moving.
Caw-
A bird.
A crow.
I naturally turned my steps and headed for the outskirts of the city.
The crow, which had been circling high in the sky, lowered its altitude and began to follow , hopping on the rooftops.
After walking for a while, I stopped between the closed shops.
The crow nodded its head, spread its wings, and jumped down to sit on the wall.
Caw-?
The creature with red eyes stared at for a mont and then began to caw.
Soon, it spat out a saliva-soaked lump.
It was a rolled-up piece of thin leather.
I spread it open.
A short sentence was engraved in a small but neat handwriting.
[Lur is on the move.]
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