Chapter 250: Extra 12 - The child and the woman
The red carpet that adorned the hallways had been removed.
Only a few withered flower petals remained on the decorations, along with an empty pitcher.
The Bayezid mansion, which had been the setting for a splendid celebration, was now calm.
The guests had left, and the only thing breaking the silence was the singing of the birds.
Vlad walked alone through that tranquil space.
"..."
He wore a light cloak, as if he were already prepared to leave.
Early that morning, as the bluish colors of dawn stretched across the sky, Vlad made his way to the room where the lady of the house, Oksana Bayezid, was.
"Are you feeling better?"
Though the sun had yet to rise, Oksana was already awake.
Or perhaps, due to her persistent cough, she hadn’t been able to sleep all night. Nevertheless, she greeted Vlad with the sa warm smile as always.
"...Are you leaving already?"
Although she could have remained lying down, Oksana made an effort to sit up with the help of a few cushions.
She didn’t want Vlad, who was about to leave, to worry unnecessarily.
"Yes. I think it’s ti to return."
However, she couldn’t entirely hide the illness that afflicted her.
Oksana’s lips, pale as if covered in wax, left Vlad with a strained smile.
"That’s the right choice. If you’re going to leave, it’s best to do it early. You know how unpredictable the northern weather is."
The rays of the morning sun began to filter through the window, bathing Oksana’s bed in a warm orange glow, similar to the one Vlad had seen the day he t her.
"..."
Under that light, Oksana’s figure resembled a painting.
It wasn’t ostentatious or dazzling, but it offered the serenity of a picture one would want to gaze upon every day.
"It looks like the sun is rising. You’d better hurry."
That painting, which he had always wanted to keep, was now telling him it was ti to leave.
Oksana caressed the small package she had placed beside her bed.
"Are you wearing clothes suited for the season now?"
Vlad had been a child who wore winter clothes even in the height of sumr.
Huddled up as if he still felt cold beneath the warm sumr breezes.
"The clothes that aren’t seen are the most important. True elegance is shown in the least visible details."
"..."
Inside the package that Oksana held, there were surely undergarnts and socks for Vlad.
A seemingly trivial gift, but one that only a mother could prepare with such attention to detail.
"That girl is very pretty. What was her na? Zemina? When you were together, you looked very good."
"Thank you."
"..."
They had already said everything they needed to say.
It was ti to go.
Oksana nodded silently to her last guest, but Vlad still couldn’t take the first step toward the door.
"...I plan to co back in winter."
"Huh?"
He turned back toward Oksana, speaking sowhat awkwardly, as if it were difficult to reopen a closed conversation.
"I want to learn how to fish. I’ve heard that ice fishing can only be done in winter."
"Fishing?"
Though the topic had nothing to do with what they had just been discussing, Vlad was trying to keep it going.
Because he wanted to see Oksana move, smile.
Because he knew he would miss her more if she remained still, like a lifeless painting.
"It’s sothing that, if one had a father, they would learn naturally. I don’t know anything about those things, so lately, I’ve been trying to learn."
"..."
"Last ti, Lord Ramund taught
how to farm the land, and well..."
Vlad’s world was diverse.
The boy who once dread of becoming the perfect dragon now sought to beco a star that radiated light.
A young man who didn’t want to be defined solely by a title.
"Even so, there are many things I don’t understand."
To so, he was the dragon born of perfection.
To others, the master swordsman who wielded a brilliant blade.
But before Oksana, he was just an uncertain child, without answers.
And that child, with a shy gaze, now looked at Oksana.
"So, if I have more questions, can I co to ask you?"
Vlad held the package against his chest, shrinking slightly, without looking out of place at all.
At least, not to Oksana.
A child who had grown up wild, like an orchid left uncared for.
Looking at him, Oksana, whose world was painted in muted tones, felt a faint hint of color.
"...Of course."
A child without a mother and a mother who had lost her son looked at each other.
Though the broken pieces of their hearts didn’t fit perfectly, together they could withstand the blowing wind.
"Co back whenever you want. I’ll be waiting for you."
At those words, the young man before her began to smile.
He no longer wore the old winter coat he once had, but the sumr clothes Oksana had given him.
***
"Thank you for staying until the end."
Although it was the host’s duty to see off the guests, reaching the main door was unusual.
However, behind Vlad, who was about to leave, stood Rutiger, now the head of the Bayezid family, and his knights, all ready to bid him farewell.
"Thanks to you, my succession ceremony was splendid. It will likely go down as the most magnificent in our family’s history."
"Thank you for saying that."
Behind Rutiger, so of Vlad’s familiar knights waved to him: Cade, Maxim, and those who had fought alongside him against the Deathsworm and Lindworm.
"So, you’re returning to Soara."
"That’s right."
"And what will you do afterward? Will you let yourself get dragged from place to place again, like before?"
Prestige always demands a price.
And that price was sothing that Vlad, as a master swordsman, had to pay.
But now Vlad shook his head in silent denial in response to Rutiger’s question.
"No, this ti I plan to rest a bit."
With those words, Vlad looked at the carriage beside him.
Inside, Zemina was quietly hiding, afraid soone might speak to her.
"...I suppose it’s ti for you to take a break."
Rutiger smiled broadly, understanding perfectly what Vlad was saying.
"I think it’s better if I leave now."
"Yes, go."
Rutiger nodded as he watched Vlad mount Noir’s back with a brief salute.
The squire of the Master of the Sword, who shrugged his shoulders while bidding farewell to the knights, pulled the reins, and soon the gates of Sturma began to open.
"...Today, the weather is beautiful."
As the gates opened, Rutiger watched the morning light fill the horizon.
Vlad’s shadow followed the rising east toward the green adows.
"Co back whenever you want, Vlad. You will always be welco as Bayezid’s greatest dragon slayer."
Though he didn’t say it to be heard, Vlad raised a hand in farewell.
He didn’t look back, but in that gesture, one could feel both gratitude and the promise of return.
***
From Sturma to Soara.
The carriage headed toward Soara, leaving Sturma behind. As it traversed the sumr adows, the sunset began to color the horizon around them.
"Captain, it looks like we’ll have to camp outdoors."
"That’s fine."
Crossing the vast northern plains in a single day to reach a village was an impossible task.
That’s why both Vlad and Zemina nodded at Goethe’s words, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"The sun sets quickly on the prairie. It seems to get dark faster than in Soara," Zemina said as she gathered so nearby dry branches.
"The stars will co out soon."
In the narrow alleys of Soara, the modest buildings always blocked the sky.
The glow of the lamps ant to attract custors devoured the stars, and the night sky always appeared fragnted and weak.
Finding stars in that broken sky was a difficult task.
"Wow."
But now, the night sky of the prairie stretched out before Zemina’s eyes, filled with so many twinkling stars that it was hard to believe they had always been there.
Fascinated by their radiance, she couldn’t bring herself to lower her gaze.
"Zemina."
"Huh?"
"Co here for a mont."
Lost in her own world, Zemina turned her head when she heard Vlad’s voice.
"Why?"
The campfire that Goethe had lit crackled softly.
Following the sound, Zemina saw Vlad holding Noir’s reins.
"He wants to say goodbye."
"Huh?"
"Noir wants to say goodbye before he leaves."
He was a black horse that blended perfectly with the starry sky that night.
So much so that it seed he might dissolve into the distant stars as he approached Zemina.
"Say goodbye? What does that an?"
Zemina asked as she stroked Noir, who was nuzzling her gently.
But Vlad didn’t answer. Instead, he nodded toward a distant hill.
"It ans it’s ti for Noir to return."
On the hill illuminated by the stars, a herd of wild horses could be seen, as if they were waiting for his return.
"You’re letting him go? Just like that?"
"Now is the right ti."
Zemina felt confused by the sudden farewell, but Vlad, without hesitation, began to remove Noir’s harness.
He took off the saddle, the bridle around his face, and unloaded the luggage he had been carrying.
"Thank you for everything."
And so, Vlad said goodbye to the child of the prairies, who had now returned to his original form.
"Are you done saying goodbye?"
"Huh? Yes..."
"Then, go now."
At the edge of the world where their paths had briefly intersected, they had extended a little further.
However, Noir’s world was on the prairie, while Vlad’s was in the city. It was ti to part ways.
"Don’t look back."
Noir seed to want to turn around again and again, but Vlad just crossed his arms and watched him.
Goodbyes are better when they are simple.
Seeing Vlad apply that philosophy, Noir neighed softly, as if bidding farewell.
"...There he goes."
At first, his steps were hesitant, but the closer he got to the hill, the longer his strides beca.
Watching the black horse run toward the starry sky, Zemina began to shed tears.
"Is it because he resembles his owner? He doesn’t look back even once."
Feeling the emptiness of the farewell, Zemina instinctively moved closer to Vlad.
"Don’t be so sad."
Together, they watched Noir disappear into the distance. The image of the two of them, side by side, was identical to that of the children who used to stand in front of the smithy.
"It’s not like we’ll be apart forever."
Vlad took a piece of paper from his coat as he watched Noir leave.
It was the drawing the Priestess of the World Tree had given them, one that Zemina imdiately recognized.
"Now that I look at it, this sunflower... Its color resembles your hair."
"Really?"
In the childish drawing, there was a blond man and a red-haired girl. Between them was a small, smiling flower. Why would soone draw a smiling face on that flower?
"Thank you, Zemina."
"Huh?"
Vlad wrapped an arm around Zemina’s shoulders, as if the night wind felt cold.
Surprised by the sudden gesture, Zemina looked at him, but Vlad continued watching the sky where Noir had vanished.
Just like that ti, when he looked at the undecorated sword hanging in the smithy.
"For believing in
back then."
The winter in which he was born, the spring in which he said goodbye... And now, the sumr in which he awaited new encounters.
The journey of that boy began with the sword the red-haired girl had given him.
"Let’s go back to Soara together."
Their feet were still in the mud, but they gazed at the stars together.
Now, they looked at each other as a shooting star streaked across the prairie sky.
Even if we are not in the highest sky.
Even if we fall to a place where no one sees us, If we wish to shine, we can recognize each other.
Because we are stars.
Because we can all shine like stars.
So until we et again, goodbye.
Star-Embracing Swordmaster (Complete).
***
Early in the morning when everyone was deeply asleep.
In the depths of the night, when even the stars in the sky were slumbering,
Under that night sky, a voice tried to wake a man who slept without a care in the world.
"...Sir... Sir."
It was the voice of a child, a young voice that had not yet reached puberty.
For that reason, it didn’t have enough strength to wake the man from his deep sleep.
"Ow! That hurt!"
"I said, wake up!"
Was this what a bee sting felt like? A sharp pain jolted the man awake, and with his eyes still unfocused, he looked around.
"What’s going on? What’s happening?"
"Shhh!"
The child motioned for him to be quiet and glanced outside the stable, holding a small frog in his hands.
"I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Why are you sleeping in a stable when there are decent rooms?"
"...This is a stable?"
The man, having no idea where he had been sleeping, looked utterly confused.
If not for his good looks, his expression would have been sigh-worthy.
"That’s why it felt so comfortable."
Unlike the worried child, the still-drowsy man began to gather the straw around him to lie down again, hunching his shoulders as if he were cold.
Even the frog in the child’s hands puffed out its cheeks as if it couldn’t believe what it was seeing.
"This is no ti for sleeping! We have to escape right now!"
"...What are you saying? Can’t we talk about this later?"
The sll of alcohol still lingered around him as he lay down again.
Frustrated, the child pounded his chest desperately but soon held his breath upon noticing the commotion around them.
"We know you’re hiding here!"
"Co out now!"
"Hmm?"
The voices were clearly aggressive, and the sound of doors being kicked down signaled their determination to find soone.
Unlike the child, the man only blinked, confused by the hostile tone.
"Kihano Frausen! You damned libertine!"
"Huh?"
The sll of oil-soaked torches filled the air, and the furious barking of hunting dogs echoed around them.
But what truly confused the man was hearing the word "libertine" alongside his na.
Crash!
Finally understanding the gravity of the situation, the man hurriedly stood up, but it was already too late to prepare.
"There you are."
A bald man with a malicious grin and yellowed teeth found him just as he was getting up and adjusting his clothes.
"I found you, Kihano Frausen."
The man, still bewildered, looked wide-eyed, while the child at his side seed on the verge of tears. Even the frog with the hat let out a resigned sigh.
"...May I ask why you’re looking for ?"
This is a story from long ago.
A story that is neither legendary nor grand.
Yet this story, the beginning of it all, started here, in the stable of a naless, signless inn.
T/N:
This Chapter was peak from here will co the story of Kihano Frausen.
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