Chapter 83. Called the path the Saintess passed (3)
In the crumbling mansion of Straus.
-This is not a message from Ulrich, but words from me.
The crumbling old armor beckoned to Blanc and spoke.
“Speak.”
Blanc approached the knight who had lost his honor, kneeling on one knee.
-Be careful.
“Of what.”
The old armor spoke while burning his flickering Ghost Fire greatly for the last time.
-Those who received the blessing of the shining Goddess, but, those who eventually confused the Goddess' will with their own will.
“Who are they?”
The old armor lifted its crumbling arm and grabbed Blanc.
-The family blessed by the Goddess, Maximilian!
The old armor scattered and crumbled in the wind.
-Do not forget.
A single ray of sunlight falling was warmly wrapping around the honorable knight and the knight who lost his honor.
Like that, a silver dagger lay in the spot where the armor that lost its form used to be.
A small and old dagger that women or children would use.
Blanc picked up the dagger fallen on the ground and looked at it for a long time.
***
“It is an honor to meet Baron Blanc Cadmus, the Seeker of the Blue Star.”
He was a noble with shoulder-length blond hair tied neatly back.
The atmosphere he exuded was elegant and the smile he wore was glittering, but those could not draw out Blanc’s goodwill.
Because, right now, Blanc was surrounded by over 100 troops.
Blanc naturally brought his left hand to his scabbard, ready to draw at any time.
“Did you say you want to take the Saintess?”
Blanc was not intimidated at all even though he was surrounded by soldiers five times the number of knights he was commanding.
Rather, he was just about to prepare to draw at any time, hiding burning anger within a cold smile.
Blanc was the leader of a pack who had to protect the young bird in his bosom.
“I do not understand what you are saying at all.”
At Blanc’s feigned ignorance, the blond handsome man smiled and answered.
“The birth of a new Blue Star has already been conveyed to the Goddess Order of Moirai.”
‘As expected, it leaked from that side.’
Blanc was convinced that information about Iselin had leaked through the Order.
In fact, Blanc had thought that if information leaked so far, chances were high it leaked through the Order.
Cardinal Julio might not be, but at least someone directly related to him must be a spy.
“Then do you mean the Order sent knights of the Maximilian family?”
“No.”
“Then why did you come all the way here leading troops?”
To Blanc’s question that wasn’t really a question, Adolf smiled and answered.
“What problem would there be for the Maximilian family to come to serve the Saintess? We are a family blessed by the Goddesses and a family that has produced the most Seekers of the Blue Star.”
Adolf was smiling, but his smile was more high-handed than any action.
“Maximilian is the most accustomed to serving the Saintess than any other family. We simply.”
Adolf sneered coldly looking at Blanc.
“We only came just in case the Saintess might feel uncomfortable due to an inexperienced Seeker.”
Blanc recognized his sincerity through Adolf’s smile.
‘Iselin wasn’t the objective.’
Maximilian’s goal was not Iselin who would become the new Saintess.
Their objective was the new Seeker of the Blue Star, Blanc Cadmus. Himself.
Maximilian intended to cut off Blanc’s limbs and make him give up the Saintess, trying to replace the influence the Seeker of the Blue Star should have in the Order with themselves.
‘Is that fortunate?’
Blanc was relieved that they were targeting him, not Iselin’s life, in this touch-and-go situation.
However, he had no intention of handing over Iselin obediently as they intended either.
Just as he cherished Iselin, Blanc intended to fully protect the role of the Saintess who should become the hope of humanity.
Blanc, who knew the coming Void, could not tolerate making the Saintess, who was like a lighthouse to brighten humanity, a tool for petty power struggles.
“Nonsense.”
Blanc, having seen through Maximilian’s intention, spoke firmly as if it wasn’t worth considering.
“I am the one who was guided to the Blue Star’s Orb directly by the Goddesses. Asking such a person to hand over the Saintess is no different from blasphemy.”
At Blanc’s coercive attitude, the knights of Maximilian accompanying Adolf emitted a menacing aura, but.
“……Do not dare reveal hostility to me.”
Blanc pressured them instead by unsparingly unleashing the ferocious aura hidden in his soul.
At Blanc’s aura, the knights of Maximilian unwittingly stepped back.
“…….”
Adolf’s expression hardened listening to Blanc’s answer.
Baron Blanc Cadmus. He never expected him to ignore them to this extent.
Maximilian was a family enjoying great power in the Kingdom of Anton and Moirai.
It was not a family that a mere young Baron could ignore.
‘It seems he is still dark about the ways of the world.’
Blanc, who was achieving shining feats and fame, was still at an age that could be called young.
Adolf vowed to personally teach him the wall of the world and stepped forward to speak.
“Can you serve the Saintess safely with merely twenty knights?”
Adolf spoke, harboring a smile.
“For example, what would you have done if the troops surrounding you right now were those with evil intentions, not Maximilian?”
Adolf raised his hand and presented his soldiers to Blanc as if introducing them.
Look. At my soldiers surrounding you.
With one gesture of my hand, you will be crushed.
“Wouldn’t the Saintess also want to be with the reassuring soldiers of Maximilian?”
Face reality. Young Seeker of the Blue Star.
“Wouldn’t it be right in many ways for us, possessing a large force, to command the escort group for the safety of the Saintess?”
Adolf did not doubt.
The Seeker of the Blue Star in front of him was still young, his experience in the world would be shallow, and also, he was just a person walking precariously one step at a time on a tightrope without a proper foundation.
This threat works.
However, Blanc only smiled a cold smile even after hearing Adolf’s blatant threat.
Blanc was a person different from Adolf’s thoughts.
If Adolf had looked at him closely from Blanc’s side even for a moment, he would have known how absurd the thoughts he was having right now were.
Blanc Cadmus.
He was a black wolf that rose from the ashes.
“That is correct. Twenty knights are indeed lacking to serve the Saintess.”
He was not young, and was a veteran warrior with outstanding experience, and.
“Haha! As expected of the famous Baron Blanc. You communicate well!”
He was a person who climbed steadily toward that high place using the threats rushing at him as stairs after knocking them down one by one.
The foundation accumulated under Blanc was of a different dimension from the vain bubble-like foundation of Maximilian.
The foundation Blanc Cadmus was standing on right now was like an altar firmly hardened with the corpses and blood of enemies.
“I also think so.”
Adolf thought his threat worked and rejoiced that the matter was accomplished.
If he made Blanc give up the influence of the Seeker of the Blue Star, the only existence that could fill that vacancy was Maximilian.
Since Iselin’s paternal family, Tolome, was a family with absolutely no foundation in Moirai, so they wouldn’t be able to care for her.
If it went like that, they would be able to recover their influence that had been weakened until now through the Saintess in their grasp.
Adolf knew his intention succeeded and was happy, but.
“However, wouldn’t barely 100 soldiers be insufficient to serve the Saintess?”
“……What does that mean?”
Adolf was puzzled hearing Blanc’s incomprehensible words, but.
AWOOOOO.
At that moment. The howl of a wolf was heard from far away in the meadow.
That wolf’s howl rose intensely and high, and above all, had a distinct purpose.
“A Werewolf?”
Adolf realized that the howl was not a sound made by a wolf.
Because it harbored a feeling too intense for a mere wolf to make.
However, Adolf could not focus on the howl just heard.
Because as soon as that howl ceased, the sound of horse hooves shaking the earth was heard.
“What is this!”
Adolf turned his head to look in the direction the sound was coming from.
There was a gray Werewolf coming down receiving the moonlight holding a white flag on the dark hill covered by the shadow of clouds far away.
On the flag the wolf was holding, a black wolf was drawn.
It was the crest of the Cadmus family.
“It should be at least an army to say one can serve the Saintess safely.”
Adolf looked at Blanc with a dumbfounded face.
“Lord Adolf!”
Behind the Werewolf running down the hill holding the flag, countless warhorses were following.
“Quiesco!”
The cavalry holding two flags, Quiesco and Cadmus, did not stop.
They broke through everything in front of their eyes with vicious momentum and ran straight toward the owner of the flag.
The soldiers of Maximilian surrounding Blanc’s group had no choice but to helplessly open a path.
And thus, the cavalry finally approached in front of Blanc.
“We came running as soon as we received the message of the gray wolf in Bronberg. Baron!”
The cavalry captain with a glorious scar on his left eye area reported.
“A total of 600 soldiers of the Cadmus Baron army!”
“We have arrived now to obey the order of our War Lord, Baron Blanc Cadmus!”
Adolf looked at Blanc with a dumbfounded expression.
There was not a young Baron, but a black wolf smiling fiercely under the moonlight.
“I order the Cadmus Baron army.”
The black wolf spoke opening its snout.
“From now on, we escort the Saintess who will become the new Blue Star.”
The wolf’s cool gaze mercilessly pierced Adolf.
Receiving that gaze head-on, Adolf ended up flinching for a moment.
Because a spooky energy piercing even the soul was dwelling in that gaze.
“I pay respect to the Maximilian family who came a long way to escort the Saintess, and I would like to propose one glorious mission.”
Adolf looked back at his soldiers instantly surrounded by the Cadmus Baron army.
The situation was completely reversed.
Blanc drew Aselheit’s sword and slowly walked in front of Adolf.
“As Lord Adolf said, it would be correct for a larger force to move leading the smaller force.”
Green light of peridot flowed out from Aselheit’s sword Blanc was holding.
“I will yield the opportunity to stand at the very front of the glorious Saintess Escort Group. Adolf Maximilian.”
Adolf and Maximilian made a completely wrong judgment.
The person named Blanc Cadmus was not simply a person with outstanding strength.
He was a person who knew how to break through difficulties and prepare for danger looking two, three moves ahead.
“From now on, I, Blanc Cadmus, the Seeker of the Blue Star, will control all situations.”
And he was not a person who only knew how to handle the green sword he was holding.
“Take the lead. Adolf.”
He was a person who also knew how to handle the invisible power called fear flexibly.
Adolf felt an illusion as if the wolf in front was rushing at him and biting off his neck.
“E-Even if you do this, nothing good will come to you and the newly appointed Saintess. Maximilian’s people are already engaged everywhere in the Order!”
The blond handsome noble had long lost the confident smile he showed at first.
He tried to threaten Blanc mentioning Iselin, but.
“It seems that remark is directed at the wrong target.”
Blanc looked down at Adolf and spoke.
“In front of Lady Iselin who will become the Saintess now stands a Seeker of the Blue Star named Blanc Cadmus, but behind her stands a white lion named Bartomyu Tolome.”
“Tolome is in the Kingdom of Felix! Half-nobles who don’t even have a territory! Do you think they can exercise influence all the way to Moirai?”
Blanc spoke looking at Adolf’s struggle with cold eyes.
“Iselin is the youngest Tolome born with the blood of a lion.”
Blanc felt Adolf was completely suppressed and sheathed his sword.
“Lions will always protect her side.”
***
At the same time, Tolome mansion in Baltimere.
It was busy with the sounds of people loading goods lighting torches despite the late hour.
“Father, preparations are complete.”
Vitelli bowed his head to his father and reported.
“Do not forget the matters I requested. With Schumacher and Stefan absent, there will be many things you have to judge.”
“Yes, Father.”
Bartomyu looked up at the moon hidden in clouds.
“I feel the Goddess is protecting us. Keep in mind that the only time Tolome can rise greatly is now.”
“Yes, Father. I will keep it in mind.”
Bartomyu left Vitelli behind and got on the carriage.
“Let’s go. To Moirai.”
As Bartomyu instructed, the carriage bearing the Tolome crest began to move.
“Grandson and granddaughter make me too busy.”
Although it was a grumbling tone, Bartomyu’s eyes were shining fiercely.
The white lion was moving to protect the young lion who became the Blue Star.