***
Before it rains, there is a characteristic smell.
While driving her horse through the wide fields, Roberta suddenly looked at the sky. Even though it was a clear sky with only a few clouds, the wind brought the smell of wet earth. Her intuition told her it would rain soon.
“It is going to rain.”
At the same time, Ulrih said the same thing beside her.
“Look, rain clouds are coming. We should pick up the pace.”
Roberta looked back with Fritz. Rain clouds had gathered in the distance. As if an ink brush had been dipped into the edge of a water bowl, the sky was dyed black. The speed was fast. It would reach the three of them soon.
This was not Dithmarschen, and the season was summer. One’s life would not be in danger just by being hit by rain. However, they couldn't exactly go while being soaking wet, so they spurred their horses.
Fortunately, there was a hill nearby. It was suitable for avoiding the rain because the trees were lush. As the group reached the hill, the clouds also reached above their heads. *Whoosh*, the rain began to fall with a sound.
“It doesn't seem like rain that will fall for long.”
“Hmm.”
Roberta shook her wet hair and looked at the end of the clouds. Even though the rain clouds were thick, if she looked far away, the blue sky was revealed. It was rain that would stop after falling for a short while. She let out a short sigh and sat down while leaning her back against a tree.
Fritz paid no heed to whether he got wet or not, and stepped out from the tree shadow to stroke the horses. Because the rain was falling noisily, the horses seemed scared, but they became calm as he stroked them while muttering, “Calm down, calm down.”
“……”
She turned her gaze elsewhere to look at Ulrih. He stood leaning his back against an old tree and looked at the plains silently with his arms crossed. Because he was a person who did not easily reveal his emotions, she could not know whether he was truly looking at the scenery or was lost in contemplation.
“Lord, where are you going next?”
Roberta asked after looking up at him for a moment.
The final destination for the three of them was Eiselburg. Because their goal was to attend the royal wedding to be held in the capital of the Osnober Kingdom.
However, she could not guess the path. Luman’s village, where they had spent a day previously, was like that. For him, this journey was not just a journey to Eiselburg.
“I intend to stop by Meyer.”
Fritz, who was stroking the horse’s head, turned his head in surprise.
“To our family?”
“Currently, I am thinking so.”
Meyer refers to the Meyer Earl family.
Ulrih had previously said that his wife, Hilde, had no children and had taken in several adopted sons. Among them, Hohenlohe was the eldest, and the Meyer family were his direct descendants.
“I thought that if I were to leave the territory, I should show my face at least once.”
However, Fritz’s reaction was reluctant.
“If you specifically go there, you will have to go around a lot to get there......”
He trailed off and scanned Ulrih’s reaction. He was not in an attitude of particularly welcoming the visit to the main house. Rather, he was in an appearance of subtly expressing opposition.
‘Does he have bad memories?’
Roberta tilted her head.
If not, was there a reason to react like that?
Was there a discord she didn't know about in the reason he came to Dithmarschen? Thinking about it, it was strange. Fritz was the fourth son, but hadn't Bernhard been the eldest? Usually, the eldest inherits the house, yet for some reason, he had become the butler of the Duke of Dithmarschen.
She scanned Ulrih’s reaction, but he was the same as usual. He calmly waited for the rain to weaken, and the rain stopped soon as expected.
The sky swept by the rain clouds was purely blue without anything else. Thanks to that, the sun poured sunlight onto the wet fields without obstruction.
Far from being cool, Roberta fanned herself several times with her hand at the stickiness of the summer air that had become humid, then rose from her seat and mounted her saddle.
#
Tenof City was a city located in a certain territory between the Goeten Earldom and the Meyer Earldom. It was a scale just barely enough to be distinguished as a city, but a city was a city, and it was a settlement where people were bustling.
Passing the east gate, Roberta felt the unsettled atmosphere for the first time in a long while as she dismounted. In the vicinity of the market, the voices of soliciting, haggling, and arguing were sharp.
While she was staying as an ordinary priest at the Nuua High Temple, she had told Bishop Alonso that she disliked this kind of atmosphere. It was the same now. She still disliked the atmosphere where crowds were scattered and noisy.
Yet, perhaps because she had spent a year in the north, or perhaps because she had experienced solitude in a land without people, this atmosphere felt friendly for a moment. This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
‘Lord Alonso said this is evidence of aging.’
She gave a hollow laugh inwardly and asked Ulrih.
“You are going to move immediately without staying, right?”
Ulrih, who was walking in front, answered that he was.
“Since it isn't even noon yet, there is no need to stay. I intend to leave after just a light meal.”
“Could I look around the market before that?”
She said that it seemed a market had opened just in time.
“Do so. But do not spend too much time. We have to leave before noon to arrive at the next base before night comes so we won't have to camp.”
After finishing a meal at the restaurant attached to the inn, Roberta headed for the market taking Fritz with her. Ulrih remained at the inn, saying he would write a letter.
Because Tenof was a small city, the market was merely a space where several stalls were spread out. Roberta intended to look for several travel items, including dried food.
“Do you need anything, Fritz?”
At her question, Fritz waved his hands.
“No. I am fine. Please just think of me as a porter.”
“A porter? You are lowering yourself too much.”
Fritz gave a sheepish smile.
“Since it is my first time traveling... there is nothing I can do.”
“That is natural. Everyone has a first time.”
She stroked Fritz’s head while showing a bright smile. To her, the boy was close to a younger brother with a bit of an age difference, so she understood his feelings.
Sixteen is not a young age. It is an age where one should do an adult’s share. Especially in remote regions like Dithmarschen, they are forced to do an adult’s share at an even younger age.
However, Fritz was originally a young master, wasn't he? Even though he had stayed in Dithmarschen as the Lord’s page for several years, the place he was born and raised was the Meyer Earldom. He had essentially been a young master of a well-to-do noble family and then became a page.
“When I was your age, I was busy just following the adults around and doing small errands. Well, although that was a story from not even ten years ago.”
“You were, priest?”
He sounded like he couldn't believe it. She laughed inwardly and thought that she must have become an adult. Since the time she was busy chasing after Alonso’s coattails was only a few years ago.
“For now, watch and learn what I or Lord Ulrih do. And later, you can try them one by one whenever you get the chance.”
“Yes...”
Fritz hesitated and then nodded. However, while he was accepting, on the other hand, there was an atmosphere of him trying to say something else but swallowing it. She read that but did not pry.
He would have his own reasons. If it were a reason that could be resolved by talking to her, he would speak; if not, what would she gain by questioning him? She walked through the market while sharing stories on light topics.
“You damn thing, stay still!”
And just then, a commotion arose.
The two stopped talking and turned their gaze. On one side of the market, a horse was raising its two feet high and crying. Beside it was a man who appeared to be the horse’s owner, and he was losing his temper while pulling the reins.
“I told you to stay still!”
The horse’s face turned powerlessly following the reins. It was because its build was small. The fellow, who was young enough to be mistaken for a foal, cried sorrowfully while struggling. Each time, the owner did not calmly settle it but instead swung a whip.
Seeing the sight of the whip being struck against the young horse’s back, Fritz frowned and turned his face away. It was clearly a person who did not know how to handle horses.
Muttering to himself what could be gained by handling it so roughly, Fritz let out a sigh. Even though his sympathy boiled up, there was nothing the boy could do.
A horse is property. One cannot intervene in another’s property. The only thing Fritz could do was leave the place to avoid the unpleasant sight.
“Let’s go elsewhere, Priest Roberta.”
However, she did not try to leave the place.
“Priest?”
She made a wrinkle between her brows while looking at the young horse.
“……”
Roberta felt something that Fritz did not.
The moment she caught a glimpse of the young horse, a sense of heterogeneity arose. It was a feeling that could not be clearly expressed as what it was. A short and light feeling that another person would have dismissed as an illusion.
Roberta did not just dismiss it. She paid close attention and scanned the young horse’s appearance. Then, she felt the flow of mana.
Mana flows in all lives. The flow of mana is usually difficult to feel. Because such a small amount of mana flows calmly, one cannot feel it even if they are just one step away from the target. Usually.
For example, it is like how even if someone is sick with a fever, one cannot feel the heat unless they place their hand on the person’s body.
Yet she felt the flow of mana from the young horse. She could feel it even though she was more than dozens of steps away. As she approached step by step, she felt it even more clearly.
‘It isn't an illusion.’
While showing a smile so her inner thoughts wouldn't be revealed, she spoke to the horse owner.
“Are you alright? The horse is quite fierce.”
“Ah, priest. I have shown you an unpleasant sight. It is because the fellow is exceptionally fierce for a young one.”
The horse owner struck the horse’s cheek hysterically. The horse made a crying sound again, but when the owner made a gesture of striking its cheek again, it swallowed its cry.
Roberta barely smoothed out her expression, which was about to crumple at the owner’s behavior. And with the excuse that it might be acting out because it was sick somewhere, she approached the young horse.
The horse, which was in a state of being completely terrified, backed away even more when she stretched out her hand. However, as the owner pulled the reins, it could no longer run away. In the meantime, Roberta placed her hand on the horse’s head.
‘The amount and flow of mana are not normal.’
Roberta felt the mana flowing through the horse’s physical body via her fingertips. The flow was certainly strange. Unlike the horses she had ridden until now, the amount of mana was considerable, and the flow was also intense.
It was not a natural amount and flow of mana. It was the same as when mana was artificially put inside to cause a change, as a sword is when she puts mana into it to temper the blade.
“Fritz, go and bring Lord Ulrih. Tell him his confirmation is needed.”
“Yes.”
As Fritz left, she asked the owner.
“Is this a horse you raised personally?”
“No. I caught the fellow wandering in the mountains a while ago.”
“In that case, you wouldn't know who the owner is.”
“Yes, I did ask around here and there, but...”
The owner said he was not a person who had properly raised horses. He didn't have the capability to raise it either. His only intention was to find the original owner and receive a reward or dispose of it at a suitable price.
While listening to the conversation between the two, the young horse made a small crying sound to Roberta. It was not the sorrowful cry it had made to its owner. It was a grotesque cry made while opening and closing its mouth like a human.
On top of that, it scratched the ground with its hooves. Because it was on a fairly well-maintained road, no marks remained, but the young horse made gestures of unknown meaning and drew Roberta’s attention.
Not only the mana, but it was a horse showing strange behavior.
‘Surely.’
When her speculation became clear, Ulrih arrived.
He did not demand an explanation from Roberta. Even though the story he heard from Fritz wouldn't have been much, he only stroked the young horse’s long head.
“You were lucky.”
What did he mean by being lucky? Ulrih handed a bundle of gold coins to the horse owner. The owner, who had been standing blankly, gaped when the bundle of gold coins was placed in his hand. And he fled as if running away after putting the gold coins in his pocket for fear they might be taken back.
After handing over the gold coins, Ulrih paid no heed to whether he left or not. While stroking the young horse that was trembling in fear, he showed a gentle smile.
“There is nothing to worry about, child. I know the situation you are in.”
At that, the young horse nodded its neck and cried sorrowfully.
“Lord, as expected, this is......”
“Yes, this child was originally a person.”