Only with Your Heart

The bear man called his name Rodolgo, and he seemed to be the head (or maybe) of a fallen little settlement ahead of him through the woods.

"Before that son of a bitch got here at the king's behest."

Rodolgo taught Chizuru, with his tranced eyes as if bragging, looking around a dark, damp settlement.

"I was in control of all this part of the country. That's what the clear ex-hero took over, and now he's just doing fine on this side."

Thousands of cranes had been brought to a place where only a few flattering houses were built, whose poverty could be questioned even if it was only moonlight. There is no paving of roads, of course, and the buildings are just lined up with substitutes that just coloured the excavated cabins a little more than the houses. It's just that there's only one stone mansion in it that's bigger than the others, and that's what Rodolgo calls his "castle".

Chizuru had stopped more resistance than was necessary.

Because there was a pale hope that maybe this Rodolgo would bring Chizuru to Luklov.

Rodolgo opened the doors of the mansion himself, making a rattling and softening noise. Is there no such thing as a servant who would do that? Several of his men, who seemed to be with him, had disappeared into each house without saying anything.

When the door opens, the smell of old hay creeping from inside fills me up.

Rodrigo grabbed Chizuru's arm and pulled him inside the mansion.

"Come on in! Hey, Dorote, get up now! I'm back!

You wouldn't have to sound so loud, Rodolgo shouted out loud to announce his return. It is dark in the mansion and as cold as it is outside.

After a while, I heard something called gosogoso coming from somewhere up there, and a tall middle-aged woman with a corner light (lantern) on her came down the stairs all the way. To its creepy appearance, Chizuru flew up with a small scream.

"Why, did you even bring a guest..."

The middle-aged woman spoke slowly, with a voice so low that it was difficult to hear. "You like it too... There's nothing to eat here but potatoes."

"This guy, he didn't just bring me here to play. Maybe we can get a ransom from that Duke of Cold Toss, man."

"Was it a ransom?

With the corner lamp raised even higher, the middle-aged woman, known as Drote, approached Thousand Cranes with her dragging footsteps. Even from Chizuru, you can see the drawte better. You don't seem that old, but your skin is full of wrinkles and your hair is more than half white. She's like a witch.

"Didn't that man stop looking for her a long time ago?"

Draote said so in dismay, carelessly touching Chizuru's arms and hips.

I noticed him moving his mouth up close, but apparently Draote had most of his teeth missing. Maybe it's because of the hard way you talk.

In the meantime, Chizuru kept quiet.

Both Draote and Rodolgo were crude and rude, but because they didn't feel the kind of malice they were going to do with Chizuru right now.

When he finished observing Chizuru, Draote put the corner light on the table with a deep sigh and disappeared into the back of the room with something to say.

"Get me some booze, too!

Rodolgo was yelling at Draote's disappeared, yes, but no reply.

A few minutes later, Draote, holding a blanket-like piece of cloth aside, returned and pressed it against Thousand Cranes. There was dust and a strong smell of mold.

"Rice and booze later. Lady, you sleep on the floor of my room."

Rodolgo complained about bumps, but apparently there's a part of her that can't go against her decision. Strongly drawn to the drawte with the corner light raised again, Chizuru was to climb the stairs.

The stairs were narrow and the stone floors were not uniform, so Thousand Cranes nearly fell and hit the Draught several times, but the middle-aged woman seemed to have more power than she seemed. Guru pulled him, and when he noticed, he was entering a small bedroom-like room.

"Right here. I know you're hungry, but that's gonna wait till morning."

Chizuru nodded and looked around the room.

Even so, there was little to see, and it was just a small space with one small window about the size of a human face on the wall, one rubbed carpet on the floor, and one elegant bed that seemed to have been packed with hay. Draote hung a candle on the door of the room and turned the key.

"Don't even think about running away. Well, I don't mind..."

With that said, Draote breathed heavily and turned off the corner light and just dived into bed. If you keep your mouth shut for a moment, an unhealthy looking ibiki will soon sound loud in the room.

Chizuru sighed and sat on the carpet holding the mold-smelling blanket given to him by Draote.

(Really... I'm home...)

A medieval world.

Rough but humane people and vast nature.

Words shouldn't be Japanese, but Chizuru somehow understood them with wonder, and his opponent also understood what Chizuru was saying. Is it like a paranormal automatic translation... When Chizuru went beyond time and space, he had such an ambiguous understanding that his language skills might have undergone some changes together. Because that's what happened last time.

(But... to "The Black Assassin," "The Duke of Cold Cheek"...)

Chizuru still could not ask Rodolgo or Draote the name of the person who might be his Lucroff.

I was afraid if it wasn't... and I wanted to avoid asking too many weirdly deep questions and being suspicious of my identity. There is only hope in Chizuru right now that maybe the person might be Luklov.

Duke, I know that.

At the time, Ruklov had nothing but the title of being a baron's man, but if it had been fourteen years, he would likely have emerged. Not that I remember it in any particular detail, but it was only supposed to be quite different levels between the Baron and the Duke... but given his accomplishments, it shouldn't be impossible.

But 'chill out'.

And "assassin".

Indeed, Ruklov was not a so-called bright man. For those who look at it in a nasty way, his calmness will certainly sometimes be reflected as cold. But assassins......

(Must be some kind of misunderstanding, huh?

Yes, this is a world where even books rarely exist without newspapers...... Rumors and scandals only reach oral transmission from person to person, and any sight and hearing is easily misunderstood or exaggerated and spreads to completely different content at the end.

Perhaps after Thousand Cranes left, Luklov had succeeded in defeating the King's rebels, and that was just what was told to the great audience.

(I'm sure it is...... I'm sure......)

When Chizuru spread the blanket in the dark, he tried to wrap his body with it and put it to sleep on the carpet.

Even though it wasn't winter, at midnight, one blanket was cold on the cobbled floor, but I didn't feel like complaining. Thousand cranes' hearts were filled with memories of Lucroff and the expectations and anxieties that lay ahead, because they wanted to be hot.