Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: The Useful Traitor
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Beonald's mother sent a gift to Baron Zelkerd exactly one week later.
And for a while, Beonald reduced the proportion of his swordsmanship training and focused intensely on going outside to learn skills from herb gatherers and hunters.
He thought their knowledge and techniques would be essential now, because someone would surely be coming to spy on him, and he needed to know the mountains very well.
"Young Master, you should be careful of wild animals, but what you need to be most careful of are monsters. You never know when or where you'll encounter the descendants of the Dark God."
"But aren't there any notable monster tribes near our territory? At most, it's just goblins."
"Still, you mustn't let your guard down. We just run away as soon as we see traces. Anyway, this should be enough for the traps."
"It's really a shame though. If we only had something like a blacksmith's forge, we could make better traps or tools."
The hunting tools used by the hunters were all either made from natural materials or crafted from hunting byproducts.
Even the arrowheads were made of bone, which made Beonald sigh deeply.
It was an era where knights like Sir Geral already wore iron weapons and plate armor, and this territory's level of backwardness was confirmed once again.
"Hahaha, what blacksmith would come to a rural territory like ours? If you really want, Young Master, please ask the lord to get some for us cheaply next time you go to the Earl Callermain's territory. We'd be grateful."
"I'll mention it. Oh, wait, this... it's an herb, I should gather some."
Having taken another lesson from the herb gatherers and hunters today, Beonald gathered a bunch of herbs on his way back.
Proper drying was important, so he laid out boards in a corner of the mansion to dry them himself. He also powdered the already dried herbs, mixed them with limestone powder, and made a powder medicine to sprinkle on wounds.
This was a medicine made by boiling the herbs into a thick liquid, solidifying it, and then grinding it into powder to ingest, or by mixing the liquid with clean oil, alcohol, etc. He created various prototypes in the form of ointments as well.
'Ah, now it feels like I'm doing my real job. Of course... this is a very basic and rudimentary medicine, but still. Haha...'
Five hundred years ago, Beonald von Neumel was also a renowned alchemist.
He had even succeeded in the pinnacle achievement—turning lead into gold.
Of course, the cost was astronomical, so it could only be used occasionally as a show for the emperor, but he was such a remarkable figure that he left his name in the Alchemy Society, so this was a very easy task for him.
'By the way, is this chepfe or something? In my time, we called it dallas... Anyway, this herb has so many uses, but can't it be mass cultivated? We'd need a lot to improve it into a better medicine through various experiments and to use it in making other medicines.'
As an alchemist, his knowledge and expertise were high, so he knew the efficacy and uses of herbs well, but cultivation methods were in the realm of agriculture, which he knew nothing about. Beonald quickly realized the shortage in quantity.
Gathering and drying them himself was fine, but it would waste too much time, and the production volume would be ridiculously insufficient.
'...Should I ask the farmers? Damn it! Nothing is ever convenient.'
But still, the difference between doing something and not doing it was significant.
The difference between stockpiling a small medical supply and not could mean saving someone's life.
Well aware of how crucial that was for maintaining the territory, Beonald decided to think more about securing as much medicine as possible later.
A few days later.
The Dustycloak Barony was such a backwater that while there were people who left here to go to the Callermain territory and return, no one ever visited here first.
So the knight, Sir Walter, who was ordered by Viscount Delmain to investigate the baron's son, Beonald, couldn't think of a way to infiltrate. Instead, he bribed a traveling merchant in the Callermain territory to briefly head to the Dustycloak territory.
"We're just going for the money... but what are you going there for, Sir Knight?"
"Don't ask. I'm quite troubled myself right now. Even though it's an order, it's really absurd..."
Sitting in the traveling merchant's small cart, Sir Walter let out a deep sigh at the merchant's question.
At 29 years old, he had barely awakened his mana at 25 to become a Low Knight. He had struggled, using his family's mana breathing method and even drinking what were called elixirs, to finally become a knight at 25.
'To give an order to investigate whether a ten-year-old kid is a knight... Really, it's unbelievable.'
"Still, it's good not to worry about monsters with a knight around. Hahaha."
"Anyway, don't say anything unnecessary when we get there. And don't forget I'm a mercenary you hired. Got it?"
"Of course, absolutely."
Thus, Sir Walter cautiously entered the Dustycloak territory with the traveling merchant.
Disguised as a mercenary, Sir Walter had even bought and worn equipment used by real mercenaries, so there was nothing suspicious about him.
"It's really rural. Does... money even circulate here? It seems like bartering is all there is."
"...That's why I didn't want to come either."
"We should head to the lord's mansion first. Of course, your request was also to go there."
"Let's do that."
The traveling merchant's cart headed straight for the lord's mansion. Baron Leon, pleased by the unexpected visit of a peddler, immediately notified the territory's people that a merchant had arrived and also moved to buy items hard to obtain here.
"Now, now, come slowly, slowly. I have many items. I accept bartering too, so don't worry. Hahaha, Baron, do you need anything perhaps?"
"Do you have any accessories or jewels? Preferably something I can keep as a gift."
"Haha, of course I do. Hahaha."
Buzz, buzz...
The merchant's cart became bustling and crowded with territory residents gathering because a peddler had come after a long time.
Inside, Walter was keeping watch while looking around to find the Baron's son.
Surely a ten-year-old kid in such a rural village would be interested in a merchant from outside.
'Let's see... where would a little kid be?'
"Merchant uncle, where was this glass bottle made?"
While Sir Walter was looking for a child, a youth took out a glass bottle displayed among the goods and asked the merchant about the price.
He was a handsome youth with black hair, but the clothes he wore were common work clothes, and judging by his height and build, he absolutely didn't look ten years old. Sir Walter thought he was just a mansion servant and ignored him.
"Huh? Well... it was made by a glass artisan in the Callermain territory. I bought and brought it myself."
"Hmm, how much is it?"
"Three silver coins each."
"That's too expensive. Should I go to the Callermain territory and buy it directly?"
"Oh my, usually I sell the leftovers after the tribute to the Earl Callermain, but this one I bought from what was meant to be tributed."
Like a true merchant, he mixed in a 'slight' lie that sounded like the truth to facilitate negotiation.
Anyway, a youth from such a rural territory wouldn't be able to discern if it was real or fake, and even if he later went to the Callermain territory, the transaction would already be over.
Besides, leaving the territory without the lord's permission was impossible to begin with.
"Huh? Mom! Please check this for me!"
"Hmm? What?"
In the middle of haggling over the price, the youth suddenly called someone behind him, and the Baroness Dustycloak approached.
One of the daughters of Earl Callermain, she had married into this lowborn mercenary-turned-noble family, but she had once lived in the mansion as the daughter of Earl Callermain.
It was impossible not to recognize her, even with half her face disfigured by burns.
"Mom, is this really the same as what's tributed to the Earl Callermain's mansion?"
"Hmm... it doesn't look like it? Beonald, I often went to that glass artisan's house, so I know..."
"Then that merchant lied, right?"
The youth then looked at the merchant with terrifying eyes.
Getting caught in this kind of minor scam happened often, so he tried to act nonchalantly and pretend to take out another product, but strangely, his body wouldn't move.
'What is this? Hmm? First, he called the Baroness 'Mom,' so he must be her son. Then, could this youth be... the heir of the Dustycloak Barony? No, even so... this feeling?'
There was no reason for the gaze of a young man who looked barely of age (15) to be scary, but the merchant felt his flesh trembling like a frog before a snake.
He couldn't understand it rationally, but from the cold sweat starting to flow, his senses and instincts were screaming that he must not anger this youth.
"I see..."
"S-sorry! I got the item wrong! I misjudged the person! Y-young Master! As an apology, I'll give you that glass bottle for free."
"No, having just one is useless."
"T-then, h-here! As a set! I'll give you the set. Please take all of these."
Handing over the entire box containing the glass bottles, the merchant kept bowing to Beonald.
Nothing in this world was more precious than life, so he decided to trust his intuition now, even at a great loss.
"Are you really sure?"
"Yes, of course. It's... it's my fault. Hahaha."
It was actually a devastating loss that made his stomach churn, but to his immense relief, Beonald's gaze softened considerably, and the oppressive pressure that had been weighing him down disappeared.
Finally happy to have secured tools usable for alchemy, Beonald jumped around with childlike innocence, then suddenly felt a gaze on him.
'What's that? Hmm? Ah... a mercenary? But there's no reason for such a gaze... Oh, perhaps he's a friend or associate of that traveling merchant.'
"Hmm? Beonald, even if he was wrong, that seems a bit much, doesn't it? Shouldn't you just return it? After all, he came all the way here..."
"Oh no! Not at all, my lord! It's me! I was completely wrong, and I want to give it! So! Please give it to the Young Master. It's fine!"
Baron Leon, thinking Beonald had used his position to extort the merchant's goods, told him to return them, but the merchant panicked and stopped him.
Beonald almost let his emotions show for a moment, but anyway, satisfied with obtaining the glass bottles that would become alchemy tools, he took the box containing the bottles and headed to his training room.
However, due to the commotion, he completely forgot about the existence of the mercenary who had been watching him—Sir Walter.
'...That's a ten-year-old? Unbelievable... Ah! No, wait. Thinking of the previous Baron Dustycloak, it's not impossible. After all, he was over two meters tall and muscular, and it was rumored even in the mercenary industry that he grew up fast from a young age... Anyway, it's too different from what I expected, so I should investigate.'
He didn't know about the possibility of knighthood, but the youth's un-childlike physique and the strange gaze that had pressured the merchant earlier made Sir Walter think he was worth investigating. He began to observe the mansion and Beonald intently.