A Bargain at Valois Castle
What on earth was that supposed to mean?
Joseph glanced at Arke and found the squire looking every bit as bewildered as he felt.
"Mage, would you spare a moment to hear what I have to say?"
Joseph nodded, and the priest went on.
"Our Silimaf Church has always spread the Lord's grace among the people—"
"I have no intention of converting, if that's where this is headed."
"Ah—no. Please, just hear me out."
Joseph had cut him off mid-sentence. Rekor gave a slightly flustered cough and pressed on.
The gist of it was this. The Silimaf Church had long devoted itself to good works—healing the sick, aiding the poor—and hunting demonic beasts numbered among their sacred duties as well. But ever since the war had broken out, their fighting men had been siphoned off to the front, and they were struggling to put down the beasts that still appeared from time to time.
A city this large demanded no small amount of resources. And with the demonic beasts going unculled, life for the townsfolk was growing harder by the day.
The Lord has sent us aid. The Lord has sent us aid!
In the midst of praying for deliverance from this crisis, a mage named Joseph had appeared. Rekor seemed to have taken it as the will of God.
A judgment worthy of a true zealot.
"If you would join us in hunting these beasts, Mage, the Lord will surely reward you."
In the end, Rekor wanted to pull Joseph into the subjugation force as extra firepower. And as Joseph listened, his expression grew faintly thoughtful.
Hold on... I might actually be able to use this.
Joseph had been wracking his brains over what the Count might want from him. Given the state of things here, he was worried the man might make some unreasonable demand.
If I refuse a request to join the war, there's no telling what might happen.
Being thrown out of the city would be getting off lightly. In the worst case, his life itself could be on the line. He had no idea what kind of man Count Valois even was—that was precisely why he'd been so anxious.
And now, of all times, a priest of the Church was extending a hand.
...A well-known order like this has to carry some influence, right?
If he borrowed the Church's backing, he might be able to refuse even an unreasonable demand without too much trouble. He didn't know how much sway the Church held within the castle, but an order that looked after the common folk wasn't something even a count could trample over lightly.
If I play this right, I might even be able to demand access to the library... no, the magic books themselves.
His calculation was simple: join the Church's subjugation, preempt any proposal that he take the field in the war, and extract a magic book as compensation in the same stroke.
The Church will have Combat Priests, too.
The people going out on these hunts wouldn't be ordinary clergy. Even that Combat Priest he'd seen on the road here had been no ordinary fighter. With them at his side, he could take part in the subjugation far more safely.
Having run the numbers, Joseph put a few questions to Rekor.
"If I join the subjugation force, will you be coming along?"
"I am not a Combat Priest. But I will support you from the rear so that you can fight at your best."
In other words, the current subjugation force was short on real firepower. Aside from the Combat Priests, the rest apparently handled support from the back lines.
And if there was no one to deal the damage, support was meaningless. That was the nature of a supporter.
"I'll give it serious thought and get back to you."
Rekor's face lit up. He offered another prayer of thanks to God.
...No, you should be thanking me.
Joseph looked at him with a thoroughly weary expression.
"Well then, I'll have to put off gathering herbs for a while. I'll round up some people who might be of use to you, Mage."
With that, Rekor set off alone for the monastery.
"...Were you a mage of the Church, by any chance?"
"No..."
Parting ways with Rekor, Joseph followed Arke toward the inner fortress.
Unlike before, however, a third figure stood with the two guards. The man wore what looked like brand-new plate, flashing so brightly in the sun it could only be Auger.
"Ah, I finally found you!"
He called out cheerfully as Joseph approached from a distance.
"Thank the heavens you're still at the castle."
Auger let out a sigh of relief, looking somewhat worn. Something must have happened overnight; he seemed a little exhausted.
"The Viscount has been looking for you."
"The Viscount?"
At Joseph's question, Auger explained that the Viscount was managing the territory in Count Valois's stead. Only then did Joseph learn that the Count had gone to war in person.
...I thought nobles just barked orders and watched from the back.
It was a little unexpected, but he doubted the Viscount acting in the Count's place would make any wildly different demand.
Joseph followed Auger's lead inside. As befit a count's castle, the interior felt far cleaner than the outer quarters. It wasn't, however, the lavishly decorated space Joseph had imagined from fantasy novels. It was closer to a lived-in fortress than a palace. The only striking thing was how few people there were relative to the castle's size.
"The war's emptied the place out, it seems."
Auger offered the explanation as he showed Joseph into a reception room.
Inside sat a man who looked rather tired. He had more the air of a scholar than a warrior. Beside him stood a white-haired old man, as if in attendance. Even from the atmosphere alone, the seated man was clearly the noble—the Viscount.
"My name is Joseph."
Joseph greeted Folmers as courteously as he could. This man was one of the highest authorities in the castle. Caution, and then more caution. Besides, Joseph had requests of his own to make; he wanted to leave a good impression.
"A genuine pleasure to meet you. I am Viscount Folmers. And this is Mage Zalier—the only mage in our territory, and a tremendous asset to us."
A mage?
Joseph's eyes widened slightly at that. He glanced at the old man behind him, but the fellow merely nodded and said nothing.
What's with him...?
The old man's expression was oddly sour. It niggled at him, but this wasn't the time to react to Zalier's face.
"I heard you arrived at the castle in the company of Baron Danoa. He still has... a rather unguarded nature about him, so I was concerned he might have given you some offense."
"Not at all. Thanks to the Baron, the journey was quite comfortable."
Folmers's expression brightened a little at Joseph's reply. They exchanged a few pleasantries about the trip with Auger.
"But... why did you wish to see me?"
Joseph already knew it wasn't simply because he'd traveled with Auger. Folmers seemed to take his meaning, and nodded.
"That is..."
At that moment, Zalier, who had been watching in silence, spoke first.
"I have a proposal for you."
"...A proposal?"
Joseph was startled by the sudden offer. Folmers looked a little taken aback as well.
"You're aware that a Subjugation Decree has been issued in the territory?"
Joseph nodded. Zalier went on to explain the current situation in Valois Territory.
"A massive demonic beast is blocking the fastest supply route to the northern front. We're in considerable difficulty."
"So you want me to join the force hunting that beast?"
"That's right. I heard from this knight here that you've been looking for magic books. If you put down the beast on that supply route, I'll give you one of the more useful volumes in my collection."
Wait—what?
Joseph cheered inwardly. He'd expected to be asked to join a subjugation force. But for the other party to offer, unprompted, the very thing he'd been planning to demand as payment?
"A magic book... what kind, exactly?"
Joseph kept his excitement in check and asked calmly. He needed to know precisely what book he'd be getting for hunting the beast. If it was junk, he intended to refuse.
"You're a mage yourself, so you'll understand—magic books are hard to come by, and there are so many kinds, most of them useless."
He was right. The magic books you could find through ordinary means were mostly garbage. Aside from basic spells like Fire, a great many of them didn't even have actual magic recorded in them.
"You said you were a fire mage, did you not?"
"..."
Apparently Auger had given them a thorough briefing on him. Even the offhand remark that he was a fire mage, made only because he'd had nothing better to introduce himself with.
Well, I do use Fire, so I can hardly say I'm not.
Joseph confirmed it, and Zalier nodded in return.
"I don't practice fire magic myself, but I do have a decent magic book on the subject. I'll give it to you."
Joseph swallowed.
A fire magic book?!
The word "fire" alone was enough to make it tempting. It could fill the very gap in firepower he needed most right now.
Better than I hoped. I have to take this.
Joseph pretended to consider for a moment, then glanced at Folmers. Come to think of it, they'd completely bypassed the Viscount and run off with the conversation on their own.
"..."
Folmers looked somewhat displeased, but he didn't say anything.
"Hmm..."
Then, at last, he addressed Joseph.
"Can you do this for us? In addition to the magic book Mage Zalier mentioned, I will personally promise you further compensation."
"Very well. I'll join the subjugation force."
"Then I leave it in your hands."
A slightly awkward atmosphere lingered, but no one in the room felt the need to point it out.
Then Joseph, as if something had just occurred to him, spoke up.
"Would it be all right if I made one more request?"
"What is it?"
"Would it be possible to obtain some ice later on?"
"...Ice?"
Folmers looked at Joseph with puzzled eyes.
After Joseph left, Folmers let out a small sigh.
"Isn't the northern beast too much to ask?"
Folmers had intended to start by requesting the subjugation of other nearby beasts. The creature on the northern supply route was enormous, and powerful. Even if Joseph was a mage, a young one hardly seemed up to the task.
"What if he gets hurt..."
The territory's situation was already poor, and they needed every capable person they could get.
How long has it been since we last had a mage...
The city was large enough that, before the war, mages had visited from time to time. But once the fighting started, every last one of them had vanished as if by some cruel joke.
"We don't need drifters."
Zalier dismissed Folmers's concerns out of hand.
"It's precisely because times are hard that we need someone reliable. If he can't even handle this much, he'll be of no use to us at all."
You couldn't handle the northern beast yourself, either...
Folmers opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. There was nothing to be gained by reprimanding the man.
Zalier was a mage the Count himself had brought in. Folmers was only managing the territory in the Count's stead; he had no authority to put Zalier in his place. Zalier knew it, too—which was why he was pushing so hard.
"Frankly, I'm not even sure he's a proper mage. I don't sense that distinctive power mages have. If you ask me, that country noble was just putting on airs."
And Zalier wasn't entirely wrong. Auger had talked Joseph up as a remarkable mage, but Folmers himself didn't find the rural baron's words particularly credible.
"If he's a truly capable mage, he'll manage a hunt of this scale. We can decide whether to trust him after that."
Folmers had no choice but to nod along in silence. Zalier was, after all, a man of Valois Territory as well. So Folmers told himself that this, too, was something done for the sake of the land.
"Very well."
Folmers nodded, and Zalier smiled.
Contrary to what Folmers believed, Zalier hadn't the slightest concern for Valois Castle.
As if he'll succeed.
From Zalier's perspective, it was an impossible task. Hadn't he himself failed the hunt and simply given up?
Who does he think he is, coming here.
He was hoping, rather, that Joseph would die on the subjugation. No—he was certain the man would die.
My position is unstable enough as it is. Tch.
The older a man grows, the more he stares at the ground beneath his own feet. Zalier was a man who cared more about his own future than the future of the county.
He had already been feeling his standing shift because of the war. He had no talent for combat, and so he'd been of no use on the battlefield. That was why the Count had left him behind in the territory and ridden out with the knights.
Zalier had no choice but to grow ever more preoccupied with his own place.
One mage is enough for the Count. Me. No one else is needed.
He was clutching far more than his abilities had ever earned him.