The Knight's Bargain
"You mean the Artifact I have?"
Joseph's brow furrowed sharply. It was a story he hadn't anticipated in the slightest.
What the hell is this bastard talking about?
He had a few Artifacts, sure—but how would this man even know about them?
"That's right."
"Explain. In detail."
Manir spoke slowly, laying out with painstaking care how he had come to be here. Watching Joseph strip him of his clothes even after hearing he was a noble, Manir seemed to have genuinely believed he might die.
This is insane...
As Joseph listened, his face gradually hardened. It couldn't be helped. If this man's words were true, the situation was gravely serious.
He came all the way here just to find that...?
Joseph's mind grew tangled. In truth, all of this had started from a vague, nameless sense of unease. Mercenaries who had shown up at just the right moment, in the dead of winter, when he needed manpower. Men who happened to have ties to the Roph Merchant Guild, where Joseph himself had once worked. And on top of that, Refn's lingering suspicion that they seemed like soldiers who'd received regular military training. That was all he'd had to go on—just enough to make him cautious, and then more cautious still.
As if I haven't been through this kind of shit enough times already.
If they had truly been mercenaries who'd arrived by chance, he would have taken them along on the subjugation without a second thought. The situation was desperate enough that he was conscripting untrained villagers for the hunt. They'd even trained diligently for a while—enough that he'd started to wonder if he was just being paranoid.
And here we are again...
In the end, this was a world where you couldn't let your guard down for even a moment. That said, if you traced it all the way back, he was the one who'd pocketed that gem Artifact in the first place. But he had no desire to regret it. Even if he went back to that moment, he would take the Artifact into his hands all over again. He was that certain.
It's because of that thing that I'm standing here now.
Without the mana-recovery Artifact, Joseph might well have been doing odd jobs in some back alley of Valois Castle by now.
"How did you know I had it?"
"...I heard it from a mercenary who claimed to have hunted an Ogre alongside you."
Ah. So that's it...!
The Mercenary Plaques those men had shown. They had belonged to the mercenaries who'd hunted the Ogre with Joseph. These people had stolen them and used them to disguise themselves as mercenaries.
They went that far just to investigate me and track me down...
Joseph looked down at Manir in silence. He'd ended up killing them all, but the soldiers this man had brought were clearly a cut above. Hearing all this, he was starting to think the man's claim of being a Knight might actually be true.
"Then what's your connection to the one in Malešov?"
"The one in Malešov?"
"Don't play dumb. If you really came from Pon-Er Territory, you'd naturally have some connection to the one controlling the Demonic Beasts right now!"
As he spoke, Joseph pressed a Mana Orb into Manir's throat.
"Ghk!"
Manir choked and thrashed. Joseph eased off a fraction, and Manir quickly lifted his head and shouted.
"...Th-the mage controlling the Demonic Beasts, you mean?!"
"That's right."
"I've never even seen him! I only heard a rumor that one of the retainers sent a Shaman south!"
"So he's not someone you were working with?"
"I only found out he even existed after I got here!"
"Then why didn't you join forces with him? You're on the same side—"
Manir flared up.
"Don't you dare lump me in with some filthy Shaman who controls Demonic Beasts!"
"...?"
Manir was a Knight who knew how to compromise—but that didn't mean he was without honor. He couldn't oppose the judgment of his lord, Count Poner, but that didn't mean he approved of such heresy. Joseph, however, merely looked down at him with a faintly amused expression.
"If we're talking filthy, I'd say a man who hid his identity to play at being a petty thief is worse."
"Kh."
Manir seemed to have lost his words, and hung his head. Meanwhile, Joseph found himself tilting his head inwardly at the man's reaction.
Even so, they're on the same side, aren't they?
The look in Manir's eyes just now had been genuine. To feel that much revulsion even toward an ally... And they were in the middle of a war, no less. It offered a glimpse of how Shamans were regarded in this world.
"So... what do you intend to do with him?"
At that moment, Auger, who had been watching from the side, stepped closer and asked. His face was slightly uneasy—apparently the fact that Manir was a noble was weighing on him.
Killing him would be the cleanest option.
In truth, for someone who'd tracked him this persistently, simply killing him was usually the best course. No loose ends that way. That was how it usually went. But Joseph, too, felt somehow uneasy about just killing him like this.
If I kill this man, word will definitely reach Count Poner.
Dozens of eyes were watching right now. And more than half of them were Conscript Soldiers who had originally been residents of this village. There was no way to gag them all. If anyone came asking later—even a little time passing—they'd spill everything immediately.
And I can't exactly kill everyone in this village, either.
That would just be a massacre. He didn't have that kind of temperament, anyway. He was an ordinary man chasing a comfortable life—not a butcher.
Then Joseph's eyes drifted to Manir's well-trained body.
...This man said he was a Knight, didn't he.
Joseph had never seen him fight, but if he truly was a Knight, his swordsmanship would likely surpass anyone present. And that spirit of his—standing tall and glaring even after being left alone. It was honestly the first time Joseph had seen anything like it. Most people would have dropped to the ground and started begging the moment it happened.
He's definitely got some skill.
Then a thought suddenly crossed his mind. Joseph crouched down in front of Manir and whispered to him.
"What?"
"I asked if you want to live."
"...That's stating the obvious."
He muttered, looking away as if his pride had been wounded. He was already a man who'd had everything laid bare—too late to start talking about the honor of nobles and Knights. And if he'd truly valued the honor of a "proud" Knight, he wouldn't have been doing a petty thief's work like this in the first place.
Then maybe we can talk.
Having reached that conclusion, Joseph spoke to him again, quietly.
"I'll give you a way to live. Or rather—a proposal."
"A proposal... you say?"
Joseph nodded, his face calm. Manir caught a flicker of unease in those eyes, but for now he had no choice but to wait for what came next.
"As you know, we'll soon be subjugating the Demonic Beasts of Malešov. Help us with that. Then I'll let you live."
Manir's eyes went wide.
"You're telling me to help kill the Shaman that Count Poner sent?!"
"That's right."
"You're asking me to betray him! That's absurd! Kill me instead!"
He bellowed as if he'd been dealt some great insult. Joseph nodded.
"Oh? Fine, then."
The Mana Orb began crushing down on Manir's throat once more. Unable to breathe, Manir started choking again.
"Ah, but there's something wrong with what you just said. I wasn't telling you to betray your lord."
"...Wh-what do you mean."
Joseph eased the Mana Orb just enough for Manir to breathe. Manir looked up at him, eyes full of questions. Joseph shrugged and continued.
"Your mission is to recover the Artifact I have, isn't it?"
"Th-that's right."
"Help me, and I'll give the Artifact back."
"What?!"
Manir stared at him, unable to believe it. Joseph met his gaze and spoke.
"If you just help with the subjugation of Malešov's Demonic Beasts, I will definitely return this Artifact to you. So you wouldn't be betraying your lord—you'd actually be fulfilling your loyalty."
"..."
"You're in a position where you have to complete your mission no matter what, aren't you?"
Manir fell silent for a moment. In truth, he already had no choice. If he didn't help, he would die. This man was not the type to spare him just because he was a noble.
H-he's going to return the Artifact?
And yet, the offer to return the Artifact... that was what was moving Manir's heart.
"How am I supposed to trust your word?"
"Why should I have to guarantee anything? Honestly, I feel a little sorry for you. After all, you're a loyal man who came all this way just to complete his mission. People like that are rare these days."
He dangled a carrot, just a little. And sure enough, Manir's eyes wavered.
"Besides, you said yourself you don't even know who the mage in Malešov is, didn't you? All you'd be doing is fighting Demonic Beasts and buying time. I swear it before God—I will return the Artifact. Baron Auger here will stand as guarantor. He's an honorable Knight, just like you."
And the empty pieces of that self-justification were slowly filled in by the words Joseph tossed his way. Above all, the promise that Auger—a fellow noble and Knight—would stand as guarantor. At those last words, Manir swallowed hard.
"...Is that... is that true?"
"It is. I promise. Though given your criminal record, you'll have to suffer a bit until the subjugation."
Manir seemed to have made up his mind, and nodded.
"...I'll do it."
At that, Joseph smiled inwardly.
"Then I'll be counting on you for a while."
"But... is this really all right?"
When Joseph took Manir in like that, Derik and Auk asked, looking worried. This was a man who'd tried to kill their employer, after all. Taking someone like that in... this wasn't a matter of being big-hearted or not.
"Yeah, it'll be fine."
Unlike his Private Soldiers, Joseph wasn't particularly worried. That strange sense of unease had long since vanished. He even felt a kind of relief, as if a tooth that had been aching dully had finally been pulled. More than anything, this was a time when they needed to bolster their forces for the Malešov subjugation. He'd never seen a Knight fight firsthand, but they were certainly more formidable than ordinary people. Manir would undoubtedly be a great asset.
"Though I'll need you two to put in a little extra work."
Of course, Joseph had no intention of relying on that alone, so he'd already put several measures in place. First, Joseph decided to stay at Auger's house for a while. Manir was already wary of Auger as a fellow Knight, so he wouldn't try anything behind their backs so easily. And besides, they'd had no choice after blowing the house apart trying to capture him.
Joseph significantly increased the number of people watching Manir to keep him from getting any other ideas. During training, he was always with the Conscript Soldiers, and he ate and slept with them as well. On top of that, Auger's soldiers and Joseph's Private Soldiers took turns keeping watch over him.
And lastly...
Joseph made one request of Auger.
"...You're telling me to just sit still? What is that supposed to mean?"
Joseph explained the situation to Auger. Namely, that Manir seemed to be quite wary of him. More precisely, it seemed to be because Manir regarded Auger as a Knight like himself. If Manir realized that Auger was, in reality, no different from the other soldiers, it might give him ideas he shouldn't have.
"...I understand."
Auger nodded, his expression complicated. He looked as though he couldn't decide whether to be glad or miserable.