The Bounty
Ion stepped into the cabin, startled.
In the small room crammed with herbs, potion bottles, and books, a blonde woman lay bleeding from her stomach and chest. Marcello and Jose’s swords were already stained with blood.
On Ion’s map, the blue dots that had marked Marcello and Jose had changed to yellow. Now only three yellow dots remained, including the woman collapsed on the floor.
I was tricked.
Ion drew his sword.
“What is this?”
“What is it? We’re not here to arrest her. We only need to bring back her head.”
Marcello showed no interest in hiding or making excuses.
“Was this your plan from the beginning?”
“That’s right. She looked too heavy to haul all the way back.”
“She’s heavy? So it’s not just her head you’re after.”
“Correct again.”
If their goal had been only the woman’s head or a few herbs, there would have been no reason to approach Ion and suggest sharing the request.
“You deliberately lured me here.”
“Haha, that’s also true. Catching her is a side job. The real target is you.”
Ion had never earned the enmity of any knight from another kingdom.
Marcello and Jose were from the Basc Kingdom, and the only person Ion knew from there was one man.
Frederick Heringen, the highway bandit he had killed in Graf Estate, had come from the Basc Kingdom.
Only after the man’s death had Ion learned he was the brother of a large mercenary group’s leader operating in Basc Kingdom.
“The Kval Mercenary Group?”
“Haha, exactly. We accepted a commission from the group leader.”
“A knight accepting a mercenary’s request?”
“The money was too good to refuse. So maybe you shouldn’t have killed people so carelessly?”
“Are you saying a knight should be selective even when slaying highwaymen? Those aren’t words a knight should speak!”
Despite Ion’s rebuke, neither Marcello’s nor Jose’s expressions changed. Their faces were filled with greed.
“Haha, there’s a twenty-gold bounty on your head. That’s enough to buy a three-story house with a small garden and end this wandering life for good.”
No wonder their expressions hadn’t shifted.
The bounty was far too high for the head of a knight who was not yet famous.
“Fine. Discarding your honor is your own choice.”
Words would not end this.
Nodding, Ion scanned the inside of the cabin.
“This place is rather cramped.”
Standing near the entrance, Ion backed away and stepped outside.
In the yard in front of the cabin, Marcello and Jose closed in on him from both sides.
Marcello grinned mockingly, goading him.
“Those poison flowers were a great help on the way in. We nearly died first. I’m truly grateful.”
“If you’re grateful, drop your weapons now. I’ll forgive you.”
“Haha, you tell jokes too?”
“It’s not a joke. Lower your weapons and I’ll spare your lives.”
The smile vanished from Marcello’s face.
“I’ll answer without joking, then. I refuse.”
Marcello and Jose exchanged glances.
“Kill him!”
They thrust their swords at the same time.
Ion did not retreat from the simultaneous stabs coming from left and right. He swung his blade in a wide arc and knocked both swords aside.
“Ugh!”
Jose, whose sword had met Ion’s, flinched and staggered back a step. The power behind Ion’s blow was still too much for a mere squire to withstand.
Marcello spun his body in the direction of the clash and swung again with blinding speed.
As Ion moved to block Marcello’s strike, Jose’s sword darted out from behind his master’s body.
Clang!
Ion circled through the yard, parrying their blades one after another.
Attacked from both front and back, he found few openings for a counter.
Jose’s strength was weaker than Marcello’s, but after years together as master and disciple their coordination was flawless. The moment they sensed a lack of power, Jose would retreat slightly so Marcello could strike first, then Jose would thrust into the gap, never giving Ion a chance to breathe.
Clang! Clang!
Marcello attacked relentlessly, hoping to exhaust Ion, but cold sweat beaded on his forehead. By now Ion should have been tiring, his strength fading, yet he still looked completely composed.
If this continued, the attackers would tire first. Swinging and thrusting with full concentration consumed far more stamina than most realized.
“Huff… huff! Huff!”
Jose was gasping for air.
In that slight hesitation, Ion spotted the opening he had been waiting for. He leaped in front of the panting man and drove his shoulder hard into Jose’s chest.
“Gah!”
Wearing only a gambeson, Jose took the full impact.
The moment after the shoulder charge, Ion dropped low and swung his sword in a powerful arc at Marcello.
“Kgh!”
As Marcello staggered back from the heavy blow, Ion spun in the same direction and slashed. The black blade tore straight across Jose’s chest.
“Gaaah!”
Jose’s chest split wide open, spraying blood.
“Jose!”
Shocked, Marcello thrust desperately.
Ion met the incoming blade, twisted his wrist, and struck the middle of Marcello’s sword with the tip of his own.
Clang-clang-clang!
The rapid strikes rang out. With a surge of power, Marcello’s sword flew from his grip.
“This… strength…!”
Ion stepped in close, seized Marcello’s neck with one hand, reversed his grip on the sword, and drove it deep between neck and collarbone.
“Guhhhk!”
The blade sank nearly to the hilt.
“How… are you supposed to beat… this kind of power…!”
It seemed the man had never imagined anyone could deflect a veteran knight’s sword and then bury their own blade to the hilt in a single motion.
Ion whispered softly to him.
“When the bounty is an exorbitant sum, you should have realized there was a reason.”
“…Ugh… I didn’t… know…”
Watching Marcello’s face twist with regret, Ion pulled the sword free.
Schluck!
Blood fountained from Marcello’s neck as he collapsed.
Once both men had drawn their final breaths, the fatigue of battle melted from Ion’s body. Fresh power flowed into the muscles of his arms and legs.
Feeling the surge, he sheathed his sword and searched the dead men’s belongings. There were no notes or clues about the bounty. It seemed they had received the request in person.
They did carry a little coin. Between them they had two gold pieces. After subtracting the cost of the antidote, more than one gold remained.
At least I didn’t take a loss. That’s fortunate.
When he re-entered the cabin, leaving the bodies in the yard, the blonde woman was sitting propped against the cabinet filled with potion vials.
“You look like you’re in pain.”
“…Yes. I know…”
Unlike before, several empty bottles now lay on the floor. She seemed to have drunk medicine in an attempt to treat herself.
But these wounds could not be cured by medicine.
The amount of blood she had lost from her stomach and chest was far too great. It was already too late.
“These words may be meaningless now, but I came believing this was an arrest and escort. I was foolish enough to be deceived. If I had noticed, I might have saved your life. I regret it.”
“It’s all right. I… heard what you were saying.”
“Did you?”
Rina had an ordinary appearance, yet even as she lay dying her eyes remained clear and sharp.
“I am… Rina. Rina Schmitz.”
“Ion Rise.”
Rina smiled with difficulty and continued.
“…The herbal wholesaler Ulrich coveted my herb garden and my potion recipes. When I refused, he accused me… of being a witch.”
“I know the scribe of Yakubi Estate is his brother. It seems that scribe issued the request.”
“I… know.”
Rina nodded weakly, then bowed her head to Ion.
“I have… one request.”
“You want revenge?”
“…No. Please cut off my head… and take it to the scribe.”
“…!”
What was her intention?
He listened as Rina went on.
“I… drank poison.”
“Hmm…”
He looked again at the empty glass bottles on the floor. They had been poison, not medicine.
“Right now… it is not poison, but when I die… the substances will mix inside me and turn toxic. Tell the scribe that there were incredible medicines and recipes here, but the poison prevented anyone from approaching. Then… he will come looking for me.”
“So this is how you plan to take revenge?”
“Yes. I will kill him… using my own body.”
“…Understood.”
She must have harbored deeper resentment than he had thought, to seek vengeance even after death.
This much he could help with.
When Ion nodded, Rina extended her hand.
“…As repayment, I will give you this…”
It was a ring of black thread.
“Isn’t this a ring?”
“It is called the Detoxification Ring. It is not an especially powerful one, but it should neutralize the poison of the main poison flowers you encountered on the way to this cabin.”
Though she had called it unremarkable, the poison had been strong enough to require holding the antidote in one’s mouth several times.
Had Ion not prepared, the outcome might have been very different.
“For such a simple task, the reward seems too great.”
“…If not for you, Sir Knight, I would never have even considered revenge. In any case… once I am dead, the ring would be discarded or fall into someone else’s hands. I would rather… it go to you.”
“Hmm… Very well.”
Ion accepted the ring.
Only then did Rina smile, satisfied.
“Thank you…”
Her head drooped, and her breathing stopped.
Most people hoped for a proper funeral and burial, yet Rina had abandoned that wish to pursue revenge.
It was tragic, but he would respect her decision.
Ion severed Rina’s head, wrapped it carefully in cloth, and left the cabin.
He tied stones to the legs of Marcello and Jose’s corpses, sank them in the pond, and erased every trace of the fight.
On the return path he removed his gauntlet, slipped the ring onto his finger, and walked straight through the field of purple flowers.
Pollen rose from the blooms he brushed against, but unlike before he felt no dizziness.
The red flowers and the original yellow ones were the same.
With no fear of poisoning, he no longer needed to tread carefully. He passed quickly through all the flower paths.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Lotte, who had been guarding the horses, came running with his tail wagging.
“Yes, you guarded them well! Good job!”
At Ion’s touch, Lotte rolled over again, belly exposed.
Marcello and Jose’s horses were grazing where they had been tied. Yan, left untethered, had eaten only the freshest, tenderest grass.
Ion tied the two horses behind Yan, one after the other, and set out for Yakubi Estate.
Four days later Ion entered Yakubi Estate and immediately went to see the estate’s scribe, Bernt.
Bernt was a gaunt man in his fifties.
Ion set the bundle containing Rina’s head on the desk.
Bernt opened the cloth just enough to glance inside, then closed it again.
“This is… the witch?”
“I don’t know if she was a witch, but she was an herbalist.”
At Ion’s blunt reply, Bernt tilted his head and asked suspiciously.
“So… Sir Marcello died from poison?”
“His squire was poisoned as well.”
“Three went in and only one came back…”
“Are you accusing me of harming my own companions?”
At Ion’s irritated tone Bernt shrugged and laughed, but Ion was genuinely annoyed.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Enough. Just give me the reward.”
“Was there nothing else in that witch’s cabin?”
“It was full of books and glass potion bottles. There were also many written documents.”
Bernt licked his lips.
“We originally agreed on one gold, but if you bring what was inside I’ll add two more.”
“No. I nearly died from the poison. I barely escaped and have no desire to return. If you want it, go yourself.”
“I’ll add three gold.”
“Just give me the request fee.”
“Hmm.”
Even when offered extra payment, Ion refused firmly. Bernt took a single gold coin from his pocket and slid it across the desk.
“You’ve done well.”
For other requests they usually provided a small coin pouch, but Bernt seemed unwilling to spare even that expense.
Ion pocketed the gold, gave a half-hearted farewell, and left.
Watching the door Ion had exited and the bundle on his desk, Bernt muttered.
“So that’s how it is? Plenty of books and plenty of potion bottles?”
Bernt stroked his sparse beard and nodded.
That night.
Four riders left through the eastern gate of Yakubi Estate. Ion watched them go.
One was the scribe Bernt.
Beside him rode a man who resembled Bernt but was younger, in his forties. This was his brother, the herbal wholesaler Ulrich. The other two looked like mercenaries.
After delivering Rina’s head that afternoon and leaving the lord’s castle, Ion had waited outside for Bernt to appear.
Soon the scribe had emerged, entered the upscale residential district, come back out with Ulrich, entered an inn, and then reappeared with two mercenaries.
They had returned to the residential area, taken four horses, and ridden out of the estate.
Ion had carried out Rina’s request to send both the scribe Bernt and the herbal wholesaler Ulrich to her.
He intended to stay in Yakubi Estate a few more days to see whether they would return.
If Rina’s plan for revenge worked, that would be good. If it did not, he would simply wait and see what happened next.