Chapter 39
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: To the Imperial Capital
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I was packing my luggage. Azure-red grass sample. Draft contract. A treasured sword, just in case.
Good, this should be perfect.
"Can't I come with you toooo?"
"No."
My reply came too fast. Lize's mouth hung half-open, frozen.
"Whyyy?"
"I'm leaving, so someone has to stay behind. You."
Her hand drifted up to her eyepatch. A habit when she was unhappy.
"That's your reasonnn?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but the door swung open. Sir Heinrich, with Sir Wolfram behind him.
"Young master, couldn't I go in your place?"
"Do you know the market price for azure-red grass, Sir Heinrich?"
"Well..."
"How it's spiked recently, then settled back down?"
"..."
"What if you get played by some merchant at the bargaining table?"
Sir Heinrich fell silent.
"Even so, does the young master really need to go himself? How much could it possibly be worth?"
"Enough to buy ten or a dozen gold bars."
"That much? Yeah, I suppose you can't trust just anyone with it."
"Exactly why I'm going."
I finished packing. As I slung the bag over my shoulder, I felt eyes on me.
Lize. Still fiddling with her eyepatch, head slightly bowed.
"Are you sulking?"
"...Nooo."
I set the bag down and approached her.
"Do you know why I'm not taking you?"
"'Cause you don't need meee."
"Opposite. I can only leave because you'll be here."
"Huhhh?"
"A legion commander stepping away is unheard of. But I think it's okay because you'll stay."
Lize looked up at me.
"I trust Miss Lize's judgment too."
Sir Heinrich nodded.
"If anything urgent comes up, we'll follow her lead."
"What might blow up while I'm gone?"
I asked.
"Muller's bunch might make a move. If they caught wind of the raid, retaliation could come."
"The ice dragon heading south is another wildcard."
Sir Wolfram added.
"Kuman remnants toooo. The Golden Bear Tribe clashed with the 6th Legion, so it could trigger a chain reaction..."
Lize chimed in.
I nodded.
"That's why you're staying."
"...Got ittt."
Lize straightened her shoulders.
"Alright then, a gift for the one holding down the fort in my place."
I held out the box.
"A gift?"
"Yeah."
Lize opened the lid and tilted her head.
Inside was a hat.
Brim a bit wide, dark brown. A common design you'd see anywhere.
"...A hat?"
"Try it on."
"Huhhh?"
"Put it on."
Lize picked up the hat and placed it on her head.
Instantly, Sir Heinrich's eyes widened.
"That's..."
Sir Wolfram took a step back.
"Two young masters now?"
"What're you talking abouuut?"
Lize looked baffled.
"Look in the mirror."
I pointed to the wall mirror. Lize walked over and stopped.
Silence.
Her hand rose slowly. To where her eyepatch should be. But in the mirror, there was no eyepatch.
"Both eyes... they're thereee."
Her voice trembled.
She turned her head this way and that. The 'me' in the mirror mimicked perfectly.
Similar height, same silver hair—easy enough with a touch of illusion magic.
I'd sourced the magic materials, paid the mages, had it custom-made.
"Amazinggg! It looks just like you, young masterrr!"
Lize scrunched her face. The 'me' in the mirror did too.
"Heehee, hilariousss. You'd look so funny making that face, young master."
"...Don't mess around with someone else's face. You'll have to act like me for a while."
"Oh, sorryyy."
Her mouth corners wouldn't droop. Her hand kept drifting to her face. To where the eyepatch should be. Where the eye actually was.
I watched her.
Someday, I'll fix it for real.
The words rose to my throat but stopped.
Sir Wolfram.
More connections than me, more money, spent decades searching.
Even he couldn't cure that affliction.
"Young master?"
Lize turned. The face in the mirror looked at me.
"What's wronggg?"
"Nothing."
I shouldered my bag.
"I'll bring you a souvenir from the capital."
"Hurry back, okayyy!"
I waved without looking back.
**
"Kuh, a fine young lord with fine skills."
Kuuruk grinned as he pulled his horse alongside mine.
"What."
"You've already won that girl's heart."
"What are you on about."
"When you left earlier. 'Hurry back, bring a gift.' Her eyes were sparkling."
His hand gestures were annoying.
"Just a goodbye."
"Come on, I know women a bit."
"You know too many. That's the problem."
Kuuruk cackled. No denial.
"Heard you're even discussing marriage with a princess?"
"Where'd you hear that."
"Word's spreading. A capable man like you naturally gathers beauties. Heh heh."
His sly chuckle mixed with the hoofbeats.
"How many times have you been married?"
"Me?"
"Yeah."
"Four."
Proud tone.
"Before chieftain?"
"Two."
"After?"
"Two more."
"After this trip?"
"Planning more."
Shameless.
"I'm still ten."
"Around when I had my first girlfriend."
I was about to end this conversation. But one correction first.
"I'm not marrying any princess."
"What?"
Kuuruk turned.
"Does your 'capable man' serve a wife of higher status?"
Kuuruk shut his mouth, pondering.
"...Yeah, that doesn't sit right."
"Exactly."
I spurred my horse.
Kuuruk went quiet for a bit.
Then he spoke, tone different.
"But watching you, I feel something."
"What."
"With your talent, couldn't you rise higher than any princess?"
My grip tightened on the reins.
Higher than a princess.
If there was an official status that allowed it.
"Pretend you didn't say that."
"My apologies."
Kuuruk bowed his head. But his eyes didn't drop.
"But I mean it."
Who was this bastard trying to frame as a traitor?
"Watch your mouth. Say that anywhere else, and it's not just your head rolling."
"I'll remember."
Conversation died. Only hoofbeats remained.
He mistakes me for a genius.
But reality's different.
Past life's knowledge. Experience from two lives. That's all.
A real genius? Lize, probably.
Memory, insight, no rough edges, but her true shine...
Quick thinking, adaptability.
"Young master."
Kuuruk slowed his horse.
"What."
No answer. His gaze fixed one way.
"We've got a tail."
"Where."
"Two o'clock. Forest edge."
I glanced over. Something moved between trees? Or not?
"Sure?"
"Movement pattern. That's how you stalk prey. Man or beast."
Kuuruk's hand went behind his back. Bow out.
"How many?"
"One visible."
"Take it out."
Reins loose. Both hands on the bow.
String drawn.
Twang.
Arrow sliced air, vanished into the trees.
One second. Two.
"Gaaah!"
Kuuruk lowered his bow.
"Hit at that range?"
"Luck."
Luck? At two hundred meters?
"Let's check."
Kuuruk spurred ahead.
Forest edge. Man down.
Arrow in his thigh.
Clothes: traveler's garb. But two daggers at his waist.
"Know him?"
"One of Ernst's servants."
"P-please, spare me..."
He crawled. Blood pooled from his thigh.
"Ernst young master would forgive you now too. Just do as he said before. Live without heir ambitions and..."
I ignored him.
Kill him?
Spare him? He reports back to Ernst. My destination, companions, all revealed.
Kill him? I killed brother's servant. Evidence lingers. Body lingers.
Nearly a minute of thought.
"Y-yes! He said he wouldn't harm you... Ernst young master himself..."
I tuned out his babble.
Kuman remnant territory. Wild beasts abound.
Land where a lost traveler dying raises no brows.
Hand to waist.
Father's birthday gift sword. Blade out, sunlight flashed off it.
"Y-young master? Wait, just a moment! I was only following orders..."
Blade across throat.
"...Bold move."
"Kuman passerby got him."
Kuuruk was Kuman anyway.
"But you did it yourself..."
"He was doomed to bleed out anyway."
"Doesn't look it."
"If I say so, it is."
**
Nothing notable after. At least until the border—no, the noble houses' boundary.
Not wrong to call it border, really.
This world's nobles, especially great lords, were half-kings.
"Walls in the distance."
I nodded.
"That's outside Krushtein lands."
First time leaving family territory this life.
"So that land's ruler matches Duke Walter's rank?"
"No, barony."
"Baron's just a duke's lackey, no?"
Some were.
"Similar, but different."
"How?"
"Vast difference between a duke's vassal count and a great lord count."
Kuuruk nodded.
"What do you know, nodding."
"Vibes."
Cheeky.
Gate neared. Carriage halted.
Spear blocked the way.
"Halt. Inspection."
Kuuruk's hand to waist. I eyed him off.
Escort knight stepped forward. As planned.
"Appreciate the service. Merchants from the north."
"What goods?"
"Herbs."
Guard eyed the carriage. Boxes in the cargo hold.
"Herbs?"
"Yes."
"Then pay the herb import tax."
Herb import tax? Never heard.
Escort glanced at me. I looked away. No clue.
"What's that?"
"Exactly that. Tax on importing herbs."
"Since when?"
"Newly instated. Ten gold per carriage."
Escort reached for gold. Guard's gaze shifted inside the carriage.
Our eyes met.
Guard's face hardened.
"Hold. That kid. Get out."
Spear rose again. Toward the carriage now.
Get out? I was planning to anyway.
Sigh. I stepped down.
"No such tax in imperial law."
Guard's gaze slithered over me.
"What is this brat. Doesn't match any wanted posters anyway."
"Answer. Where in imperial law is herb import tax?"
"Local lord instituted it."
"Lords' discretion on new taxes is limited. Herb import isn't on the list."
His smug look vanished.
"Kid knows law?"
"Can't I? Local lord—you mean the baron?"
"The baron's what I mean."
Baron.
But... from what I knew...
This area's governed by a count-delegate manager, not a barony.
"Get your baron."