III. How to Crush Rock (1)
III. How to Crush Rock (1)
Baron Yaven had borrowed the village chief's house and was staying there.
There was an inn in Yalta Village, but no matter what, Baron Yaven could hardly be expected to sleep at an inn.
"His Lordship is within."
"Thank you."
Keldric handed a silver coin to the soldier who had finished guiding him.
The soldier, who had been bowing his head slightly, brightened at once.
"Thank you! Sir Keldric!"
"It's nothing. More importantly, could you put my horse in the stable?"
"Yes. I shall."
"I'd appreciate it if you could see to the horse's feed as well. Hay mixed with oats or peas."
"If there is any to spare. I shall tend to the horse with the utmost care."
After entrusting Boreas's reins to the soldier, Keldric approached the front of the village chief's house.
Just as he had seen at the village entrance, two soldiers stood guarding the door.
"Pardon me. The house and name of the honorable knight—."
"God be with you. I am Keldric of House Bellaf. I was guided here by the gate guard. May I enter?"
"Please wait a moment."
One of the soldiers guarding the entrance went inside the house.
While waiting for him, Keldric took a slow, careful look at the village chief's house.
'A fine house.'
The village chief's house, built of a mixture of stone and lime mortar, certainly looked sturdy.
It seemed that having a city nearby made for a smooth supply of stone.
To put it another way, it was the perfect house for a lord touring his domain to stay in for a while.
The actual owner, the village chief, would have to sleep in another villager's house, but that couldn't be helped.
The lord stayed in the finest house in the village, and in return the village chief gained the lord's protection and trust. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
As Keldric was looking over the village chief's house, the soldier who had gone inside came back out and sought him.
"Sir Keldric. His Lordship invites you to join him at his meal."
"Lead the way."
"Yes. This way, please..."
Without realizing it, Keldric clenched his fist tight.
Since leaving Carlton Village, this was the first time Keldric was meeting a proper noble.
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"Now, I have no choice but to admit that I find myself in a truly fucked situation."
As the soldier guided him, Keldric cocked his ear without making it obvious.
A rough voice was leaking from inside the open door.
"Sir Werner. Speak frankly. Can you resolve this situation?"
"...If we had sufficient troops, it would be possible."
"Yes. Those damned troops are always lacking, and now is no different. And the mercenaries we went to the trouble of hiring are all nothing but blockheads!"
Bang!
Next, the sound of a fist slamming down on a table.
Keldric and the soldier guiding him looked at each other with awkward expressions.
"...Is it all right to go in now?"
"If Sir Keldric were made to wait, His Lordship would be ill at ease. Please think of your own honor, sir."
Keldric could well have waited if asked, but he nodded at the soldier's words.
He understood what the man was saying.
To summon a guest only to make him wait outside—that would be an affront to his dignity as a noble.
Moreover, if that guest were a knight, it could amount to slighting the knight's honor entirely.
The soldier guiding Keldric entered the room first.
At the same time, the sound of seething rage subsided a little.
"Forgive the interruption, my lord."
"Now what?!"
"Sir Keldric of House Bellaf has arrived. He seeks an audience with you, my lord."
"Hoo... Show him in."
Keldric stepped carefully into the room.
Before a table cluttered with various dishes and utensils sat two men.
Keldric looked at the one seated in the highest place of honor.
'That man is Baron Yaven.'
Baron of Yaven, Lord Devanu Mikesh.
Seeing him for the first time in ten years, Baron Yaven was little changed from Keldric's hazy memories.
No mustache, a beard connected to his sideburns, a somewhat fleshy face, and drooping corners to his eyes.
Save for having more wrinkles than before, it was a face Keldric could somehow still recognize.
"Sir Keldric. It seems we meet after a long while."
Baron Yaven remembered Keldric as well.
Though whether he was making pleasantries after hearing Keldric's name and house, or actually remembered his face, was uncertain.
"I am honored to meet Lord Yaven. Of the honorable House Mikesh—."
"Bah! Enough of that. Honorable house this and that, first come over here and sit. The food will get cold."
Baron Yaven had a somewhat rough yet hearty side to him.
He even omitted the polite formalities by which Keldric was extolling his house and ultimately sat Keldric down at the table.
While the grilled salmon and wheat bread laid out on the table stirred Keldric's stomach, it was Baron Yaven who spoke first.
"It's been nearly ten years, hasn't it?"
"That is correct."
"Back then you were downright runty... No, you weren't small even then, were you."
Though Northerners were said to have large frames, even among them Keldric was peerless.
Baron Yaven gave Keldric—now even larger than before—a flabbergasted look for a moment, then cleared his throat and continued.
"At any rate. It seems like only the other day you were together with Sir Volfen, and now you've grown into such a fine man. Sir Volfen would be proud."
"Thank you for saying so."
As far as Keldric was concerned, that was nonsense.
Let alone whether Sir Volfen had been proud of Keldric, it was questionable whether he had ever been proud of even Hilmer or Fritz.
But he couldn't ruin the mood.
Keldric played along with Baron Yaven's words appropriately and took a sip of wine.
"The matter of Sir Volfen is truly a shame. He was an upright and honorable knight, so God will surely have taken him to heaven."
"Thank you. My father also closed his eyes in peace."
"Hm. I heard you mean to go on to Bellam, but don't mind me and rest comfortably before you go."
With that, Baron Yaven's words ended.
Having spoken, Baron Yaven downed one drink after another, as if trying to drown the worries boiling in his heart.
A frustrated sigh, tinged with alcohol, burst out of him.
And that troubled sigh was directed at the man seated across from Keldric.
"So, Sir Werner. How many more troops would you need?"
Sir Werner of House Henzer, who had a blunt, gruff look about him, was there.
Keldric swept his gaze quickly over Sir Werner's appearance.
Like Keldric, Sir Werner was clad in chain mail and a surcoat.
The difference was that he had plate armor layered in between.
The plate armor Sir Werner wore would not protect his entire body, but it did shield most of it except for the joints.
Something ambiguous in between, a mixture of chain mail and plate armor. Armor born during the transitional period.
That was what was called transitional armor.
What was more, Sir Werner's armor was entirely pitch-black. It was harder to find a part that was not black.
The moniker Hilmer had mentioned to Keldric—Crow—fit him perfectly.
Sir Werner, arrayed like a crow, spoke.
"Lord Yaven. It will be difficult with clumsy mercenaries. Even if it means paying a premium, it would be better to hire somewhat better mercenaries."
"Hrrrm... The mercenaries we hired not long ago were decent enough."
"Among that lot, there were few who carried spears. Moreover, we also need men who know how to shoot a bow."
"And what of the mounted bandits said to be roaming this area, then?"
"...I believe that is a problem to consider after this matter is resolved first. We cannot divide our forces."
As the conversation flowed to this point, even Keldric, who had been quietly eating his salmon, was able to grasp roughly how things stood.
'A problem has arisen nearby, it seems.'
A problem had arisen near Yalta Village.
That much was obvious, but the part on which Keldric focused was something else.
The fact that Baron Yaven was in a predicament serious enough to require additional troops.
Yet the information Jorgen had passed on had contained no problem concerning Yalta Village.
Jorgen might not know everything, but it was strange that he had not known a matter that was tripping up a personage of Baron Yaven's stature.
If so, it was a problem that had arisen recently, and he could also tell that resolving it would require mercenaries who handled spears and bows.
And, as it happened, Keldric had come with a mercenary company that met all of those conditions.
"Forgive me for interrupting, but may I know what has happened?"
Keldric addressed Baron Yaven without hesitation. Baron Yaven, with his amiable face, looked at Keldric.
"Hmm... A somewhat troublesome matter has indeed arisen."
However, Baron Yaven did not immediately explain his situation.
Seeing his guarded attitude, Keldric recalled the time when he had entered Yalta Village.
Come to think of it, the gate soldiers he had met at the entrance to Yalta Village had also been leery of broaching this subject.
They would not have done so unless it were a fairly serious problem.
That made Keldric feel frustrated.
If he left the village knowing nothing and ran into something unfortunate in this vicinity, that would be a sorry state.
"Lord Yaven. I did not mean to eavesdrop, but in the end, are you not seeking capable mercenaries?"
"That is not incorrect."
"As it happens, there are mercenaries who accompanied me all the way to Yalta. They are quite skilled."
At Keldric's words, Baron Yaven's eyes sank deep.
Sir Werner, too, looked at Keldric with earnest eyes and opened his mouth.
"Sir Keldric. Your honorable act of understanding our plight and seeking to help is worthy of respect. But I would also have you know that it may be foolhardy."
"Sir Werner. Are you not looking for mercenaries who can handle spear and bow?"
"...That is true."
"Then there should be no problem. The mercenaries who came with me happen to know how to handle spears, and there are quite a few who can handle bows."
Originally, this was a matter Jorgen should have heard as well.
After all, the mercenaries who would have to move were the Ram Mercenary Company led by Jorgen, and the authority to decide their further actions rested with Jorgen.
However, Keldric was looking at a slightly farther future.
'Neither I nor Jorgen will lose out.'
The fact that Keldric had entered Yalta Village with the mercenaries was something Baron Yaven's soldiers had already witnessed.
It was only a matter of time before that news reached Baron Yaven's ears.
Rather than having Baron Yaven come to him belatedly, it made a better picture for him to extend a hand first.
Keldric benefited by leaving a good impression on Baron Yaven, and Jorgen and the Ram Mercenary Company benefited because they would be able to receive better pay.
If Jorgen happened to be uneasy about it, Keldric could simply hire them himself, and that would be that.
Furthermore, Baron Yaven would also not have to go to the mercenaries first on his own two feet, so in his own way he would be saving face.
If there were indeed a problem, it would be the mounted bandit prisoners who were half-dead, but since things had come to this, it would not be bad to ask the local lord, Baron Yaven, for judgment and receive something like a certificate of confirmation.
No, considering that it meant not having to drag the cumbersome mounted bandit prisoners all the way to Bellam, this option was unqualifiedly better.
"Ahem. You have a point."
Baron Yaven cleared his throat and showed a positive reaction.
For him to personally approach lowly mercenaries and make a request—that, too, had been making Baron Yaven's mood quite foul.
At Keldric's words, Sir Werner's expression had also softened considerably.
"How many in number?"
"Thirty-three. Whether they will join us, I do not know, but there is also one wizard."
"Oh...! Do you know which school?"
"I am told it is the School of Purifying Flame."
"Flame! Sir Werner! Is that not exactly what we need?"
Sir Werner sank into thought. Keldric waited in silence.
"...It seems like it would be all right."
"Then it is decided. Sir Keldric, can you help me? I shall not disappoint you in compensation, either."
"I am amenable. However, I believe we must ask the captain of the mercenary company and the wizard about this as well."
"Yes, do so. I, too, have no mind to hold anyone by force."
That mercenaries were needed implied that combat was being assumed.
Whatever else might be, Keldric was in a state where his confidence regarding combat was on the rise to some extent.
"Before that, though, I wish to first hear the circumstances of Lord Yaven and Sir Werner."
"Ah, of course. I rushed too much."
Keldric, who had moistened his throat with wine, pricked up his ears at Baron Yaven's words.
First, he meant to hear the story, at least.
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"As you know, sir, the iron supply to Bellam has been cut off entirely since a few days ago."
Keldric had not known this fact, but he nodded.
Whether he knew or not was not especially important; he only needed to know that Bellam's iron supply was not flowing smoothly.
"It was a bolt from the blue, utterly. When I stopped by just a month ago, the city was running fine and well, but when I looked in a few days ago, it was in an absolute uproar."
"It must have troubled you greatly."
"Troubled doesn't begin to cover it! Fucking hell! To be frank, it's still a piece of shit!"
Baron Yaven suddenly sprayed spit as he let loose a torrent of foul language.
Even as Keldric blinked in surprise, Sir Werner opposite him merely nodded with an expression as untroubled as if it were an everyday occurrence.
"Think about it! One of the sources of revenue for the most prosperous city in my domain is stopped up tight, and I didn't even know the cause!"
"Ah, um."
"Of course, Bellam isn't a city that lives solely off metallurgy! I admit that, but even so, the income coming from the Artisans' Guild was not insignificant! And now it's cut off entirely! Damn it!"
"P-please, calm yourself."
In the end, Baron Yaven only managed to sit back down after Keldric talked him down.
"Hoo... At any rate, because of that I haven't been able to sleep properly for days. The city's condition is not good."
"Seeing that Lord Yaven is staying in Yalta, I take it you found out the cause quickly."
"Indeed. I found out the reason my iron supply was choked off all too easily, once I came here."
Baron Yaven placed a stone the size of half a fist onto the table.
Keldric looked at it with a puzzled expression.
"What is this?"
"This, right here. This is what plugged up my money line."
"...Is it not simply a rock?"
To Keldric's eyes, it was unmistakably a rock.
A stone with a slight ochre tinge, but a pebble that did not look particularly remarkable.
"It is no mere pebble. It is a fragment of a rock troll's hide."
But at Baron Yaven's following words, Keldric could only shut his mouth.
"If you go west from Schaffendorf, there is a mining village nestled by a stream. The rock trolls that had been appearing there have now come down along the river as far as the vicinity of Yalta Village and have seized tight control of the iron transport route."
"Then, the reason Lord Yaven is tied down here..."
"Hm. To kill those fuck-awful trolls. And besides, there are mounted bandits prowling this area as well."
Hearing Baron Yaven's words, Keldric unconsciously thought of a certain man.
'Augh, don't even ask. You know the mining village beyond the stream to the southwest? Since the rock trolls have occupied that mine there, I had to take a long detour around with a heart weeping tears of blood!'
The cunning face like a rat, the attitude of rubbing his hands together and bowing obsequiously.
And, the man Keldric had slugged in the solar plexus.
'...What he said was true?'
It was Joseph.