IV. Chivalric Romance and the Bastards (6)
IV. Chivalric Romance and the Bastards (6)
The apprentice Keldric had dragged in barely opened his mouth.
Sir Herman, excited to an excessive degree, pressed him harshly, but there was little useful information.
Only after a full day had passed since he had been hauled before Keldric did a single statement slip out—that the Artisans' Guild Master had pulled strings to prevent anyone from selling goods to Keldric.
Sir Herman, thoroughly worked up, gave orders to summon the Guild Master, but Keldric was not entirely convinced.
It was because a nagging sense that he was missing something lingered ceaselessly in his mind.
'Why this nagging unease?'
The Guild Master had not yet been branded as the city's traitor.
Yet to look at Sir Herman, the matter seemed half settled already.
That the Guild Master should be summoned so easily was strange. How had he been found out so sloppily?
Keldric, who had been mulling it over this way and that, set the thought aside with an utterly uneasy feeling.
Racking his brains over it right now would yield no ready, sharp solution anyway.
In the end, Keldric rode out of the castle on Boreas early in the morning.
His thinking was to finish up the matters he had to deal with in Bellam first.
Alisa, who had barely shaken off sleep, followed after him on horseback as well.
The horses obtained as spoils from subjugating the mounted bandit gang had just been sold at a fair price to Sir Herman, who happened to need horses.
The price for the five horses was fifty Grasen silver coins.
Thanks to that, Keldric's coin purse grew more plentiful.
Besides that, since Alisa had said she would buy a horse, Keldric had sold her one without a second thought.
If she were unskilled at riding, walking would be more comfortable, but Alisa, who came from a fallen noble house, was proficient at horsemanship.
"Sorry about the early morning."
"No, it's... I didn't get a proper look around yesterday."
Alisa looked quite tired from having been up since early morning.
Keldric had no choice, as he did not know the streets of Bellam well.
Originally Sir Herman would have assigned him a suitable servant, but Alisa had abruptly volunteered to attend Keldric herself.
"This time... is it the Mormont Trading Company?"
"I have to handle a family matter."
Keldric fingered the letter carefully hidden inside his coat.
It was the letter he had received from Hilmer early on, before he had left Carlton Village.
He had been told to deliver it to the Mormont Guild Master once he reached Bellam, so Keldric meant to deal with it early, now that he had some time to spare.
"Have you met the Mormont Guild Master before?"
"I've met him once or twice. He's been fined a few times on suspicion of tax evasion, though..."
From what Alisa told him, the Mormont Guild Master seemed to have a few problems.
The story was that he had once even been confined in prison after being convicted on charges of attempted large-scale tax evasion, and only barely got released after paying an enormous fine.
Beyond that, various unsavory details—such as him reaching for drink at the slightest excuse—came spilling from Alisa's lips one after another.
Keldric furrowed his brow slightly.
To hear that the man he was about to meet had so many flaws—it was so thoroughly off-putting that his feet would not carry him forward willingly.
"He goes that far off the rails?"
"No. When I actually met him, he didn't seem particularly problematic. If a man has great wealth and is a prominent figure in the city, a few scandals like that are bound to always be circulating."
"But matters like tax evasion don't seem to be something merely distorted by rumor."
"Yes. I believe I heard that the tax evasion charge was genuine. Though the truth of the matter is known only to the parties involved."
In that case, Sir Herman likely knew the details.
But Keldric had no particular intention of going all the way to Sir Herman to ask. It was because he felt no need to deliberately unearth another man's failings.
"Will you do something with that?"
"No. I suppose there's no particular need."
It would be enough for Keldric simply to deliver the letter.
The Mormont Guild Master who received the letter would send a peddler back to Carlton Village, and his ties to Keldric would end there.
He might perhaps receive a small delivery fee for the letter, or compensation for Joseph's outrages, but that was simply something he could gulp down with a happy heart.
Keldric withdrew his interest from the Mormont Guild Master. All manner of scandals aside, Keldric was the sort to reserve judgment until he met a man himself.
"The period when Bellam fell?"
"Jorgen mentioned it. That Bellam has been sacked twice."
"I don't know the details, but... it was probably when the Kakar people crossed over."
While heading toward the Mormont Trading Company's building, Keldric and Alisa talked of various things.
Matters from the time Bellam fell, all kinds of rumors circulating in the surrounding fiefs, and so on.
All sorts of miscellaneous information flowed from Alisa's lips.
Keldric stacked away the useful pieces of it neatly in his mind.
For indeed, knowledge was power.
☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩
The place where the Mormont Guild Master dwelled was a two-story building constructed of limestone mortar and stone.
Keldric realized anew just how much wealth a merchant could amass if successful.
Near Bellam there existed not only iron mines but also a quarry.
Thanks to that, houses built of stone could be seen here and there in Bellam and its vicinity.
But that did not mean every building in Bellam was made of stone.
If that were the case, it was clear that Baron Yaven's purse would be ruined beyond ruin, torn to shreds.
To own outright a building large enough to count on one's fingers even within the city—and a two-story building built of stone at that—was no small expense.
Keldric, who had been gazing in admiration at the building where the Mormont Guild Master stayed, spotted Alisa looking at the building with an indifferent expression and felt slightly sheepish.
He had made a fuss over nothing. If a stigma as a country bumpkin knight were to stick to him over this, he would have no excuse.
"Let's go in."
"Yes."
The interior of the trading company's building was chaotic in various ways. Countless merchants exchanged goods with one another, entrusted items to the company, or gathered among themselves to confer over the next trade journey.
Keldric and Alisa stood near the entrance like alien outsiders, blankly watching the scene.
A few merchants frowned at the sight of Keldric, but the moment they saw his massive frame and the mace hanging at his waist, they yelped and hastily retreated.
Keldric had brought his mace along this time as well.
It was not strange for a knight to carry a weapon about.
Moreover, Keldric had just realized the efficacy of holding a weapon while conversing, only yesterday.
This time he merely had to deliver a letter, but no one knew what the future held.
Just as Keldric and Alisa were about to take a step, a company employee darted swiftly from somewhere and bobbed his head low to Keldric.
"Sir Knight. Thank you for visiting the Mormont Trading Company. Is there someone you are looking for?"
Keldric was wearing common clothes borrowed from Sir Herman.
Yet the company employee's attitude, having instantly recognized his status, was exceedingly deferential.
It was less a matter of keen observation than that a vast gulf existed between a knight and a commoner.
Generally, commoners who were not mercenaries could not go about bearing weapons.
That privilege was granted only to knights and other nobles.
Furthermore, Keldric's well-honed physique and fine-quality clothing plainly revealed that he was a person of knightly rank or higher.
Since there had been no word from the quick-spoken merchants of any noble passing through lately, it was not difficult to deduce that Keldric was a knight.
As soon as the phrase 'Sir Knight' fell from the company employee's lips, even the merchants who had been busily moving about fell quiet as if by prior arrangement.
On the faces watching Keldric lingered a touch of unease.
As for knights within Bellam, there was only Sir Herman of House Kassel.
Sir Herman was a knight of decent repute, at least, but any other visiting Sir Knight of unknown name was a knight from outside.
And unknown knights visiting from outside were generally ferocious.
It was not uncommon for knights in debt to merchants to occasionally show up and raise a ruckus.
What they truly feared was not, for the most part, the houses of trivial knights with little to their name.
What they feared was the status that let them run amok and still walk away unharmed.
While the merchants subtly kept their eyes on Keldric, Keldric, feeling slightly sheepish, opened his mouth.
"I have come to see the Mormont Guild Master. Is he in?"
"I see! If it is no offense, might I know Your Lordship's name and house?"
"God be with you. I am Keldric of House Bellaf."
It was a self-introduction he had never needed back in Carlton Village, but one he had come to make noticeably often once he was out in the wider world.
The company employee who had heard Keldric's introduction said with an expression of great apology to please wait a moment, then swiftly climbed up to the second floor of the building.
Only then did Keldric move his body and head deeper inside the building.
A few quick-witted merchants yielded the best seats to him.
A merchant was a profession where, if you lacked quick wits, you would be better off biting your tongue and dying.
Meanwhile, Keldric, who did not know why the merchants were wary, whispered to Alisa who sat beside him.
"The mood is a little strange."
"It does happen on very rare occasions, but sometimes other Sir Knights come calling over money matters."
"Aha."
Keldric, having instantly understood Alisa's words, nodded his head.
Indeed, borrowing money from merchants whom knights ordinarily held in contempt would be no small disgrace.
Naturally they would throw their weight around to their heart's content, and that would be a violence which merchants could not resist.
Yet Keldric did not much care for this atmosphere.
The sight of them fawning and cowering on his account was irksome.
"You there, you."
"Ah— yes?!"
"Are you perhaps busy?"
"Not busy at all! Certainly not!"
"It's boring just waiting like this. Let's chat for a moment."
Having caught hold of a merchant who was trying to slip quietly away, Keldric sat him down in the seat opposite.
The trapped merchant, sweating bullets, forced a smile.
Not busy, his ass—if a merchant were not busy, that was practically the same as not wanting to make money.
Keldric, who had unintentionally ended up troubling a merchant, asked in as gentle a tone as possible.
"Do you mainly travel as a peddler?"
"Yes. I tend to bring goods from beyond Bolhenian."
Bolhenian was a region at the far eastern edge even of the North.
The wealthy trade route that passed from there through the territory of the Kakar people and on toward the East was something Keldric, too, had often heard about.
"What kind of goods do you deal in?"
"Spices, for the most part. I sell spices coming in from the East at a reasonable price."
"Oh..."
Keldric's eyes lit up as he asked about this and that.
It was mostly matters such as the profit margins from selling spices, or information about the far-off East and the Kakar people.
"I've heard the Kakar people are nomads. How do they found and maintain a state?"
"So, recently I hear that the Kakar people are also in a bit of a crisis. Are the heathens not flourishing these days? I heard that they are gnawing away little by little at the Kakar people's territory."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Thanks to that, I find myself having to arrange a new trade route with the heathens."
"I've heard the heathens have that much money. Is that true?"
"As they conduct trade across the sea, they do handle great sums of money, I suppose...?"
"Alisa. Have you met heathens?"
"I have met them once or twice."
By this point, the merchant himself grew likewise animated and began freely dispensing all manner of information to Keldric.
It was not particularly remarkable information. Yet Keldric listened with shining eyes.
Because a clear social superior was listening attentively to his stories, his shoulders unconsciously squared with pride.
Knights with truly rotten personalities did not ordinarily like merchants. Keldric was the unusual one.
As Keldric conversed with the merchant without any reservation, the other merchants, too, gradually relaxed and refocused on their tasks.
"Thank you, my lord."
Thanks to that, a few company employees expressed their gratitude to Keldric. They thought he had magnanimously eased the mood.
Keldric, who had no idea why, simply found himself receiving thanks in bewilderment.
As Keldric carried on chatting for a good while, the employee who had earlier greeted him first descended from the second floor and whispered.
"Sir Keldric. I believe you may go up now."
Keldric nodded and rose from his seat.
"I hope we may have another talk next time."
"Oh my, it is an honor. Sir Knight."
The merchant he had been talking with showed an unconsciously regretful expression, but Keldric could not forget the purpose of his visit to the trading company.
Alongside Alisa, Keldric climbed to the second floor, fingering the letter inside his coat.
'How will he react?'
The key point was how the Guild Master would react upon hearing of Joseph's conduct.