IV. Chivalric Romance and the Bastards (7)
IV. Chivalric Romance and the Bastards (7)
The guild master of the Mormont Trading Company had a stiff, fastidious look about him at a glance.
Whatever he had been busily writing, he kept his head bowed and did not let go of his pen even after Keldric entered the room.
"It is an honor to meet you, Sir Keldric. I am Anselm, entrusted with the position of guild master of the Mormont Trading Company."
Contrary to his appearance, Anselm's manner was smooth and his expression was mild.
It was likely because he was in front of Keldric, but at the very least, he was not the type to act cocky banking on his position as a guild master, and he was quick on the uptake.
With a constant smile, he seated Keldric at the head of the table. Naturally, this arrangement meant the others in the room had to look up slightly at Keldric.
"I apologize for dropping in unannounced."
"Not at all. For the honorable Sir Keldric, I must make time whenever necessary."
Among wealthy merchants, there were many who did not regard knights as particularly fearsome.
After all, they had raked in more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime, while conversely, many knights spent money like water in amounts they could never earn in a lifetime.
Knights, for whom luxury was the norm and who lacked any sense of money, borrowed from merchants without hesitation, and the wealthy merchants, having cultivated connections with the nobles of the fief in advance, would press for repayment of the debts.
In the eyes of merchants with silver coins lodged where their eyes should be, there was no breed as stupid as knights.
Of course, they were merely less afraid of them than other commoners—if they offended a knight's honor by some slip, it was the merchant who would pay with his life that very day.
That wariness could be glimpsed in Anselm's attitude.
A friendliness and courtesy glossed over so thickly that one would hardly notice without scrutinizing him, and within that, a discomfort hidden unobtrusively.
Keldric felt even less need to prolong the conversation. He had no reason to persuade anyone that he was not that kind of knight.
Hand over the letter, and finish the job.
Having thought that, Keldric abruptly produced the letter and handed it to Anselm.
"Skip the idle talk, and take the letter first."
"Sir Keldric? This is..."
"It would be best to read it first and then we can talk."
While Anselm unfolded the letter and slowly read through it, Alisa merely gazed straight ahead with an impassive expression, even as a situation unfolded that she did not fully understand.
There was no need for Alisa to hear the conversation that followed. But conversely, it also did not particularly matter if Alisa heard it.
That was all the more true because Alisa had unhesitatingly revealed that she was from a fallen noble house.
Meanwhile, Anselm's expression as he read the letter shifted constantly.
By the time he had read about half the letter, his face was tinged the color of dirt, and as he reached the end, it flushed and flared red and blue.
"...Are you all right?"
"Pardon? No, ah. Well..."
As if he himself had not expected to lose control, a slightly flustered Anselm hastily composed his expression.
His face, which had flared up as if about to burst, returned to its original state in an instant.
Seeing that, Keldric was genuinely impressed. It seemed to demonstrate what the virtues of a merchant were.
"Hoo... First, Sir Keldric. I cannot but offer my deepest apologies."
"Hm?"
"I am truly, sincerely sorry. I never dreamed that bastard Joseph would pull this kind of dogshit..."
If it was anger because of Joseph, Keldric could understand it as well.
Right now, there were exactly two reasons why Anselm's neck remained intact in this room.
One was that House Bellaf was too far away to bring any force to bear, and the other was that Keldric knew how to distinguish between the party who committed the wrong and a third party.
Strictly speaking, Anselm's lack of oversight would be a problem too.
However, Keldric had no intention of belaboring that point.
He might give him a faint warning glance and angle for some compensation, but he was not the sort to start drawing a weapon in a fight to the death over it.
From the perspective of Anselm, who did not know that fact, his own neck was on the line because of one stupid peddler who belonged to his trading company, so it was only natural that he was angry.
"Then, is this son of a bitch dead?"
"Calm yourself. You had best mind your words."
"Ah! M-my apologies. Ahem."
Keldric, having somewhat quelled Anselm's agitation, glanced at the letter held in Anselm's hand.
Keldric was roughly aware of the contents of the letter.
The letter only stated something along the lines of 'House Bellaf is detaining Joseph,' and followed up with instructions to ask Baron Yaven directly if he wanted to know the detailed circumstances and to dispatch a new peddler.
It was closer to a notification, or even a threat, than a letter.
Hilmer had invoked Baron Yaven's name.
That meant this incident was serious enough for Baron Yaven, the lord, to be personally involved.
Moreover, since what Joseph had done was briefly noted as well, Anselm could not help but be on pins and needles.
"Sir Keldric. What has become of Joseph? Surely Sir Hilmer must have gauged the gravity of the crime and punished him accordingly?"
Without any need to judge the gravity, Anselm's words implied Joseph's death.
For a commoner to form a mercenary band and strike at a noble house was an act of madness.
Furthermore, to kill the head of a noble house and, disregarding the previous head's will, elevate another child as the new head was tantamount to a declaration that one had no wish to live.
It was only natural to assume that by now, Joseph was being roasted nice and hot in purgatory beneath the earth.
However, Keldric felt a sense of puzzlement at this natural assumption.
'Why is he so fixated on Joseph?'
Even so, he had been a man belonging to the Mormont Trading Company, and Keldric could not fathom why he inquired about Joseph's death alone so persistently.
It did not seem to be merely because his own life had been threatened.
Rather than solely wishing for Joseph's death, Anselm appeared to have a stronger desire to confirm Joseph's death from Keldric.
In other words, it was not a personal grudge, but a certainty of unknown origin that Joseph had to be dead.
That was manifestly strange.
From the moment Keldric sensed this oddity, the air in the room began to feel oddly thick and close to him.
But Keldric did not betray this outwardly.
"By now, he should be dead. Lord Yaven paid a personal visit, after all."
"Ahh! Is that so! As expected!"
"As you said, there was no son of a bitch quite like him."
"Indeed! Just so! I put so much effort into raising him as a respectable peddler! And to betray House Bellaf, which permitted him to trade, the ungrateful wretch!"
Keldric lied smoothly without batting an eye.
Even Keldric did not know whether Joseph was dead or alive. Strictly speaking, he suspected the man was not dead yet.
Hilmer had extracted some information on the pretext of interrogating Joseph, but once a connection to Baron Gofrit had been uncovered, Baron Yaven would probably not simply kill him.
The variable was Baron Yaven's quick temper.
The possibility could not be excluded that his eyes had rolled back in fury the moment he heard the name Baron Gofrit, and he had personally taken up a sword and slit Joseph's throat.
But all of that was conjecture, purely hypothetical.
The reason Keldric lied was solely to observe Anselm's reaction.
Keldric had caught a whiff of something, and if so, he needed to confirm whether it stank or not.
"Since Joseph is dead, I would like you to send a new peddler, as written in the letter."
"Why, of course! It is absolutely no problem! I will dispatch a far more reliable fellow this time! I can only apologize to Your Lordship and the honorable House Bellaf!"
Anselm was oddly delighted by Joseph's death.
This too did not seem to be merely because he could now protect his own livelihood.
Even after the conversation had more or less concluded, Anselm made all sorts of fuss and pressed money upon him, thanking him for delivering the letter. The sum amounted to no less than five Florin gold coins.
On top of that, he added that a sizable compensation sum would be delivered to House Bellaf as well.
It looked as though he was trying to curry favor with Keldric by any means.
"I shall put this money to good use."
"Please, if it is insufficient, speak up again! I will replenish it to fit Your Lordship's honor!"
Naturally, that did not mean there was any need to refuse money coming his way.
Keldric stuffed the coins Anselm handed him into his pouch without another word.
As Jorgen had said, the money might be dirty, but money was money.
Even if Anselm later brought up the fact that he had fed his dirty money to Keldric, he could just tell him to fuck off and answer with a mace.
There was no need to rack his brains over something like this.
'I've become a proper knight after all.'
With a somewhat bitter feeling in his heart, Keldric finished exchanging pleasantries with Anselm and exited the guild building with Alisa.
The moment they were outside, Keldric asked Alisa point-blank.
"What do you think?"
"Pardon?"
"I am asking what you thought of that fellow just now."
"...I do not know the details, but he seemed oddly delighted when you told him that man named Joseph was dead."
"I thought so as well."
Keldric calmly mounted Boreas.
Talking with him, Alisa also got up onto her horse in the natural flow of the moment.
"And that is what makes it even stranger."
Keldric knew by instinct.
The smell he had just caught was, most definitely, the foulest of stenches.
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"Sir Keldric! Welcome back!"
"Ah, Sir Herman."
"I waited anxiously for you to return, I thought my neck would go slack! Come inside, quick!"
By the time Keldric returned to the castle, Sir Herman, who had apparently already finished speaking with the Artisans' Guild Master, greeted him.
Having reined his horse to a halt, Keldric regarded Sir Herman with a somewhat dubious look for a moment.
The foul stench he had picked up from Anselm moments ago was still stubbornly clinging to his nose.
"Did you have some good news?"
"It is a bit much to discuss here... Will you not come inside first?"
Keldric glanced at Sir Herman's cautious demeanor, and then glanced at Alisa, who stood blankly beside him.
"Alisa. You go in ahead of me."
"Yes. Understood."
Keldric watched Alisa as she walked briskly toward her room, then turned his gaze back to Sir Herman.
He was strangely flushed with excitement.
It was hard even for Keldric to guess what kind of glad tidings the man could have received.
It would not do to just stand rooted in the courtyard. Keldric strode after Sir Herman, who was walking briskly.
The place they relocated to turned out to be that very office where Keldric had first met Sir Herman.
"Sir Keldric. Yesterday I interrogated that honorless apprentice rascal, and the name of the Artisans' Guild Master came up."
Sir Herman spoke, having calmed down a little. His brow was slightly furrowed.
"Therefore, today I summoned the Artisans' Guild Master to the castle. It is an unacceptable thing, that he dared allow a mere apprentice to sully your honor."
Keldric did not know exactly how Sir Herman had put the guild master through the wringer.
But judging by Sir Herman's flushed face, still oddly fired up with blood, it did not seem like a very pleasant exchange had taken place.
Keldric hoped the Artisans' Guild Master had not been maimed. He had been annoyed that the artisans refused to sell him goods, but he had not wished for that level of retribution.
"So, what became of the guild master?"
"I pressed him forcefully a few times, and in the end, it did not take long for him to turn tail."
Sir Herman's account was truly something to behold.
The Artisans' Guild Master, having obtained information by some means that Keldric had defeated a rock troll and a mounted bandit gang, had been resentful and had urged the artisans not to sell goods to Keldric.
"It seems he had one of his men planted in Yalta. Quite thorough."
Naturally, the reason Keldric had been resented was the guild master's own personal greed.
With the iron supply blocked and the trade routes made difficult by the rampaging mounted bandit gang, the guild master intended to use this opportunity to collude with the artisans and permanently raise the prices of goods.
The shortage in the iron supply was critical.
It caused disruptions in the production of the forges, and if he came out with the attitude that he could not help it because the disruption had grown uncontrollable, people who knew no better would be deceived by it.
"At first, he only meant to call in the mounted bandit gang, but I expect he did not anticipate the rock troll."
The rock troll had been a pure disaster.
It was a situation akin to a natural calamity, so it was only natural that no one could handle it.
Yet the ones who had called in the mounted bandit gang after their defeat in the territorial war of Robernst were none other than the Artisans' Guild Master and Baron Gofrit.
Baron Gofrit sought to use the chaos in the city to raise his own name as a pretext to swallow Bellam, and the Artisans' Guild Master found it agreeable because he could pocket money.
To top it off, the guild master had even brazenly stabbed the colluding artisans in the back.
"It was a scheme to squeeze extra guild fees from the artisans, I hear. A scoundrel as wicked as a devil!"
The artisans belonging to the artisans' guild periodically paid fees known as guild dues.
The guild master, seizing this opportunity, had tried to make a killing by telling the artisans, 'Production of goods has slowed, and the losses will be covered by guild dues,' or so Sir Herman explained.
Moreover, even the idea behind the guild fee trick had come from Baron Gofrit's head.
Half would go to the guild master, the other half into Baron Gofrit's back pocket.
The guild master was happy to handle large sums, and Baron Gofrit was happy to be able to raise hell in the territory of his political rival Baron Yaven.
Looking solely at the guild master's tyranny, it was so heinous that even Keldric was appalled.
"Then, what do you intend to do with that guild master?"
"The gallows, naturally! I must ask Baron Yaven whether to carry out the execution, but the wretch betrayed His Lordship! And besides, he already sought to defile Your Lordship's honor, so it matters not whether I act first and report later!"
It looked to Keldric as though it did matter, but he did not give voice to the thought.
More than that, there was something prickling at him, like a fish bone stuck in his throat.
"Yet, to say the guild master committed such deeds... does it not seem too sloppy?"
"Base wretches are by nature short-sighted! A man who dared betray His Lordship for his own greed and held your honor cheap! There is no need to think further!"
Looking only at the situation as it ran its course, Sir Herman was correct.
But in Keldric's view, he must not allow the situation to run its course as it was.
"Sir Herman. There is something I am curious about, however."
"What is it? I shall answer to your satisfaction."
Keldric revisited the point that had been nagging at him for a while.
The Artisans' Guild Master? Looking at the circumstances alone, he was the most plausible traitor.
Yet it was hard to see a man who had risen to guild master as being this sloppy.
If he had to pick out another suspicious person from those belonging to the city council besides the guild master, only one person came to Keldric's mind.
"Do you know a man named Anselm? He was the guild master of the Mormont Trading Company—"
"Your Lordship. Did you go and meet that man?"
Sir Herman's brow furrowed at once.
Keldric noticed that the foul stench had grown thicker.
Just as Sir Herman had said, the city had too many bastards with dirty dealings.