IV. Chivalric Romance and the Bastards (10)
IV. Chivalric Romance and the Bastards (10)
Keldric stepped straight into the Mormont Trading Company building.
As he entered, the merchants and company clerks inside whispered among themselves, stealing glances at Keldric.
Keldric himself had opened the door quietly without much thought, but that was as far as it went.
"You there."
"Y-yes, honorable Sir Keldric of House Bellaf! You called for me?"
"Yes. Go see if Anselm is in. And tell him I'm here."
"Understood!"
The aura emanating from Keldric's expression and tone was markedly different from usual.
Although "usual" only amounted to having met him once for a fleeting day, the quick-witted clerks and merchants noticed that Keldric was in a foul mood.
"He seemed fine not long ago, why's he acting like that today?"
"How should I know? Shut your mouth and keep your head down."
"Hey, hey. He's looking this way."
Having a knight suddenly burst in was disconcerting enough, but if that knight was in a bad mood, it was a calamity.
Just as everyone could only pray for survival in the face of a natural disaster, there was nothing the merchants or clerks could do.
They silently kept an eye on Keldric, quietly going about their work.
Some clerks even walked on tiptoe, creeping about for fear that even that might offend Keldric.
Meanwhile, Alisa, who had entered the building with Keldric, was looking at him with a slightly bewildered expression.
The time Alisa had observed Keldric wasn't all that long, but she had thought she'd gotten a rough grasp of the man named Keldric.
That had been a complacent assumption. This was the first time Alisa had seen Keldric put on such an intense front.
"S-Sir Keldric. Are you alright?"
When Alisa asked cautiously, Keldric glanced around briefly before quickly whispering to Alisa.
"I'm just setting the mood. I'm not particularly angry."
"Ah, yes."
"It's nothing, so don't worry and wait quietly."
Soon, a thumping sound came from the stairs, and the clerk who had gone up to the second floor moments ago approached Keldric.
"Sir Keldric. You may go up now."
Keldric took the lead, striding forward with large steps.
Alisa stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at Keldric's retreating back.
"...Well, I'll be."
Alisa didn't know why Keldric had come here.
But what was certain was that Guild Master Anselm's future was now split into two paths.
Either he'd crossed Keldric and was going to meet his daughter, or he'd press more money into Keldric's hands than before and keep his life.
Keldric wasn't a robber knight obsessed only with money, but no wiser method readily came to mind.
☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩
Anselm greeted Keldric with a slightly more tense expression than before.
Keldric sat himself naturally at the seat of honor just as last time, not taking his eyes off Anselm's face.
'Why, why is he acting like this?'
For Anselm, it was sheer agony.
When they'd met a few days ago, Keldric had acted like the most gentle person in the world, but now the sight of him fiddling with his mace as if about to bash Anselm's skull in was utterly terrifying.
Keldric had no hobby of collecting human skulls, but going by the sheer ferocity on display right now, he might as well have.
"Guild Master Anselm."
"Y-yes. Sir Keldric."
"Do you know why I've come for you?"
Anselm acted as if he knew nothing.
He had a few things he suspected, but even so, he broke into a cold sweat making a pained face as if none applied to Keldric.
"I-I don't know at all. What would a lowly merchant like me know?"
"That remains to be seen."
Anselm's complexion began to grow paler.
One might think that Keldric, staying as Sir Herman's guest, wouldn't actually draw blood, but that was a complacent thought.
Knights were the sort who could go off the deep end because they could handle the consequences to some degree.
Bellam was Baron Yaven's territory, and thus Anselm, living in Bellam, was a resident Baron Yaven had to protect, but that wouldn't stop a lump of iron from crashing into his skull right this instant.
It might be a bit of a problem if Anselm hadn't committed any wrongdoing at all.
But it would only be a problem; in reality, the likelihood of Baron Yaven or Sir Herman punishing Keldric severely was small.
If it came to that, Anselm alone would die a dog's death.
"More importantly, I came because I have a few things to ask you."
While Anselm gulped dryly, picturing a future that hadn't yet come to pass, Keldric deliberately assumed an air of gravity and lowered his voice.
He wasn't particularly angry.
He was slightly annoyed, but it didn't come close to making him lose his composure.
However, Keldric was acutely feeling that a certain level of intimidation was necessary to mollify the guild master before him.
As Keldric fully projected his gravitas, Anselm nodded quickly without a moment's hesitation.
"If I'm able to answer, I'll gladly open my mouth. What are you curious about...?"
"Well... As you know, I am staying in the Outer Keep thanks to Sir Herman's consideration."
"Ah, I'm aware."
When a knight visited, Sir Herman, who governed the city, would invite him to the castle and host him.
Anselm hadn't witnessed it himself, but it was common knowledge.
"And so, a few days ago, I had the chance to have a little conversation with the captured Artisans' Guild Master."
"Oh, is that so?"
Keldric subtly watched Anselm's expression.
He caught the slight twitch between his brows and the increasing frequency of cold sweat rolling down his fleshy jowls.
"Sir Herman seemed to think the Artisans' Guild Master was the culprit. However, I don't think so."
"Wh-whatever gave you that idea...?"
"I thought the Artisans' Guild Master was captured far too sloppily. I mean, if he'd really done such a thing, he wouldn't have challenged my honor so brazenly. Don't you agree?"
Keldric confirmed that Anselm was clearly agitated.
On the surface, it just looked like he was tense from Keldric's intimidation, but the reality was likely different.
"That is... Those who commit base deeds are short-sighted by nature! The Artisans' Guild Master was always a man of excessive greed!"
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yes! Last time he raised the artisans' prices all at once, it was absolute hell for us too!"
"Hmm..."
Keldric's attitude was as if he were listening attentively to Anselm's words.
Anselm was a merchant, at his core.
A merchant needed a certain level of eloquence to haggle over wares, and that applied to Anselm as well, as he did his persuading, if it could be called that, of Keldric.
"That's not all! Three months ago, a company wagon broke down and we asked him to make new wheels, and didn't he demand a price double the usual? He's a truly vicious bastard!"
"Good heavens. A company wagon broke down? That must have been quite an ordeal."
"We were shitting bloody bricks! We desperately needed the wagons, and the company clerks hadn't managed them properly, you see!"
Keldric, as if he'd already forgotten pressuring Anselm, listened to his words and quietly chimed in with agreement.
Seeing this, Anselm felt greatly relieved.
It seemed the dangerous moment had passed, however it had come about.
"What goods were you trying to move?"
"Provisions. Wine, bread, cheese, meat, that sort of thing."
"Was it going far?"
"Quite far. We had to go all the way to Robernst."
"If you needed that many wagons... the quantity must have been substantial. Isn't food one of the hardest goods to transport?"
"Sir Keldric is correct. At the time, we desperately needed the wagons, so we paid extra to have the wheels fitted, but... it still makes my blood boil. That Artisans' Guild Master, his greed knows no bounds—."
"By the way, Anselm."
Anselm's words, which had relaxed slightly, cut off abruptly.
He no longer felt the earlier intimidation from Keldric.
However, at some point, Keldric had set his heavy mace on the desk.
"You transported provisions to the fief of Robernst?"
"...P-pardon?"
"What a remarkable coincidence. Don't you think?"
Keldric's eyes gleamed sharply.
His gaze was deeply sunken, and Keldric was in the midst of swiftly organizing his thoughts.
'Anselm sent provisions to Robernst three months ago from now.'
And the time Sir Herman's maternal uncle, Sir Ulrich, had died and his body was transported was a little over two and a half months ago.
Going by the timing alone, it was a situation that felt like damning evidence, beyond mere coincidence.
Keldric stared fixedly at Anselm.
Only then realizing his slip of the tongue, Anselm's face began to visibly crumble.
"If you had the company's peddlers send the provisions, transaction slips would be left under the Mormont Trading Company name that way..."
"Wha-what do you mean..."
"But if you separately organized and sent wagons anonymously, that wouldn't matter. You'd just have to send the provisions. Isn't that so?"
There were two main reasons Anselm had brought this crisis upon himself.
The first was the heavy mace dangling before his eyes, and the second was the subtle killing intent and intimidation radiating from Keldric.
Just as it would be hard to do a handstand and juggle apples before a watchful tiger, Anselm was utterly tense under such an intimidating environment.
When Keldric's demeanor suddenly relaxed right after, Anselm's tension eased in kind, and he'd inadvertently spilled information he hadn't intended to.
"You mix a suitable amount of poisoned provisions into the shipment, then an accomplice in Robernst secretly tampers with the food... Aren't you the vile one?"
"What are you saying...! Absolutely not!"
"Is that so? Then I'll ask something else."
There was more? To Anselm, this was an unbelievable piece of bad news.
Regardless, Keldric went on, tapping the mace in his hand.
"A moment ago, we talked about the Artisans' Guild Master."
"Th-that's right! The Artisans' Guild Master! You mustn't forget about him! Isn't he the one who dared to betray Bellam and Lord Yaven? You should punish him severely first!"
"Oho. Is that so? How strange."
"Pardon? What do you find strange..."
"Just now, and earlier too, I don't think I've ever told you about the crime the Artisans' Guild Master committed. How is it you know he betrayed Lord Yaven and Bellam?"
Anselm's face turned nearly ashen.
He couldn't bring himself to speak and only opened and closed his mouth before finally shutting it.
"The Artisans' Guild Master confessed everything. That you are the real traitor."
"..."
"You were instigated by Lord Gofrit, weren't you? This chaos must have looked like a good opportunity for you as well. Furthermore, aren't you a believer in heresy?"
It was a lie. All Keldric had heard from the Artisans' Guild Master was his wailing to be spared.
Moreover, the business about Lord Gofrit's instigation and heresy was closer to Keldric's conjecture.
But that lie landed as a devastating blow.
Anselm collapsed onto the floor as if crumbling. He trembled like an aspen leaf before clutching Keldric's ankle and staring up at him with shaking eyes.
"...Si-Sir Keldric. How much will it take?"
"What?"
"I will give you all the money I have! If that isn't satisfactory, I could faithfully earn and give you even more! Please, just don't tell Sir Herman! I beg you!"
Anselm, for his part, was trembling in terror, imagining his future roasting golden-brown atop a pyre.
In truth, Anselm's identity was in a structure where it could never be exposed.
From the start, what Keldric had pressed Anselm on was all close to conjecture, without a shred of actual evidence.
It was only possible because someone of knightly status like Keldric could decide to throw procedure to the wind and go on the rampage.
"Then, one last question."
Keldric subtly shifted his voice to a gentler tone. Relaxing his expression slightly was a bonus.
At that delicate shift in emotion, uncharacteristic of a knight, Anselm stared blankly at Keldric.
"Joseph, whom you sent to Carlton village. Was that your doing?"
"Wh-what..."
"Joseph said he was instigated by Lord Gofrit, but I don't think a mere peddler like Joseph could have connections with Lord Gofrit."
If he confessed this as well, Anselm would truly find it hard to keep his life.
But conversely, if he didn't, the only future was getting his skull bashed in on the spot.
"I put the two in touch! Baron Gofrit... no, that son of a bitch, it was I who introduced Joseph to him! I deeply regret it!"
"Really?"
"Y-yes! If only you spare my life..."
CRASH!
In an instant, a loud noise was followed by the gruesome cracking sound—CRUNCH!
Anselm, whose ears went briefly numb, couldn't grasp what had happened.
Not until, shortly after, he saw one of his arms shattered and gushing blood.
"Ghk—Aaaagh!!"
"G-Guild Master? Are you alright?!"
At Anselm's scream, which seemed fit to bring the company building down, several clerks burst through the door panting, then sucked in empty breaths upon seeing Anselm's state.
Their eyes took in Anselm collapsed with his arm completely shattered, and Keldric standing with a heavy mace in hand.
"Ah, um, well..."
"Is there a problem?"
"Nothing at all! We apologize for the discourtesy!"
The quick-witted company clerks disappeared just as quickly as they'd come up.
Keldric's appearance was so chilling, and seeing Anselm's arm utterly ruined, they figured he must have done something quite wrong.
CRASH! BANG!
Regardless, Keldric then shattered both of Anselm's legs as well.
If Anselm had put Joseph and Baron Gofrit in touch, then the fact that House Bellaf had been attacked and Yakov had died was effectively at Anselm's instigation.
"Ungh! Guh!"
Anselm rolled his bloodshot eyes, drool spilling out, and Keldric grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him along as if moving trash.
Coming down to the first floor like that, the company building was neatly empty, the peddlers having all cleared out.
"S-Sir Keldric?"
Only Alisa, looking bewildered, was startled when she saw Keldric.
Without a word, Keldric dragged Anselm and strode forward. Each time he was dragged, Anselm's screams grew louder.
"Sir Keldric! I-isn't that Guild Master Anselm? Why is he in such a state...?"
"He had vermin on his limbs. I caught them myself."
"..."
Alisa was left utterly speechless.
Keldric loaded Anselm behind the saddle like a piece of luggage, then calmly mounted Boreas.
"What are you doing? Not returning to the castle?"
"Ah, that. Yes..."
Boreas, unbothered even with two riders aboard, began to advance vigorously.
Even on the way to the castle, Keldric hummed a tune to himself without realizing it, feeling deeply satisfied.
'Should've done this from the start.'
Beside him, Alisa, who was steering her horse, could only look at Keldric with a slightly appalled expression.