V. O, Glory of the Tournament! (3)
V. O, Glory of the Tournament! (3)
"Now that I think of it, I feel like I might have heard your name in passing, Sir."
"Is that so?"
Keldric, who was riding Boreas along in peace, brushed off Sir Henri's remark as nothing important.
The mention of 'rumors' by Sir Henri gave him a brief start, but there was no reason to get ahead of himself.
"Recently, I've only been around this area. Dealing with the remnants of defeated troops has been profitable."
"Remnants of defeated troops—do you mean from the territorial war over Robernst?"
"That's right. Though it's a shame I couldn't participate in the Battle of Robernst last time... Well, there'll be plenty of chances, won't there? We're still young, after all! Haha!"
Sir Henri was twenty-two years old, four years older than Keldric.
Since he said it was his third year wandering the Empire, that meant he had left his house at nineteen at the latest.
'Younger than I thought.'
Keldric wondered if that was too early, but in truth, Keldric's own departure from home at eighteen wasn't particularly special.
As a rule, being a knight meant studying martial arts and etiquette from a young age, and it was average to receive a knighthood or leave one's house between eighteen and twenty-one.
"So I've been gathering all the local rumors as best I could. My squires worked very hard at it."
Keldric glanced briefly at the four squires following behind Sir Henri.
One squire to manage the horses, one squire to set up the camp and attend to chores, and two squires to maintain the weapons and armor and hand over spare weapons.
The number of squires one kept ranged from as few as three to as many as dozens. Other than pages, squires were the only ones who remained at a knight's side.
Knights from wealthy houses or those of high renown sometimes kept over ten squires.
At that point, the squires were not merely menial laborers but were halfway to being combatants themselves.
Because a knight prowls the perilous battlefields in pursuit of fiefs and riches, the squires who follow him naturally need to learn how to fight as well.
Sir Henri traveled with four loyal squires, but there was not a single squire following Keldric.
Keldric belatedly realized Hilmer's intention in trying to attach a few household servants to him.
Luckily, the knights he had met so far were of decent character, but if he ran into some absolute bastard of a knight, he would have no excuse if he were mocked.
Of course, Keldric did not particularly feel the lack.
A squire was something he would need one day. But that day was not right now.
"Anyway, Sir Keldric. I recall hearing something about it in my cups yesterday too, but I've only just now remembered the rumor about you clearly."
"What rumor did you hear?"
"The rumor that you beat a Rock Troll to death with your bare hands!"
Keldric wondered if that was really such a difficult thing, but seeing Sir Henri's surprise, it seemed it might indeed be so.
Sir Henri had a large build and looked sturdy, but that was about it.
Even without having seen his true skill, Keldric's rough estimate placed him at about the same level as Sir Johannes, whom he had fought in Bellam, or perhaps slightly weaker.
Even though that basis for comparison, Sir Johannes, had the honor of being an eight-time tournament winner, who knew what would happen if he were thrown into the sort of place Keldric had experienced?
Sir Henri against three Rock Trolls?
Keldric did not think Sir Henri would beat them. Not unless he barely managed to hold them off together with Sir Werner.
Looking at it this way, Keldric's accomplishments were rather impressive when he thought about it. It was only natural that they'd become the talk of the area.
"That's not all. Sir, from what I heard yesterday, you also won your duel against Sir Johannes?"
"Yes. Sir Johannes fought well, but I was able to win by a narrow margin."
"Such modesty! If it were a knight like you he fought, his body would have been folded clean in half!"
Rather than folded in half, it was more like the shape of salt sprinkled on a snail.
Keldric held his tongue.
It was not modesty, but rumors like this naturally achieved their effect only when spread by the mouths of others, not by oneself.
For Keldric, who had resolved to pay attention to his reputation, that was the better way anyway.
A young, green eighteen-year-old knight running around loudly bragging about his own exploits was not a good look at all.
"Since you won't give me a detailed account, I feel an itch in my body. A duel has something about it that makes the heart burn with excitement, does it not?"
"Ah, that's true."
The heat of the dueling ground that makes the heart burn.
The cheers, the flower petals, and the roar of countless people chanting your name!
That was the essence of the duel, and Keldric, having tasted that hot-blooded fervor on a small scale, was aiming for something greater by participating in this tournament.
"I saw Sir Johannes fight once before. That would have been... at the tournament held in Spitzenberg, I believe?"
"I've never heard of the place."
"Wahaha! What an amusing jest! To not know the City of Rock!"
'I genuinely don't know it.'
Keldric had barely memorized the famous noble houses of the vicinity.
He might know extremely famous regions or where the Emperor resided, but moderately famous places were unknown even to Keldric.
"Well, since you've given me such a novel joke, I shall gladly play along."
Apparently, Sir Henri took Keldric's words of not knowing the place called Spitzenberg as an actual joke.
It was understandable; it was awkward that Keldric did not know a place name in the Empire that even Sir Henri, a knight from the Kingdom of the Franks, recognized.
"Spitzenberg is a place clinging directly to the left side of Bogenberg. They say the borders of the northern Empire have become more blurred than in the past, but still, a territory that juts out distinctly beyond the reach of the snowstorms is rare."
True to its name, meaning Spitzen (pointed) Berg (mountain), Spitzenberg was a city built in rugged terrain.
As for how rugged, it was situated midway up a sheer mountain range that horizontally bisected the Empire from far to the south.
"It's a place where many needle-like, steep, and treacherous peaks rise. The scenery is said to be truly magnificent. I've never been myself, but I'd like to visit at least once if I get the chance."
"How did they build a city on a mountainside?"
"Is that not the mystery of the Dwarves? The Dwarves of today have lost much of their technology, but the Dwarves of old must have carved even mountains."
A mysterious city where every building was made of stone.
According to legend, that place was a city the Dwarves of old had sculpted from a whole rock peak.
Not a common stone building made by mixing brick, stone, or lime mortar, but houses carved entirely from a single block of stone.
There were dozens of such dwellings, and the castle in the center was majestic, standing as high as the peak itself.
"In the distant past, when the barbarian hordes from beyond the northern mountains surged down and covered the entire north, it was also the place where the 'Steel Lord' Emperor Sigerwald stopped them."
A fortress in the truest sense. Impregnable; a place that had never once fallen.
"There are also iron and coal mines nearby, I hear, so their steel production is phenomenal. A few Dwarves still remain there, you know. There's even talk that weapons or armor made there will never break."
"Oh..."
Keldric's curiosity was piqued by Sir Henri's explanation.
He was still using the mace Sir Werner had gifted him, but Keldric was beginning to feel the need to reinforce his sword and armor.
Chain mail had its limits in terms of protection.
This was the reason why reinforcing armor with plate had become a recent trend.
Partially reinforcing it with plate would add more weight, but that was not a factor that posed a problem for Keldric.
Moreover, a sword made of quality steel would have superior durability.
A chronic problem Keldric had suffered while swinging his longsword was the blunting of the blade, and a significant improvement in durability would be beyond ideal.
'I should visit if I get the chance.'
Keldric tucked the name of the place, Spitzenberg, into his mind as a place to consider.
Even if he couldn't go right away, he had the intention to visit later.
For that, he would need more money. Armor mixed with plate was often absurdly expensive.
The same went for a longsword made of quality steel. Keldric's wealth had grown considerably on the way here, but it was obvious even that would be insufficient.
The fortunate point was that Keldric was a knight who did not indulge in luxury.
With a frugal spirit ingrained in his body, Keldric did not spend money recklessly. Thanks to that, the money stacked up neatly in a pouch hidden deep within his coat.
Opportunities to earn money were many. Among them, the biggest, if one had to name it, was the Bogenberg Tournament Keldric was about to join.
Tournaments were as a rule places where money was bet.
If Keldric wagered his entire fortune on his own victory, he would secure both honor and riches.
Two birds with one stone. Keldric was aiming for that chance.
Furthermore, Keldric, though fully qualified to participate, was still a green knight of a young age.
Which meant the odds against him would be high. No madman would bet money on a newbie knight.
An insanely strong knight might appear as an opponent in the tournament, but if it was a knight of Sir Johannes's caliber, Keldric could thoroughly butcher them.
"Sir Henri. You'll be watching the tournament, I take it?"
"Er... I suppose so. Isn't watching the most fun for a large-scale tournament like this?"
"If a chance at a fortune came to you in one stroke, what would you do?"
"Sir. Need you even ask? Of course, I'd seize it!"
"I'll give you that chance."
Honor is right, but money is even more right.
The corner of Keldric's mouth crept up. Seeing that expression, Sir Henri flinched his body.
"Once we arrive in Bogenberg, bet on me without fail in the tournament."
"Y-you have tremendous confidence."
"I guarantee it. I'm planning to wager my entire fortune on my own victory. Alisa, you do the same."
"Yes. I intended to from the start."
Sir Henri harbored doubts at Keldric's words, but Alisa did not doubt him in the slightest.
Judging by the image of Keldric she had seen so far, this mad knight before her eyes possessed the strength to thoroughly smash even veteran knights.
Since they were participating anyway, aiming for the tournament victory was the correct course.
It wasn't arrogance. It was confidence with reason.
☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩
When they had traveled for a full four days since leaving Bellam, Keldric felt the air quickly turning warmer.
They had stepped onto the zone that drove back the cold wave, the clear boundary between the north and the central region.
"It's gotten warmer."
"Haa... I feel like I'm melting. I've had my fill of the north."
Traveling two more days after that, the weather had now completely cleared, and only a chill comparable to a slightly cold late autumn remained.
Even the north after the snowstorms had ceased was at a level of moderate cold, but this place, transitioning from the north to the center, was on a different scale.
When they had crossed the small mountain range branching off the great mountains, Keldric was finally able to face a vast, open plain spreading out before him.
"Oooh...!"
A massive city rose towering along the banks of the winding Ronaun River that cut straight through its middle.
Above it, the small mountain range blocked the cold wave like a fortress wall, and below it lay a refreshingly wide-open plain, making it a strategic point granting direct passage into the heart of the Empire.
It had a double wall just like Bellam, but the scale was on a completely different level.
There were five great roads spreading out from the city like a spider's web, and even from a distance, one could see the merchants and carts moving along those thoroughfares.
Far to the south, there would surely be wheat fields producing vast amounts of grain. Indeed, even the farmland right outside the walls of Bogenberg was absurdly vast.
It was not yet the harvest season, so he couldn't see the golden wheat fields, but Keldric was satisfied just by the sight of the great city right before his eyes.
"The city is bustling. With the tournament ahead, it's only natural."
Sir Henri, who had ridden up alongside Keldric, spoke.
True to his words, the city looked bustling. The tournament grounds outside the city walls were already lined with rows of all sorts of stalls.
"Let's head down quickly."
"Uhahaha! Yes! Let's hurry down so that Sir Keldric can make a name for himself!"
Just as he said, Keldric's heart raced at the thought of making a name for himself in such a massive city.
This was, in short, a tournament where he could seize honor and glory.