V. O, Glory of the Tournament! (18)
V. O, Glory of the Tournament! (18)
There were three main paths by which a knight could rise in the world.
First, distinguish oneself in a large territorial war or a campaign such as the Holy Land Reconquest Campaign.
Second, prove one's faith and devotion, join a knightly order under the Church, and earn recognition for one's piety and moral authority.
The first two paths, however, were extraordinarily difficult and punishing.
Winning feats of arms great enough to astonish an entire battlefield was hard enough, and currying favor with the immensely powerful Church for a share of its wealth still required an ascetic life.
Then there was the third path.
Swear loyalty to a landed noble and receive a fief, or marry into an influential noble house and strengthen one's standing in noble society.
"Would you consider becoming my vassal?"
Count Bogenberg was offering the third path: swear fealty to a lord, receive a fief, and enter into vassalage in return.
Keldric could hardly help being bewildered when the tournament was still in full swing.
No champion had been decided, and offers like this normally went only to exceptional knights such as the tournament winner.
He could not understand why Count Bogenberg was making the offer to Keldric after only the third day of competition.
"Lord Bogenberg, I am deeply honored by your words. However, when you speak of vassalage..."
"I shall grant you a fief. There is a fine village not far from here."
Count Bogenberg's offer was so unconventional it was almost revolutionary.
Even Burggraf Kuno, standing beside the Count, stared at Keldric with his eyes wide, as if the proposal itself were absurd.
Keldric's misgivings deepened. The offer was plainly unreasonable, which only made it more suspicious.
'Why me?'
His greatest question was why Count Bogenberg had singled him out for vassalage.
Count Bogenberg did not appear short of retainers. If anything, rumors said he had brought in so many that they threatened the positions of his established retainers.
Vassals and household retainers served somewhat different roles, but it was still baffling that Count Bogenberg would relinquish the rights to a village near the city merely to recruit Keldric.
Keldric said nothing as his eyes darted about. He could not begin to guess what Count Bogenberg was after.
Count Bogenberg was on good terms with Baron Yaven, so he had no obvious reason to wish Keldric harm.
Then again, nobles did not always need a reason for malice. If necessary, they could invent any number of them.
He might claim, for example, that he feared Keldric would join a rival noble.
"Is my offer not to your liking?"
"...To speak frankly, I cannot help but be suspicious."
"From your perspective, that is only natural. I have no intention of forcing you. I would be pleased if you accepted, but in any case, are we not the only two people here?"
Lord Bogenberg's words carried a double meaning.
Count Bogenberg would be pleased if Keldric accepted, but because the offer had been made in private, a refusal would not publicly humiliate him.
Vassalage was, by its nature, established through mutual agreement.
Count Bogenberg's authority could not force Keldric into such a contract. Attempting it would more likely damage the Count's own honor and prestige.
Of course, if Keldric said fuck every custom and simply ignored the proposal, that might become an affront to Count Bogenberg's dignity.
But that had not happened, and Keldric was not the kind of man to behave that way.
"Lord Bogenberg, I am greatly honored that you offered me vassalage, but this is a serious matter and I need more time to consider it."
"Of course. I did not expect an answer here and now. I admit the offer was rather sudden."
"Thank you."
Count Bogenberg looked slightly surprised by Keldric's respectful response, but readily nodded.
Even after leaving the room, Keldric remained confused by Count Bogenberg's sudden offer.
He knew nothing about political conflicts between nobles.
He could learn those things in time, but first he had to deal with the problem immediately before him.
Keldric decided to put out the nearest fire first.
Just then, he noticed Alisa waiting outside the room with Sir Tolle.
"Alisa."
"Ah, Sir Keldric. Did the conversation go well?"
"...I'm not sure."
Still, asking Alisa outright felt awkward. Considered properly, this was a matter of considerable importance.
Count Bogenberg must have called him aside for a reason. Did Keldric have the right to blab about it to Alisa and ask for advice?
"About what you mentioned on the way here... You called it a political purpose, did you not?"
After a moment's thought, Keldric decided to begin by hearing what she knew about Count Bogenberg.
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"He is more cautious than I expected."
Count Bogenberg, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, opened them.
Burggraf Kuno stood ramrod straight before the warm fireplace and stepped half a pace closer to the Count.
"Other knights would have leapt at the offer with greed blazing in their eyes."
"...That is true."
As Kuno said, Keldric's failure to accept immediately had been quite unexpected.
Other knights would have accepted on the spot while practically drooling, yet Keldric had remained cautious throughout the conversation.
In short, he was unlike most knights. Count Bogenberg recalled Keldric's performance in the tournament.
'With ability like that, he would have every reason to be arrogant...'
Count Bogenberg had experienced territorial wars and personally taken part in the Holy Land Reconquest Campaign.
When even kings joined the campaign, there was no reason a count such as Bogenberg could not do the same.
Along the way, he had met countless knights: Sir Werner, the Crow of House Henzer; Sir Guillaume, the Blue Knight of House Montclair; Sir Theodore, the Silver Lion of House Mistfall—
Lord Bogenberg thought of his old friend, Sir Theodore.
Theodore's still-powerful frame and keen mind seemed little changed from the days of the Holy Land Reconquest Campaign more than twenty years earlier.
But knights made their living through force of arms.
Age and the passage of time inevitably took their toll.
"Your Excellency, what do you make of Sir Keldric?"
"Sir Keldric is..."
At Kuno's question, Count Bogenberg pictured the young knight he had just met.
Compared with Theodore, who had grown helplessly old before time, Keldric possessed the same potential Bogenberg had seen in Theodore's youth.
He was not overly arrogant, used his head, and possessed remarkable martial skill.
"He was a fine knight."
That only made Count Bogenberg covet him more. Perhaps he had even grown a little impatient.
If Keldric won the tournament, numerous nobles would surely approach him.
Count Bogenberg could offer the best terms of any of them. A single fief was nothing to begrudge.
Even if Keldric refused today's terms, Count Bogenberg would one day make him his sword.
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After reaching a quiet part of the castle, Keldric turned to Alisa.
"Can you tell me now?"
"Yes. Well, ahem..."
Carrying this worry around while the tournament was not even over was deeply uncomfortable.
Taking his time did not seem wise. Leaving Count Bogenberg hanging would be the worst choice of all.
Keldric needed to give him a definite answer as soon as possible.
"Before I explain, there is something I should mention."
"Speak."
"Some of what I am about to tell you reflects my personal views. Please bear that in mind."
"That is obvi—... Fine. I will listen and judge for myself."
"Very well. Then... we must begin with the Emperor."
"...It goes that far?"
With Alisa suddenly bringing up the Emperor, Keldric realized the matter was tangled far more deeply than he had thought.
"It began four years ago, when the Emperor suddenly summoned a shepherd boy to the imperial court."
Four years ago, the Emperor summoned a boy who had been tending sheep in some village to his court.
The boy did not seem to recognize the Emperor, but the moment he entered court, the Emperor embraced him and sobbed.
The courtiers barely had time to react before the Emperor made a declaration about the boy so shocking that it shook the entire Empire.
"He declared that the boy was his illegitimate son."
Long ago, in the recklessness of his youth, the Emperor had relations with a commoner woman, and the shepherd boy was the child she eventually bore.
Naturally, the court erupted into chaos. The Electors, who periodically voted to choose the Emperor, fought just as fiercely among themselves.
They argued that admitting an illegitimate son had dragged imperial authority through the mud.
The Empire's already chaotic politics deteriorated into constant infighting, and territorial wars became as routine as meals.
Some nobles defended the Emperor and his bastard, while others vehemently opposed them, declaring it intolerable.
It became a bloodbath. Of course, the problem would not have been nearly so severe if the Emperor had several other children.
"The Emperor has no recognized children. Moreover, he has shown signs of intending to leave the imperial throne to the shepherd boy he claims as his illegitimate son."
The imperial throne was elective.
Seven Electors chose the Emperor: three ecclesiastical Electors, all archbishops, and four secular Electors from hereditary noble houses.
Elective in name or not, the throne could not realistically rotate fairly among them.
They were ambitious men. Whoever became Emperor wanted to consolidate the fragmented imperial authority and make the throne hereditary in his own line.
Several houses had in fact secured consecutive successions through political influence, and the current Emperor was attempting the same thing.
The problem was that his intended heir was a mere shepherd boy—and an illegitimate son at that.
"Every sort of rumor circulated at the time. People asked how an illegitimate son could exist when the Emperor had no children... There was endless talk."
"That is understandable."
"Even if he truly is the Emperor's illegitimate son, that itself creates a problem."
An illegitimate child ordinarily could not inherit a house.
Without legitimate children, succession passed to a full sibling, and if there were none, to the nearest relative.
Only if none of those options proved suitable, and after overcoming considerable obstacles, might an illegitimate child be allowed to inherit.
But that was theory. This was not the headship of some obscure house but the imperial throne, and attempting to pass it to an illegitimate son crossed every line.
The Emperor also argued that an illegitimate son was still his own child and elevated the boy, then sixteen, to the title of Count Rasau.
"The title of Count Rasau existed in name only. The Rasau region had already been divided into smaller territories held by other lords."
"Granting the title of Count Rasau in that situation means..."
"Exactly. The Emperor means to seize land from the nobles who divided the region among themselves and curb their power."
By granting the now-hollow title of Count Rasau to his illegitimate son, the Emperor gained a nominally lawful pretext to strip those nobles of their land and greatly diminish their power.
It was a bold strategy, effectively a direct confrontation staked on the Emperor's own authority.
Unable to tolerate it, the imperial nobles formed a faction centered on the Electors who opposed the Emperor's decision.
Four of the seven Electors opposed the decision, while the remaining three supported the Emperor.
Count Bogenberg was among the Electors who opposed the Emperor's will.
"The anti-Emperor faction holds one more electoral vote, but matters do not work that simply."
"Cooperation must be difficult."
"Precisely."
Three Electors had already sided with the Emperor in exchange for promises of power and land.
Even with the remaining four opposed, no one knew when one of them might defect to the Emperor.
The Electors fundamentally distrusted one another, and without trust, cooperation was difficult.
Their damned pride made matters worse. Some Electors disliked the very idea of cooperating with anyone.
Unlike the Emperor's supporters, who rallied around the Emperor himself, the opposing faction lacked a natural center.
"Because of their geography, Lord Bogenberg is fighting most fiercely against Lord Rasau. Their respective subordinates are..."
"Baron Gofrit stands with Lord Rasau, while Baron Yaven stands with Lord Bogenberg."
"Exactly. It has taken the form of a proxy war."
The Emperor might have begun all this to strengthen his authority, but Count Rasau, who owed his power to the Emperor, was ambitious in his own right.
The shepherd boy was nowhere to be seen. The speed with which he gathered his own faction after receiving power was extraordinary in itself.
"The reason Lord Bogenberg is being attacked by Lord Rasau is simple. It concerns the Electors."
Either expand the Electorate to eight, or expel one of its existing members and install Count Rasau in that place.
Count Bogenberg, geographically the closest, had been chosen as the target.
That would give the Emperor the single additional electoral vote he needed and severely weaken the anti-Emperor nobles.
"Territorial wars are already breaking out throughout the Empire. Lord Bogenberg will likely make his move soon as well."
"..."
"And the place that will signal the beginning will probably be..."
The Barony of Yaven, which directly bordered the Barony of Gofrit.
Even to Keldric, if the aim was to suppress opposing authority and project influence into the north, those two baronies were the natural place for war to begin.
"Lord Bogenberg faces a difficult fight. The other Electors scarcely cooperate, so he can expect little help from them, while Lord Rasau enjoys extensive support."
"..."
"The reason he deliberately held this tournament before Lent... was probably the same."
Even with Lent approaching, a man of Count Bogenberg's stature could have struck a deal with the Church and held a far grander banquet.
Instead, Count Bogenberg cited Lent and held a comparatively austere feast, while publicly dedicating the tournament to Saint Venancio and showing respect for the Church's authority.
He was trying both to win the support of the three archbishops among the Electors and to secure the Church's moral authority and backing.
That political situation explained why he had offered Keldric vassalage.
Any additional supporter.
Any additional capable knight.
Keldric's prowess had been so impressive that Count Bogenberg had grown unexpectedly impatient.
"..."
The decision belonged to Keldric.
The Empire's chaotic politics, and Count Bogenberg's difficult position opposing those who defied the natural order.
Keldric sank into thought, but one thing was clear.
'As long as I don't join the other side.'
At the very least, he would not offer his sword to Count Rasau's faction.