VII. The Monster of Spitzenberg (12)
VII. The Monster of Spitzenberg (12)
The long nightmare in which the monster had terrorized the entire city ended, and a new dawn broke.
Keldric looked down over all of Spitzenberg and felt an emotion he could not name.
The people of Spitzenberg went about earning their livelihoods.
Some sold goods in the market, woodcutters felled trees beyond the walls, and charcoal burners strained to pull carts piled high with charcoal.
The charcoal went to the ironworks that occupied a large part of the city. Its furnaces blazed throughout the year, while the north wind from beyond the mountains cooled the surrounding district.
Cooling the air might have been a problem for the ironworks, but it offered the workshops clustered nearby some relief from the heat.
Iron from the works was distributed among the forges, where craftsmen turned it into useful goods.
Laborers heading to the mines passed through the gate with escorts of three or four soldiers. Their work powered the city.
The terrain was poor for farming, so most food came from traveling merchants or taxes collected from nearby villages.
Food was plentiful, and everyone worked diligently in their own role. That prosperous industry was what gave the territory its vitality.
"A fine domain."
"It truly is."
Alisa had quietly approached and agreed with him.
Spitzenberg was a good territory.
Its terrain made wartime self-sufficiency difficult, but transforming the fortress into a city had eased that weakness to some degree.
Keldric thought of the cities he and Alisa had passed through.
From Bellam to Bogenberg and then Spitzenberg, it had been difficult to find serious faults in any of the territories.
Every city had a dark side, but a city that kept it to a minimum could brim with life like this.
"How do those people look to you?"
"They look happy, Sir Keldric."
"I agree."
Watching the residents hurry through the city, Keldric reached a small realization.
There was no special secret to a good territory. A territory was good if its people enjoyed a high standard of living.
The same held true for its lord. A good lord was not merely a kind and diligent noble.
A good lord protected his people's daily lives. Even if he could not make them wealthy, he did everything possible to keep them from starving or returning home penniless after being exploited.
These people had lives: families to protect, the modest comfort of eating every meal without hunger, and the joy of watching their children grow. Those lives gathered together to form a territory.
'But if it's war...'
Keldric watched several soldiers patrolling the walls and sank into thought.
War clouds hung over the North, yet Spitzenberg remained peaceful because Baron Spitzenberg had maintained neutrality.
That would soon end. To put it crudely, the conflict between Counts Bogenberg and Rasau was turning into a complete fucking mess.
The other lords and knights who entered that mire would have to spill blood.
Once involved, they had two choices.
They could lose the forces that sustained their territories and decline slowly, or seize everything from an enemy lord and grow in a single leap.
Most entered the conflict hoping for the latter, but not everyone could prosper.
If one lord expanded his land, accumulated wealth, and elevated his family's honor, another would suffer the opposite fate.
Keldric intended to guide his own fate toward victory every time.
"Let's go inside."
"Yes."
People said fate was fixed, but Keldric did not believe it.
A man who wandered wherever the wind and clouds carried him could not have a fixed destiny.
Keldric's fate would move wherever he led it. He was certain of that.
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Preparing to leave Spitzenberg required more work than expected.
They had stayed much longer than planned, and most of the provisions purchased in Bogenberg were long gone.
"Arno, Helga. Go to the market and buy everything I am about to list."
"Yes! Sir Keldric!"
"Y-yes...!"
Arno and Helga handled that sort of work.
Keldric smiled with satisfaction when he realized the two young attendants were growing accustomed to their duties.
Refusing to give them any work and coddling them simply because they were children would only harm their futures.
They had been forced to mature young. It was already too late to treat them like sheltered children.
It was unfortunate, but Keldric concluded that the best thing he could do was find work they could manage and entrust it to them.
'Nothing would make them more self-conscious than being the only ones resting.'
Keldric was a knight and Alisa a wizard. If the two of them handled every unpleasant task while refusing to let their attendants lift a finger, Arno and Helga would inevitably feel awkward.
"There. I wrote it all down. Can you read it?"
"Uh, hmm... Yes!"
"Wow, the handwriting is pretty..."
"Go on to the market. Make sure you buy everything. There shouldn't be any shortage of money, so don't worry too much."
Arno and Helga clasped hands and ran toward the market.
Keldric sighed lightly as he watched them go. He wondered whether raising children felt like this.
"They are remarkably diligent children."
Alisa approached from where she had been packing. Keldric glanced at the leather pouch at her side, probably filled with charcoal, and nodded.
"At least they deserve credit for not cutting corners."
Taking on attendants had unquestionably been the right decision.
Arno and Helga were slowly but surely taking over every minor task. It was becoming hard to imagine returning to life without attendants.
Come to think of it, he had taken on attendants because of Sir Henri and Sir Alan's advice.
Keldric remembered the two men he had met in Salzfluss and Bogenberg: Sir Henri of House Candillon and Sir Alan of House Hawksworth.
He briefly wondered where they were now and whether they still remained in Bogenberg.
He would probably find out once he returned.
"Sir Keldric!"
Drawn from his thoughts, Keldric saw Brother Marcus approaching and nodded.
Brother Marcus crossed himself in greeting. Keldric immediately produced a small leather pouch.
"Is this... the thing you mentioned before...?"
"I believe so."
After his bizarre dream, Keldric had immediately told Brother Marcus about the fang the demon left behind.
Brother Marcus had been staying at the church to oversee the side door's seal. Startled by the news, he hurried over to retrieve the fang himself.
Brother Marcus opened the pouch with trembling hands.
Something shifted inside before rolling into his wrinkled palm. He frowned at the sight.
"I can feel a wicked... wicked aura from it."
"Can you tell what it is?"
"It will be difficult to identify it here. I would need to examine something like this at the monastery..."
It was an awkward problem. Entrusting a demonic object to Brother Marcus felt unsettling, but carrying it around himself felt no better.
"If it is too dangerous, can we simply destroy it?"
"That would be the most effective way to dispose of an ordinary object. But we cannot know what will happen if we destroy something belonging to a demon."
Keldric nodded. Put that way, it made perfect sense. Who knew what smashing an object left by a demon might cause?
"What should I do?"
"I will keep it. Carrying it does not seem to have caused any immediate harm..."
Lichten Monastery had originally been founded to watch over the demon said to lurk somewhere beneath Spitzenberg.
If Brother Marcus could take the fang, Keldric could relax. He wanted no trouble from a demonic object.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
"Yes. Leave it to me."
After readily handing over the fang, Keldric left to finish preparing for departure.
He could not entrust every preparation to his attendants.
Unlike before, Keldric now had to return to Bogenberg with Alisa, two young attendants, and the Iron Claw Mercenary Company.
It was time to find Radomar.
☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
When dawn came, it was already the morning Keldric planned to leave Spitzenberg.
After saying farewell to the people he had met in Spitzenberg, Keldric reluctantly mounted Boreas, just as reluctant to leave as he had been elsewhere.
"Thank you, Sir Keldric. If we meet again, it may be on a battlefield."
"Probably. I look forward to working with you again when that time comes."
"Ha! Surely I am the one who should be asking for your help. If Count Rasau invades my land, I will be counting on you."
Baron Spitzenberg laughed heartily as he saw Keldric off, and Keldric smiled in return.
"Count Bogenberg may summon you. You should prepare before he does."
"Hmm... You mean I should present some token of loyalty?"
"You joined his side relatively late. Those already in the faction may not welcome you."
"That makes sense. Thank you for the advice."
With everything said, it was truly time to depart.
"All right! Move out!"
At Radomar's booming command, the Iron Claw Mercenary Company took the lead and formed ranks.
Keldric tapped Boreas's flank lightly, and the horse began walking forward.
Alisa followed on horseback. Behind her, Arno and Helga walked while leading Aveline.
"Sir Keldric! The next time we meet, let us go hunting together!"
Baron Spitzenberg shouted from some distance away. Keldric turned and waved broadly in answer.
As they left the inner castle and headed toward the gate, many residents gathered to see Keldric off.
"Sir Knight! Thank you!"
"Thank you for defeating the monster!"
"Come visit us again!"
Common mercenaries did not treat knights casually, and ordinary residents had even less reason to do so.
Keldric was different. Though another knight might have shouted or reached for a whip, Keldric simply raised a hand and acknowledged them.
That too would be remembered as honorable conduct, spreading the story of how noble Keldric of House Bellaf had been.
Keldric and his party followed the winding road and finally passed through Spitzenberg's gate.
They only had to retrace the road they had taken into the city.
Keldric regarded the familiar path with a strange expression.
They had arrived beneath a mysterious night sky glittering with stars. Now they departed in the pale light of dawn.
They had stirred up Spitzenberg for days, yet the towering mountains made the commotion feel like nothing more than a dream.
"Sir Keldric, shall we go?"
"...Yes. Let's go."
As Boreas began walking again, Keldric glanced back at the receding city.
Spitzenberg was a fortress city rising like a flower bud amid the surrounding mountains.
It had been beautiful beneath the glittering sea of stars, but dawn breaking in the distance was just as striking.
Spitzenberg, the City of Stone. Keldric had met many good people there and unexpectedly accomplished something worthwhile.
That too would become a story passed among traveling merchants and gossipmongers.
Keldric imagined his name spreading beyond this small territory and throughout the Empire, and a small thrill ran through him.
Fame spread slowly but surely.
If he joined Count Bogenberg's territorial war, the name Keldric might be etched into people's minds far more quickly.
Keldric did not dwell on it. He simply continued forward.
The north wind blew from beyond the mountains.
It was the crisp wind he had breathed until he grew sick of it in his distant home, frostbound Carlton Village.
Feeling a wind both familiar and new, Keldric faced forward again.
Once Lent ended, he would become even busier.
There was no need to mourn every connection he left behind in Spitzenberg.
Just as spring followed winter, Keldric continued silently toward his next destination.