IX. Standing Against Injustice (3)
IX. Standing Against Injustice (3)
There were two pieces of good news that Keldric and his party would be glad to hear.
One was that the inn and other lodgings were relatively intact, and the other was that the village chief was also unharmed.
There was one piece of bad news as well.
Even excluding those killed while resisting to the end, they had managed to capture three or four Rheesian soldiers, but not one of them spoke a language anyone understood.
Latium got no response from them. They had captives but no way to interrogate them, which left Keldric deeply frustrated.
So Keldric decided to speak with the village chief first.
He needed to learn why Rheesian soldiers had attacked the village and what was happening in the Barony of Yaven.
"Those men are mercenaries. From the rumors I've heard, ours is already the third village they've hit."
"Mercenaries?"
What he learned in this way was hardly surprising.
Hiring mercenaries and ordering them to pillage hostile territory was hardly honorable, but it was common enough in these turbulent times.
Come to think of it, the mounted bandits Keldric had previously destroyed were the remnants of mercenaries defeated in the Robernst territorial war.
Soldiers from the Duchy of Rhees were frequently employed as mercenaries in the Empire.
They commanded a high price, but their above-average fighting ability and equipment quality justified it.
Unlike the Empire, where knights, mercenaries, and peasant levies varied enormously in skill and equipment, Rheesian soldiers maintained a consistently high standard.
It was no wonder nobles favored them, especially in the Empire's eastern and northern regions.
Still, there had to be a reason Rheesian troops were rampaging more often lately, including the attack on Arno and Helga's village.
"I've heard that the Duchy of Rhees has been in poor straits lately."
"Why is that?"
"That would be because of the Holy Land Reconquest Campaign."
As knights and nobles across the continent repeatedly raised armies and marched toward the Holy Land, the Latium Sea along their route naturally drew attention as a trade route.
According to Alisa, this had relegated the North Sea Trade Route—the Duchy of Rhees's main commercial artery—to an afterthought, while the duchy's imperfect tax system drained its strength by the day.
Farther south, even the Kakar people who had once terrorized the Empire were being pushed back by the heathens.
To salvage their impoverished livelihoods, the Rheesians had turned to a 'plunder economy.'
Keldric grimaced.
Strictly speaking, plunder was probably illegal in their country as well, but the state practically encouraged it.
"I understand their circumstances well enough. But that isn't what matters right now."
"Sir Keldric is right. Village chief, why hasn't Lord Yaven sent soldiers?"
Henri asked casually as he wiped the blood from his helmet. The village chief flinched before answering.
"W-well... perhaps it was because of his recent defeat..."
"He was defeated?"
The village chief's next words were shocking.
Baron Gofrit's army had clashed with Baron Yaven's army, and Baron Yaven had lost many elite soldiers and retreated all the way to Bellam.
"Oh, Lord..."
Henri muttered, visibly shaken by what he had heard. Keldric pressed the village chief for more.
"Do you know anything else? How many men did Lord Yaven lose?"
"I-I don't know the details, sir."
Of course, the village chief could not know the exact losses or why they had been defeated. He was only a middle-aged man with some standing in the village.
That left Keldric deeply uneasy.
News of a defeat before Keldric had even joined them was disastrous.
Keldric knew that victory and defeat in war could hinge on the smallest things.
A few pillaged villages were bad enough, but if they had lost their very first battle, the morale of Baron Yaven's army would have hit rock bottom.
There was a limit to how badly one could get the first step wrong, and this felt less like misbuttoning and more like tearing the buttonhole clean off.
"...Thank you. You may leave now."
"Ah, yes. Understood. It is humble, but please make yourselves comfortable."
After the village chief left for another resident's home, only Keldric, Henri, and Alisa remained in his house.
A somewhat heavy atmosphere hung in the air. The first to speak was Alisa.
"It seems too early to jump to conclusions."
"...Well."
"Lord Yaven may have suffered fewer losses than we think. The supposed defeat may even be nothing more than a rumor."
As befitted a wizard, Alisa was the calmest and most realistic of them.
In times like these, whenever a territorial war began, both sides employed every possible method to break the enemy's morale.
Spreading exaggerated or false rumors was among the easiest and most reliable.
Those who knew the truth would soon correct them, but once rumors began circulating, the people were bound to grow uneasy.
"I do hope that's the case."
"Damn it... Sir Keldric, we need to reach Bellam as fast as possible. Our force will make a major difference."
Keldric quietly nodded. Sir Henri was right.
They had forty elite soldiers, no less. Even without cavalry, they were in an entirely different league from forcibly conscripted serfs.
Not to mention Keldric and Henri, combatants on another level altogether.
If they joined Baron Yaven with this force, he might be able to make up his losses and perhaps even mount a counterattack. The problem was...
"I'm concerned there may be another attack here."
No matter how dishonorable pillaging a village was, he figured that Baron Gofrit, having briefly seized the momentum, was capable of anything.
If he had done it once, what would stop him from doing it twice? Salzfluss had been relatively fortunate.
But that luck would mean nothing once Keldric left. Could people who had been pillaged once withstand a second pillaging?
"Sir, there's nothing we can do about that."
Henri did not seem particularly concerned.
In truth, that attitude was the norm. No matter how important a village was, nobles and knights prioritized capturing an enemy knight or lord and ending the war.
Protecting the village mattered, but the priorities were different.
"We can't leave any soldiers behind. We'll have to pray there are no more attacks on this village."
"...You're right."
"Let's do what we can for now and leave. We'll have to march hard again tomorrow."
Henri grumbled with a fed-up look. Alisa, massaging her calves beneath the table, clearly felt the same.
"Then we'd better rest for now."
"I will order the soldiers to stand watch. Four shifts of ten men each, rotating, should suffice."
Henri had a surprisingly serious side. Keldric's expression turned wry.
If only he were always like this. Why was he so obsessed with women?
"Then, well... Sir Keldric."
"Hm? What is it?"
"I'll sleep at the inn. I'm worried about the ladies I met there before, and... ahem!"
Keldric took it back. Henri was still Henri.
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Keldric lay on a bed stuffed with straw, gazing out through the small window.
The darkening sky glittered with stars scattered like sesame seeds. One especially striking star sat framed in the window like a picture.
The North Star shone there, fixed forever in place.
Unless a blizzard was raging, the northern night sky was this clear. Keldric recalled the nights he had occasionally stepped outside the manor.
The night was so still that even the insects were silent. Only an occasional dog barked in the distance. Keldric's thoughts grew tangled.
Salzfluss had escaped being reduced to ashes only by chance.
Keldric and Henri had happened to be passing through, and Alisa had noticed the unusual signs on the road even before that.
People could not live forever relying on luck.
Not everyone could be happy. But everyone could be unhappy.
The people of Salzfluss were simply lucky. Conversely, the other pillaged villages were simply unlucky.
Military, geographical, and political factors complicated the idea that it was all luck, but that did not change the fact that other villages besides Salzfluss had been pillaged.
Carlton Village might even be among them.
To have everything taken, to lose one's life, and even have one's chastity and will violated simply because of bad luck...
Keldric could not accept a world like that. He did not want to.
'This is driving me crazy.'
Keldric rubbed his face vigorously as he lay there, his rough, calloused palm scraping his skin.
Sleep refused to come. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw the bodies of the villagers he had helped gather.
They had simply been unlucky. They had died before Keldric and Henri arrived, and there had been nothing anyone could do.
Keldric simply could not understand that.
Someone had killed another person, and 'nothing could be done' was supposed to explain it? They had just been unlucky?
He didn't know. Keldric covered his face with one large hand and muttered.
Sparks kept rising from whatever stood in the center of the room, whether it was a stove or an open fire.
Keldric slightly raised his head and glanced at Alisa, who was lying on the other bed opposite him.
Alisa lay with her back turned. The flickering orange light briefly outlined the curves of her back.
Her shoulders rising and falling regularly indicated that she was soundly asleep.
Since meeting Keldric, Alisa had accompanied him through countless fights, building trust between them.
There had been a minor incident in Bogenberg, but even that had ultimately strengthened their bond.
But now that he thought about it... had Alisa ever needed to go out of her way to follow him?
People built relationships by overcoming hardships together and making up for each other's shortcomings.
Alisa had said she was looking for a certain wizard. Keldric didn't know the details beyond that.
Usually he would not have concerned himself, but now he suddenly wondered.
Who was the wizard Alisa was searching for, and what circumstances had led her to wander from place to place?
"Are you troubled by something?"
Suddenly, Alisa's voice broke the silence. Keldric involuntarily flinched.
Before he knew it, Alisa had propped herself halfway up on the bed and was watching him. Her eyes reflected the flickering orange light, and Keldric looked away without thinking.
"It's nothing."
"...I see."
Alisa shrugged and lay back down. This time, she stayed on her side facing Keldric instead of turning away.
"Sir Keldric."
"I'm listening."
"Are you worried about your homeland?"
"It would be a lie to say I'm not."
"If your homeland burned to ashes..."
"..."
"If everything vanished, and you smelled your family and everything belonging to your house burning, what would you do?"
It wasn't that he held any special affection for House Bellaf.
But he certainly did not want it reduced to ashes until nothing remained recognizable.
Keldric had no answer. He mulled it over for a long time before speaking carefully.
"Then I'd have to take revenge."
"Revenge..."
"If someone took what was mine, they'd have to pay for it."
"Even if that revenge became ugly?"
"Because it's right to stand against injustice."
This time, Alisa closed her mouth for a moment. Keldric waited silently.
"I'm sorry for suddenly bringing up something so rude..."
"It's fine. If you're the one saying it, I'm sure it has some meaning."
"..."
"Let's stop here. We'll need to march hard tomorrow."
"...Yes. Good night."
Alisa tried to sleep without turning away.
Keldric watched her delicate eyelids close. Once her breathing settled, he rummaged through the luggage beside the bed.
A disc emitting an uncanny glow appeared.
The disc he had inadvertently brought all the way from Bogenberg. Its flickering light obscured Keldric's face.
After staring at it for a moment, Keldric tucked it beside his pillow and lay down.
His mind was a mess, full of questions and worries.
The only being who could readily answer them all was probably a transcendent existence on an entirely different level.
But that night, Keldric did not dream.
☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩
They needed to hurry the rest of the journey to Bellam.
Keldric quickened his pace slightly. Before, they had rested three times while traveling during the daylight hours; now they pushed on with a forced march, resting only twice or even once.
It was not a pleasant choice, but there was no helping it. Time was more precious than anything.
Bellam, normally a full two-day journey, took them only a day and a half.
"We've arrived."
Henri reined in his horse and craned his neck. Keldric pulled on his reins as well.
In the distance, the familiar walls of Bellam came into view.