The Gold Tablet
"Squad Leader."
Raon tossed the stone in his hand into the air and clicked his tongue.
"Is it an urgent summons?"
"No. We've got a little time."
Rimer shook his head. It wasn't the kind of call that required them to sprint over immediately.
"Then I'll just finish what I was doing first."
A faint smile touched his lips as he rolled the stone lightly in his grip.
"What exactly are you doing?"
Rimer had only just arrived, so he had no idea what kind of training this was supposed to be.
"Just a simple cliff-climbing drill."
"Simple?"
While Rimer was still tilting his head, Raon hurled the stone toward the base of the cliff.
A piercing whistle split the air — and a scream erupted from halfway down the cliff face.
"GWEEEAAAGH!"
With a squeal like a pig having its throat cut, a member of the Light Wind Squad plummeted toward the ground.
Mark Goetten, waiting below, caught him with effortless gentleness, and the squad member landed on his feet without a scratch. The psychological damage, of course, looked considerable.
Raon turned back to Rimer and smiled.
"It's fundamental training. It'll help everyone."
"I have no idea where you pick up these insane methods. But…"
Rimer's brows drew down as he looked at the squad member who'd just fallen.
"It looks fun!"
He grinned and snatched a stone off the ground.
"Mind if I have a go?"
That was Rimer for you. A man who understood what fun actually was.
"Just hitting them isn't the point. The goal is to aim for their weak spots so they develop their senses and reaction speed."
This training wasn't designed simply to make the Light Wind Squad suffer. By throwing stones at each member's vulnerabilities, Raon was honing their perception and stacking their experience in responding to sudden attacks.
"Huh…?"
Dorian's mouth fell open as he listened.
It wasn't just harassment?
He'd assumed Raon was chucking rocks and logs around because he was bored, given that constant smirk. Hearing this now, it all seemed to have had a purpose.
Come to think of it…
Even when he'd faced Crain earlier, he'd been able to sense the weak points. When Crain had lifted his sword to defend, Dorian had mysteriously felt exactly where the opening was. He'd brought his training sword down on that spot, and Crain hadn't been able to endure it — he'd offered up his forehead on a platter.
He really did have a reason for all of it.
That's the vice-squad leader for you.
Sorry for doubting you.
Dorian marveled inwardly and bowed his head to Raon.
"Why the sudden bow? Were you talking trash about me?"
Raon narrowed his eyes at Dorian, who'd suddenly started bowing.
"N-no! Absolutely not!"
Dorian shook his head so hard his features blurred.
"Stop thinking weird thoughts and just hand a stone to the squad leader."
"Ah, yes…"
He sighed and passed a stone to Rimer.
"Back in the day, they used to call me the Flying Squirrel of Zieghart."
Rimer rolled the stone between his fingers, the corner of his mouth curling up.
"Why?"
"Because I was great at running away!"
"That has nothing to do with the current situation, does it?"
"I just wanted to say it!"
He loosened his twisted waist and flung the stone. Aura of wind rode the projectile as it smashed into Burren's forehead and shattered.
"Guh!"
Struck in the forehead for the second time, Burren let out a short scream and toppled backward. His strength gone, he plummeted straight down.
"Burren-niiiiiim!"
"Aaaah! Burren's going down!"
"Raon! You devil!"
"We're all gonna die at this rate! We're all gonna die!"
The members of Unit 3, having lost their squad leader, shrieked at the top of their lungs.
"How was that?"
Rimer raised his arm, laughing with satisfaction.
"Not bad."
Raon nodded and handed Rimer a split piece of stone.
"Shall we begin?"
"You bet!"
Squad leader and vice-squad leader — privately, master and disciple — cheerfully hurled stones and knocked the climbing Light Wind Squad members off the cliff.
The Light Wind Squad scaled the cliff as if it were their own home, their bodies thoroughly tempered — but the stones raining down like a storm battered them off balance, and they fell one by one.
"Keugh!"
Marta brought ferocious concentration to bear, dodging more than a dozen stones, but in the end the combined assault of Raon and Rimer shot her down.
"You son of a biiiiitch!"
The scream she left behind rang across the freezing cliff.
"Just Runaan left now."
Rimer let out a dry laugh as he looked at Runaan, stuck to the center of the cliff like a cicada.
"Huh? Is she seriously sleeping?"
"She was asleep earlier, too."
"She's going to invent a Sleeping Sword at this rate."
He shrugged and threw a stone at Runaan.
The wind-aura-laden stone streaked down like a thunderbolt, but Runaan, eyes still closed, twisted her shoulder and slipped past it.
"Oh-ho!"
Apparently not expecting her to dodge so easily, Rimer rolled up his sleeves and unleashed a continuous barrage. Runaan, still with her eyes shut, crawled along like a lizard and evaded every stone.
Raon watched Rimer throwing with such enthusiasm, and the corner of his mouth lifted.
Keep throwing your heart out.
Starting tomorrow, the squad leader would be climbing that cliff himself. Rimer had grown stronger, that much was true — but because he'd only been cultivating, his stamina and physique were still far from adequate. Come tomorrow, he'd be clinging to that cliff with the rest of them.
"Ah."
Just as Raon was picturing the screams Rimer would be letting out tomorrow, a short cry from Runaan reached his ears. It seemed she'd finally taken one of Rimer's stones and fallen.
"So who's the guy catching people down there?"
Rimer tilted his head, apparently only now curious about Mark Goetten's identity.
"Someone who's going to be my retainer."
"R-retainer? That guy's a Master!"
"It just kind of happened."
"A Master as a retainer? What the hell even are you?"
Rimer's lips trembled faintly, as if he couldn't process it.
"It's genuinely a coincidence. I'll explain when we see the Family Head."
Raon waved Rimer off and walked to the edge of the cliff, looking down.
"You've all fallen! Climb back up!"
He poured aura into his voice and shouted toward the bottom.
"If you want this training to end, either one of you makes it to the top, or the sun comes up! Those are your options!"
"GWAAAAAAH!"
The instant the words left his mouth, a chorus of howls erupted from below.
"You bastard!"
"Just you wait! When I get up there, I'm gonna kill you!"
"We're not letting this go!"
"Let's go! Kill that guy!"
The Light Wind Squad, apparently still furious about getting pelted with stones, started climbing the cliff with murder in their throats.
"See, this is why the Light Wind Squad only comes alive when you're around."
Rimer snickered as he watched them surge upward. Completely unaware of his own fate tomorrow.
Raon looked at him, then caught Dorian by the shoulder.
"Dorian."
"Y-yes! Yes!"
Having witnessed the two of them in the grip of madness, Dorian nodded frantically, his lips trembling.
"You saw how it's done?"
"Th-the stone throwing?"
"Right. I'm going to see the Family Head. Your turn to throw."
"H-how am I supposed to…"
"Sir Mark is down below anyway. Throw whatever you want."
"He's right. Just throw. You'll hit them no matter what."
It wasn't just Raon — Rimer was smiling too, as if it would be simple.
"We'll leave it to you, then."
The two of them gave a casual wave and descended the cliff by the path on the opposite side.
Dorian swallowed dryly as he watched the Light Wind Squad scrambling up the cliff.
"C-can I do this?"
The climbing squad members were terrifying, but Raon — the one who'd made them this way — was even more terrifying.
"Ah, to hell with it!"
He shook his head wildly, pulled a long, thick log from his belly pouch, and rolled it down the cliff.
With a roar like the cliff itself was being crushed, the log knocked three Light Wind Squad members off the wall.
"GWAAAAH!"
"Damn it!"
"Raon Zieghart, you son of a biiitch!"
Even as they fell, the Light Wind Squad spat curses at Raon.
"Th-this is actually fun?"
It was way more fun than he'd expected. And since all the cursing as they fell was directed at Raon, there was no burden at all.
Smiling, Dorian dumped a square boulder, a pointed rock, and a round stone from his belly pouch.
"All of you, fall!"
The sight of him pouring rocks and miscellaneous junk down on the Light Wind Squad looked, somehow, a little like Raon.
Wrath, who'd been stretching his body out by force just to endure this, took one look at Dorian and shook his head.
"Is this what humans are…?"
"Or do they all go mad the moment they meet that brat?"
Raon stepped through the door Rimer held open and entered the Audience Chamber.
Cold, as always.
He felt it every time he came here. Even within House Zieghart, the Audience Chamber was the coldest, most bone-chilling place of all.
He walked along the central carpet and lifted his gaze. Roen stood to the left, Sheryl to the right, and on the dais above them Glenn sat upon the throne. Today, as ever, he looked down upon the world with those dry, unreadable eyes.
Raon clicked his tongue so quietly no one would hear, then glanced at Rimer.
He said there was a gift?
Forget a gift. The atmosphere in here was such that he'd be lucky if a fist didn't come flying at him.
"Why does that old man always wear the same expression? That's the face of someone in a thoroughly foul mood."
I don't know either.
Raon drew a deep breath, then dropped to one knee and bowed his head.
"I present myself before the Family Head!"
"Rise."
A heavy voice told him to stand before he'd even finished the greeting properly.
"Thank you."
Raon straightened his back and lifted his head. Glenn's gaze was colder than usual.
"Why did you not come to see me the moment you returned?"
"It was late. I thought it would be discourteous."
He'd planned to go the next day, worried that showing up in the dead of night would leave a poor impression. That decision, it seemed, had only made things worse.
"Raon Zieghart."
Glenn propped his chin on a fist and leveled an arrogant look at him.
"I summoned you because I have questions."
"Please speak."
"I hear the head of the Sepia Merchant Guild will be visiting soon to secure infrastructure and a road network. What did you do at that guild?"
His eyes sank to a chill, as if he still didn't know what had happened at the Sepia Merchant Guild.
So that's why he's angry.
He was irritated that Raon had decided to expand the family's infrastructure without so much as a report.
I should have asked first, after all.
Even if it was a good thing for the family, Glenn was the Family Head. Reporting first had been the proper course.
"It may take a while. Is that all right?"
"Speak."
Glenn nodded slowly, as if it were no matter.
"When we returned to the Sepia Merchant Guild, the guild head, Adis Sefia, announced a successor selection trial, and…"
Raon told Glenn and the others everything about the succession contest that had unfolded at the Sepia Merchant Guild. He mentioned the battle with the Black Tower, but left out the Shadows, referring to them only as assassins and poison practitioners.
"…And that is why the guild head intends to come to Zieghart in person to inspect the state of our infrastructure and road network."
At the news that the Sepia Merchant Guild had pledged to stand behind House Zieghart — and that their very first demand was the expansion of Zieghart's infrastructure and roads — the Audience Chamber fell into silence.
"D-did the Sepia Merchant Guild really say they would stand behind Zieghart?"
Sheryl's mouth fell open.
Sepia has always been neutral…
Countless organizations had tried to forge a close relationship with the Sepia Merchant Guild, and not one had succeeded. That a place which had maintained nothing more than a customer-and-merchant relationship with everyone would reach out to Zieghart first was almost impossible to believe.
"…Remarkable."
Roen let out a dry laugh as well, as if he hadn't expected Raon to return with the Sepia Merchant Guild's backing.
"And Falling Blossom Blade as a retainer, no less. He came back with a Master in tow!"
"I know. That boy really is something else."
The two of them kept marveling, still astonished that he'd acquired Falling Blossom Blade as well.
"That's my cash cow for you!"
Rimer gave Raon a thumbs-up and nodded. Judging by that proud expression, you'd think he'd been the one who'd accomplished something enormous.
Raon listened to the three of them praise him, then bowed his head to Glenn.
"I apologize for not informing you in advance."
"Raon Zieghart."
Glenn's voice reached him while he was still looking at the red carpet. He lifted his gaze. Unlike the other three, Glenn's face was still sheathed in coldness.
"Why did you ask the head of the Sepia Merchant Guild to develop Zieghart?"
Glenn's eyes gleamed, sharp enough to pierce through him.
"The one whose heart he was taken with is not Zieghart. It is you. You could have taken that benefit for yourself alone. Why did you want Zieghart to grow?"
It wasn't a long question, but it wasn't an easy one to answer. He turned it over in his mind, then decided honesty was best.
"To be honest, I didn't particularly like House Zieghart. I'd grown attached to the Light Wind Squad, but I felt nothing in particular toward the family itself. One incident changed that."
Raon closed his eyes, recalling the miracle of that day.
"When I saw people who barely knew my face risk their lives and draw their swords to save me from being kidnapped, something inside me changed. I felt I understood, just a little, what a family is — what a faction is."
He went on, watching the red moonlight pouring through the window.
"From that moment, it wasn't only my own affairs that came to mind. The family's did, little by little. When the family was slighted, I got angry. When the family lost, I wanted to step forward and win for it."
"Hrm…"
Glenn stroked his chin with unimpressed eyes, but he didn't cut him off.
"This request was an extension of that. Right now, House Zieghart stands on the most barren land among the Six Kings — no, among any faction of note. It's cold year-round, the storms never stop, and it's crawling with monsters. It's as closed off as a place can be."
Raon pointed at the floor of the Audience Chamber.
"And 'closed off' applies not only to the outside, but to the inside as well. The family's swordsmen and servants have nowhere proper to rest or enjoy themselves, so even on weekends they just hole up in their quarters. There are entertainment districts, but they're all the same, so people get bored and don't go, and the money just piles up."
"Yes! Yes! The taverns are all identical!"
Rimer suddenly cut in, waving a hand.
"When we need to find our squad leader, we only have to check one tavern and one gambling den. That's how few places there are to go."
Rimer always frequented the same rundown pub and Dokoe's gambling den, so finding him was about as easy as lying down and eating rice cakes.
"Huh? S-so that's why you always found me so easily? I thought you'd planted a tracking artifact on me…"
Rimer drooped his head, muttering that he'd been startled every time Raon appeared like a ghost.
"If the infrastructure around the family expands, the swordsmen will go outside on their days off and spend their money, and the surrounding commercial districts will develop more and more. The swordsmen will relieve their stress, and the merchants will make a profit. People call people, and money calls money. I believed it would eventually lead to the expansion of the family itself."
When he finished, the Audience Chamber went so quiet it might have been empty of people.
"To think you'd come to consider such things. You've truly changed a great deal."
Sheryl smiled softly. She raised both hands and began to clap.
"If that truly comes to pass, a great many swordsmen and servants will be glad of it."
Roen, too, let out his characteristic laugh and clapped beside Sheryl.
"……"
Rimer said nothing, simply staring at Raon.
"Hey! What are you doing? Clap!"
Sheryl drove her elbow into Rimer's side.
"Keugh! I was busy being moved by my disciple's growth!"
Rimer grimaced, rubbing the spot he'd been hit.
"Disciple? Isn't he the one who's the master?"
"I-I hear that a lot, too."
He looked at Raon and smiled faintly.
"That kid used to keep his heart locked up tight, except for the Annex and the Light Wind Squad. The way he keeps saying 'Zieghart' now… I think he's finally started thinking of it as his family, for real."
From the first time Rimer had met him, Raon's willpower and talent had been outstanding — but his heart had been sealed away. Even the distance between him and the Light Wind Squad had taken a long time to close. After the kidnapping, it seemed something in his thinking had shifted in a profound way.
"Raon. Build me just one more gambling den!"
Rimer beamed and joined Sheryl and Roen in applause.
Raon received the three of them's applause and looked up at Glenn.
"Hah…"
Glenn lifted his gaze as if wrestling with something and let out a short breath. His jaw seemed to tremble, just slightly.
"I want the people of this family to live more comfortably, more happily. I want the family's name to spread farther and higher. Expanding our infrastructure was the best way to achieve that. Please accept it."
Glenn was still a man whose inner thoughts could not be read. Raon had laid his sincerity bare, but he had no idea whether it had landed.
Glenn covered his mouth with a hand and closed his eyes. His voice wavered faintly; he seemed to be struggling with the decision. Raon kept his mouth shut and bowed his head, giving him room to think.
"Ahem. I did not expect your thoughts to reach that far. It is true that a family cannot remain standing still forever."
Glenn cleared his throat as if he were being forced into it, then nodded.
"Thank you."
Raon placed a hand over his chest and bowed with full formality.
"Ahem!"
Rimer let out a dry laugh as he watched Glenn cough in rapid succession, forcibly pressing his mouth shut.
There he goes again.
He was using every muscle in his body and every scrap of his aura to suppress his expression and his gestures — but in the end his strength slipped, and the corners of his mouth were climbing toward the sky. If he just took that hand away from half his face, he'd be grinning as wide as a puppy, no question.
Honestly, it's a miracle he hasn't fainted.
His grandson had not only dragged home one of the continent's Five Great Merchant Guilds, he'd come back with a request made for the family's sake. What grandfather in the world wouldn't have his eyes spinning?
Now that Rimer looked, Glenn's pupils were half-unfocused. He'd never seen the man like this before.
I can't let this chance slip by.
Rimer hopped up onto the dais. From the side, he could see Glenn forcing the corners of his mouth back down. Those corners were twitching as busily as a squirrel chewing an acorn.
"Ahem. Why have you come up here?"
"I'm sure the Family Head understands better than anyone how enormous this is."
Rimer lifted a hand slightly and went on.
"We can't just send Raon off after he brought home a benefit this massive for the family. How about granting him something — anything at all?"
He looked to Sheryl and Roen as if appealing for backup.
"For once, that idiot said something right. I also believe this warrants a proper reward."
Sheryl smiled and looked at Raon.
"I am of the same mind."
Roen nodded as well, letting out a warm, easy laugh.
"Ahem! If the three of you put it that way, I suppose I have no choice."
Glenn straightened his back as if he'd been waiting for exactly this, and lifted his chin.
To Raon Zieghart, who secured trade with the Sepia Merchant Guild for the sake of the family, I hereby bestow a Gold Tablet.
The instant the order was given, Roen stepped up onto the dais. In his hands, as if it had been waiting there all along, was a board bearing a Gold Tablet.
"Raon. Come up here."
"Vice-squad leader. This way, if you would."
Sheryl and Roen gestured for Raon to ascend the dais.
Raon, unable to keep up with how fast everything was moving, tilted his head and started toward the platform.
What is this…
Why was this proceeding so quickly? Normally, after a mission or some achievement, there was a proper discussion of merits before any reward was given. This time, things were unfolding at lightning speed.
Well, it shouldn't matter.
Glenn was thorough when it came to the distribution of honors, and the fact that he was offering a Gold Tablet meant Raon had done enough. He was one step closer to making Sylvia part of the direct line. For now, he decided to be glad.
Glenn's gaze was still cold, but he held out the Gold Tablet as if he had no intention of taking the reward back.
"Thank you."
Raon raised both hands and received the Gold Tablet. He nearly dropped it — he couldn't tell whether it was his own hands trembling, or Glenn's.
"My thanks to the three of you as well."
"Where do you think you're going?"
Just as he was about to bow to Sheryl, Roen, and Rimer — who'd helped him receive the Gold Tablet — and step down, Glenn's voice stopped him.
"Pardon?"
He turned, startled, and found Glenn looking at him with eyes that seemed faintly flushed.
"I don't particularly want to, but if I let it go with just a Gold Tablet, those three will give me an earful. Tell me what you want."
He flicked his fingers as if it didn't matter what Raon asked for.
"I…"
"Name two things."
What keeps coming out?