Chapter 18: Champion (1)
Chapter 18: Champion (1)
"A disciple of Sir Goffrey? The Knight of Prophecy?"
Karas stared at Panis in surprise.
"Hey, you should've told me important information like this right away!"
"My apologies. I've been run ragged finding and entertaining invited knights and cleaning up the mess with the Barsian knights."
"Ahem."
Panis had casually used Karas's own troublemaking as a shield, leaving him with nothing to say.
"You know my master?"
"I've never met him. But any knight would know his name. No wonder you seemed different."
The fact that Karas spoke of Goffrey so respectfully told Eugene just how remarkable his master must have been.
"We're keeping the relationship between Sir Eugene and Sir Goffrey quiet. It would be better if Gord underestimated him."
"Things are getting interesting."
Karas drained his cup in one gulp.
"Chief Magistrate, send me out first. Otherwise, I don't think I'll even get a turn."
Eugene thought to himself that he had hit the jackpot, but outwardly he maintained his dignity.
"That's truly reassuring."
The pay was already good, and now a strong knight had volunteered to take the first bout. Eugene could hardly complain.
"..."
Only Homi looked displeased with Karas for trying to steal her master's glory. Since it never even occurred to her that Eugene might lose, she wanted him to take the first bout and enjoy all the glory of victory himself.
But to interfere here would be overstepping the bounds of a squire. Once her liege decided, she simply had to follow.
The leadership of Bonyard had been holding frequent councils lately.
The three-year-term Executor presided over the Chief Magistrate, Administrator, Water Commissioner, and other senior officials, alongside the commercial and industrial magnates who dominated the city.
"There is no disruption to the logistics coming and going through Count Andar's territory. We thought they'd raise tariffs or throw their weight around with inspections, but they've been quiet."
"Of course. They want to spill a little blood and take the choicest prize for themselves. Why would they cut into the city's revenue?"
Count Andar, lord of the neighboring territory, was the instigator of this confrontation. Several other noble lords had joined him in what amounted to a localized war.
Most wars in this world were like that. All-out wars staking a kingdom's fate were rare; the fall of a kingdom usually meant the destruction of its royal house, the greatest lordly family in the realm.
"They say they are reconsidering the spice supply contract renewal from Eastham."
"Truly, the Samur scoundrels have no business ethics, none at all. It must mean they'll deal directly with the Gord bastards if they win."
There were many forces trying to predict Bonyard's future and squeeze out even one more silver coin in profit. The city leadership was exhausted just trying to deal with them.
What's more, there were other threats to the city.
"The northern trade route is far more dangerous. They say the number of bandit groups has tripled compared to usual, and the numbers keep increasing."
"They must want to make a quick profit while we're distracted by the Hall War. Jackal-like bastards who deserve to be torn apart and killed!"
Normally they would have gathered mercenary companies and formed a punitive force, but at the moment they had no attention to spare for it.
"For now, let's focus on those Gord bastards! Defeating them is the top priority, far above petty plundering!"
"What of the envoy sent to the Lady of the Forest? If she could designate a place where a worthy person might be..."
The Lady of the Forest was a mage who lived in seclusion in the Emerald Forest near the city. In the past, she had provided Bonyard and nearby villages with major help several times in times of crisis.
"Far from meeting her, the envoys couldn't even reach the forest's heart and wandered for a long time before returning. They put it as 'the forest rejected them.'"
"Damn it, what did we expect? She isn't someone we can meet simply because we want to."
Like many accomplished mages, the Lady of the Forest appeared only when she felt like it.
After exchanging reports on one issue after another, everyone turned toward one man.
"Panis! Shouldn't you have the most to report out of anyone here?"
"What the devil is going on with those damned knights! Are you even properly recruiting them?"
Panis, who just days ago had been breaking into a cold sweat and busy making excuses, was unusually composed today.
"Don't worry. I succeeded in securing both our first and second choices."
"Is that true?!"
At his confident declaration, everyone clenched their fists.
Most members of the grand council either had noble blood or had built their fortunes in respectable trades. Quite a few despised Panis for rising through liquor and gambling.
But none of them dismissed his eye for talent. If Panis claimed he had secured their first and second choices, then he really had brought in exceptional knights.
"Quickly, give us some names."
"My whole life's work is staked on a single match, and with the matter entirely in others' hands, I'm dying of curiosity!"
Since they had been recruiting knights so urgently from all over, they couldn't possibly report on every interim development. Those whose futures were at stake could not help but burn with anxiety.
"The next best is Sir Karas."
"Karas the Excommunicated Knight!"
"That ruffian actually came?"
Karas Cruze.
A knight from a prestigious family of southern Samur.
He was kind to soldiers, slaves, and maids, but prickly toward nobles and knights, causing countless troubles.
He was a powerhouse who had won every duel — and he had both challenged and been challenged to the most duels in the south.
Even the Cruze family, who had to clean up after him, found him troublesome, yet inwardly they took pride, for his talent as a knight was simply too great.
The problem arose when a political marriage was pushed forward.
-Father! I am not even the eldest son, so isn't it too harsh to decide my marriage on your own?
-It is time you realized your duty as a noble, beyond just being a knight. Is the bride's family not the third wealthiest in the south? It is a rare opportunity.
-Even should you command me to charge a thousand enemies, I would obey, but love I shall choose for myself. My sword may be swung by another's will, but my heart is wholly mine.
Neither side would yield, and Karas left his family with nothing but a letter before becoming a wandering knight.
The enraged head of the Cruze family declared he was severing ties, but at his tearful mother's entreaty, he did not strip Karas of his knighthood.
-Ungrateful wretch. Still, he has to make a living somehow.
Even the ruthless head of the Cruze family could sever formal ties, but he could not cut away the affection of blood itself.
By sheer luck, Karas's route and timing had brought him near Bonyard just when they sought him out.
"If it's Sir Karas, we can trust him. His temper may be foul, but isn't his skill the genuine article?"
"After causing that much trouble, of course he had to be good. Otherwise, someone would have cut him down somewhere long ago."
"But if Sir Karas is the next best, then who is the best?"
Everyone looked at Panis with expectant eyes.
"Do not be surprised. The famous Knight of Prophecy..."
"It's Sir Goffrey... we've won! We've won, I say!"
"Impressive. I'd like to know how you managed to bring in someone like that."
Amid the general cheering, Panis waved his hand.
"...'s direct disciple, Sir Eugene."
In an instant, it fell silent.
"Eugene?"
"I've never heard that name before."
"Is he really his true disciple?"
Seeing their reaction, Panis finally understood how frustrated Sorin must have felt when he first reported Eugene to him.
"My subordinate and the Beard Mercenary Company confirmed it on the way back. They say the knight wiped out a wolf pack and killed a warg single-handedly. No ordinary knight could do that."
"He killed a warg?"
The Executor, who had been listening quietly, also asked in surprise.
"Yes, and in merely three exchanges at that."
Voices of admiration came from all around.
A warg was huge, fast, and cunning. Worse, it knew how to lead a wolf pack in hit-and-run attacks.
Even an outstanding knight would normally need soldiers to block its retreat and a long, exhausting exchange before finally driving a blade into its heart.
One mistake in a fight like that had cost many knights their throats, leaving them to collapse while clutching at spurting wounds.
But to kill one in three exchanges meant he had overwhelmed the beast, giving it no room to act, and finished it off in a single breath.
"You must keep this a secret, but he also subdued Sir Karas in a single strike."
"..."
The doubts and worries from moments ago vanished. Prowess like that was practically the same as Sir Goffrey himself having come.
Clap clap clap!
When the Executor began applauding, everyone else joined in.
"I see. There is a reason you called Sir Karas the second choice. If this is resolved safely, you will practically have saved the city."
"Thank you!"
Panis accepted the Executor's praise with pride. The contempt and resentment he had endured, openly and otherwise, seemed to melt away like snow.
"A hunt, you say?"
"That's right, Sir Eugene."
Panis made the proposal with even greater deference than before.
"The third knight we invited has arrived. There is still some time before the Hall War, and I thought you might be bored, so I arranged a hunt. It would also be a good chance for you gentlemen to get acquainted."
Eugene looked less than enthusiastic.
Though he had been educated as a knight and had often roamed the mountains to obtain meat, he was not the type to enjoy hunting for sport.
Even so, he could hardly refuse. That was part of living as a knight in this world.
"Very well. Since you, Chief Magistrate, selected him, he must be an excellent knight; I look forward to meeting him."
"I doubt I'll ever meet another knight like you in my lifetime, Sir Eugene."
The hunt was set for tomorrow, after the noon meal.
Homi clenched her fist and steeled herself. Her master was about to formally socialize with other knights. As his squire, she could not afford to embarrass him.
"You don't have to be so tense. Let's just take it easy."
Eugene soothed her, but his words seemed not to reach the squire's ears.
Thus, the day of the hunt arrived.
Host Panis, the mercenaries who would serve as beaters, and the three champions gathered.
The knights invited by the city had been more numerous, but Panis had used his discretion to narrow them down to three. Eugene, Karas, and a middle-aged knight named Kresi.
"I have already spoken to Sir Kresi about you two."
"Pleased to meet you. I've heard much about you, sirs. I shall expect deeds worthy of your honor."
Karas gave a curt nod, while Eugene returned the greeting with proper formality.
"I'll do my best not to shame my sword. Rest assured, I will not be a burden."
"Fine spirit."
Kresi stepped back, satisfied. He didn't seem particularly interested in socializing either.
"There is one more knight I would very much like to have with us, but he is far away, so I'm not sure if he'll arrive in time."
"If you'd send for someone from afar when the matter is urgent, he must be a knight of considerable skill."
"That's right, Sir Eugene. Originally, he was the top-priority candidate. His martial prowess aside, he has a good relationship with us. He's someone who would come running the moment he learned of the city's crisis."
Panis glanced back and forth between his two strongest assets, smiling.
"But with Sir Karas turning up unexpectedly and Sir Eugene here as well, we should be all right even if he cannot come."
"But Chief Magistrate, if that knight does arrive in time..."
Eugene trailed off ambiguously.
No one said it aloud, but if that knight arrived, Kresi would be the one dropped from the roster. That would surely sting his pride as a knight.
"No need to worry about me. As long as I get my pay, I'm satisfied."
Kresi waved the concern away, clearly understanding what Eugene was thinking.
"Sir Kresi is a knight of great flexibility."
Panis tactfully dressed it up with a bow, but Eugene had a fair idea of the truth.
A knight who had given up on pursuing honor was, in effect, little different from a mercenary who fought well.
It was difficult for such a man to become an exceptional knight. Strength was honed through ceaseless challenge and the willingness to risk one's life in struggle.
But finding an excellent champion urgently on the frontier was a difficult task.
Securing knights of the caliber of Eugene and Karas at the same time was close to a miracle. Including a mediocre knight like Kresi was inevitable.
He did not make pointless displays of pride and would accept being replaced by someone better if necessary. From the city's perspective, that was ideal.
'If these two hadn't been here, those dhampir fellows I met a few days ago might have been summoned.'
Eugene, too, was far more comfortable with this group than hunting with those sorts.
After getting acquainted with the third champion, Eugene stared at one spot. From the moment they had arrived at the hunting grounds, there had been a presence that kept drawing his interest.
At the head of the beaters stood a warrior who was literally one with his horse—a centaur whose presence was impossible to miss.
"Is this your first time seeing a centaur?"
Panis asked.
"Yes. I often heard stories from my master, but this is my first time seeing one in person."
Eugene approached the centaur. Since he had dismounted, even Eugene, with his large build, had to look up at him.
"What is your name, sir?"
He was well equipped, so he did not look like an ordinary soldier.
"I'm not a knight. I'm only a guard squad leader. Just call me Barun. And there's no need to speak so formally to me."
"Barun belongs to the guard unit directly contracted with the city. He is a capable and trustworthy friend."
Panis looked at Barun with a proud face.
"Have you all prepared your equipment?"
At Barun's question, the champions all nodded.
Kresi carried a cavalry crossbow, while Karas and Barun held horn bows made in their respective homelands.
Eugene mounted his horse and received the large crossbow from Homi.
"You really mean to use that?"
Karas asked as if he could not believe it. The weapon plainly had not been designed for use on horseback.
Creeeak.
But when Eugene finished loading it in two seconds, Karas fell silent. Kresi and Barun also stared, speechless.
Homi used her entire hand to draw the string and then set the bolt. But Eugene, possessing superhuman strength beyond that, could load it in a single breath using only the thumb and forefinger gripping the bolt.
Fweeeet!
A sharp signal sound came from the forest.
"Sh-shall we be off, then?"
Panis, half flustered and half delighted, pointed toward the hunting grounds.
"Our city's mercenaries are remarkably good at their role as beaters. It seems they've already found one."
A free city hosted distinguished guests often enough that this was hardly a novelty. Naturally, the mercenaries under contract with the city had become skilled at this kind of hospitality.
The knights mounted their horses and rode into the forest.
"Drive it to the right!"
"What are you doing, you clumsy bastards? It's getting away down a narrow path!"
The beaters' shouts rang from every direction. This was Eugene's first aristocratic hunt.