Chapter 43: Lining Up (2)
Chapter 43: Lining Up (2)
A luxurious room provided by the count.
Click.
When Eugene opened the chest with a tense expression, reflected silver light dazzled his eyes.
"This is it!"
"Whoa."
The country boy and country girl stared in wonder at the heap of silver coins.
CLATTER!
Homi scooped up handfuls of silver coins and let them cascade back down, producing a blissful clatter.
"House Morad owns one of the finest gold mines on the continent. They also cultivate vast vineyards that produce top-quality grapes."
"Whether you can eat it or not, they seem to own only things that make money."
"The Duran family likely wouldn't have dared to attack them without the emperor's backing."
There was a separate pouch he had received apart from the silver chest. It contained the gold coins Roxane had sent as ransom for the knights.
"I was used to handling a few copper coins from selling herbs and hides. Now look at this kind of money."
"Why else would knights try to catch a noble's eye? The title of All-Conquering Knight is certainly glorious. But if you want to rule as a leader, you need money more than glory."
"With this much, we can keep the mercenaries paid for several years at least. That gives us time to find other sources of income."
Ever since hiring the mercenaries, Eugene had carried a financial burden in his chest like indigestion. Now it felt as though it had finally cleared.
"Since you've found favor with the count, an opportunity will come in some form. Did he not even hint at his intention to grant you a fief?"
He still did not know what territory the count might give him, but Morad had appearances to maintain and would surely grant him a worthwhile village.
Having a fixed income and a base of operations to maintain was enormously important. He also needed a place to store trophies like the Wendigo trophy.
"Do you know anything about Count Morad? He gave off such a different impression from the people I've met before."
"Different? The count actually has quite a lot in common with you."
"With me?"
"He knows how to use tradition without being bound by it. He is selective about whom he associates with, but not about whom he makes use of. And when necessary, he knows how to break the rules."
"...Is that a compliment? Or an insult?"
Eugene wore a puzzled look.
"Better than either. It means he is dangerous."
"So it means I must be all the more wary of Count Morad. I understand perfectly."
Eugene nodded. He did not think of himself as dangerous at all; he considered his temperament similar to Kresi, who had died in the Hall War.
"..."
"..."
It was only that Homi and Varda, watching on, were dumbfounded.
"At any rate, you've secured an excellent connection. Count Morad may be cruel to his enemies, but he is generous to his allies."
"I'll have to see what sort of tasks he assigns. He can't simply hand over a fief without regard for his vassals' opinions."
No matter how renowned Eugene himself might be, he was a stone that had rolled in from elsewhere. To obtain a fief, that core interest, he had to earn solid merit.
When the Morad family mustered its forces and conducted patrols, the Duran family likewise withdrew its army for the time being. Thanks to that, things felt more peaceful after the declaration of war than before.
"They are not a family that wretches like the Durans can dare to threaten."
The scribe guiding Eugene through the castle spoke.
"Is it possible they'll just reach a truce as things stand?"
"Wars that fizzle out like that are common. They may have only meant to show good faith to the emperor and had no intention of fighting properly from the start."
"The count seemed like the sort who always repays what's done to him. With interest at that."
"You have gauged him accurately. If Duran wants a truce, they will have to offer up something substantial."
"I don't understand them."
The Duran family, though greedy, was not stupid. There was no reason for them to impulsively wage war against the Morad family, which was called the ruler of western Roman.
"In truth, they have already obtained what they desperately desired."
"What's that?"
"I saw that the declaration of war letter was written as Count Duran."
The moment Eugene heard this, he understood how things had come to pass.
"They were granted a countship by the emperor in return for fighting the anti-imperial faction."
"Yes. Despite possessing ample power, their low title, caused by falling out of favor with the royal house, had long been a source of deep-seated insecurity. A countship would have been coveted enough to bear the cost of a disadvantageous peace negotiation."
"But would the emperor be satisfied with just this level of results?"
Though they had stirred up trouble here and there, they had failed to land what could be called an effective blow.
"It would have been quite different had the kidnapping of Lady Roxane succeeded. Still, that is their own affair."
"She was a bold and strong person. There's no way she'd fall to some half-baked ambush."
With his accumulated experience, Eugene could gauge an opponent's strength to some degree without even fighting.
Roxane was a warrior who held her own even when measured against Karas. Considering her age, she was a remarkable knight who warranted close observation to see how far she would grow.
"It makes me glad to hear you say so, Sir."
Though not the heir, Roxane was highly popular among the vassals for her outstanding ability and leadership as a knight.
"Many places must have called upon you, Sir, yet you accepted our family's invitation. You will never regret it."
"I suspect not."
The depth of House Morad's strength was apparent even from the composition of the troops moving about. The house fielded more heavy infantry of its own than mercenaries.
Household soldiers equipped with standardized gear were in another league from mercenaries in training, morale, and loyalty.
Other nobles did not hire mercenaries because they failed to understand this. They simply could not afford the enormous cost of maintaining a standing army.
'I think I've picked a good side to stand with.'
Eugene felt reassured once again that his choice had been the right one.
Receiving a fief grant did not mean he would be subordinated to the count, either. Their relationship would more closely resemble a tighter mercenary contract.
Eugene and Varda were invited to dine with the count.
When they arrived at the appointed place, a man welcomed them. It was Timothy, the eldest son and heir of the Morad family.
"A pleasure to meet you. I've heard a great deal from Uncle Benjamin."
Timothy, like Roxane, was a handsome man with black curly hair.
But he lacked his father's overpowering presence or his sister's sharpness. His bearing was closer to the hidden same-sex lover of an eldest son than the eldest son destined to lead the family.
"A pleasure. It seems Lord Benjamin has spoken well of me far and wide. I must thank him later."
"Uncle can be a bit thickheaded, but he's a good man."
"This is Varda-nim, the mage of the Emerald Forest."
Varda, who had been behind him, pushed back her hood and offered a greeting.
"A pleasure to meet you, Lord Timothy."
"You are as remarkably beautiful as I had heard! Father too should have earnestly served a mage like her, rather than being so fixated on Sir Goffrey."
"I am honored that the heir of the renowned Morad family extends me such hospitality."
Varda smiled with dignity and sat beside Eugene.
"Already arrived, have you?"
Roxane, the second child, entered, fanning herself with her hand.
She was dressed in casual clothes and appeared to have come straight from training. Her white upper garment had turned gray in patches, soaked with sweat.
"Roxane! You are being rude at a banquet hosted by Father. You must maintain the dignity befitting a lady of Morad."
"I'll be more careful from now on."
Roxane grinned and let the remark go in one ear and out the other. She was a true heroine, calmly using the napkin on the table to wipe the sweat from her neck and the cleft of her chest.
"Tsk!"
Timothy said nothing more. It was plain to see she would pay him no heed. The look he cast at his sister was laced with a hostility so severe it was hard to believe they were flesh and blood.
"His lordship the count enters."
At the attendant's announcement, everyone seated rose and offered their respects.
"Sit down, everyone. And Roxane."
The count took his seat and regarded his eldest daughter with a cool gaze.
"If you're going to attend an occasion like this after training, at least change your clothes. Or wear a color that doesn't show sweat."
"Unlike my brother, you're not telling me not to train?"
"Every child has their use. You were born with the talent and temperament to accomplish what no one else in our family can. It would be a foolish thing to constrain that just because it's a bit embarrassing for others to see."
"..."
Timothy listened with a mortified look on his face.
Roxane, surpassing the eldest son, was a warrior blessed in both martial prowess and leadership. Even the vassal knights had a deep sense of inferiority that they supported her rather than himself, the heir.
"Sir Eugene. Regrettably, Benjamin could not attend due to external duties."
"He is a man who does the work of hundreds of soldiers singlehandedly in wartime. It's unfortunate, but it can't be helped."
"It seems you would have done well even if you had been a scribe instead of a knight."
Once all the guests had arrived, the food was laid out in a procession. There were four kinds of soft bread, including pastry, and six varieties of jam and cheese to dip them in.
The young venison sprinkled with spices was so tender it nearly fell apart at the mere touch of a knife. The trout dish, freshly caught from the castle's artificial pond, and the roast mountain bird braised in sauce were also superb.
"Sir Eugene, do you know that Benjamin holds a fief?"
The count, who had been watching Eugene eat heartily, asked a question.
"I heard from the scribe. He has a village in the northern part of the Morad territory."
"It's a timber-producing area named Richwood, and it sits by a river, so logistics are good. This very table is made from wood that came from there."
Contrary to the custom of the eldest inheriting everything, Benjamin, though the second son, owned a fief as an exception. It had been granted by the current count.
"As you yourself noted, he is a fellow who can substitute for hundreds of troops with his personal connections. To operate properly, wouldn't he need wealth and a foundation he could use at his own discretion? A single fief is nothing to begrudge."
Roxane nodded as if this were only natural, but Timothy's expression was extremely uncomfortable. For it meant his own share of the inheritance had diminished.
"But a problem has arisen in Richwood village. Beasts and monsters that should dwell deep in the forest have been running amok near its outskirts."
Varda, who had been listening quietly, opened her mouth to speak.
"An anomaly has occurred in the forest ecosystem. This is a phenomenon that happens when a ferocious monster appears and destroys the existing territorial structure."
"The vassals predicted as much."
Even the great Count Morad did not speak down to Varda.
"He is a younger brother who runs himself ragged day and night for the family, and it is a sorry affair. The war means he'll have even less leisure to look after his fief."
Eugene guessed that this was the reason he had been invited to this meal.
"I would like to ask you to rescue the village. Whatever lurks within the forest, a knight who has vanquished a Wendigo should be more than capable of handling it. May I request this subjugation from you, acting as my plenipotentiary?"
"How could I refuse when Your Excellency the Count asks? I shall follow your command."
'So this is the first gateway to receiving a fief.'
Eugene accepted at once. With an opponent like the count, asking about compensation here would only lower his own value.
"Thank you. Benjamin too would be most pleased that you are stepping forward."
Though the count seemed a cold man, he genuinely cherished his younger brother.
"I shall help as well."
"How could I refuse the help of a renowned mage?"
When Varda stepped forward, the count nodded with satisfaction. He had invited her to the meal in the first place because he had anticipated this.
The forest of Richwood was vast, and finding a specific monster within it was an extremely difficult task. The standard approach would require a large-scale force, but the war left no room for that.
However, if a forest mage accompanied them, the story changed.
"Fath— no, Your Excellency the Count!"
The only one who was dissatisfied was Timothy.
"Is it not discourteous to entrust an honorable knight like Sir Eugene with such a backwater errand?"
"..."
Timothy, who had spoken up with vigor, fell silent as a clam under the count's icy stare. It was as if all his prepared thoughts had evaporated.
"Why do you not continue and instead stand there speechless? Will you become a lord who stops talking the moment an opponent threatens you during negotiations?"
Roxane kept her face lowered. From her trembling shoulders, she seemed to be suppressing laughter.
"The Du— the war with House Duran has begun! If an All-Conquering Knight charges beneath Morad's banner, the enemy will fall like autumn leaves. What better use could there be for him?"
'So he calls it a 'use,' huh.'
Timothy was so flustered that he was even using discourteous expressions.
"The latent strength of the Morad family runs deep. We can punish wretches like the Durans without the help of a guest."
"And judging by the situation, it doesn't even look like it'll come to a real clash. They've just swung first and then turned tail."
At the words of the count and his daughter, Timothy's face twisted.
He had inwardly welcomed the threat to Richwood. If the fief were ruined, it would give him the pretext to later confiscate it by holding the administrator — himself, once he inherited the family — responsible.
"It's a relief that Sir Eugene is going. I felt sorry for Uncle, being swamped with work and having to worry about his fief on top of it."
Roxane spoke as she put a piece of meat speared on her knife into her mouth.
She did not use a fork. In both her left and right hands, she held only a knife. It was an undignified act for a noble lady, but it suited Roxane perfectly.
Only Timothy, excluded from the family's amiable conversation, picked at his food with a foul expression.
'When things go like this, the eldest son always ends up overdoing it and causing an incident.'
Eugene, feeling stifled for no reason, gulped down some water. He belatedly realized that the time he had spent mingling with Panis in Bonyard had been, in comparison, quite comfortable.
Two days later, a relief force set out for Richwood village to the north. Between Eugene, his direct subordinates, and the mercenaries provided by House Morad, it numbered nearly a hundred.
'This is fortunate. There's troop support, and the wages are frozen too.'
House Morad had also agreed to cover the wages and expenses of Eugene's mercenaries. Just having his fixed expenditures stop was enough to put a tune in his head.
As he gazed at the horizon unfolding to the north with an unburdened heart, he felt as if his mind was clearing right open.
"You look to be in a good mood. Are you that excited about the fief?"
"It's too early to be thinking of the fief already. First is the time to establish some decent martial merit."
Even if he obtained a fief, Eugene planned to leave an agent in charge and travel the world.
"The reason I smiled was simply... because I enjoy traveling."
Whether for gaining experience or for making money, a life of wandering suited his heart more than staying in one place. Someday, when his mind and body grew weary, he would want to settle down — but that time was not now.