Chapter 59: The Spiritual Tide (1)
Chapter 59: The Spiritual Tide (1)
The closer they drew to the northern reaches of the Roman Kingdom, the more varied the crowds they encountered became.
Whenever Eugene met merchants, he traded for supplies. Mercenaries who cast covetous looks at his party and tested the waters for robbery got beaten senseless and relieved of their money.
"How can I ever thank you for this kindness? May God bless you, Sir Knight."
Whenever he saw an elderly pilgrim, memories of Goffrey would surface unbidden, and he'd offer them a warm meal.
"The place I mentioned earlier should be coming up soon."
As the plains gave way to the approaching mountains, Haind spoke up.
"Among these mountains lies a defensible trail outpost, but I've heard rumors that bandits recently fortified it and are now collecting passage tolls."
A stronghold built against a steep mountain, reinforced with palisades and watchtowers, was a formidable defensive position.
"Have there been no attempts to subdue them?"
"It lies within no single lord's sphere of influence, nor is it a critical trade route. They chose their ground well. If word of a sizeable punitive force reaches them, they'll simply bolt. They ask meticulous questions about the surrounding region while they collect their tolls."
Whether the bandits were truly entrenched there remained to be seen. Eugene planned to assess the situation: fight if it looked manageable, or pay up or turn back if not.
As if determined to prove that the journey would not be an easy one, a barricade blocking the mountain pass ahead loomed into view. Travelers spoke with the guards at the entrance, paid their coin, and passed through.
Archers stood watch atop three separate towers, bows at the ready.
"Huh?"
But something was off. The closer they came, the less these people resembled the bandits Eugene had imagined.
They were men and women of striking beauty, their skin dark and clear in shades of deep brown, dark gray, and blue-gray. Their ears were long, their equipment excellent.
"Sir Haind. Were the rumored bandits dark elves?"
"...They were not."
Haind narrowed his eyes as well, plainly taken aback.
As they drew closer, they saw numerous disarmed humans kneeling around the barricade.
"The honorable Black Hand Mercenary Company has subdued us, the very wretches who blocked this road and extorted your coin!"
A shaggy human man whose face had been beaten black and blue stood on a raised platform and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"In return for their noble, unpaid service, they ask only half the amount we used to extort from you!"
Jeers and stones flew through the air. The shaggy-haired man winced in pain but did not stop speaking.
"T-travelers! Curse us instead! This is all because we were scoundrels!"
Eugene covered his face and laughed.
"So these bastards were dug in here and got smashed to pieces."
About eighty dark elves were visible. The travelers did not dare resist and meekly paid the toll.
Some prisoners were pulling arrows from the palisades and guard posts; others were sorting the arrows by degree of damage and stacking them in piles.
"Sir Knight. As you know, the Black Hand Mercenary Company are not the sort to work for free. They've cleared out the bandit stronghold, so they will collect coin until they are satisfied before they vanish."
The mercenary captain clearly hoped Eugene would simply pay the toll, but he was also afraid to ask a great knight to lower his head—especially to a mere mercenary company rather than a noble army.
"We'll try talking first. I've no desire to accrue a blood debt against the Black Hand Tribe either. They're no easy foe."
The mercenaries were relieved that their employer did not rely on courage alone and immediately pick a fight.
Dark elves armed with composite bows were reapers of the battlefield. They would rain down death with a power, accuracy, and rate of fire that made their own crossbows seem a poor joke.
But in the end, the party had no need to pay.
"Ah?!"
The dark elf keeping watch from the tower scrutinized Eugene several times before signaling down below.
"By any chance, are you Sir Eugene, come from Bonyard?"
When Eugene's turn came, the squad leader guarding the entrance addressed him politely.
"I am. I fought alongside Rex there, rooting out a bandit gang."
"It is an honor to meet you. We heard much about you from Young Master Rex at the tribal council. We are fortunate to have recognized you before committing any discourtesy."
Rex had recounted his experiences as soon as he returned to the tribe. Since the Black Hands operated scattered across many regions, sharing news of the wider world whenever they gathered was an essential practice.
Factions to cultivate good relations with, enemies whose debts must be repaid, VIPs who must never be treated with disrespect—all were introduced and catalogued. Eugene fell into the rare third category.
-A huge man accompanied by a snow leopard beastkin squire and an elf mage. Black hair, brown eyes. Never show hostility toward that knight.
Eugene's distinguishing features had been shared with most of the Black Hand Tribe operating abroad.
"Then may we simply pass through?"
"Of course. However, if you are not in haste, we would be honored to extend our hospitality."
The dark elf pointed toward a well-built log cabin. It had originally served as officers' quarters for the mercenaries who had occupied the pass.
The Black Hand Tribe consisted of excellent warriors Eugene wanted to remain on good terms with. With them offering hospitality so openly, he had no reason to refuse.
"You have my thanks. I accept gladly."
"It is always a pleasure to host a great warrior."
Respect the strong, despise the weak—that was the universal disposition of warriors in this world, and the dark elves were its most extreme adherents.
Eugene's party was guided deeper inside the sprawling camp.
"When we parted before, I should have hugged Rex harder. To think that earned me this kind of hospitality."
"Don't. If you had, Rex would have died."
At Eugene's words, delivered with a face too earnest to be called a joke, Varda turned serious and stopped him short.
'I'd felt it before, but they really are an army, through and through.'
The soldiers collecting tolls and standing guard maintained upright postures. They scrutinized every single person who approached the entrance as if conducting a thorough inspection.
Footsteps within the camp were kept to a minimum, and even during rest the discipline was so strict that everyone seemed ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.
"That is the knight who single-handedly hunted a demonic beast?"
Many were stretching or engaged in strength training here and there; at least half were performing the exercises Eugene had taught Rex's party.
"I wish to ask if this posture is correct."
"Would it be all right to ask? I heard he is a most generous person."
"What will you do if Captain Helga flogs you for it?"
Separate from their respect for a strong warrior, their desire to ask Eugene about the exercises was almost palpable. The camp's strict discipline was the only thing holding them back.
'Ask! Ask all you want!'
Far from disliking teaching people how to exercise, Eugene actually enjoyed it. In this world, only Homi and the dark elves shared that pleasure with him.
"Please, enter this way."
"..."
"Is something the matter?"
"No, it's nothing."
But no one worked up the nerve to ask before Eugene entered the large log cabin.
Eugene and Varda received splendid hospitality. Considering they were in the field, the table was laden with a remarkably varied spread of food.
"A meal I never imagined I would taste in a place such as this."
"We purchased various goods from passing merchants. Some we took in lieu of passage tolls."
Helga, the captain commanding this force, replied.
She was tall enough that the top of her head came almost to Eugene's eyes, with a trained physique to match.
"Is your moneymaking in the Roman Kingdom already finished?"
"My company is finished. We were lucky enough to capture a marquis's eldest son and received an enormous bounty. The other companies will be returning soon as well."
"Winter would put a stop to the fighting, so the work must dry up."
"Yes. But there is a greater reason. A grand festival is to be held, one that gathers all the dark elf tribes. It is an important event that occurs only once every few years. The schedule was set rather suddenly, but we cannot miss it."
Wandering peoples such as dark elves and centaurs, who had no fixed homeland, periodically held gatherings that brought all their tribes together.
Without maintaining at least some connection among themselves, their people risked being swept apart by the currents of the world.
Even if everyone usually fended for themselves, when the worst came, their own people were still the only ones they could rely on.
"Ordinarily we would return to the tribe and stand by, but at the request of the summoner who accompanies us, there is a place we must first visit."
"A summoner!"
Varda's golden eyes glittered with interest.
Summoners were beings who drew power from other worlds. For this reason, they were rare enough to be called mages among mages.
Simply sensing the mysteries of this world required an uncommon fate. How much rarer must someone be who could sense mysteries from another world?
The very nature of the magic they pursued risked making them look dangerously similar to heretic mages. That was why they used the more neutral title of summoner, instead of the necromancer label used of old.
"Could you tell me what business it is?"
Helga nodded as if she had been waiting for the question.
"As it happens, the summoner also wished to speak with Sir Eugene. If you do not mind, why not visit him in his room on the second floor?"
"That works out well."
Eugene remained intensely curious about mages. Apart from himself and Varda, his experience consisted solely of a heretic mage he had only briefly crossed paths with, and Decimus.
Varda looked disappointed. Mages were sensitive about uninvited guests, and custom dictated that one should not casually intrude on another mage's invitation.
"What is his name?"
"Marbas-nim."
When he knocked on the door on the second floor, a dignified voice answered from within.
"Enter."
When Eugene opened the door, he found a man in a dark monastic robe seated in a chair.
Medicine and unraveled bandages lay upon the table. As the man cleared them aside, scars of burns emerged upon his wrists, arms, and neck.
"A pleasure to meet you. I am Eugene Meyer."
"Forgive me for making an honored guest come to me. Your visit was unexpected, and in my present condition it is difficult for me to move around."
"What hardship is a few flights of stairs to a knight?"
He looked to be in his early fifties, perhaps. The burns made his exact age difficult to judge, but his voice suggested something around that range.
Beneath the shadow of his hood, faint burn scars were visible on his face, but the shape of his ears was whole. Like Eugene's, they were ordinary, unpointed ears.
"You are human."
"Mages cannot simply be raised to order, so we have no choice but to invite them from outside. And speak comfortably. Are we not comrades who both have one foot in the same mystery?"
Like the summoner he was, Marbas had immediately perceived that Eugene wielded the power of the Otherworld.
"It is all right. I am more comfortable speaking this way."
He was skilled enough that even a proud dark elf centurion addressed him respectfully as Marbas-nim. There was also something about him that reminded Eugene of his master, Goffrey.
"I heard that this force is moving at your request."
"I had business at the ruins near Veles. I am also very interested in the Wandering Castle the Roman Emperor is seeking."
"Yet you are remarkably unhurried for it, are you not? Those ruins will be excavated while you are here collecting tolls."
"I am one employed by them, not their commander. However great my past contributions to the tribe, there is a limit to what I can demand of them. Is that not how it works?"
Marbas understood his position clearly. A mage who failed to grasp that and swaggered with arrogance would one day find a knife in his back.
"In any case, even if knights have already passed through, they will find nothing noteworthy."
Baden's party had searched the ruins meticulously, yet their true power had only been activated after Eugene arrived. Marbas had good reason to take his time.
"True. Even if they hurry, traveling all the way from the Emperor's territory and back would take longer than going from here."
Marbas pointed a finger at Eugene's chest.
"In the end, waiting here proved the correct answer. What I wished for rolled right to me of its own accord."
"...!"
That came at him out of nowhere.
"You have already visited those ruins, it seems? That relic you carry in your breast, I wager it came from there."
Eugene sensed at once that playing dumb would be of no use. The man before him was a hundred percent certain of his words.
"How do you know?"
"There is no need for wariness. I have no intention of violating the custom of hospitality against a man so well-regarded among the tribe. And frankly, even if I tried anything against you, I suspect only my own neck would be broken for the trouble."
Those words carried the same certainty. This time, however, it was the kind that put Eugene at ease.
"I swear on my magic. I only want to see what kind of relic it is."
Eugene, now a mage himself, understood precisely how powerful a binding force that oath held.
Eugene drew the golden key from his breast and laid it upon the table between them.
"A key. It seems unremarkable, yet it may perhaps be the most important treasure of all."
"You have not yet answered my question. How did you know that I had visited those ruins and claimed the spoils?"
"I smelled it."
Marbas tapped his own nose.
"I am a summoner. In the hot blood of my youth, I once pushed too far in an attempt to peer into the deepest reaches of the Otherworld. The price of that recklessness was horrific."
As Marbas rolled up the sleeves of his monk's robe, burn scars were revealed, as if dozens of fiery serpents had slithered across his flesh.
"I leaned too far into a well where hell had settled. I came back after experiencing hellfire while still alive. I mean that literally."
"I see what you mean."
"Kindred spirits understand each other quickly."
Something dreadful, the polar opposite of the Eucharist Eugene employed. That must have been the cause of the burns that ravaged Marbas's entire body.
"Thanks to that vile experience, I can smell the Otherworld with appalling acuity. I knew it the moment you stepped into this house carrying that key."
"He who gazes into the abyss should beware, for the abyss also gazes into him... was it?"
"A fine saying. It suits me perfectly. I wish I had known it in my youth."
At Eugene's paraphrase of Nietzsche, Marbas laughed and nodded.