WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Abood

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Friedrich's Battlefield

Chapter 12: The Living Hero

About half a day after the vanguard arrived, the main force of the Ferdinand Regiment reached Volga.

They had been conducting training exercises farther south, part of a strategic move to keep pressure on the Kingdom of Arelia to the west. During those large-scale drills, which spanned across several noble territories, a scouting cavalry unit happened to spot a carriage racing through the pre-dawn darkness. The driver was none other than Hermann, and his desperate state made it clear something was wrong.

Luckily for him, it was the kingdom’s army and not bandits who found him. He reported that Volga was under threat, and the regiment immediately suspended training and mobilized toward the city. That, at least, was how the young commander of the vanguard had explained it.

The reason the entire regiment, over a thousand strong, was dispatched was due to Hermann's initial report. He had passed along unverified information that the bandit force might number over a hundred. If true, that would be too large for simple bandits. The possibility that an even greater force was hidden behind them led to the full deployment.

Now, multiple scouting teams had been dispatched to verify the prisoners’ claims that no other bandits remained. They were checking whether this was truly the entire group or if other detachments were still unaccounted for.

With the area now secure, the people of Volga breathed a collective sigh of relief. On the other hand, the soldiers of the Ferdinand Regiment, prepared for a massive battle against a grand bandit force, found themselves a bit underwhelmed.

As for Friedrich’s enormous lie, it was Friedrich himself who revealed the truth to the people of Volga. He admitted that he was nothing more than an orphan, and that there was no illegitimate son of Matthias Hosenfeld.

And now, Friedrich was in the steward’s manor, which had been turned into the temporary command post of the regiment.

More precisely, he was in the manor’s storage room, hands tied behind his back, lying on the floor. He had been beaten, kicked, and thrown around.

"Guah...! Cough, cough..."

"Little bastard! Don’t think this is over!"

A middle-aged knight shouted at Friedrich, who groaned and coughed after being kicked in the stomach. The knight grabbed him by the hair, yanked him upright, and then drove a fist into his face, sending him flying across the floor.

"Rrrgh—! Mmmghhh—!"

Not far away, Yurika lay on the ground in a similar state, tied up.

At first, her hands had been bound behind her back like Friedrich’s. But when she saw him getting beaten, she had thrown herself at the knights. As a result, her legs were now bound as well, and a gag had been forced into her mouth. Her left cheek was swollen and bruised from when they struck her during the struggle.

She was trying to crawl toward Friedrich like a caterpillar, screaming something into her gag, but the soldiers standing in the corner of the storage room kept dragging her back again and again.

"I... I’m sorry—"

"You think you’ll be forgiven just by apologizing? Impersonating the illegitimate son of Count Hosenfeld... Were you aware that his real son died in battle?"

"No, I swear I—"

"I won’t hear your excuses!"

Friedrich was kicked in the chest and rolled backward across the floor.

As he tumbled, he couldn’t help but think just how disastrously bad his lie had been.

Count Matthias Hosenfeld’s only son had died in battle about ten years ago, during the war with the neighboring kingdom of Loire, a country that no longer existed, having been conquered by the Kingdom of Arelia.

To impersonate the son of a hero who had lost his child... Even if it had been a panicked lie, made without remembering that part of Matthias’s past, it was unforgivable.

"Gregor. That’s enough. Leave it."

Just then, a voice called out to the knight who had grabbed Friedrich by the collar, ready to strike him again.

The man who spoke had been sitting in a chair, silently watching Friedrich being beaten and Yurika dragged across the floor. He was none other than the hero himself, Matthias Hosenfeld.

With well-kept dark brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard, the man known for his battlefield achievements and countless brave exploits didn’t radiate the fierceness of a war-hardened general. If anything, he gave off the impression of a calm, composed gentleman.

"But sir—!"

"I want to speak with him. Help him up."

"...Yes, sir."

At Matthias’s quiet command, the knight called Gregor didn’t strike Friedrich again. Instead, he yanked him upright by the collar in a rough motion.

Matthias stood and walked over to Friedrich. In front of the boy, who was still sitting on the floor, he knelt down on one knee and looked him in the eye.

"Friedrich, was it? And your age... eighteen, if I’m not mistaken."

"...Yes."

Friedrich answered with a fearful expression, face to face with those piercing blue eyes that seemed to see straight into his soul. There wasn’t even the faintest trace of joy at meeting the hero he had once read about in books.

"I’ve heard the details from the residents of this city. You claimed to be my illegitimate son, rallied their support, brought them together, lifted their morale, and used strategy to crush the bandits. That’s quite something."

"......"

Friedrich hesitated, unsure how to respond. It didn’t feel right to say thank you, but apologizing for being praised didn’t seem appropriate either. Saying something modest like "it wasn't much" didn’t fit the moment.

In the end, he simply gave an awkward bow of his head.

"My son died eight years ago, in the war with the Kingdom of Loire, a nation that no longer exists. Were you aware of that?"

"I... I had heard that your son passed away, sir. But, well, since it happened eight years ago, I had forgotten..."

Matthias was a hero, but his son had been just a regular knight. His death hadn’t been a major topic at the time, so Friedrich could have easily claimed ignorance.

But something told him that lying would be pointless. Matthias would see through it without effort. So Friedrich chose to tell the truth.

"So you forgot that my legitimate son had already died, and still chose to impersonate my illegitimate child?"

"Yes. When I was trying to persuade the people of Volga, I acted on impulse. I thought that if I claimed to be the son of someone as renowned as you, it would give my words more weight and rally everyone. I lied without thinking it through. I swear before the gods, I never intended to disgrace you or your son's name. But in the end, my actions were deeply disrespectful, and I can’t possibly apologize enough."

"I see."

Matthias said that and continued to look at Friedrich in silence.

"......"

Any second now, a sword might be drawn and swing down on him.

He was scared.

As Friedrich turned pale with fear, Matthias’s expression changed. A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Doesn’t seem like you’re lying. And I have to say, you’re quite good with words. That kind of answer doesn’t come from someone without education. Are you truly just a former orphan?"

"Y-yes. I was abandoned as a baby along the road and raised in this city’s church. I learned reading, writing, and arithmetic from the nun who raised me. I enjoy reading, so I think I know a bit more about language than the average commoner."

"...I see."

Matthias stood up, looking down at Friedrich as he brought a hand to his chin in thought. His gaze carried both curiosity and a sense of evaluation, as if trying to measure Friedrich’s worth.

"I can see you're clever. But according to what I’ve heard, you climbed onto the platform in the plaza without warning and rallied the townspeople with a sharp rebuke before leading them into battle. That was bold… reckless, even."

Matthias’s eyes narrowed slightly. Deep and blue like the sky, his gaze made Friedrich feel as if something had gripped his heart.

"Answer me. Why did you do that?"

"...Because I was angry."

He could have said anything that sounded noble. That he wanted to protect the people of Volga. That he wanted to save the church and the orphans who had cared for him. That he believed the wicked bandits had to be defeated. There were countless good-sounding answers he could have given, yet Friedrich had replied almost unconsciously with the truth.

"When danger closed in, no one in this city tried to fight. No one tried to resist. And I found myself irrationally angry at them. When I thought about how I was just as powerless as they were, it only made me angrier."

Matthias remained silent, and Friedrich continued, unable to hold back his words.

"I learned about heroes through history books and old stories. I read about the heroes of this kingdom, of this continent, from all times and places. I learned about you as well, Lord Hosenfeld. I read about how you struck down the enemy commander during the great war against the Kingdom of Loire. Reading about the deeds and lives of heroes was a source of comfort to me, a boy born as an orphan in a rural city."

Ah… I wanted to say more.

Not just about this. I had been carrying this frustration, this restlessness, this longing for years.

Now was the time to speak. If I spoke now, the hero Matthias would listen.

Please, let him hear this. With that thought in his heart, Friedrich began to speak.

"That’s why I got so angry when reality hit. I’ve admired heroes all my life, but I was about to die as nothing more than a nameless, powerless commoner. I couldn’t protect my own life, or Yurika’s. The thought of that made the anger rise inside me. And so…"

"...And so that’s why you did something so bold?"

Friedrich gave a small nod at Matthias’s cold question.

Footnotes: 

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