Ode of the Brave - Chapter 108

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Ode of the Brave ◈

Chapter 108

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Roy felt as though he had entered a noble’s castle. It was as if he had passed through a world of darkness and finally reached a world of light.

That made him wonder whether he really belonged here, which left him strangely uneasy. The adults and children all seemed to feel much the same.

“Uh, but I think the adults and children should be separated for now.”

Kaspar, who was leading the migrants ahead, spoke up.

“We’ll need to do something about the cow too. There isn’t a stable here, you know? Whose cow is it?”

Yulia also spoke with a troubled expression.

The migrants had lived together in makeshift tents outside until now, so they did not know what to do in proper accommodations.

“The cow belongs to us, but...”

Lena, the eldest of the four siblings, answered hesitantly.

“You can’t sell it right away, can you?”

“We still have a long journey ahead, and we need it to carry our things. Let’s tie it up beside the lodging for now.”

“Mm, should we?”

Kaspar and Yulia discussed it between themselves. But there was one more problem.

“Our family cannot be separated. We’ve never done that before.”

Hartmann’s wife, Elia, said.

Kaspar thought for a moment before answering with some difficulty.

“There are quite a few people, so I’m not sure. I think the children should stay in the probationer quarters. They all have a daily routine, you see, and having their whole family beside them might be distracting. The adults can stay in the Inner Castle, while the children stay in the quarters...”

The Inner Castle and the quarters were both inside the castle, so they were not very far apart.

Hartmann considered it for a moment before replying.

“Very well. If you guarantee that I may see my son and daughter whenever I wish, we will do so.”

“There is nothing to guarantee. You really can see them whenever you want.”

Thinking about it, they were not being torn apart forever. They only had to live that way while they stayed here, so Elia could not stubbornly insist.

Still, she had always kept her son and daughter close, and that made her uneasy.

“The trainee building has better facilities, but the atmosphere there is pretty intense. The competition has started in earnest, so the children are a little sensitive. It would be better for them to stay in the probationer building.”

Yulia looked toward the children as she spoke. But what did children know about what was good or bad for them? They simply did as they were told.

In the end, Hartmann, Yulia, Bremen, and Bletter stayed in the Inner Castle, while the children stayed in the probationer quarters.

The buildings were right beside each other, so there was no need to make a fuss. Yet as they moved farther apart, they found it hard to part. Elia kept looking back, and Roy and Beka did the same.

The four siblings who had lost their parents merely followed along blankly, while Bremen comforted Hartmann and Elia, saying that it would be all right.

The lodging building had once been used as barracks, and each room housed four people.

After taking the four siblings and Roy and Beka inside, Kaspar spoke to the probationer on duty.

“Hey, do you have any empty beds?”

“Pardon?”

“They’ll be staying here from now on. Do you have room?”

“Uh... yes, just a moment. Ah, but will the girls be staying here too?”

“No. The girls should go to the girls’ quarters.”

“Then you need two rooms. Just a moment.”

The probationer on duty checked something like a blackboard attached to the wall. Notes necessary for daily management had been written on it in chalk made from lime and charcoal.

“There are vacancies, but no adjoining rooms. Here and here.”

The rooms were far apart. But they were not in a position to be picky, and Kaspar took Roy and the youngest of the four siblings away.

“You girls wait here for a moment. I’ll take these two there and come back.”

Kaspar spoke to the girls.

Only after they were suddenly separated did Roy seem to grasp what was happening. He called to his sister.

“B-Beka.”

“Don’t be scared. Stay put and behave.”

And so the two boys were separated from their sisters as well.

Roy entered the room Kaspar had shown him. Once Kaspar left and Roy stood alone in the four-person room, he felt truly alone for the first time in his life, apart from his family.

He could still hear shouts from somewhere. He went to the window and saw people diligently practicing swordsmanship in the rear yard. They were about his age, or perhaps a little older.

They were all serious. Though the weather was cool, their clothes were soaked with sweat. The swordsmanship instructor teaching them maintained a stern expression and a blade-sharp gaze.

Watching them gave Roy a strange sense of courage. Those children must all be living apart from their families too.

He became so absorbed in watching that he lost track of time. When training seemed to end and the instructor left, most of them dropped where they stood.

Some wiped away their sweat and went elsewhere, and soon the corridor outside grew noisy. Then probationers entered Roy’s room. Their eyes met.

The probationers glanced at Roy briefly, then went about their own business and chatted among themselves without speaking to him.

“Is this soap?”

“Yeah. I hid it when I went into town during the last festival.”

“You didn’t buy it?”

“Hey, why would I spend money on something this expensive?”

“The price isn’t the issue. This is the sort of thing girls use, you little sissy.”

“Then I won’t lend it to you.”

“Being a girl might not be so bad.”

“Idiot.”

The probationers snickered at the silly joke. Then they took out fresh clothes and went to wash up. Only then did they speak to Roy, who was still standing there awkwardly.

“Are you new?”

“...Huh? Y-Yeah...”

“Hey, what’s with those clothes? Anyone would think you were a beggar.”

“Maybe he really is a beggar. What’s that smell? It smells like dung.”

They were not trying to bully Roy. He really did smell. After living outside for several days, it was difficult to wash, and a smell naturally clung to his body. On top of that, he had traveled with a cow, so the smell of dung had seeped into him too.

Roy’s face turned red with embarrassment.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

The oldest-looking of the three probationers stared at Roy before asking.

“Roy.”

“Hmm, you’re a commoner. Good. It’s uncomfortable when there are nobles around. What does your father do? Does he run a merchant company somewhere? Is he a craftsman?”

“N-No. He’s a woodcutter...”

Suddenly, silence fell over the room. Only the muffled voices of other children chatting in the corridor beyond the door could be heard.

“A woodcutter? You’re not joking?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Then you don’t have any money at all?”

“They say children shouldn’t handle money...”

“What kind of nonsense is that? Are you going to live on plain rice porridge because you have no money?”

“...What’s wrong with plain rice porridge? It’s fine... isn’t it?”

“Huh.”

All three probationers sharing the room looked dumbfounded. That was only natural, since the children who entered the clan were from lower-ranking noble or middle-class families.

Knight training was too difficult, dangerous, and time-consuming. The clan, on the other hand, taught swordsmanship good enough to protect oneself in this harsh world.

Those with exceptional talent or ambition remained in the clan and carried on its future.

In fact, once someone became an official clan member, especially under the Viola name, they were not looked down on anywhere. Nobles and wealthy people would instead plead for their help.

That was why so many people competed to send their children to the clan. And since the clan was not a charity, it accepted students in order of the donation fees they paid.

In other words, it was strange for a woodcutter’s son to be here.

Perhaps because of that, the probationers’ gazes toward Roy changed. They were contemptuous.

“Anyway, go wash up already. Wash those clothes too.”

“Where?”

“Don’t you have feet? Don’t you have eyes? Water’s everywhere. Do I have to explain that to you? Go find it yourself.”

One of the probationers spoke coldly.

Embarrassed and flustered, Roy left the room. Many apprentices and probationers were playing in the corridor, but though they glanced at Roy, no one spoke to him.

Kaspar was gone. His sister was gone. Res, the youngest of the four siblings who was supposed to stay here with him, was nowhere in sight.

With no other choice, he went outside again. He did not know where to wash, but he remembered the boy from his room saying that there was water everywhere.

Roy realized he must have meant the lake, so he left the castle and went to the lakeside. There, he took off his clothes and washed. Fortunately, the water was so clear it seemed transparent.

But he had no change of clothes. After washing them, he put his wet clothes back on. No matter how hard he wrung them out, he could not remove all the moisture.

He carried his shoes in his hands and trudged barefoot back. When he returned to the quarters, everyone he passed looked at Roy strangely in his wet clothes.

Those gazes made Roy shrink into himself.

When he returned to his room, the probationers sharing it ignored him.

Roy took off his clothes again, hung them by the window, and climbed into bed. Since he had nothing, there was nothing else he could do.

The probationers chatted among themselves, coming and going from outside. Naturally, they did not tell him when meals were served either.

Roy went hungry, enduring it by thinking that after one night, he would be able to see his parents.

There was a roll call in the evening, and Roy tried to sleep in bed. The night deepened, but sleep would not come.

The bed was like sleeping on clouds compared to being outside, but his heart was so uneasy that he could not fall asleep.

Eventually, he needed to urinate. After holding it in as long as he could, he put on his still-damp clothes and went out.

When he finished and returned, the lodging door would not open.

What?

He could not knock for fear of waking someone. The people standing guard near the castle gate were unfamiliar and frightening, so he could not approach them either.

Asking a stranger for help was far too difficult for young Roy.

He looked toward the Inner Castle, where his parents were. Light leaked through windows here and there. He desperately wanted to go where they were, but he did not.

So Roy decided to do what he was good at.

Enduring.

Stars glittered in the night sky, and the four siblings’ cow was tied behind the lodging. The cow was the only familiar presence Roy had now. He hugged it and sobbed for a while. The cow turned its head toward the boy as if embracing him.

Cold and hungry, Roy curled up beside the cow. He crouched there, dozing on and off, and nearly spent the entire night awake. Only when dawn came the next day could he enter the lodging again.

No, he could not enter the lodging.

Because he ran into his parents, who had come out of the Inner Castle.

“Roy.”

His mother, Elia, called him. She looked as though she had no idea that her son had spent the night outside.

But his mother had washed neatly and put on new clothes, looking truly beautiful. His father looked like a dignified knight.

Roy stared blankly at his dramatically transformed parents.

“How was the lodging? Was it uncomfortable?”

“...No. It was fine. It was so comfortable that I slept like I passed out.”

“Right? I was worried too, but the people here have been so considerate. It almost feels wrong to enjoy all this for free.”

Roy merely smiled and hid the truth. His long-held wish was to grow up quickly and ease his older sister’s, mother’s, and father’s burdens. He could not become a burden himself.

His mother seemed extremely excited, as if she had returned to her girlhood. She looked so dazzlingly beautiful that Roy could not say anything.

“...So, if you’re all right with it, Roy, you could keep staying here.”

Roy did not properly hear what his mother was saying. He only understood that he would have to remain here.

“Uh, what about you, Mom? Father?”

“Well, nothing has been decided yet, so we’ll talk it over.”

“Ah...”

“Why? Don’t you like it?”

“N-No. It’s just...”

“You’ll be ten soon. The time has come for you to leave your mother’s arms. It will be hard, but you must accept it. You will never have another opportunity like this.”

His father spoke.

Roy stood blankly for a moment, then forced a smile.

“That’s right. I’ll have a comfortable bed, I won’t go hungry, and I can learn swordsmanship. No one will come to kill me either. I’ll never have an opportunity like this again.”

His father reached out and stroked his son’s head.

Feeling his father’s touch, Roy thought that just as his father had endured for the family all this time, now he had to do the same.

He was only nine years old.

Nothing had been decided for certain yet, but Roy would remain in the lodging for the time being.

After that, he followed the probationers around and learned one thing at a time by watching over their shoulders. He attended roll call, ate the free plain rice porridge, and listened to swordsmanship lessons quietly from a corner as if he were not there.

Fortunately, there was no beating or anything like that. He only had to endure cold stares, contempt, and loneliness.

He sometimes passed Beka on the way somewhere, but they could not speak for long. Even siblings below the trainee level had to live separately by gender.

His sister seemed to be having a hard time too, but she was with three of the four siblings, so she seemed to be managing somehow.

Res, the youngest of the four siblings and about Roy’s age, adapted remarkably well. He acted sweetly toward the other probationers and ran all sorts of errands for them. Roy often saw him walking around in a stylish gambeson and cape.

Roy approached Res, who was with the other probationers.

“Res. Res.”

“Huh? Roy.”

“Did you buy that? Your clothes?”

“Oh, this? You just have to ask the clan supply officer, and they give it to you. Didn’t you know?”

“Uh, I didn’t.”

“Really? Come on. Let’s go together.”

Res took Roy to the storage building. It was where weapons and food supplies were kept. When Res spoke to the person there, they were indeed given clothes, shoes, and a cape that roughly fit them.

Roy could not hide his surprise. He had not received secondhand clothes. He had been given truly new clothes for free, and he had not known that was possible.

In truth, they were only provided to students who had formally entered the clan, though compared to the high donation fees, they were insignificant. Naturally, Roy, Res, and the other children received them by Volka’s special order.

The stitching was meticulous, and the gambeson was not stuffed with cheap scraps. It was lined with a blend of wool and down.

Watching Res walk along so confidently, Roy said in amazement,

“You really are incredible.”

“Huh? Why?”

“You made friends, and you’ve adapted so well.”

“Oh, that? I lied.”

“What?”

“I said my parents run a cattle farm under a lord. Everyone started treating me well after that.”

Res’s parents were both dead. His father had been struck by a bandit’s blade, languished for a time, and died.

“Is it all right to do that?”

“What?”

“To lie.”

“Who cares? The children here all live apart from their families too.”

“...Anyway, thank you.”

“It’s nothing. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

At the word friends, Roy finally felt the weight on his heart grow a little lighter.

That was how Roy slowly, painstakingly began to adapt to life in the clan. He did not know what would happen next, but the adults did not seem to want to leave either.

Then, on their fifth day there, Res came to wake Roy at dawn. They left the lodging and headed somewhere.

It was the storage building.

The door had a lock on it, but it only looked locked. It was not actually secured.

“I’m only telling you because we’re friends.”

Res casually opened the door and went inside. But Ricart, who had happened to rise at dawn to get some fresh air, was watching from afar.

Res led Roy to where the food was stored. Shelves there were full of fine ham, cheese wrapped in paper, liquor, and other goods.

They had been stockpiled for emergencies, or to provide to clan members going outside the autonomous territory on business.

There were expensive potions nearby as well, along with fine liquor that Volka, a lover of drink, had collected specially.

Res began taking ham and cheese as he pleased and eating them.

“R-Res.”

“Yeah? What?”

“You can’t do this.”

“Why not? Oh, are you afraid we’ll get caught? It’s fine. The supply officer only checks things roughly in the evening. Sometimes they come in the morning too, but we have to leave before roll call, so we just need to go before then.”

“That’s not it. You just shouldn’t do it.”

“What are you talking about?”

Roy and Res seemed to have completely different values.

Unlike Roy, who had properly learned what he should and should not do from his parents, Res had gone a long time without a mother and had even lost his father. When it came to survival and satisfying his own wants, he would stop at nothing.

Roy felt that this was wrong and fidgeted uneasily by himself, but Res remained perfectly calm.

“Should we try some liquor?”

“Res, please...”

“I told you, don’t worry.”

Res stood on tiptoe and reached toward the fine liquor high on the shelf.

Then disaster struck.

The bottle tipped over and fell to the floor.

Crash!

The two boys froze where they stood.

This was not something they could clean up. The evidence of their crime remained right there.

As though time had truly stopped, the two boys stared blankly at the shattered bottle. The only thing moving was the spilled liquor slowly spreading across the floor.

Then Res left the storage building without cleaning up the mess.

Roy followed his friend for the moment, but just outside the door, Res suddenly shoved him back inside and shut the door from the outside.

Then Roy heard a click.

A fact too terrible to accept, too terrible to want to accept, flashed through Roy’s mind.

“R-Res?”

Roy called for his friend.

But all he heard beyond the door were the step, step of footsteps moving farther away.

He tried to open the door, but just as he feared, it would not open.

He was trapped inside.

Roy was so shocked and bewildered that his heart pounded as though it would burst.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the door opened before roll call.

An adult man stood there with the light behind him.