WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Ode of the Brave ◈
Chapter 163
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For the native-born people of Adelorne, the Knight Order might as well have come from the end of the world. Some even believed the Order had once guarded the gates of hell.
So the people of the Knight Order seemed unfamiliar, frightening, and mysterious all at once.
The ignorant and the clever alike saw Ricart and the Knight Order however they wished.
They had crossed the Empire from one end to the other. It was a simple sentence, but accomplishing it was anything but simple.
It had required a reckless decision, unwavering will, and faith.
Because Ricart had walked a road no one else had taken, he had dreamed a dream no one else could dream. In the end, he had achieved what no one else could achieve.
Thus, the greatest journey and achievement were complete.
But it was not the end. It meant that the beginning was now at hand. It was finally time to bring the Adelorne Civil War to an end.
Autumn was a good season for war.
“Have you been practicing?”
“Not that much. Ah, but I learned to read and write. Bori taught me. I can read, but writing is still a little difficult.”
Ricart asked, and Roy answered. The two were walking through a forest near Adelivari.
They had been apart for only about two months, so Roy had not changed much.
Still, perhaps because he had grown up poor but under his parents’ loving care, his teeth were straight, he was well nourished, and he was bigger than most children his age.
Dressed in good clothes, he looked like the young master of a noble house. With blond hair and blue eyes, he resembled Ricart in a strange way. Depending on how one looked at him, he could have passed for a Nord boy as well.
“By the way, how did you become friends with the Nords?”
“I think they found it strange that I carried an axe on my back. They said a man must be a sturdy lumberjack, a persistent hunter, and a brave warrior. They said Southerners are so weak because they are none of those things. But they said I was different.”
The Nords called everyone who lived south of them Southerners. By their standards, even Ricart was a Southerner.
“Do you spar with your older sister often?”
“We do, but I can’t beat her with a sword. I think I could win if I used an axe, but axes are dangerous for sparring...”
“Then it can’t be helped. You’ll have to see real combat. Follow me from now on. Serve me like a squire and assist me in battle.”
“All right.”
Following someone onto a battlefield was extremely dangerous, but Roy was not particularly afraid. He had already been through plenty of dangerous things.
Looking at the boy, who had grown up in a loving family yet seemed somehow older than his years, Ricart thought of his own childhood.
For no particular reason, he ruffled Roy’s hair wildly, then grabbed his cheeks and stretched them as though playing with him. Roy simply stood there.
“You’re a cute one.”
“...But, Master.”
“What is it?”
“No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think I can ever become like you.”
“Who told you to become like me? You can be yourself.”
“What does being myself even mean?”
“There’s nothing decided for you. You make it yourself. Don’t deceive yourself, and have no shame before yourself. Remember only that. Everything else is secondary.”
Those might have been difficult words for Roy to understand now. But it was hard for Ricart to convey every experience and realization he had gained in life through words alone. And trying to explain them could lead to misunderstanding.
So he spoke as though planting the most important words within Roy.
Ricart was not merely a swordsmanship master. He did not want to be merely a swordsmanship master, either. He wanted Roy to learn something more important, something more essential.
“Commander, someone named Paolo is here to see you.”
Raimund approached and spoke. Without armor and dressed in ordinary clothes for the first time in a while, they looked rather different. Still, now that they were clean, the scars on their face, neck, and the backs of their hands stood out all the more.
“Who is that? Ah, Marie told me about them. Let them come.”
Roy tried to leave, but Ricart caught him by the shoulder.
“From now on, stay by my side at all times. What I see and hear, you will see and hear too.”
“Yes, I will.”
There were guards around the forest where Ricart had been walking. Every one of them was a knight of the Order. They did not stand out, but meeting their eyes even once was enough to send a chill through one’s chest.
Even so, Paolo walked toward Ricart without the slightest sign of tension.
“Hello, Paolo. It’s been a while. Have you given up your business in Tujis?”
“No, Commander. Our trading company extends across the world. The people needed differ from place to place and time to time. I was merely dispatched to Adelorne this time.”
“Is there even business to be done here? The land has been devastated, and it will take a long time to recover.”
“There are still many people. I need workers. If I pay them wages and give them work, it will help them make a living for a while.”
“What work will you provide?”
“You saw it in Tujis, did you not? Whenever possible, our trading company manufactures goods ourselves.”
What Paolo described was a sort of industrial complex. Naturally, it was all done by hand, but the trading company provided the craftsmen and capital, while local people supplied the labor.
Ricart had seen it with his own eyes in Tujis. They produced quality goods, loaded them onto ships, and sold them throughout the world.
“That is not all, is it? I heard you needed my word. You want your safety guaranteed.”
“That is correct.”
“Hmm...”
Ricart thought quietly.
As he watched Paolo’s relaxed smile, he realized Paolo was a formidable opponent. Because Paolo was hiding nothing.
Whenever someone tried to deceive Ricart, he usually saw through it at once. He often used that to seize the initiative and throw his weight around as he pleased.
But Paolo gave him nothing of the sort. It was no different from laying all their cards on the table and asking what Ricart thought.
“Roy, what do you think?”
“Me?”
“Yes. This person will spend money to build something like a village, have people work there, and pay them. In return, they want me to protect it. What would you do?”
“...Isn’t that a good thing?”
“But sometimes things that seem good come back to bite you later. The opposite can happen too. That is why you must think carefully at times like this.”
“But I don’t really know. We have to predict what will happen in the future, right? Unless you are an oracle, how could you know?”
“That is true.”
Ricart thought for a while longer, then asked Paolo directly.
“I asked you something before. I asked whether you thought I would win the war. What did you say then?”
“I said we must do our best as people, and God decides the outcome.”
“But now you are making an offer as though I will win this war. Has your thinking changed?”
“It has.”
“Because I fight well?”
“That is part of it, but I saw something more important.”
“What was that?”
“You did not waver, Commander. You could have built a third power in Sinatria, but you returned the army you borrowed from King Santonio and left. You could have taken the throne after seizing Basque’s royal capital, but you simply left. When the King of Capet offered you a dukedom, you refused and left. In the end, you came to Adelorne. You rejected every temptation and accomplished what you set out to do. Does that not inspire trust?”
“Hahaha...”
Ricart laughed quietly. Then he shook his head.
“You saw one thing wrong.”
“What would that be?”
“None of those things were temptations. At least, not to me. So there was no reason for me to waver. In any case, I understand. If you gained trust from my actions, what trust will you offer me?”
“We will secure our own profit. But it will not harm you, Commander. Nor will it harm the people living here. Rather, it will benefit everyone. As you saw in Tujis, even if each person acts selfishly, order will be maintained and profit will result. If we bring harm, you may withdraw your guarantee of safety.”
The idea that everyone could benefit even while acting selfishly was unfamiliar. Had Ricart not visited Tujis, it might have been difficult for him to understand.
But one thing still troubled him.
“If that is how it works, will everyone not eventually become selfish?”
“They will. But is that not better than killing with blades and taking what you want? Telling people not to fight does not make them stop fighting. A different way is needed.”
It was an unusual perspective, one that required long consideration. Even so, Ricart’s unease was not entirely gone.
“If people can profit through selfish actions, does that profit arise without end? The yearly harvest is fixed, and so is the amount of gold. Then where does this limitless profit come from?”
“I do not know that either, but profit cannot grow without end. When the time comes, we simply offer sacrifices. That is what humans have done since ancient times.”
“Sacrifices?”
“People will offer them of their own accord. Then money will show mercy.”
“How ridiculous. Money showing mercy?”
Ricart gave a short laugh. He did not dislike money himself, but he had never lived bound to it. If anything, he tended to look down on it.
“One day, money will kill every king in the world. It will kill even God.”
“That is an interesting faith. I have seen many greedy merchants, but you are the first person I have seen worship yellow stones as though they were God. Well, if you believe that strongly, you will do your work properly no matter what it is. Fine. In my name, I will guarantee the safety of the Benicio Trading Company.”
“Thank you, Commander. By the way, I imagine you would not appreciate being congratulated on your accession in advance?”
“Paolo, do not cross the line. Whether I wear a crown or not is for me to decide. Not you.”
“My apologies. I overstepped. I will take my leave.”
Paolo bowed, lowering their large upper body, then withdrew.
Ricart spoke to Roy.
“You saw that, right? There are all kinds of people in this world. If you are not careful, people like that can sweep you away. You must stay alert.”
“But what did Paolo mean when they said money would kill God?”
“He probably meant that people would abandon God and believe in money.”
“Could that really happen?”
“Even if we grant that it could, would it not take two thousand years?”
“Then it has nothing to do with us. That is a relief.”
“What, Roy? Were you scared?”
“Wasn’t it a little creepy?”
“You are still a child. There is something else you should truly fear.”
“What is it?”
“Yourself.”
“What you say is not very creepy, Master.”
Ricart roughly ruffled Roy’s hair once more.
And Paolo’s proposal truly did bring Ricart great benefit. Above all else, vast funds began flowing into Adelorne, especially where Ricart was.
With those funds, Ricart marched on the capital, Adelune. He had six thousand Knight Order troops, five hundred Nord mercenaries, and about five hundred mercenaries scraped together from various places.
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