WeTried Translations

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◈ Ode of the Brave ◈

Chapter 5

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Outsiders seemed to bring misfortune wherever they went. At least, that was how Ricart felt.

When the cavalryman bearing a red flag came to Haiden, hadn't his life started going wrong from that point on?

But the person who had come from the main house seemed far removed from things like misfortune or happiness. He just seemed... rather strange.

He was somewhat stout, so his walk had a waddling sway to it. More than that, his clothes were as colorful as a clown's. His beard reached his chest, making it hard to guess his age.

And he wore something that looked like a sleeping cap. Did everyone who studied at a university have such peculiar tastes?

When he whisked off the cap and bent his thick waist to greet Abelich, Ricart saw that he was bald. The sparse thickets of hair near either ear looked pitiful.

To Ricart, presenting that smooth crown looked rather like raising a middle finger at someone.

The man straightened up and spoke with a pleased expression.

"It has been a long time, my lord. Congratulations on the birth of your son. I have felt deeply sorry for being away for so long, so I hardly know what to say in the face of such a warm welcome. Sir Graut remains as splendid as ever. Oh, Lady Aileen, it has been a long time. Ah, should I call you Lady Stormhertz now? Ho ho ho, you truly accomplished something."

The man from the main house greeted Ricart's sister-in-law as well. He had once taught Aileen letters.

"It must have been difficult coming all this way in the cold, Dr. Reno. Is the Count well?"

"The Count is reasonably well, though we can speak of that later."

"Hm, very well. And these are my second son, Bilter, and my youngest, Ricart."

Dr. Reno kept his pleased smile as he looked at Bilter and Ricart. He had not come for a visit. He had come to discuss the boys' futures.

"Young Master Bilter, Young Master Ricart. I am Reno. I only saw you both from afar at the wedding, so this is our first proper meeting. I could not be happier to see that you have grown up healthy and well. Ho ho ho."

Dr. Reno was a guest retainer of the Count Calderbern's household and handled matters both large and small.

He served as a tutor, conveyed the count's words to other lords as an envoy, and supplied needed knowledge. In other words, he was an administrator, diplomat, and adviser.

A vassal served a noble family through generations, rather like a permanent employee. A guest retainer was closer to a contract worker.

Those whose abilities were recognized could remain with a noble family for a long time. Dr. Reno had stayed with the Count Calderbern's household for twenty years, so his skill was well proven.

That was why, though he was a commoner, he received a certain amount of respect.

"By the way... is this the young hero who killed the boar? The story is all over the count's household. I can see his spirit is alive just by looking at him. Remarkable. Ho ho ho."

Perhaps the rumor had reached him incorrectly, or perhaps he could not tell from seeing them in person. Reno was looking at Bilter.

"No. Him. He killed it."

Bilter pointed at Ricart beside him. Reno looked at Ricart with an expression of mild disbelief.

A boy who had not yet lost all his baby fat was staring blankly up at him, as if watching something curious.

Reno blinked a few times, then decided it was a joke.

"Ho ho ho. I may be a little slow-witted, but I do have some basic discernment."

"Ricky killed it."

Abelich confirmed it with a serious expression. Dr. Reno looked back and forth between Ricart and the stuffed boar head mounted on the wall.

The size of the boar's head alone gave some idea of how massive it had been alive. He simply could not believe it.

"...Huh? Was it already caught, and he only dealt the final blow?"

When a noble family hunted, the lord directed the whole affair. The servants were the ones who tracked the prey, wore it down, and drove it into a corner. Then the lord delivered the final blow.

Sometimes that honor was granted to someone else. That was what Dr. Reno assumed had happened.

"No. It was something of an accident. He stood his ground against a charging boar and struck straight through the spot between its eyes."

"Uh..."

"He had extraordinary luck. But his courage was real enough. In any case, the season has left us little to offer, but there is wine and meat. Warm yourself and fill your stomach first. You two, do not go far. Wait in your room."

"Yes, Father."

"This way, please."

Abelich led the still-stunned Reno toward the dining room. As they went, Reno kept looking back at Ricart.

Bilter and Ricart waited in their room. Neither brother had much to say. Reno seemed pleasant enough, but it was not the sort of situation for fooling around.

Still, Bilter, who had been anxious the whole time, was not very shaken once someone from the main house actually arrived. He simply gazed calmly out at the frozen world beyond the window.

Winter birds flew far off through the cold blue sky. Now and then, someone stepped outside, gathered firewood, and went back indoors. White smoke curled from the chimneys of several homes. Whenever the wind rose, the bare branches trembled as though shivering from the cold.

It was a still landscape, yet why did it seem so interesting today? Even roadside stones and dried grass that meant nothing at all felt somehow precious.

As the sun moved and the color of the sky slowly changed, someone opened the door and entered. It was Dr. Reno.

"May I have a word with you?"

Bilter finally turned his gaze from the window toward Dr. Reno. Ricart, unnoticed until then, was lying on the bed and sleeping soundly.

"Of course. Ricky, Ricky. Wake up. You really don't let anything bother you."

"Huh? What... huh? It's the clown man."

"A clown? This is the style of dress worn by citizens of the paradise-like city of Baricelli."

"Really? It doesn't look very good for hiding."

"Why would I be hiding...? Now then, take a look at this."

Dr. Reno sat down and spread a large sheet of parchment across the table. When the boys stepped closer, they saw a strange drawing.

"Do you know what this is?"

"Not really. What did you draw?"

"Ho ho ho. This is called a map. It shows all the lands in the world where we live."

"This is a map?"

Maps were rare in those days, so the boys did not immediately recognize what they were seeing. A world map was even rarer.

In truth, much of Dr. Reno's world map had been filled in from imagination, making it inaccurate.

Still, its overall shape was roughly correct. More importantly, nothing shattered the closed minds of people living in little wells quite like a world map.

Even Ricart, who was usually indifferent to everything, had a gleam in his eyes. Reno's map did not merely show terrain. It was filled with all sorts of marvelous pictures.

Dragons breathing fire, serpents swimming through the sea, an emperor wearing a crown, all manner of strange monsters, legends, and treasures. Towering mountain ranges, deserts, plains, forests, and countless cities.

In his previous life, Ricart had wandered the Empire committing murder, but he had only sought out and crushed those people and groups who wanted to kill him. He knew little about geography.

Reno smiled fondly at the bright-eyed boys, then asked a question as though setting them a puzzle.

"Would you like to find Stormhertz here?"

It was not the sort of question meant to put someone on the spot, but one meant to stir their interest. So Bilter and Ricart searched more eagerly for the land where they were growing up and living.

But no matter how hard they looked, they could not find the word "Stormhertz."

"Stormhertz is around here."

"Here?"

Bilter asked with his head tilted.

"Yes."

"Why doesn't our estate have a name?"

"The County of Calderbern has no name of its own either. So we must find the ducal domain and estimate the direction and location from there. This is the land of the Duke of Broombeare. The County of Calderbern lies southeast of it, so it must be somewhere around here. Then Stormhertz should be around here."

Even the ducal domain was tiny on the map. The boy felt as if his sense of space had become distorted. But it was not unpleasant. It was a fresh shock.

"It's this small? Here? It looks smaller than an ant."

"From the world's point of view, it is. What do we commonly call the Empire's territory? From the Polypus Coast in the east to the Black Forest in the west, and from the Chementa Peninsula in the south to the Roof of the World Mountains in the north. From here to here, and here to here. This is the Empire's territory."

Even the Empire occupied only a quarter of the world map. By then, not only Bilter but Ricart found it unbelievable.

It showed on their faces, and Dr. Reno smiled as though they were adorable.

"Beyond the Empire's borders live the Salaman. They believe in gods different from ours, and so neither side hesitates to kill the other. Yet we also trade silk, porcelain, spices, and meteoric iron with them. They are heretics, but they are excellent with numbers and skilled with their hands. Legend says they learned their techniques from dwarves. And here is where the Sacred Emperor received the holy sword from an angel. Here is where Hero Sigfried fell in battle, and here is where Hero Ilya, the slayer of dragons, was active. And..."

Reno kept pointing out places from legends, myths, and history. Just as the map itself mixed imagination with reality, what people believed was a mixture of fact and fantasy.

Whether those things were true or not, they gave people dreams and the strength to move forward.

"Not all knightly orders are alike, either. For example, the Flame Knights have their headquarters here. They serve all their lives in celibacy, defending the Empire's southwestern border from heretics. It is certainly noble work, but not an easy one. The Lily Knights, on the other hand, have their headquarters here. They are very wealthy through trade and moneylending. They are criticized for being overly worldly, but life in that order seems relatively comfortable."

Perhaps because he was a scholar, he knew a great deal. Other than learning to read and write, Bilter and Ricart had never had the chance to study, so Dr. Reno seemed to know everything.

Dr. Reno continued speaking. His stories linked together histories and legends that the boys would find interesting.

Pointing at another place, he said,

"This is Fernland, conquered one hundred years ago by Martellus II, known as the Conquering Emperor. It was once called the Eastern Expedition Territory. They say that the infamous Ricky, a demon among demons, or one chosen by God, an unmatched killer and Sword Master, came from here. Come to think of it, Young Master Ricart's nickname is Ricky, isn't it? Ho ho ho. That must be why you are so brave."

"..."

Hearing someone else speak of his previous life gave Ricart a strange feeling. His heart grew heavy, while his head seemed to turn cold.

He did not force himself to look away from those memories, but they were certainly not pleasant.

"Where are the Haiden fields?"

Ricart asked.

"The Haiden fields? Well, was there such a region? Ah, I believe I have heard of it. I am not certain, but I heard it was somewhere in the north, something about wool... If it is a place fit for raising sheep, it must be one of these places, here, here, or here."

"...It's incredibly far..."

Ricart meant the distance between the Haiden fields and the Eastern Expedition Territory, but Dr. Reno understood differently.

"Indeed. It would take at least a month to travel from here to Haiden. But where did you hear of Haiden?"

"Nowhere in particular. I think I heard it somewhere. But why did that Conquering Emperor go to war in such a distant place?"

"That is not known for certain. One theory says it was because of a document called the Codex Orient."

"The Codex Orient?"

"Yes. A document discovered by an adventurer named Grunwald. You might call it a secret art of a forgotten ancient empire. It says that by cultivating a certain power within the human body, one can walk through the air or strengthen a blade so it cuts iron as easily as cheese. It grants such superhuman abilities. It is suspected that Ricky the Sword Master wielded that power."

Huh? It wasn't like that, Ricart thought. He had never read in his previous life. He could not read.

"Recently, that theory has become almost certain. There are spellcasters in the world, so why should that be impossible? Several Codex Orients have actually been discovered, and some people have gained genuinely superhuman abilities from them. Most of the ones circulating in the markets are fakes, but information obtained through a few Adventurer Guilds says they are real. Why else would the imperial family sponsor Adventurer Guilds and train adventurers? In the old days, adventurers were just thugs, after all."

Originally, adventurers were people who traveled from place to place collecting unpaid debts or working as fixers. Since they had no clearly defined profession, they gave themselves the grand title of adventurer.

They might have considered it romantic, but to others they were nothing but troublemakers.

However, after the Codex Orient was discovered, emperors and kings themselves began taking the initiative to cultivate adventurers with specialized expertise.

The Eastern Expedition Territory, now called Fernland, was a kind of bridgehead. From there, they explored nearby dungeons and ruins to obtain ancient technology and knowledge.

"There are magical relics besides the Codex as well. Most are useless trinkets, but some are quite useful. Like this one."

Dr. Reno took a short wand from his robes. A fist-sized orb was set into its tip. When he tapped it against the table, it gave off a faint glow.

"Oh?"

Bilter's eyes widened. Ricart seemed surprised at first, but quickly lost interest.

"Ho ho ho. With this alone, you do not need a torch at night. It is my treasure."

"But what happened to the people who originally lived there?"

Ricart asked.

"Pardon?"

"The Eastern Expedition Territory. I mean the people who originally lived in Fernland."

"They all died. Or they surrendered and were assimilated into the Empire. Well, perhaps a few tribes still remain? But the one who ended that war was the founder of your family, the knight-hero Caldebert, was he not? Caldebert the Breaker, the Empire's greatest military commander. One famous story says he killed so many barbarians in a single day that blood rose to his ankles inside the fortress. According to the records, even people of the Empire seemed quite shocked at the time, and there were some comments that it was too much, but in any case, he received a domain from the Emperor and even earned the right to found a new house, so I suppose it does not matter. He may have killed more people than Ricky, at least by the numbers."

"I see..."

Ricart thought of Caldebert. He had seemed more like a scholar than a knight.

And Caldebert was the one person Ricky might have called a friend. Apart from being an able commander, he had been a truly kind person.

To think that he had done something so terrible. It was hard to imagine how he had felt. If I had not left the battlefield and we had stayed together all along, would my fate and his have been different?

I still vividly remembered the complicated expression on his face when I applied for discharge. What had he been trying to say? It seemed like he wanted to say something.

It had not been simple regret. I remembered that his eyes had looked so sad.

At the time, I had been so sick of war that I had not even had the strength to care for myself.

But when he returned to his homeland, what awaited him was...

"It has grown dark. We should stop for today. There is always tomorrow. I have many more interesting stories, so you may look forward to them."

Dr. Reno smiled as he spoke. As he said, the day had faded enough that the map was hard to see without lighting an oil lamp. They had become so absorbed in his stories that they had lost track of time.

"I will leave the map here. I will take it with me when I leave."

Dr. Reno rose, leaving the map spread across the table. He walked to the fireplace, placed several logs over the dying flames, and stirred them with an iron poker until the fire came back to life.

"Sweet dreams."

Dr. Reno said this as he left the room. The way he closed the door so gently seemed to reveal his character.

Bilter appeared completely absorbed in the map. He carried it to his bed and examined each illustration and place name carefully in the dim room.

Ricart looked at the map beside his brother, then drifted off to sleep. Bright moonlight came through the window, and Bilter studied the map until late at night.

From the next day on, the brothers ate with Dr. Reno, took walks with him, and shared many conversations.

He was a truly fine person. He did not merely tell the boys that different paths existed. He helped them have dreams and hope.

Unexpectedly, Bilter wanted to join the Flame Knights. They were a knightly order that swore lifelong celibacy and defended the far southwestern border of the Empire. Among the many knightly orders, they were famous for being the most dangerous and demanding.

When asked why he had made that choice, Bilter answered, "I think it will help me build patience and perseverance."

He seemed to have taken his father's words to heart.

Ricart wanted to become an adventurer, and everyone was puzzled when he explained why.

"I want to know whether the war was worth fighting..."

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