Prince of Rage - Chapter 27

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Oblivious

◈ Prince of Rage ◈

Chapter 27

──────

The gray sky stirred an angry wind, as if it were about to call forth a storm.

A torn flag planted in the ground whipped in the wind, flap, flap. Broken spears, weapons, and corpses covered the field.

Someone stood alone amid that chaotic scene. The ragged cloak he wore snapped wildly like the torn flag.

Not one of the elite soldiers, proud of their undefeated record, dared approach him.

Then, at one moment, the sky rumbled, Rumble!

At the same time, the man standing alone raised his hammer toward the sky. Lightning struck him at that instant.

Crash!

For an instant, the world flashed white, followed by a tremendous explosive boom. It was a roar no one could grow used to, no matter how many times they heard it.

Everyone squeezed their eyes shut and turned away. When they opened them again and looked at the lone man, their hearts shook with fear.

How could a human be like this? As though he had caught lightning itself, the hammer in his hand shone brilliantly and released bolts of lightning.

Crackle. Crackle. Rumble. Rumble!

The sounds of sparking electricity and distant thunder spread from one man. Worse still, his eyes held flashes of light as they continuously spat electricity. He no longer looked human.

When he shouted, it felt as though thunder was not rumbling in the distant heavens, but directly before them.

“Come out, Valerie! You cowardly baaastard!”

The man's cry seemed to strike directly at the hearts of those facing him.

Everyone trembled in fear and backed away, when Valerie walked out from among the soldiers.

But there was a young girl beside Valerie.

The girl was shaking in fear, while Valerie calmly had an arm around her shoulders.

At that sight, the lightning the man had been gripping so tightly scattered away meaninglessly. His eyes returned to normal, and his overwhelming presence vanished as though it had been a lie.

“Drop your weapon, Thorvald.”

Valerie spoke.

A moment later, the man called Thorvald threw his hammer far away, then dropped to his knees as though lost.

Leaving the girl behind, Valerie walked toward him.

“P-Prince!”

His startled subordinates hurriedly tried to stop him, but Valerie continued forward without hesitation.

Arriving before Thorvald, Valerie looked down at the bowed man.

“To possess such power and do nothing but work as a carpenter. That is your crime.”

Thorvald did not fully raise his head. He looked up at Valerie with resentful eyes.

“Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand. Someone like you would never understand, even if you died and came back to life.”

“Whether I understand or not, if you had entered my service, many sacrifices could have been avoided. Every sacrifice until now was caused by your foolishness, not mine.”

At Valerie's answer, Thorvald's shoulders shook as he chuckled.

“That is why I said you wouldn't understand. One who walks their path by the light of their own nature is neither good, evil, nor foolish. They merely walk their own path.”

“Being a carpenter is your nature?”

“Stop talking and kill me.”

“You do not even need to ask me to spare your granddaughter?”

“I live to fulfill my duty. What happens after I die is up to your will. What more is there to say?”

His answer seemed indifferent, but it was not without affection.

“For your information, I did not bring your granddaughter here by force. She came of her own accord. It seems she loves me. Though I am a man incapable of love.”

“...”

The man called Thorvald gave no answer, either because he no longer wanted to respond to Valerie or because he had fallen into despair.

It was a truly cruel thing to say. Especially at a time like this.

Valerie stood still for a moment, then drew his sword.

The sword named Gramr.

Standing beside the kneeling Thorvald to behead him, Valerie spoke.

“I may not understand other things, but I did understand one thing, Thorvald. That you would gladly die for your granddaughter.”

“Shut up and strike!”

Thorvald shouted, baring his neck.

Gramr fell upon him.

So did his head.

Those watching could not believe it. They could not believe that the man who had radiated such tremendous power had died so easily.

Thorvald the Thunderbearer. He was not a member of the king's guard, but if those with superhuman strength were collectively called the Einherjar, then he was unquestionably the strongest among them.

In other words, he was the strongest man in the world.

He had commanded thunder and lightning, beaten four Einheri to death with his hammer, faced an army alone, and dominated the battlefield.

Yet, for the sake of saving one granddaughter, his head had fallen by the prince's hand. People could not understand it.

Then what was it that Valerie himself had failed to understand? He felt as though he might understand it a little now.

“Wid.”

Arne lightly nudged him from the side. Valerie, who had been looking up at the gray sky, came out of his thoughts.

“What are you looking at?”

“...To see the first raindrop fall?”

Thinking it was a pointless remark, Arne let it pass and jerked his chin somewhere.

When Valerie turned around, a child was offering him something wrapped in paper. As soon as Valerie accepted it, the child held out a hand for money.

“Do you have any money?”

When Valerie asked, Arne handed the child a copper coin instead. The child took the money and ran off.

Valerie unfolded the paper. Inside was something grotesque. It was so strange that, at first, he had to inspect it closely for a while, wondering what it was.

“Isn't that a pig's teat?”

Skard said from beside him.

Valerie soon realized what it was and simply threw it on the ground.

“It is a delicacy when grilled. Nice and chewy.”

Yorick spoke regretfully as he looked at what had been thrown away.

“Never eat it.”

“Anyway, who sent something like that? What bad luck.”

“You three should lie low for a while.”

“Out of nowhere?”

“For the time being, do not train inside the fortress. Go outside and train. Practice riding or something.”

“Why? Is something going on?”

“When it rains, you take shelter from the rain. Take good care of Knut while I am gone.”

Valerie would soon be leaving on patrol, so he would not be in Torvik.

“You have to tell us what is happening for us to know what to watch out for.”

It was difficult to explain. How could he explain away the Second Young Master's death? It was not that he did not trust his friends, but if he told the truth to all three of them, word was certain to leak out.

“You will find out when the time comes. Arne, you take charge of the jewels.”

Since there were still jewels left to sell, Valerie entrusted them to Arne.

Then, right at that moment, the first raindrop landed on Valerie's cheek with a plop!

Rain began to fall.

Rain fell outside the window.

The wooden shutters had been left open, so a steady pitter-patter could be heard, along with the sound of logs burning in the fireplace.

As Valerie entertained the pointless thought of why rain sounded so pleasant, someone entered the annex's strategy room.

He was a man in his forties, with a long scar running across his bushy beard. His calm eyes carried the air of a veteran who had seen every kind of hardship.

He held a large parchment scroll in one hand and offered the other for a handshake.

“Tancred.”

“Wid.”

Only now did they introduce themselves, though they had met before. Tancred had been the first person to speak to Valerie when he stayed in the annex. He had told him where the dishes were, asked his age, and complimented his horse.

Tancred roughly cleared the strategy table, then immediately spread the large parchment over it.

It was a roughly drawn map of Duke Sven's directly ruled territories, Nordlanding and Krischer.

Nordlanding was the territory where Torvik was located, and going on patrol meant making the rounds all the way to Krischer. That was why Tancred had brought the map.

“Take a look around the east. It has been a while since anyone made the rounds there. The eastern route is relatively safe. Visit here, here, here, here, and here. Just see whether the people are living well. Check whether there have been bandit or monster attacks, and whether the rangers are still alive. If frontier knights or villagers complain about various hardships, let it go in one ear and out the other. There is nothing you can do for them.”

A patrol was exactly that, making the rounds. Unless there was a major emergency such as a plague, famine, or battle, there was no need to interfere in the locals' problems.

“This route is fairly safe, but be careful when passing through Thunder Forest. You will not be able to ride freely there. If you encounter exiles, do not pick a fight first. If you do not provoke them, they will not bother you either.”

Outside the directly ruled lands of lords, local village communities had a punishment for criminals called banishment.

Exiles lived in forests or mountains, where all manner of things happened.

Some gave up on being human and ate human flesh. Some gathered into bandit gangs. Others made rules among themselves and formed new communities.

Every forest horror story, from wolf-men to witches who ate children, was connected to exiles.

Tancred glanced at Valerie and spoke.

“I do not doubt your skill, but there is a person in that exile village who is quite good with his fists. In the past, new knights would rush at him without knowing better and return beaten to a pulp. He is not someone you cannot speak to at all, so if you meet him, treat him with respect. Then there should be no trouble.”

“Would that person's name happen to be Thorvald?”

“How do you know?”

“Um, I heard rumors.”

“Rumors? He is not such a famous man. In any case, since we are on the subject, he is someone who beats knights barehanded. To be honest, I am giving you a firm warning because you are young, and I worry that you may not yet know how frightening the world can be. Everyone knows you are skilled if you dealt with the Groin-Ripper one-on-one, but this Thorvald is certainly different.”

Valerie smiled faintly as he answered.

“I probably know better than anyone how strong he is.”

How could he not? He had seen with his own eyes how Thorvald had single-handedly crushed Valerie's own army. He had also beaten four Einheri to death, facing two of them at once and killing them.

“...Have you met him before?”

“Who knows? Not yet.”

Tancred thought it was somewhat strange, but soon nodded and let it pass.

“Think of it as going to see the sea for a while, and go with a light heart. But do not let your guard down too much. You understand, yes?”

“I will remember that.”

“Good. Leave when the rain stops. By the way, perhaps it is because of the rain, but there has been no word from the people who went to Gringen.”

“It has only been one day.”

“That is true. The most capable among the young people went, so what could go wrong?”

“...”

“If you need any equipment, tell me. If you have more questions, come find me anytime. I will be going now. I am busy.”

“Understood. Thank you.”

Valerie bade the veteran knight farewell. Tancred rolled up the map again and left.