WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Oblivious

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Prince of Rage ◈

Chapter 59

──────

The group prepared to leave early morning. Valerie brushed Snow and fed Snow plenty of carrots, dried bean stalks, and the like beforehand.

Ivy learned from Yorick how to care for and handle the packhorses. Yorick did not know much himself, but Knut taught him one thing at a time.

Sigbold constantly looked after the old priest as though tending to an elderly father in need of care. He always carried the heavy things and organized the wagon bed with Ivy.

Lastly, the fighters checked their equipment. Knut had little to prepare aside from his dagger, but Valerie used various weapons and fought on horseback, so he had more than a few things to inspect.

He kept weapons such as his dagger, axe, and sword in their best condition, checked that his leather belts and straps were properly fastened, and made sure his shoe soles were still sturdy.

Being good with a weapon alone was not enough in battle. Absurd but fatal things often happened, such as a shoe sole coming off, a belt snapping, or a weapon failing to leave its sheath for an instant because caked blood had not been cleaned from the blade.

There was no Squire to handle such things, so Valerie had no choice but to take care of everything himself.

Since Sigbold wore armor, they could at least check each other over. Still, in the end, each person had to attend to the details themselves.

“What’s that?”

Knut, already mounted, looked somewhere and spoke.

The villagers were gathered in a crowd, and someone was distributing food among them.

Valerie’s party had distributed provisions only yesterday, so it had become something they need not have done.

Not that it was a waste. It was simply far more food than Valerie had given out, and it looked better in quality as well.

“They say it’s the Lokir Merchant Company.”

Valerie answered as he mounted his horse.

“Lokir? Isn’t that where Oder, that fake village chief, belonged?”

“That’s right.”

“Hmm... They do strange things. They kill and plunder people in one place, then give charity here?”

“It is only a guess, but from what I heard this morning, I think they believe the Aria Merchant Company killed Oder.”

“They’re idiots.”

“You don’t have to put it quite that way.”

“We’re ready.”

Yorick spoke as he sat on the driver’s seat. Valerie nudged Snow’s side and slowly led Snow forward.

By chance, they passed beside the crowd, and Valerie naturally met Lucas’s eyes.

For a brief moment, Lucas sharply studied Valerie and his party. Then he greeted them with a smile.

“Travelers, this is being distributed freely, so please do not hesitate to take some.”

“...”

Valerie did not answer. Knut said nothing either. Neither did Yorick on the driver’s seat, Ivy peeking her head out of the wagon bed beside the priest, or the tall Sigbold.

It was enough to make the person who had greeted them feel awkward.

Lucas felt something strange from Valerie. It was as though his insides were twisting. For some reason, he felt as if Valerie looked down on him. It was a look he had never received in his life.

Perhaps it felt even more so because Valerie was looking down at him from horseback.

“You are remarkably handsome. If it would not be rude, may I ask your name?”

“Valerie.”

“I am Lucas, deputy head of the Lokir Merchant Company.”

“...”

Again, there was no response. Lucas did not show it outwardly, but he was slightly flustered by his manner, as though to say, So what? Even after revealing who he was, the look in Valerie’s eyes did not change.

Even territorial lords such as counts and barons often smiled obsequiously before him and begged him to show them consideration. This sort of treatment, this attitude from another person, was entirely unfamiliar.

Lucas decided he should confirm this strange, unpleasant feeling he was experiencing.

“Seeing that you are headed east, are you on your way to Nearcaster?”

“Yes.”

“The inns there are already full. Even outside the city, the camps are packed with people. It is because of the Valkyrie. Suitors have flooded in from across the kingdom, regardless of status, saying they wish to marry her. Since ancient times, my house has considered it a virtue to favor the brave and wise, and even those with only modest talents. If you do not mind, how about staying at my estate, Valerie?”

Valerie glanced over his party. He was silently asking their opinion, but they all seemed indifferent. They neither disliked nor welcomed Lucas.

So he looked down at Lucas again and answered.

“Very well.”

Lucas smiled broadly and nodded. He gestured to his subordinates and gave them instructions, then led over his own horse and mounted it. It was an expensive-looking pure white horse.

A single cavalryman who looked highly skilled and several armed people accompanied him. They were most wary of Sigbold.

He was so tall and powerfully built that, regardless of his actual ability, he seemed the most threatening.

The horses began to move slowly. The wagon went in the middle, and Knut followed behind it.

It was not Valerie’s intention, but he naturally ended up walking alongside Lucas, their horses’ heads side by side. The contrast between the black horse and the white horse was stark.

Once they left the village, a cool breeze from the day after the rain blew over them. The grass in the fields was a deeper green than usual.

“Valerie, are you also on your way to Nearcaster to court the Valkyrie?”

“No. I have another destination.”

“Where?”

“The royal capital, Valden.”

“Then I believe you chose the wrong time. The sea route is closed now.”

“I am stopping there for supplies. I was not especially planning to use the sea route.”

“Is that so? Hmm. In any case, you do not seem like ordinary travelers. May I ask what you do?”

“A wandering swordsman would be suitable enough. Or simply a traveler, as you said.”

“If you call yourself a swordsman, I suppose you are confident in your swordsmanship. Where are you traveling from?”

“The north.”

“Is this not the north as well, strictly speaking?”

In terms of the whole kingdom, the Duchy of Nearcaster was indeed part of the north.

But the word “north” carried the common perception of being rustic and ignorant, so the people of Nearcaster did not consider themselves northerners.

If there was any positive meaning to it, it was that northerners were tough and good at fighting.

“Farther north.”

“You came from Eldeira. I hear things are in chaos there lately. There is war, and the Duke was murdered...”

As Lucas spoke, Valerie suddenly grabbed the nape of his neck and pulled him hard.

Lucas jolted in surprise, and his escorts hurried toward them in alarm. At that moment, an arrow flew past Lucas.

Valerie saw it and immediately recognized a sharpshooter. When targeting someone with a bow or crossbow, the proper method was to fire several shots at once.

If they aimed with only one arrow, it meant they were an exceptionally skilled marksman. Indeed, if Valerie had not pulled Lucas by the neck, the arrow would have lodged in his head.

Everyone turned in surprise toward where the arrow had come from. Far away, they saw someone holding a bow. Lucas’s escorts immediately rode toward them to capture the person.

“Who are you?!”

“Do not go! It is an ambush!”

Valerie shouted urgently, but they did not hear him. His words were drowned out by the dull sound of hooves.

Just as Valerie expected, there was an ambush. As the mounted guard rode off the road, enemies holding billhooks suddenly emerged from behind a rise in the ground. They hooked the horse’s legs and caught the rider by the neck. They were swift, precise, and skilled.

The cavalryman fell from his horse with a fatal wound to the neck and died instantly.

Everyone’s eyes widened. But Valerie turned his head toward the other side of the road. Ambushers there were also rising in a crowd and coming toward them.

“Knut! Sigbold! Left!”

At Valerie’s shout, Sigbold unexpectedly took his weapon from the wagon bed at a leisurely pace. It was a long-handled two-handed axe. Not one, but two.

He removed the cloth wrapped around the axe heads and gripped one two-handed axe in each hand. Then he stood boldly in the road and spoke.

“Come.”

Meanwhile, Valerie suddenly raced along the paved road. At a glance, he appeared to be fleeing, but he meant to circle around from a distance. He did not intend to fight on the battlefield the enemies had chosen.

The approaching enemies were briefly confused over whether to chase Valerie or head for the wagon. Naturally, they divided into those who hesitated, those who kept advancing, and those who chased Valerie.

Knut stayed beside the wagon to keep the packhorses from panicking. The enemies rushed toward Lucas.

But disaster fell upon them. Sigbold swung the two axes in his hands in wide arcs, and four or five people were ruined at once by a force no human should have possessed.

Ruined was more accurate than simply killed. They were cleaved, sliced, severed, and crushed in a single blow.

Whooom!

Slash!

Gasp!

Lucas’s horse reared high. It was not the horse’s fault, but because Lucas, startled, had pulled the reins strangely.

Knut quickly approached, seized Lucas’s reins, and calmed the horse.

“Stay still, idiot! Don’t get in the way!”

It was truly rude, but given the situation, Lucas did not even hear it.

Knut understood his role well. He only needed to guard the area around the wagon without letting any variables arise. Valerie would handle the rest, so not getting in the way was helping.

Valerie circled around from afar and raced back off the road. The people chasing him had all been running at different speeds, and their formation was already broken into disorder.

Valerie increased his speed in earnest. Powerful Snow burst into a run.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

The enemies could not thrust their billhooks or spears at the proper moment. Valerie quickly rammed into them and passed through.

Thump! Thwack!

Then he continued charging toward the wagon at tremendous speed, sweeping away the remaining enemies. He struck several people as he passed, but his speed did not slow at all.

Thump-thump-thump-thwack!

The tremendous weight and speed combined into a force that human flesh and bone could not withstand. Those struck by it ceased to resemble people. Their limbs bent and broke in every direction, and their organs burst.

A few enemies survived, but faced with what had happened in an instant, they immediately gave up the fight, threw down their weapons, and fled.

Valerie did not pursue them. He stopped Snow and looked toward where Lucas’s cavalryman had ridden earlier.

The enemies had just finished killing all of Lucas’s attendants and were coming toward the wagon. There were roughly ten of them left.

Valerie dismounted. The distance was too short to build speed again. Drawing his sword, he slowly walked toward them.

The enemies rushed forward with spears and billhooks. But rather than attacking all at once, the people in front attacked first.

They lacked coordination because they were anxious to kill Valerie quickly and deal with Lucas afterward.

They paid the price. Valerie knocked aside a spear shaft with his sword and killed one enemy, then charged forward and swiftly cut down three or four more to either side.

To Lucas, watching in shock, the enemies collapsing as blood sprayed after several flashes of sword light looked like magic.

Sigbold had been going to help, but he stopped and merely watched at the sight. He seemed deeply impressed, as though he had not expected Valerie to be this skilled. Equal to, or greater than, himself and his brothers. How?

The old priest, Eirik, also silently watched Valerie with a serious expression.

Finally, Valerie brought his sword down hard and sliced through one enemy’s helmet, head, and torso. An enormous amount of blood and flesh spilled out, but quickly sank into the field.

The remaining enemies recoiled in terror, and then an arrow flew toward Valerie. Yet, astonishingly, Valerie caught it in his hand. The arrowhead stopped right before his eyes.

Without surprise or hesitation, he threw the arrow into the field and shook the blood from his blade. The scattered blood spattered onto nearby flower petals.

Then, sword in hand, he walked steadily toward the sharpshooter in the distance. The wind blew sideways, making Valerie’s platinum hair flutter.

A few enemies remained, but they kept their distance with weapons raised and did not dare approach.

After he had walked some distance, another arrow came flying. Valerie simply tilted his head back and avoided it.

Another flew toward him. This time, he caught it in one hand as before.

Only then did the sharpshooter stop drawing the bow from afar. Though the distance was still great, the sharpshooter chose to flee. When the sharpshooter ran, Valerie also stopped walking.

Valerie turned his head from side to side and looked around. He could see the surviving enemies already fleeing in the distance.

Valerie threw the arrow into the field and sheathed his sword. The motion seemed to announce the end of the situation.

Then, with the wind still blowing sideways against him, he returned to the group. His steady footsteps sounded as though he were merely taking a leisurely walk.

When he returned to the wagon and mounted Snow, Lucas was staring blankly at Valerie, completely stunned.

“Rather than putting on that strange display from early morning, why did you not search around the village?”

Valerie looked at him with slight contempt. The enemies had obviously been targeting Lucas on behalf of the Aria Merchant Company or whoever they were.

Valerie said no more. He simply urged Snow onward again. The wagon moved along the paved road, its wheels rattling softly.

Lucas remained motionless as though left behind, then hurriedly came to his senses and followed after them. He was alone now, without a single escort.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried