WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 84

──────

Alhad Den (2)

Hearing the merchant company's chief guard, Trant went blank with shock.

Silver Plate. That couldn't be right. He must have misheard.

He fixed his eyes on the chief guard again, waiting.

Any moment now the man would say it. "My mistake. Let's begin the test."

And then that blond kid would show off his pathetic swordsmanship, and after that...

Trant's fantasy ended there.

Airen Farreira's group nodded and turned to leave, and the chief guard made no move to stop them.

Watching this, Trant hurried over to the chief guard.

"Wait, wait a second!"

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"That, that group. Why did you pass them without even testing them?"

"Ah, of course. An orc fortune teller brings good luck, so it's a boon to have one join us. The black cat's a little unsettling, but if it belongs to the orc, that's fine."

"What about the blond one?"

"Didn't you hear? You were standing close enough... That young man holds a Silver Plate. Impressive, for someone his age."

"No, I heard, but... isn't that a little..."

Trant's words trailed off and he shut his mouth.

The chief guard's expression had soured.

He held his gaze on Trant for a long moment, stern-faced, and Trant lowered his eyes, feeling like he was sitting on a bed of needles.

Finally, the chief guard spoke in a low voice.

"Do I look like some fool who can't tell a real Mercenary Plate from a fake one?"

"N, no, that's not what I meant..."

"I've seen hundreds of forged plates in my time. I know how to tell a fake from the real thing."

"..."

"Besides, that young man got his plate issued in Alkantrea."

"What?"

"If I were forging a plate, I wouldn't have used the Alkantrea brokerage's name. That's the end of it. Next!"

With that, the chief guard turned his gaze away. There was nothing more to say.

But Trant had nothing more to say either.

He stepped back, dazed, replaying what he'd just heard.

'A Silver Plate, issued in Alkantrea?'

Alkantrea, the great city.

Trant knew it well.

Wasn't it home to Krono Fencing Hall, where the swordsmen he admired most had gathered?

Because of that reputation, Alkantrea's certification tests were notoriously stricter than anywhere else, and anyone who earned a high rank there inevitably drew attention.

In other words, it was a terrible place to fake a rank.

Trant knew this firsthand, having earned his own Bronze Plate in Alkantrea.

The plates themselves were also treated with intricate magic that made forgery far harder than usual.

'A real Silver Plate? At that age?'

He couldn't believe it.

No, he didn't want to believe it.

That someone who carried himself so lightly, so carelessly, could outrank him...

"Trant, what are you doing?"

"Don't just stand there gawking. Come on."

"...Right."

Of course, there was nothing Trant could actually do.

All he could manage was glaring, in secret, at that face that looked like it had never known a hard day's work.

* * *

The recruitment of guards for crossing the Alhad Mountains came to an end.

The merchant company owners, the chief guard, and the mercenaries all set out on the mountain path with satisfied looks on their faces.

They were about to pass through territory controlled by a massive bandit gang, yet most faces showed no shadow of worry, not even a flicker of tension.

To be precise, everyone but two.

Trant, thoroughly annoyed by Airen Farreira.

And Airen, wearing a heavy expression for reasons no one could guess.

Watching this, Lulu looked over at Kubharu.

Then said, "Kubharu. Do that thing for me."

"Hm? Which one..."

"The knight set."

"Ah. Right. Now where did I put it... here it is!"

Kubharu rummaged through his bag and pulled something out.

Pieces of iron.

The shapes resembled the plates of a knight's armor, only shrunk down to a tiny scale.

He tossed them into the air with a flick of his wrist.

Thrown with practiced skill, the pieces didn't scatter every which way but clustered together neatly as they flew.

At that moment, Lulu darted between them and spread her limbs wide.

The falling iron pieces clattered and clicked onto her body as gravity pulled them down.

Clack!

In an instant, the black cat stood there fully clad in plate armor like a knight.

She knelt on one knee and planted her sword in the ground.

Then, with a solemn expression, she addressed Airen.

"Sir Airen Farreira, if there is one who weighs heavy on your heart, speak the word now. As your sword, I stand ready to cut down anyone, regardless of who they may be."

"Ooooh..."

"What is that thing!"

"So cool!"

"So cute!"

The merchant company members reacted strongly to Lulu's antics.

Some clapped, and those who were only just learning he was a Sorcerer stood there with their mouths hanging open, looking half out of their minds.

Airen, of course, stayed calm.

This wasn't the first time the black cat had pulled a stunt like this.

"Where'd you learn to talk like that?"

"From a novel I read yesterday!"

"That's really cool."

"Hehe. But it's uncomfortable, I can't keep this up for long."

Clank, clank.

Watching him waddle around stiffly, that claim seemed true enough.

Airen let out a chuckle, scooped Lulu up, and pulled the armor off her.

As he handed the pieces back, Kubharu asked another question.

"Lulu was half joking when she asked, but I'm curious myself."

"What?"

"Your face. You're usually not one for expressions, but today you seem particularly short on smiles. If something's weighing on you, let it out. I know it's a bit of an old man's line, but I can offer some advice, as your elder in life."

"Hmm..."

Airen let out a low hum, as if he did have something on his mind. Kubharu and Lulu waited patiently.

A moment later, what came out was far heavier than either of them had expected.

"I've got a lot on my mind, but the biggest thing right now is... whether I'll be able to swing a sword at another person."

"Oh?"

"I've never killed anyone before."

It was a terrible thing to say, coming from such a kind, gentle face.

But for a swordsman and a mercenary, it was only natural to think about.

Especially for someone whose job was to guard merchant caravans from bandits.

Kubharu's expression turned serious, and Lulu stopped her playful antics to watch Airen closely.

Airen kept talking.

"I know it might sound absurd to a veteran mercenary, showing mercy to the kind of people who threaten and rob honest merchants... but there's still the weight of a life to consider."

Protecting innocent merchants was right.

Driving off vicious bandits was right too.

But whether he himself had the right to take a life in the process of doing that, Airen couldn't answer with any confidence.

And his worries didn't end there.

"Is the right answer to strike the leader down fast and force a surrender?"

"Or should it end with just a threat, driving them off without bloodshed?"

"But if bandits who keep their lives that way just go back to hurting other people, that doesn't seem right either..."

The thoughts kept chaining, one after another.

Listening to the inner workings of a twenty-one-year-old, naive in one sense and pure in another, Kubharu smiled faintly.

He liked this side of Airen.

It might look frustrating on the surface, but it was still a far better attitude than swinging a sword carelessly with no thought at all.

Once he'd heard the young man out completely, Kubharu nodded. Then he offered an answer.

But it was nothing like what Airen had expected.

"No need to worry about it."

"What?"

"There won't be any fighting. Not a single person here is going to draw a sword crossing this mountain."

"But there's supposed to be a terrifying bandit chief on the mountainside, someone called Kazar..."

"That Kazar wants peace."

"...?"

"Assessing our strength, exchanging pleasantries, demanding a toll, seeing us off. That's the entire business of the bandits at Alhad Den."

What followed from Kubharu's mouth completely upended the notion of "bandit" that Airen had carried in his head.

The fact that the Alhad Den, led by the chief Kazar, had held together for a full five years.

That in those five years, actual bloodshed could be counted on one hand, and that anyone who paid the toll crossed the mountain more safely than almost anyone else could.

That merchants hired guards to pressure the bandits, not to fight them.

"In a way, they're less bandits than merchants themselves. The traders don't really think of them as villains either. Annoying, sure, but you can think of it like a city tariff."

"But still... they aren't officials sent by any government. In the end, aren't they just criminals taking merchants' goods without giving anything in return? Don't the surrounding territories or kingdoms send subjugation forces after people like that?"

"Not a chance. The bandits pay out a fair amount in bribes to the neighboring territories."

"..."

"Ha, the more you hear, the more shocked you look."

"Honestly, yes. I didn't expect a place with this many problems..."

"But I wouldn't call it purely a bad thing either. In a way, you could say everyone benefits."

Not a bad thing. Airen couldn't wrap his head around that.

How could a structure where the kingdom and bandits colluded to exploit merchants not be a problem?

But as Kubharu kept explaining, Airen could only stare, dumbfounded.

"First, the surrounding territories get to offload work they don't want. The land sits in an awkward spot, split between jurisdictions, so it's hard for anyone to claim clear ownership, and hard for any kingdom or territory to manage the road directly."

"You could say the bandits do that job in their place. And bandits in name only, really, because what Kazar does actually helps stabilize the region. He greases the right palms in the surrounding territories to keep disputes from breaking out, and he clears out the petty, disorganized thugs himself, which keeps things safer overall."

"From what I hear, before Kazar took over as chief, there was far more loss of life and far more property damage. But sending subjugation forces over and over would cost more than it's worth, and merchants, for their part, would have to risk their lives every time they crossed the mountain. That's a heavy burden either way."

"...It's really complicated."

"Heh, that's how the world is. You'll rarely find anything split so cleanly into good and evil, right and wrong."

Airen Farreira quietly nodded at Kubharu's words.

It was a shock.

He hadn't known any of this while confined inside his house.

In that narrow world, his days had been simple enough that he never had to think about anything beyond swinging a sword.

But the world outside wasn't like that.

Far more tangled interests were at play than he'd imagined, and far harder questions than he'd ever had to face.

With no easy way to tell right from wrong, every single action became something to approach with caution.

'This is a lot. My head hurts.'

Still, Airen Farreira didn't stop thinking it through.

He didn't want to stop. He spoke.

"...I think I need to think about this more."

"About what? The Alhad Den?"

"That, and what I mentioned before."

"Before? Ah... you mean about killing?"

"Yes. It's not something I'll face today, but it's something I could easily run into later. Ugh, I still haven't found an answer to a relatively simple question, and now I've been handed an even harder one. But still..."

It's probably better to think it through ahead of time.

That way, when the moment actually comes, I'll be able to make the right choice.

Kubharu watched Airen Farreira say this with a deep, thoughtful look.

"Not a bad way to think about it. I'll cheer you on."

"Me too! It's a hard problem, but you can do it!"

Lulu, saying that, looked like she'd never had a worry in her life, but that was fine.

The support itself was sincere, and that was what mattered.

Airen smiled and kept turning the problem over in his mind, and the two of them, mindful of that, quietly continued on up the mountain path.

But the people around them saw things differently.

'He's never killed anyone before?'

'He doesn't even know what the Alhad Den is? Isn't that a little too green?'

'I heard he's got a Silver Plate, but with his age and the way he talks, no way that's true...'

Some doubted Airen's actual skill.

No matter how sharp the chief guard's eye was, it seemed impossible that someone so obviously inexperienced could hold a Silver Plate rank.

Trant, too, reignited the suspicion he'd only just set aside.

'Must be from some famous swordsman's lineage.'

'Raised soft, probably, thinking like that.'

'How can someone be this clueless about the real world?'

'Why worry about something so pointless...'

Others didn't doubt Airen's skill at all.

Cases like this weren't unheard of.

The type raised in a fine household, skilled with a blade, but hopelessly naive about how the world actually worked.

Still, even they looked down on Airen all the same.

Questioning an order that had held for five years straight. Was there a more pointless thing to worry about?

"We're here."

While everyone thought their own private thoughts, time passed quickly all the same.

Before long, they arrived at the entrance to Alhad Den, where Kazar and his bandits had come out to meet them.

But something felt off.

Kazar, the master of the den, stood without his usual smile.

Behind him, the bandits stood lined up, faces hard.

The reason became clear soon enough.

Out of Kazar's mouth came a demand no one could accept.

"Leave half your goods and get out. Do that, and I'll let you live."

"Wh, what! Are you seriously saying..."

The startled merchant representative stammered, unable to finish his sentence.

That was when Airen Farreira, still lost in thought, murmured quietly.

"That man... I sense demonic aura."

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