WeTried Translations
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 184: The Road Home (5)
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Shhk!
The outcome was decided in an instant.
The lead knight, who had drawn their sword first, stared blankly at the bright red blood spraying up before them. When they shifted their gaze, they saw a sword in Kyle's hand, though they had no idea when he had drawn it.
Crimson droplets filled their vision.
Blood?
For a moment, time slowed.
The blade, glimmering like starlight in the morning sun, was perfectly smooth and without a single stain. The knight stared vacantly at Kyle's sword as their thoughts tangled into a mess. They tried to swing their sword on instinct, but their body would not respond.
When they finally came to their senses, their right arm, still gripping the sword, was flying through the air.
The breastplate around their upper body had been useless. They could not even react to the strike that had slipped into their blind spot. All they could do was stare stupidly at their own severed right arm as it fell.
I was hit? Me?
I attacked first. So why...?
“Gaaaaaaaaah!”
A beat later, unimaginable pain surged through them.
The knight's arm crashed onto the dirt with the sword and rolled across the ground. Amid the splashing blood, the knight clutched their severed right shoulder and fell to their knees.
“Nils!”
“What the...?”
The two knights who had watched confidently from a step behind turned pale with shock. Their horses snorted and took several steps back, perhaps because the reins had been pulled tight in panic.
The knights were not the only ones stunned. The village chief and his son Jan stared at Kyle with eyes so wide they looked ready to burst. The villagers watching anxiously from inside their homes were no different.
Their eyes took in the knight with the severed arm and Kyle standing before them. The other two knights frantically looked around.
No. The gap is far too great.
They had not even seen him swing his sword.
And his identity was just as unclear. He was definitely not some ordinary mercenary.
Their gaze lingered on the sword that still shone like starlight. Then Kyle raised his head and looked straight at the two mounted knights.
The hands holding the reins froze.
We're going to die.
“...We have to go.”
One of the mounted knights barely managed to speak.
“Huh?”
“We have to tell the Baron that cowardly remnants in Arenbach are plotting rebellion!”
“Ah.”
The two remaining knights exchanged glances.
It lasted only a moment, but it was enough to convey what they meant.
Just as they abandoned their companion and turned their horses around...
“Where are you in such a hurry to go? It seems we still have things to say to each other.”
A mocking voice sounded beside their ears.
At the same time, their view flipped upside down.
Through the shrill cries of their horses, they saw huge hands gripping their faces. Their bodies were dragged down and slammed into the ground.
Thud!
“Ghk!”
“Urgh!”
A heavy impact ran up their spines.
Groaning, the two knights tried to understand the situation through trembling eyes.
They had somehow been thrown from their horses and were lying on the ground. The hands crushing their faces still pressed down with terrifying force. Two men they had never seen before were pinning their chests down with their knees.
They were Hermann and Walter.
When they looked toward the village entrance, six more sturdy men, each with a sword at their side, were glaring at them.
“W-who are you people...?”
The lead knight, who had watched all of this with vacant eyes, muttered. Their brow was twisted in pain as they panted heavily.
“You don't recognize my face?”
Kyle asked in a flat voice.
His blade, shining white in the morning sunlight, rested gently beside the knight's neck. The knight could not even shake their head for fear of being cut.
Still, Kyle found his answer in those terrified eyes.
They don't know me.
It was not strange.
The north was that vast. Even Kyle had been to far fewer places than the ones he had never visited.
Even if they knew that Kyle Baldrick was the final Commander of the Knights of Ash, there was every chance they would not recognize him in person. That was even more likely in Hailen, where frontier lords held considerable power.
Besides, Kyle had spent most of his time in the north in its capital, Baldheim.
It was nothing surprising that the knight before him did not recognize him.
But Baron Falken will be different.
A frontier lord's knight might not recognize him. The Baron himself would.
Even if he had kept his distance from high society, he would at least be acquainted with other nobles. That was especially true considering the influence of Falken Bridge.
Even if he doesn't know me, he'll recognize Hermann.
Unlike Kyle, whose origins were unknown, Hermann's family, House Hagenwald, was a prestigious house with a history comparable to House Ehrenfeld's. Alongside House Ragnel, Rowen's family, and House Haska, Cecilia's birth family, it was one of the great noble houses of the north.
The entire north will know me soon enough anyway.
“Answer what I ask from now on. Understand?”
Kyle emerged from his thoughts and spoke.
When he moved the blade away from the knight's neck, the knight carefully nodded their stiff head.
“Are you the only ones who came to collect the tribute?”
Kyle asked again.
The knight shook their head.
“...No. There are more of us.”
“There are more?”
“Yes. There are more than one or two villages and cities in the Baron's territory. Other knights manage their assigned areas as well. If we fail to collect a set amount each month, we suffer penalties too...”
The knight answered in a polite tone, observing the decorum due another knight, completely unlike their earlier arrogance. They seemed to have realized that, even if they did not know Kyle's exact identity, he was no ordinary person.
“Then are you responsible for this area, including Arenbach?”
The knight silently nodded.
Kyle frowned and began calculating in his head.
The villagers, including the chief and Jan, continued to watch Kyle nervously. Walter, who was restraining one of the other two knights, grumbled.
“Baron Falken is a sneaky bastard by nature. Even his loyal knights aren't told everything.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Even if we torture them, we won't get anything useful. At best, we'll get pathetic screams.”
“...”
“Seems like there's nothing more to hear. How about we kill them now?”
The three knights flinched at Walter's murderous voice.
Kyle glanced over the three fallen knights, then looked back at Walter.
“Didn't you say Falken Fortress, which guards Falken Bridge, is an impregnable fortress?”
“That's what they say. But it's not like we can't break through. If it comes to it, we can just smash down the gates.”
Walter spoke as though it were nothing.
Hermann and the other members did not seem to think much differently. One Ash Knight might be another matter, but there were eight of them, including Hermann, the Deputy Commander, and veteran knights Walter and Gerant.
With this much force, they could take down a large city in the middle of the night and still have strength to spare.
“...No. I think it'd be better to let them live.”
Kyle did not follow Walter's suggestion.
As Baron Falken's knights trembled in confusion and the others looked at him in puzzlement, Kyle stared at the severed right arm.
“Because there's a much simpler way.”
* * *
The small banquet hall of Falken Fortress, at the end of Falken Bridge.
As the sun gradually set, all sorts of people gathered in the hall that was usually quiet.
Countless dishes were laid out beneath Magic Stone Lamps casting a soft reddish-orange glow. Every dish had been prepared from rare ingredients that were difficult to find in the north.
Baron Falken's knights and vassals sat at tables placed throughout the hall. At the seat of honor, where he could look down on them all, sat an old man with a gaunt frame, yet intensely shining eyes beneath a thick beard.
“First, I would like to thank you all for joining us here.”
“...”
“The reason I called you here today is because we have an honored guest from afar.”
Baron Falken, seated at the head of the table, began to speak.
At the same time, the Baron's gaze, along with everyone else's, turned toward the center of the banquet hall.
“To Sir Rudolf Alten, who has come here personally from House Haska.”
The Baron raised his wineglass.
The vassals, taking their cue from him, raised their glasses as though on cue and drained them. Yet the middle-aged knight in the center of the hall, who appeared to be over fifty, did not move.
Baron Falken's smooth tongue and the vassals around him, who seemed to show respect on the surface, all felt like mockery.
“Does no one like the wine?”
The Baron snorted when he saw Rudolf's untouched glass.
“It can't be helped. On such a joyous occasion, I should bring out something better. Bring it here.”
The Baron did not seem bothered.
At his signal, a servant attending nearby brought out an elegant bottle of wine. Naturally, everyone's attention turned to it.
“It is Lumento Wine, one of the Empire's finest wines, supplied to the Imperial court in Archandia.”
Exclamations burst out from all around the hall the moment he finished speaking.
The Empire's finest wine.
Goods from Archandia arrived regularly in Baldheim, the capital currently ruled by Duke Ehrenfeld. And now, one of the most coveted luxuries among them was right before their eyes.
They could not help but look.
“Have a glass, everyone. There isn't much, but you can at least have a taste.”
At the Baron's gesture, servants standing at the edges of the hall began pouring wine they had brought from who knew where.
As the mood slowly grew more lively, Rudolf, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke.
“What is the meaning of this?”
His low voice carried a trace of anger.
The cheerful atmosphere inside the banquet hall suddenly turned cold. Only the Baron sitting at the seat of honor tilted his head as if he did not understand.
“What do you mean?”
“I did not come here to enjoy myself. If your goal is to mock me, I will take my leave.”
“Ha ha. I had forgotten for a moment. Yes, Sir Rudolf, you are such a rigid man that you know nothing of amusement.”
“...”
“Then I'll be direct.”
The Baron looked around the hall before adding slowly, “When does Count Haska intend to accept His Majesty the Emperor's grace?”
The moment the Baron glanced at Rudolf as he spoke, the middle-aged knight sitting in the center of the hall suddenly shot to his feet.
With a tremendous crash, the table he reflexively struck split in half. The food and wineglasses on top came tumbling down.
“You... dare...”
“Oh, it seems there has been a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?”
“I am not asking Sir Rudolf and Count Haska to betray anyone. I am offering a good proposal. The royal family you swore loyalty to is gone, so isn't it time to find a new master? His Majesty the Emperor would be pleased as well.”
The Baron spoke without hesitation, like the whisper of a devil.
“You must be tired of wandering around like dogs without an owner.”
Rudolf clenched both fists tight.
The Baron did not care. The old man seated at the head of the table smiled and slowly raised his wineglass to his lips.
“Hailen has fallen. More precisely, its royal family has disappeared.”
“...”
“How long do you intend to cling to the remnants of an old era? I only say this because it pains me to see it. Don't tell me you're still looking for the missing Commander of the Knights of Ash? If so, I can only call you fools.”
“He is not dead. Clearly...”
“He might still be alive. But it has already been four years. Isn't it time to welcome the king of a new age?”
“The king of a new age? Are you telling me and Count Haska to bow our heads to Duke Ehrenfeld, that traitor?”
Rudolf could not endure it any longer and raised his voice.
His furious shout reverberated off the banquet hall's ceiling, filling the entire hall.
“Hailen has been ruled by the Baldrick royal family for over a thousand years. And Duke Ehrenfeld? That man is nothing but an opportunist who betrayed the royal family for power and groveled before the Emperor! His Majesty Yurian has fallen in battle, but Lord Kyle, the sole heir, still lives. How dare you speak of the throne while ignoring him!”
“Is that your final answer?”
Baron Falken suddenly looked at Rudolf with cold eyes.
Everyone's gaze settled on Rudolf, the only outsider in the hall.
“I will ask again.”
The calm voice of the old noble echoed clearly through the banquet hall, so quiet that even breathing could be heard.
“Are you saying that you and Count Haska truly won’t join us? Is that your sincere answer?”
Footnotes:
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