WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
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◈ The Wandering Knight and the Moving Castle ◈
Chapter 72: Northern Debut (4)
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When they reached a hill near the water source, the scouts Eugene had sent ahead were waiting for them. There was no better place nearby to rest.
Eugene placed a hand over his chest in recognition of their efforts, then raised his right hand.
“Halt! We camp here tonight!”
Everyone stopped at once at his deep command, not just Eugene’s army, but Baron Yones’s as well.
‘Without the slightest hesitation...’
The knights of House Yones were startled to see their soldiers obeying Eugene so naturally.
The two armies were like separate ant colonies traveling together.
Yet the soldiers of House Yones followed Eugene’s orders as though they had replaced the pheromones they had relied on their entire lives.
One battle was all it had taken. The god-of-war-like might Eugene had displayed there had seized even their souls.
“Prepare quarters for the two of you over there.”
The tribal warriors set up a large tent in the best spot and decorated its interior with carpets woven in colorful patterns.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“It’s very different from Roman style, isn’t it?”
Baron Yones entered the nomadic-style tent with shining eyes.
As they shared drinks in a relaxed atmosphere, Eugene understood why the baron had welcomed him so warmly.
“Whew. To think I broke a vassal contract that had lasted so long with my own hands.”
“Wasn’t it your former liege who first broke faith by joining the Imperial Faction? Don’t blame yourself.”
The head of House Yones had suddenly died of heart disease. The baron had become lord without warning, still overwhelmed by it all, only to find enemies on every side.
While holding the funeral, he had sent out statements declaring his support for the Noble Faction and sought a new liege among the great nobles.
As part of that effort, he had set out on this expedition, only to be ambushed and thrown into a battlefield reeking of blood.
At the moment he thought, ‘This is the end,’ he had been rescued. It was only natural for an inexperienced lord’s emotions to overflow.
“They say God prepares hardship and salvation at the same time. It must be true, for He sent you to me.”
A knight close to his own age, with no ties to the north, who had built tremendous fame in a short time!
Baron Yones felt both kinship and admiration for the lord before him.
“Sir Eugene. I heard there are even castles that pirates have captured.”
“I heard there are areas where several hundred, even a thousand of them, are swarming about. It isn’t surprising.”
Not every lord lived in a sturdy stone castle. Some wooden castles were so flimsy they barely deserved the name, and siege engines were unnecessary.
They could bring in several warhorses to kick down the gate, or set the place on fire and force out those holding the castle.
“What happened to the families of the lords whose castles fell?”
“I heard they were sent to the capital and stripped of their titles.”
“Then their lives as nobles are over.”
“Yes. The Emperor has swarms of people at his side eyeing vacant positions. They must be dreaming of gaining even a small fief and living in luxury.”
That was how the Imperial Faction had raised an army far beyond its financial means. It could offer lordships to people burning with ambition.
The Emperor’s infamy would surely soar for such tyranny, which ignored the nobles’ long-held rights. Then again, if he had cared about such things, he would never have proclaimed himself Emperor in the first place.
* * *
The villages they encountered after entering Baron Est’s fief were filled with tension.
It was not only pirates. More than a few villages had been wiped out by mercenaries running wild amid the chaos.
“Please take us in! We’ll do any kind of work!”
Refugees who had lost their homes were arriving from every direction.
“Father-in-law...”
“Dad! Waaah!”
In some households, daughters who had married into neighboring villages returned with their husbands, both dressed like beggars.
With things as they were, Haind and the mercenaries drew uneasy looks when they entered villages to buy supplies.
“The village chief tried to offer tribute, so I refused.”
“Good. There’s no reason to leave Baron Est with a bad impression of us.”
Some villages, afraid the army before them would turn into bandits, tried to hand over the valuables they had gathered.
“Sir knight, since we came as a relief force, it would be acceptable by custom to accept this much.”
Rex sounded disappointed. Since he could not plunder them, he at least wanted their tribute.
“It isn’t much money anyway.”
“The amount isn’t the issue. There’s a thrill to getting something out of people, isn’t there?”
Unlike Eugene, who had the sensibilities of settled people, Rex came from a wandering people. To him, extracting something from others was the greatest amusement.
If they held a grudge, he could simply leave for somewhere else.
“They already look poor enough. I don’t want to take even more from them.”
The situation around them was so grim that most villagers looked gaunt.
“We’ll never see them again once we pass through.”
“But they’ll remember us.”
“...”
Rex desperately swallowed the words, ‘I guess you don’t remember the dozens of pirates whose heads you smashed in, Sir Knight?’
“You forget men dying while they rob people after a night’s sleep. But it’s hard to forget children crying while holding empty bowls.”
“I, uh, didn’t say anything.”
Rex was flustered that Eugene had seen through him, but he also felt pleased.
Seeing through one’s subordinates was part of a leader’s ability. It let one see through an enemy’s tricks and prevent betrayal from allies.
“Sometimes you seem like a mercenary, Sir Knight, and sometimes you seem like a priest.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Of course it is. It means you can put on the mask of good or evil whenever needed.”
‘That sounds more like an insult...’
Just then, scouts who had gone quite far ahead returned with a report. There were no pirates anywhere nearby.
“I should thank Bruce.”
“Exactly. He gathered up all the vermin and loot so nicely for us.”
Rex looked back at the Emperor’s knight, bound tightly and loaded onto a cart, as though he found Bruce admirable.
Thanks to Bruce gathering up the pirates so diligently, they had wiped them out in one sweep and could keep advancing without another battle.
* * *
“Welcome! Righteous neighbors!”
Baron Est rushed out the moment the relief force reached the castle.
A few days earlier, Baron Est had watched from the walls as a large group of pirates headed west.
Baron Est had been trembling in fear, so the baron was moved when the lords who came to help arrived faster and in greater numbers than expected.
“You wiped out every last one of those mangy dogs?!”
Baron Est’s eyes even filled with tears when the baron heard the pirates had been eliminated.
“Normally, chasing down those scattered across the region would have been a headache. We have Baron Yones to thank for holding them in place.”
“W-Well...”
Baron Yones gave an awkward smile at Eugene’s not-quite-praise. He had been the target and had barely survived.
Had Eugene not arrived in time, it would have been Yones, not Bruce, tied up tightly and loaded onto a cart.
“Please see to the wounded.”
“Of course! They are heroes who came to aid our fief, after all!”
Baron Est thumped the baron’s chest as Baron Yones bowed his head. Every man killed or wounded in the battle had come with Yones.
“I will make sure Duke Ismar hears of your righteousness. You there! Are you writing this down?”
“Yes, my lord!”
A scribe behind Baron Est was busily working a quill.
The story was simple. Neighboring lords had answered a call for aid and defeated the pirates.
Even though the situation was not complicated, the scribe’s quill showed no sign of stopping.
‘Baron Est knows how to put on a show.’
Baron Est was putting on a kind of performance.
It was a skill that pleased others without costing money, but nobles were surprisingly poor at it. Even the lowest lord ruled their own land with authority that kings might envy.
“Duke Ismar has always treated the duke’s vassals well. The civil war has merely left Duke Ismar without the strength to act. Soon, the duke will settle matters around them and restore the north to what it was.”
Baron Est still offered Duke Ismar unwavering loyalty. Baron Est did not seem to resent the duke for failing to help in this dangerous situation.
Put another way, it meant Duke Ismar had governed the duke’s vassals with excellent character.
Clench.
Baron Yones balled his fist. He looked determined to catch the duke’s eye this time and become one of Duke Ismar’s vassals.
* * *
Baron Est opened the warehouses and held a grand feast.
“I have prepared a banquet for these great heroes.”
Nobles were the sort to hold feasts even during war.
The pirate threat had not vanished completely, but destroying the main force in the area was more than enough reason to celebrate.
The castle’s important figures drank and ate heavily now that their anxiety about outside threats had eased, while the guests celebrated their victory.
“I want to hear how you beat those man-eating bear-like knights of Gord.”
“Come on! We can hear about the trial by combat later. Tell us about slaying the magical beast first! A knight’s greatest tale is monster hunting, isn’t it?”
Eugene’s cup never had a chance to remain empty.
“Your late father was a fine lord. To his peaceful rest!”
“Duke Ismar will understand your sincerity as well. We will testify to your honor, Baron.”
Baron Yones, seated farther away, also had wine constantly poured into his cup.
Among nobles, even when visiting without business, it was customary to eat and drink like starving people.
There was even less need to say so when the guests had arrived as a relief force and brought great victory.
The person who received the most cups that night was neither Eugene nor Yones, but Varda.
Her fame as a mage was known throughout Roman.
“I never expected the renowned mage of the Emerald Forest to be here as well.”
Pour.
“Sir Eugene is truly fortunate to have such a wise person remain at his side as an adviser! Ha ha ha!”
Pour again.
“Noble lady of the forest. I have spent this entire banquet searching for words to describe your brilliance. Yet now that I stand before you, all such words feel meaningless. You are beautiful. I do not know what else I could possibly call you.”
Pour again and again.
Varda, who rarely removed her hood, was the sweetest spectacle at the banquet.
Her hair seemed spun from melted gold, and her golden eyes put every expensive candle in the hall to shame.
“So that is why you always wore your hood, even at ordinary banquets.”
“I do not care much for drinking.”
Varda, seated beside Eugene, had a rich, sweet scent of wine on her breath.
At a noble’s banquet, refusing drinks was an insult to the host’s dignity. It was better to drink until one collapsed.
On top of that, a beauty they might not see twice in a lifetime drank without showing any sign of getting drunk. They were delighted beyond measure.
“You have an incredible capacity for drink. I think you have had as much as I have, yet you are completely unaffected.”
“Elves have strong resistance to disease and poison.”
Her ability to detoxify was exceptional, but that did not mean her physical capacity was any greater.
“Still, they’re going too far. You have gone to the toilet twice already, but they keep offering you more wine.”
“...You are the one going too far. One does not speak of the toilet to a lady.”
Though she had drunk a great deal, Varda’s pale face grew slightly red, especially her ears.
“The wine seems decent. Even those picky ones are drinking it well.”
Eugene pointed toward the tribal warriors. Rex was trying to make Haind drink more wine.
“It is not as good as my family’s traditional liquor, but it is drinkable enough. You should try some too.”
“I said I’m fine.”
“Come on, just have one cup.”
For Dark Elves, whose daily lives revolved around plunder and wandering, business sense was as important as fighting ability.
Haind was practical, as befitted someone from a merchant family, and excelled at trade and logistics. Such a rare knight made a good impression on the Dark Elves.
Gulp, gulp.
“Pah!”
“Ha ha ha! This Squire is far better than you!”
“Squire! Please accept a cup of my liquor as well!”
“Now this is a real knight! Why don’t you become the Squire instead, Haind?”
The tribal warriors applauded as Homi drained a cup heartily and held it out again.
By rank, she was only a Squire, but no one in Eugene’s camp dared treat her lightly.
It was the result of her outstanding combat ability, remarkable instincts as a scout, and her place as Eugene’s closest companion.
Varda watched the scene with satisfaction, then stiffened at approaching footsteps.
“You are like a flower formed from all the beauty of the forest. Please allow me to offer you a cup.”
Everyone was pleasantly drunk, and their compliments had become unbearably cheesy.
Varda’s golden eyes blinked wearily as yet another cup was filled to the brim.
“Leave it to me.”
Without drawing attention, Eugene switched his half-empty cup with Varda’s.
“I appreciate the consideration, but you need not go this far.”
She said that, yet she was grateful. Regardless of how drunk she was, the smell of alcohol was beginning to nauseate her.
“It is called being a black knight.”
“A black knight?”
“It means protecting a lady in danger at a banquet by drinking in her stead instead of drawing a sword.”
Varda covered her mouth and laughed elegantly.
“What an interesting custom. Your stories are always new.”
The knight before her always brought out strange tales, from unusual customs like this to instructive fables and even embarrassing, lewd legends of the gods.
“It is nothing compared to the advice and devotion you have given me, Varda.”
“No. We have a sufficiently reciprocal relationship, so do not say such things.”
It was an era with very little entertainment. Eugene’s stories and unusual philosophies always fascinated and amused Varda.
“The short time I have spent with you has been more enjoyable than all the years I once spent wandering Roman alone.”
“You seem a little drunk.”
“...Perhaps.”
Eugene himself smiled as he spoke, seemingly unaware of it.
While Eugene was away from his seat for a moment, several people asked Varda about her future plans.
They wanted to know whether she intended to meet the lord they served. Baron Est was among them.
Pour.
“Duke Ismar has often praised the mage of the Emerald Forest.”
Baron Est spoke as the baron respectfully poured wine into Varda’s cup.
“That is an honor.”
“Once your contract with Sir Eugene ends, might you consider meeting Duke Ismar?”
Unlike knights, mages had no concept of a liege. They had only patrons, and the more skilled the mage, the more that was true.
A knight whose domain amounted to one village could not keep the mage of the Emerald Forest nearby for long.
Anticipation filled Baron Est’s face at the thought of presenting such a splendid gift to Duke Ismar.
“I appreciate the thought, but even I do not know when I will leave Sir Eugene’s side.”
“What? What do you mean...?”
“There is no contract of gold between him and me. I do not know when this strange journey together will end. My feet do not hurt yet.”
Varda lightly emptied her cup and smiled.
“Thank you for the wine. He will return shortly.”
Varda touched one of her long, pale elven ears. The sweet fragrance on her breath and her dazzling smile were enough to enchant anyone.
Yet her manner carried an unmistakable order for Baron Est to leave.
Baron Est did not dare ask what she meant. Though Baron Est was the host of the banquet, the baron bowed deeply and withdrew.
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