Chapter 84
Discord
Morning in Count Consilus’s territory began with the soldiers’ cadence during their morning run.
“Hey! Hey!”
“One, two! One, two! Begin the marching song!”
“Behold, for we have come!”
“Too quiet!”
“Forward! Forward! The final line of defense! There is nowhere left to retreat! Raise your wife as a shield and march forward today! Forward! Forward! Once we become heroes, let us go find ourselves new wives!”
The morning cadence echoed around the castle as the soldiers completed their circuit.
They ran along the walls every morning, but the difficulty varied wildly depending on who was leading them.
Among all the officers, Arwon was the most rigidly by-the-book of them all, and his runs were notorious for their extreme difficulty.
Damn it. Why can’t we just run half a lap and call it a day?
Every time this knight is on duty, it’s pure suffering.
Not only did they have to sing without pause as they ran, but the route twisted and turned, and Arwon added every hidden corner under the pretext of conducting inspections.
By the time they finished, the distance was easily more than two full laps.
“Excellent work, men! Eat breakfast and prepare for the morning’s duties!”
“Yes...”
“Your voices sound weak. Would you like another lap?”
“No, sir!”
“Then disperse at the speed of light! Anyone I catch runs another lap!”
Terrified that he might actually catch them, the soldiers scattered in a hurry.
As Arwon wiped the sweat from his face with a towel, a gate guard approached and saluted.
“Loyalty. Officer of the Watch. Thank you for your hard work.”
“What is it?”
“Well, there is a knight from Valdrova Castle who says he wishes to see you.”
Valdrova Castle.
There were only two knights stationed there.
And only one of them would ever come looking for Arwon.
He reflexively frowned.
“Where is he now?”
“Hey, Arwon!”
“Never mind.”
There was no need to ask.
The man was already approaching while waving his hand.
Arwon wiped his face with the towel and looked at him.
Brown hair and a refined, handsome face.
“It has been a while, Sir Zed.”
“Yeah, it has. You’ve been doing well?”
“I never expected you to come here. What brings you?”
“Nothing much. I came because I was told to undergo some proper knightly training.”
“Knightly training...?”
Arwon’s eyes widened at the request.
“What? Are knights who got their positions through connections not allowed to train?”
“There is no reason you cannot. In fact, someone who received his position through connections needs training even more. I simply never expected you to volunteer for it.”
“Tell me about it. I didn’t expect this from myself either.”
Zed scratched his head and admitted it without embarrassment.
Seeing that, Arwon began to worry.
Was there not a saying that people died when they suddenly began behaving out of character?
“Did something happen?”
“You heard about the wolf monsters that appeared in Halim, right?”
“Yes. I heard the Regent distinguished himself there. The entire Empire is in an uproar.”
There were two main reasons for the commotion.
Seven wolf monsters had been summoned inside the city.
And despite such a disaster, not a single person had died.
“I heard you distinguished yourself as well. They say you moved like a sylph, toyed with the enemy, and bought everyone time.”
“Toyed with them, my ass. One mistake and I would’ve died. I was scared shitless the entire time.”
“Then what is the problem? Valdrova’s name has gained prestige, and you earned yourself a heroic tale to use when seducing women.”
That was the kind of man Arwon believed Zed to be.
Being a knight was the perfect profession for telling lies, and with one exaggerated tale of valor, seducing a noblewoman would be easier than eating a rice cake while lying down.
“When one of those wolves charged at the Regent, I stepped in front of it.”
“It charged at the Regent, and you blocked it. What happened next?”
“I couldn’t stop the bastard. It hit me once and sent me flying. Like a broken plank.”
Arwon shrugged.
“That cannot be helped. Even most trained knights cannot endure a monster’s attack head-on.”
“What about you?”
“I could stop it.”
“That’s exactly the problem. Other people can do it, but I can’t.”
“I underwent formal training and was carefully selected as a knight. You should not compare me with ordinary people.”
Arwon had intended it as reassurance, but Zed merely grimaced as though regretting asking.
“So you want enough strength to stop an enemy in a direct confrontation?”
“It doesn’t have to be head-on. I just want something I can do in a situation like that.”
“You mean swordsmanship or self-defense techniques?”
“Yeah.”
“I can teach you those things, but... how old are you, Mr. Zed?”
“Twenty-seven. I’ll be twenty-eight soon.”
“Is that not rather late to begin training?”
“I’ve always kept my body in shape. I’ve fought plenty of battles and spent quite a while working as a mercenary.”
Arwon already knew Zed was a skilled combatant.
He had paid close attention to Zed’s abilities when they worked together during the operation to rescue the Chancellor of Escholeia.
“This is not merely a matter of physical conditioning. Enduring the attack of a monster is a matter of controlling aura. Even that training alone requires years of steady practice, and you are already rather old to properly understand and apply it.”
“You mean this aura, right?”
Zed clenched his fist and focused his entire body.
A wavering blue light surged across the surface of his skin.
Arwon stared in shock.
It erupted unsteadily, like a solar flare, but there was no mistaking it.
It was aura.
“How are you able to use it?”
“I told you I worked as a mercenary. You meet all kinds of people in that line of work. So? Can you teach me or not?”
“If we correct the way you use your aura and train you properly, it should be possible. The fact that you can already release aura means you are halfway there.”
Arwon warned him firmly.
“Even so, it will be difficult. You already have ingrained habits, and the more set your mind has become, the harder those habits will be to correct. In the worst case...”
He paused, making the gravity of his next words clear.
“You may end up a cripple who cannot even lift a sword.”
Such a fate was miserable.
For someone like Zed, who lived entirely in the present, the fear of becoming a living corpse could not be underestimated.
“I’m already prepared for that.”
Zed answered without hesitation.
“Is it truly worth such a risk?”
“When the moment comes that I have to protect something, I don’t want to be helpless again.”
Only then did Arwon see what lay in Zed’s eyes.
Regret born from powerlessness.
It was about more than merely failing to protect Ferda.
Arwon smiled.
Zed frowned at him.
“What are you grinning about?”
“Nothing. Then let us begin with some light physical conditioning.”
“What kind of physical conditioning—”
“We will start with a light five laps around the castle!”
“Five laps?!”
“If you wish to become a knight under Count Consilus, you need at least that much stamina. Besides, we cannot afford to spend several years on this, can we?”
“Well, that’s true, but—”
“Then let us run.”
Arwon began running, and Zed followed behind him.
Perhaps, Arwon thought, he might actually become friends with this man.
“Ah, Mr. Zed. Could you help me after the training?”
“With what?”
“I need to write a letter, but I cannot think of the right words. I thought someone with your way with words might know what to do...”
“What use would my writing be...?”
Zed trailed off as realization struck him.
“Wait. Is this about that lady who kept staring at you during the Grand Council?”
Arwon looked back at him with an expression that seemed to ask how he knew.
“Well... yes.”
“You talked all that nonsense about chivalry, but in the end, you’re still just a man! Since when have you two been corresponding?”
“She sent me a letter four days ago. She said she admired the way I was serving in the Far East.”
“That means she likes you. I’ll help as much as you need. Just say the word. I’ll even teach you exactly how I used the wolf-monster story to seduce a woman.”
“Yes, thank— Wait. The wolf monster?”
“Yeah. The wolf monster.”
“Didn’t that happen only recently?”
“Yeah.”
Arwon blinked.
“You had the energy to seduce a woman even while agonizing over something like that?”
“Well...”
Zed had not particularly wanted to do it either.
But he had his reasons.
“Why?! Why won’t you do it?! You promised! I used magic for you, so you promised you’d let me drain your essence! A harem buffet! You promised me a harem buffet! You liar! Liar!”
He had been unable to withstand Penelope’s entirely reasonable demands as she threw a tantrum and repeatedly smacked him over the head with a pillow.
Not wanting to explain that entire sequence of events, Zed gave a short answer.
“A man has to do what he has to do.”
“You still have to eat, don’t you?”
“...Ten laps.”
“What? Why?”
***
Stephan returned.
His relief that everything had gone well lasted only briefly. Once he was inside the carriage, complicated emotions began stirring again.
Ferda’s words continued to echo in his ears.
“Then you have no value.”
If he failed to obtain the Pascal Trading Company, he would be worthless.
Had Ferda recruited him solely because he coveted the company’s value?
Stephan could grow perfectly well after becoming independent.
It would not be mere growth, either. He could achieve explosive expansion.
Ferda had served as regent for less than a year, and his economic knowledge barely scratched the surface.
There was no way he could understand.
He could not possibly know how aggressive and revolutionary Stephan’s strategy was.
Compared to what Stephan intended to build, the Pascal Trading Company would seem no more valuable than a turnip growing in a field.
What would be the point of telling him?
Stephan wanted a moment to catch his breath.
He wanted nothing more than to sit at his desk and relax, if only briefly.
“You’ve returned, sir?”
“Yeah, I’m back. But why does everyone look so tense?”
“That’s because he came...”
“Me? You’re all this tense because I came back?”
“No, not you, Director...”
Only then did Stephan understand.
There was only one person who could make the entire office feel this threatening.
“M-My brother?”
The secretary gave a small nod.
The moment he realized it, Stephan became just as tense as everyone else.
His brother must have already received reports about everything that had happened in Halim.
He would understand exactly what the situation meant.
“...Could you tell him I had to go somewhere else?”
“No.”
“Then at least let me change my clothes before I meet him, or—”
“Director.”
The secretary grabbed the babbling Stephan by the shoulders.
“You have to go.”
Stephan did not want to.
Even so, he forced himself toward the stairs.
He cautiously peeked inside as though opening the door to an execution chamber.
A familiar muscular man sat behind Stephan’s desk.
“Stephan. Long time no see.”
The man greeting him like a street thug was his older brother, Merchant Pascal.
Stephan’s eyes were drawn to the curves of muscles that looked ready to burst through the silk of his clothing.
He swallowed hard.
“It has been... a long time, Brother.”
“Brother, my ass. Just call me your older brother. More than a hundred men call me ‘Boss,’ so shouldn’t my own flesh and blood speak a little more affectionately?”
“...No, Brother. How could I possibly...?”
“You’re suffocating, you know that?”
Merchant grinned at him.
“I heard you went to Halim.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“There was an exhibition involving the Far East, so I went there to provide support.”
“Wasn’t that the place Father told you to abandon? You’re still clinging to it?”
“Yes. I judged it to possess sufficient commercial value.”
“So you’re saying your judgment is better than Father’s?”
“How could I possibly insult Father...?”
“You’re still acting spineless. Just say what you think for once. Stop being so damned frustrating!”
Merchant slammed his hand against the desk.
The desk had endured mountains of documents without collapsing, yet a crack spread through it from that single blow.
Merchant stared down at the damage and scratched his head.
“Damn. I hit it too hard. I’ll pay for it later. Anyway, I heard everything. You opened up trade with Lord Ahmed over there, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You know that’s a region I’ve been cultivating for years, right?”
“Yes, I know.”
“You knew perfectly well that I was trying to expand into the south, and you still tried to swallow the most profitable part whole?”
Stephan hurriedly defended himself.
“That was not my intention.”
“You knew, and you still took it.”
“I had no reason to refuse. More importantly, Regent Ferda led the negotiations and personally secured the agreement.”
“Right. So because I was standing back and doing nothing, I have no connection to it?”
“I would not say there is no connection...”
Stephan trailed off.
Merchant looked at him with displeasure before sighing.
“Well, what can you do? Family shouldn’t be trying to devour one another.”
Was that the end of it?
Unfortunately, Stephan’s hopes were not granted.
“I’m not asking for much. We can just share the trade rights for goods sold in Halim. That should be fine, right?”
“Do you mean... placing the business under both our names?”
“Exactly. We’re one family conducting one business. You can do that much, can’t you?”
The road to Halim was a road to a gold mine.
Even divided between two people, it would still make both of them immensely rich.
All Stephan had to do was step back a little.
Yield just a little.
Yet for some reason, Stephan no longer wanted to.
“That...”
He opened his mouth.
The words that emerged were the opening shot of a war.
“Is my business.”
Merchant’s expression instantly hardened.
“Hey, Stephan.”
“Yes.”
“Are you telling your older brother that you won’t lend me the road or provide me with any wagons?”
It felt as though a tiger were glaring at him.
Stephan’s legs began to tremble.
Merchant never hesitated to use violence.
And once he began, it never ended until something was broken.
Stephan had always been the target, so his fear of that pain ran deep.
Yet there was something he feared even more.
Losing his trust...
Ferda had trusted him completely as a merchant, without question or hesitation.
Stephan had already disappointed him once by withdrawing from the succession struggle.
At the time, Ferda had told him that someone who abandoned even what he already possessed and compromised was not the kind of merchant the principality needed.
It was what ordinary, commonplace merchants did.
Compromise.
Compromise was a useful tool for mediating conflict.
Only now did Stephan finally understand what Ferda had meant by it.
This was it.
It was like the camel that first pushed only its head inside the tent, then eventually occupied the entire thing.
People like that never stopped until they had taken everything.
Stephan could no longer disappoint someone who believed in him.
Nor could I disappoint myself...
And so, he stepped forward.
“The Halim trade... will belong exclusively to me.”
“...”
Merchant rose from his seat.
He was frightening enough while sitting, but when he stood, his massive frame became truly menacing.
Stephan was consumed by the fear that his brother’s fist would slam into his stomach at any moment.
“I see. If that’s your decision, then so be it.”
“...”
“But since you refuse to consider our circumstances, I’ll no longer consider yours.”
Merchant passed him and patted him on the shoulder.
“Let’s see how well you eat and live without me.”
With that, Merchant left.
The moment Stephan realized the storm had passed, the strength left his legs.
It was the first time.
The first time he had ever defied the terrifying older brother who had always seemed impossible to oppose.
“Haa...”
Ferda had promised to make Stephan the owner of the Pascal Trading Company.
What did he need in order to become its owner?
Herman Pascal’s seal of approval?
More money and connections than the others possessed?
What he needed most was—
The mindset of an owner.
The ability to protect what belonged to him.
The courage to assert his rights without yielding to outside pressure.
That was why Stephan had forced those difficult words from his mouth.
“I did the right thing.”
Even if doing so had opened a road leading through a painful field of thorns.
That was what he chose to believe.