Chapter 57 - Fifty-Seven ... Cold Beer and a Closed Road

Chapter 57: Chapter Fifty-Seven ... Cold Beer and a Closed Road

Chapter Fifty-Seven ... Cold Beer and a Closed Road

"Heh heh! Actually, Captain Lampard is from one of the powerful houses of the Canton League! If not for me, you’d never have hired him so easily!"

"Oh?"

The Canton League.

It was a confederation made up entirely of the dwarves of the Arhen Mountains. Domains ruled by individual houses called cantons were bound together in the name of the League, and the whole was run as a kind of council of powerful families.

So that was why Captain Lampard’s abilities had always seemed so out of the ordinary. Who would have thought he was a member of one of those powerful houses?

"If even you say so, he must come from a fairly powerful house?"

"Heh heh! Of course, my lord. Didn’t you notice when he introduced you to the dwarf craftsmen last time? He just doesn’t talk about it, but he’s a direct descendant of a powerful house that rules an entire canton."

In that case, "powerful family" was just a polite way of putting it. He was practically a noble. What’s more, the cantons of the Arhen Mountains often sat on key trade routes, so their power was on the level of a city-state.

It was a moment when Jan saw Captain Lampard in a whole new light.

"Ha ha. Human lord. Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something you want to ask of me?"

Perhaps feeling his gaze, Captain Lampard, who had been giving orders some distance away, came over with a hearty laugh.

"What would I have to ask of you? I was just hearing about you from Bishop Graham over there."

"Oh, not again! So that loose-lipped bishop has gone and told you everything again, has he?"

Clicking his tongue, Captain Lampard shot a sidelong glare at Bishop Graham.

Bishop Graham had already scurried off to the edge of the column and was delivering something that was not quite a sermon to the soldiers and mercenaries, preaching as he went. Judging by the jingling sound every so often, he was secretly selling indulgences again.

"Ha ha. Don’t be too hard on him. I’m sure he meant no harm."

"It’s because he means no harm that it’s a bigger problem, human lord."

Since he had never revealed his background, it seemed he had meant to keep quiet about it. But what could he do? It was already out.

"Isn’t that the bishop’s charm?"

Jan let out a small laugh at the sight of Captain Lampard sighing.

"By the way, I hear you’re a direct descendant of a powerful house. So why the mercenary work?"

"Well, I’m a direct descendant, sure, but there are more than ten ahead of me, human lord."

"Ah, I see."

"We dwarves don’t hand everything to just one heir the way you human lords do... but a canton is just too cramped."

Captain Lampard shrugged as he said it.

It seemed this dwarf had chosen to go out into the world rather than fight at home. Judging by how many dwarves worked under him as mercenaries, he must have had a good reputation as well.

"But how did the two of you come to be so close? To be honest, getting along with Bishop Graham..."

The question suddenly occurred to him, so Jan asked. When you thought about it, they made a truly odd pair.

A bishop and a dwarf.

On top of that, one was a mercenary captain and the other a bishop. And as mentioned before, Bishop Graham was a man steeped in greed. To the dwarves, a race second to none when it came to love of money, he was in a sense their very opposite number.

"Ha ha. It’s true, Bishop Graham really is greedy, human lord. It’s not easy for him to get along with dwarves."

Captain Lampard seemed to read his thoughts, because he laughed heartily.

"Huh? My lord! Did you call me?"

At that, Bishop Graham, who had been busy selling indulgences some distance away, raised his head.

"No. Just keep working hard at your business."

"Heh heh! Understood."

He had such sharp instincts, honestly.

He seemed to pick up on anyone badmouthing him like a ghost.

"But that’s exactly why it was easier to become friends with him, human lord."

"How so?"

"Well, to be honest, since he was so openly greedy, we clashed a lot at first, human lord."

A faint memory seemed to come back to Captain Lampard, and the corners of his mouth lifted as he spoke.

"But after watching him for a while, I noticed Bishop Graham was just as full of love for honor and vanity as he was for money."

"Oho? And then?"

"Hmph. What else? Every time he helped us out, we made a great show of thanking him, gave him plaques of gratitude, and put up a few statues of him in the canton."

What, that worked?

Trying to win him over with cold hard cash would have cost a fortune, but that was an excellent method.

"Heh heh. And after that, he worked himself to the bone at the Papal See representing our interests, human lord. Keep that in mind when you put him to work later."

"That’s excellent advice."

Jan would have to make good use of it himself.

It was the third day of the journey to the Papal See.

Before they knew it, they had left the outskirts of his lands far behind and, after being hosted along the way by the neighboring domains, were about to cross the border.

"What do you say? Why not take this chance to visit our canton, human lord?"

Captain Lampard asked the question at the fork where the main road climbing into the Arhen Mountains split from the path leading down below them.

"Our canton isn’t as big as your lands, human lord, but it sits on one of the main trade routes, so it’s quite a prosperous city."

"Ah! Not ’quite,’ my lord! It’s tremendously prosperous! They rake in money by the shovelful!"

"Oho? Is that so?"

"And that’s not all! It’s famous among travelers too! Hot springs and good beer make it a truly wonderful place! Heh heh."

Whatever the bishop’s reasons for knowing so much about it, apparently the canton where Captain Lampard’s house lived was one of the League’s leading cantons.

"Ahem, ahem. Now, Bishop Graham. Don’t overdo it."

Clearing his throat, Captain Lampard said something modest. Still, he couldn’t quite hide the pride on his face.

"If you turn toward our canton from here, I’ll give you a proper welcome, human lord."

"Hm."

Jan thought the offer over for a moment.

Stopping at a canton in the Arhen Mountains would mean taking a detour, which could make the journey to the Papal See take longer.

Captain Lampard seemed to read his mind, because he stroked his luxuriant beard and declared in a voice brimming with pride.

"I know what you’re worried about! But our canton has kept the old empire’s roads in perfect repair! You’ll actually get there faster than if you took the road down below."

"Really?"

"Of course! Roads paved with straight, even stones, without a single blade of grass growing between them, are the pride of our Canton League!"

"Heh heh. That’s true."

With even Bishop Graham saying so, it was a rather tempting offer...

"Our canton’s specialty is beer, human lord. Absolutely superb stuff. Beer that tingles on the tongue, with little bubbles rising up through it."

"Oh?"

Beer?

And sparkling beer at that?

For Jan, who was always drinking heavy wine watered down, it suddenly sounded very tempting.

On top of that, Captain Lampard’s next words drove the final nail into his wavering resolve.

"You’ve probably never tasted it, human lord. Cold beer. Our beer, chilled with the eternal snows of the Arhen Mountains, can only be had in our canton!"

"Oh...?"

Cold beer?

"Fine. Let’s go right away. To your canton."

That was something he absolutely could not pass up.

And a while later...

Every one of them stood there, completely baffled.

As they climbed the road toward the Arhen Mountains, they couldn’t help but wonder what on earth they were looking at.

"Could it be... that we took a wrong turn?"

"Uh... well... it’s definitely the right road, though...?"

"What?!"

The road before them.

This ancient road leading to the canton looked as though it hadn’t been tended in a very long time. It was choked with thick undergrowth and blocked solid by barricades built from all sorts of scraps of wood.

It looked just like a ruin, as if no one had set foot on it in years.

"No matter how I look at it, this has been left untended for months at least, Captain Lampard."

"Th-that can’t be right...?"

"What is going on here?!"

Flustered or not, there was no changing the fact that the road in front of them had gone to ruin.

"Ahem. Well, spring’s only just arrived, human lord. Couldn’t that be why?"

"I don’t know... Isn’t the grass awfully thick for that?"

Since it was hard to camp out in the open during winter, fewer people traveled that season. But there were limits. Traffic might thin out over the winter, but it never stopped altogether.

Someone was always putting together a caravan and moving goods to make money. And yet the grass was this thick? That meant this road had been left untended for a long time.

And that wasn’t all.

"Ah! What are these strange barricades? Anyone can see someone’s blocked the road on purpose!"

"Well said, Bishop Graham. Anyone can see it’s been blocked. Could something have happened in your canton, Captain?"

Blocking off a road like this, barricades and all, was no small matter. No matter how dire things got, people still had to eat, didn’t they? For a great city like a canton, which could hardly feed itself, keeping the roads open mattered all the more. The roads were how merchants carrying food came in.

And yet they’d blocked the road?

’Something’s wrong here.’

The kind of wrong that would be a real nuisance to get tangled up in. Jan quietly began to think about pulling his soldiers back and turning around. It was a shame to waste all the time it had taken to climb up here, but getting stuck in this place would be a bigger problem.

But when he saw the bewildered look on Captain Lampard’s face, Jan could only sigh.

"Calm down, Captain Lampard."

"B-but... Could something really have happened to the canton, human lord?"

"How would I know? I’ve only just arrived here with you."

"Ah! You fool, Lampard!"

"Ahem. That’s right. You’ve only just arrived too, human lord..."

"Stop fretting. Isn’t there some way to find out what’s going on inside the canton? Didn’t you say you come from one of its powerful houses?"

"Ah!"

Only then did Captain Lampard let out a cry, as if he’d just remembered.

"Ah! That’s right. There’s a village belonging to Captain Lampard’s house nearby."

"That’s right, human lord. There’s one of our house’s villages close by."

"Is there? Then let’s head there first. We need to figure out what’s going on."

"R-right! Understood, human lord."

At Jan’s words, Captain Lampard hurriedly got his mercenaries ready to move.

He must have been terribly worried about his family.

With Captain Lampard leading the way, Jan slowly made his way to the village.