Chapter 185

Translator: Willia

Where there was day, there was night, and where there was the sun, there was the moon. In this way, God had shown mankind every truth.

If the nobles' struggles for power belonged to the light, everything else belonged to the shadows. Swordsmen, Adventurers, criminals, even the lives of ordinary people.

The two worlds were not truly separate, yet the world of light had little interest in the shadows. It simply had no qualms about trampling anything underfoot when the need arose or when it got in the way.

Ricardt belonged to both worlds, light and shadow. In one, he was the King of Adeloron. In the other, he was Chairman of the Master Alliance's Council of Six.

If the peace agreement he had made with Second Prince Rotarius was the fence marking the boundary between light and shadow, then it was now time to begin expanding his influence in the shadows in earnest.

The historic headquarters of the Master Alliance was built on the outskirts of Stormhertz. Somehow, despite the war, stone was procured and transported there by river, and the Ernburg Stonemasons' Guild constructed the building.

A great deal of manpower and money had gathered there. The manpower was the fruit of relationships forged over the years, while the money had been borrowed from the Benicio Trading Company with the development of the gold mine as collateral.

Skill, labor, and capital had come together, and a true new beginning was getting underway.

There was a forest nearby and a river flowing beside it. A place where there had once been nothing was now crowded with people. The clatter of hammers and the architect's harsh scolding seemed to lend the place even more vitality.

On closer inspection, however, there were people who appeared to have come from elsewhere besides the Beringen Academy students and the Ernburg Stonemasons' Guild.

They stood in a long line before the Council of Six's temporary tent, and they seemed to vary in every respect, from social standing and wealth to age.

War meant a sharp rise in demand for security, while there were few suppliers. It was, therefore, a business that could hardly fail.

The people standing in line were precisely those customers.

Inside the shaded tent, a small, balding middle-aged man sat tensely in a chair, as though he were standing before a tribunal.

He kept wiping away his sweat with a handkerchief, and perhaps feeling sorry for him, Roy brought him a cup of water.

“Ah, thank you.”

The man spoke politely even to a boy who looked only eleven or twelve. Such was the pressure exerted by the place and the people before him.

He raised the cup and drank, but his hand trembled so badly that a little water spilled past the corner of his mouth. Even so, he drained it before wiping his lips with his handkerchief and beginning.

“First, allow me to introduce myself. I am Braut, mayor of the city of Hauber. Hauber is a city in Kronvalt County, a territory under His Grace Duke Frederia. As you are well aware, it has already been a full year since His Grace Duke Frederia called up his troops. As he declared neutrality, no battles have been fought during that time. I consider that an excellent decision, of course, but the problem is that the lords have been away from their lands for far too long. And when the lords are absent, is it not only natural for unsavory sorts to begin moving in?”

In other words, public security had deteriorated. Bandits would never dare approach a place where an army was stationed, but there was no reason for the surrounding regions to enjoy the same security.

In particular, when mass desertions occurred or defeated armies left stragglers behind, those men often became bandits themselves. Fortunately, the Frederia region had not deteriorated to that extent.

But like something slowly seeping in, bandits had gradually begun to gather.

“As you know, bandits must be suppressed early, before they have a chance to grow stronger, must they not? And lately even Goblins have been causing trouble. The monsters my grandmother used to frighten me with when I was a child are actually appearing. Several villages in the forests have already suffered quite a few casualties, and the survivors fled, leaving those villages uninhabitable. And yet His Grace still has not demobilized the troops...... And on top of that, who provides all that food and money? We do. Again.”

Just as light produced darkness, a virtuous cycle had its opposite in a vicious one. Unfortunately, the Frederia region had fallen into the latter.

The mobilized troops consumed food even while sitting idle, while an army contributed nothing to production. On top of that, men kept in service beyond their required term had to be paid wages, leaving the powerless to shoulder the burden twice over.

Ricardt had been listening with one elbow propped on the armrest and his chin resting in his hand. He asked Braut,

“So what do you want us to do?”

“Justice has gone missing. I would like you to find it for us. I will pay whatever it costs.”

“Paying money to buy justice......”

Bori murmured quietly from a makeshift table in the corner, where he sat instead of using a chair, idly swinging his legs back and forth.

Roy and Ice were there as well. Karllich and Volka were absent. Karllich chiefly handled administrative affairs and managed the administrative personnel, while Volka was primarily responsible for caravan escort work and had concentrated his manpower there.

It was impractical to convene the entire Council of Six every time some matter arose so they could accept and resolve each request together. Most matters were therefore decided by Ricardt, the Chairman.

That included meeting clients and hearing their requests, as he was doing now. But even after hearing Braut's pitiful circumstances, Ricardt shook his head.

“We can't do that.”

“I haven't even told you how much I'm prepared to pay.”

“No matter how much you offer, we do not infringe upon a lord's rights.”

“Then where are we supposed to seek justice?”

“You should take it up with Duke Frederia.”

“As I said, His Grace Duke Frederia......”

“Whether the duke's decision to remain neutral is justified is not for me to decide. Nor is it my place to involve myself in the problems caused by that decision.”

“B-but please, I beg you to reconsider just once......”

Mayor Braut pleaded desperately. Ricardt watched him for a moment, lifted his gaze as though thinking, then looked back at him.

“Hmm...... Then how about this?”

“Please, go on.”

“If I accept a job from you and carry it out, that would infringe upon your lord's rights. But if I take no money, then it isn't an infringement. So what can the mayor offer the Alliance?”

Braut, mayor of Hauber, had clearly not expected such a proposal and could not answer at once. In truth, he had no idea. If Ricardt did not even want money, then what was he supposed to give him? A woman? Other goods? Local specialties? Strategic materials such as horses and iron?

“Friendship will suffice.”

Ice spoke. It was almost as if they had worked out the line beforehand, but Mayor Braut was too flustered to notice.

“Pardon?”

“Friendship and loyalty. That is enough payment for justice. Give us your friendship, Mayor, and we will answer that friendship in kind. Once times improve, if you want ordinary paid work, try Volka or the Viola Clan.”

Ice sounded as though he were reciting words he had memorized in advance. But regardless of how strange that was, Mayor Braut still could not readily understand what he meant.

“Friendship? I know some of the jargon in this line of work myself, but I'm afraid I can't quite guess what you mean. If you could explain in more detail......”

“Exactly what we said. Friendship and loyalty. That's what you give us.”

Ricardt drove the point home. Even then, Mayor Braut wore a puzzled expression, clearly unable to understand.

And understandably so. What the Alliance was asking for under the name of friendship and loyalty was influence. If they wished to operate and wield influence throughout the Empire, the cooperation of local villages and cities would be essential. This was groundwork for that future.

For example, even if they established a branch office somewhere, they would need all sorts of documents handled, cooperation from local residents, money, and other things besides. When such needs arose, they intended to invoke this friendship and loyalty and ask for help.

In other words, friendship and loyalty sounded pleasant enough, but in practice it was little different from demanding payment without ever fixing the amount.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Mayor Braut did not possess the insight to see that far ahead. He simply signed the document Roy brought him.

It stated that the city of Hauber would provide the Master Alliance with friendship and loyalty, and numerous signatures were already visible upon it.

“Done. You may go. The bandits will be gone within a week.”

Mayor Braut bowed and left with a dazed expression, as though still uncertain whether any of this was really all right.

Watching him go, Ricardt spoke to Bori.

“Tell Lester to send about five Rangers. Have them find out how firmly the Goblins have established themselves. If they're already beyond dealing with, just pull out. Ice will handle the bandits.”

Bori nodded, while Ice wrote a note on a small piece of paper. It was a list of the people he had to kill. To it, he added ‘Bandits near Hauber’.

“Next.”

Ricardt spoke. Roy immediately trotted over, poked his head outside the tent, and called in the next person.

Surprisingly, the next person who had come seeking justice was an old woman. All sorts of people came with all manner of requests and commissions, but this was the first time an old woman had appeared.

She seemed to have some difficulty moving, so Roy helped her over to the chair.

Once she was seated, Ricardt asked,

“What brings you here, old woman?”

The old woman slowly surveyed the people around her with hollow eyes before her gaze settled on Ricardt. Her voice was like a dead tree, dried and shriveled.

“Revenge.”

“What revenge?”

“My daughter-in-law.”

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

The old woman stared fixedly at Ricardt. She was not glaring, yet the resentment in her eyes was so intense that it was difficult to meet her gaze. It suddenly reminded him of The Nameless One.

“My son died. Two years ago. Back then, my daughter-in-law went to the battlefield to recover her husband's body. It was too heavy, so she cut away every last bit of flesh and brought back only the bones. She carried them home alone through wind and rain and gave him a funeral. She was a fierce one. But someone killed that daughter-in-law of mine. You must kill the one who did it.”

It was a blood-soaked tale.

Ricardt quietly met the old woman's fierce gaze head-on. Yet the rehearsed question asking what she could offer them simply would not come out.

“What was your daughter-in-law's name?”

“Sally.”

Ricardt frowned slightly. The name sounded familiar. Bori and Ice seemed to have the same reaction.

“Will you kill them?”

The old woman asked. Her gaze remained intense enough to seem as though it might bore straight through Ricardt's eyes.

They still needed far more information and a fuller account of what had happened, but Ricardt calmly looked from Ice to Bori. Bori gave a slight nod, and Ice signaled his agreement with his eyes.

The two of them had not agreed to take the commission simply because they pitied the old woman. Rather, they had been drawn by the familiar name, one they felt they had heard somewhere before. Or perhaps it was because this felt like an Adventurer's commission, something they had not received in a long time.

Having gained the agreement of his two fellow council members and friends, Ricardt turned back to the old woman and nodded.

“Very well. We'll kill them. Who killed her?”

The old woman gave an unexpected name, then pitched forward and died on the spot.

“Dunkel.”

Thud.

“......”

This time, Ricardt remembered the name clearly. Dunkel had been the head of the Beringen Adventurers' Guild back when Ricardt was a student. Sally had been the Vice Master with the hearty appetite.

The old woman's collapsed body did not look as though she had just died. It looked as though she had been dead for a very long time.

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