Chapter 43
The next day at lunchtime.
The party climbed back up the mountain where the old man lived.
While climbing, the elf Jane kept tugging at Duke’s cloak.
“Captain, Captain. So what did the old man mean yesterday afternoon? What does the empire’s fall have to do with you?”
Her question left the entire party speechless.
It had happened so naturally that they had forgotten.
The upper echelons of the Providence domain knew about Duke’s past.
They knew he was one of the principal figures behind the empire’s fall.
However, their trust in Duke was so deep that their treatment of him had not changed in the slightest after learning the truth.
By contrast, Jane still belonged to a rank that was not supposed to know the secret.
It was like a career NCO accidentally learning a state secret.
As a result, the party froze and watched Duke’s reaction.
Duke broke the silence and rebuked Jane.
“I believe I told you that prying into another person’s past is not a knightly virtue.”
“Eek.”
“When we get back, you’ll run two hundred laps around the training grounds. No, three hundred.”
“Gyaaaah!”
The elf Jane protested while shouting, “Down with tyranny! Down with military abuse!”
Leaving her to it, the party continued up the mountain.
When they reached the summit, the blind old man who had been sweeping the yard with a broom welcomed them.
“You’ve come.”
Naturally, the fact that Duke and the old man had met the previous evening was a secret between the two of them.
Would there really have been any point in telling the guests that the ground where they stood had once been drenched in blood?
“Sniff, sniff. Master, doesn’t it smell like blood?”
“How would I know?”
“Why does it smell like blood?”
Of course, Ari’s keen sense of smell had noticed something strange, but—
“As luck would have it, after our guests left yesterday, I hunted a rare magical beast. I suppose that smell is from bleeding it out in the yard.”
Thanks to Peter’s quick thinking, the matter passed without incident.
Thus, they had a simple lunch of magical beast meat before resuming the previous day’s interview.
“So, have the two of you found your answers?”
The two lords sat formally before the old man, who sat cross-legged like an elder handing out New Year’s gift money.
Although it seemed as though the positions of the prospective liege and prospective vassal had been reversed, the one who wanted something had to dig the well.
“How many children are you thinking of?”
Of course, nothing the old man said was remotely like a normal interview.
But by now, the two lords were no longer flustered.
After mulling it over at their lodgings for a day, they had concluded that it was Peter’s sophisticated strategy for destroying their composure.
As with the previous question, one of them raised a hand first.
“I d—”
The moment she uttered the d sound—or, in Korean, digeut—the old man cut her off in disgust.
“That’s not what I asked.”
It was an incorrect answer not even worth considering.
Hana did seem aware that she had gone too far; her face reddened like a radish.
Next was Rex’s turn.
“I’ll pass today.”
But Rex shook his head and gave up his turn to answer.
He still had not figured out the old man’s intentions.
“I just came to see you today, Elder.”
Rex’s statement nevertheless made a fairly favorable impression on Peter.
Peter could sense Rex’s consideration: out of respect for Peter’s convictions, Rex did not want to recruit him by dressing his intentions up in pretty words.
Rex +1 point.
“My lord. This man is not as fine a person as you think.”
And Duke knocked him back down by 1 point.
Rex was back to 0 points.
In the end, on the second day as well, the party merely kept the old man company before departing.
The same thing continued the next day, and the day after that.
Hana did not want to waste the single opportunity she had each day, so she kept firing off incorrect answers,
whereas Rex did not even use his opportunity; he merely talked with the old man before descending the mountain.
That distinction left a different impression on the old man.
“You came again today.”
It was a dark night after everyone had descended, with only the sound of crickets lingering in the air.
As always, Duke visited Peter’s house.
He brought out the baijiu Peter liked, drank with him, and discussed the two lords.
Peter wet his corn-silk beard with liquor and grumbled.
“Tsk. I hate to admit it, but you really do have an eye for choosing your liege.”
“Hmm.”
“Lady Sneria is certainly a good person, but she isn’t a good lord.”
Duke did not agree with Peter’s assessment of Hana, but neither did he specifically deny it.
However, Peter had interacted with Duke enough to sense his displeasure through the helmet that concealed his expression.
There was no way he could feel good about someone insulting his favorite person.
But it was also a fact, so he had nothing to say.
Peter interpreted that silence differently.
‘Judging others isn’t an admirable attitude.’
Slander was an arrow tipped with poison, while praise was a blade coated in honey.
It was a maxim warning against the arrogance inherent in putting one’s assessment of another person into words at all.
However, Peter had the right to assess the two lords he might serve.
“Then this old man will do all the talking, so just listen.”
“···”
“Lady Sneria is highly responsible, but she has no dream. She isn’t running toward a dream; she’s being chased by responsibility. If that’s how things are, won’t she ultimately end up at the edge of a cliff rather than beyond the horizon?”
Duke did not deny it.
He knew where her sense of responsibility would ultimately lead her.
Peter emptied his last glass.
“By contrast, your liege clearly has ambition and responsibility living side by side. He isn’t clinging to this old man; he’s weighing this old man on a scale. Me—the man even that imperial prince once dared not meet eye to eye!”
Duke did not specifically deny this assessment either.
Rex’s gamer mind was merely weighing whether the old man was a hero unit worth taking along,
but, broadly speaking, Peter’s words were not wrong.
Duke rose from his seat, leaving the old man to enjoy his intoxication.
Then he straightened his cloak, turned his back on the old man, and asked,
“So, have you made up your mind?”
The old man nodded.
“Before spending the rest of your life suffering under a liege, isn’t it all right to wander for a while? I’d like to prepare myself mentally before I have to look you in the face and speak respectfully.”
“I understand. Don’t wander too far.”
With his back still turned to Peter, Duke disappeared into the darkness again.
A few days after that conversation,
“Please take good care of this old man, Lady Sneria.”
Peter headed for Hana’s domain.
***
The recruitment competition between Rex and Hana ended in Hana’s victory.
- “I’ll find someone who can take over my position.”
After a string of incorrect answers, she was the first to give the correct one.
Until then, Rex had merely talked with the old man and had never given the correct answer.
“Ho ho. At my age, I’ve managed to find a liege to serve.”
Peter stroked his long beard and bowed his head to her.
When she and the retainers hidden in her shadow heard that Peter was joining their side, they cheered.
He was an old man who had exchanged blows with Duke himself.
Now that a man of unquestionable character and outstanding martial prowess had joined the domain, they no longer needed to worry about its defense.
They could focus entirely on developing the domain without having to watch the reactions of neighboring domains.
“Thank you, Elder. I’ll take good care of you so that you won’t regret joining us.”
Peter smiled fondly as he watched her bow repeatedly.
Once Peter became part of the Sneria domain, Rex gave up on recruiting him without fuss.
“It was a pleasure, Elder Peter.”
Following the Confucian spirit running through his blood, Rex politely bowed even to the old man who had become another lord’s vassal and bid him farewell.
Peter likewise replied with a polite greeting and said goodbye.
“Lord Rex. I hope we can meet again soon.”
Thus, having given up on Peter, Rex’s party descended the mountain and boarded the carriage.
As always, Duke mounted his horse and maintained his silence, while Jane played with Duke’s cloak as usual and was sentenced to another one hundred laps around the training grounds.
Once the carriage had moved a reasonable distance away from the mountain, Ari comforted Rex, who was sitting with his head bowed deeply.
“Don’t be too disappointed, Lord Rex. I suppose he wasn’t meant to be with us.”
“I’m not disappointed···”
“Then why are you bowing your head so low?”
“Motion sickness···”
“Ah.”
Rex only managed to regain some composure after using Ari’s lap as a pillow.
Thus, they made their way back to the domain.
With his ear resting on Ari’s lap, Rex typed.
[Duke.]
“Yes, my lord?”
[Was my choice the right one?]
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
[Giving Elder Peter up. I’m the lord of our domain; shouldn’t I have been more selfish?]
Duke was silent for a moment before speaking.
“I don’t know. But the imperial family fell despite being so selfish, so perhaps another path is the right answer.”
Only then did Rex relax and close his eyes.
While Ari secretly stroked the sleeping Rex, Duke looked toward the Sneria domain beyond the mountain.
‘I hope old man Peter does well.’
***
Meanwhile, Hana’s party was on the way back to the Sneria domain.
The retainers who had hidden in Hana’s shadow until then did not leave Peter alone.
“Elder! How did you come to meet Sir Duke?”
“Elder, do you have a particular liquor you like? Our domain is famous for its wine, too.”
The reason they fawned over the old man so shamelessly was that they knew this lord-vassal contract was based purely on the old man’s goodwill.
The old man’s abilities were at least on par with Hana’s, if not superior.
Since they had no leash-like means of keeping him tied to the domain, they had to curry his favor.
However, Hana’s retainers did not consider their situation servile.
Compared to fawning over the lords of other domains who were less than decent, flattering this virtuous old man did not particularly bother them.
Especially considering the war deterrence he would bring, it was far more cost-effective as well.
Amid the ceaseless stream of flattery from the retainers, Peter enjoyed himself as though he were watching his grandchildren perform tricks.
“I was lonely with no one else in the mountains, and now you treat this old body so kindly that I don’t know where to put myself.”
During that warm and cheerful journey, the old man briefly escaped the retainers’ barrage of flattery and spoke to his liege.
“Lady Sneria.”
“Yes?”
“I have lived only in the mountains, so I’m ignorant of the current situation, but I do have ears thanks to what I’ve heard from peddlers.”
The old man half-opened his pale eyes.
It was a sight that could easily disgust anyone with a weak stomach.
However, Hana hunched her shoulders for a different reason.
The atmosphere emanating from the old man was unsettling, though she could not explain precisely why.
The old man stared directly into Hana’s eyes with white eyes devoid of pupils.
“The peddlers say that the amount of wheat and iron being purchased in the surrounding domains has skyrocketed lately.”
“···”
“And considering how desperately you wanted me to join you···”
“That’s why I took you in, Elder Peter. I thought someone like you could prevent a war.”
“Is that so? In that case, this old body will do its best.”
Peter did not bring up the subject again afterward.
On the way back, Hana and her retainers learned that Peter disliked fish, especially freshwater fish, and that, contrary to his appearance, he hated fishing.
What he did like, on the other hand, was swinging a sword, drinking, and wandering from place to place.
“I suppose age has made me less patient too, ho ho!”
As he gave the retainers the impression of a benevolent yet fairly active old man, Peter swallowed a bitter smile inwardly.
‘I’m sorry, Lady Sneria.’
He deeply apologized to Hana in his heart.
‘If one old man could prevent a war simply by traveling around, the empire would never have fallen.’
The old man mocked himself.
He knew his homeland was rotting away, yet could not bring himself to rise because he could not bear to give up what he possessed.
Nor had he stopped those who rose up to resist what was wrong.
In the end, he was an indecisive old man who could neither act nor refrain from acting, who had even abandoned his training and wandered while allowing himself to grow old.
In that sense, his situation and Sneria’s might have been similar.
An old man with convictions but insufficient resolve.
A woman with convictions but insufficient ability.
The old man repeatedly apologized to the woman who looked optimistically toward the future.
'Your vision has narrowed from being chased by responsibility, young lady.'
She had overlooked one fact.
The fact that if one person’s existence could prevent a war,
then, put another way, one person’s will could also start one.
Her method was therefore nothing more than an unstable stopgap.
And that was why he had chosen her.
Because he felt sorry for the precarious woman who was not unlike himself.
Before putting an end to his wandering, he compromised with himself, deciding that this degree of irresponsible compassion was acceptable.
And···
'I’m sorry, my friend. I can’t become a person as strong as you.'
Hoping that a knight would scold this old man who could not let go of his regrets.
Well, if he made an effort, perhaps he could postpone it for a few years.
The old man swallowed a bitter smile and followed Hana’s back.