Discord

The morning in Count Consilus's territory began with the marching song of the morning run.

“Hey! Hey!”

“One, two! One, two! Start the marching song!”

“Look, we have arrived!

“Your voices are too quiet!”

“Advance! Advance! The final line of defense! There is nowhere to retreat! Raise your wives as shields and advance today as well! Advance! Once you become a hero, let's go find a new wife!”

The morning-run song echoed as it circled the castle.

They ran along the castle walls every morning, but the difficulty varied wildly depending on who led them.

And among them, Arwen was the most by-the-book of the by-the-book, boasting the highest possible difficulty.

‘Aw, come on, just run half a lap at a reasonable pace and leave.’

‘It gets painful every time this knight draws duty.’

Not only did they have to sing marching songs without pause as they ran, but the winding course itself was challenging, and the additional areas they covered under the pretext of patrols meant they ran more than two laps by default.

“Good work, soldiers! Eat breakfast and get ready for your morning duties!”

“Uh……”

“Your voices have faded away. How about one more lap?”

“No, sir!”

“Then disperse like the wind! If I catch you, it's one more lap!”

Fearing they might actually get caught, the soldiers hurriedly dispersed.

As Arwen wiped away his sweat with a towel, the gatekeeper approached and saluted him.

“Loyalty. Officer on duty, you have worked hard.”

“Is something the matter?”

“Well, a knight from Valdrova Castle says he would like to see you, Officer.”

Valdrova Castle.

There were two knights there.

Only one of them would come looking for him.

Arwen reflexively frowned.

“Where is he now?”

“Hey, Arwen!”

“No, never mind.”

There was no need to ask. The man was already approaching, waving his hand.

Arwen wiped his face with the towel as he looked at the man.

Brown hair and a handsome, delicate face.

“It's been a while, Sir Jedd.”

“Yeah, it's been a while for me too. You've been well, right?”

“I didn't expect you to come here. Is something the matter?”

“It's nothing special. I came to ask you to let me train as a knight.”

“Knight training……?”

Arwen's eyes went round at the request.

“Why can't parachute knights do it?”

“There's no reason you can't. In fact, the more of a parachute appointment you are, the more training you need. I just didn't expect you to say you wanted to do it……”

“That's what I thought, too. I didn't expect this of myself either.”

Jedd scratched his head and admitted it calmly.

Seeing him like that, Arwen began to worry anew.

Didn't they say people died when they started doing things they had never done before?

“Is something the matter?”

“You know about the wolf monsters that appeared in Halim, right?”

“Yes. I heard the Regent distinguished himself there. The Empire has been in quite an uproar.”

There were two main reasons for the uproar.

Seven wolf monsters had been summoned inside the city.

And despite such a situation, there had not been a single fatality.

“I heard you distinguished yourself there as well. They say you toyed with the enemies and bought time with movements like a sylph?”

“Toyed with them, my ass. It was a place where one mistake meant death, so I was scared shitless.”

“So what's the problem? Lord Valdrova's name has gained fame, and you got a story you can use to pick up women, didn't you?”

That was Arwen's understanding of the man called Jedd.

Being a knight was the best profession for telling lies, and with a single exaggerated tale of heroism, seducing a young lady was as easy as lying down and eating rice cakes.

“When that wolf bastard charged toward the Regent, I blocked its path.”

“It charged at the Regent, and you stopped it. And then?”

“But I couldn't stop the bastard. When I hit it once, my body went flying. Like a scrap of board.”

Arwen shrugged at that.

“That couldn't be helped, could it? Very few knights can withstand a monster's attack head-on.”

“What about you?”

“I can stop one.”

“That's the problem, isn't it? Other people can do it, but I can't?”

“I underwent formal training and was carefully selected as a knight, didn't I? You can't compare me with ordinary people.”

Arwen meant it as consolation, but Jedd merely frowned as though he regretted asking.

“So you mean you need the strength to stop an opponent in a head-on fight?”

“Even if it's not a head-on fight, I want to gain something I can do in a situation like that.”

“You mean swordsmanship or self-defense?”

“Yeah.”

“It's something I can teach you, but…… How old are you, Mr. Jedd?”

“Twenty-seven. I'll be twenty-eight soon.”

“At that age, aren't you rather late to begin training?”

“I've been steadily training my body for years. I've also seen quite a bit of combat and worked as a mercenary.”

Arwen knew very well that Jedd was skilled in combat.

He had taken note of Jedd's abilities while they were carrying out the operation to rescue Escolleia's dean.

“It's not simply a matter of training your body. Withstanding an attack from a creature on the level of a monster is a matter of handling aura. You would need to train consistently for years, and you're already too old to understand and apply something like that.”

“Aura, you mean this, right?”

Jedd clenched his fist and concentrated his strength throughout his body.

A blue, wavering light surged across the surface of his body.

Arwen was startled when he saw it.

It burst out unstably like solar flares, but there was no mistaking it for aura.

“How are you able to use it?”

“I told you I worked as a mercenary, didn't I? You meet all sorts of people there. So, can I do it or not?”

“You should be fine with some aura refinement and training. The fact that you can release aura means you've already made it halfway.”

Arwen gave him a firm warning.

“Even so, it will be difficult. Everyone has their habits, and the more set your mind becomes, the harder it is to change those habits. In the worst case……”

He paused, emphasizing the seriousness of his next words.

“You could end up a cripple who can't even hold a sword.”

Becoming a cripple was a truly miserable ending.

To people like Jedd, who lived in the present, the terror of becoming a living corpse was not something that could ever be overlooked.

“I've already made up my mind.”

Jedd answered immediately, as though it were nothing.

“Is it worth going that far?”

“I don't want to be like this again when the moment comes that I have to protect something.”

Only then did Arwen see what dwelled in Jedd's eyes.

Regret born from helplessness.

It was something beyond merely failing to protect Ferda.

At those words, Arwen smiled.

Jedd frowned at that smile.

“What are you grinning about?”

“It's nothing. Then let's start with some light physical conditioning.”

“What kind of physical conditioning—”

“Let's run five laps around the castle and think about it!”

“Five laps!?”

“To become a knight under Count Consilus, you need that much stamina. And we can't take several years, can we?”

“No, I suppose not, but—”

“Then let's run.”

Arwen started running, and Jedd followed after him.

Arwen wondered whether he might be able to become close with this man.

“Ah, Mr. Jedd. Would you help me with something after training?”

“What?”

“I need to write a letter, but I can't think of the right words at all. I thought that with your writing skills, you might be able to manage it……”

“What use is my writing……”

Jedd realized something midway through his sentence.

“Don't tell me it's the young lady who gave you that passionate look at the Grand Council?”

Arwen looked back.

His face seemed to ask how Jedd had known.

“Yes, well……”

“For all your talk of knightly spirit, you're still just a man! When did you start corresponding with her?”

“A letter arrived three days ago. She wrote that she liked seeing me serving in the Far East.”

“So she likes you. I'll help as much as you want. Just say the word. I'll even tell you exactly how I picked up a woman with my wolf-monster story.”

“Yes, so…… Wait, wolf monster?”

“Yeah, wolf monster.”

“Isn't that a story from quite recently?”

“It is.”

Arwen blinked.

“Even while agonizing over all that, you had the energy to pick up women?”

“Well, uh……”

Jedd had not particularly wanted to do that either.

But there was a reason he had no choice.

-Why! Why won't you do it! You promised! You promised to let me drain your essence because I used magic for you! A harem buffet! You promised meee!!! Liar! Liar!

He had been unable to withstand Penelope's legitimate demands as she pounded her head with a pillow and threw a tantrum.

Not wanting to explain the entire process, Jedd answered briefly.

“You have to do what you have to do.”

“……”

“We have to eat, don't we?”

“……Ten laps.”

“What? Why?”

* * *

Stephan had returned.

He was happy for only a moment that things had gone well; inside the carriage, he was restless once again.

Ferda's words kept echoing in his ears.

-Then you must be worthless.

If he could not obtain Pascal Trading Company, he was worthless?

Was the only reason Ferda had recruited him that he coveted the company's value?

If he became independent, he could grow sufficiently.

Not merely grow, but achieve explosive growth.

Ferda had been a regent for less than a year at most.

And his economic knowledge was only skin-deep.

There was no way someone like that could know.

How aggressive and groundbreaking this strategy was.

That Pascal Trading Company could look like a mere turnip growing in a field by comparison.

‘What's the point of saying it?’

Stephan wanted to catch his breath, even if only for a little while.

He wanted to sit at his desk and relax, even if only briefly.

“Welcome back.”

“Yeah, I'm back. But why is the atmosphere so murderous?”

“Because he came……”

“Me? Because I came, you all got this worked up……”

“No, not you, Director……”

Only then did he understand.

He knew who could make the atmosphere this murderous.

“Y-your brother?”

The secretary gave a small nod.

Once he realized it, Stephan grew tense along with the others.

He had already received a full report on what had happened in Halim, and his brother would know exactly what sort of situation this was.

“……Can't you tell him I have to go somewhere else?”

“No.”

“Then at least let me change my clothes before I meet him or something……”

“Director.”

The secretary grabbed Stephan's shoulder as he rambled.

“You have to go.”

Stephan wanted nothing less.

He forced his feet onto the stairs.

He cautiously peered inside as if opening the door to an execution chamber.

A familiar-looking, muscular man was sitting in front of his desk.

“Stephan, it's been a while?”

The man greeting him like a gangster was Stephan's older brother, Murchit Pascal.

Stephan's eyes were drawn to the contours of his biceps, which looked as though they might burst through his silk shirt.

He swallowed hard.

“It's been…… a long time, Big Brother.”

“What's with ‘Big Brother’? Call me your brother, punk. More than a hundred guys call me that, so shouldn't blood relatives be a little more familiar?”

“……No, Big Brother. How could I……”

“You're hopeless.”

Murchit gave a sly smile as he spoke to him.

“I heard you went to Halim?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“An exhibition was scheduled in the Far East, so I supported it.”

“Wasn't that the place Father told you to withdraw from? You're still holding on to it?”

“Yes. I supported it because it had sufficient business value.”

“So you're saying your eye for business is better than Father's?”

“How could I insult Father……”

“You still have no backbone. Just get it all off your chest. Stop being so frustrating, punk!”

Murchit slammed his hand down on the desk.

The desk had withstood a mountain of documents without collapsing, but cracked under that single blow.

Murchit scratched his head as he stared down at the crack.

“Damn, I hit it too hard. I'll pay for it later. Anyway, I heard everything, punk. You even started trading with Lord Ahmed there?”

“Yes.”

“You know that's a place I've been working hard on all this time, right?”

“Yes, I know.”

“You knew perfectly well that I was working on taking over the south, yet you swallowed that up and tried to move on? That prime piece?”

Stephan hurriedly made an excuse.

“It wasn't intentional.”

“You knew and took it anyway.”

“I had no reason to refuse. Above all, this deal was led and successfully completed by Regent Ferda.”

“Right, I was standing around with my hands behind my back, so it has nothing to do with me?”

“It isn't unrelated, but……”

He let his words trail off.

Murchit looked at him with displeasure, then sighed.

“What can I do? It's not right for family to try to eat each other alive.”

Was that how the conversation would end?

Unfortunately, that wish was not granted.

“I don't ask for much, little brother. Just let us jointly trade the goods that are traded in Halim. That's all. It should be fine, right?”

“You mean you want it under our joint names?”

“Yeah. We're family doing one business anyway. You can do that much for me, can't you?”

The road to Halim was a road leading to a gold mine.

Even if they shared it, the two of them could make enough money to sit on a bed of gold.

In exchange for yielding a little, for making a small concession.

But.

For some reason, Stephan did not want to do that now.

“That……”

Stephan opened his mouth.

What came out was the first shot announcing a war.

“It's my business.”

Murchit's face went completely rigid.

“Hey, Stephan.”

“Yes.”

“Are you saying you won't even lend your brother the road or give him a carriage?”

It felt as though a tiger were glaring at him.

Stephan's legs began to tremble.

Murchit never hesitated to use violence.

And once the violence began, it ended only when something was broken.

Since Stephan had always been its target, he was terrified of that pain.

But something had been even greater than that fear.

‘Losing his trust…….’

Ferda's trust in him as a merchant, believing in him without question.

Stephan had already disappointed him once by withdrawing from the battle over the succession.

At the time, Ferda had said this.

A merchant the Grand Duchy needed was not someone who gave up and compromised even what he had possessed from the beginning.

That was what ordinary merchants did.

Compromise.

Compromise was a useful tool for mediating conflict.

But only then did Stephan realize what Ferda meant by compromise.

It was exactly this.

Like a camel that first stuck its head in, then eventually took over the entire tent.

They would never stop until they took everything away.

Stephan could no longer disappoint the person who trusted him.

‘And myself as well…….’

That was why he took a step forward.

“I will have a monopoly on Halim.”

“……”

Murchit rose from his seat.

He had been frightening even while sitting, but when he stood abruptly, his imposing frame became threatening.

Fear enveloped Stephan at the thought that Murchit's fist might plunge into his stomach at any moment.

“Fine. If that's what you want, then I'll take it as such.”

“……”

“But since you won't make allowances for our circumstances, I won't make allowances for yours anymore.”

Murchit passed Stephan and patted him on the shoulder.

“Let's see how well you eat and live without me.”

With that, Murchit went outside.

Before he could even realize that a storm had passed, the strength drained from Stephan's legs.

It was the first time.

The first time he had stood up to that terrifying, seemingly unbeatable brother.

“Whew……”

Ferda had promised to make Stephan the owner of Pascal Trading Company.

What did he need to become its owner?

Herman Pascal's seal of approval?

Or money and connections surpassing theirs?

The most important thing was,

‘Having the heart of an owner.’

The ability to protect what was his.

The ability to assert his rights without yielding to outside pressure.

That was why Stephan forced his mouth open with difficulty.

“I did the right thing.”

Even if it meant creating a path toward a painful road covered in thorns……

That was what he believed.