Chapter 87
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
The man who had introduced himself as William slowly explained.
“We are farmers who serve under the Duchy of Yurei. As you know, since the Grand Council, Duke Yurei has imposed excessive taxes, and more and more people have abandoned their homes.”
“I know that very well. Nearly a hundred people like you have already come here.”
“We, too, came to the Far East in pursuit of a dream.”
“Does that dream include attacking and killing merchants in their wagons?”
“Of course, I understand that Your Excellency the Regent could reasonably misunderstand what happened.”
One wrong word, and his head would be gone.
William swallowed hard, lending his voice an earnest appeal.
“I swear, we had absolutely nothing to do with that attack. We only found the wagon because someone told us where it was.”
“Someone told you?”
“Yes.”
William explained what had happened.
“While we were on our way to the Grand Duchy, someone approached us. They looked much like us, but they were armed. We were wary, wondering if they might be bandits who intended to take what little we had left, but that was not the case. Instead, they showed us kindness.”
“What kind of kindness?”
“They said they could give food to hungry people.”
Ferda cocked his head.
“You do not look stupid enough to believe that.”
“Would you have believed it if you were that desperate?”
What was there that a desperate person would not do?
Ferda decided to understand.
“Continue.”
“In any case…… that was how we arrived at the horrific scene Your Excellency saw. People were dead, fresh food was scattered across the ground, weapons for protecting ourselves had been left there, and there were precious jewels as well.”
Ferda saw through the intent behind those words and asked directly.
“Are you bringing up the jewels to claim that you are innocent?”
“But as I said before, we are hungry refugees. We were hungry right then, and gold cannot be eaten. That is why we did not touch it.”
“Yet you took things that could not be eaten.”
Ferda recalled the missing weapons and asked.
“We needed a way to protect ourselves for the rest of the journey. After an attack like that, there was no guarantee that we would not be attacked as well.”
“So the food would certainly spoil, which is why you took it, and you needed the weapons as a means of protecting yourselves. Is that what you are saying?”
“That is correct.”
Ferda laughed as though he found the sight absurd.
“Fine, let us say those were your reasons. Then what about the gold coin you took?”
“Pardon?”
“Did you take it in case we refused to accept you as refugees?”
“What do you mean by that……?”
“Do not play dumb. How do you think we found you and came all the way here?”
William wore a face of genuine bewilderment.
Ferda could not tell whether he was simply shameless or had truly never heard of it.
“Lord Ferda.”
At that moment, Isabella suddenly cut in.
“That gold coin was not taken by the man named William.”
“Then who took it?”
Isabella pointed toward one of the refugees with his head bowed.
The exact spot indicated by her finger was unclear, but the man was trembling conspicuously among them, so she could be certain.
“William. Call that little rat over here and bring him to me.”
“Yes.”
William pulled the man Ferda had indicated to his feet.
The man's face, which had been lowered, came into view.
The guilty thief was sweating profusely.
William pressed him.
“Turn out your pockets.”
“……”
“Why are you not showing us at once!?”
The man turned out his pocket with trembling hands.
Clink—.
One gold coin tumbled out.
Ferda picked up the gold coin.
There was no doubt that it was one of the coins used as currency.
“That is quite a large sum for refugees to be carrying, is it not?”
William grabbed the man's collar, his face filled with betrayal.
“Evans! Did I not clearly tell you not to touch anything valuable!? Did you not say that one would bring calamity upon oneself by meddling with the treasures of the dead!?”
“S-sorry. But there are not many opportunities like this, and who knows when another one will come? So I thought it would be all right to take a single gold coin……”
“You fool! Do you have any idea how much trouble that has put us in—!”
“Enough.”
Ferda cut off their argument.
“Put on this farce no longer and kneel.”
William and the man knelt again.
The man called Evans trembled, while William listed everything he had done and pleaded.
“Your Excellency the Regent. Please kindly overlook the mistake born of these men's foolishness.”
“Why should I?”
“Although I could not bury them for fear of interfering with the investigation, I gathered all the bodies and held a funeral for them. And when I learned that the wagon was headed toward Count Consilus's territory, I went there myself and reported the incident. If you take me with you, those men will recognize me.”
“You reported it and held a funeral, and you want me to overlook what you have done for them?”
“Please forgive these foolish men's straying from the proper path and give us a chance. There is a god in their hearts.”
William appealed in a voice brimming with conviction.
But Ferda's eyes as he looked down at William remained utterly cold.
“Since you touched the treasures of a merchant belonging to the Grand Duchy, I have no intention of regarding you as mere refugees. You are rats trying to sneak into the Grand Duchy, and you are not entitled to mercy. How can you guarantee that you did not take part in the killings?”
“……”
“Even if you claim that you arranged the bodies to honor the souls of the dead, the fact remains that you stole money from the merchant's pocket. Saying you did it because you were hungry is merely an excuse. If you become desperate again, you will steal again and again. Am I wrong?”
It was not something he could answer with a clear denial.
In the uncomfortable silence, Ferda spoke again.
“But there is one way.”
William raised his head at the faint glimmer of hope.
“What is it?”
“The one who committed the crime simply needs to receive the punishment he deserves.”
Ferda threw the sword lying beside him in front of the man named Evans.
“Wash away your sin with your blood.”
“W-what does that…….”
“Did I use words that were too difficult? I will put it simply.”
Ferda drew a finger across his throat.
“I mean for you to kill yourself.”
The color drained from Evans's face.
“If you die, the rest of them will live. Is that not a sufficient bargain?”
“I-I……”
“Your Excellency the Regent!”
William interrupted.
“He is a fool, but he is kindhearted. He only risked himself for his companions in this vicious winter. Please show him mercy.”
“I will not. Finish it quickly.”
Though Ferda was firm, William persisted.
“I am the representative of these refugees. Please take one of my arms and set aside your anger.”
“One arm?”
Ferda looked displeased.
“What a ridiculous thing to say.”
“If that is not enough, then something else……”
“Did I not tell you? You are rats. If one young rat raids a grain store, do you think cutting off one arm of the mother rat will satisfy me?”
What filled his eyes was disgust.
“Mother or child, leader or subordinate, a rat is still a rat. A life for a life. If you are to substitute your life for Evans's, then only your life will do.”
Life.
William glanced at Evans's face.
He was trembling in terror.
He did not want to die.
That was only natural for a human being.
William closed his eyes and thought for a brief moment.
“I understand.”
William accepted the fact without resistance and pulled the sword lying before Evans toward himself.
The refugees who had been bowing their heads rebelled.
“W-what are you doing!?”
“You cannot do that!”
“After you brought us this far……!”
Bang—!
“Kyaaah!”
The blast from Ferda's hand silenced the commotion.
“There will not be a next time. If you want to die instead, keep making noise. As I said, a rat is a rat.”
After that, no one could open their mouth.
They knew that their own lives were more precious than anyone else's.
When no one answered even after several minutes, Ferda said contemptuously,
“This man stepped forward for your sake, yet you do not even have the courage to step forward for him.”
Ferda pushed the sword lying before him aside.
Instead, he placed a hand on William's head.
“I will personally put an end to you without pain. Do you have any last words?”
William, facing death, spoke in a trembling voice.
“If you take them safely to the Grand Duchy, I will have nothing more to say.”
“I heard you.”
Mana gathered in Ferda's hand.
The impact of the magic struck William's head.
Boom!
With a tremendous crash, William's body collapsed limply.
* * *
William had not originally been an ordinary farmer.
Nor was he someone who should ever have needed to become the leader of refugees.
He was a knight cadet, a man who had distinguished himself among the cadets.
He understood honor and had never neglected the obligations of the privileged.
He was also a superb martial artist and had earned military distinction in the war against King Hurdett.
Everyone had been certain that he would become a knight.
But his path was not a smooth one.
It was shortly before his knighting ceremony, when he had only one trial left before becoming a knight.
That day, the war with King Hurdett was brought to an end by the Grand Council.
The fate of those who end a war in defeat is always miserable.
The people of the Duchy of Yurei were especially unfortunate.
As the defeated party, Duke Yurei was saddled with reparations of sixty thousand goldens.
For a noble in peacetime, it would have been a trivial sum, but Duke Yurei had already spent a great deal of money on the war, making sixty thousand goldens an enormous amount.
And by then, it was already too late to borrow money from someone.
In the end, he began squeezing the surrounding villages to repay the debt.
Because of that, more and more people abandoned their villages and became refugees.
There was no way Duke Yurei would simply let that happen.
Population was power, after all.
Duke Yurei tracked down the refugees and turned them all into slaves, while some were brutally executed as a warning to others.
Tyranny began in the name of unity.
William, too, had to take part in such missions.
As the final trial before becoming a knight, he was assigned to track down refugees for enslavement.
William led the soldiers and ultimately succeeded in tracking down the refugees.
He had been full of ardor when he first accepted the mission.
Refugees were a menace.
When the duchy was in turmoil, he could not forgive citizens who ran away instead of helping.
They were rabble-rousers, an evil force, villains who deserved to be punished without fail.
But what lay before his eyes was a complicated reality unlike his ideals.
No, there was nothing complicated about it.
While building up his knowledge and honor, he had failed to see what he truly needed to see.
Those who had supposedly tried to plunge the duchy into chaos were haggard and powerless.
They had nothing left but flesh and skin, and even babies who should have been plump could do little more than wheeze because they lacked the strength to cry.
All they possessed were pokers and shovels.
Every one of them was being forced to face an armed army.
The reason was simple.
They wanted to live.
At that moment, William thought about what he had to uphold.
The people serve their lord.
A king exists for the sake of his people.
What remains of a king who does not act for his people?
In that simple yet brutal mission, William agonized.
At the very end.
If he became a blind craftsman just once more and pretended not to know, his life would go smoothly.
In the end, he made his choice.
The sword that should have been aimed at the refugees was turned toward the soldiers who followed him.
William wounded the soldiers who followed him with his sword, making it appear that they had been betrayed, and sent them away.
Afterward, William cut the throat of the horse he had ridden there and fed its meat to the refugees.
He could not become a knight, but William had no regrets.
He had no doubt that this was the reason he had taken up the sword, and therefore did not consider even this death to be in vain.
* * *
“Ugh!”
William sat up as though awakening from a terrible dream.
He had been certain he was dead, so he had not expected to rise again.
He felt over his body and muttered,
“I-is this the afterlife?”
“This is the land of the living.”
“Ugh!”
William was startled once more.
The voice that had insulted and despised him came from beside him.
When he turned his head, Ferda was there.
“You were unconscious for an hour.”
The look William had seen in Ferda's eyes before was no longer there.
He wondered if he had truly come to another world.
“A-am I not dead?”
“Of course not. I only struck your head with an ordinary stun spell.”
“Why did you not kill me……?”
“Because it would have been a waste to kill a well-trained knight.”
William's eyes widened.
Ferda looked at him with pity.
“Did you think you had hidden it well? It was so obvious I nearly cried.”
“I see……”
In a way, it was not strange at all.
He had been wearing half-plate armor and carrying a sword, after all.
“But I am not a knight. At best, I am merely a lowly knight cadet.”
“Even if you are a knight cadet, it is not ordinary for one to be mixed in with refugees.”
“That is correct.”
“Then you betrayed your lord.”
At those words, William gave a bitter smile.
“I did something deserving of death. A knight betraying his lord……”
It was clearly treason, and William did not deny it.
“It does not matter. Did you not say you were merely a cadet?”
“That is true, but……”
“You were never formally made a knight, so there was no betrayal either. You are merely an ordinary deserter.”
Ferda knew this well, being a member of a knightly family.
“I want to ask you something, now that you have returned from the dead.”
“Please, ask.”
“Was it worthwhile?”
Ferda turned his head.
The refugees were there.
They were all happily sharing a stew.
“You sacrificed yourself for them, but none of them sacrificed themselves for you. Even so, was it worth sacrificing yourself for them?”
What Ferda was referring to was something William remembered as well.
When he had stood before death, he had told the person who would die in his place to break the silence.
But no one had broken that silence.
It was enough to make him feel betrayed.
“No one wants to die.”
Even so, William smiled.
“That is why I lead them.”
He had betrayed his lord, but not his convictions.
“I see.”
Ferda watched him looking satisfied, then turned away.
A man was kneeling beside him.
It was Evans, the man who had stolen a single gold coin.
“You said your name was Evans?”
“Pardon? Yes, that's right!”
The kneeling man nodded vigorously.
“This man took on the crime in your place because of your foolish action. What do you think that means?”
“I-I am in his debt.”
“You owe him your life, not anything else. So from now on, you will become William's loyal servant. If he dies, I will show you exactly what a beggar's life is like. Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes! I understand! I will carve those words into my heart!”
Having said all he needed to say, Ferda rose from his seat.
“Then I will see you later, Sir William.”
“Yes. Please return safely.”
At the moment he saw Ferda off, one syllable lingered in his ears.
“Sir……?”
Sir.
A title that only knights could possess.
Yet William was a man who had never become a knight.
Or had Ferda simply mistaken him for one and given him the title?
Or did it mean that he truly regarded him as a knight?
For the William of today, it was a question that could only remain an enigmatic riddle.
* * *
The wagon attack seemed to pass without yielding any notable results.
Just as Ferda was about to return to the castle with Ruri, Isabella called out to him.
“Your Excellency the Regent. We have found people who could serve as witnesses during our inquiries. I believe you should hear what they have to say.”
Her tone made them sound like rather important witnesses.
A woman and a child stood beside her.
Ferda asked the woman,
“Do you have something to say?”
“I beg your pardon, but it is not I who knows anything. My child does……”
The person he had to speak with was a six-year-old boy with a runny nose.
“What is your name?”
“I am Ian.”
“You should say, ‘I am.’ I apologize, Your Excellency. The child is still too young to know better……”
“I do not care about such minor forms of address. Ian, do you have something to tell me?”
The boy nodded.
“A grim-reaper man and a knight man were talking to each other.”
“A grim-reaper man?”
The woman answered in his place.
“He was wearing a black robe over his head, so that is how the child thought of him.”
“I see. Continue.”
“Yes. So, the grim-reaper man was riding away somewhere, and I saw him drop something. It looked like nobody else had seen it, so I secretly put it away to give to my mother.”
“What did he drop?”
“Th-this.”
The woman who had been keeping it took something out and showed it to Ferda.
It was a scarf.
The scarf made of green fabric appeared unremarkable at first glance, but the sight of the emblem sewn into its corner changed his mind.
‘This is…….’
Ferda narrowed his eyes.
Unless he was mistaken, the distinctive scales-shaped emblem was the crest of the Pascal family.
‘And the one with two swords in the background is…….’
There was no doubt.
It belonged to the Pascal Mercenary Company.