Chapter 59

Translator: Willia

The group began preparing to leave early in the morning. Valery brushed Snow down and fed him plenty of carrots, dried bean stalks, and the like beforehand.

Ivy learned from Yorik how to care for and handle the wagon horses. Yorik did not know much himself, but Knut taught him things one by one.

Sigbold was always looking after the old priest as though caring for an ailing father. He also handled all the heavy lifting and organized the wagon bed together with Ivy.

Lastly, those who would be doing the fighting checked their equipment. Knut had little to take care of besides his dagger, but Valery used several different weapons and fought on horseback as well, so there was no shortage of things he had to see to.

He kept weapons such as his dagger, axe, and sword in the best possible condition, made sure his leather belts and straps were properly fastened, checked that the soles of his boots were still sturdy, and so on.

Fighting was not simply a matter of being good with a weapon. Ridiculous but fatal accidents happened often enough in battle: the sole of a boot might come off, a belt might snap, or a weapon might fail to draw at a crucial moment because the blade had not been maintained properly and dried blood had caked onto it.

It was not as though he had a squire of his own. What else could he do? Valery took care of everything himself.

Since Sigbold wore armor as well, they could at least check each other over, but in the end, each man still had to make sure all the little details of his own gear were in order.

“What’s that?”

Knut, who had mounted first, spoke while looking off to one side.

A crowd of villagers had gathered, and someone was handing out food to them.

Valery’s group had distributed food themselves just yesterday, so what they had done had ended up being unnecessary.

Not that Valery begrudged it. It was simply that these people were handing out far more than he had, and the food looked better too.

“They say it’s the Lokir Merchant Company.”

Valery answered as he mounted his horse.

“Lokir? Isn’t that the company Oder, that fake village head, belonged to?”

“That’s right.”

“Hmm...... Strange thing for them to do. They kill and plunder people in one place, then hand out charity in another?”

“This is just my guess, but from what I heard this morning, they seem to think the Aria Merchant Company killed Oder.”

“Morons.”

“Do you really have to put it like that?”

“We’re ready.”

Yorik spoke as he took his seat on the driver’s bench. Valery nudged Snow in the sides and started forward at an easy pace.

By coincidence, they had to pass right beside the crowd, and Valery naturally met Lucas’s eyes.

For a brief moment, Lucas sharply scrutinized Valery and his companions. Then he quickly put on a smile and greeted them.

“Travelers, we are giving these provisions away free of charge, so please, do not hesitate to take some yourselves.”

“......”

Valery did not answer. Neither did Knut. Yorik, sitting on the driver’s bench, said nothing, nor did Ivy as she poked her head out of the wagon beside the priest, nor the towering Sigbold.

It was enough to leave the man who had greeted them feeling rather awkward.

Lucas felt something strange from Valery. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that something twisted unpleasantly in his gut. For some reason, he felt as though Valery were looking down on him. It was a gaze he had never received from anyone in his life.

The fact that Valery was on horseback, literally looking down at him, only made the feeling stronger.

“You are remarkably handsome, a rare sight indeed. If it would not be rude of me, may I ask your name?”

“Valery.”

“I am Lucas. Deputy Head of the Lokir Merchant Company.”

“......”

Again, there was no response. Lucas did not let it show on his face, but the attitude, as if Valery were saying, So what?, left him slightly flustered. Even after Lucas revealed who he was, that faintly contemptuous gaze did not change.

Even territorial lords like counts and barons often smiled servilely before him and bowed and scraped, practically begging him to go easy on them. Being treated like this, or rather, facing this sort of attitude from someone else, was utterly unfamiliar to him.

Lucas decided he needed to find out exactly what this strange and inexplicably uncomfortable feeling was.

“Judging by the fact that you are heading east, are you on your way to Nearcaster?”

“That’s right.”

“The inns there are already full. Even outside the city, the camps are packed with people. All because of the Valkyrie. She declared that she would marry regardless of status, high or low, so suitors have flocked there from across the kingdom. My family has long considered it a virtue to favor the brave and wise, and anyone with even the slightest talent. If you have no particular objection, how would you like to stay at my manor? Valery.”

Valery glanced over his companions. He was silently asking what they thought, but none of them seemed to care either way. They neither disliked Lucas nor welcomed him.

So Valery looked down at Lucas again and answered.

“Very well.”

Lucas smiled broadly and nodded. Then he gestured to his men and gave them a few instructions before having his own horse brought over and mounting. It was a pure white horse that looked expensive at a glance.

One cavalryman who plainly seemed skilled and several other armed men accompanied him. They were most wary of Sigbold.

He was so tall and powerfully built that, regardless of his actual skill, they considered him the greatest threat.

The horses moved at a slow pace. The wagon traveled in the middle, with Knut following behind it.

Valery had not intended it, but he naturally ended up riding side by side with Lucas. With the pitch-black horse and the pure white horse walking together, the contrast between black and white was striking.

Once they left the village, a cool breeze blew across them, fresh after the previous day’s rain. The grass in the fields was a deeper green than usual.

“Are you headed to Nearcaster to court the Valkyrie too, Valery?”

“No. I have another destination.”

“Where?”

“Valdene, the Royal Capital.”

“Then I think you chose the wrong time. The sea route is closed at the moment.”

“I’m only stopping there for supplies. I wasn’t planning to travel by sea.”

“Is that so? Hmm. In any case, you don’t seem like an ordinary traveler. May I ask what you do?”

“A wandering swordsman would probably be accurate enough. Or simply a traveler, just as it sounds.”

“If you call yourself a swordsman, you must be confident in your swordsmanship. Where have you come from?”

“The North.”

“Strictly speaking, isn’t this the North too?”

Looking at the kingdom as a whole, the North did extend as far south as the Duchy of Nearcaster.

But the term “the North” carried the common connotation of being rustic and ignorant, so the people of Nearcaster did not consider themselves northerners.

If there was one positive association, it was that people from the North were tough and good fighters.

“Farther north.”

“So you came from Eldeira. I hear things have been chaos there lately. A war broke out, the duke was murdered......”

Lucas was still speaking when Valery suddenly seized him by the back of the neck and yanked him down.

Lucas jolted in surprise, and his attendants were startled as well, immediately moving toward them. At that moment, an arrow hissed past Lucas.

The instant Valery saw it, he knew there was a sniper. Normally, when trying to kill someone with bows or crossbows, the standard method was to loose several shots at once.

If the shooter had aimed with only a single arrow, that meant he was an exceptional marksman. And sure enough, if Valery had not yanked Lucas down by the back of the neck, the arrow would have buried itself in his head.

Everyone turned in shock toward the direction the arrow had come from. Far in the distance, they could make out someone holding a bow. Lucas’s attendants immediately charged off to capture him.

“Who the hell is that!”

“Don’t go! It’s an ambush!”

Valery shouted urgently, but his warning did not reach their ears. It was swallowed by the heavy pounding of hooves.

Sure enough, Valery had been right. One of the mounted guards galloped off the road, but enemies armed with billhooks suddenly sprang up from behind some rise in the ground, hooked the horse’s legs, and caught the rider by the neck. Their movements were quick and precise. They were skilled.

The cavalryman suffered a fatal wound to the neck, fell from his horse, and died instantly.

Everyone’s eyes widened. Valery, however, turned his head toward the opposite side of the road. More men who had been lying in ambush there rose in a group and rushed toward them.

“Knut! Sigbold! Left!”

At Valery’s shout, Sigbold, surprisingly relaxed, reached into the wagon and pulled out his weapon. It was a long-hafted two-handed axe. Except there was not just one.

He stripped away the cloth covering the axe heads and took one two-handed axe in each hand. Then he strode out onto the road, planted himself there boldly, and spoke.

“Come.”

Meanwhile, Valery tore off down the paved road. At a glance, it looked as though he were fleeing, but his intention was to circle around from farther out. He had no intention of fighting on a battlefield chosen by the enemy.

The enemies rushing toward them faltered for a moment, unsure whether to chase Valery or continue toward the wagon. Naturally, they split into those who hesitated, those who kept charging forward, and those who went after Valery.

Knut stayed beside the wagon, keeping the wagon horses under control so they would not panic. The enemies rushed toward Lucas.

Then disaster struck them. Sigbold swung the two axes in his hands in huge arcs, and somehow, impossibly for a human being, four or five men were mangled at once.

Mangled really was more accurate than simply saying they died. With a single blow, they were hacked into, sliced apart, dismembered, and crushed.

FWOOOOSH-!

SHRAAAK!

“Gah!”

Lucas’s horse reared high on its hind legs. It was not the horse’s fault. Lucas had panicked and pulled the reins the wrong way.

Knut quickly moved over, snatched the reins from Lucas, and calmed the horse. At the same time, he shouted,

“Stay still, you moron! Stop getting in the way!”

It was outrageously rude, but given the situation, the words barely even registered with Lucas.

Knut knew his role well. All he had to do was protect the area around the wagon and prevent any unexpected complications. Valery would handle the rest on his own, so not interfering was the best way to help.

Valery made a wide loop in the distance, left the road, and charged back toward them. The men who had chased him all ran at different speeds, and their original formation had already broken apart, leaving them scattered.

Valery began accelerating in earnest. Powerful Snow exploded into a full gallop.

THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD!

The enemies failed to thrust their billhooks and spears at the proper moment. Valery plowed through them at speed.

THUD! THUD-THUD!

Then he kept charging toward the wagon at tremendous speed and swept through the remaining enemies. He struck several people as he passed without slowing at all.

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!

With that massive weight combined with such speed, the resulting force was far beyond what human flesh and bone could withstand. Those caught by it were no longer recognizably human. Their limbs bent and snapped in every direction, and their organs burst inside their bodies.

A few of the enemies survived, but after what had happened in mere moments, they immediately abandoned the fight, threw down their weapons, and fled.

Valery did not pursue them. He stopped his horse first and looked toward the direction Lucas’s cavalryman had charged off earlier.

The enemies there had only just finished killing Lucas’s attendants and were now heading toward the wagon. There were roughly ten of them.

Valery dismounted. The distance was too short to build up speed again. Drawing his sword, he walked slowly toward them.

The enemies charged with spears and billhooks extended before them. But rather than attacking all at once, the man in front struck first, followed by those behind him.

There was no coordination to it. They were in a hurry, intent on killing Valery quickly before dealing with Lucas.

They paid the price. Valery knocked a spear shaft aside with his sword and killed one man, then lunged forward and cut down three or four more in an instant, slashing from side to side.

To Lucas’s astonished eyes, the sword-light flashed several times and the enemies collapsed, spraying blood. It looked almost like magic.

Sigbold had started toward Valery to help, but stopped when he saw the sight and simply watched. He looked deeply impressed, apparently having had no idea Valery was this skilled. Equal to him and his brothers, perhaps even better. How?

The old priest Eirik also watched Valery in silence, his expression grave.

Finally, Valery brought his sword down with tremendous force, cutting through one enemy’s helmet and head and all the way into his torso. A tremendous amount of blood and chunks of flesh spilled out, only to soak quickly into the field.

The remaining enemies recoiled in horror. At that moment, another arrow flew toward Valery. Astonishingly, Valery caught it in his hand. The arrowhead stopped directly in front of his eye.

Without the slightest sign of surprise or alarm, he tossed the arrow into the field and flicked the blood from his blade. The scattered droplets spattered across the petals of nearby flowers.

Then, sword still in hand, he began walking steadily toward the distant sniper. The wind blew sideways, sending Valery’s platinum-blond hair streaming.

A few enemies still remained, but they kept their distance with their weapons pointed at him, not daring to approach.

After he had walked some distance, another arrow flew at him. Valery merely tilted his head back slightly and avoided it with ease.

Another came. This time, just as before, he caught it one-handed.

Only then did the distant sniper stop drawing his bow. With plenty of distance still between them, he chose to flee. The moment the sniper ran, Valery stopped walking.

Valery turned his head from side to side and surveyed the area. He could see the survivors already fleeing far into the distance.

He threw the arrow into the field and sheathed his sword at his waist. The motion seemed to announce that the situation was over.

Then he returned to his companions with the crosswind still blowing against him. The measured sound of his footsteps made it seem as though he were out for a leisurely stroll.

When Valery returned to the wagon and mounted Snow, Lucas was completely dazed, staring blankly at him.

“Instead of putting on some strange performance first thing in the morning, you should have searched around the village.”

There was a faintly contemptuous look in Valery’s eyes. After all, anyone could see that the enemies, whether they were from the Aria Merchant Company or whatever else, had been targeting Lucas.

Valery said nothing more. He simply started riding again. The wagon moved along the paved road, its wheels rattling softly.

Lucas remained there in a daze as though he had been left behind, then abruptly came to his senses and hurried after them. He was alone now, with no attendants left.