Chapter 64

Translator: Willia

A luxury inn was essentially a place where the entire building was rented out. Fresh ingredients for one meal were provided each day, but there were no other special services for the guests.

That was because truly wealthy people had personal attendants of their own.

In any case, at a time like this, it was difficult to find lodging within the city even if one had money. Perhaps this counted as a skill in its own right, but thanks to Lucas, they had managed to secure an inn with its own stable.

“The matches are run as a tournament. You compete roughly three or four times, and over the course of a day or two, the final winner is decided. This is the Trial of Valor.”

Lucas spoke while eating chicken stew. It had been made from an old hen, so the meat was rather tough, and he was having trouble eating it.

Unable to keep watching, Ivy tore the chicken into small pieces for him. Only then did he begin eating it bite by bite.

“The problem is that by now, the pool of people who compete is virtually fixed. They’re the ones whose skill has been proven over the past two years. Brokers connect clients with them, and they decide the results among themselves. Who wins, who loses, who becomes the final victor, things like that. If you don’t have that information, you can spend a fortune hiring a Champion only to waste all your money for nothing.”

In other words, they were openly fixing matches.

Of course, not every entrant was involved, but two years was more than enough time to weed out most of the riffraff.

Those who had survived that long no longer risked their lives fighting. They simply used the matches as a way to make money. It was a form of collusion.

Once gambling was added to the mix, it became an industry in its own right. Enormous sums of money changed hands with every match.

“That doesn’t seem to have much to do with valor.”

Yorik said.

“Well, that’s how it is. People always end up using their heads.”

“But since we’re entering ourselves, doesn’t that mean it doesn’t really matter? We just have to win every time.”

Knut spoke as if it were nothing, even though he was not the one competing. It was because he trusted Valery, but he was still being rather thoughtless about it.

“That is true, but from the second or third match onward, people may start trying to interfere. In extreme cases, assassinations happen from time to time as well. I’ll introduce you to someone I know for the jousting horse, so leave it in his care. Be careful about what you eat too. Don’t eat the meals provided by the inn anymore. I’ll procure your food separately.”

Perhaps he had decided that, since things had come this far, he might as well give it his full effort. Or perhaps he felt some responsibility for breaking the Holy Relic. Whatever the reason, Lucas was actively helping Valery and his companions.

Of course, it was possible that he was simply afraid of the Jómsvíkingr, but to Valery, that did not seem to be the reason.

Valery studied Lucas for a moment before asking,

“Don’t you feel wronged?”

“About what?”

“When you think about it, you didn’t personally do anything wrong, either in buying the Holy Relic or in breaking it.”

“What happened has already happened. We shouldn’t deny the past, but there’s no need to dwell on it either, is there? The best choice for me now is to make you people my allies, not my enemies. That’s how I’ve run the Merchant Company.”

People were strange. Someone could seem rather unimpressive, yet still have qualities worth admiring.

Lucas craved recognition and dreamed unrealistic dreams, but that did not mean he had completely lost touch with reality.

Compared to his modest father, he was somewhat extravagant, but he had an eye for beauty and his own philosophy when it came to running the Merchant Company.

There was one problem, however. From what Valery could see, Lucas had a tendency to walk dangerously close to the line.

“Hey, Lucas.”

“Hmm?”

“Stick to what you’re good at. Just what you’re good at. Don’t get too greedy.”

“......I’ve been too greedy?”

“Pay close attention to where you’re standing and where you’re going. Once you understand that clearly, there’s nothing wrong with steeling yourself and continuing forward. But from what I can see, right now you don’t even understand where you are, and you haven’t prepared yourself for what you’re doing.”

Valery was not normally the sort to give advice. The reason he gave Lucas this uncharacteristic warning was because Lucas still seemed immature. An uncut gem, so to speak.

Of course, when it came to immaturity, everyone here was the same, Valery himself included. But Lucas was a little dangerous.

In his desire to possess things others did not have, he kept reaching toward things like the privileges of the nobility and the sanctity of the Royal Family.

Of course, whether someone accepted, understood, and acted on advice was up to the person hearing it. At the moment, Lucas did not fully understand Valery’s warning.

“By the way, Lucas, are you not a suitor anymore?”

Ivy asked as she sucked the grease from her fingers. Now that the Holy Relic was no longer his, he had nothing to offer the Valkyrie as a gift.

“I don’t even know anymore. I have no idea why I was so obsessed with it in the first place. Chasing after a woman whose face I’ve never even seen isn’t my style.”

“You’ve been here for two years and you’ve never even seen her face?”

Knut asked.

“For starters, I’ve never been formally introduced to her, nor have I seen her at a banquet or any official event. I’ve heard rumors that she’s taller and bigger than most men, but in any case, I’ve never actually seen her myself.”

“Maybe she’s being kept locked up?”

“They say she came here with an Einheri when she first arrived, so I doubt it.”

“Could it be that she isn’t looking for a husband at all, but for something else?”

Yorik offered.

“Something else like what?”

“Well, I don’t know either.”

“What the hell?”

“I think maybe she ran here to get away from something. If she isn’t actually looking for a husband, I mean. She could just be staying here under a convenient pretext.”

Ivy said. Yorik immediately dismissed the idea.

“Girl, what could a Valkyrie possibly be afraid of?”

“It could be the king, or maybe another Valkyrie......”

“She has a point.”

Knut agreed.

But no matter how many possibilities they considered, only the Valkyrie herself could know the truth. Not unless they asked her directly.

The next day, Valery went around the city to buy equipment for the matches.

Lucas helped him again. His network within the city was so extensive that he could get around without the slightest inconvenience even without attendants.

And since he was currently one of the people who had passed the Trial and whose name carried some weight in Nearcaster, he walked around with his shoulders squared and his nose in the air. He was the sort who enjoyed showing off.

The strange part was that his clothes, hairstyle, and everything else were almost identical to Valery’s.

“Is he your new Champion?”

The equipment dealer asked Lucas.

“I’ve already passed the Trial of Valor. What would I need a Champion for? He’s simply someone I’m sponsoring. Just fit him with something good.”

The dealer seemed to accept that easily enough. But from appearances alone, their similar clothes made Lucas look almost like Valery’s attendant.

Lucas was not ugly, and he had a refined air about him, but he simply could not compare to Valery’s looks or his uniquely striking presence. The dealer found himself wondering where Lucas had managed to find someone like him.

That was why he was a little confused. Valery did not look like someone who should be entering a brutal contest where a mistake could cost him his life.

“Are there any particular ornaments you’re looking for?”

The dealer asked Valery.

“Ornaments?”

“Yes.”

“Why would I wear ornaments?”

“Pardon?”

“I don’t care about ornaments. Show me some decent armor and a helmet.”

“Ah...... yes.”

Valery and the dealer failed to understand each other, but it was hardly a serious problem.

By ornaments, the dealer had meant things like helmet decorations and other ways of embellishing a contestant’s appearance. A competitor needed to look flashy and stand out to become popular with the crowd, and that was how one built a name.

Everyone was risking their lives for that very reason, so they did not take their appearance lightly either. Valery, of course, had little interest in any of it.

In truth, there was nothing especially unusual about equipment made for the matches. There was armor heavier than ordinary chainmail, reinforced with iron plates over the chest and abdomen, and helmets that projected sharply forward.

They were designed to give the wearer the best possible chance of surviving a strike from a lance.

Coincidentally, helmets with projecting fronts broadly fell into two types, the hounskull and the frog-mouth helm. Valery chose a frog-mouth helm, not because he was conscious of his nickname, but simply because it seemed as though it would suit him.

Naturally, jousting lances had no spearheads. Their ends were blunt and wrapped in cloth.

For that reason, most deaths during the matches were caused not by wounds from the lance, but by injuries sustained when a rider fell from his horse.

“It’s been a while, Deputy Head.”

While Valery was having his measurements taken, someone appeared and greeted Lucas.

He was a middle-aged man with curly black hair and a beard that covered his entire lower face. Tall and broad-shouldered, he looked at a glance like the very image of a warrior, or perhaps a knight.

“Ah, Sir Walter. It has been a while.”

“I haven’t seen you around the city lately. You haven’t given up on your suit, have you?”

“Of course not. I simply had some matters to take care of and was away for a while.”

“Was it perhaps the issue with the Count of Westlanding? The one involving the Tax Collection Rights?”

“Ha ha, I can’t tell you the details of internal Merchant Company business.”

“That’s disappointing. I did once fight as your Champion, Deputy Head.”

There was little reason for Walter to feel slighted. It was not as though he had only fought as a Champion once or twice. In other words, Lucas was far from the only person who had ever hired him.

“You already know it all even if I don’t tell you.”

“That is true. But speaking of that count, it sounds as though he was swindled. They say the treasure he bought after selling his Tax Collection Rights and all sorts of other things was a fake. Apparently he’s practically a broken man now.”

“My, my. Tsk, tsk.”

“You should try sweet-talking him. It sounds as though he might even sell his fief and title.”

“Well, I’ll consider it in due course.”

“By the way, who’s that handsome fellow?”

“Ah, someone I’m sponsoring. He’ll be entering the Joust this time.”

“Sponsoring him? Ha ha ha......”

Walter laughed as though the idea were ridiculous. Nobles sometimes had unusual hobbies or tastes, and that was apparently how he chose to interpret it.

“If that fellow is the one getting ambitious, you’d better talk him out of it. Business has been poor lately, so the boys have gotten a little vicious.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know as well as I do, Deputy Head. The results of the matches are practically all decided in advance. It’s been going on so long that our names don’t carry as much weight anymore, and we aren’t being hired nearly as often as we used to be. So everyone is looking for prey.”

The surest way to raise one’s reputation was to defeat an opponent spectacularly. But that also made accidents far more likely. In a match where both sides had already agreed on the outcome, hardly anyone got hurt.

Walter’s warning meant that entering the tournament now could be dangerous.

“For the record, I’ll be competing this time as well. You know what I’m like, don’t you?”

Walter was notorious for being excessively cruel to those he defeated. Even after the outcome had already been decided, he would sometimes deliberately trample a fallen opponent beneath his horse. If they could not pay their ransom, he would cut off an arm or a heel so they could never fight again.

“If he’s someone you care about, make sure you have plenty of ransom money ready. Otherwise, it might be better to give up early. I’m only telling you this because you’re the Deputy Head.”

With that, he left. Walter glanced back at Valery with a grin, but Valery merely gave him a cold look.

Once Walter was gone, Lucas turned to Valery.

“Don’t worry, Valery. I’ll make arrangements. Even if you happen to lose......”

“No. Don’t ever do that.”

“......There’s always a chance.”

“That’s the difference between a noble and a merchant. Sometimes, even when there are no safeguards at all, you don’t back down from a contest. You fight prepared to lose your reputation, your standing, your wealth, your fame, even your life. If you’re going to imitate me, learn that instead of copying my clothes and hairstyle. If you can’t, then just stick to business.”

“......Valery, were you a noble?”

He was not a noble. He was a member of the Royal Family, but Valery said nothing more.