Behind the Scenes II

Behind the Scenes II

 

THREE MEN SAT facing each other on the sofas in Lord Klausner’s office: Lord Daniel Klausner, Albert, and Leonhardt.

Daniel introduced the other two. “This is Leonhardt, the leader of the mercenary company I employ. And this is Lord Albert Hawke, the knight commander of the Knights of the Third Order, sent by the palace to lend us aid.”

Leonhardt wordlessly bowed his head. He demonstrated the appropriate deference toward a noble, but something of an aggressive glint flickered in his eye.

Albert noticed this, but he responded with a placid nod, his facial expression showing no hint of tension.

As the head of a mercenary company, Leonhardt had to deal with nobles far more often than his men did. Therefore, he knew how to handle himself in these situations. His rough exterior also concealed a keen mind. He understood the gravity of the current situation and had viewed his lord’s request for knightly aid as inevitable. However, that didn’t mean he was entirely at peace with the situation.

Leonhardt and his men were proud of the effort they had shown up until this point. Moreover, they were having trouble viewing the Third Order as anything but outsiders, even though some had tried to reconcile with the idea of help from the capital. Fundamentally, it was a problem of pride.

With the introductions over, Daniel launched into a rundown of the current situation. It wasn’t that he didn’t notice Leonhardt’s discomfort, he just wanted to hurry the conversation along in a businesslike manner and get it over with before anyone got too tense.

“So there has been an increase in monsters?” Albert asked.

“I’m afraid so. The forest is full of them, and we’ve seen them breach the forest perimeter more and more frequently. However, the mercenary company takes care of any of those who stray past the tree line.”

“But the ones within must still be seen to.”

“Exactly.”

“Then please, send us to take care of those.”

Leonhardt, who had been silent, chose then to speak up. “Wouldn’t it be better if we took care of the forest while you guys take over stray duty? You and your lot only just got here. You don’t know the lay of the land.”

Albert gently vetoed Leonhardt’s proposal. “Your mercenaries are indeed more knowledgeable about the local geography. However, I believe it will be necessary for us to enter the forest in order to most accurately grasp the nature of the situation.”

Albert wanted to avoid conflict with the mercenaries, so he tried to deliver his counterplan with grace. After all, he couldn’t back down on this: based on the state of things, the palace had concluded that a black swamp was located somewhere in Klausner’s Domain, just like the one that had been in Ghoshe Forest. Furthermore, this hypothetical swamp was most likely within the forest, as miasma tended to coalesce in such areas.

If there really was a black swamp, it would be beyond the mercenary company’s ability to handle. Albert could easily imagine a disastrous outcome in such a confrontation, given his experiences with the swamp in the western forest.

“I heard the Saint traveled with you. Is there a reason she isn’t present?” Leonhardt asked.

“We’re letting her rest in her quarters. She was exhausted,” Albert said.

“But you’re bringing the Saint on your expeditions, yes? You make it sound like she’s got poor endurance. You sure you should send her into the forest?”

“It will be fine. She is merely unaccustomed to long journeys. We won’t be going on an expedition for a few days yet, either. Please know that she joined us on just such an expedition into Ghoshe Forest.”

“You mean that one west of the capital? She really went in there?”

“Of course. She fought with us until the end.”

“Well, then.”

Though Albert was a bit surprised that Leonhardt knew of the Saint’s presence, the truth was that over the past few days, the people of Klausner’s castle had been in a tizzy preparing for her arrival. As news went, it would’ve been hard to miss.

Albert was also impressed that, for all of his dislike of the Third Order’s presence, Leonhardt simply confirmed the Saint’s well-being and competence before immediately backing down. He had thought the man would be more stubborn—more brusque.

This assumption of Albert’s was based on prior experience, back in the days he had been able to leave the capital to aid country lords with monstrous incursions. Back then, most mercenary companies had done their damnedest to send the knightly Orders packing, regardless of whether the knights had come at the behest of the lord of the domain.

This resentment was, unfortunately, also based in experience. Every mercenary had their reasons for taking up the work, but most commonly, they needed the money. However, some lords used the presence of knights as an excuse to decrease how much they paid their mercenaries. Although in such cases the lord was to blame, the mercenaries could only take out their anger on the knights. In that sense, Leonhardt’s composure likely had something to do with Daniel’s excellent treatment of his company.

Albert hoped this meant they might even be able to build a relationship with mutual trust. They didn’t have to like each other; so long as they could discuss business with cool heads, they wouldn’t have any problems.

If there was any potential for friction, it came down to the question of what kind of attitude Leonhardt would take toward the Saint.

As someone who put her all into her work, Sei would no doubt be able to do her job even if the mercenaries resented her for her association with the knights. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be hurt. Albert wanted more than anything to relieve Sei of as much pain as possible.

I’ll have to do what I can to limit contact between the mercenaries and the Saint. I won’t let Sei be exposed to their discontent. That was what Albert decided in his heart.

 

The mercenary company had their own quarters in Klausner’s castle. They went out on their rounds every day, but they spent the rest of their time on standby in these rooms. While on standby, they maintained their gear, chatted, and spent their time as they pleased.

The door opened with a bang. Several mercenaries looked up in its direction. After noting who entered, the majority returned their attention to what they were doing.

Leonhardt sat in his usual spot at the back of the room with a thud. A boy who helped with routine tasks for the company brought over a filled mug. “Welcome back, boss.”

“Thanks,” Leonhardt responded shortly and gulped down the mug of water.

You read that right: water. Not alcohol. Sure, based on his looks, one might assume Leonhardt was the type to drink, and sure, he was—but responsibly. It was still early in the day, and Leonhardt never drank when he knew there was a possibility he might have to enter the field.

Despite his rough appearance, Leonhardt treated his job with utmost seriousness.

The boy left Leonhardt, and a tall man came over to replace him. This was Leonhardt’s second-in-command. “You’re back.”

“That I am. Ugh, I hate dealing with nobles.”

“Ha ha. So, how’d it go?”

“Not bad, I guess.”

The man chuckled as he took the seat across from Leonhardt, and Leonhardt frowned at him with an unamused expression.

“Not bad?” asked the second-in-command. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Huh? It means what it means. It looks like we’re not going to have any problems on our expeditions.”

“So, he’s not one of those rotten nobles, then.”

“Nah. He seemed matter-of-fact, and he didn’t put on airs with me. He didn’t seem the underhanded type, either.”

Leonhardt’s second-in-command looked relieved. When they had heard the palace knights were coming, more than anything, Leonhardt and his men had feared the knights would get in the way of their ability to do good work.

While Daniel, the lord of Klausner’s Domain, was different, some nobles terminally looked down on commoners. Those same people did whatever they could to stay at the top, never allowing themselves to fall behind common folk. That was the kind of person Leonhardt’s second-in-command referred to when he said “rotten noble.”

As a matter of course, the nobility tended to lead the knightly Orders. If the knight commander of the Third Order was that sort of person, Leonhardt and his men knew there was a possibility the knights would try to interfere with the mercenaries’ expeditions in order to highlight their own achievements.

In these days, when the monster threat had grown so great, the mercenaries recognized their ability to deal with that threat was growing more limited, and theoretically, they welcomed help. But they wouldn’t tolerate losing anyone just because some high and mighty lord had to get his way. That went well beyond the scope of what they were willing to put up with.

As such, although Knight Commander Hawke had left a good impression, it was too early to trust him. Most nobles were good at keeping up appearances. If the knight commander was also this regrettable type, there was no telling what the man was actually thinking.

However, Leonhardt trusted his intuition. Perhaps you could call it a sixth sense, but he was a pretty good judge of character. The mercenaries knew this about him from experience. And here Leonhardt was, saying his meeting with Albert hadn’t been that bad. His second-in-command hoped that meant the knights wouldn’t ultimately give them cause for concern.

“Hmm. Well, so long as they don’t try to get in our way,” he said.

“For that, we’ll just have to wait and see. Also…it looks like the Saint is going to be joining the expedition as well.”

“Wait, you mean to tell me that rumor was true?”

“Seems so. The knight commander said himself that she went with ’em.”

Word was that the Saint had joined the knights on an expedition into the forests surrounding the capital. Word also was that after she’d gone with them, the capital had experienced a drastic decrease in its monster population.

But “word” came from merchants as they traveled from town to town, and these words had a way of getting embellished with each retelling. Also, there were just as many rumors saying that the Saint actually spent all her time cooped up in the palace and had never so much as glimpsed an expedition.

As such, Leonhardt and his men only half-believed the rumor about the Saint actually joining one. If anything, they could buy that she’d maybe passed by the expedition while it was still outside the famously treacherous Ghoshe Forest.

However, according to the knight commander, those rumors were entirely true.

“At any rate, the Third Order is going to cover the forest. We’ll be fighting outside of it. They’re not going to get in our way,” Leonhardt said.

“That so? Here’s hoping they don’t bungle it and wind up pushing all the monsters out into the fields.”

“They’re going to start with preliminary surveys, so I don’t think we have to worry about that—much.”

“Huh, you seem surprisingly confident in them. Is this your intuition at work?”

“Yeah… Yeah, that man knows what he’s doing.”

“Heh. Well, if you say so, then it must be true.” Leonhardt’s second-in-command gave a wry smile, though he still thought they needed to prepare for what was to come.

Leonhardt’s intuition was usually right, but just in case… It was best to be prepared for any eventuality.

The two of them kept this wariness in mind as they began to discuss their new plans.

 

***

 

One spring afternoon, soft rays illuminated a quiet room, within which Johan penned a certain document. He finished the page he was working on, laid down his pen, and rubbed his shoulder with an audible pop.

He glanced at the door, but it didn’t seem like anyone would be coming in. He looked then to his nearby cup and found it empty. He sighed and picked up the cup as he stood. Then he headed to the kitchen that had been added in the institute during the past year.

“May I help you, Lord Valdec?” the chef asked when she saw him come in.

“Could I get some tea?”

“Right away.” The chef took the cup and headed off.

Johan watched absentmindedly, since all he could do now was wait for her to finish preparing his tea.

It hadn’t been that long since the kitchen had been built, and it had become normal to have hot water already prepared. The chefs had begun doing so, as Sei drank a great deal of tea while she worked. It didn’t take that much extra work for them to keep hot water on hand, as they were always boiling water while making lunch and dinner.

Now that this hot water was regularly available, other researchers had taken up drinking tea as well. As it turned out, Johan was one of them.

Sure, some people had drunk tea before the kitchen—though how was it they’d made hot water again? Ah, right. They had used their research apparatuses. Huh.

Everyone’s new tea habit wasn’t the only thing that had changed with the new kitchen. Before the dining hall, a number of the researchers had fallen out of the habit of eating anything that resembled actual food—perhaps because the palace dining hall was so far away. But since the kitchen, and since Sei’s cooking, even those researchers had started eating proper meals.

The shortened distance was one thing, but the meals themselves were divine, so much so that even Johan, who never had much of an interest in food before, found himself snitching bites in the name of taste-testing whenever Sei was in the kitchen.

Honestly, since her arrival, the atmosphere of the institute had changed quite a bit.

“Johan?”

Johan heard a voice from behind him and turned to find Jude arriving with a cup in hand, just like Johan had done.

“Did you come here for tea, too?” Jude asked.

“You caught me,” said Johan. “You, too?”

“Yup. Sei usually makes tea around this time, so I wound up getting into the habit.”

“Is that so?”

“She did that to you too, though, didn’t she? Since she’d always make you a cup.”

Johan touched his chin as he thought. Sei had indeed been in the habit of bringing tea to his office. “Huh, you’re right.”

Just a few minutes ago, I did feel like something was missing… Was this it? I didn’t even notice how much she’d changed me. Johan couldn’t help but smile a bit tightly.

Jude wore a curious expression as he noticed Johan’s odd look.

“I wonder what she’s up to right about now,” Johan suddenly wondered out loud.

“Hmm. Probably doing what she always does.”

“Indeed, considering where she’s gone. I’m sure she’s making potions already.”

“And probably too many.”

The two of them imagined Sei’s antics in faraway Klausner’s Domain. Sure in their belief that she would be the same old Sei, the two shared a chuckle. Klausner’s Domain was known as the alchemist’s holy land. If anything, she was probably more energized than usual.

“I bet she’s probably cooking, too,” Jude said.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. I did warn her not to cook in public places.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember. But she is with the Third Order, right?”

Johan wore a look that made Jude worry he’d triggered some unpleasant memory.

Sei was earnest to her core, and she obeyed Johan’s directions without question. When they’d found out that Sei’s cooking considerably improved the physical abilities of those who consumed it, she had conscientiously obeyed his command not to cook in public. However, she still cooked in private—like in the institute’s kitchen, for example.

As such, the majority of Sei’s cooking filled the bellies of the researchers, but she had once shared it with the Third Order, as they had heard how delicious her cooking was and had specifically asked for it. The Third Order had also been there when they discovered the effects of Sei’s cooking, so as there was no point trying to hide her skills from them, Johan had permitted her to cook for them.

Naturally, he had made sure the knights kept the effects of her cooking a closely guarded secret. That had been the condition for allowing them to continue to consume her food. However, since she had received permission once, there was a chance Sei would cook for the knights again if they asked her and were the only ones around, no matter the location.

Johan knew Sei indulged those close to her and was the type of person who hated turning down requests. In fact, even if the knights didn’t ask her to cook for them, chances were she would end up doing it anyway while she made food for herself. She had done the same at the institute, after all.

Johan looked up, contemplative. He had been instructed by the palace to keep Sei’s extraordinary powers secret, especially those that went beyond the scope of the stories told of the Saint. Some of the abilities she displayed were unbelievable. Just what kind of chaos would ensue if they got out?

Johan understood why the palace was so concerned, and why they had ordered such secrecy, and he had carried out their wishes to the best of his own ability.

However, of all Sei’s powers, her cooking prowess was relatively reasonable. The food she made didn’t have as much of an effect as her potions, so really, Johan probably didn’t need to worry about it in the same way. At any rate, Sei wasn’t the only person who could make meals that improved physical abilities. So long as a person possessed skills in Cooking, they could make beneficial dishes as well, although there was, as ever, a difference in the degree of effectiveness.

Not to mention, there isn’t anything I can do now that she’s off in a faraway place, Johan thought. For the time being, he had to leave Sei in his best friend’s care. He told himself to stop getting so hung up on it.

“I think I’m getting hungry,” Johan said. Thinking about Sei’s cooking was starting to rouse his appetite.

“Oh, I was just thinking the same thing.”

The two of them chuckled dryly together. Sei sure had changed them.

Just then, the chef walked over with a tray in hand. “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”

“Huh? What’s this?”

“I thought the two of you might be getting hungry.”

On top of the tray were two big plates with a cup filled with herbal tea on each. Accompanying the cups were two types of sandwiches that Sei had once made. One had finely chopped cucumbers and herbs with mayonnaise while the other was a boiled egg sandwich.

The chef had remembered what Sei often made for afternoon tea. Anyone’s stomach would grumble a little upon seeing such scrumptious fare.

“Thanks,” Johan said to the chef. “Nice timing.”

“Thank you,” Jude echoed. “Well, Johan, I should get back to my desk.”

“As should I.” Johan cleared his throat and took a plate from the tray.

Jude followed suit and turned on his heel to head back toward the workroom. While Jude left, Johan looked down at the plate. It was quite large, which was far from customary in the Kingdom of Salutania, which tended toward tiny plates for any sort of meal—but the larger one was much easier to carry. Sei often chose such plates so she could carry her meal and snacks together.

Johan and Jude were far from the only ones who’d been changed by Sei. She had a way of affecting everyone in her orbit even while she claimed she wanted to live a normal life. She would no doubt be guilty of wreaking the same sort of changes in Klausner’s Domain as well.

It was all too easy to imagine Albert staggering to keep up with her whirlwind.

As Johan walked down the hallway, he surreptitiously chuckled to himself, imagining what troubles awaited his friend. Dish in one hand, he returned to his office, hoping things went for the best with the two of them.