396 - Leonardo's Perspective on the Capital's Recent News and the Bandit Boss
As winter approached, in the Zugarri Empire, foodstuffs were welcomed as merchandise. Therefore, aside from one wooden crate packed with the guidebook and actual samples of bobbin lace, all the other goods loaded were foodstuffs processed for preservation.
Since I was to accompany Cody as "Mercenary Jin," a hired mercenary, I prepared equipment to match that role. Black Knight equipment was made in consultation with individual blacksmiths, so there were no regulations other than color. Therefore, simply changing the color made it no longer recognizable as Black Knight armor, but still, it was knight's equipment. It was too well-made for a mercenary to wear.
While consulting with the blacksmith and preparing simpler armor that would not look out of place on a mercenary, Alfred returned from the capital. Considering the days needed for the round trip, it seemed he had barely gone and come back.
"...Sorry about this, what with you being a newlywed. Did not you have hardly any time to relax?"
"I went knowing full well that the timing was what it was. You do not need to concern yourself."
Once he got Tina back, he could enjoy his newlywed life then, Alfred laughed. Knowing Alfred, I believed he genuinely meant what he said and had reconciled himself to it, but I wondered if Princess Ariel, who had become his wife, was truly alright with this.
...Once I got Tina back, I wanted to offer my apologies to her as well.
She had borne the stigma of being a woman whose engagement was once broken off, and still she had waited to marry Alfred. Even if she said nothing to Alfred, she must have had no small number of feelings about it. I thought leaving it to Alfred would be fine, but that did not mean I wanted to turn a blind eye.
"As for news from the capital, it seemed elder sister Felicia was having a hard time with her pregnancy."
Mainly, Erald, who had married into the family, was. Regarding Felicia's wedding, Alfred had decided on his own authority to make maximum use of both the partner and the timing for promoting bobbin lace. It seemed Felicia had settled on Erald from the beginning, but I knew that Erald had been unable to make up his mind, wondering if he was truly worthy of a princess. Alfred had forced the marriage through without argument, but for now it seemed to be going without problems and working out well. I had not expected things to be going so smoothly that a child would come so soon after the wedding. Or rather, perhaps it was only natural as a possibility once they became husband and wife, but hearing that that Felicia was pregnant stirred quite a lot of emotion. She had been wearing clothes these past few years, albeit with little fabric, thanks to Tina's persuasion, but when I first met Felicia, she was a princess who did not wear clothes. To my eyes it looked like nothing but eccentric behavior, but according to Felicia, covering her god-given beauty with cloth was tantamount to blasphemy against the divine, and continuing to expose her beauty to the world was how she responded to the gods' love, or something along those lines. The thought of that Felicia becoming a mother to a child did not quite feel real.
"Is Felicia-sama, even with her pregnancy, still, um...?"
"It seems the physicians, pharmacists, her husband, and her mother all earnestly impressed upon her that she must not let her waist get cold. She was apologizing for having to cover the beauty bestowed by the goddess of beauty Finari with cloth until she bore the child."
"...Sounds like she has not changed."
In any case, I offered my congratulations. Felicia had looked after Tina for two years. Wishing for her happiness and celebrating it was only natural as Tina's older brother.
"Also, this is something I heard through Dietfried..."
Through Dietfried and Aristalf, he seemed to have learned of Bertrand's recent circumstances. Apparently Bertrand had truly gone on a trip to the Zugarri Empire. He had crossed the border under the pretense of visiting an old acquaintance and would be staying for a while in the Leberan territory where that acquaintance lived. After that, he planned to tour the Empire's territories under the guise of sightseeing, and he had told Aristalf that if he was worried during his absence, he had invited Sofiya to his own residence.
"Just hearing about it, it sounds like Sofiya-dono returned to Aristalf's home and they got back together, but..."
"Her family home is still angry. They unilaterally drove her out of her married home, telling her to forget her deceased husband and remarry, and now they are saying she has no right to call for her daughter only when it is convenient."
"...Well, that is a natural reaction, I suppose."
It seemed Alfred thought this was Bertrand's responsibility, so he had prepared documents and left them, leaving the decision of whether to execute it to Sofiya. Conveniently enough, Bertrand had lost his wife, and Sofiya had lost her husband. If the two became husband and wife, even on paper only, Sofiya's family home should have no complaints, apparently.
"That in itself seems like it would cause different problems later, though..."
"When that time comes, they can talk it through then. After all, all of this started because Bertrand decided everything on his own in the first place."
If this led to Sofiya bearing Bertrand's child, then a second-generation Merit Peerage would be born. Even if his grandson Aristalf could not manage as the heir, with a child still to come, the next generation could continue as Merit Peerage, which would weaken Bertrand's reason to cling to Tina. If there was a problem, it was that the woman thought of as his dead son's wife and the man thought of as his deceased husband's father becoming partners would cause each of them not just a little inner conflict.
"...I hope it all works out smoothly."
"Well, it is hard to say anything for certain about this."
I could not know the future, but Aristalf seemed happy that his mother had returned. If things had settled down around Bertrand, maybe it would be good to consider having Tina think again about mending her relationship with Bertrand.
"Claudine-sama, who is in the Divine Kingdom of Quebia, investigated in detail for us, but..."
I told Alfred the information Cody had brought back, and consulted with him about finally wanting to head into the field myself. Rannvald could already act as my substitute well enough, and the preparations for my disguise were complete. We had narrowed down the search area to some extent, so I simply wanted to go to the location. Even gathering information from outside, I felt we were reaching our limits.
"...So you have reached your limit with waiting too. Even if you do head into the field, what about a base? Cody is constantly traveling, so we cannot send messages from this side."
"You had that mysterious information network in the Zugarri Empire, did you not? Can we not use that?"
"It is not that we cannot use it, but..."
There was an information network, but those people had their own lives to live. He could have them gather information from time to time, but it seemed difficult to keep one attached to me for constant communication. Indeed, I could not use someone with their own life as a liaison to someone known to be constantly traveling.
"If I find a good location, I will send word from this side. If I find someone who has Aurelia's bobbin lace, I may be able to get cooperation, but... if I do not find anyone, I will return with Cody once."
Cody would travel through the Empire's territories as a traveling merchant, and I would accompany him as his guard. It would not be strange for me to enter the Empire with Cody and leave together with him when he exited.
"Knowing you, even if you do not find a base location, I suspect you will stay within the Empire and search for Tina, will you not?"
"...I have a feeling I will end up doing just that, actually."
Alfred warned me to act cautiously, but finally, I received permission to depart. When I mentioned the suspicious movements of the Sedovara Church, as if entrusting Grenore Fortress to him, Alfred accepted handling it with a fine smile. As expected, dealing with the Sedovara Church was best left to Alfred.
...No, wait. Was it Alf now?
The one who thought the Sedovara Church had its weaknesses exploited in various ways was Alf, currently serving as vice-commander. Since Alfred and Alf had swapped identities, it might be better for the current Alf to handle the Sedovara Church. If I had to say which was better for the Sedovara Church, they would probably get a gentler result dealing with Alfred. The current Alf, who acted just like the old Alf, was even stricter than Alfred.
Prioritizing quality over appearance, and durability over quality, I wore a thick overcoat and climbed into the wagon. The simple armor I had prepared to look like a mercenary was more like just a breastplate than actual armor. In terms of defensive power, it was somewhat unreliable. However, if I tried to protect every part of my body like knight's armor, the appearance would inevitably not look like a mercenary. Even if there were concerns about defense, the simple armor had its purpose.
To serve as a guard, I would take turns sitting next to Cody on the driver's seat with Jean-Jacques. I entrusted Grenore Fortress to Alfred and Alf, and when I moved to Mair Fortress, Yurgen, who had already been informed, laughed at our appearance. Jean-Jacques looked too fitting, and as for me, I looked more like a bandit than a mercenary, he said.
"'Bandit' is harsh, is it not? I was aiming for a perfectly balanced mercenary look, not too clean and not too dirty, you know..."
"I understand you want to hide your features, but with your hair and beard grown out like that, you are unmistakably a bandit rather than a mercenary. Also, if you spoke a bit more roughly, it would suit the look better."
Told to be rough, I thought for a moment. Thinking back, I had deliberately refined my speech when becoming a knight, so I could not recall the way I naturally spoke as a child. Though I had been a bit mischievous, I had been an ordinary child, so I should not have spoken with such oddly polite speech.
"Oi, Chuck. From today, you will call me Boss Jin!"
"Sure thing, boss!"
Since he said I looked like a bandit, I tried speaking in a rough, bandit-like tone. Jean-Jacques, who responded without a hint of awkwardness, was either admirable or just being his natural self.
...No, natural or not, that was just how he always was. Jean-Jacques, I mean.
When dealing with nobles or in situations requiring clear hierarchical command, he adjusted his speech, but in other situations, Jean-Jacques used his usual rough language. Thinking about it, I found myself oddly impressed that Jean-Jacques actually chose his words carefully depending on the situation.
...Well, I would manage somehow.
When Yurgen said to use Jean-Jacques as a model if I had trouble with my speech, I replied that I was not sure about that. Certainly, it might be necessary in the Empire territories we were heading to, but I felt some resistance to deliberately using rough language.
"Also, Commander. If you are taking a sword, use this one."
"Would it not be strange for a mercenary to carry a sword of the quality a knight would use?"
Yurgen must have found the small sword, deliberately lowered in quality to suit what a mercenary would carry, unreliable-looking. I showed him the small sword, saying it was crude but good, as Yurgen quietly offered me his own blade. I understood that he might be uneasy compared to the sword I usually used, but my primary weapon as a mercenary was a spear. Keeping a distance from bandits and thieves targeting cargo to protect myself while defeating enemies. The small sword was insurance for when an enemy closed into a range where the spear was useless. Additionally, my left gauntlet had a small shield attached, and a knife was hidden behind it. The finger protection was made particularly sturdy to allow for fistfighting, and while the armor I wore looked unreliable defensively, offensively it was surprisingly well-equipped with no room for complacency. This was the result of thinking about the best equipment I would choose if I were a mercenary. At first glance, the defense seemed weak, but the heart and both hands and feet that needed protection were well guarded by gauntlets and armor. As the main attack method, I had chosen a spear that could keep distance from the enemy, while also equipping a small sword for close combat and a hidden knife. I had not forgotten to reinforce the gauntlets so I could fight with just my fists if necessary.
"For a mercenary guarding a wagon, this should be about right."
"Rather, I would say it might be overkill."
Yurgen shrugged, saying that ordinary mercenaries had more openings, so to speak. Not openings so much as gaps in their equipment. I intended to choose durable items, but the very condition of being durable was expensive for ordinary mercenaries. Even though it was just a breastplate with little surface area, the weapons I had carefully and cautiously prepared seemed to be overkill.
We were departing. Finally, we were departing. The guard's job involved watching for thieves and bandits and eliminating harmful beasts. There were no demons or monsters, but there were threats of this sort.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.