409 - Leonardo's Perspective - Augun Castle Archives 1
We arrived in Augun territory at the beginning of spring. Even calling it spring, the snowmelt in the Zugall Empire is slow. In the middle of the Erath Mountain Range where the Imperial capital is located, snow remains even in summer. And as a territory, Augun territory, adjacent to the Emperor's direct-controlled territory, also seems to have a slow snowmelt, with snow still remaining.
...As expected, it seems Cody also came to Augun territory.
The story that the territorial lord of Augun territory is a capable person seems to be trustworthy. A ruler's qualities affect even those below them. The soldiers guarding Augun territory's border were more polite and disciplined than soldiers from any other territory within the Zugall Empire. Since I was moving as a bandit, I was sneaking through forests and treacherous mountain paths to avoid notice when crossing the border, but some of my men disguised as travelers and crossed the border head-on. According to reports from those men, bribes did not work on Augun's soldiers, and instead they were lectured not to do such things.
And the Augun territory soldiers, who could not be bribed and performed their duties properly, also kept thorough records of the merchants who entered the territory. It was recorded that Cody and two other mercenaries entered Augun territory from the Imperial capital side border and left for Senfen territory to the west.
...But, I really did not cross paths with Cody and his group, did I? Did they get held up somewhere?
That said, since I am using my increased bandit subordinates rather than walking through every territory myself, I cannot entirely rule out the possibility that we passed each other somewhere. Since I had no restrictions on my movements, I decided to operate as a bandit. Even if the result is that I cannot walk on the main highways that a merchant like Cody would use, that could not be helped.
I left information gathering in Augun city to my subordinates, and brought a few people skilled at infiltrating without leaving traces to break into Augun Castle at night. Some hesitated at the idea of breaking into Augun Castle, but when I pointed out that we were not going to loot anything, they suddenly showed motivation. It seems they were people who had received shelter here before and were worried about repaying kindness with enmity. When I said that I was not a bandit to begin with, and had no intention of looting, their eyes went wide. "Now that you mention it, that is right. You just look so much like a bandit that I forgot," they replied with a straight face, so I responded with a straight face too.
...My face is not so intimidating that bandits would faint at the sight of it.
I remember that when I first took Tina in, she cried at the sight of my face. That was the day Tina first came to the Grenore residence. Alfred urged me to return to the residence in the middle of the night, and when I went to check on Tina, she mistook me for a thief, cried her heart out, and was terrified.
...I want to get Tina back soon.
It has already been over a year since I last saw Tina's face. Fourteen-year-old Tina should be in a growth spurt. When summer comes, she will soon turn fifteen. Her limbs might be stretching out and she might have grown much taller, and her facial features might be a bit more mature. Not being able to watch over this precious time of my sister growing up because of a despicable kidnapper is quite unforgivable. After I safely get Tina back, if the opportunity, means, and circumstances allow, I will have to give the kidnapper a proper repayment.
...Indeed, it seems it was a royal family lineage.
I investigate old documents in the library I have slipped into while muffling my footsteps. According to the documents remaining in Augun Castle, as Claudine investigated, it seems certain that the royal family lineage of the fallen kingdom are the ancestors of the Augun territorial lord. As a family with a long history, many old documents seem to remain. If I could examine each of these one by one, I might also find the family that used the westward-facing Adorutoru crest as their ring. At least, in Augun Castle, they should have used the westward-facing Adorutoru crest.
...Hm?
If I search through too many documents, it will be noticed that someone intruded into the library after sunrise. Thinking that, I looked up to wrap up for tonight, but I noticed a picture frame at eye level. In the center of an intricately carved frame, there was a familiar scene.
"This is..."
The familiar scene made me speak aloud without thinking. I reached for the frame, wanting to confirm it.
"You cannot have that, I will not give it away. Instead, take as much money or jewelry as you like, Mr. Thief."
At the voice of a woman from the direction of the door behind me, I withdrew my hand that had been reaching for the frame. I have been discovered by the homeowner, I thought as I turned around, and an old woman was standing there without any light on. I judged her to be an old woman from her voice, but her back was straight. She was tall, with a presence that somehow reminded me of Aurelia.
"That is my treasure, gifted by a friend. It is of no value to a thief like you."
"When it comes to bobbin lace, it is a treasure in high demand across the continent these days... but unfortunately, I am not a thief. I have no use for treasures."
I moved my gaze from the old woman back to the frame. What was displayed in the frame was indeed bobbin lace. And not like the geometric patterned ribbon that Tina used to weave. It was a landscape finished as a single painting.
Aurelia's house in Waiyakku Valley was woven into the bobbin lace.
"...This is Aurelia's house. By 'friend,' do you mean the wise woman Aurelia?"
"My, I did not expect a thief to utter the wise woman's name. ...No, if it is that wise woman, it would not be strange for her to have a thief as an acquaintance, would it?"
"As far as I know, Aurelia did not have any thief acquaintances... but well, she is Aurelia. She is a remarkable woman who has friends in the Zugall Empire. I would not be surprised if she had about two hundred bandits under her command."
The more I looked at the exquisitely woven bobbin lace, the more I thought Kalisa had caught up to Aurelia's skill, but then I reconsidered that she was far from reaching it. The ribbons Tina wove were truly just practice. This bobbin lace was so magnificent that even an amateur like me could see the difference in technique and years of experience.
"You call the wise woman by her name. What relation are you to her?"
"I was supposed to become family with her through circumstances, but she passed away before that could happen."
When I added that my little sister had been attached to her like a grandmother, the door behind the old woman opened and one of my subordinates rushed in.
"Boss, the lord is heading this way... what the... ah? Lady Carlotta?"
He seemed to have come to warn me that someone was approaching and I should hide somewhere, but he was completely too late. The lord we bandits should have been hiding from had already found us.
"Is this Boss here an acquaintance of yours?"
"This is Boss Jin, who for certain reasons has agreed to help me search for something."
To the shabby-looking man who suddenly burst in, clearly not in a legitimate profession, the territorial lord Carlotta stood her ground calmly. Whether the other party was a bandit or a thief did not seem to matter to Carlotta. Whether she had the magnanimity, or she wanted information she could accept first. That is the look on her face.
"He has a scary face like this, and he could slaughter a bear with one hand, but he is not a bad person. His main job is not being a bandit, he just came here to look something up... and, um... sorry."
That last "sorry" was probably an apology for sneaking in. Or for spilling my circumstances to Carlotta.
"...He is the kind of child who sneaks into other people's houses in the middle of the night, but he is not a bad child, is he?"
"Ah, yes. That is certainly true. On the way here, he hunted bears and gave them to villagers, hunted bandits and was thanked by townspeople, and hunted wolves and fed us their meat."
The wolf meat was stringy, the man continued, and Carlotta tilted her head slightly.
"So you are not a thief but a skilled hunter."
"That is right!"
"...Neither, actually."
To Carlotta, who seemed to understand things in an amusing direction, the man jumped on board. As if saying he would accept anything as long as they understood he was not a criminal, it was a splendid leap. However, I did not like leaving them with that misunderstanding, so I corrected it. I am not a hunter. Bandit and mercenary are both temporary disguises.
Carlotta sent us away, saying that if we claim we are not criminals, we should come visit openly through the front gate during the day. Whoever we are, if we want to research something, she has the magnanimity to cooperate. First, get an inn, take a bath, wash off the smell, and come back, she said.
...Indeed, since entering the Zugall Empire, we have been mostly in the mountains, only occasionally wiping ourselves down.
Even accounting for the season, I simply did not want to waste time preparing baths. If there were naturally occurring hot springs it would be different, but I must have been giving off a powerful odor without noticing. Come to think of it, when I got splashed with the blood of pests and bandits, I just did a quick wash and never took a proper bath.
...Good thing I was told before finding Tina.
If at the moment I rescued Tina she scrunched up her cute face and said "Leonyaldo Big Brother, you stink," I do not think I would recover. It is a poignant reminder that this is what a daughter in puberty is like, but that does not mean it is something I want to hear from my little sister.
I got an inn in the town where Augun Castle is located and lightly washed myself. In such dirty clothes, going to a bathhouse would only bother other customers. I washed lightly at the inn, and going to the bathhouse would come after.
...Just by the lord being different, people's lives differ this much.
Even within the same Imperial territory, the lives and expressions of residents differ between Augun territory and other territories. Even the bathhouses are completely different, according to my subordinates. In Augun territory's bathhouse, the washing area is cleanly cleaned, and the bathwater is also clean. In other territories' bathhouses, the washing area is not cleaned under the pretense of leaving it to the customers, and the water is rarely changed, seeming to have a dingy color. The habit of bathing that Saint Yuuta Hiraga spread was supposed to aim for keeping the body clean and raising body temperature, but it does not seem to be very meaningful in the Zugall Empire.
I washed off the travel grime at the bathhouse and changed into clothes bought from a secondhand clothing shop along the way. If I only wash my body but put the same clothes I have been wearing throughout the long journey back on, there is no point in having bathed. I left my worn clothes with the inn's laundress, combed my hair with my fingers, then knocked on the door of Augun Castle. I think I should trim my overgrown beard too, but since I am doing this to hide my features, it cannot be helped.
"I have heard from the lord. Please, this way."
To me, who must look like a deplorable sight for someone visiting a lord, the old gentleman who introduced himself as Lord Carlotta's steward did not even twitch an eyebrow. Since he serves as the steward of Carlotta, who was not fazed by a bandit invasion, maybe he is not fazed by a bearded man in secondhand clothes visiting either.
...No, that remarkable woman seems like she would be wearing secondhand clothes and plowing a field.
I just had that feeling, without any real basis. From Lord Carlotta, I sense a similar atmosphere to Ethelbert when he showed up at the orphanage in tramp's clothing. Unflappable, not bothered by trivial matters, extremely reliable in a crisis, but for someone serving her, they probably wish she were a more conventional master. In many ways.
...What is that? In the courtyard... a field?
As I was guided through the corridor, we came upon a courtyard, and it looked like a field. There is no way the courtyard of a lord's castle would be a field. That is what I think, but the more I look, the more it looks like a field.
"What you see there are the results of the lord's research. Our Augun territory's Lord Carlotta-sama, in order to obtain greater harvests for her people, explores new farming methods with her own hands every day."
"..."
I did not know how to respond, so I answered with silence. Since the old gentleman explained without my asking, that field must be something created out of necessity in the process of researching farming methods, not Carlotta's hobby. I will just understand it that way. I cannot think of a clever response, but I can at least grasp that much.
In the reception room where the old gentleman guided me, there was the old lady I had met just last night. Like my impression from last night, she was a lady with a straight back, but she carried a slight smell of soil. She might have been playing with the dirt in the courtyard field right before I came.
When I formally apologized for last night's rudeness, Carlotta quickly got to the point.
"So, what did you want to investigate?"
"What I am investigating is the crest of the fallen kingdom. I want to know all noble houses that display, or have displayed in the past, the westward-facing Adorutoru as their crest."
"For a request like that, it seems better to guide you to the archives rather than the library. If you say you were to be family with the wise woman, I will not hesitate to cooperate."
Carlotta said I could use both the archives and the library freely, and when she signaled, the old gentleman brought a bundle of keys. The heavy bundle of keys must be more than just the keys to the library and archives.
"...That I was supposed to become family with Aurelia is only my own claim, but is it alright for you to trust me so easily?"
"My, I have confidence in my ability to judge people, you know?"
If I were lying, I would not make such a remark, Carlotta said with a laugh. Though I am the kind of person who sneaks into a castle at night leading bandits, I am an honest person, she said.
"I thought it was a kingdom already forgotten, but I did not expect a guest to come seeking old documents at this late date."
Though they were archives, they seemed to be regularly cleaned. The old gentleman did not stop his master Carlotta from entering the archives, and silently gathered the documents I needed. Normally, even if they disclosed territorial history, they would just pull out the necessary documents and be done with it. Letting me, a sudden intruder, into the archives was an unthinkably generous treatment.
Maps showing the territories and major roads of the fallen kingdom, towns and villages that existed at the time, and documents recording even the positions of fortresses were laid out on the desk. There seems to be no mistake that the Augun territorial lord's family descends from the fallen kingdom's royal lineage, and even old family trees appeared.
"By the way, why are you investigating that crest?"
"...My little sister was kidnapped. On a ring that seemed to belong to the culprit, left at the scene, there was a westward-facing Adorutoru crest..."
"When you say 'little sister,' you mean the one you said looked up to the wise woman like a grandmother?"
"Yes."
Aurelia and Tina occasionally exchanged letters, and they were supposed to come to the city and live together when spring came. I remember Tina working hard to prepare a room for Aurelia while being taught by Ms. Hartmann. In the end, Aurelia never used that room, but it was the first room Tina arranged by herself. The furniture that was never used might be used by Tina when she grows up.
...Of course, getting Tina back before then takes priority.
The cut is not good, but I am out of time.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.