Chapter 80 - Leona Roquefried
“You tried to cover up a crime in the name of Aspen, didn’t you?”
Leona asked again.
“That’s enough. From here on, I think it falls under our jurisdiction.”
Torres cut Leona off.
“Is that so? In any case, the misunderstanding has been cleared up.”
Leona smiled sweetly.
It was the kind of smile that said, “I’m pure, I’m innocent, I don’t know anything.”
Of course, she knew everything, and she was not innocent.
Instead of answering, Torres grabbed the man by the shoulder and pulled him along.
“We’re going.”
He did not even tell Encrid they would meet again later.
He simply shoved the shoulder of the man whose face had been ruined, then glared at him.
“P-Please, p-please, s-spare me.”
“Shut up. You’re an enemy spy.”
“I’ll tell you everything I know, everything. I’m not a spy. This is a misunderstanding, there’s been a misunderstanding.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll cut out your tongue last.”
At Torres’s words, the strength went out of the man’s legs, but he was not even granted the freedom to collapse.
Two members on either side shoved their arms under his armpits and practically carried him away.
Judging by Torres’s attitude, he seemed irritated that things had not gone the way he expected.
‘There was a battle of wits going on.’
He had been so obsessed with the sword that he had not looked over the situation, so only now did these things become visible.
Why was Leona not pinning the crime on Polide?
What would happen if it were revealed that Polide had ordered it?
‘Would that be Polide’s responsibility alone, or would the Roquefried Merchant Association be responsible too?’
If they tried to hold even the merchant association responsible, would it benefit Leona to admit it, or to deny it?
If the merchant association was certain to become hers, it would benefit her not to admit it.
That was assuming she did not need to use this issue to cut down the idiot named Polide.
Encrid had thought Leona would accept the sacrifice and cut Polide down for the sake of inheriting the merchant association.
If that happened, the Border Guard would have demanded compensation on the pretext that a member of the Roquefried Merchant Association had ordered an assassination.
Whatever the case, the city’s honor had been sullied by something the merchant association had ordered.
The city’s honor was the unit’s honor, so they would have been able to squeeze out a tidy sum based on that.
‘Did she make that decision for the merchant association?’
Was it because she valued her merchant association that much?
“Why? Have you suddenly fallen for my beauty?”
Encrid had been staring blankly at her face without realizing it.
What on earth was this woman?
Her face was twice as bright as when she had slapped Polide across the cheek.
A natural composure could be felt from her.
Even while displaying such ease, there was no opening in the way she sat.
It was the face of a merchant whose calculations were complete.
Her attitude said there was no need to sacrifice anything from the merchant association.
She must have had something she trusted in.
And it was not the Border Guard standing forces.
She was truly a strange woman.
“No.”
Encrid answered what needed to be answered.
Regardless of her thoughts, attitude, or intentions, Encrid only had to carry out his mission.
“What a shame.”
Leona smiled.
Had he thought that beauty did not suit a spider?
He needed to correct that thought.
Now that he looked, did it not suit her perfectly?
The smile she wore now, having cast off the mask of purity, was a spider itself with prey in its mouth.
* * *
“Thank you for everything.”
The request was nearing its end.
Leona said this after coming out of the inn with her belongings packed.
Beside her, Polide was grinning.
In truth, had he won the verbal battle with Leona over the succession?
Had the assassination he prepared succeeded?
Even so, he was smiling.
That smile seemed to say that the merchant association was now his.
“Hey, soldier. You’ll be clinging to my trouser legs later.”
‘I’m pretty sure he picked a fight with Jaxon at first.’
At some point, he had turned the arrowhead toward Encrid.
Again and again, he dragged Encrid into things.
‘Should I have ignored him?’
Was this a problem born from being kind?
The thought suddenly occurred to him.
Polide’s face looked like the very model of triumphant arrogance.
The smile at the corners of his mouth, the certainty in his eyes, even the snorting caused by his internal excitement.
“I could cut off your ankles instead of clinging to your trouser legs.”
Encrid muttered to himself, not wanting to give the other man anything to answer to.
Only Jaxon, the Company Commander, and Leona, who was standing nearby, heard it.
“In that case, cut off his head. That is faster.”
Jaxon offered advice.
“You’re popular with men too, soldier.”
The Company Commander teased him.
“I feel needlessly sorry.”
Leona apologized.
“Huh? What did you say?”
Polide, who had not heard Encrid’s muttering, asked.
Encrid ignored him cleanly.
He should not have put any kindness into this from the beginning.
Polide, having been ignored, threw a brief fit, but soon calmed down.
The plain-faced man behind him tugged at his collar.
At that, his excitement quickly subsided.
Afterward, the bastard Polide expressed his confidence by glaring again.
‘No matter who looks at it, he seems to have prepared something.’
It was obvious without anyone saying what that preparation was.
No further disturbances inside the Border Guard would be tolerated.
‘He’ll probably attack the moment we leave, saying he’ll kill us.’
Looking at the faces of Leona’s group gathered in front of the inn, it was hard to tell whether they could handle the other side.
As he was briefly lost in thought, Leona came up beside him and spoke.
“It feels like I’m being escorted.”
It did not feel like being escorted.
It was something he actually had to do as part of the escort mission.
Polide foolishly revealed his intentions, but Leona was the opposite.
What was she relying on?
He began to grow curious all over again.
Not a hint of worry could be seen in Leona’s attitude.
“I will not forget the grace of having my life saved. One day, if I have the chance, I will definitely repay it.”
The female guard who had barely survived the assassin called a retired soldier on the second floor also approached and spoke.
“Yes.”
Encrid did not pay it much mind.
What were the odds they would meet again on this vast continent?
However, the thoughts of those watching from around them were different.
The two squads that had been guarding the entire inn were still nearby.
While they were at it, they had also taken part in the escort mission.
It was their responsibility for an incident that had occurred within the Border Guard.
“He spreads scandal with every woman who passes by.”
“For he throws the poison called charm at every woman he brushes past.”
“Your name is the Devilish Squad Leader.”
But were they sitting around composing poetry instead of doing their work?
“... Why are they acting like that?”
The female guard said, her face turning red.
“They’re practicing because they all want to become minstrels after they retire. Leave them be.”
Encrid also said whatever came out of his mouth.
In the meantime, the Company Commander stuck close to Leona and whispered.
His sensitive hearing caught her words.
“You had better be careful. That soldier has a tendency to knock down every woman he sees.”
What was he supposed to be knocking down?
Encrid had not even smelled a woman’s powder recently.
Too many hectic things had come crashing down on him one after another for that.
“Aren’t you going? I think it’s about time for you to piss off.”
Encrid politely saw off the soldiers from the two squads.
As if they really were thinking of becoming minstrels after retirement, they created and sang a song called “The Devilish Squad Leader” in an instant.
They were madmen.
Because of this incident, Torres’s side, meaning the Border Guard, left with a headache, while this group of soldiers was carefree.
It was understandable.
They only did what they were ordered to do.
Thinking of the Border Guard made him newly realize how outstanding Leona’s skills were.
‘Did she use this to put the Border Guard in her debt?’
With just a few words, she had overturned the situation.
He did not know whether the Border Guard would acknowledge it.
After all, she had driven the attack itself toward being a public security problem within the city.
If it was an attack caused by the merchant association’s succession issue, it would become the Roquefried Merchant Association’s responsibility.
If they had attacked after seeing the crona, it became an issue of city security management.
‘That’s incredible.’
Everyone knew Polide had ordered it, but the actual target of the assassination denied it.
Was this what it meant to be a born merchant?
He could see it because the conclusion had been reached.
If not, it was something he would not have noticed and would have simply let pass.
Well, Krais, who had remained at the inn after Torres left, had also filled in the details.
“In the end, the Border Guard side will deny it too. But the situation is favorable to that side. They were an Aspen spy unit, weren’t they?”
When he asked why that was unfavorable, Krais had spoken smoothly.
“If responsibility is assigned for the problem caused by Aspen’s spies, who would that favor? Which story would you rather put more weight on: that Aspen’s spies targeted the merchant association’s crona, or that they tried to cause disorder inside the city?”
Encrid understood what Krais meant.
From the moment the name Aspen appeared, this had become a favorable situation for the merchant association.
In the end, it was thanks to the spies who shouted about the glory of their homeland and died.
As Encrid listened to that, he realized Krais’s head worked no worse than Leona’s.
He had known Krais was smart to begin with.
‘He seems about equal to the heir of a major merchant association.’
It was only a thought that briefly crossed his mind.
What good was being smart?
Krais’s dream was to open a salon that fleeced noblewomen.
As he walked while thinking about this and that, they arrived at the city gate before he knew it.
The soldier on sentry duty saw Encrid and the party approaching and turned his body.
“You said your name was Encrid, right?”
As Encrid was looking at them, the swordsman from Polide’s side, who had come up at some point, spoke to him.
“I never heard your name.”
“My apologies for that. I’m not in a position to reveal my name here.”
“...”
When Encrid stared at him, wondering why he had suddenly come over to speak, the swordsman spoke toward Encrid’s rear.
“I only intend to say a few words. Withdraw your killing intent.”
To Encrid’s right, Jaxon had come up close before he knew it.
“How sensitive of you. Killing intent, you say.”
Jaxon answered.
The man who had ignored Polide so thoroughly answered quite readily here.
“Don’t worry. Even without killing intent, taking a man’s head is easy.”
When had the Company Commander come over again?
She was standing behind the swordsman from Polide’s side.
The swordsman looked at the two of them once each, then cleanly ignored them and looked at Encrid.
“Lay down your sword.”
That was what he said out of nowhere.
“There are some things that cannot be done with passion alone.”
For Encrid, it was something he had not heard in a very long time.
Give up.
You have no talent.
It is a waste of time.
It is like walking where there is no path.
Do you only understand pain after being hit?
Now you know that being cut by a blade hurts, don’t you?
Why can you not feel that the more time you pour into training, the more you learn how worthless your talent is?
As if he could not feel it.
Yes, he knew.
They were words he had heard countless times.
Even if he did not fall into a swamp of frustration and despair over a few words, Encrid knew too.
He knew he could not become a knight.
Yes, at one time, that had been true.
Even so, he had swung his sword.
Even so, he had not given up.
He had lived merely holding the torn and worn fragments of his dream.
He could not even see what the wall blocking his path looked like.
Everything around him had been darkness.
Even in those times, he had lived by swinging his sword until his palms burst.
Would anything change just because he heard something like this now?
Heart of a Beast, Sense of the Blade, Concentrate on a Single Point, isolation technique.
The fundamentals of swordsmanship, including the Heavy Sword Technique.
Applications of the Valen Mercenary Sword Technique.
The repeating today, the continued discipline and training, the growing skill.
Because what looked in someone’s eyes like a half-step slower than a turtle was, to Encrid, a more meaningful half-step than any he had ever taken in the past.
And so, without realizing it, he smiled.
“Are you laughing?”
The swordsman saw it and murmured.
“What needless concern.”
Jaxon said a word.
The Company Commander silently looked at Encrid.
The swordsman wanted an answer, and Encrid threw him the answer he had so desperately wanted.
“Next time we meet, I might win.”
It was arrogant to decide a person’s future in advance.
Encrid said so.
“I see.”
The swordsman did not bother forcing his thoughts on an opponent whose ears were closed, and turned away.
It was a small commotion that took place before the city gate.
“You truly worked hard.”
It was when they reached the front of the walls.
Leona turned back and spoke to the others, including Encrid.
Just as it seemed she would leave like this.
Encrid saw the sentry turning his head back and forth, looking alternately at the group and outside.
He looked troubled.
When Encrid wondered why, he saw an armed group outside the walls, in the area beyond.
The moment he saw them, he understood.
If the other side put force forward, what should this side put forward?
It was the card Leona trusted in.
They were outside the walls.
“Mattis of the Roquefried Merchant Association Guard Corps is here.”
He was the only one who had entered the walls.
He had a neatly trimmed mustache.
His footsteps looked light, and dust had gathered on the shoulders of the coat he wore.
Without force to accompany it, a merchant association could not establish its name on the continent.
Unless they intended to do business with only bones left after being picked clean by nearby thieves, bandits, beasts, and monsters, force was essential.
The man who stepped forward was the one responsible for the force of the Roquefried Merchant Association.
Simply by approaching and showing himself, he gathered everyone’s gaze.
Encrid felt a strange sensation.
Only the man named Mattis filled his field of vision.
He could see nothing else.
His presence was different.
With his presence alone, he pulled in everyone’s eyes.
“You have some interesting friends with you.”
After saying that, he knelt on one knee toward Leona.
“The guard corps has arrived, Association Head.”
The man said to Leona.
Only then could Encrid cast his gaze behind him.
The Roquefried Merchant Association Guard Corps.
He saw more than thirty armed troops forming ranks outside the city gate.
