Chapter 209 - Lord and Knight

At the imperial palace's rear gate.

"Orders from above. Raise the alert level by one."

"All of a sudden?"

"What's happened?"

The guard captain sighed before answering.

"Bunny Swallows sent a calling card."

"Those damned petty thieves?"

"They've got the nerve to announce they're going to steal something inside the Empire?"

"They sent it to the palace, no less. They say they're taking a treasure hidden here. It's caused an uproar."

"How daring. That's Bunny Swallows for you..."

"What's with that tone? You sound like some housewife who's fallen under a heretic's spell."

"Ahem. It's nothing like that... It's just that Pepe girl looks sort of like my type, so... you know."

"That wanted poster on your wall... Oh, forget it. Let's not talk about it, you filthy bastard."

The captain sighed at the pointless exchange. While the guards listened to his instructions, a cart rolled up to the palace's rear gate. Its owner was a scrawny, brown-haired man with freckles across his nose.

"Well now, you gentlemen are working hard out here on guard duty."

"Who are you? Never seen you before."

"Me? You know that fellow Tom who died recently? I hear people called him Gutter Tom..."

"Oh, him? I wondered why he hadn't been around. So he finally died?"

"That's right. Anyway, I'm here in his place. They told me to burn these?"

He gestured casually over his shoulder, but what lay in the cart was a heap of corpses.

"So what's your name?"

"Tom."

"One Tom dies, and a new Tom shows up?"

"Funny how things work, isn't it? Didn't even take the name tag off the uniform. Ha ha!"

The gatekeeper looked thoroughly disgusted.

"What's incredible is how casually you talk about it."

"It's not as if only one or two people die in the Empire. I'm sick of it by now, sir. Oh! Don't let me stop you from doing your jobs! You'll need to search it, won't you? The cart?"

The gatekeeper glanced at the corpses he was hauling away. Even from a distance, the rank stench rising from the heap seemed to seep into their bodies. The man called Tom hadn't earned the nickname Gutter for nothing.

"Never mind. Go on through."

"Uh... you sure you don't need to look through it?"

"Look through what? Root around in the guts of people beaten to death? Get that filth on you and it stays for three days. Just take them and get the hell out."

"Understood. I'll be off, then..."

Brown-haired Tom tipped his hat in farewell. The gatekeepers flicked their hands at him in disgust, and the captain left them with one final instruction.

"Anyway, keep a sharp watch. Don't let Bunny Swallows set so much as a foot in here."

"Yes, Captain."

* * *

"Well... nobody caught on, right to the end."

Brown-haired Tom clicked his tongue as he passed beyond the imperial capital's gates. Then he glanced at the pile of corpses.

"My disguise was good, sure, but aren't you a little hurt that they didn't recognize you, Your Grace?"

"... That mouth of yours never stops flapping."

"It's what I do for a living. What can I say? Are you going to stay lying there?"

"No. I hope this is the last time I ever have to play dead."

A man stirred cautiously among the corpses. He was as emaciated and hideously disfigured as the bodies around him, but unmistakable traces of Perry Yurei remained. Zed chuckled and handed him a bottle.

"Medicine for your wounds. Your face should be all healed in a couple of days."

"Thank you."

"I've arranged some horses. We'll head over to them and ride from there."

"You aren't using teleportation magic?"

"Our regent doesn't like leaving a trail. We've made plenty of preparations to avoid being tracked, so let's take our time and go on horseback."

Duke Yurei felt uneasy. But with no better alternative, he decided to confirm just one thing before they left.

"Can you swear by heaven that you have no purpose other than rescuing me?"

"Regent Ferda said he doesn't want a war, and that you need to return alive to prevent it. If I meant to betray you, I'd have slit your throat right here."

"I asked whether you can swear by heaven."

"Heaven this, heaven that. Shall I swear on my mother's name, too?"

"Very well."

Duke Yurei decided to put his doubts aside. After they ventured deep into the forest, the horses Zed had prepared came into view. Troops were waiting with them to escort Yurei and throw off any pursuers. The duke scanned their ranks, wondering whether Ferda might be among them.

"You..."

Duke Yurei was stunned. Ferda wasn't there, but he spotted someone he hated almost as much.

"William..."

William, the knight who had once shown such promise. William, who had accused him before the Golden Council. He stood there in inconspicuous brown leather armor.

"I will serve as your escort."

He bowed with perfect courtesy. Yurei clenched his fists and bit his lip.

"Regent Ferda is a cruel man indeed. Ordering you to stay with the man you accused."

"The regent is not to blame. I volunteered for this."

"You did?"

"Yes. I heard about the operation while speaking with Sir Zed, and went to Regent Ferda to request that I serve as your escort."

"Why? Did you want to play the knight, even at this late hour?"

"..."

William could not answer. Nor did Duke Yurei wait for one.

"Enough. There's no need to say anything. It won't change the fact that you betrayed me."

"..."

"Have you anything for me to wear? Or do you intend to leave me like this?"

"This way, please."

The duke had turned to Zed to ask, so Zed showed him the way himself. William quietly made the final checks before departure. Soon, eight horses were racing through the forest.

* * *

On the second night after Duke Yurei's escape, they halted and set up a simple camp. A mage who had received a message gave his report.

"The Empire has officially announced Duke Yurei's escape."

"Took them long enough."

Though the announcement had come late, they must have realized the duke was missing by that afternoon. Given the sensitivity of the matter, they had tried to quietly brush it off as a minor incident, but had failed.

Listening nearby, Duke Yurei gave a derisive chuckle.

"They must be furious that those vile wretches of Heinkel broke me out."

"Normally, they would have been. But I doubt that's how it played out."

The man who contradicted him was Zed, with his womanizer's good looks.

"Why is that?"

"Because Bunny Swallows sent a calling card."

"Bunny Swallows... You mean that band of petty thieves."

Their elusive exploits across the Serdes Continent were famous enough that even Duke Yurei had heard of them. What's more, Bunny Swallows was said to have supplied the decisive evidence that exposed the archbishop as a Doppler.

"Bunny Swallows announced they'd take a treasure the Empire had hidden away. And what they stole was you, Duke Yurei."

"I'm an imperial treasure? That makes no sense..."

"It's all in how you interpret it."

Righteous thieves who served the common people. Even among imperial citizens, many praised them for exposing corrupt nobles and returning their wealth to the people. Bunny Swallows was also famous for always stealing exactly what its calling cards promised. No objects had disappeared from the Empire—only Duke Yurei. That would spark speculation that the imperial treasure might have something to do with him.

"Some fools might believe that, but I doubt it will last long."

"That's the whole point. Who's right and who's wrong doesn't matter."

The more commotion there was, the more people would hear about it. And the more people heard, the more supporters they would gain. It was a method Garnet, the head of Black Bandana, had taught him.

'Truly impressive.'

The Empire's pursuit units were made up of formidable experts. The fact that they hadn't seen so much as a glimpse of them meant the diversion operation anticipated their every move. On top of that, they had laid the groundwork to stir up turmoil within the Empire itself. The duke could not help being impressed.

Zed stretched and stood.

"Anyway, this is our last rest. We'll be riding for three full days after this, so get some sleep. I'm turning in first."

"Very well."

The escorts went off to sleep one by one, leaving just two men by the fire: William and Duke Yurei. An awkward silence hung between them. They hadn't exchanged a word since setting out.

"I was told you held out to the very end to protect the Heinkel Kingdom."

William spoke first. Duke Yurei did not even pretend to look at him.

"What are you trying to say?"

"It was an honorable act, worthy of a nobleman."

"Not something I care to hear from you. My face hurts. I'll go back and get some sleep."

Duke Yurei turned toward his tent.

"Why did you order all those innocent people killed?"

At William's question, he stopped and looked back. William's expression was earnest. Duke Yurei realized this was why he had joined the escort.

"You think they were innocent?"

"They were hungry."

"Yes, hungry, certainly. But they would have survived. I ordered that they be left enough for that."

"Did you have to leave them to live in such misery?"

"Then what should I have done? Emptied my remaining coffers to feed the commoners as though nothing had happened?"

"Shouldn't you at least have given them hope?"

Duke Yurei sighed.

"William, you fool. How can a man who is meant to become a knight look at them through a commoner's eyes?"

"I saw them through a knight's eyes."

"If you had, you would have made an example of them."

"How can turning a sword on commoners be called chivalry?"

"Turning a sword on commoners? That isn't the issue. You failed to trust the man who ruled you. A man who had walked that land for forty-five years and governed it for twenty-seven. What sort of man had I been until then? A tyrant who slaughtered innocents at will?"

He had not.

"Or was I a ruler of boundless benevolence?"

He had not been that, either. Neither a benevolent ruler nor a tyrant. Had King Heodret not started the war, he would simply have remained an ordinary lord.

"Do you think being ordinary is easy? Even a river that looks calm on the surface can have vicious whirlpools below. Get swept up in one and they won't even find your body. I plunge into those waters every day. To those watching from a distance, it looks as though I've merely ducked under for a moment. That is what it means to be a lord."

"..."

"To rule, such things must come as naturally as breathing."

Duke Yurei raised his cup. His hand trembled.

"That damned war changed everything. No one wanted it, yet it was inevitable."

"..."

"William."

"Yes."

"You know, don't you? How many soldiers died for our domain, and how many more families wept for them."

"I do."

"Their blood and sweat were sacrificed to drive out the invaders. I did not want their souls to have been lost in vain. I did everything I could."

"..."

"But look at them. Those creatures who would flee because they cannot endure a hungry winter. Did you all take up spear and shield for people who would run the moment things went wrong?"

"..."

"If making an example of a few teaches the rest the value of that sacrifice, I will gladly become a tyrant. That is how I, Perry Yurei, their lord, pay homage to the fallen."

William could understand something of how the duke felt. As a knight cadet, he too had fought across battlefields and wept at the horrors left behind.

"Even so, I cannot accept it."

That was precisely why he could not accept it. To turn a sword on the people of the domain in order to protect them. It was a terrible contradiction that denied everything he had learned and trampled the dreams he had cherished.

"William."

"Yes."

"Is that your conviction?"

"It is."

William answered firmly. But even that firmness seemed unable to convey his feelings. Duke Yurei rose with a displeased expression.

"Think carefully. Is it conviction, or a coward's excuse for refusing to face reality?"

With that, Duke Yurei entered his tent. On that sleepless night, thoughts swirled through William's mind, as countless and tangled as the stars above.

* * *

After Duke Yurei had rested, they changed horses and traveled for three full days. At last, they crossed the imperial border and reached the buffer zone.

They made their way into a tangled, undeveloped forest, where a luxurious carriage stood beside a small tent. The tent looked barely large enough for one person to sleep in, yet its interior was spacious and lavish. The duke thought that not even the king of Heinkel, let alone himself, could afford to use such a thing.

Its owner stood in the middle of that vast space and welcomed him.

"You've had a difficult journey."

Gray hair and blue eyes. An impassive face that betrayed not a trace of emotion.

"Regent Ferda..."

A tangle of emotions swirled within Duke Yurei.