Chapter 14 - Just Grow Up to Be Good

At the Hasgard estate, after the Subjugation Festival.

During dinner, Daywin suddenly spoke up.

“Father, I think it is time I returned.”

“Returned? Daywin, you are already home.”

“I mean to the academy.”

At the mention of the academy, my family looked back and forth between Esther and me. Invited to dinner for her accomplishments at the Subjugation Festival, Esther froze with a bite of her dessert cake halfway to her mouth. She had been enjoying it, but having so many eyes turn on her seemed to make her uncomfortable.

“That business... is it still not finished?”

“No. In fact, it is only just beginning.”

More precisely, I was sabotaging romance routes under the guise of sponsorship.

“I intend to stay by the students’ sides and help until they have all made progress. Compared to Esther, the others have barely improved at all.”

I glanced toward Esther, and her face turned as red as the cherry on top of her cake.

CLATTER

At that same moment, the eldest Hasgard dropped his fork.

“Daywin... are you really leaving? So... soon?”

“Yes. I plan to leave at first light tomorrow.”

“One day!”

“Pardon?”

“One day... Can’t you stay just one more day? I had a chessboard prepared because you were coming home! With all the preparations for the Subjugation Festival, I haven’t had a chance to bring it out. I even found a craftsman to make the pieces from fine jade...”

“Dyer, it has been quite some time since I lost interest in that sort of thing.”

“How can that be...!”

“Little brother, I would like you to stay a little longer too,” the middle Hasgard chimed in.

These bastards were at it again.

“Our eldest brother may have bought you some fancy toy horses, but I brought real horses from abroad for you. If you absolutely must leave tomorrow morning, why don’t we take the new horses out hunting together now?”

“But... we are eating dinner.”

“Then nocturnal game would be perfect. Foxes. Yes, foxes would do nicely.”

“I’m sorry. I’m rather tired...”

“How can that be...”

The middle Hasgard’s head slumped. The eldest had gone down, and now the second had been sunk too.

“More importantly...”

I cleared my throat and looked at Father.

“I must find out who was behind the attempt on Romans’s life. Though I imagine you two are already taking steps.”

My parents’ expressions changed instantly. Their warm smiles vanished, replaced by sharp looks.

It seemed I had guessed right.

“Those assassins appear to have belonged to an organization operating in the marquisate where the academy is located. I will investigate there.”

“Daywin, that is far too dangerous. I think you should leave that to the family.”

“Dyer is right, little brother. If you’re doing this because I was hurt, don’t let it weigh on you so much. At a time like this, we must be especially careful...”

“No.”

Father cut my brothers short.

“Daywin, I will leave it to you.”

Normally, Father would have fussed just as much as my brothers, but now his voice was distinctly stiff.

“As you said, we intend to find them, whatever it takes.”

He spoke with a hatred utterly unlike his usual self.

“I am counting on you to handle that end, Daywin.”

014

After Daywin returned to the marquisate.

At the marquis’s estate.

“Lord Fred, you have a visitor. He says he is the third son of House Hasgard.”

As always, Marquis Fred knelt before the statue of the Goddess for his morning prayers. He had just offered thanks for another day of life, prayed for peace, and slowly opened his eyes.

“He says he wishes to discuss the pleasure district...”

“I can guess.”

Fred interrupted before the servant could finish.

“I don’t know the family. Some young lord must have gone to amuse himself in the pleasure district, been fleeced for everything he had, and come here whining. Isn’t it obvious?”

It happened from time to time: a sheltered noble from elsewhere visited the pleasure district and squandered everything.

With its academy and diocese, the marquisate generally enjoyed a bright reputation. But in its shadows, there were pleasure districts and slums as well.

Where there was light, there was bound to be shadow.

“Damn it, that place again...”

If only the pleasure district disappeared, the marquisate could make a name for itself as a center of education. He wanted to use the academy to transform his domain into a city of learning and enlightenment.

Ironically, however, the more the marquisate developed, the more people were left behind.

The marquisate’s Sixth District in particular—the area known as the pleasure district—was a constant headache.

Drink, gambling, women, drugs, even contract killings. A heap of garbage he wanted cleared away at once.

Yet the pleasure district had quietly amassed power. A rusty blade lay hidden in that heap of garbage. Try to clear it away recklessly, and blood would be spilled.

‘Karma... If only that bastard were gone...’

If the marquis intervened in the pleasure district by force, they could not defeat his troops. But that snake would take an arm or a leg with him.

From time to time, the bastard brought the marquis money, wearing that habitual, simpering smile. That was how they had maintained their balance until now.

No one would know that the marquis had built the academy’s buildings little by little with money earned from the pleasure district.

“What did you say his name was?”

“Hasgard. He said his name was Daywin Hasgard.”

“A count’s family on the frontier...? He’s come a long way for a little debauchery.”

Had the marquisate’s pleasure district become that famous for its entertainments? The thought left a bitter taste.

“I have no intention of helping him. Send him away. I needn’t meet a man who indulges in such vulgar pursuits to know his sort.”

He waved a hand as though shooing away an insect. But instead of returning to the estate gates where Daywin waited, the servant added something.

“He has brought Karma’s head.”

“Yes, Karma’s... What?”

“Karma, my lord. The man who acts as master of the pleasure district...”

“I am not asking who Karma is! How could he have... No, never mind. First, I must see that head!”

The marquis shouted in a trembling voice. A little later...

CLACK

The marquis opened the box the servant had brought and swallowed hard.

Hair cropped close like mown grass. A gaunt face with skin stretched tight over bone. It was unmistakably Karma.

Apart from that irritating, habitual smile having frozen cold, the face was exactly as the marquis remembered it.

“... Open the gates for him,” the marquis murmured, closing the box.

“It seems he is well worth speaking to.”

At the marquis’s order, the servant brought Daywin to his room.

A man with almost-white blond hair and jewel-like red eyes. His first impression was more befitting royalty than a count’s family.

“Do you like the gift?” Daywin asked, looking around the marquis’s room.

‘Symbols of the Goddess’s faith everywhere. Quite the devout believer. This should make things easier.’

Just as that thought occurred to him, the marquis spoke.

“How did you take Karma’s head?”

“Well, I cut it off with a sword.”

Daywin shrugged as he answered, and the marquis turned toward him with an incredulous look.

“... Do you know why that man was called Karma?”

The marquis’s question was solemn. Daywin had no idea what he was getting at.

“How would I know? I’m not his damn mother.”

“Karma was not his real name. The masters of the pleasure district have passed down the name Karma for generations. The man you beheaded was the fourth.”

The marquis let out a sigh as he spoke, then handed the box containing the head to his servant, adding an order to burn it.

‘Karma, huh...’

Karma. The weight of one’s deeds.

He had thought it rather grandiose for a back-alley boss’s name. Karma accumulated over four generations.

Evil karma.

“My house has repeatedly tried to clean up the Sixth District, but Karma’s power could never be ignored. In the end, we settled into a mutually beneficial arrangement, and I turned a blind eye. Yes, shameful as it is, I must admit it. Until you brought me his head, I had given up on killing Karma.”

The marquis gestured for Daywin to sit and continued.

“I imagine you already realize this, but with Karma removed, we now have an excellent opportunity to clean up the Sixth District.”

Marquis Fred sounded resolved. This was quite literally a matter of life and death, and his tone made it clear that this time, he intended to put an end to it for good.

“If we sweep away the pleasure district now, the marquisate can grow even further. So... let me ask you.”

Daywin sat, listening calmly.

“What do you want from me?”

Only then did Daywin’s lips curl into a grin.

Meanwhile, at the Hasgard estate.

A party was being held to celebrate the conclusion of the Subjugation Festival. Noble families who had participated were invited to the estate to enjoy food and drink.

On the surface, at least.

The Subjugation Festival brought the kingdom’s nobles, adventurers, knightly orders, and mercenaries together to display their skills. Naturally, new talent would be discovered in the process.

Everyone would learn exactly who possessed what kind of power.

The one who had displayed the most remarkable power at this festival was unquestionably the youngest Hasgard son.

An isolated frontier family that had drawn little attention—a family that lived simply and harmoniously, far removed from power struggles and intrigue—now held the most threatening card of all.

And so the other families visited the estate to verify the rumors about Daywin Hasgard.

“Dyer, Romans, act as though you are simply welcoming our honored guests, but commit everything they say and do to memory. Observe everything,” the head of House Hasgard instructed his sons.

“Yes, Father.”

The Hasgards, too, had an ulterior motive for hosting the party. The head of the house believed the enemy was close at hand. He saw this as an opportunity to find whoever had commissioned Romans’s assassination.

After his two sons dispersed, he returned to where his wife sat. The couple speaking with her were a neighboring count and his wife.

“We were talking about Daywin,” his wife said, and he nodded naturally.

‘As expected, Daywin is all anyone wants to discuss today...’

As he greeted them with a smile, the other man spoke.

“I hear he distinguished himself greatly at the Subjugation Festival. Might we hear the story?”

“Hoho... He merely prevented an unforeseen mishap.”

“Ah, I heard. There were assassins... My condolences. Was anyone hurt?”

“Romans is safe. Perhaps having a younger brother like Daywin is part of his destiny.”

“Come to think of it, you have three sons, don’t you...?”

As though something had occurred to him, the other man hurried on.

“Ah, shouldn’t House Hasgard be choosing an heir soon? With all three so intelligent, you must have quite a dilemma.”

“Indeed. It certainly is a concern.”

“I hear the brothers are very close. Still, conflict is surely inevitable when succession is at stake.”

“No, that isn’t it. None of them wants to inherit Hasgard... That is my concern. They’re grown men, yet not one has any hunger for power.”

The listening count looked stunned. He had killed his younger brothers to become head of his house. A fleeting memory of his decidedly brutal youth made him wince involuntarily.

“I-I see. Then how did your youngest son acquire the power of a paladin...?”

As though reminding himself why he had come to the party, the count brought the conversation back to Daywin.

“Daywin received the Goddess’s power before the Subjugation Festival. I believe he began showing a talent for divine power around the time he recovered from his illness. The Goddess helped him, you see. Hoho.”

“How... fortunate. But I understand there is a considerable difference between possessing divine power and awakening a halo...”

“He says he awakened it the moment he resolved to protect Romans.”

It was only a story Daywin had improvised, but his father believed it wholeheartedly.

“Ah... ha... They truly are close brothers. Then do you intend to raise him as a paladin?”

The count had prepared that question before coming to the party. He needed a definite answer about Daywin’s future.

As the lord of a territory bordering Hasgard, how he would regard Daywin depended on the answer. He might have to devote all his resources to keeping him in check. If Daywin became a paladin, Hasgard would expand its influence even further with the Church’s backing.

“For now, I am leaving it up to Daywin. Though I do hope he becomes a paladin.”

“... Of course you do. And the Church would hardly let such talent slip away...”

At the count’s words, the head of House Hasgard positively beamed.

“Ahaha! You think so too? As it happens, a letter arrived from the paladin order. They said they simply must meet my son. And it wasn’t just any paladin asking, either—the commander himself made the request!”

He was beginning to grow long-winded. Keeping other families in check was important, but he could hardly let such a perfect opportunity to boast about his son pass him by.

“The commander sent a letter...”

“Well, I was surprised at first too, but really, it would take someone of the commander’s standing to make me feel inclined to reply. Daywin is no ordinary boy, after all. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Ha... ha... Y-yes, of course.”

The count agreed reluctantly, but the proud father’s boasting showed no sign of stopping.

“These days, I often dream of Daywin becoming a paladin. If he joins with a halo already, he is certain to become the order’s favorite. The Church will be watching our Daywin closely too!”

“Then... will you also pass the Hasgard family’s spirit on to your third son?”

“Nothing has been decided yet, but I certainly could pass it on to Daywin without a worry.”

Lady Hasgard gave him a look telling him to stop, but he blithely kept talking.

“Hoho! It needn’t even be the paladin order. Whatever Daywin becomes, he will bring glory to our family’s name! Hohohoho!”

“I will become the pleasure district’s new master.”

I had to bring the assassins under my control so they could hunt down the mastermind.

I had to use them. Not as expensive chess pieces carved from jade, but as disposable pawns.

I needed underlings who would live if I told them to live and die if I told them to die.

“... What?”

“You asked what I wanted, did you not?”

I slowly leaned toward the marquis.

“I will become Karma.”