Chapter 24 - The Stars Were Watching the Boy Too (1)

"They must be sparring."

As Peter walked through the estate, he leaned out at the sound coming from directly below.

"Squires, is it?"

"It would seem so."

There, under an instructor's guidance, the squires had gathered and were sparring with wooden swords.

Peter would often secretly watch the knights or squires train like this.

Peter Bayezid, not only the Family Head but also one of the knights who represented the North.

The fact that a man of such renown, someone who could be an object of admiration to others, might be watching anytime and anywhere often served as powerful motivation for the squires here.

"I will watch for a moment."

"Yes."

Moreover, since those who showed outstanding qualities in training were rewarded in their own way and had their morale raised, the knights and squires of the Bayezid Family always trained with the mindset that it was real combat.

Everything was exactly as Peter intended.

"Is that him?"

"I heard he had blond hair."

"And he is one I have never seen before, so that must be him."

Peter usually checked on the state of training, but today his gaze was especially drawn to one particular squire.

"He has a clean look to him."

A blond-haired squire who stood out even from a distance.

The child brought in by his second son, who had always been a sore spot for him, was there.

"Family Head. Over there."

As Peter focused on watching Vlad, his adviser Ragmus quietly whispered to him.

"It is Jager."

"It seems he is secretly watching, just like us."

Where Ragmus pointed, the one-eyed knight Jager was looking down at the blond boy with a grave expression.

"The first of anything is bound to weigh on one's mind."

Knowing that Jager had taken on a squire for the first time, Peter only smiled quietly.

"Let us see."

The one Joseph had brought in, and the one Jager was concerned about.

"..."

"He looks fierce."

That boy was now down below, fiercely swinging his sword against a squire a full head taller than him.

"He is clumsy."

"Is that so?"

It may not have been visible to Ragmus, who was a mage, but Peter recognized Vlad's level from just one movement of his sword.

"But there is a flash of something in him. I can see why Joseph would be captivated."

"He certainly does seem to have something different about him compared to the big one."

Fierce.

Fast.

And without hesitation.

"Admirable."

"What is?"

But more than the talents he had been born with, Peter valued another side of Vlad more highly.

"That he is trying to make use of what he learned, however clumsily."

Even amid the vicious exchange of offense and defense, the blond boy was not shrinking back as he moved this way and that, trying to draw out his opponent's movements.

He was attempting and challenging.

The boy below was struggling to become better.

"It is a mess."

Though those movements, which resembled someone's footwork, were so clumsy they almost made him laugh, Peter very much liked the sight of him trying somehow to make it work.

They were movements that made one cheer for him without even realizing it.

"Good."

The large squire's wooden sword rose high into the air.

It looked like a motion meant to finish things, but all of it had been intended by the blond boy.

"It is over."

Just as Peter said, the blond boy was already sitting on top of his opponent and pounding him in the face.

After drawing out a large movement, he had swiftly struck the other boy in the abdomen.

Though the execution had been clumsy, the result itself was a clear-cut movement.

"I wonder if it is all right to beat him that much during training..."

"Leave him be. If he is to become a knight, he needs at least that much spirit."

Peter resumed his halted steps and looked at the knight in the distance.

The one-eyed knight who had been looking down at his squire from afar was smiling quietly.

* * *

Vlad had always been someone who moved first.

Because he had to find things and move faster than anyone else if he wanted to get today's food.

"Stop! Stop!"

Even at the instructor's call, Vlad did not stop the punching that was disguised as sparring.

"Grrgh..."

"Try smirking in front of me like you did back then one more time."

And so, this time as well, he decided to move first.

It was obvious that sooner or later there would be a beating disguised as an initiation.

Vlad judged that rather than sit still and get beaten while surrounded by them, he would break their spirit in advance.

Because from Vlad's point of view, waiting idly with a threat approaching was no different from suicide.

"Answer me, you fucker."

"A-All right."

At Vlad's violence, which had gone far beyond the line, the large boy had no choice but to answer with frightened eyes.

The boy being beaten now was one of the ones who had snickered beside Sovanin, the one who had spat in the dining hall that day.

In back-alley terms, he was something like one of Sovanin's lackeys.

"I said stop! Do my words sound like a joke to you!"

"I'm sorry. I got too into it."

Only after the instructor shouted did Vlad pull away, but the boy lying on the ground could not easily get up.

'What the hell was with those eyes?'

What had flowed in Vlad's eyes as he growled at him just now had undoubtedly been murderous intent.

It was something that should never appear in a mere spar, and it was also the first time in his life he had faced such a raw feeling.

Even with his eyes closed, those icy-blue eyes felt as though they were right in front of him, and the fallen squire could not easily rise.

"..."

"..."

And every squire here was watching that sight.

Just like that day in the dining hall.

Vlad, who had already risen and dusted himself off, walked over to Sovanin and spoke quietly.

"Tell him I'm sorry. Once I get into something, I lose my head."

"You crazy son of a bitch."

Because Vlad was smiling as he spoke, from the outside it might have looked like they were sharing a light joke, but the conversation between the two was nothing short of vicious.

"And I'll apologize to you in advance too."

Sovanin frowned and glared silently at Vlad.

Though his expression was smiling, Vlad's eyes alone were flashing eerily.

"Because I won't end it with you at that level."

"What?"

Sovanin was tense.

There had never been anyone like this before.

Though he was not a noble, Sovanin's father ran a fairly large merchant company, so there were even people who lowered themselves before he had to scare them.

But this bastard...

"You can look forward to it."

This son of a bitch really was insane.

Watching Vlad speak while grinning, Sovanin sincerely thought that.

Lord Joseph had brought a mad dog from the back alleys.

"If the soup tastes bland, I'll call you, so come spit in it then."

A mad dog was smiling right in front of Sovanin.

Looking at Vlad's smile, Sovanin swallowed hard.

Because a mad dog did not hesitate to bite people.

* * *

"Boss, are you all right? The other guys haven't been hurting you or anything, have they?"

"It's been great lately. Everyone avoids me as soon as they see me, so I even get plenty of room when I bathe."

"... I don't think that's a good thing."

At Got's words, Vlad merely shrugged.

"Well, you have been going around beating the squires half to death."

Got looked at Vlad and shook his head.

"Since you wreck at least three a day, of course everyone avoids you, Boss..."

"I believe it's better to strike first when there is going to be a fight."

Truly worthy of someone from the back alleys.

Looking at Vlad, Got thought so.

Immediately after the incident in the dining hall, Vlad had shown such swift action that even Got was surprised.

Among the squires, Vlad picked out the ones who were close to Sovanin and strutted around, then followed them one by one like a wolf stalking sheep and beat the shit out of them.

In the bathroom, in the bathhouse, in the estate's secluded corridors.

Anyone caught alone had to see Vlad's icy-blue glare.

Jorge had said it.

If you only beat them moderately, they get uppity.

"That's a crime. If you beat them that badly, it's a crime."

"I was a criminal to begin with. Assault is on the mild side, if anything. And it's fine because I hit them where it doesn't show."

"Ah, right."

Got nodded after hearing Vlad's words.

Because Vlad spent so much time tangled up with boys his age, he had briefly mistaken him for an ordinary boy, but Vlad was a guy who had been a Decurion among rough mercenaries before even turning seventeen.

"Just don't beat them so much that people start noticing something's off."

"That depends on what they do."

While the two exchanged quiet words, they had already entered the dining hall.

There were servants pretending not to see Vlad, and squires who had already been beaten and could not dare look at him.

"See? It's comfortable and nice when they don't bother me."

"..."

"Today's lunch is sausage."

Perhaps happy at the sight of meat, Vlad hummed as he picked up his tray.

And there was one gaze watching Vlad carefully as he walked away smiling.

"Just one more..."

Vlad had smiled affably in front of the serving counter and asked for another sausage, but the maid in front of him was a middle-aged maid who had spent years in the Bayezid Family.

"Then the people behind you won't get any."

"Come on, please..."

"..."

Looking at the middle-aged maid, who refused him firmly with her eyes, Vlad had no choice but to leave the serving counter.

'If not for Lord Joseph, I would have thrown myself on the floor.'

Unlike his thin appearance, Vlad tended to be greedy about food.

Given the place he had been born, it was no different from an instinct naturally embedded in him.

After failing the negotiation, Vlad and Got sat down at the table with somewhat disappointed faces.

"Still, this is more than enough."

"We're living in luxury compared to when we were mercenaries, right, Boss?"

Just as they picked up their utensils and were about to put food in their mouths.

"H-Hello."

Someone gave an awkward greeting from in front of Vlad.

"... What are you?"

Vlad frowned slightly, wondering if this was another attempt to pick a fight, but the boy sitting in front of him now did not look like the type to do so.

A short, squat height, plump cheeks, and even eyes buried in flesh and hard to see.

"I'm... Portly. Portly Kannor."

He was sorry to say it out loud, but the boy looked like he would roll if pushed.

"All right, Portly. What do you want from me?"

"Um..."

Vlad furrowed his brow slightly.

The sight of a guy standing in front of him with a tray and hesitating was not pleasant at all, and judging by the way he was mumbling, it seemed like it would take him a while to get the words out.

"Sit down or piss off."

"Huh?"

"Don't hover in front of me and set my stomach on edge."

It was clearly an order to leave, but perhaps Portly took Vlad's words as permission to sit, because his face brightened.

"Thank you for telling me to sit."

"..."

Vlad looked at Portly with an expression that said what the hell is with this guy, but since it felt awkward to drive out someone sitting there with a shy smile, he decided for now to focus on lunch.

"I've been eating alone all this time. Actually, I used to eat alone in the bathroom."

"... I'm eating right now."

Through that brief conversation, Vlad realized that before him, this boy had been the target of bullying.

"Sausage is tasty, isn't it?"

"Just shut up and eat."

Not that he had any reason to care.

"... Eat this too."

Seeing Vlad stuff his only sausage into his mouth in one bite and smack his lips regretfully, Portly carefully pushed his own sausage onto Vlad's tray.

"What are you doing right now?"

Vlad craved everything he could get his hands on, but empty pity and suspicious goodwill were exceptions.

Yet even under Vlad's sharp gaze, Portly carefully continued speaking.

He looked like a clerk dealing with a sharp-tempered customer.

"Just because you do this, I..."

"My father supplies these sausages."

"... What?"

Perhaps because he had been bullied all this time, Portly had been dispirited, but when he spoke of his father, he spoke proudly.

"All the meat brought into the Bayezid Family is provided by our Kannor Family. Our house has been in livestock and animal husbandry for generations."

"... Go on."

Vlad had briefly forgotten.

That the boys here were all young masters from good families.

Even the plump boy in front of him was someone he likely would not have been able to speak to back when he was in the back alleys.

"I saw you asking for more sausage earlier."

"I did."

"Did you know? Sausage is preserved food, so while it isn't as much as dried meat, mercenaries with money often look for it."

"And?"

Just as Vlad was beginning to get irritated by the conversation that was not quite on point.

"So my father sent me a lot of different things to eat."

Portly smiled as he said that his room had a lot of sausages and salted meats his father had given him.

"It's too much to eat alone... so should I share some with you?"

"..."

Vlad thought.

He might not be on Priest Andreas's level, but since he had come this far, wouldn't it be good to build at least one connection?

The ones he had already made enemies of could not be helped, but if he got to know at least one person here, wouldn't it help his life even a little someday?

"All right."

If he was the son of a meat purveyor from a family large enough to supply a count's house, he would definitely have some use.

Vlad thought that he was not going to Portly's room just because of the sausages.

* * *

In front of Portly's room.

Vlad and Got could not help gaping.

"... Why did you come here?"

"To become a squire."

"... Not a knight, just a squire is enough?"

"Yeah. As if I could ever become a knight. Father didn't expect much either. He did want me to come here and at least make some connections, though."

Portly smiled bashfully, saying that had not gone well, but neither Vlad nor Got could even see Portly's smile.

Red sausages and salted meats were strewn all over the room.

Looking at the room, which showed not the slightest trace of a knight, Vlad let out a hollow laugh.

This guy really did not belong here.

"Starting tomorrow... want to eat together?"

"Really? You'll do that for me?"

Then there was no need to reject him.

Vlad's eyes shone as he looked at the sausages hanging here and there like decorations.

"But bring only sausages."

Portly's sausages were not the sort of thing that would give him trouble if he ate them.

In various senses.