Chapter 35 - What Must Be Given and What Must Be Received (1)

When he opened his eyes, it was an unfamiliar ceiling.

"I'm dying..."

In truth, it was the ceiling he had been looking at since yesterday.

But no matter how many times he looked, the ornate patterns set into the ceiling only felt unfamiliar.

For a boy from the back alleys, the aesthetic sense of nobles was still a realm difficult to follow.

"Ugh..."

Vlad tried to lift his hand toward the pitcher beside him, but his joints began to ache as if he had come down with a severe fever.

He had no serious external injuries to speak of, but "his whole body ached" was the exact description of Vlad's current condition.

It could not be helped.

After all, he had broken through the shell surrounding him with every ounce of strength he had.

"... Goethe."

"Why, boss? Is something wrong? Should I call someone?"

Goethe, who had been dozing in the chair beside the bed, sprang awake at Vlad's call and began asking in an overly anxious voice.

"..."

Vlad was not at all pleased by Goethe's transparent reaction, but by now he simply accepted it.

He knew perfectly well why Goethe was at his side.

"Get me some water."

"Got it! Huh?"

Vlad watched Goethe hurry out of the room, saying there was no water in the pitcher, and thought.

At least he was worth keeping around to that degree.

His intentions were obvious and his purpose was clear, so while Vlad did not know if he could trust him, he was at least the kind of fellow one could keep nearby and watch in advance.

In life, there were plenty of bastards who approached you smiling to your face while hiding a sharp blade behind their backs.

Rather than be stabbed without even being prepared for such bastards, it was better to keep someone like Got at his side.

"... And he does his work well."

The fact that, despite being a former mercenary, he did his duties as a stablekeeper of the Bayezid Family meant that, at the very least, Got was not so incompetent that he would starve to death wherever he went.

He hated to admit it, but Got had helped him in one way or another, so Vlad intended to let him pick up at least a few crumbs that fell from him.

He could fully understand Got's desire to cling to him as well.

CLICK.

While he was organizing his thoughts for a moment, the door opened and Got entered.

"Pour me some water."

"..."

Vlad, who had been staring at the still-unfamiliar ceiling with vacant eyes, naturally ordered Got to pour the water.

If Got wanted to call him boss, that much was only proper.

GLUG, GLUG.

Listening to Got quietly pour water into the cup, Vlad turned his head.

And he let out a sound like air escaping in place of a scream.

"Huuuh..."

"Were you resting well?"

The person who had been silently pouring water beside him.

"I'm glad to see you seem to have recovered your strength."

The man pouring the water with a more generous smile than usual was Joseph, the person Vlad had sworn to serve with loyalty.

Realizing that he had committed a great discourtesy, Vlad hurriedly bowed his head and cried out.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"Enough. Stay comfortable."

Aching body or not, Vlad hurriedly accepted the cup of water Joseph handed him and drank, not knowing what to do with himself.

Water he failed to swallow spilled down onto the blanket.

"Does anywhere hurt in particular?"

"... No, sir."

Perhaps the cold water had helped him come to his senses, because Vlad answered in the polite posture he had learned while being beaten countless times by Jager.

"I see."

Joseph sat down in the chair Got had occupied until just a moment ago and looked at Vlad.

"Thank you. To be honest, I never imagined you would go that far for me."

Thinking of the good fight Vlad had put up that day, Joseph spoke to his squire with sincerity.

"Thank you, sir."

Realizing that Joseph's words were sincere, Vlad pointlessly clenched both his fists and tried to bring back the feeling from that day.

There were faint memories that came to mind.

They were memories like dried flowers whose fragrance had all faded, but merely recalling them was enough to make his heart beat faster.

"But the duel..."

If this had been an ordinary relationship between a noble and a squire, he would not even have been able to ask such a question.

But Vlad judged that he had come far enough to ask this much.

He knew well that he was one of the few sailors aboard the great ship called Joseph, and one of the people Joseph had placed expectations upon.

Vlad of Soara was a man Joseph had permitted.

"Right. The duel. I should tell you about that."

Ever since he had woken up here, Vlad had been curious about the outcome of the duel.

What had happened to the aquamarine-haired woman who had wept so pitifully?

Had Joseph, who had asked him to hold out for ten minutes, achieved what he wanted?

Vlad had many questions, but Got, who was attending him at his side, was merely a stablekeeper, and the only people who occasionally came and went were maids who came to tend his wounds, so until now there had been no one appropriate to ask.

"You were one of the parties to the duel, so of course you have the right to hear the results in detail."

And now, in front of Vlad, was the person who held everything about the duel in his hands.

Joseph nodded at Vlad's question and opened his mouth.

"The duel has been deferred."

"Deferred, sir...?"

"It means it was put off without reaching a result."

Joseph told Vlad that the rules of the sacred duel and the Sword Master's code had become entangled, making the situation rather complicated.

Vlad nodded as he listened to Joseph.

The Sword Master's code.

Though it had not told him the proper outcome of the duel, there had been a voice that had clearly explained what the Sword Master's code was.

"To become a knight, one must swear an oath according to the Sword Master's code. Vlad, if things go well for you too, the day will come when you swear that oath."

As the basic procedure for becoming a knight flowed from Joseph's mouth, Vlad felt something ticklish rising from deep in his chest.

A knight.

He had always longed for that word, which felt special just from speaking it aloud.

And now the boy had taken one step onto the path toward becoming a knight.

It was the moment a dream became a goal.

"I hope you take good care of yourself. It would be troublesome if you stayed here too long."

"I can go right now..."

"You cannot."

Joseph rose from his seat and spoke.

"I am someone who knows to cherish what must be cherished."

Joseph smiled as he looked at Vlad.

"There will be a reward for this matter. So rest comfortably."

An explanation of the result, a sincere word, and even a promise to give him what he deserved.

Joseph, who had come here and said only what needed to be said, quietly stepped out the door.

"..."

Vlad quietly mulled over Joseph's words, then turned his head and looked at the sword he had placed beside the bed.

The red light of the sun, just beginning to set, rode in through the window and hung upon the unadorned sword.

"A reward, huh."

Joseph's words that he would give Vlad what he deserved because he had done what needed to be done were, in truth, not something that always held true.

Especially in the back alleys where the boy had lived.

A reward was not something that always followed effort, and sometimes it was not given even when there were results.

So he was lucky.

To have met someone like Joseph.

Thinking so, Vlad reached toward the sword that had been with him ever since he had left Soara.

The sword that an unskilled old blacksmith had made last with all his strength.

The one and only existence he could always rely on, no matter what became of effort or results.

"I did all right back then, didn't I?"

At Vlad's question, the sword was crying.

This time, it was not the unadorned sword, but the voice within his soul making the sound.

* * *

An empty corridor dyed in the red of twilight.

There was a man walking down a corridor where it seemed no one would pass.

A knight who knew no honor.

Jubert of the Shazad Family was leaving after completing all his duties at the Heinal Family.

If it was a failure, then one could call it a failure, but even his lord would understand once he heard of the current situation.

One could not blame the sea because the waves rose, nor could one blame the sky because the wind blew.

That day's events had been beyond even Jubert's ability to do anything about.

It had been a kind of disaster.

'The more I think about it, the more absurd it is.'

For the circumstances to line up like that.

Remembering the events at the dueling ground, which seemed more absurd the more he thought about them, Jubert wet his dry lips with his tongue.

Just as he was walking down the corridor, lost in thought.

"Oh my... What a violent greeting."

There was a sword that suddenly thrust out from the shadows at the end of the corridor.

"... I do not think you need to go this far."

"But I want to go this far, you see."

A one-eyed man walked out from the dark shadows.

Jager, knight of Bayezid.

Concealing his anger behind his left eye covered by an eyepatch, he had been waiting in the darkness for the knight who knew no honor.

"How long have you been waiting? Do you have nothing to do?"

"I'm on leave today."

"Is it not a waste to spend your leave this way?"

Even with a cold blade pressed against his neck, Jubert did not give up the smile on his face.

He looked like a man who would die smiling until the very moment of his death.

"One must always use one's leave to take care of overdue work."

But when it came to twisted personalities, Jager was no easy man either.

Amid false laughter and a cold expression, the two knights faced each other.

"I know you have a grievance, but I had no choice either."

"I suspect I have no choice as well."

A drop of bright red blood began to flow from the tip of Jager's sword, which was pressing down on Jubert's neck.

A single falling drop of blood soaked into the red carpet laid across the corridor floor.

"Are you going to kill me?"

"..."

At Jubert's question, still full of composure despite the blood flowing from his neck, Jager answered only with silence.

"That hurts. We are in the same line of work, so you should understand this much."

Though his mouth said it hurt, Jubert brought two fingers together and gently pushed away the tip of Jager's sword.

A faint light was gathered at his fingertips.

"Well, what can one do? If your master tells you to bark, you bark."

For a knight, the most important thing was his lord's order, and the second was his own honor.

That was why, for a knight who knew no honor, there was only one important thing.

His lord's order.

"Aren't you a dog who only bites when your lord tells you to bite? Others call us swords, but in reality, that is not what we are."

Jager did not answer the man sneering in front of him.

WHAM!

"Urgh!"

Instead, he sent a fist flying with his anger behind it.

Bright red blood sprayed from Jubert's face.

"My lord has a good personality, so he is fine with a light bite."

"Ugh... You have it easy."

Spitting out something fishy from his ruined mouth, Jubert smiled.

"Is this enough?"

"One more."

No sooner had Jubert's question ended than Jager's sharply raised knee drove into Jubert's abdomen.

"Cough, cough."

"We are in the same trade, so you will understand this much, won't you?"

"Cough... Mm. Truly... appropriate."

Seeing Jubert remain composed even while being beaten, Jager frowned.

At the dueling ground that day, the knight who knew no honor had deceived Alicia and toyed with Joseph.

For Jager, whose lord's honor had been toyed with, it was a matter he could not possibly let pass.

However, killing the knight before him was not a matter he himself, no, not even Joseph, could decide easily.

Their relationship had already soured beyond any claim of being a relationship at all, but here, they were merely invited guests.

Moreover, killing a knight of another family was an act no different from a declaration of war.

Though their relationship with Shazad had broken down, deciding whether to put that into action lay beyond Joseph's authority.

Only one person could decide that.

Peter Bayezid, the master of the Bayezid Family.

"I do hope we meet again."

"Well, I do think we will see each other before long."

Knowing those circumstances, the two knights exchanged, however meagerly, what had to be given and what had to be received.

"The empire is growing loose, and it is a time when people gather according to their will, is it not?"

Even Jager clicked his tongue inwardly as he watched Jubert smile as if nothing had happened, despite having been beaten.

"Let us meet again."

Watching Jubert walk away, waving a hand above his head, Jager quietly sheathed his sword.

Jubert was probably right.

Such a time was coming.

A time when swords would be needed more than ever.