Chapter 94 - When That Snow Melts (2)

Long ago.

Not so very long ago, Vlad had once had that sort of conversation with Jorge’s men.

“Ah. If only I had exactly 100 gold.”

The stock conversations men always had when they gathered.

Liquor, women, old stories with nothing especially remarkable about them.

And once those conversations came full circle, one topic naturally came up.

“What would you do if you had 100 gold?”

“If I had it, I’d quit this crap right away, buy some land somewhere, and settle down.”

“You’ve lived here your whole life. Like hell you’d make a living farming.”

Money.

More precisely, the sort of thing that would never happen, so they had no choice but to imagine it.

“Look at the boss. Business beats farming, of course. I’d get myself a decent building somewhere and...”

“And then you’d go completely broke. You think business is easy?”

A life whose future was plain to see was a sad thing.

That was why, sometimes, this sort of pointless talk was necessary.

Because imagining and talking required no qualifications at all.

“...”

Buy land, buy a building, no, start a business.

In the middle of a conversation that had no meaning but burned with passion all the same, Burleigh looked over at the boy standing apart in the distance.

“Hey, rookie. What would you do if you had 100 gold?”

The youngest member of the organization, who had been quietly mopping while listening to his seniors’ idle talk.

“Is someone giving it to me?”

“You can still talk about it. Talk.”

The blond-haired boy stopped mopping for a moment at Burleigh’s question and thought quietly.

If money suddenly appeared, what would he do first?

“... If it were 100 gold, I’d have to pay off my debts first.”

“What? You’re 100 gold in debt?”

“That bastard’s already going bad. Did you gamble somewhere or something?”

It would never happen, but he could at least imagine it, and even in that imagination, Vlad thought he should pay back his debts first.

“It’s not gambling debt, but there are still a few things I need to repay.”

There was always a long list of people in one corner of Vlad’s mind, people he had to pay back for something.

Most of the names on that list were tied to grudges, but there were also people he truly owed debts to, and at the very top of them was always the same name.

“...328 gold.”

And now, in Vlad’s hand as he prepared to leave Soara, there was far more than 100 gold.

What would he do if he had money?

Burleigh, who would have listened to his answer, was no longer there, but Vlad decided to do what he had always thought of.

There was not much time left before he had to leave.

So now, it was time to repay what he owed.

* * *

“I guess we just don’t fit together somehow.”

“I guess not.”

Amid the noisy guests, the two of them passed mugs of beer back and forth.

Gregory, who had been placed under disciplinary confinement yet again, and Vlad, who had received the punishment of outright expulsion, had both been excluded from their duties and were idly facing each other.

“When are you leaving?”

“About five days left, maybe? I’ll just head out quickly once I’m ready.”

Joseph had given Vlad one week.

It seemed generous enough, but from Vlad’s position, having to leave the city where he had lived his entire life, it was also a strangely tight amount of time.

“... Still, we did finish everything we planned to do.”

The intentions had been good, but the results had not.

Gregory, who in some ways was no different from the one who had caused this whole affair, wanted to show what consideration he could for Vlad, who had to leave the city because of the plan he had suggested.

“People from the Kannor Family will come to Soara before long.”

In any case, Black Bear and his organization had vanished from the back alleys, and in Soara, a space had opened up for the Kannor Family to dig into.

“This is a business that can’t fail. It’s already been coordinated to some extent with Lord Joseph.”

“...”

As Vordan had said, knights were not people who saved money from their salaries.

The advantage of having close ties to influential figures often set knights before glittering gold coins.

“Invest even a little, if only in name. Then I’ll make sure you aren’t disappointed.”

The Kannor Family’s advance into Soara.

If they were other merchants, they would be fighting tooth and nail to take part in this business, but Gregory was saying he would open one corner of the door only to Vlad.

Because the knight before his eyes was someone who more than deserved it.

“How much?”

“I don’t know how much you received as a special bonus, but put in whatever you can spare.”

Gregory’s gaze was fixed on Vlad over his mug of beer.

Originally, the plan had been to slowly put down roots in the back alleys together with Vlad, who knew their circumstances well.

“Hmm.”

Hearing it in words alone, it sounded like the typical method of swindlers, but the man sitting in front of Vlad was a knight of Bayezid, someone whose very name could prove his trustworthiness.

“Would 50 gold do?”

“That should be enough.”

It was nowhere near enough money, but it would be enough of a nominal amount to put his name down.

And the Kannor Family was already one of the families supporting Vlad, so they would surely make sure he was not disappointed.

“Take care of yourself out there.”

“Please take good care of this place while I’m gone.”

“I will.”

Gregory said he was sorry, and Vlad replied by asking him to look after things.

With that, they had each said what they needed to say, and all that was left was to drain their drinks.

“...”

While Gregory lifted his mug of beer, Vlad looked indifferently at the snack set before him.

A sausage cooked red.

“It really was awful.”

Before Vlad saw the world, there had been nothing that looked as delicious to him as that sausage.

But Vlad had now decided not to be satisfied by crude sausages made by the likes of Black Bear.

* * *

“What is this? I told you I don’t need inn fees.”

“I can’t stay here anymore now. And this includes old man Lamund’s share, since he ran off without paying.”

With an awkward joke, Vlad handed Marcella 50 gold.

Because if he did not do even this, he did not think she would accept it.

“... Our inn doesn’t charge that much, you know?”

“This is an investment. Pay it back to me later from the profits.”

Vlad tried using Gregory’s words on Marcella exactly as he had heard them.

“I think Rose’s Smiles will do well enough once it gets through this crisis.”

“... You do?”

Marcella had been pouring quite a bit of money into turning Rose’s Smiles from a brothel into an inn.

But no matter how much money she had saved until now, most of it had been blown away because of One-Armed Jack’s interference, and though she did not show it, Marcella was now struggling with a shortage of funds.

“... Thank you. You won’t regret this investment.”

“In return, from now on you have to use only sausages from the Kannor Family. And promote them too, if possible.”

“Hehe. If those are the conditions, I’ll accept as many as you want.”

If he had simply been pitying her with a child’s heart, she would not have accepted it.

But Vlad was proposing a business of his own in his own way, and under the justification of an investment, he was placing gold coins in her hand.

They were looking at each other not as an adult and a child, but from an equal height, so from Marcella’s position, there was no reason not to accept.

“Please take care of Zemina while I’m gone.”

“I can’t promise that.”

Seeing Marcella’s subtle expression, Vlad could only smile bitterly.

Because ever since Zemina heard that he was being expelled from Soara, she had shut herself up in her room even now and would not come out.

Her sense of loss could only be filled by the existence called Vlad.

“Where are you going?” “I’m a little busy.”

As Vlad went down the stairs for the next task, he stopped for a moment and turned his head.

There stood Marcella, holding the pouch of gold coins he had given her.

“Thank you.” “Hm? For what?”

Jorge had brought him in, but she had washed him.

Until Marcella washed his hair, Vlad’s hair had merely been a dusty ash gray.

Now, quality meat from the Kannor Family would be coming into her inn, and she had gained enough spare funds that she would not have to worry about deficits for the time being.

So Vlad decided to erase Marcella’s name from the names written in his head.

“I’ll be back.”

There were only a few days left now of the time Joseph had given him.

Vlad hurried out of the inn and went to the graveyard at the monastery, where he wiped down the old blacksmith’s gravestone.

His hands felt as though they would freeze in the cold weather, but he did it anyway.

“Thank you.”

Because he wanted to give his final farewell to the old blacksmith, whom he would not see for a long time.

Along with that final farewell to him, Vlad erased the old blacksmith’s name from the list in his head.

“I was only repaying a life debt.”

“Even so, I really wanted to say thank you.”

Vlad went to City Hall and bowed his head to the knight who had protected Rose’s Smiles in his place.

Though he said he had merely repaid what he owed, the knight Maksim had volunteered to confront the bishop’s soldiers.

Vlad bowed his head to Maksim, who had made enemies for his sake, and as he watched the man accept his thanks, he erased yet another name from his list.

He brought Vordan, who had read the order in his stead, the sweets he liked.

He bought Otar, who had believed in him and followed him, a fine axe.

Each time he placed something in someone’s hand and bowed his head in thanks, the names in Vlad’s mind were erased one by one.

“...”

There were also people like Joseph, Jager, and Priest Andreas, whom he could not dare repay.

Vlad was not yet in a position to give them anything, so he decided to promise it for the future.

And now, among the names written on the list, only the oldest name remained.

“Why did you want to come here?”

“To pay back a debt.”

“What debt?”

Haven, who had followed Vlad out with limping steps, soon saw a large building leaning beside the frozen river.

“This is a shipyard.”

“Yeah. It’s a shipyard.”

The harsh weather of the North often froze the river, which was like a lifeline, for about half the year, but Soara, the city at the southernmost edge of the North, could somewhat escape that effect.

This shipyard was proof of that.

“But why did we come here?”

“I told you, I’m paying back a debt.”

A shipyard was a place that made ships, but it was also a place that sold ships.

Of course, that process required complicated procedures, but for Vlad, who was a knight, that did not apply very much.

“Ooh... Look at that. It’s a nao-class ship. Is it trapped because of the river? The captain must be getting anxious.”

“That one was too expensive.”

“Huh?”

Having entered the shipyard with Vlad guiding him, Haven began looking around happily, like a child.

“I’ve always wanted to come here at least once.”

“...”

Haven had liked ships ever since he was young.

He had constantly talked about how one day he would buy a ship, cross the river with that ship, and escape the back alleys.

As if making a vow, as if saying he would not forget, just like that.

And young Vlad, watching that Haven, had learned how to look at the stars.

“Do you still want to ride a ship?” “Of course.”

“You want to go far away from Soara?”

“Obviously. What is this? Why are you asking?”

Haven, who had said he would absolutely go out to the distant sea before he died.

But for Vlad and Zemina, Haven had ended up with his ankles caught in the dark back alleys.

“That one was 200 gold.”

There had been a day when Vlad carved a shabby cane for Haven, who had sat down for his sake.

That day, as he squatted somewhere in the back alleys and carved wood, Vlad had made up his mind.

That he would definitely repay Haven.

And so he had deeply engraved his name at the very highest place in his mind.

“A cog?”

The place Vlad pointed to.

A small ship tucked away in a corner of the shipyard.

Still, as if to show that it was a sailing vessel, it had one square sail raised, and it was a cog, the kind said to be used most often by merchants who traveled the river.

“That one was a little cheaper. So I bought it.”

“Huh?”

Haven, who did not understand what had just been said, asked back with a foolish sound, but Vlad merely beckoned for a shipyard employee to come over.

“It’s yours now.”

“...”

Vlad held out the paper the shipyard employee had brought and said,

“Sign it. In your name.”

The white paper held by the shipyard employee.

It was a ship’s certificate proving the owner of the vessel.

“No, what, what is this...”

Haven stammered in confusion at the sudden turn of events, but soon, when he felt something settle over his head, even his stammering stopped.

“From today on, you’re Captain Haven.”

What the shipyard employee had brought was not only a certificate waiting for a signature.

A stiff, triangular hat.

It was a captain’s hat, said to be worn only by those who owned a ship.

Crippled Haven.

But from today on, he had thrown off that shabby back-alley name and been gifted a new one.

“... Captain Haven.”

From his trembling eyes as he looked at the smiling Vlad, a deep moisture began to spread.

What would you do if you had 100 gold?

There was no one left now to listen, but Vlad was answering that question now.

“Captain Haven, Captain...”

Each time Haven’s name was engraved on the blank white signature line, his name was erased from the list in Vlad’s head.

There had been a day when Vlad wept as he carved wood for Haven, who had sat down for his sake.

But now, the one shedding tears was Haven, and in his hands was not a shabby wooden cane, but an entire ship with sails.

Haven, whose ankle had been cut, would still walk with a limp, but if he was on the sea instead of the land, he would be able to stand prouder than anyone else.

Because that was a world that moved not by feet, but by sails.