Kays Translations

Chapter 12: An Encounter

The clock turns back roughly an hour, to a corner of the Imperial Capital.

“That was seriously delicious.”

Ren muttered as he left a popular restaurant.

The same restaurant had appeared in Legend of the Seven Heroes. Its dishes had been rendered with painstakingly detailed 3D models that made players’ mouths water.

Seeing those dishes for himself and filling his stomach had left Ren thoroughly satisfied.

He had ended up visiting the Imperial Capital, a place he had long avoided. Surely he was allowed at least one benefit from the trip.

Thinking it was about time to return to the inn, he turned toward the road leading to the main street.

“That hurt!”

“Hey! Watch where you’re going, old man!”

As he walked through an alley, an elderly man and several young men who looked like adventurers bumped shoulders in front of him.

The old man boldly snapped, “Huh!? Takes two to bump into each other!” and only provoked the young adventurers further.

Ren, however, was more worried about the adventurers.

Although the alley was dim, one look at the old man’s build told Ren what he was.

(That man is a dwarf.)

He stood about as tall as Ren, but his compact frame was disproportionately muscular and powerful. His long beard curled as though it had been singed by fire, making him look exactly like the dwarves commonly seen in fantasy stories.

“P-please wait!”

Ren leaped between them and tried to stop the dispute before it became a fight.

Perhaps the sight of a boy intervening took the fight out of them. The young adventurers promptly left after tossing out, “You’re lucky, old man.”

Relieved, Ren put a hand to his chest and looked at the elderly dwarf.

“Well, well! The Imperial Capital hasn’t gone completely to the dogs yet!”

“…If I hadn’t stopped you, those young adventurers would have been injured.”

“Huh? You don’t think I’m the one who would’ve gotten hurt?”

(What an ego…)

Ren suppressed the dry smile threatening to appear and answered calmly.

“Even adventurers are at a disadvantage against a dwarf in a contest of raw strength. Though if they drew their swords, who knows?”

“Huh. You know your stuff for such a little runt.”

The dwarf then told Ren to crouch down.

Wondering why, Ren reluctantly did as he was told.

“All right. Let’s get moving.”

The elderly dwarf climbed onto Ren’s back without the slightest hesitation and made himself comfortable.

Ren naturally stared in disbelief. Despite his short stature, the dwarf was extremely heavy, and Ren could feel the dense muscles covering his entire body.

“—What?”

“I twisted my ankle back there. Since you’re such a fine lad, I’ll grant you the honor of carrying me.”

(What is with this guy?)

“Come on, move it.”

Did Ren no longer have the right to refuse? He heaved a deep sigh, decided this too must be some kind of fate, and reluctantly began walking.

Even in the Imperial Capital, a boy walking around with a dwarf on his back attracted attention.

Most people did not enjoy being subjected to curious stares.

Ren was no exception, so he wanted to avoid the crowds.

“That way. My workshop’s over there.”

The dwarf on his back pointed imperiously. Fortunately, the route he indicated led through the back alleys, allowing them to avoid the main street.

Ren followed his directions without protest and walked through the Imperial Capital for several dozen minutes.

Unlike when they had first set out, the dwarf eventually fell silent.

Ren began to worry that he had fallen asleep, but at just the right moment, the dwarf spoke.

“Kid.”

“Yes, yes. What is it?”

“You have a skill related to physical enhancement, don’t you?”

The unexpected words struck directly at the truth, startling Ren inwardly.

Even so, the boy feigned a composure beyond his years.

“I don’t know. I’ve never had my skills checked.”

“Huh… Never had them checked, you say?”

“That’s a rather suspicious way of putting it.”

“Sorry. Occupational habit.”

“You mentioned having a workshop. Does this have something to do with your profession?”

“Yeah. I’m a blacksmith and a magic ship engineer. I deal with sword users often, so I couldn’t help noticing.”

That explanation made enough sense for Ren to nod.

“Still, being both a blacksmith and a magic ship engineer is unusual.”

“I hear that a lot. But the trades aren’t entirely unrelated. Both involve processing metals and monster materials. Take either craft far enough, and the two start to overlap.”

“Ah… I see.”

“I’ll make you something sometime, kid. Something other than a sword, I suppose.”

“Huh? Why anything but a sword?”

A blacksmith presumably forged swords as well, so Ren tilted his head at the way the dwarf had excluded one from the outset.

The dwarf pointed at the magic sword hanging from Ren’s waist before explaining.

“That thing’s a magic tool or something, isn’t it?”

Again.

How many times was this man going to strike directly at the heart of the matter?

“It isn’t.”

“You say that, but here’s what’s strange: I can’t hear the voice of its materials. Not metal, not monster material—nothing.”

“You can hear swords speak—?”

“Strange, isn’t it? I understand how you feel. The world is a big place, but I’m probably the only one who can hear them.”

Ren was unsure how seriously to take the story. Still, after the dwarf had twice seen through things he should not have known, Ren could not simply dismiss him.

Ren gave no further answer.

The dwarf, meanwhile, seemed satisfied with his own conclusion and muttered, “Well, never mind.”

“Oh, we’re about there.”

The dwarf climbed down from Ren’s back and planted his feet on the cobblestones.

The impact made him wince, and faint tears gathered in his eyes. Apparently, he had only been putting on a brave face.

“Are you all right now?”

“Yep. I’ll run home from here! See you again!”

Oblivious to Ren’s concern, the dwarf took off running by himself.

Ren watched his retreating back with a wry smile.

If he was going to make his own way home now, there had been no need to hold back even if his ankle hurt. Thinking that, Ren watched until the dwarf disappeared from sight.

Left behind, Ren muttered,

“He said he’d make me something… but after parting like that, how are we supposed to meet again?”

It was not as though he had truly expected anything, but the complaint slipped out all the same.

Now it was time for him to return to the inn.

Whatever form it took, helping someone did not feel bad. Replaying the dwarf’s striking words in his mind, Ren turned toward home—

—Only to stop short moments later.

This was a quiet district whose streets spread across sharply differing elevations.

Ren had followed the dwarf’s directions up a slope, his attention captured by the man’s suggestive remarks.

Now that he had calmed down and looked around, an especially familiar scene lay before him.

Looking down the slope, he saw tightly packed houses and countless shops illuminated by black, antique-style streetlamps.

But that was not the sight he needed to see.

Drawing a long breath, Ren turned his gaze toward a stretch of level ground a short distance away.

There stood an enormous school building.

The Imperial Military Academy.

This was the Academy District.

The academy was the largest school in the district and a prestigious institution famous both within the empire and abroad. Lights still shone from some of its windows, suggesting people remained inside.

From a distant slope, Ren looked down at the academy.

He silently studied its vast, verdant gardens, its numerous research facilities, and the immense main building crowned by a deep navy roof.

“…”

Complex emotions unlike anything he had experienced before surged through his entire body.

A shameful urge to flee at once warred with a powerful resolve to resist his fate—to declare that even after seeing the academy with his own eyes, he would not be defeated.

Before he knew it, several minutes had passed.

—Click.

The sound of a shoe striking the pavement came from behind him.

There was only one set of footsteps, and it drew closer to Ren.

“Hello, Ren Ashton.”

It was a man’s voice.

Ren had never heard that voice before, yet he knew who it belonged to.

He started to turn and answer its owner.

But the man said, “You can stay as you are,” so Ren kept his eyes on the Imperial Military Academy and waited for him to approach.

Without looking at the man who came to stand beside him, Ren spoke as well.

“Then there is no need to thank me, either. You have already done so many times in your letters.”

“I see. Then I’ll respect your wishes.”

It was a strange sensation.

Although they had never met and the other man occupied an extraordinary position, something resembling trust already existed between them.

They stood in a silence that might have been described as the quiet born of mutual understanding.

“What did you think when you saw the academy Viscount Given invited you to attend?”

“I found myself wondering, this late in the day, whether that man really had been capable of writing a letter of recommendation.”

“Kuh… Hahahaha! Then your concern is needless! He could at least arrange a letter of recommendation—back then, anyway!”

“Could he?”

“Yes! He was an assistant to the Minister of Justice, however nominally. Still, a recommendation only exempts an applicant from some of the written examinations. It could not spare you the final examination Fiona underwent.”

Come to think of it, Ren had wondered why Fiona had taken the entrance examination if even Viscount Given could arrange a recommendation.

Once he heard the explanation, everything clicked into place.

In time, they turned simultaneously to face one another.

At last, their eyes met.

“—A pleasure to meet you, Ren Ashton.”

“—A pleasure to meet you, Marquis Ulysses Ignat.”

They had made no appointment.

Yet here and now, the two finally met.

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