Kays Translations

Chapter 40: In a Corner of the City

Ren rode straight back to a familiar destination: House Clausel’s mansion in Elendil.

A servant who had recently arrived from Clausel greeted him at the entrance.

“Welcome home. If you’re looking for Licia-sama, she is still studying.”

The woman had long looked after both Ren and Licia and was one of Licia’s personal attendants.

Ren did not want to disturb Licia, so he went quietly to Lessard’s office.

The moment he entered, he said, “There is something I need to report.”

“Hmm? This is rather sudden.”

Lessard looked mildly surprised, but remained composed and invited Ren to stand before his desk.

He folded his arms and joked, “I recently received word that a group believed to be bandits attacked merchants outside the city. You didn’t happen to capture those rumored bandits, did you?”

“…”

Ren’s silence answered him.

Lessard blinked several times. After staring at Ren for a long moment, he asked, “Which was stronger—the bandits or Asval?”

“Eh…?”

“Forgive me. I was so startled that I made a ridiculous joke. Yet somehow, I am not as surprised as I expected to be.”

Certainly, the news did not compare with hearing that Ren had defeated Asval.

The Demon King cult’s possible involvement was far more alarming than Ren’s victory itself.

Instead of scolding him, Lessard lowered his head.

“Thank you.”

The gratitude came so suddenly that Ren was caught off guard.

“Because of you, the bandit incident should soon be brought under control. We still don’t know what the Demon King cult intends, but at least the immediate danger has passed.”

“Aren’t you going to scold me for acting on my own?”

Knights were already investigating the crimes. Ren asked because he understood his position, his connection to House Clausel, and the possibility that his interference could have caused political difficulties.

“I am not so self-important that I would condemn a good deed merely because I did not order it,” Lessard replied. “Besides, as I said, I am grateful.”

As Elendil’s lord, he was genuinely pleased that Ren had protected the region.

He would not rebuke Ren’s compassion and courage.

“That said, I suspect a certain saint will be extremely worried when she learns how dangerous this was.”

“I’ll explain everything to her later…”

“Please do. Licia will not be angry because she dislikes what you accomplished. She will be angry because she cares about you.”

“I understand. Licia-sama is very kind.”

Ren then explained that he had encountered people from the Arnevelde Trading Company on the plain and had entrusted the prisoners’ transport to them.

“That is useful as well,” Lessard said. “House Clausel’s political standing will benefit greatly.”

“Ah… Yes, now that you mention it.”

“Do not use that as an excuse to take excessive risks. Licia and I can only feel at ease when you return safely.”

His voice and smile were gentle.

Ren did not regret what he had done, but he renewed his resolve never to act as though his own life were expendable.

The bandits’ capture was only one part of the incident. The people behind them and the Demon King cult remained unaccounted for.

In that sense, the true investigation was only beginning.

Still, Ren was glad he had prevented the immediate threat from growing.

(This event never occurred in the game. How much more is going to change?)

Ren’s actions had already altered the future enough to produce events he did not remember.

In the original history, Ulysses would not yet have openly opposed the Demon King cult or begun moving against it from the shadows in this manner.

Lessard laughed as Ren considered the differences.

“You’ve done the Arnevelde Trading Company an enormous favor. Between this and your connection to Marquis Ignat, I sometimes think you possess more political influence than I do.”

“No! That’s not true at all. I couldn’t have done any of this alone.”

“What did the people from Arnevelde say? You returned immediately to report to me, but surely they wanted to speak with you.”

“Probably. I told them to contact me through the guild if they needed anything.”

As Ren answered, someone knocked on the office door.

Weiss entered after Lessard granted permission. He carried a letter.

“This is for the boy. A guild messenger just delivered it.”

That was fast.

Ren had barely returned to the city.

“Weiss, did the messenger explain anything?” Lessard asked.

“Nothing in detail. But between the report you received, the request for the boy, and the expression on the guild employee’s face, I can imagine what happened.”

“You weren’t as surprised as you were after the Asval incident, were you?”

“No. The moment I heard the rumors, I wondered whether the boy had defeated the bandits. Strangely, I was nowhere near as shocked as last year. I merely found myself thinking, ‘Of course—it was the boy.'”

“It happened suddenly, but the result is good for Elendil.”

“I agree, as does the master.”

Weiss approached Ren and affectionately ruffled his hair.

Despite his age, Weiss remained tall and straight-backed, and Ren was still short enough for the gesture to be easy. In another year or two, however, Ren might stand nearly as tall as he did.

“The sender asked you to read this immediately,” Weiss said. “Would you mind?”

“Of course.”

Ren opened the envelope.

The note had clearly been written in haste and dispensed with formal courtesies.

It conveyed a message from the Arnevelde Trading Company through the guild and instructed Ren to visit a particular place.

(Where exactly is this?)

The directions told him to enter the alley beside the guild, turn right, and continue to the far end.

As far as Ren knew, the location was nothing more than a deserted back alley.

Arnevelde probably wanted to speak without being observed.

“I’m going to meet the Arnevelde Trading Company.”

“Are you certain?” Lessard asked. “I can send a knight with you.”

“There’s no need. I appreciate your concern, Lessard-sama, but please keep the knights here to protect the mansion.”

Ren left the office and headed for the secluded alley described in the letter.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

At the entrance, he encountered one of the same supposed Arnevelde swordsmen he had seen on the plain.

“Go in and stop just before the corner.”

“One question, to be safe. What happens if I walk around it?”

“I cannot tell you. Please follow the instruction.”

There was no reason to be difficult.

Ren agreed and entered the narrow passage.

Little sunlight reached behind the buildings, though one bright strip fell across the corner ahead.

As soon as Ren stopped before it, a familiar voice spoke from the other side.

“You astonished me earlier.”

Radius stood beyond the corner, hidden from Ren’s view.

This was his real voice, completely unlike the rough sound produced through the leather tent.

Ren recognized it in the same way he had once recognized Ulysses’s voice.

(No… It can’t be.)

Their exchange on the plain and the present secrecy made the possibility difficult to dismiss.

Ren concealed his reaction and forced himself to remain calm.

If his suspicion was correct, he could later confirm it through Ulysses, one of the leading figures of the Imperial Faction.

The shock had not disappeared. Ren was simply suppressing it with all his strength.

(But why would someone of his position come here personally?)

A prince had no need to expose himself to the plains outside Elendil.

Ren kept his emotions under control.

“You did well to find the bandits’ stronghold with so little information,” the unseen boy said.

“Given how quickly you acted, I assume you had nearly found it yourself, Your—”

Ren’s speech became formal as his suspicion strengthened.

“Why did your tone change? I did not ask you to become polite again.”

That was easy for Radius to say.

After reflecting on their casual exchange on the plain, Ren could hardly continue speaking so freely if the other person might be a prince.

Even without certainty, politeness was safer.

“Speak as you did before. Understood?”

“May I ask why?”

“Because conversation is easier that way. You already treated me casually once, so there is no reason to stop now.”

Radius urged him again.

Ren hesitated, then glanced back at the disguised Royal Guard knight near the alley’s entrance.

The man gave a reluctant nod.

Apparently, even if the other speaker truly was Radius, Ren would not be punished for complying.

“To answer your question,” Ren said at last, returning to his earlier tone, “you moved so quickly that I thought you might already know where the hideout was.”

Radius nodded with satisfaction on the other side of the wall.

“I reached the same conclusion at almost the same time. I was still reviewing maps and regional records, so I arrived a little later than you.”

Ren now understood what Radius had been reading inside the leather tent and why the group had established a temporary base on the plain.

“Even so, I was surprised that you identified the location first,” Radius continued.

“You provoked me and then expected me not to notice?”

“Do not put it that way. Whatever my role, you found it first.”

“That isn’t what I mean. When I was deciding whether to search, you told me to do whatever I liked.”

“Partly because I wanted to see your ability, and partly because you were too stubborn to stop.”

“I can’t deny that.”

Ren felt a little guilty because it was true.

Yet he could never have remained on the plain and done nothing. As he had told Lessard, he did not regret acting.

“Forgive me if I offended you,” Radius said. “Your quick judgment genuinely surprised me. I also admit that I have never before held a conversation like this with someone whose face I could not see.”

“Neither have I. But I don’t mind anymore. The work wasn’t unpleasant.”

Still separated by the corner, they continued talking.

They asked about one another’s usual activities and exchanged ordinary small talk for more than ten minutes.

At last, Radius checked a watch Ren could not see.

“It is time. I must leave. This has been an extremely worthwhile conversation. Thank you.”

“Likewise. I’ll be leaving too.”

Both boys pushed away from the walls they had been leaning against and turned from the corner at the same moment, walking in opposite directions without ever seeing each other.

“How should I pay the additional reward I promised?” Radius asked.

“Donate it to Elendil’s lord. I don’t need it. Use it for the city.”

That ended their exchange.

Neither spoke again as they departed.

A short while later, Mirei appeared beside Radius as silently as though she had emerged from empty air.

“Mirei, I found an interesting person.”

“Nya? A poet who recites amusing verses?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You were watching, weren’t you?”

Mirei had kept Ren under observation since the plain. Even when she remained hidden, she had confirmed events with her own eyes.

“Your Highness seems very fond of that boy, nya.”

“I might even say I have fallen for him. His intelligence and quick wit were obvious from our brief conversation. His Mighty Sword Style is extraordinarily sharp, and above all, his courage stirred something in me that I have never felt before.”

“Nya!? Your Highness, what are you saying?”

“I mean that I admire his character, not that I am romantically attracted to him. He is also the first person who has ever spoken to me so casually.”

Radius’s voice carried unmistakable delight through the quiet alley.

“But Your Highness ordered him to speak casually, nya.”

“I have made the same request of others. No one has ever obeyed.”

“That is because he did not know you were a prince. If you admire him so passionately, why did you refuse to meet him face-to-face?”

“It does not matter. We will speak openly soon enough. I merely wanted to preserve today’s unusual encounter until the end.”

“Good grief. I don’t understand how men think, nya.”

“I don’t understand how women think either, so we are even.”

Radius then remembered something else.

“He was an exceptional practitioner of the Mighty Sword Style.”

“Indeed, nya. Someone that powerful at such a young age should already be famous.”

“His name is Ren Ashton. I know of no noble House Ashton.”

“There is a knight named Ashton serving House Clausel. Marquis Ignat has also been unusually close to the Clausel family recently, nya.”

“You know a great deal.”

“I was curious about Marquis Ignat’s movements and investigated them.”

Several pieces immediately fell into place for Radius.

He now understood why Ren Ashton lived in Elendil, why he had visited the plain, and why he accepted the Arnevelde special request.

“House Clausel was also involved in that recent dispute with the Hero Faction.”

“I have no proof, but my information suggests Edgar may have assisted them, nya.”

“Where did you hear that rumor?”

“It is a rumor I constructed in my own mind from the information I gathered, nya.”

“…I see.”

Radius doubted that such a conclusion could properly be called a rumor, but he did not care.

At that moment, only one subject held his attention:

Ren Ashton.

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