Jalpa

WE HAD NO PURSUERS, BUT THAT DID LITTLE to rectify the civilians’ exhaustion.

The neighboring town was not particularly far—only about a week by carriage— but it took us two full weeks to get there. After so much time, there was little doubt in my mind that the fortress city was under Yelenetta’s control. The roads leading there were hardly well maintained, but a Yelenetta stronghold to their rear gave them a direct supply route.

For our part, we were in something of a predicament. To take back the fortress city, we would need the capital’s Chivalric Order, the border knights, and any strength we could borrow from nearby high-class nobles. And even if we had the numbers, the whole endeavor would probably take years.

No sooner had we arrived in town than I began to make prep​arations. “We’re reorganizing the Chivalric Order,” I said. “The commander of the border knights fell in battle, correct? Tell the second-in-command to get me the total number of casualties. I also want to know how many soldiers are available. And we need supplies—arrange for them, posthaste.” Having received my commands, my subordinates ran off to carry them out.

We’d taken minimal losses as far as soldiers and equipment were concerned, but morale was at an all-time low. That mysterious weapon was bad news. The men were terrified after losing their friends and comrades to some incomprehensible device.

But there was someone out there who could fight back.

“Don’t tell me our retreat was aided by—”

Before I could finish that thought, a group of knights appeared at the town’s entrance. At the front was Murcia, clad in white armor. He had acted on my orders to gather reinforcements from elsewhere and only just arrived. “Father!”

“How slow can you be?!” I roared. “Where the hell have you been?”

Murcia grimaced and straightened up. “M-my apologies, sir! I sent envoys to different locations in the hopes of gathering as many men as I could! I divided my forces into two separate groups so that I would not be late, but even so…” Rage bubbled up inside me as I listened to his excuses. “Fool! Everything you do is slow! A normal person learns something and commits it to memory. Someone with an aptitude for learning can absorb something and come away with twice or thrice the knowledge. Yet you could learn ten things and somehow walk away with one at most!”

“I-I am sorry, sir! You’re right, I am a slow learner…”

“If you know that, then you should work harder and faster than everyone else to make up for it, you dolt!”

Murcia shrank in the face of my anger. I usually valued his work ethic, but his weakness of spirit and ineptitude were unforgivable.

I was still glaring at him when I noticed new soldiers arriving at the entrance of the town. The group was composed primarily of cavalrymen.

“Lord Jalpa Bul Ati Fertio, a man such as yourself should not speak this way.

The young man is cowering before you.”

There was no mistaking it: this was the voice of my one and only master. I spun around and immediately took a knee. “Your Majesty, I apologize for such an uncouth display.” All of the anger I had felt toward Murcia dissipated as I lowered my head.

Gravel crunched beneath the king’s feet as he approached, then spoke from above. “Rise, Marquis. What is the situation? Explain.”

My face twitched. Nonetheless, I had to answer him. After a moment’s hesitation, I said, “The fortress city of Scudet has fallen into enemy hands, but I promise to get it back. We are currently preparing for that very operation.”

“I see,” the king said at length. “Give me all the details. When you arrived, had the city already fallen?”

His voice was taut with anger. Cold sweat rolled down my back. “When I arrived, Scudet was already near collapse following a strange series of wyvern attacks. Scudet’s forces in the city were surrounded, so we approached from the western road and cut a path through their ranks. But the enemy threw strange, spherical projectiles at us, and several of my knights were blown away.”

“What? Was it some kind of magical device?”

“I do not know. It was extremely versatile, and there was no way to know when it was coming. Merely throwing it ignited sparks that produced ferocious explosions when they touched something. We retreated, though we initially came under fire when the wyverns dropped their projectiles on us from above.”

The king groaned in frustration. Silence fell between us, and I felt like a prisoner awaiting his execution. My throat grew dry, my breathing ragged.

Finally, the king spoke. “I understand. So you retreated, correct? What were your casualties?”

My shoulders and back were tense even though he sounded calm and composed. “Casualties to my Chivalric Order were light, but roughly a third of Scudet’s border knights were taken out. A fifth or so sustained heavy injuries. Since the enemy did not pursue us after their initial bombardment, the civilians were evacuated with almost zero fatalities.”

“They did not pursue?” The king’s tone held a twinge of skepticism.

He may very well have suspected I was connected to Yelenetta in some way. More cold sweat dappled my spine. “Correct. I apologize for the vague report, but another group from the south provided us with support on the first leg of our retreat. I cannot say for certain what happened, but wyverns began falling from the sky, one after another, and I did not sense any magic.” I ground my teeth, hearing how ridiculous I sounded. “The enemy must have judged them the greater threat, because they turned their entire forces toward the new arrival…”

It was a shameful report. Rather than cutting down my Chivalric Order or the border knights from behind, the enemy had deemed this third party and their strange new weapon more important. In battle, it was key to eliminate a retreating threat before it could return with reinforcements, granting you an advantage, but Yelenetta had prioritized this third party over me. I seethed at the thought.

“That was likely Lord Van. I doubt he was able to prepare enough soldiers for battle. I hope he fled without engaging them in combat.”

My head snapped up. Behind me, Murcia cried out, “D-did you say Van?!”

The king nodded, his expression relaxing somewhat. “I’m sure the rumors are already circulating in your territory, no? Young Van Nei Fertio developed an old village on the outskirts of the kingdom and slew a dragon. In light of those accomplishments, he was given the title of baron, despite his young age.” He sounded almost proud.

Murcia’s eyes were wide with shock, but he smiled, and tears began to stream down his cheeks. I wanted to reprimand him for his idiocy, but it was not the time. “Your Majesty, please excuse my impudence, but how could Van be capable of slaying a dragon? The boy cannot wield elemental magic, and he has only a few people working under him. To put it frankly, someone else must have intervened.”

I meant only to explain my thought process, but to my surprise, the king’s eyes blazed with anger. His next words were razor sharp. “Do you accuse your king of lying, Marquis? Or perhaps you imply someone has pulled the wool over my eyes? That I would fall for such an absurd plot? Do I look so ignorant to you?”

I bowed my head deeply. “M-my apologies, Your Majesty. That was not my intention.”

I pictured Van’s face on the day he left home. That boy slew a dragon? How in the world did that happen?

 

Murcia

MY YOUNGEST BROTHER HAD DEFEATED A DRAGON. Somehow, I believed it the moment I heard it.

Such a statement would typically sound like nonsense, but knowing Van, it didn’t seem so far-fetched. The eight-year-old had been booted to a middle-ofnowhere village on the verge of collapse with only three knights, an elderly butler, a maid, and a slave child. While the knights were certainly talented, there were just three of them; they could only do so much.

Everyone must have predicted that Van would run home in tears within a year. After all, he was only a small child. But that very same child had expanded his tiny village and even slain a dragon. Even the king recognized this!

If that wasn’t joyous news, nothing was. I couldn’t stop my tears from flowing.

“I see this has you crying, young man,” the king said, smiling. “Are you jealous that your little brother has achieved so much before you?”

I shook my head. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, it’s quite the opposite. Hearing that my little brother has overcome his rough circumstances and grown so much fills me with great pride. He was never a normal child, and he had no visible accomplishments to call his own…but now things are different. Nobody will ever deem him lesser or ordinary again. He…” I trailed off and raised my head to look the king in the eye. “He’s a hero who slew a dragon, after all!”

I meant this from the bottom of my heart even as I saw my father frown. Yet the king simply blinked in apparent fascination. “So that is your truth, then. In a way, your lack of greed reminds me of Lord Van. I have heard that it is the second and third sons who most closely take after the marquis. Having met you, I see that you truly have not inherited your father’s ambitions.” The king then turned his gaze back on Father.

“Marquis, it must be rather dispiriting having three sons competing to be your heir.”

“Er… Well, yes, I suppose…” Father replied awkwardly, unsure of the king’s intent.

The king nodded decisively and smiled once more. “So how about this, Lord Fertio? You are still more than active. Why not solidify your house with just yourself and your second and third sons?”

“Wait, what? Do you want me to send Murcia out on his own?” Father asked.

“What?” I echoed, unthinking. On numerous occasions, Father had verbally abused me in fits of rage, cursing me as incompetent—but not once had I imagined the king himself advising him to kick me out of the house. I looked at the ground, crushed and reeling, cold sweat dripping from my forehead to stain the earth.

Me? On my own? No way. I had neither the knowledge nor the experience to survive alone in the world. Then again, Van had managed to overcome his awful circumstances. Maybe I was wrong to complain, but I still lacked selfconfidence. My heart raced at the very idea of it.

While I fought against my rising panic, I stole a glance at my father’s face.

Despite the king’s words, this matter ultimately concerned the man’s successor. Unless the king had a good reason to force his agenda, Father could still decline, in theory.

Or so I thought. Father knelt pensively before me, averting his gaze from the king’s. All words escaped me.

What is there to think about? Isn’t the answer obvious?

He wanted to avoid an all-out quarrel as his sons vied for the honor of succeeding him. I knew of cases in which brothers had killed one another for this very reason; in fact, Father himself had firsthand experience. He’d murdered his older brother to secure his place as head, earning himself the chilling moniker of “Bloody Lord.”

After Father became a marquis, he made it a point to cut such schemes off at the pass. That was one of his reasons for expelling Van, whom he deemed useless. Which meant Father’s answer was—

“I understand. I cannot say for sure whether he is capable of independence, but I will make him the lord of a single town and observe from there. But, Your Majesty, because this was your idea, I ask that you give him Cubell in Lord Ferdinatto’s territory.” A self-satisfied smile crept onto his lips.

There it was: as soon as he felt he understood the king’s motives, he snipped my strings and tossed me to the wayside. He decided that there was a good way to use me, even if it meant letting me go. But whatever his reason, he was releasing me from the house. My vision darkened as the implications set in.

Then the king spoke again. “Hmm. Cubell, you say? Not a bad idea, but it is a bit far from your territory. Would you not be concerned for your son?”

“What? Erm, no, not at all.” Incapable of reading between the lines, Father shook his head stiffly.

His Majesty nodded, grinning as though he’d had some realization. “Aha! I have a great idea! Your youngest son, Lord Van, recently built a new village at the edge of your territory. What say we appoint your son there? This way, whenever you find yourself concerned about his well-being, it will be a simple matter to visit him. Especially because both sons will be in the same location!”

The king’s amused suggestion made my father twitch, and he plastered a smile on his face. “S-surely you jest… One cannot call that true independence if both boys are together. If we aim to promote his growth, then surely the best option is to assign him to a poor village out in the country, just as I did with Van —the perfect place for him to use his abilities to improve the community.”

“Then Cubell would be far from ideal. It is on the edge of the count’s territory, but it remains an important location because it provides supplies and support to our points of defense. It may not be a large city, but I do not see the point in placing him somewhere that is already thriving.”

“B-be that as it may… There is already a local governor there and, er… He can learn how to improve a location with a government already in place, right?

Things like how increasing taxes can—”

“Hmm! How odd. Did you not say only moments ago that a poor village would be perfect?” the king asked with a mocking smile. Father looked even more confused. “Now you say something entirely different. If you aren’t committed to one location, then what does it matter where I assign him?”

My estimation was that Father, who’d been appointed to a pro​minent position by the king, had misread His Majesty’s intentions entirely. He seemed to think that the king’s suggestion was made as an excuse to take more territory from the count, but that wasn’t the case.

Then what are the king’s true intentions?

What was his motivation in peeling me away from House Fertio? I couldn’t imagine he meant it maliciously. Nevertheless, I couldn’t untie the painful knot in my stomach as I watched their conversation continue.

Father furrowed his brow and stared hard at the ground. “Your Majesty, is it a stroke of madness to suspect you feel Van is better suited to protect the border than I am?” He choked out those words with such agony that I feared he might cough up blood. I had never heard Father so furious, nor seen his face so hardened with rage.

Yet the king continued in his flippant, jovial tone, waving it off with one hand.

“Ha ha ha! You are off the mark, Lord Fertio. I know of no one who has contributed as much to my kingdom and the war effort as you. Simply put, I find young Van fascinating. And truth be told, what we have discussed depends largely on what happens to Scudet going forward. If the city is taken and Yelenetta further invades our lands, there will be no time for such leisurely plans.”

In response, Father bowed his head deeply. What could he possibly say to the king after that? Though I understood in my mind and heart, I couldn’t ignore the fact that Father hadn’t asked to let me remain in the house.

 

At the Meeting

BY INVADING THE FORTRESS CITY OF SCUDET, the Kingdom of Yelenetta claimed overwhelming victory with tactics never before seen in Scuderia. Its military then pursued the fleeing Scuderian border forces and Lord Fertio’s Chivalric Order.

Shortly after, something put a halt to their pursuit. The fleeing military forces regrouped a town over from Scudet and reorganized under the leadership of the capital’s Chivalric Order. Meanwhile, Yelenetta’s military forces worked to repair Scudet and strengthen its defenses.

When Panamera arrived, two days after the capital’s Chivalric Order, she received a war report from Jalpa and narrowed her eyes. “Lost the siege, lost in the field, then retreated. If it weren’t for Lord Van’s assistance, our forces would probably have been annihilated.”

With the king present, all Jalpa could do in response to this shame was clench his fists in silent anger. The king, looking at Jalpa out of the corner of his eye, posed a question to Panamera. “So you also believe it was Lord Van who offered his aid?”

Panamera smiled. “I would bet on it. The baron is the only person in this country capable of such a feat,” she said confidently. Jalpa stared at her in disbelief, but she merely shrugged and added, “As you have seen yourself, Your Majesty, his powers are astounding on every conceivable level. And because he understands that, he is more careful than anyone else. I suspect that he has retreated to his territory to develop a new weapon to use against Yelenetta.”

“Hmm, I see.” The king nodded. “I expected no less from you, Viscount. It is no wonder you formed an alliance on equal footing with our good baron. Now then, I intend to make moves to retake Scudet soon. What sort of aid can we expect?”

The king began to speak of the future while Panamera offered her own insights, but Jalpa could only watch the conversation unfold, a complicated expression creeping over his face.

 

Van

I WAS THRILLED TO BE BACK IN MY COZY HOUSE FOR the first time in ages. After rolling around in bed for a spell, I had Till prepare a late breakfast of high-class aromatic tea, with a meal of fresh bread, steamed potatoes, and crunchy bacon. “Delish! Thanks for cooking all that, Till!” “Yes, thank you so much,” said Arte.

Till smiled brightly as she took our empty plates away from the table.

“Lord Van, what are your plans for today?” Khamsin asked, looking serious.

Still utterly relaxed, I replied, “Hmm… Good question.” As ever, I felt no sense of urgency. “I did participate in a war and all, so…I’d like to think I’ve done my duty as a noble.”

“That was my first time seeing war in person,” Arte said sadly. “It is horrifying how quickly people can just die. If possible, I would prefer you to never go back to something like that, Lord Van.”

The irony was that Arte had been more accomplished on the battlefield than anyone else here. Surprisingly, she didn’t seem bothered by defeating an entire group of soldiers or beheading a bunch of wyverns. According to her, by the time she decided to participate in the battle, she had already strengthened her resolve to take lives and put her own on the line. The only thing that gave her pause was the thought of someone close to her falling in battle.

I tried to joke that she was like a samurai, but she, Khamsin, and Till all stared at me emotionlessly. Man, I was really hoping that one would land. Tough crowd!

“Unfortunately, our ally Panamera is participating, so I probably have to help in some capacity,” I said. Then I sighed, stood up from my chair, and announced, “All right, time to develop a new weapon! If I send something like that to the front lines, it should be more than enough assistance. We know that the ballistae I gave Panamera are effective against wyverns.” I added in a whisper, “I think another powerful anti-aircraft weapon would be perfect.” With that, I left the manor. As I strolled through the village, a number of villagers-turned-knights lit up.

“Huh?! Lord Van, are we heading to battle again?!”

“If we are, we can get ready on the double!”

Adventurers with combat experience, meanwhile, smiled knowingly. “That’s how you get after an overwhelming victory.”

“Uh, considering we’re the ones who retreated, I’d say we lost.”

“In terms of what went down, we totally won.”

These kinds of conversations came from all sides, making my happy little stroll a proverbial pain in the butt. Eventually, I arrived at the outskirts of Seatoh, where I caught the eyes of Dee, Arb, and Lowe.

“Ho there, Lord Van!” Dee said. “Recovered your strength already, have you?” “Wait, is it time for battle again already?” Arb asked.

“I’d like to relax a little more,” Lowe grumbled.

They all had different perspectives, and they were all wrong. I gently shook my head. “If we get involved in the war effort as we are now, I don’t know that we can eke out a victory. That’s why I’m going to develop a weapon that will deliver a decisive blow!”

The men exchanged surprised looks, then turned back to me.

“Another new weapon, my lord?”

“More powerful than the last?”

“Are we becoming the bad guys?”

I beamed at them as innocently as I could. “The more likely our victory, the better, right?” That triggered a fit of laughter from Dee and pained smiles from Arb and Lowe.

I waved goodbye, then made my way to Rango and his people, who were unloading their carriages. “Hey, guys! Welcome back!”

Bell, Rango, and their slaves-turned-employees all whirled around. They

rushed over, smiling.

“Lord Van!”

“Long time no see!”

“Congratulations on winning your first battle.”

“No, no,” I said. “We definitely lost. All we did was show our faces for a hot second and then flee.”

Bell grinned. “Are you sure about that? You were able to defend the Chivalric Order, the backbone of our nation’s defenses, during their retreat…and you did it all in your first battle, with not a single casualty. I would call that pretty remarkable.”

I shrugged. “Beginner’s luck. I wasn’t thinking at all beyond what was happening in the moment. Anyway, how did your shopping trip go? Find what I asked for?”

The merchant brothers exchanged glances, then pulled out the goods. “Is this right?” Rango asked, placing them in front of me. “It definitely matches what you described, but, well…”

He and the others wore the same perplexed look. It was a model composed of wooden triangles. They were lined up with one another so that the upper and lower bits were connected, giving them a three-dimensional shape. At the center was a long stick, which made it look like some kind of children’s toy.

My eyes flew wide. “This is it! A trebuchet! I knew they existed!” Gleeful, I put a small stone on the tiny catapult and fired it while everyone watched in confusion. Everyone except for Till and Khamsin, that is, who looked on with strained smiles and unbreakable trust.

 

There were all kinds of catapults that took on myriad forms: ones operated via manpower, ones controlled by bows or springs, and even ones powered by weights. Up until that point, the ones used in Seatoh had used bowstrings that required monster hide and manpower to launch projectiles. They were a unique design, but the model Bell had brought with him allowed me to improve my design with brand-new ideas. I attempted to build a catapult that used springs, then a slingshot type, but neither turned out right. In most cases, the ballistae were easier to use.

The nice thing about trebuchets specifically was that you only needed to increase their size to boost their power. Their construction was simple, and they had undergone countless modifications over the years, making them the easiest and most effective catapults to use. It was illogical for me to try to recreate that design from scratch, so I’d asked the Bell & Rango Company to locate blueprints or a small model while I continued my in-house catapult R&D.

As a result, I’d gotten my hands on three models and five sets of blueprints. With so much to work with, I’d be able to make the best catapult imaginable.

Oh, and for the record, nobody’s been able to find gunpowder for me yet. Seems the stuff still hasn’t made its way out here. “Well, no use crying over spilled milk, I guess.”

I launched right into my catapult modifications. Thanks to the recent battle against the airborne wyverns, I had a good idea of the range of fire we’d need for effective combat against the beasts. In theory I could develop catapults for a higher altitude, but the mages wouldn’t be able to go that high anyway if they had to ride their wyverns. Not only would it be too cold for them, but the air would also be too thin. There were similar limits on how fast the creatures could move, too.

In that case, standard catapults would definitely do the trick. On the model catapult, I could raise the angle of elevation up to forty degrees. Keeping in mind my goal of firing projectiles far into the distance, I couldn’t afford to raise the angle too much. The catapult would be able to send projectiles much higher up into the air if I made it more like a seesaw, but the distance they would travel would decrease significantly—and due to a lack of power, projectiles could whiff against enemies high in the air.

The device needed to be able to fire projectiles high enough without losing power. To accomplish this, I made an absurd number of small model catapults, eventually landing on Prototype #54. It was a simple, weight-driven design, but I had added springs to increase its initial firing velocity. Its angle of elevation could be raised to a whopping seventy degrees, too. This special anti-air catapult fired high into the sky and packed a punch.

As for projectiles, it fired boxes of shuriken. I modified them so that they would spread out more effectively than before, but they ended up functioning the same anyway. Whoops.

Pleased with the model, I moved on to producing a full-size prototype—which went spectacularly. The box of shuriken launched into the air and exploded, spreading the tiny projectiles all through the sky. “Oooh, I can’t see them anymore!” I cried, delighted.

Dee watched from beside me, looking exasperated. “Hmm… This is impressive. It flies so high that its flight duration is very long, but then it spreads projectiles over a wide area. The larger the enemy force, the more effective this will be.”

I nodded with a big grin. “Right?! It takes a bit to prepare the next shot, but in terms of power, range, and durability, it gets a passing mark. I’ll settle for this until we get our hands on gunpowder.”

“Settle?” Esparda said, pained. “Please do not tell me you’re dissatisfied with this…”

Everyone else was similarly speechless, except for Till and Khamsin. They looked up at the new catapult, unfazed.

“It sure is big,” said Khamsin.

Till asked, “How many of these are you going to build, Lord Van?”

“Twenty stationary units across the east, west, south, and north. Then another five or so mobile units. Oh, but wait. Bringing these to Scudet might be tough, especially if the roads aren’t flat…”

“Indeed, the roads are quite rough,” Arte said. “Something this big might fall down the slopes…”

Till, Khamsin, Arte, and I brainstormed this until I hit upon an idea. “I know! I can just build them on-site. We should be able to transport the materials without a hitch!”

My crew agreed, expressing their astonishment and approval. Staring up at my fifteen-meter-tall weapon, I thought, Is it just me, or are the people around me starting to grow numb to all of this?

 

A week zoomed by, during which I managed to install a new wall on the outside of the preexisting one, plus a set of catapults atop it. I also prepared an additional five carriages and stuffed the materials necessary for the catapults inside of them. The plan was to use the war wagons from before, so our caravan was going to be quite large.

“I wish we could have squeezed in a little more training with the catapults, but oh well,” I said. “We’re just gonna head off to the base, build some really quickly, then come right back. Wait here, folks.”

I said my goodbyes to Esparda and everyone else staying behind, then began the journey to the battlefield. “Maaan, I was hoping to avoid going to battle a second time,” I muttered, causing Arte to grimace.

“It is unfortunate. I personally think your gift of ballistae was more than enough. You did not have to go and make new weapons.” She was clearly dissatisfied with the situation.

Till nodded in agreement. Khamsin looked like he had something to say, but he kept his mouth clamped shut. I gave them a tight smile and shook my head. “To be perfectly honest, I’d rather never leave the village, but if Yelenetta continues its invasion and takes the towns around us, it’s going to be a big problem. We won’t be able to get our hands on sugar anymore… Just the thought sends a chill down my spine! We have Scudet and Lord Ferdinatto’s Zaltz as defensive cornerstones in this area, so it would be bad for us if those locations fell.”

Khamsin frowned. “Scudet has already fallen,” he pointed out.

I had been waiting for those words. “That’s why I’m bringing these catapults. After we take back Scudet, we can lend them to the fortress city. We can even throw in some ballistae. That way, it won’t easily fall again.”

“Oh, I get it now! Since we have your weapons, everything will be fine!” Khamsin replied, grinning.

I nodded and smiled back. “I’ll lend their forces the ballistae and catapults for free, but I am going to charge them for the shuriken and bolts. I can hire some adventurers regularly to go and sell them the goods, so I think we can make a decent amount from this arrangement.” We were finally going to get a steady income. How could I not smile?

Till and Arte both seemed a bit put off.

“Lord Van, you have an evil smile on your face…”

“Scudet and Zaltz…” Arte murmured. “So our fathers will be paying for the weapons, then.”

What I was doing was no different than selling swords and armor. It was fair business! Well, except for the part where only I could sell them the materials, meaning I had a monopoly.

“I think one gold for a single bolt is fair enough,” I said. “For the shuriken, five silvers apiece. Purchase a whole box and I’ll cap it at two large gold. A real bargain!”

Considering the materials, this was a bit of a rip-off, but Arte smiled brightly. “That is so like you, Lord Van, selling them for such affordable prices. I take it you are being thoughtful of the citizens living in both areas?”

“Huh? Um, yeah, that’s totally it. Super cheap, huh?”

“Yes! Considering their power and value, I would say those prices are far too inexpensive,” Arte said.

Apparently, I’d gone too cheap. But staring at her sunny smile, I couldn’t muster up the courage to raise the prices, so I decided to give things some more thought before setting them for good.

My heart heavy with regrets, we continued our journey back to Scudet.