Side Story: Surprise

MY LIFE HAD BEEN AN ENDLESS STRING OF SURPRISES since my visit to Seatoh

Village. The giant wall and huge bathhouse with barracks were certainly stunning, but I was even more shocked by the overall advancement of the village and the happy lives its citizens led.

Looking back, Van, my youngest sibling, was always a mysterious child. I heard that he learned to walk and talk exceptionally early, but what I will never forget are the words he spoke at the dinner table when he was only two years old. Father asked him how he planned to spend the day, and he answered, “There is so much I do not know. First I think I would like to study up on this country.”

It was no wonder that I, Jard, Sesto, and even Father were surprised. Nobody expected a legitimate answer from a two-year-old child; heck, Sesto wasn’t able to answer questions properly until after he turned six. And not only did Van reply, but his answer was also well thought out, the type of response with which Father would be satisfied. But to all appearances Van hadn’t even given it much thought. He seemed to have answered from the heart. I couldn’t believe it.

Making our way to the lake behind Seatoh Village now, my retainers and I encountered something unbelievable.

“Lord Murcia, are they…?”

“I can’t believe it. Apkallu?”

Before us, villagers and people who were half fish enjoyed themselves around the lake. Apkallu were so rare as to be very nearly mythical; of course I was stunned! And here they were, apparently living at the lake as citizens of Seatoh Village. Along the water’s edge stood mysterious buildings, and a host of small boats floated on the lake.

When Van was, essentially, exiled from his home, I prayed that he could hold out until I had more power available to me. Once I could send him aid of my own free will, I would do everything I could to help him. But within a single year, he had slain a large dragon and successfully protected his territory.

Father laughed when he received the report. “Foolishness!” And frankly, at the time, I felt the same way. It was impossible. No matter how strong Dee was or how good Esparda was at magic, Van simply couldn’t have accomplished such a feat.

Having finally explored Seatoh Village and the adventurers’ town, I understood that the dwarf forge, the blacksmiths, the Mary Chamber of Commerce and the Business Guild, and the top-notch adventurers all contributed to the territory’s progress. But were I in Van’s situation, could I have accomplished the same thing? I knew all too well that the answer was no.

Was it all thanks to Van’s mysterious magic? Until recently, production magic was said to be an ill omen, the epitome of useless magic. But Van’s was different. Or perhaps it was simply that the way he used it was different. Van had been called a genius since he was very young, so maybe that was it: in the end, the magic was useful because Van was at the helm. That was why his territory was so unusually prosperous.

And here I was, walking around in ordinary clothes. How many accomplishments did I have to my name? I was ashamed to admit it, but I was jealous of my little brother. That jealousy mounted as I entered the Wolfsbrook Mountain Range as part of the royal army’s first squad.

The soldiers wore heavy armor and climbed up and down the mountain slopes like beasts. Even on horseback or in a carriage, two hours of travel here was hard on the body; I couldn’t imagine how the infantrymen felt. Was it time for a break? When would the day end?

I heard someone going around asking questions in a hushed tone. I could have easily told the soldiers not to chat during the march, but it wasn’t realistic. If people couldn’t vent, they would explode.

Under normal circumstances it would be impossible to march through the mountains like this. In the slim chance that it did happen, the march would go through a maintained mountain road. The risk of monster attacks was too high otherwise. Consequently, I hadn’t realized just how hard it would be to march along an unserviced mountain road. Our nerves were wearing down with every step through the treacherous landscape. Would we have to do it all over again on the way back?

I marched filled with dread, but the one positive aspect of the journey was that the adventurers accompanying us were way more skilled than I could have anticipated. Thanks to them, monsters were spotted and dispatched long before they could get close to our Chivalric Orders. The adventurers were even killing large beasts. That was unbelievable, but I forced myself to accept reality by convincing myself that they were monster-slaying specialists. After all, large monsters typically required hundreds of members of an order to put down. Strength lay in numbers, of course. But these adventurers were taking the monsters down in groups of ten.

If I didn’t know better, I would think they were significantly better at combat than the knights. That wasn’t remotely acceptable. The Chivalric Orders were the cornerstone of a territory’s defense system, the very things that protected order and stability. If mere wanderers were more capable in combat, it would completely upend public order.

So I told myself they were monster-slaying specialists. It was all I could do.

We progressed through the mountains, battling off dread, panic, and exhaustion. Eventually I heard voices from the Chivalric Order behind me shout, “Lord Murcia!”

“Huh?” I turned around and saw Dee on horseback. He wore a magnificently decorative set of armor, different from when I last saw him. Was that mithril?

Thanks to the dwarf blacksmiths, his armor was on par with the royal guard’s.

Dee looked at me and smiled broadly. “Lord Van will be coming shortly!”

“Van? Ah, I heard the adventurers got into a quarrel with some knights. Is that why?”

“That would appear to be the case! But fear not, now that I am here, there is nothing to worry about! I’ll just blow everyone away!” He laughed jovially and rode off to the vanguard.

I watched him go and frowned. Did he mean he’d blow away the knights or adventurers? No, not even Dee would do something like that in the middle of a royal march, especially one in which His Majesty was taking part. Still, Dee’s words left me feeling a bit uneasy as I waited for the report informing me when Van would arrive.

For some reason, things off in the rear were getting noisy. I turned around, curious, and saw soldiers breaking formation and stepping off to the sides of the road. Usually the people in charge would scold them for this, but it looked like they were the ones telling the soldiers to part ways.

The ground shook then, as if something heavy had fallen. My own horse slowed down nervously, forcing me to pull off to the side and stop. A few moments later, a supremely tough-looking carriage approached, and I noticed Van riding in the coach.

“Brother Murcia!”

“Van! Welcome! Uh, what exactly are you doing?” I asked, seeing Van’s people quickly begin to cut down the trees in front of the road.

“We’re building a road.”

“What? Did His Majesty request this?”

“Nope. I decided to do it.”

I was at a loss, but I tried my best to grasp the situation. For some unknown reason, Van was building a road, and as we conversed, trees were falling all over the place. Van’s people then lined the felled trees up as if to block the mountain path itself. What were those axes made of? The trees were snapping in half like branches.

Ignoring my bewilderment, Van smiled and walked over to the timber, placing a hand on a tree’s trunk. Within moments, the tree had changed form and become part of a road. While I gaped, speechless, Van pointed at our horses and carriages.

“This’ll make travel easier, right? It’s a literal pain in the butt to always be shaking all over the place,” he said, grimacing before moving forward to continue the process.

“I-I see…”

How much road did he plan to make in a single day? Could he have already built the path stretching from Seatoh Village to here? I watched him work, struck by how crazy his actions were. Later, when our group traversed Van’s road, I discovered just how much more comfortable it made the journey. Not only did our speed increase, but the soldiers were also less exhausted.

Van was always a mysterious child, and that hadn’t changed. But there was a new impression taking root in me:

Van was a frightening boy.