“About half.” Her answer quite naturally surprised even Lawrence.
And as Lawrence watched Millike, Millike suddenly stopped and turned around as if noticing his gaze.
“Come. You both have a responsibility to come.”
For a moment, Holo acted like she was going to ignore him, but her hand grabbed hold of the collar of Lawrence’s shirt. Lawrence grasped her hand back, replying, “We can listen to what he says.” Besides, it was clear that fleeing under these conditions would go poorly. Having come in with hare, wolf, and the mercenaries, he would not get off as someone uninvolved. If they did flee, Hilde and Moizi and the others would be put at a disadvantage, too.
Also, Lawrence still could not move quickly due to his injuries, and Holo could not transform into a wolf in such a cramped place. If they behaved clumsily and aroused suspicion, it was more than possible everyone would end up killed by the not-human Millike.
Lawrence leaned on Holo’s shoulder and slowly moved forward.
Millike shot a glance at Holo and Lawrence as they entered the room.
Inside the most lavish room on the second floor, there were only four people.
Hilde, Millike, Holo, and Lawrence.
Moizi tried to join, but Millike flatly refused.
No doubt normally he would have dug his heels in as a matter of honor, but seeing Holo and Lawrence passing by, he seemed to have made a deduction. Without any strong complaint, he yielded to Millike’s request and withdrew to stand watch.
“Now, then.” Millike was the one who broke the ice. “You’ve caused quite the uproar in this land.”
The phrase was too grandiose to be limited to the pivotal crossroads of the northlands known as Svernel. Lawrence had heard that the lords in the countryside were pompous with little knowledge of the world, but was that really so in Millike’s case?
The phrase in this land probably seemed fitting to Millike himself.
“Under the name of Havlish, my lands have enjoyed two centuries of peace. There have been no great expeditions from the Church. The steep mountains and valleys have protected it from fools hungry for land. Its sole weakness is this place here, Svernel. To think you would bring your enemy to its doorstep… If you wish to make a mess, make it in your own lands. Is that not so, you of the Debau Company?”
His manner of speaking was suited to the public chamber as well.
But Hilde did not falter.
“I make no excuses that the result was to invite my enemy. However, that is why I am here, so that I may make amends.”
“Amends?” Millike parroted the word back, making a heavy sigh. “Surely you say this in jest? How large a force do you think presses upon the town from the trade route to the south? There is a report that a captain of a thousand has been sighted. They come not for some minor skirmish in the mountains. They come to tear down the town itself.”
The Debau Company was serious. “Captain of a thousand” was a title given precisely because he literally commanded a thousand men. Without securing the services of the likes of the Myuri Mercenary Company in the mountains, they came to engage in spectacular fighting such as open battle on the steppes or siege warfare. The Debau Company had paid the Hugo Mercenary Company a fortune just on the chance Hilde might be with them. This time, real nobles were in command, dragged into showing their faces by the prospect of a great battle right out of the chronicles. No doubt they truly meant for this to be their bridgehead to total dominion.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know. I saw a bird flying around yesterday, a bird not seen in these parts. A friend of yours, yes?”
Hilde neither confirmed nor denied it, but that was the same as an admission.
Leaving Hilde like that, Millike shifted his gaze to Holo.
“Does a sublime wolf such as you intend to participate in this foolish disturbance?”
So he could tell Holo was a wolf. “Half,” she had said; that indeed meant Millike was half inhuman.
“I have heard you are the one who saved them. Should you lend any further support–”
“I shall not.”
As Holo spoke, Millike closed his mouth. He raised an eyebrow slightly in satisfaction after.
“As I expected. A very practical judgment.”
Though Lawrence thought it might be sarcasm, it apparently was not.
It seemed to be what Millike truly thought.
Having received Holo’s words, he turned to Hilde once more.
“The powerless always have absurd dreams. Those who have power understand well what power can accomplish. They understand just because you can carry a boulder does not mean you can move a mountain. It is only those who play with pebbles who dream of moving a mountain. As it is my task to oversee trade in this town, I am well aware of what incredible visionaries merchants are. That is why neither Svernel nor my lands have had anything to do with you great and powerful sorts. You sent envoys again and again, yes. Yet you yourself never came once. Had you used your own feet, you would have at least learned your own subordinates planned to betray you.”
The man in charge of managing trade in Svernel was the same as one of the territorial lords Hilde had been asking to join. That fact had seriously surprised Hilde. In towns under the administration of a lord, it was not all that rare for the lord to also be the chairman of the merchants’ council.
Yet Hilde had not known of it.
From Millike’s words, the betrayal had been prepared long before, and the reason Hilde had not noticed was because he had hidden himself away in Lesko, waving the Debau Company’s baton of command all the while.
“When you are trading, you feel you can see until the ends of the world. I think it is a marvelous thing. But that is why you do not notice the pitfall at your feet. I inherited the name Jean Millike some five years ago. Jean Millike had a strong spirit, but his body was frail. He became sick, bedridden, and promptly passed on. I owed him, too, you see; he’d resolved a trade dispute while this town had asked me to manage the circulation of furs and amber. There is no hidden truth; it’s a common enough story. And no one ever told you this common enough thing. You thought Svernel and the lands behind it were ruled by different people. And because you thought so, you came to this town. Is it not so?”
Or perhaps, since he was resolved to sacrifice himself for his dream if need be, it was irrelevant.
But he was not wrong to lay this on Hilde’s doorstep.
Having joined hands with many lords across the northlands, his subordinates had stripped him of authority from below. Even if one might say they are always more open from below, that made a weak counterargument.
“Then why did you give the envoys we sent favorable replies?” Hilde calmly switched to firmer ground for a counterattack.
“It’s very simple. If we’d refused, you’d have gone somewhere else. In this season, any village is low for food. If mercenaries are going to eat villages whole, down to the locusts, and still die on the side of a road somewhere, better to take you in and capture you here in town.”
It was an appropriate judgment by a lord protecting his lands.
Hilde spoke softly.
“You intend to sell us?”
Hilde and Moizi and Holo had no doubt been speaking in this room for some time while Lawrence was still sleeping on the floor above. Their conclusion must have been a very pessimistic one.
Was it because the approaching army was too large? Or was it because the head of the Myuri Mercenary Company was wounded, his troops arriving in town as defeated men?
It was probably neither.
Hilde and the others had probably known the instant they had entered the town in a much simpler fashion, when the top administrators of the town had not come out to welcome them.
“No…”
But so spoke Millike.
Hilde was not soft enough to embrace hope so easily.
“So not us, but rather me.”
“Correct.” Neither the tenor nor the volume of Millike�
��s voice had changed whatsoever, saying this like it was a truly ordinary thing. “Yes. I will sell you and you alone. I’m sure you are prepared for this much, at least?”
Profit comes with risk. When armies move and enough money is paid to make man betray man, a person’s life did not even register.
To attempt to obtain profit on this scale, one must prepare themselves for a correspondingly great risk.
That is what gambling was.
“I am. However, my desire to continue is greater.”
“Mmm. It is important not to give up. But the problem is doing it on someone else’s territory. If you want to do it, do it in your own place.”
It was such a disappointingly commonsense argument that Hilde was at a loss for words.
Lawrence had thought Hilde a great merchant, but feeling the fires of idealism, leaving himself exposed from below, made him look like a youth.
However, Hilde desperately protested.
“This is not a matter for us alone. Should our plan succeed, the northlands should enjoy long-term stability. A great many lords will be drawn into the same economic sphere through using the same currency. That being the case, it will be simply unprofitable to remain on the outside. In the difficult environment of the northlands, one will perish if unable to purchase food from neighboring lands. A common currency will become a powerful weapon in foreign trade. Our leader has boasted, those lords, hitherto beyond reproach even by God himself, shall be tamed with a golden yoke.”
This was the tale that Lawrence had seen with his own eyes at Lesko and that had made a fire burn in his chest as a merchant. This was the tale Hilde was telling Lord Havlish before his very eyes.
Lawrence knew not whether Hilde had hopes the man would listen to reason or if Hilde simply plotted to convey the degree to which he believed in it himself. All he knew for certain was that Millike seemed largely unamused by such talk.
Certainly, such talk was not very amusing if it was one’s neck being yoked.
But even as Millike stared at the table, he did not reveal even the slightest hint of displeasure.
He looked something like a father listening to his son’s foolish dreams.
“And what proof is there that a world ruled by merchants instead of lords would be run any better?”
Hilde’s words stuck in his throat.
No matter who held the reins, there would always be uncertainty. There were too many examples to count of kings that had been benevolent at the beginning, only to suddenly become a despot later.
Then, one could only address that concern through one’s actions. Surely that was what Hilde was going to say.
But it was Lawrence, unable to endure any longer, who opened his mouth.
“Merchants engage in trade, and the foundation of trade is profit. And in trade, you profit because you made someone happy.”
Lawrence was unable to participate in Hilde’s dream.
Even so, he could not bear to see the dream mocked before his very eyes and remain silent.
“Ho.”
Millike made a curt reply, smiling. It was the smiling face that praised a child: “You’ve really done your best.”
He gave no sign that he was angry at Lawrence for making light of him. That was the nature of dreams, and at any rate, Hilde’s deep nod made plain there was nothing to be frightened of.
“This is where I would put you down as a brat, knowing nothing of the world… but it seems that is not so.”
Millike’s gaze shifted from the bloodstained bandage wrapped around Lawrence’s leg to Holo, sitting beside him.
“There is surely a touch of truth to it. Yet I wonder if it can endure in the face of reality?” said Millike.
“I could say the same thing to you,” Hilde said to Millike.
“What do you mean?”
“There is no mistaking that this town has many raising their voices against the Debau Company’s tyranny. To them, I am extremely useful.”
The smaller the town, the more incredible how quickly rumors spread.
A large group arriving just before daybreak, barely escaping with their lives, could not exactly pass unnoticed. Surely, there was at least one dweller of the northlands here that was aware of the Myuri Mercenary Company; when one added Hilde’s presence, even a fool could understand there had been a coup in Lesko.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, went the saying. And a man who was until a few days ago at the center of the enemy was all that more powerful an ally.
“Meaning, you’ll interfere with us councilors keeping the people in line?”
“No, surely that will not be necessary. If I may say so, the truth is on our side, and popular will follows the truth. The current Debau Company must be stopped.”
Hilde and Millike traded glances, neither retreating an inch.
Lawrence thought the silence would continue for eternity, but Millike broke it first.
“I see. If so, that too is fine. Go ahead and try.”
“You are not selling me?”
Hilde’s jab brought a strained smile over Millike.
“That I can do at any time. If you weren’t a hare… well, I’d have to think about it.”
It was clear without him spelling it out that he was talking about Holo.
“Do you acknowledge our freedom, then?”
“Do as you like. Preach your gospel to the masses and guide them, like a missionary of the Church. Raise your banner and invade other lands, just like many lords do.”
Millike rose from his seat.
He did not look fed up with the talk of selling or buying at all.
Lawrence wondered what was inside Millike that let him fend everything off with such certainty.
Whatever it was, even putting aside his height and demeanor, the overbearing weight of it made his words resonate deeply.
“But I wonder if you will go to battle in the end.”
If they fought the large army approaching the town, it was certain the town would lose. That was why Millike had sought to avoid battle, was it not, either by convincing Hilde and the others otherwise or putting him in irons?
Lawrence found it difficult to grasp what Millike was thinking.
Millike added this. “Had you been more foolish, this would be a more complicated matter. If you are so wise, it is not my turn on the stage.”
Lawrence did not think he said “wise” as a compliment.
Even so, he did not think it was complete sarcasm or falsehood, either.
Was there a world of negotiation techniques of which even he was unaware?
As Lawrence watched the exchange intently, Hilde’s words made him hold his breath.
“It is because there are lords like you that the world does not change.”
The phrase made Millike laugh for the first time, looking amused.
“Ha-ha-ha. But…”
As Millike laughed, he noticed some dirt under the fingernail of his thumb, flicking it out with the nail of his little finger.
Even how he mocked others was flawless in its elegance.
“Nothing in the world will change. If it was going to change, those with power would have changed it long ago.”
Millike looked straight at Holo.
Holo fended off his gaze without expression, brushing it aside like an indifferent cat.
Millike made a hearty laugh and looked at Hilde.
Hilde looked at Millike with what seemed like a scowl.
“And how much do you intend to sell this town for?”
It was a blatant provocation, but perhaps Hilde was trying to extract information out of Millike.
An unapproachable opponent could not be swayed with tears or entreaties.
One had to get him angry and draw him into conversation.
“Money? Ha-ha, money is it? If they paid money that would be good, but…”
Millike laughed.
That his way of laughing was eerie was not Lawrence’s impression alone.
B
eside him, Holo’s body clearly stiffened.
“This is a town where only furs and amber pass through. The craftsmen have all left. No one stays here; everyone just moves right by. No doubt the fools will carry their weapons and go beyond the town. But beyond here are only deep, treacherous snowy mountains. Many difficulties will assail them. Their footprints shall stretch a ways, but finally, even those shall be buried by snow. All pass through but go only to their end. No one stays. The only thing that piles up, like sediment, is time.”
Millike’s talkative voice was clearly filled with resentment.
Lawrence realized that this lord was like Holo.
But unlike Holo, Millike was wrapped in resentment at the unassailable providence that governed the world.
“So, you are a poet.”
It was Hilde, who unlike Holo and Millike was certain the world could be changed, who made that reply.
“Prattle,” said Klaus von Havlish the Third. In this town, Jean Millike.
Holo and Hilde had known at one glance he was not a man; Holo had said he was half inhuman.
No doubt he, too, built a solid foundation for himself in this land while taking care not to stand out.
Concealing oneself was also a matter of skill.
To conceal himself, Huskins the golden ram had gone as far as to eat the flesh of his fellow sheep.
Thinking of Millike as merely a pessimistic half-human lord would be a dramatic mistake.
“But do not underestimate the power of money.”
The vast profits from issuing new currency caused his dazzled subordinates to betray him and had bought off the Hugo Mercenary Company.
But for whatever reason, Hilde’s words made Millike shoot him a look of what seemed to be sympathy.
“I see. Well, then, if you will excuse me.”
Millike turned about, showing not a single shred of hesitation, and left the room without another sound.
As the door closed shut, Hilde lowered his face and made a heavy sigh.
The town’s leaders were not welcoming Hilde and the others. That was largely a declaration of defeat in itself; furthermore, because Hilde had not been aware of the fundamental fact that Millike and Havlish were the same person, investigating “Millike” and striving to win him over and such was doubtful with so little time.
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