Climb rushed over to the boy on the ground and took out the potion Gazef had given to him during their training session. “Can you drink this?”
There was no response. The boy had lost consciousness completely.
Climb opened the bottle and sprinkled the potion over his body. Many people thought potions were only for drinking, but they worked equally well when they were poured on the target. Such was the extraordinary nature of magic.
As if the boy’s skin was drinking it in, the liquid was absorbed into his body. The color returned to his face.
Relieved, Climb nodded once.
The bystanders were just as surprised at the use of such an expensive item as they were at the old man’s moves.
Climb had given up a potion, but naturally, he didn’t regret it. As long as taxes were being collected from the people, it was his duty as someone subsisting on that money to protect them and keep the peace. If he couldn’t do that, he should at least do this.
Since I used a potion on him, he should be fine, but we should still probably take him to the shrine, just in case. When he glanced at the guards standing by, there were three more. They must have shown up late.
The guards who had finally arrived on the scene turned a critical eye on all the people in the area.
Climb spoke to one of the uncomfortable-looking patrolmen. “Take this child to the shrine.”
“What in the world…?”
“He was beaten up. I used a healing potion on him, so I think he’s okay, but I want you to take him to the shrine just to be sure.”
“Right. Understood!”
Climb decided he would leave the rest up to the guards. His work there was done. A soldier from the castle probably shouldn’t stick his nose into other jurisdictions too much.
“Can I ask you to get the details about what happened from someone who saw the whole thing?”
“Understood.”
“Then I’ll leave the rest up to you.”
The guards were more confident with orders, and after Climb confirmed that they were taking efficient action, he stood up and took off running. He heard one of them call, “Where are you going?!” but he ignored it.
When he got to the street where the old man had turned, he slowed down.
He caught sight of his target right away.
Really, he wanted to call out to him immediately, but he wasn’t feeling quite brave enough. He felt an overwhelming amount of pressure, like a thick, invisible wall.
The old man continued walking, turning down dirtier and dirtier streets. Climb continued after him. All the time he was following, he couldn’t bring himself to talk to him.
I’m tailing him. Climb despaired at his own conduct. He shouldn’t do that no matter how hard it was to talk to someone. I need to change this situation, he fretted as he kept walking.
Eventually, about when they’d reached a back alley devoid of human presence, Climb took a few deep breaths and shouted with all the courage he could muster, like a man confessing his feelings to a girl he liked.
“Excuse me!”
The old man whirled around in response to the voice.
His hair was completely white, as was his beard, but his back was straight as the blade of a steel sword. Conspicuous wrinkles in his chiseled features gave him an air of kindness, but his penetrating eyes were like those of a hawk targeting its prey.
He even had the elegance of a great noble.
“Did you need something?” The old man’s voice was a bit hoarse but full of a lively, dignified energy.
Climb felt an invisible force pressing in on him, and he swallowed. “U-uh…” Overwhelmed by the power of the old man, he couldn’t get proper words out.
Noticing that, the old man relaxed. “Who are you?” His tone was gentle.
Finally, released from that heavy pressure, Climb’s throat could work normally. “…My name is Climb, and I’m a soldier here. Thank you for doing what should have been my job.” Climb bowed, humble and low.
The old man squinted slightly, thinking, and then seemed to realize what Climb meant with a little “Oh… It was no trouble. I’ll be going now.”
Climb raised his head and, as the old man clipped the conversation short and started walking off, said, “Please wait. Actually…I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’ve been following you because—and I hope you’ll laugh at my impertinence—if you don’t mind, I’d like you to mentor me about that skill you used.”
“What…do you mean by that?”
“I’m working very hard to get stronger, so when I saw your incredible movements earlier, I thought it would be great if I could get you to teach me the skill.”
The old man looked Climb up and down. “Hmm…let me see your hands.” Climb stuck out his hands, and the old man gazed intently at his palms. He couldn’t help but feel uneasy. The old man flipped his hands over, glanced at his nails, and then nodded in satisfaction. “They’re thick and sturdy—good warrior hands.”
The smile and the compliment made Climb feel warm inside. The rush of happiness was on par with the one he felt when Gazef had praised him. “No…I’m barely a soldier.”
“No need for modesty… Next, may I see your sword?”
The old man gazed first at the grip, then at the blade, of the sword he was handed. “I see… Is this a spare weapon?”
“How did you know?!”
“So it is, then? There’s a dent here.”
When he closely examined the place the old man was pointing at, sure enough, the blade had a slight ding in it. It must have struck something in an awkward way during training.
“How embarrassing!” Climb was so mortified he wished he could disappear.
Because Climb was aware of how unskilled he was, he paid an obsessive amount of attention to his weapons to gain even a little bit of an edge. Or at least, up until that moment, he’d thought so.
“I see. I have a rough understanding of your personality now. Hands and weapon are mirrors of a warrior’s character. You’ve made a very favorable impression on me.”
Climb, beet red to his ears, looked admiringly at the old man.
What he saw was a gracious, good-natured smile.
“Okay. I’ll train you, but just a bit. However”—he stopped Climb before he could thank him—“there is something I want to ask. You said you’re a soldier, right? Well, the other day I saved this woman…”
After hearing the old man Sebas’s story, Climb was furious. He couldn’t hide his disgust at the fact that someone would abuse the emancipation of the slaves Renner had proclaimed and that nothing had even changed yet.
No, that wasn’t right. Climb shook his head.
The law prohibited the buying and selling of slaves. However, it wasn’t uncommon to have people working off debts in poor conditions. That loophole had become a free-for-all. Actually, it was probably precisely because there was a loophole that the law managed to get enacted at all.
Renner’s law is nearly meaningless. The thought flitted across Climb’s mind, but he shook it off. What he needed to consider right now was Sebas’s circumstances.
He furrowed his brow.
Sebas was at a total disadvantage. Certainly, it would be possible to investigate the terms of the young woman’s contract and counterattack, but he couldn’t imagine the opposing side wasn’t prepared for such a tactic. If they appealed to the law, Sebas would surely lose.
The fact that the other men hadn’t already done so had to be because they felt they could rip him off even better some other way.
“Do you happen to know anyone who isn’t corrupt who could help me?”
Climb knew only one person. He could say with confidence that there was no noble with more integrity than Renner. He knew she could be trusted.
But he couldn’t introduce her.
If these people were capable of skirting the slave-trafficking prohibition, they were sure to have connections within various power structures. Naturally, the nobles they were
affiliated with probably had a fair bit of authority. If the princess, a member of the king’s faction, invoked state authority to investigate, enact a rescue, and cause losses for the nobles’ faction, it could lead to an all-out war.
Exercising authority wasn’t such a simple matter. One wrong move could trigger a civil war, especially in a case like their divided kingdom’s.
He couldn’t let Renner be responsible for the downfall of the state.
Lakyus felt the same way, which was why their earlier conversation had gone as it had. That was why Climb hadn’t said anything—no, couldn’t say anything.
However Sebas had interpreted his anguished silence, he murmured, “I see,” and then offered additional news that shocked Climb. “…From what she told me, there are still others held captive in the building, men and women alike.”
What the heck? So does that mean there is another brothel besides the one run by the slave-trafficking org? Or…is it the same one?
“If it’s a matter of allowing them to flee somewhere…I would have to ask my master, but she has some land, so maybe they could go there…”
“Would that be possible? …Would you be able to shelter the woman I saved as well?”
“My apologies, Sir Sebas, but I can’t promise anything without asking my master. That said, she is a very compassionate person. I think it’ll be all right!”
“Hmm! If you have that much faith in your master, she must be a wonderful person.”
Climb nodded emphatically. He had a more admirable master than anyone.
“I’m changing the subject here, but if we could prove slave-trafficking activities were taking place at the brothel, what would happen to it? Would even that get covered up?”
“There’s a possibility they would be forced to close up shop if we turned in the evidence to the proper authorities… At least, I want to believe the kingdom isn’t that corrupt.”
“…Understood. Now then, allow me to ask you a different question. Why do you want to get stronger?”
“Huh?” Climb let out a foolish-sounding yelp, caught off guard by the sudden topic change.
“You just said you want me to train you. I’ve judged that I can trust you, but I want to know the reason you are pursuing power.”
Climb squinted as he pondered.
Why do I want to get stronger?
Climb had been abandoned as a child and didn’t know either of his parents’ faces. In the kingdom, this wasn’t such a rare thing. And it wasn’t uncommon to die facedown in the mud, either.
It had been Climb’s fate to die in such a way in the rain that day.
But instead, he had met the sun. After crawling around in the dirt and the dim his entire existence, he was enthralled by its brilliance.
When he was young, he had admired her, and as he grew, the feeling assumed a stronger form.
Love.
He had to destroy that emotion. A miracle like in the sagas the bards sang would never happen in the real world. Just as no human could reach the sun, Climb’s feelings would never reach her—no, he couldn’t allow them to.
The woman Climb loved was fated to be another man’s wife. There was no way a princess would end up bound to someone like Climb, whose status was lower than a peasant’s and whose origins were unknown.
If the king suddenly collapsed and the eldest prince assumed the throne, Renner would surely be married off immediately to one of the great nobles. It had probably already been decided between the prince and the noble. Or it was possible there would be a strategic marriage to someone in a neighboring country.
It was strange that she was of age but had no husband or even a fiancé.
It was a golden moment, and he would have given anything to stop time. If he didn’t have to train so much, he would have been able to relish it a little more.
Climb was an ordinary person with no innate ability. Still, thanks to his hard work, he’d managed to get fairly strong as a soldier. So deciding he was satisfied with that, quitting his workouts, and spending a little more time next to Renner would be a better use of his time, wouldn’t it?
But…could he really do that?
Climb admired her brilliance. That was no lie nor was it mistaken. It was just a feeling from his heart.
But…
“I’m a man, so…” Climb laughed.
Yes, he wanted to stand next to her. The sun shone up in the sky. A human could never stand next to it. Still, he wanted to climb as high as he could, be someone who could stand even a little closer to her.
He didn’t want to be forever looking up at her in admiration.
These were the silly feelings of a boy, but they were good for a boy to have. He wanted to be a man suitable for the woman he admired, even if they would never be together.
It was because he had those feelings that he could endure his friendless life, his difficult warrior path, and the studies that chipped away at his sleeping time.
If anyone wants to laugh at my foolish ideas, let them.
Only a person who had truly loved someone could understand.
Sebas squinted as he intently observed the boy, wanting to comprehend the countless meanings contained in the short reply. Then he nodded in satisfaction.
“Based on your reply, I’ve decided what sort of training to give you.”
Climb was about to thank him, but a hand moved out to stop him.
“But I’m sorry to say, it appears you have no innate aptitude. If I were to really commit to training you, it would take a long time, and I don’t have that luxury. I’d like to train you in a way that is effective and possible in a short amount of time, but…it’s quite intense.”
Climb gulped.
Sebas’s eyes sent a chill up his spine.
They were the piercing eyes of someone whose power surpassed Gazef’s best efforts, as impossible as that seemed. That was why he couldn’t answer immediately.
“I’ll be blunt: You could die.”
He’s not kidding. Climb sensed that. He didn’t mind dying if it was for Renner’s sake, but he definitely didn’t want to die for his own selfish reasons.
He wasn’t a coward—no, maybe he was.
He swallowed and wavered. For a little while, it was so quiet they could hear a far-off commotion.
“Whether you die or not depends on your spirit… If you have something precious to you, if you have reason to cling to life even if you’re brought to your knees, you should be all right.”
Wasn’t he going to teach me martial arts? Climb began to wonder in the back of his mind, but that wasn’t the issue at this point. He considered the meaning of Sebas’s words, digested it, and then replied, “I’m ready. Please train me.”
“You mean you’re confident you won’t die?”
Climb shook his head. That wasn’t it.
He wanted to cling to life even if it was on his knees—because he always had a reason to.
Having perhaps read these feelings in Climb’s eyes, Sebas nodded emphatically. “Understood. Then let’s begin the training.”
“Here?”
“Yes. It will only take a few minutes. Prepare your weapon.”
What in the world are we going to do? Climb drew his sword and faced the unknown with a mixture of apprehension and confusion, as well as a tiny bit of anticipation and curiosity.
The ring of the blade sliding against its sheath echoed in the narrow alley.
Climb pointed the sword at Sebas’s eyes, and Sebas stared at him.
“Okay, here I go. Do your best to stay conscious.”
And the next moment…
…it was almost like blades of ice had shot out from him in every direction.
Climb had no words.
What was really swirling around Sebas was a killing intent.
A thick, dark presence surged over Climb like a wave, almost enough to crush his heart at that moment. He thought he heard a scream like someone’s soul being broken. It could have come from close by or far awa
y, or it could have spurted out of his own mouth.
Tossed on the murderous black torrent, Climb felt his consciousness beginning to white out. There was so much fear that his mind was trying to let go of consciousness to avoid it.
“…Is this how much of a ‘man’ you are? I’m just getting warmed up.”
Sebas’s disappointment echoed loudly within Climb’s fading awareness.
Those words cut Climb deeper than any blade could. It was enough to make him forget the terror coming at him, even if only for a moment.
Ba-bum. His heart thumped once, loudly.
He exhaled sharply.
He was so scared, wanted to run away. But he desperately stood his ground with tears in his eyes. His hands shook and the tip of his sword wobbled crazily. His mail shirt was making a racket he was shaking so hard.
Still he desperately clenched his jaw to stop his teeth from chattering and tried to withstand his terror of Sebas.
Sebas snorted at Climb’s unseemly state and slowly began to ball up his raised right hand. In less than a few blinks, it had become a round fist.
Then one of them slowly began moving back, as if it were being drawn like a bowstring.
Realizing what was about to happen, Climb shook his head, trembling. Sebas, of course, would not entertain his wish.
“Well, then…please die.”
Like an arrow released from a fully drawn bow, Sebas’s fist zoomed forward with a roar of ripping air.
This is instant death. Climb sensed it in slow motion. His mind was seized by the perfect image of death—an iron ball much taller than he was zooming straight for him at a furious speed. If he shielded himself with his sword, the fist would smash through like it was nothing.
His entire body could no longer move. He was so tense he’d frozen.
There’s no way to escape the death I’m facing.
Climb gave up but then got irritated at himself.
If he wasn’t going to die for Renner’s sake, then why didn’t he just give up back then? He should have died shivering all alone in the rain.
The Men of the Kingdom Part I Page 17