“Can you really call it ‘bravery’ to challenge an opponent when you know for a fact you can win?”
Al goggled at me. “You knew for a fact you could win?”
“I mean it.”
That was just how it was. If I had to go against that wyvern again and fight it bare-handed a hundred more times, I was sure I’d win at least ninety-nine. Even if I had to take on that chimera, as long as I had the right weapons and armor, I would almost never be bested.
“I’m overwhelmingly more powerful than a wyvern or a chimera. That’s my most honest analysis. I can kill those things just by trusting my training to make the right moves.”
Al was speechless. It looked like he didn’t know how he should respond.
“I’m probably a lot stronger than you and the others imagine.”
In fact, probably the only ones to have a concrete grasp on just how much I deviated from ordinary people were Menel, Reystov, and maybe a few others with good eyes.
“They don’t scare me. Wyverns or chimeras.”
Only once had I felt fear from an opponent’s strength in battle: that being shrouded in black mist. I had despaired, fallen to my knees, and curled up on the ground. And the reason I was able to stand up again had absolutely nothing to do with being brave. If I’d been alone, I was sure that I’d have stayed there clutching my head until the storm was entirely past, crushed under the weight of my fear and despair.
“A person who beats those far weaker than himself is no brave hero. Winning against something that doesn’t scare you isn’t bravery.”
“Then—” Al hesitated for a moment before asking. “Then what is bravery?”
“Honestly? I’d like to know that too.”
I’d been able to stand back up only because Mary had been there to admonish me. I’d forced my shaking legs forward because I wanted to protect those three. It wasn’t that I was especially brimming with courage. In fact, I wasn’t relying very much on my mental strength at all. I had a well-trained body and was well prepared. I was winning because I had every right to win. That was all.
Perhaps my old nature had carried over into this world. Maybe I really was a coward.
“How are you meant to challenge an opponent who’s stronger than you? Hopelessly stronger than you?”
The time for battle was drawing near, and I doubted I would get a chance to put together a surefire winning strategy. When that time came, would I be able to fight? Did I have that much bravery?
◆
That afternoon, Al and I were in my office getting the small amount of paperwork I had to do out of the way when I heard noises at the entrance to the mansion. Wondering whether I had a visitor, I put the paperwork away for now. Then, there was a knock at the door.
“William, I’m back,” said a familiar voice. The door opened, and there stood a man with an unshaven face, piercing eyes, and a well-built body. His thick beast-hide cloak was mottled with blood spatter and grass stains that couldn’t be washed off. He was an adventurer who carried the title of “the Penetrator.”
“Reystov! Welcome back! How’d it go?”
“I dispatched all the beasts you ordered. There were a few Commander demons going around leading troops, so I took care of those as well.”
Beast Woods was vast. Beasts and demons showed up all over it to cause problems. It was physically impossible for me to handle them all by myself. I always struggled to secure people who had both a trustworthy personality and the necessary combat skills to solve these issues. Reystov, meanwhile, was an adventurer seeking strong, substantial enemies to defeat for honor and glory. His skills with a sword, especially his lightning-quick thrusts, were the stuff of epics, and he was a loyal adventurer with class among a sea of ruffians.
In short, our interests basically matched. I guaranteed his basic needs and provided a steady stream of enemies. He lent me his sword skills, defeated those enemies, and added more exploits to his name. Officially, Reystov worked for me, but actually I was the one who could stand to learn from him. He was a real veteran. This alliance, in which it wasn’t clear which of us was really superior, was going very well so far.
“I didn’t come across anything particularly unusual. Should I just report the details to Anna as per normal?”
“Yes, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Also, I heard you had a new squire, but—” He looked at Al. “He looks like a nobody,” he muttered in a low voice.
For a while now, Reystov had been going around villages far from here, so this was the first time he’d seen Al. He gazed at the dwarf standing there and said nothing for a few moments. Al tried to say something, but subjected to the man’s hard stare and blunt way of speaking, he shrank back a little and produced only a whimper.
Reystov walked straight up to him. “You’re stooping too much.” He slapped Al lightly on the back, grabbed his shoulders, and pulled them up towards him. “Your shoulders are too far forward. It makes you look despondent and completely destroys any commanding presence you might have had. Listen closely: if you’re a man, tuck your chin in, straighten your back, and keep your jaw tight. Don’t let your eyes wander. Keep them trained on either the eyes or the mouth of whoever’s facing you.”
“R-Right!”
“Good. You look a little more respectable now.” Reystov always made eye contact when speaking. “I am Reystov. You are?”
“A-Al.”
“Al. I see. What do you think of William?”
“I, I respect him!”
Reystov nodded. “Then, as a squire, don’t conduct yourself in a way that lowers the status of your master.”
Al’s breath caught in his throat.
“Always walk tall and dignified, with your back straight and your eyes fixed forward. When opening your mouth, speak the right words with confidence. If you cannot, choose to remain silent instead. That is what will make you somebody. Got it?”
“Yes!”
As Reystov continued talking to Al, I could see Al’s back getting straighter and his eyes becoming more focused. I got the feeling that I knew how Al felt at this moment. When Reystov looked at you with that penetrating stare while giving you advice, you felt as if what he was saying was actually achievable. It gave you confidence. It might have been another one of his talents that he could have that effect on people.
“William.”
“Yes?”
“You don’t mind?”
“No, be my guest.”
Reystov could be a little too brief sometimes, but we had known each other for a few years now, so I had grown to understand him most of the time. By “You don’t mind?” he meant “Do you mind me sticking my nose in and correcting him on his demeanor and so on?”
“In fact, I was planning on asking you to help.”
“I see.” Reystov nodded slowly, then looked at Al again. “You said your name was Al?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to speak my mind for a while.”
“Yes, sir!”
The earnest Al and the experienced and straight-talking Reystov looked like they were going to get on well together.
“Oh, Reystov?” I said, getting the sudden idea to ask him something.
“What?”
“What do you think bravery is?”
He wrinkled his eyebrows, looked at me, and said, “I don’t know what’s on your mind, but you’ll never figure that out until you stop thinking that way.”
◆
Some time passed. As our information-gathering continued, I kept a wary eye on the Rust Mountains, but in the end, it was peace personified from summer to fall.
We had a wheat harvest and a lively harvest festival. Parties were held with freshly brewed ale and fruit wine. Gathered around a fire with drink in our hands, there was no distinction between dwarf and human. Everyone drank with a smile and made noise together. For the sake of the harmony of the city, I took the initiative and went to a bunch of different parties myself. Reystov got together w
ith Grendir, Ghelreis, and all those others, and once they all started talking of their heroic stories, they hit it off well. Menel had his arms around Al’s and my shoulders. It was rare to see him in such a good mood.
Once autumn arrived and nutritious nuts like acorns started falling from the trees, that was the time of year to let the livestock pour into the woods. By doing this, the animals would fatten up enough to survive the winter, although a portion of the herd would then be slaughtered and their meat smoked or salted to preserve it for the cold season to come. People stepped into the forest more often at this time of year too, in search of blessings like fruits or mushrooms and firewood to help them through the winter. As the Lord of Holly had promised, the woods this year were bountiful, and everyone was pleased.
This was also a busy time of year for the adventurers.
Up until now, the people who lived in this area had been very restricted because they and their livestock would be targeted by beasts if they went into the forest. They had been forced into making meager livings within the small safe areas surrounding the villages they secured, because to go deep into the forest would have been an act of suicide.
However, two years after I arrived, this situation improved dramatically when the adventurers and I carried out large-scale beast hunts. After that, quite a large area became property of people once more. The beasts’ territory shrank, and more land could be used for foraging or raising cattle. But even so, this was still Beast Woods. There were plenty of beasts that tried to make their way into the regions where people lived. Fending them off was one of the major jobs of adventurers around here, alongside exploring the ruins hidden deep in the woods.
Villages hired adventurers to be beast hunters for them specifically, in return for accommodation, food, a little money, and the hides of the beasts they brought down. Through this arrangement, the villages were kept safe and the adventurers got rewards and sometimes even honor when they took down a big enemy. Of course, they died sometimes too. I also saw the occasional adventurer accidentally develop a deep relationship with a village daughter or widow and just end up settling there.
In any case, the beast hides and bones obtained from their hunts were sold to Torch Port along with any gathered wheat, vegetables, firewood, or coal. With the money they earned, the adventurers resupplied and fixed up their equipment, and the villagers bought farm tools, daily essentials, and livestock. Through this, the villages became richer and increased their output, and Torch Port, meanwhile, got the food and fuel it needed to sustain its citizens.
The craftsmen worked busily off the food provided by the farming villages. Blacksmiths, potters, woodworkers, weavers, and more made products for both rural and urban areas. At regular and not-so-regular intervals, ships came from Whitesails loaded with goods we couldn’t make in the Torch Port area. Laborers unloaded them from the ships and, in their place, loaded the ships with pottery and wood products produced here instead.
This river trading between Whitesails and Torch Port was profitable for the merchants. In some cases, they also made money by getting their hands on a warehouse or something similar and opening up shops aimed at the potpourri of people who lived in this city.
As for me, the liege lord of Beast Woods, I collected funds and labor from various points in this system and used them to govern and manage the area, although I was reliant on the priests I’d borrowed from the bishop for the majority of the work. For example, I instituted land taxes, community service for a fixed number of days, fees to use the ports, warehouses, and markets, and so on.
And so Torch Port had a functional economy, industry, and government. At present, the city’s various industries were growing every year, and although the labor market fluctuated a little, it held steady in favoring sellers by a reasonably safe amount. It was thanks to this that we weren’t in a state of needing to take urgent action even though immigrants from Grassland to the north were on the rise. Although it wobbled from time to time, we had a well-balanced positive feedback loop.
This was something to be happy about, but it was important to remember that we were running a dangerous juggling act. This meant that if the balance broke down, the positive feedback loop we were currently enjoying would also collapse very quickly.
What would happen, for example, if the rural areas across Beast Woods that were the foundation of this system were badly damaged by beasts? It would result in a domino effect. There would be a food crisis at Torch Port, which depended on the villages to supply food and fuel, and on top of that, it was very possible that the fuel shortage would mean that the workshops would have to suspend operations. If something like that happened, the merchants would also have to put a hold on their business, and there would be fewer ships going back and forth. Then tax revenues would go down, our ability to deal with the problems would be lessened, and the beasts would run rampant to an even greater degree. It would be difficult to recover from that chain of events once it kicked off.
Looking at it objectively, we had very little redundancy or room to err in case something happened. Any trouble had to be nipped in the bud early.
◆
“Haaaah!”
I felt my body lift into the air. Heaven and earth changed places. I hit the ground with my arm and correctly broke my fall. Instantly, a foot stamped down right beside my head with tremendous force.
I’d been holding back a little bit, but even so, a loss was a loss.
“Fantastic! That was great!” I said in a cheery voice, looking up.
“Th-Thank you very much!” Al said back.
Al had been taught by all kinds of people over the past few months. He now stood up straight and carried his head high. He was really starting to give the impression of someone strong and brave. He was yet to fight any real battles, but his skills were improving greatly, and he was carrying himself more appropriately, too.
He really did seem to have a natural gift for this. Speaking purely about the matches we’d been having to practice his armed and unarmed combat, the odds were still against him in a fight against Menel, Reystov, or myself, but nevertheless, he was already looking pretty respectable. His unarmed fighting in particular was amazing.
Something I realized during our many training sessions was that dwarves were pretty well suited for grappling techniques. They were heavyset and had strong muscles but were short in height. Al was tall for a dwarf, but even he wasn’t so tall as to exceed the height of a human or elf. And the fact that dwarves were short meant that they had a low center of gravity.
Amateur grapplers often imagine grappling as applying force from the top down and pressing the opponent hard as if trying to crush them, and often that’s what they actually do. But the correct way to do it is to lower your center of gravity and lift your opponent into the air from below. If this is difficult to understand, try to imagine a large ball and a smaller ball about half its size pushing against each other sideways. The small ball will slip underneath and push the large ball upwards. Once the opponent’s feet are off the ground, they can’t apply force anymore. Become the small ball, stand firm below, and use the power of the ground to push the opponent upwards—that’s one of the correct principles for winning a grapple.
In that sense, the dwarves were blessed to have short and heavyset bodies. The only problem was their short reach. I wondered if that meant that long-handled weapons would be best suited for them in armed combat.
“My lord, my lord.” Someone called for me.
I turned around to see a businesslike woman with braided, flaxen hair. “Anna.”
Anna was one of the priests that Bishop Bagley had dispatched to me. She was always helping me out with the running of the city, religious services, and stuff like that. I’d heard recently from Bee that there was something going on between her and Reystov, but I couldn’t read that kind of thing, so I had no idea whether it was true or not.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
“A situation that requires a little ur
gency has been brought to my attention.”
“What’s happened?”
“I’m told there has been an undead sighting in the woods.”
“Undead...”
For a while now, the main troubles around here had revolved around beasts and demons. It had been quite a while since I’d had to deal with anything involving undead.
I had arranged for matters relating to undead near Beast Woods to be brought to me first of all via the temple. I could throw it over to the adventurers, but they wouldn’t necessarily have any method for returning the dead peacefully to the eternal cycle of samsara. Granted, a few warriors with maces could pulverize a zombie or a skeleton to the point of unrecognizability and the problem would be solved for the people under threat, but I felt that was a bit too cruel. Because of my history of being raised by Mary, Blood, and Gus, I couldn’t help but feel for the undead, so I was trying to make sure that as often as possible, matters like this were handled by me personally, or failing that, one of the priests.
“Ah!” I suddenly got an idea. This might be perfect for Al’s first battle. Due to my devotion to the god of the flame, I had a large advantage against the undead. If Al got into danger, it would be much easier to support him than if we were facing a beast.
“Al, about this, I’m going to handle it personally. Will you come with me?”
Al’s face lit up. “Y-Yes, sir! Please allow me to accompany you!”
◆
Traces of summer still lingered in the forest, which smelled strongly of greenery and soil and was full of thick undergrowth and exuberant bushes and vines. Coming through here when the visibility was as bad as this was dangerous, even if the situation had improved slightly compared to the height of summer.
I turned around to face Al, who was walking behind me. “I hear that dwarves can see well in the dark, but make sure not to over-rely on your sense of sight.”
“O-Okay.”
Al was wearing studded leather armor and a helmet, and he had a shiny battle axe in his hands. He looked pretty stylish now that he was standing up straight and was properly equipped, and all the more so because he had a solid build to begin with.
The Lord of the Rust Mountains (Complete) Page 12