The City’s Cancer
While Dieter spoke with the mayor, Hakon went out to the courtyard in front of City Hall with Rolf. The mayor had asked Dieter to send them outside.
Hakon had never been good at waiting. Before long, boredom overtook him, and he began idly kicking a stone across the ground.
After an indeterminate amount of time, a thought suddenly occurred to him.
‘I might as well visit the smithy instead of standing around here.’
The smithy in Zilvergard was the same one that had forged Dieter’s mace and shield. The fact that its blacksmith could work with Drake materials proved that he possessed considerable skill.
It might be worth visiting at least once to inspect his wares. Besides, it had been quite some time since Hakon last had the blade of his favored greatsword sharpened.
‘Then I should stop by the smithy for a moment. It does not seem particularly far from here.’
Just as Hakon was about to leave, a question struck him from behind.
“Where are you going?”
“What concern is it of yours where I go?”
“Are you not currently escorting His Lordship? Should you really leave your post?”
Rolf spoke in a disapproving tone. Hakon could simply have ignored him and left, but he did not.
“Hmph. How curious.”
“What is?”
“You are already overflowing with loyalty, even though less than a day has passed since you swore allegiance to His Lordship.”
“Is there something wrong with that?”
Rolf frowned at the obvious sarcasm.
Ordinarily, it would have been unthinkable for a commoner to speak back to a knight. However, Rolf had lived his entire life free from the rule of knights and lords, so he felt no hesitation whatsoever.
“His Lordship promised to save our village. Our loyalty is both repayment and an expression of gratitude. Is that not only natural?”
“It merely feels rather sudden. Do you and your people truly intend to become our lord’s subjects? I wondered whether you might change your minds after using his strength to dispose of the Goblins.”
“Did you not witness it yourself, Sir Hakon? The villagers and I swore loyalty to His Lordship in the names of our ancestors.”
Rolf grimaced as though he had been insulted.
He and the villagers had pledged their loyalty to Dieter only yesterday. Naturally, he could not help but become angry when the sincerity of that oath was questioned before even a full day had passed.
-Swear your loyalty to me. Your village will become a territory of House Vermont, and you will become my people. In return, I will protect you from the Goblins.
Rolf and the other indigenous people had accepted Dieter’s proposal without deliberating for long. Their decision had been so swift that one might suspect they had secretly been waiting all this time for a lord willing to accept them.
“Is that so? Then why not abandon the village and move closer to our castle?”
“What? Abandon it?”
“Would that not be better than living in the middle of a forest infested with monsters? Once the castle’s repairs are complete, it will be protected by two sets of walls. You would be many times safer from monster attacks.”
“We cannot do that. Our ancestors’ graves are in the village, and it is our duty to protect them. From the beginning, we swore loyalty to His Lordship on the condition that we would continue living there. We cannot leave.”
Rolf glared at Hakon with an offended expression. The resentment born during their first encounter clearly remained.
Hakon was no different. He returned Rolf’s glare with an equally displeased look.
‘Judging by his reaction, he does not appear to be lying.’
At the same time, Hakon reached that conclusion.
Rolf’s expression and attitude seemed sincere. Hakon also recalled seeing a communal cemetery within the village walls during their previous visit.
‘At the very least, they intend to remain loyal to the lord for now. A hundred new subjects….’
Hakon’s thoughts naturally turned toward Dieter.
When he considered it, Dieter had changed considerably from how he had been in the past.
There had been the way he subdued the insolent servants, the way the two of them defeated the Drake, and the subtle attempt he had made to win Hakon over.
Every one of those actions differed greatly from the Dieter Hakon had known.
He had believed Dieter to be nothing more than an illegitimate son who spent all his time nervously watching the moods of those around him. He had never imagined that Dieter had been concealing such qualities.
‘Perhaps he was not hiding them. Perhaps his current circumstances have caused him to grow… I wonder what will happen from now on.’
Just as his thoughts reached that point, a commotion arose nearby.
Hakon and Rolf simultaneously turned toward the sound.
“Catch him! Catch him!”
“Do not let him escape! Hurry after him!”
A chase was unfolding on the street beyond the fence surrounding City Hall.
A hooded man shoved pedestrians aside as he fled, while a group of guards pursued him.
Meanwhile, another guard lay collapsed on the side of the road, crying out in agony.
“Ugh! Aaargh!”
“Keep pressure on it!”
“Hold on a little longer! We sent for a physician!”
The area beneath his ribs was stained red, and blood poured from the wound, soaking the ground.
From Hakon’s experience, the man would undoubtedly die unless the bleeding was stopped immediately.
“Good heavens, another robbery? In broad daylight?”
“A guard was attacked. Surely he is not going to die?”
“What is happening to Zilvergard? None of this happened a few months ago….”
The anxious whispers of the passersby reached Hakon’s ears.
It seemed such incidents had been occurring frequently of late.
“Do the people of cities always kill one another like this? I do not understand. What is causing it…?”
“It is proof that this city is rotten, no matter how respectable it may appear on the surface.”
Hakon answered Rolf while staring at the chaotic street.
An incident like this in broad daylight suggested that Zilvergard was no safer than the many trading cities he had passed through during his days as a mercenary.
“It is simple. Dispose of the vermin infesting this city.”
Once the mayor and I were alone in the office, he immediately came to the point.
The contemptuous term “vermin” made it obvious that something had been causing him considerable trouble.
“Is this a public-order problem? Has something troublesome appeared in the backstreets?”
“You are perceptive. That is precisely the matter. A gang has been running rampant through the streets for approximately three months. They call themselves the Wyvern Brotherhood.”
“How many are there? Forty or fifty?”
“There appear to be roughly ten.”
“Ten? That sounds like a number you should be more than capable of handling.”
It was puzzling.
Zilvergard was a fairly large city with several thousand residents and a garrison of more than two hundred soldiers. Yet it could not eliminate a gang consisting of only ten people?
“A single order from you should be enough to wipe them out. What is the problem?”
“To conduct a thorough search of the backstreets and uproot them completely, I would need at least a hundred soldiers. In other words, it would leave a considerable gap in the city’s security.”
After hearing his explanation, I could understand why the mayor found the situation so troublesome.
He could force the issue and mobilize enough soldiers to conduct a subjugation operation despite the resulting weakness in public security. However, if the operation failed, public opinion would turn sharply against him.
His position as mayor might even be placed in jeopardy.
“You have only a limited number of soldiers available for separate assignments. That is why eliminating them is difficult. Is that what you mean?”
“Precisely. I also considered hiring mercenaries, but that proved difficult. They may be nothing more than a gang, but their abilities should not be underestimated. If I hired a group of incompetent rabble, only for all of them to lose their heads, I would suffer a considerable humiliation.”
“And you believe that will not happen to me?”
“You defeated a Drake. Surely ten thugs would pose little difficulty for you. At least, that is what I believe.”
The way he spoke as though the matter were trivial irritated me greatly.
However, I had no other way to obtain the soldiers. Suppressing my anger, I answered.
“Very well. I accept your proposal, on the condition that you provide the soldiers in return. You will not begin making excuses about public security once the task is complete, will you?”
“Of course not. If you eliminate every last one of them, I will gladly lend you the soldiers. That will also resolve the city’s security problem, so there will be no further obstacle.”
The mayor’s earlier refusal to provide soldiers became somewhat understandable as I listened to his answer.
With the city’s security already in such a deplorable state, sending soldiers to help outsiders would naturally anger the citizens. His approval among them would have fallen considerably.
“Take this. These documents summarize everything we have learned about them. They should prove useful. I am pleased that this transaction has allowed the two of us to establish such a productive relationship, my lord….”
The mayor picked up the documents on his desk and held them out to me.
His relaxed smile behind the monocle seemed deeply suspicious. I could not shake the feeling that I was receiving the worse end of the bargain.
[He is clearly delighted. He does not appear to be lying.]
The Status Window described precisely what I could see.
Nevertheless, I found it difficult to rid myself of the feeling that the mayor was concealing some other scheme.
Of course, it was only a premonition. I could not reach a conclusion based on that alone.
For now, I would deal with the task before me and consider whatever followed when the time came.
“Very well. Wait for my return, and do not think of changing your terms later.”
Concealing one’s thoughts from the other party was fundamental to any negotiation. I accepted the documents with a calm expression and turned away.
The slums of Zilvergard, commonly known as the backstreets, had once been the center of the city. Now, they were merely the ruins of the fallen Old Quarter.
As the city expanded and a new commercial district emerged, fewer people visited the Old Quarter. In time, only the traces of its decline remained.
The scene surrounding us was proof of that.
SPLASH.
“Damn it….”
Hakon cursed behind me, apparently having stepped into a puddle.
I had also been avoiding the filthy pools and piles of refuse scattered throughout the streets.
The backstreets bore little resemblance to the rest of Zilvergard. The roads between the dilapidated buildings were narrow and filthy, while shadows covered the area despite the midday sun.
It was hardly a place I wished to visit, but the mayor’s bargain had left me no choice.
“We are nearly there, so let us review the information once more. The weapon used to stab the guard was a dagger, correct?”
“Yes. According to the victim, it was a stiletto—a dagger designed to pierce gaps in armor and deliver a fatal thrust.”
I organized my thoughts while listening to Hakon’s answer.
While I was meeting with the mayor at City Hall, a member of the Wyvern Brotherhood had attacked a guard on the street.
After hearing about the incident from Hakon, I had gone to the barracks to question the victim and the other guards. The resulting investigation had provided us with several useful pieces of information.
“The wounded guard said that a hooded man with a thick beard appeared suspicious. When he attempted to question him, the man thrust out his arm and drove a stiletto through a gap in his armor. The attack was so swift that he did not have time to react.”
“That is correct. The guards who pursued him also said he was far too fast for them to follow. He vaulted over walls, ran across rooftops, and vanished in moments.”
In other words, the attacker was highly proficient with a dagger and exceptionally agile.
Judging from the testimony, he might have once been a Ranger or a Hunter.
“Then his combat ability must also be considerable. If we assume the worst, every member of this so-called Wyvern Brotherhood may be as capable as he is.”
Hakon clicked his tongue with a “Tsk” and frowned.
At worst, the two of us might have to face ten experienced warriors. That was a situation we needed to avoid.
“Even so, it should still be far better than our previous monster hunt.”
“I agree. Even if all ten attack us at once, they should be easier to handle than a Drake the size of a house… However, finding them may be more difficult than fighting them. If they are hiding deep within the backstreets, even a hundred soldiers would struggle to locate them.”
“Is that not why we disguised ourselves as mercenaries and came here to ask questions?”
As Hakon said, clad in armor and worn cloaks, we looked exactly like wandering mercenaries.
We had decided that dressing as mercenaries would be the most natural way to gather information in the backstreets.
A short while later, we stopped before an inn built from the same gloomy stone as the other dilapidated buildings nearby.
Instead of a signboard, several enormous wagon wheels had been hung in a row above the entrance. The unusual display had drawn our attention from far down the street.
“The Rolling Wheel Inn. This must be the place.”
“It certainly remains faithful to its name.”
It was the largest inn in Zilvergard’s backstreets.
According to the mayor, all manner of criminals gathered there, so we would surely be able to obtain information about the Wyvern Brotherhood.
“Let us go inside. You remember what we are supposed to do, correct?”
“Do not draw my sword without warning. Speak to them first and gather information. Is that not it?”
Hakon answered and took the lead.
I followed him inside.