Rafin left the Golden Cask Inn and walked along the street.
The mood was completely different from yesterday's. Since before the tournament, every corner of Unton had been packed with crowds enjoying the festival, but now everyone seemed to have gone back to their daily lives, and the excitement was gone. Even the trash that had littered the streets during the festival had been cleared away.
A woman with a milk yoke across her shoulders raised her voice to sell her milk.
"Fine-quality milk here. Donkey's milk. It's good for those who catch colds often or who are run down. No water or flour mixed in."
A few passersby went up to the woman.
"Are you sure there's no water in it?"
"I don't cheat my customers. If you don't believe me, have a taste."
The woman poured milk into small cups and handed them out. The people who tasted it nodded and smiled.
"How is it? It's rich, you know."
Hearing what the people were saying, Rafin let out a snort of laughter. In Philia, at least, they didn't water down their milk. Donkey's milk cost more than goat's or cow's milk, so he figured that if you mixed in water or flour, you'd make a tidy profit.
As Rafin was walking, a little kid bumped into him.
"Oof."
Rafin ruffled the kid's hair and said.
"You all right, kid?"
"......."
A moment later, three little kids came into view. The kid who had bumped into Rafin ran straight off down the alley on the opposite side.
Rafin didn't remember doing much walking either when he was a little kid. He had always run everywhere. Rafin turned his head from side to side, taking in the peaceful scenery of Unton.
Before he knew it, he was close to Barad Castle. The gate of Barad Castle looked more than twice as high and more than 4 times as wide as Winstio Castle's.
Rafin went up to the guards at the gate.
"Hello."
Rafin greeted them in a friendly way.
The guards stared at Rafin for a moment.
"...Are you by any chance the winner of the jousting tournament?"
"That's him, all right. I remember the young face."
"What brings you to the castle?"
Rafin thought the news that he would be living at Barad Castle as a squire was probably known to only a handful of people.
"The lord thought well of me and arranged for me to stay at Barad Castle as a squire."
Rafin smiled sheepishly.
"I thought so. With skill enough to beat Sir Folke, you're a real talent. You're still young, so you're starting out as a squire. Go on in."
The guard was friendly. When the guard gave the signal, the pulley turned and the iron portcullis slowly rose.
Rafin gave the guards a slight nod and passed through the gate. There were far fewer people moving about inside the castle than during the tournament, so the grounds looked empty and even larger.
In the middle stood the main keep, the biggest and tallest. It was where the lord lived, and the keep where the banquet had been held.
After coming inside, Rafin thought for a moment about where he should go in this vast castle. Wasn't it obvious? He had become the squire of Knight Commander Gerhardt, so he should go find the Knight Commander.
Just then, he saw a servant pulling a cart loaded with hay.
"I've come to see the Knight Commander. Where should I go?"
The servant looked Rafin up and down. Rafin didn't look like someone who had come to work. His face looked young, but he was tall and handsome.
"You'll find the Knight Commander if you go to the keep on the west side of the main keep, but who might you...... Are you the one who won the jousting tournament, by any chance? I didn't see the matches, but I did see you from a distance at the banquet."
"Yes. That's me."
Rafin scratched his head a few times, pretending to be bashful.
"I heard you're the eldest son of House Valone. So the Knight Commander didn't just send the tournament winner home after all. I'll show you the way."
The servant left the cart where it was and led Rafin to the keep where the Knight Commander lived.
"Here it is. Go on in."
"You must be busy, and you even showed me the way. Thank you."
Rafin looked up from the entrance of the keep. It wasn't as big as the main keep, but the keep where the Knight Commander lived was quite large too. This keep alone was bigger than the main keep of Winstio Castle.
Rafin went into the keep.
The keep's 1st floor was where all kinds of arms were maintained. Hand-sewing tools for mending the padding and fittings inside armor, and hand-grinding tools used to sharpen small daggers and parts of armor, were strewn across a table against one wall.
On the other side was a space for storing and repairing horse armor, saddles, reins, and the like.
A man who had been removing rust by putting armor plates into a barrel of fine sand raised his head and looked at Rafin as he came into the keep.
"Oh. You're here."
The man noisily slapped the sand off his hands, got up from his seat, and came over to Rafin.
"You're Rafin, right? Rafin Valone."
"Yes. That's right."
"The Knight Commander said you'd be coming here today. Talk to me casually. I'm a squire just like you. I'm 2 years older than you. My name's Rewad. I'm from House Forlinde. Let's get along from here on."
The man held out his hand. Rafin took Rewad's offered hand and shook it.
Rewad had red hair with a golden sheen and green eyes. He was a squire who did menial work, but his clothes were neat.
"Good to meet you. Your doublet's spotless, even while you're tending the arms!"
"Talking like a superior, for such a young one. You have to show you're neat and diligent. That's how you get to be a knight someday. I used to be the Knight Commander's squire. Now I'm assigned to another knight."
"Oh no, did I push you out of your place, then?"
Rafin didn't feel sorry just because Rewad said that. But he had to say something like this at least, out of courtesy. Unexpectedly, Rewad shrugged.
"He said he'd take the tournament winner as his squire. Whoever's squire I am, I just work hard in the place I'm given."
Rafin had only just started talking casually with Rewad, but his attitude seemed sound.
"I can ask you if there's anything I don't know about life at Barad Castle, right?"
"Of course. Squires should help each other. Ask all you want. I'll tell you everything. You're the tournament winner, so your horsemanship and lance work must be amazing. Teach me too."
"Of course. I'll teach you."
Rewad could sense that although Rafin wasn't the son of a distinguished noble house, he showed no sign of being cowed at coming to Barad Castle and had the confident air of a tournament winner. If they became close, Rewad thought, Rafin would make a good friend.
Rewad came from a noble house, but he was a second son. In his house his life had been close to neglect, and becoming a squire of House Rosrad and then a knight was his only way out.
He was not outstanding in stamina or swordsmanship, but he knew well that showing diligence and loyalty was what he had to offer.
"The Knight Commander is on the top floor of the keep, so go on up."
"Got it. See you later."
Rafin climbed the stairs. The keep was 6 stories high. Rafin knocked on the door at the entrance of the 6th floor.
Soon a voice came from inside.
"Come in."
There wasn't even a question of who it was, as if he had been expected. Rafin opened the door and went in.
Gerhardt was looking over various documents strewn across the table.
"You're here. Sit down here."
Rafin sat in a chair. Gerhardt took his eyes off the documents and looked at Rafin.
"Did you see your teacher off properly?"
"Yes. I gave him a letter to deliver to my father and saw him off."
"Good. Your teacher from childhood until now must have been Ivan, but from now on, your teacher is me."
"I'm in your hands."
"Because you've come as my squire, Rewad has gone to be another knight's squire. He's a diligent fellow."
"I greeted Rewad downstairs. We only talked for a moment, but I felt the same."
"Seems he didn't give you a hard time for taking his place."
"He showed no sign of anything like that."
"Hm. I see. Rewad knows squire life well. Make sure to ask him and learn things like how the work is done and the etiquette toward knights."
Rafin remembered something he had forgotten for a moment. The prize money.
"Knight Commander. By the way, when can I receive the prize money?"
"For a boy who only became a squire today, you're sharp about these things."
"Haha. I only asked to confirm the money set aside as my share."
"I'll speak to the Treasurer about the prize money."
Gerhardt handed Rafin a document from the table.
"What is this?"
"You're of noble birth, so you can read. I'm of common birth, so I had a hard time learning letters as a grown man. If you don't learn to read as a child, it's no easy thing to pick up later. This is one of the letters from the houses in the north of the continent of Caldrea."
Rafin read the letter for a moment.
"It says they're worried because the weather has been getting colder and colder for some years now."
"Yes. The other letters here on the table say much the same."
"Being worried because it's getting colder. It's not that they're worried they'll need more animal hides, or have to make more quilted clothes, or that firewood will run short. That's not what they're worried about, is it?"
Rafin didn't think House Rosrad's vassal houses in the north would have sent letters over matters that might seem trivial. Requests to supply winter provisions, of all things.
"I don't show letters like this to any squire but you, Rafin. I'm showing you because you have the skill to be thrown straight into battle. Of course, the vassal houses didn't send these letters out of worry over a shortage of firewood."
"So when it gets colder, some kind of dangerous situation could be coming."
A memory from his past life came back to Rafin. When the weather turned cold, there were times when the barbarians who lived in the far north, unable to feed themselves, crossed over to the south. That seemed to be what the Knight Commander wanted to talk about.
Gerhardt rose from his seat, went to the window, and pointed north with his finger.
"Up there in the north, beyond the Grimhall Mountains, live the barbarians. As the weather gets colder and colder, the barbarians run out of food. And there are fewer animals to hunt."
"So these are letters from the vassal houses worrying that as it gets colder, the barbarians will cross the Grimhall Mountains and come raiding."
"House Rosrad has a duty to protect its vassal houses from danger. If we can't protect the vassal houses, they won't pay us tribute."
"If only we had a dragon, it could burn every barbarian coming over the mountains to a crisp."
"Haha. Rafin. That's the stuff of dreams. It's been far too long since dragons vanished from the world. They feel like myths now."
"We'll have to draw up a plan for how to defend south of the Grimhall Mountains."