Chapter 24. I had to earn my keep.

“Luke Ivers, you mean……?”

Tober felt his own voice tremble.

Having lived an exemplary life until now, he'd had no business getting involved with the Central Knight Order, but it wasn't as if he hadn't heard of their formidable reputation.

The Central Knight Order moving meant the matter was that serious.

It was the established theory that one should avoid them no matter what.

It wouldn't have been strange for the Central Knight Order to move to catch the emperor's assassin.

However, the situation was a little different.

“You don't have to be so tense. I came for personal reasons.”

Simon spoke softly, but the atmosphere did not loosen at all.

“W-What do you mean by that……. It was concluded to be a simple misunderstanding……”

Another culprit was caught.

It was proven that Luke Ivers was not here.

“I've heard the gist of the story. But I'm the type of person who needs to confirm things myself to be at ease.”

“Ha, ha. You are very diligent.”

The Guild Master licked his drying lips.

One had to choose their battles when trying to curry favor.

Even a regular knight could drive a mere guild into a crisis if things went south.

But the opponent was the Central Knight Order?

One slip of the tongue and the guild would have to close its doors.

It was wiser to keep as much distance as possible.

“Since it was only a few days ago, there must be various things left, right? Evidence, witnesses- I'd like to see those as well, would you allow me?”

It was formally a polite request, but there was no way Tober or the Guild Master could refuse.

It would have been less uncomfortable if it had been an order.

“Ahem. Th-The friends who could be called witnesses have left Dejong due to circumstances.”

The Guild Master quickly offered up the information.

However, he couldn't bring himself to say that he was the one who had sent the witnesses away.

“That's a shame. Then it can't be helped. I suppose I'll have to at least see the evidence.”

Evidence.

This time, it was Tober's turn to confess.

There had been a most important piece of evidence, but it was gone.

Along with the witnesses-

“We determined that the case was completely closed and disposed of some of the evidence.”

“Surely, important evidence wasn't mixed in with that, was it? For example- something like a swordsmanship manual.”

Tober closed his eyes.

It was clear that he had thoroughly reviewed the report he had sent to the Imperial Capital.

“The swordsmanship manual was given to the witnesses as a form of compensation.”

“So the evidence was given to the witness, and that witness isn't here, is that right? Well. This has become interesting. Anyone looking would think the evidence was deliberately destroyed.”

Simon did not get angry.

Instead, he smiled.

Thanks to that, Tober and the Guild Master were at a loss for words.

It couldn't be a serious remark.

But to be sarcasm, he was smiling too brightly.

Was it a joke?

Should they laugh along?

What if he suddenly turned serious after they did?

It was the first time they realized that an idle smile could be this terrifying.

“Then what's left now? It's not like nothing is left, right?”

“If it's the sword trace left by the culprit-”

It wasn't certain what had happened to the sword trace left at Joshua's base.

It might have been erased while cleaning up the body and tidying up.

But the sword trace left on the city wall would still remain clear unless it had been deliberately erased.

“I'll ask you to guide meee.”

Tober and the Guild Master vied to guide Simon.

It was a simple matter of showing the way, so one of them, or even a servant, would have been enough, but neither of them thought of leaving.

Having already made a mistake, they could only worry about how to recover some points.

“Wow. This is definitely a trace of swordsmanship.”

Arriving on the city wall, Simon traced the sword mark with his hand.

Tober, who was watching him, swallowed dryly.

Even Tober, a knight in his own right, couldn't figure out anything other than the fact that it was a trace of swordsmanship, but Simon would be different.

Suddenly, his confidence faded.

He wasn't going to come up with some strange conclusion all of a sudden, was he?

If, by any chance, Simon were to name Luke Ivers as the culprit here- it would mean that Tober had made the wrong conclusion and blown the chance to capture Luke.

Then it was highly likely a death sentence.

He would have to pray for a less painful method of execution than a hopeless survival.

Was it a few seconds, or a few minutes?

Just when it felt like several hours had passed.

“……It's certainly not Luke's work.”

Simon came to a conclusion.

“I-Is that so?”

Tober, who had been thinking things like ‘Is beheading better than being burned at the stake……?’, stroked his chest in relief.

It was a relief.

He wasn't wrong.

“However.”

A single word that made his heart sink.

Tober forgot even to breathe as he waited for Simon's words.

“The swordsmanship seems to be that of my master. I'll need to check in more detail…… did you say the evidence and the witness aren't here? How troublesome-”

The same smile still sparkled on Simon's face.

But Tober and the Guild Master felt dizzy.

‘Should I have kept it-’

‘Should I not have sent them away-’

As always, regret came too late.

To avoid accumulating more regrets, the two of them-

“Where can I go to meet the witnesses?”

-did not hesitate for even a second to answer Simon's question.

* * *

Mooooo-

The sound of a cow's mooing could be heard from afar.

A wide-open meadow and the cows strolling upon it.

And even the faint smell of cow dung.

It was truly a picturesque ranch.

The ranch was located quite a distance from the nearby city.

It was a universal truth that land became scarcer the closer one got to a city center, so to secure enough land to set up a ranch, one had to move away from the city.

But there was a reason for cheap land.

Being far from the city meant that when a problem arose, there were no people around, making it difficult to get help immediately.

For me, the less I met people, the lower the chance of my identity being exposed, so this was also an advantage.

The Guild Master had introduced me to a really good place.

“That bastard Wade sent you?”

A middle-aged woman who had received the letter of introduction and scanned it spoke in an annoyed tone.

Her name was ‘Grainy’.

According to the Guild Master, she had been a comrade during his mercenary days.

She certainly had a strong physique befitting a mercenary.

“Pardon?”

“I'm talking about the guy who wrote this letter. ‘Thorn Shield’ Wade.”

“You mean the Guild Master.”

So the Guild Master's name was Wade.

How would I know when no one called him by his name.

The guild's name was definitely ‘Thorn Shield’.

He just slapped his own nickname on it.

“I did ask him to send some kids over a while ago. Ha. That moron, he didn't send them then-”

Grainy, who had been grumbling, scanned Pol and me and nodded her head.

“Well, yeah. The more helping hands, the better.”

“Helping hands?”

Huh.

This seems a bit different from what I heard from the Guild Master.

“Was the explanation in the letter of introduction insufficient? We are……”

“Ah ah. You're here to do some training or whatever. But that's that.”

Grainy waved her hand as if annoyed.

“So you were planning to eat and sleep for free? If you want to stay here, you have to work.”

“Uh-”

Is this right?

Grainy was so assertive that it felt like she was right.

Just because I was introduced doesn't mean she has to provide all conveniences.

“I'd rather pay.”

“Don't need it.”

Grainy cut off my proposal in a single stroke.

“Without even hearing the amount?”

“If I were obsessed with money, I would have continued being a mercenary.”

Grainy's eyebrows furrowed into an inverted ‘V’ as if she was displeased.

“Alright. If you give me about 10 gold coins, I might consider it.”

10 gold coins. That was more than I had even if I emptied my pockets.

She wasn't holding a knife, but she was a total robber.

“……Let's just work.”

It's not like I had anywhere else to go.

And I had some time to spare anyway.

I could just think of it as coming for a ranch experience.

“Good thinking. Let's get along for the time being.”

Thwack.

Grainy's wide hand struck my back.

It was a stinging blow that made my insides ring.

She sure is damn strong.

* * *

After finishing my conversation with Grainy, I approached Pol, who was plucking grass and offering it to a cow.

“Pol.”

I had told him to step aside for a moment since he wouldn't be of any help in the conversation anyway.

“We'll have to help out with the ranch work while we're staying here.”

“Yessir!”

It was a hearty reply.

As if he knew what kind of work I'd ask him to do. What if I told him to go and shovel cow dung…….

No. This guy would do it happily if I told him to.

“I like that one's briskness.”

Grainy hummed a tune and gestured for us to come over.

“Follow me. I'll teach you the work.”

“Right now?”

We just got here?

“What are you going to do by playing around? You don't have much luggage to unpack either.”

“Hah…….”

This person felt familiar.

My manager at my previous job used to talk exactly like that.

“Alright. What should I do?”

At this point, I was getting stubborn too.

This was a ranch that Grainy had been maintaining just fine on her own.

Even if she passed on all the work she used to do, if I split it with Pol, it would only be half.

No way I, an unskilled worker, couldn't even keep up with half of it.

“What do you think is the most important thing in running a ranch?”

“I wonder.”

How would I know, it's not like I've ever worked on a ranch.

“Strength.”

“Strength? I'm not sure what kind of strength you mean.”

There were many kinds of strength.

Pushing strength, pulling strength, lifting strength-

Moving heavy objects was strength, and running fast was also strength.

It was hard to understand when she just said ‘strength’ out of the blue.

“The strength to defeat enemies.”

Huh?

Perhaps my face showed my confusion, as Grainy added an explanation.

“Look, at those luscious cows. To passing humans, they would look like gold, and to monsters, a feast.”

I roughly understood.

The existence of wild animals that preyed on livestock was a serious threat to a ranch.

Even more dangerous were humans.

And in this world, there were even monsters.

“Furthermore, there's no one around here to help.”

It meant that I couldn't use the strategy of calling the villagers like the boy who cried wolf.

I had to protect myself.

Grainy opened the door of a small, separate building.

A storage- to be precise, an armory.

There were various types of weapons such as bows, spears, and swords.

They weren't just left there, but were shining weapons that looked like they had been maintained and used until recently.

It was a bloody sight that didn't suit a peaceful ranch.

Grainy took out a long spear and a short spear, one in each hand, and bent and straightened her wrists a few times as if to gauge their weight.

“Let's start with cleaning.”

No matter how I looked at it, what she was holding in her hands were not cleaning tools.

An ominous premonition brushed past me.

“By any chance, that cleaning you're talking about is……”

“Since we have more people, we have to do the work we couldn't do before.”

Grainy said as she loosened her shoulders.

“Until now, I was alone, so it was tricky to go far. If I left for a moment, there were always one or two guys who would take advantage of that opening.”

I began to understand the story she had mentioned in passing, that the Guild Master had refused Grainy's request for support.

This person was the type to increase work as much as she gained free time.

The type who created an infinite chain of expansion, like increasing work because there were more people, increasing people because there was not enough manpower, and because there were more people…….

There was never any leisure, and if one or two people were to drop out, the whole thing would rapidly collapse.

A person who demonstrated the greatest ability when working alone.

The worst kind of boss.

“Aja!! Let's go!!”

It was a relief that I was only staying here for a short while.

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