Chapter 26: Kingdom of Bers (3)

I must save Jasmine. Even if it means losing the child.

Since the swordmaster Paramir promised to help with all his strength, Jasmine will surely be reclaimed. Surabar had no worries about that.

Surabar trusted Paramir, who had beheaded a forest troll with a single slash in the rain-soaked Garam Forest.

However, regarding whether he absolutely had to spare the life of this young, handsome human youth before him—who had never even seen a scratch on his face—Surabar endlessly pondered and pondered again while confined in the iron cage.

For the old knight Morik, who betrayed his lord and sought to report to the emperor, there was an excuse not to unleash his rage, and there was ample room to consider that he had traveled a great distance for their sake.

But Garland?

The son of Mosul’s border count had abducted Jasmine simply to carry out orders, to comfort himself with his father’s praise or something similar.

Even if he hadn’t known it was wrong at the time, it was a sin.

The evil of kidnapping an innocent woman—and one carrying a child in her belly, no less…

The throat of Garland, grasped in his hand, was no different from those of the monsters he had twisted to death until now. Not in the slightest.

If he applied just a bit more force right now, he could twist this frail human’s neck so that he would never breathe again.

“Guh, kehk…!”

“I’ll ask again. Is there even one reason why I shouldn’t kill you?”

“Captain…”

Surabar looked at Paramir, who was anxiously watching from nearby.

He knew what Paramir was worried about. And he also knew that Paramir would not forcibly subdue him or retract the threat he was making now.

Paramir is stronger than me… Surabar was well aware that he could not win in a fight against this young and promising swordmaster. 

That knowledge came not from his head, but from instinct.

Yet at the same time, his instinct told him that no matter what happened, Paramir would stand by his side.

It was a judgment based on instinct with no basis—just a feeling that it would be so—but it was indeed the truth. Paramir would never betray him, no matter what…

That was why he had gripped Garland’s throat.

It wasn’t that he held no grudge over Jasmine, but he needed certainty that he could fully trust this guy.

Surabar slightly loosened the strength in the hand gripping the throat, allowing the fellow to speak.

If the answer doesn’t please me… I hope, please, that it doesn’t come to that.

“I, I…”

Feeling the jolting shakes inside the carriage, Surabar imagined what this ‘prince’ before him might say as an excuse.

It could be a childish answer like ‘to undo the wrong I did.’ Or he might give a hypocritical response, saying ‘to follow Elon’s teachings.’

If not those, he might babble about a ‘momentary whim’ or the ‘inner conscience’ that everyone casually ignores… and so on.

No matter what answer came, Surabar intended to forgive Garland anyway.

The initiative is not yours.

It was a warning not to delude himself into thinking that pretending to be a slave, obediently following his words, acting like a tamed beast, meant he truly believed it.

Showing rage as if he would snap his neck was half genuine, but it was also to establish such a hierarchy.

“Ah, the child…”

However, what Garland said was entirely different from the answers Surabar had imagined.

“What… did you say?”

“The baby, must, not, be… guh! Ah, the child, to… guh…! for the sake of…”

…All the answers he had expected went astray. The child, he said…?

“Your… god’s… baby, has… no, no… sin… kolok! Kolok…”

In a state where he didn’t even know what he was saying, Surabar released the strength from the hand gripping Garland’s throat.

The child. The one to be born between Jasmine and me…

“The child, you say…?”

It was an answer he had never once considered.

***

The growling sound of a tiger echoed outside the carriage, yet it was strange that the delegation from the Kingdom of Bers didn’t even poke their faces out.

Naturally, lined up before us (precisely, before Sir Garland) as we emerged from the carriage were armed knights.

“We heard some noise from inside; is everything alright? Perhaps the slave—”

“It wasn’t anything like what you fellows are thinking. The foolish beast just ate hastily because it was hungry and got indigested. I’ve disciplined it appropriately.”

“Is that so? Understood. Still, if you need our help at any time, please say the word. We know well how to handle tail-bearers.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. But that one is my beast. Understood?”

“Understood.”

He bowed his head and returned to the front. 

Following the delegation’s representative, the knights moved away quietly like shadows, producing clanging metallic sounds. Sir Garland and I returned to the carriage.

Naturally, silence fell between us.

Inside the carriage where the captain was bound, I had wronged Sir Garland. It could even be called betrayal.

Yet by doing nothing to help or protect Sir Garland—neither any action nor any word—I had taken the captain’s side.

Because of that, in our ‘alliance’ to save Jasmine, Garland could have voiced complaints against me, or perhaps even branded my actions as ‘betrayal.’

…Whatever he thinks, that’s Sir Garland’s freedom.

With cowardly silence, I had created a prelude to breaking this secret alliance to rescue Jasmine together.

This was an undeniable, irreversible truth that had occurred between us. 

Terrifying. Like a sharp blade that could be wielded with the tongue.

Sir Garland, who had been bowing his head and lost in thought for a long while as if asleep, looked out the window and laughed.

“Puhuhu… Isn’t it truly astonishing, Sir Paramir?”

Laughter? For what reason? I couldn’t understand.

If he lowered the collar pulled up to his chin, the red marks left by Surabar would be plainly visible. Laughing—I thought Sir Garland had gone mad.

“At last… we are equals. I shouldn’t laugh, but it’s amusing… With this from the gods, it feels like a joke.”

“Sir Garland…?”

“I fully understand you looking at me that way. Let me explain. I am not mad… I abducted the woman he cherishes more than himself. This is the wrong I committed against you all. However, this time, Sir Paramir, by not helping me in a moment of deadly peril, you have wronged me.”

….I have nothing to say. My silence just now was cowardly.”

“Therefore, we are now in an equal relationship, Sir Paramir.”

“Yes?”

What mad talk is this? I couldn’t understand.

“We have wronged each other. Clearly, there are ways to evade it, and if we wished, we could do so without violating the ‘law’—wrongs that don’t breach it. But if all affairs of the world followed the law, why would we serve the gods and follow their words? If it doesn’t violate the law, wouldn’t it be no problem to act against the conscience each of us holds within?”

“That’s…”

“Sir Paramir. Do you know? On this continent, Elon is not the only god who teaches with emphasis on love and benevolence? And do you know that such teachings spread across the entire continent, breaking down boundaries of nations, peoples, and even different races, taking root?”

“I don’t know the details, but I am aware that such gods exist.”

“Elon’s teachings and the conscience each of us holds within have overlapping parts. That is why, ignoring differences in nations, peoples, and races, a sturdy fortress is built in people’s hearts, in our souls. Some might call this conscience, some faith, and others might say it’s a combination of conscience and faith. But that’s not what’s important. I know what a person ought to do, must do.”

“…What is that?”

“What we are doing now. For example… it could be summarized as safely rescuing an innocent woman and the baby she carries.”

Sir Garland took out dried meat from the compartment on the carriage and held it out.

I accepted it and ate while quietly thinking. What we are doing now. What we must accomplish. And what a person must never forget, no matter what…

“Our alliance holds. Until the god of death takes my breath.”

Sir Garland said. I felt ashamed of myself for doubting him even briefly.

***

“Huk, huk…!”

The first prince, Redron, came out to the training ground early in the morning and swung his sword until his entire body was drenched in sweat, devoting himself to basic physical training.

There was almost no rest time, and even when briefly catching his breath, he rested only very shortly to drink water or replenish lost calories.

Seeing him devote himself to swordsmanship training unlike before, the knights sharing the training ground, and the servants who attended only to the first prince, all wore expressions as if the sun had risen in the west.

“Nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine… ten thousand…!”

Whether those watching from around were surprised or not, the first prince finished his goal of ten thousand slashes per day and collapsed flat on the ground.

The servants were horrified at his appearance, paying no heed to royal dignity, but Redron raised his palm to command them not to approach.

His heart pounded as if it would burst, and his chest rose and fell without pause, yet Redron was enveloped in a satisfaction he had never experienced before.

‘Truly, just as she said…’

Wiping away dust and sweat with the cloth brought by the attendant, even as every muscle in his body groaned in pain with each step, Redron smiled involuntarily with a sense of achievement.

While soaking in the bathtub and enjoying the recovery time as the attendants gently stroked his arms and legs, Redron’s lower body no longer rose shamelessly as before.

“It’s enough now. I want to be alone.”

“Yes.”

Splash… As the attendants, nearly naked, left the room, Redron closed his eyes and entrusted his body to the bathtub water, quietly thinking of her.

‘Jasmine’

The new ‘toy’ that the King of Bers, his father, had given him with great difficulty.

At first, both his father who gave her and Redron himself had thought of her that way.

But now, not even ten days later… no. Jasmine was different from the toys the young, immature first prince of the past had owned, quickly lost interest in, and broken. Jasmine was special.

He himself couldn’t exactly say what was different, but this time, he could be certain it was unlike before.

He didn’t know the reason, but thinking of her made his fingertips tremble somehow, and his body grew excited and feverish as if he had caught a cold.

It’s an illusion.

It would be nothing more than an illusion… He tried deceiving himself, desperately saying no and lying, but it was useless.

Redron knew he had completely fallen for her, the beastman woman named Jasmine.

Even knowing that she had a beloved partner and carried that partner’s child in her belly.

“Ugh…!”

“Wa, Your Highness! Haven’t you overdone it…?”

The maid who saw the first prince emerge after soaking in the bathtub until weary cried out in surprise.

Redron grimaced at the screams of his pained body but smiled, saying he was fine and there was no need to worry.

“I’m fine. I swore to change. I won’t whine over something like this. Step back. I will go see her.”

Redron dressed neatly and quickened his steps with a body that groaned with every movement.

‘Jasmine’

Every moment going to meet her made the first prince happier than all the pleasures he had experienced before knowing her, combined.