Chapter 80 - Leona Roquefried

"You were using Aspen's name to cover up your crime, weren't you?" Leona pressed. "That's enough. I believe the rest falls under our jurisdiction," Torres cut her off. "Does it? Well, at least we've cleared up the misunderstanding." Leona smiled sweetly. It was a smile that said, "I'm innocent. I'm naive. I don't know a thing." Of course, she knew everything and was anything but naive. Rather than answer, Torres pulled the man by the shoulder.

"Move." He did not even tell Encrid he would see him back at the base. He simply shoved the man with the battered face by the shoulder and glared. "Uh, uh, p-p-please spare me." "Shut up, enemy spy." "I'll tell you everything, everything I know. I'm not a spy. There's been a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding." "Don't worry. Your tongue will be the last thing I cut off." The man's knees buckled at Torres's words, but he was not even free to fall. The two guards flanking him had slipped their arms under his armpits, all but hoisting him off the ground. Judging by his manner, Torres seemed annoyed that things had not gone as expected. 'So there was a battle of wits going on.' Obsessed with the sword, Encrid had neglected to look at the situation around him. Only now did he see what he had missed. Why wasn't Leona pinning the blame on Polid? What would happen if it came out that he had ordered the attack? 'Would Polid alone be held responsible, or would the Roquefried trading company share the blame?' If the company were held accountable too, would Leona benefit more from admitting it or denying it? If she was certain the company would be hers, denial was to her advantage. That was, if she had no need to use this incident to get rid of an idiot like Polid. Encrid had thought Leona would accept some losses and eliminate Polid to secure the succession. Had she done so, Border Guard would have demanded compensation on the grounds that a member of the Roquefried trading company had commissioned an assassination. After all, an attack commissioned by the company had sullied the city's honor. The city's honor was the army's honor, and they could have used that to squeeze a hefty sum out of the company. 'Did she make this decision for the company's sake?'

Did she care that much about her company? "What is it? Have you fallen for my beauty all over again?" Without realizing it, Encrid had been staring at her face. Just what was this woman? Her face was twice as bright as when she had slapped Polid. She radiated ease, yet there was nothing lax about the way she sat. It was the face of a merchant who had finished her calculations. She acted as though the company need not sacrifice a thing. She clearly had something to rely on. And it wasn't Border Guard's standing army. She truly was a curious woman. "No."

Encrid answered the question. Whatever her thoughts, attitude, or intentions, all he had to do was carry out his mission. "What a shame."

Leona smiled. Had he thought her beauty ill-suited to a spider? He needed to revise that opinion. Now that he looked, wasn't it a perfect fit? With the mask of innocence removed, her smile was that of a spider holding its prey in its mouth.

* * *

"Thank you for everything."

The commission was nearing its end. Leona spoke after gathering her belongings and coming out of the inn. Beside her, Polid was smirking. Had he won even a single argument with Leona over the succession? Had his planned assassination succeeded? Yet he was still smiling. That smile seemed to proclaim that the company was his now. "Hey, you, soldier. You'll be clinging to my trouser legs and begging one day." 'I thought he started out picking on Jaxon.'

At some point, he had turned his sights on Encrid. Now he dragged Encrid into it at every opportunity. 'Should I have ignored him?'

Was this what came of being kind? The thought suddenly occurred to him. Polid's face was a picture of triumph: the smile playing around his lips, the certainty in his eyes, even the huffs through his nose betraying his inner excitement. "Rather than cling to your legs, I could chop your feet off." Encrid muttered to himself, not wanting to give the man anything to answer. Only Jaxon, the Company Commander, and Leona, who stood nearby, heard him. "If you're going to do that, cut off his head. It's quicker."

Jaxon offered advice. "Popular with men too, are you, soldier?"

The Company Commander teased him. "I feel as though I should apologize."

Leona apologized. "Huh? What did you say?"

Polid had not caught Encrid's muttering. Encrid ignored his question entirely. He should never have bothered being kind in the first place. Polid briefly lost his temper at being ignored, but soon calmed down. The plain-looking man behind him tugged his collar, and his anger promptly subsided. Even afterward, the bastard kept glaring to show his confidence. 'Anyone can see he's got something planned.'

What that plan was hardly needed saying. No more disturbances would be tolerated inside Border Guard. 'He'll try to kill her as soon as they leave.' Looking over Leona's party gathered outside the inn, Encrid wondered whether they could handle their opponents. As he stood briefly lost in thought, she approached him. "I feel as though you're seeing me out as a gentleman." It wasn't a matter of how it felt. Escorting her was an actual part of his guard duties. Polid foolishly revealed everything he was thinking, but Leona was the opposite. What was she relying on? Encrid was growing curious again. There was not a hint of worry in her manner. "I won't forget that you saved my life. If I have the chance, I will repay you someday."

The female guard who had barely survived the assassin claiming to be a retired soldier on the second floor approached him too. "All right."

Encrid gave it little thought. What were the chances of them meeting again on this vast continent? The onlookers, however, thought differently. The two squads that had guarded the entire inn were still nearby. They were helping with the escort while they were at it, taking responsibility for the incident within Border Guard. "A scandal with every woman who passes by." "The poison of his charm cast upon every woman he brushes past." "Your name is the irresistible Squad Leader." Were they composing poetry instead of doing their jobs? "... Why are they doing that?"

The female guard blushed. "They're practicing. They all want to become bards after they retire. Just leave them be."

Encrid said whatever came to mind. Meanwhile, the Company Commander had moved beside Leona and was whispering to her. His keen hearing caught her words. "You'd best be careful. That soldier has a habit of bedding every woman he sees." Bedding whom, exactly? Encrid hadn't so much as caught a whiff of a woman's powder lately. One hectic incident after another had left him no time for that. "Aren't you leaving? I believe it's time for you to piss off."

Encrid politely saw the two squads off. As though they really did intend to become bards after retirement, they composed a song called "The Irresistible Squad Leader" on the spot and began singing it. They were mad. Torres's people—the Border Guard—had left with a headache over this affair, but these soldiers were carefree. Fair enough. They were only doing as they were told. Thinking of the Border Guard reminded him how resourceful Leona was. 'Has she put Border Guard in her debt with this?' She had turned the situation around with just a few words. Whether Border Guard would acknowledge it was another matter, but she had framed the attack as a failure of public security within the city. If the attack stemmed from the succession dispute, responsibility would lie with the Roquefried trading company. If the attackers had been after Krona, it became a failure to maintain order in the city. 'Incredible.' Everyone knew Polid had ordered it, yet the intended victim herself denied it. Was this what they called a born merchant? Encrid could see it only because the matter was settled. Otherwise, it would have passed him by unnoticed. Well, Krais had stayed at the inn after Torres left and filled in a few details too. ["Border Guard will deny responsibility in the end, of course. But the situation does favor her. Those people were an Aspen spy unit, weren't they?"] When Encrid asked why that put the city at a disadvantage, Krais had explained readily. ["Who stands to benefit if you start assigning responsibility for trouble caused by Aspen spies? Aspen spies going after the company's Krona, or Aspen spies trying to stir up trouble in the city—which story would you rather give more weight to?"] Encrid understood. The moment Aspen's name had come up, the situation had turned in the company's favor. In the end, they had the spy who had died bawling about glory to his motherland to thank. Listening to the explanation, Encrid realized that Krais's mind was every bit as quick as Leona's. He had always known Krais was clever, but still. 'He seems on par with the heir to a major trading company.' It was only a passing thought. What good were brains, anyway? Krais's dream was to open a salon where he could fleece noblewomen. Walking along with all these thoughts, Encrid soon reached the city gate. The sentry turned at the sight of him and his party approaching. "Encrid, was it?"

As he watched the sentries, Polid's swordsman came up to him and spoke. "I never caught your name." "My apologies. I'm not in a position to give my name here." "..." Encrid stared at him, wondering why he had suddenly come over to talk. The swordsman addressed someone behind him. "I only mean to exchange a few words. Put away that killing intent." Jaxon had come right up beside Encrid on his right. "Aren't you sensitive? Killing intent, you say?"

Jaxon answered readily enough now, despite having ignored Polid so thoroughly. "Don't worry. Cutting a man's throat is easy enough without killing intent." When had the Company Commander arrived? She was standing behind Polid's swordsman. He glanced at each of them, then pointedly ignored them and looked at Encrid. "Put down your sword."

The words came out of nowhere. "Some things cannot be achieved through passion alone." It had been a very long time since Encrid had heard that. Give up. You have no talent. You're wasting your time. It's like walking where there is no path. Do you have to be hit to know it hurts? Surely you know by now that being cut by a blade hurts? Why couldn't he see that the more time he spent training, the more it revealed how little talent he had? As if he couldn't see it. Yes, he knew. He had heard it countless times. A few words might not send him sinking into a mire of despair and hopelessness, but Encrid had known it too: he could never become a knight. Yes, once, that had been true. Yet he had kept swinging his sword. He had not given up. He had lived holding on to the torn, faded scraps of his dream. He hadn't even been able to see what the wall barring his way looked like. Everything around him had been darkness. Even then, he had lived swinging his sword until his palms split open. Would hearing this now change anything? The heart of the beast, his sense for the blade, Concentrate on a Single Point, the Isolation Technique. The fundamentals of swordsmanship, including the Heavy Sword Technique. Applications of the Valen Mercenary Sword Technique. Repeating todays, constant conditioning and practice, growing skill. What someone else saw as half a step slower than a turtle was, to Encrid, a half step more meaningful than any he had taken before. And so, without realizing it, he smiled. "You're smiling?"

The swordsman murmured at the sight. "All that worry for nothing," Jaxon remarked.

The Company Commander watched Encrid in silence. The swordsman wanted an answer, and Encrid gave him the reply he was so eager to hear. "The next time we meet, I might win." It was arrogant to presume to know a person's future. Encrid said as much. "I see."

The swordsman turned away rather than force his views on someone who refused to listen. It was a minor disturbance before the city gate. "Thank you for all your hard work."

When they reached the wall, Leona turned to address Encrid and the others. Just as Encrid thought she would leave, he noticed the sentry turning his head back and forth between their party and the outside. He looked troubled. Encrid wondered why, then saw a body of armed men beyond the wall. The instant he saw them, he understood. If the enemy resorted to force, what should this side answer with? There, outside the wall, stood the card Leona had been relying on. "Mattis of the Roquefried trading company's guard corps, reporting." He was the only one who had entered the walls. He had a neatly trimmed mustache, his steps looked light, and dust lay across the shoulders of his coat. A trading company could not make a name for itself on the continent without armed strength. Unless it intended to trade with nothing but bones after being picked clean by thieves, bandits, demonic beasts, and monsters, force was essential. The man who stepped forward was responsible for the Roquefried trading company's armed strength. Simply approaching and showing himself drew every eye to him. Encrid felt something strange. The man named Mattis filled his entire field of vision. He could see nothing else. The man's presence was extraordinary; that alone drew everyone's gaze. "You have some interesting company." With that, he knelt on one knee before Leona. "Your guard corps has arrived, Madam Head."

He addressed the words to Leona. Only then could Encrid look past him. The Roquefried trading company's guard corps: at least thirty armed soldiers stood in formation outside the gate.