Chapter 81 - Because He Gives Everything His All

After the man named Mattis appeared, Polid followed with a stupid question.

"Why is she the head?" "Because while we were spending time here, everything within the company had already been settled. Oh, we decided to hold the inauguration once I return."

Leona answered him. When the people on Polid's side grasped the situation and began exchanging uneasy looks, she beckoned to them. "Come over. I'll take you in."

She did not actually say those words, but that was what it amounted to in Encrid's ears. Something about living together as one under the company's name now. Two men did not move: the plain-looking man and the swordsman who had told Encrid to put down his sword.

Oh, Polid stayed too. He dropped to his knees with a thud, as though his legs had given out. "Why? I'm his son! Everyone in the company belongs to Father, don't they?"

Why indeed. Given his behavior, the intelligence of anyone who sided with Polid was the real mystery. Encrid's gaze fixed on the remaining two men. They seemed the likeliest ones to have been pulling the strings.

Neither looked particularly threatened. Everyone else had turned away from them, yet they remained calm. "It's over," the swordsman said.

"So it is."

The plain-looking man answered, and they both turned their backs on Polid. "I won't accept this! What is this? I'm his son!"

Polid shouted and tried to approach Leona, but Mattis blocked his path.

"Come any closer and I'll cut you down, son of the previous head."

Harsh. That settled matters. The two men Encrid suspected of scheming simply withdrew.

Polid, meanwhile, provided a live demonstration of what happened to a man driven into panic by frustration and despair. Still on his knees where he had dropped with a thud, he began drooling.

The boy had taken quite a shock. Passing peddlers, city merchants, soldiers, and even the beggars near the gate stared at them. As the gate guard struggled to decide what to do, Leona stepped in.

"Take him away. We can't leave the previous head's son to drool himself to death in the street."

"Yes." Mattis gestured outside, and someone came in and dragged Polid away. The gate guard even stepped aside to ease their passage. "One moment."

Leona spoke to Mattis, then approached Encrid.

"Did you give Carmen's Stiletto to your subordinate?" Something in her tone made it feel as though he had given away a woman's personal gift to him. Encrid could not quite put his finger on it, but he felt a little uncomfortable.

"... He wanted it badly. Yes, I gave it to him."

He glanced back and saw Jaxon standing in silence. Jaxon's initial reaction to receiving the Stiletto had not been ordinary. Encrid had hardly expected tears of gratitude, but he had simply remained composed. He had taken the Stiletto and offered only a few terse words.

["What is the purpose of continually training your five senses? How can you dodge a dagger flying at you from behind without seeing it?"] What sounded like nonsense to one person could be the answer another had desperately wanted.

["That is what you will learn next."]

That was enough. Jaxon knew how to make a trade. "I see."

Leona nodded with a bright smile. Even seeing her smile made him feel indebted to her somehow.

What a strange woman. She gazed steadily at his face before speaking again. "I'm a merchant, and every deal begins with knowing what the other person wants. I gave you something valuable, and you handed it to your subordinate. You haven't spared a glance for either of the two beautiful women here, either." Leona had needed to spend time in Border Guard, and she had used that spare time to observe the man she wanted.

What did he want? He had not batted an eye at an object that was practically a treasure. If anything, he had looked faintly overwhelmed while listening to his subordinate explain the dagger's origins.

He did not seem devoid of desire, but neither did he look like a man who would flounder in its grip. Leona knew the advantages her appearance gave her. She had even made a few subtly seductive gestures, but the Fairy had intervened.

["He's a terrible womanizer. Be careful."]

And even when she spotted an opening and moved boldly closer, Encrid had not taken the bait. 'What is it this man wants?'

At that point, her pride as a merchant had begun to stir. What was a merchant? Someone who made deals happen. The Shepherds of the Wastes, the Black Leather Guild, the Glacier Rangers.

All were insular groups. A merchant established trade even with people like them. That was what Roquefried did.

Leona loved Roquefried and took pride in it. The man was an ordinary soldier. A mere soldier, one could say. That was his standing.

'I can't stop thinking about him.'

She wanted him, yes. But there ought to be limits. Now even her pride was at stake.

Leona began observing him. Only then did she see it. The foundation of any deal: what the other person wanted.

'It wasn't an object.' The Carmen Collection piece had also been a price she offered to swallow up the company. While everyone's eyes were on the dagger and their attention on the group behind the attack, her resources were already being used to bring matters within the company under control.

She had also used it to test the greed of this man named Encrid, but she had been wrong about him. Only after observing him did she understand.

What he wanted was a future. His own future. Better swordsmanship, greater skill, greater strength.

That was why she had called Mattis inside: the Roquefried trading company's finest warrior, a guard corps commander once renowned as a city-level mercenary. "What do you say to training with the sword under Mattis? To building your future with us?"

If training his body alongside powerful people appealed to him, this was the answer. Of course, she was gravely mistaken. Leona did not know Encrid's squad members.

'He does seem impressive.'

While Leona was settling matters, Jaxon had told him a few things. ["He's skilled enough to represent a small city. That's all."]

A man whose name spread through a city on its own after just a few displays of skill, even without seeking fame. That was a city-level fighter. ["Compared to Torres?"]

["Under the soldier grading system, he would be special-grade or higher. But he isn't a knight."]

Jaxon's assessment had been dispassionate. People of special-grade or higher who were not knights.

'Should I tell her my squad is full of them?'

Rem, Ragna, Jaxon, Audin. He could not imagine any of those four losing to this Mattis fellow. Besides, learning from them had already produced proven results. "I'll have to decline."

That was why he answered without hesitation. For the first time, Leona failed to control her expression.

"This is the first time I've lost something I wanted so much." Encrid liked this resourceful young woman, this strikingly beautiful head of a trading company.

'Especially the way she doesn't resort to cheap tricks just because she wants me.' Come to think of it, wasn't it rather amusing? One person he had met on this assignment had told him to abandon the sword. Another wanted him enough to ask him to stay by her side.

Opposite assessments. "Do you have to keep me by your side?"

Encrid spoke. Her fondness for him was not unpleasant, so he treated her with goodwill in return.

Leona blinked at his words. "That's true. Your assignment is over. Then shall we be friends? Surely you can spend a day with a friend? What do you say?"

He had only meant that they could remain on friendly terms, even if they were not quite friends.

"... Pardon?"

"If you turn this down too, I think this poor girl might collapse in despair right here." Poor girl? Who was a poor girl? She had just become the owner of the entire Roquefried trading company.

"Mattis, may I stay in the city one more day?"

"As you wish."

Mattis stepped back. "You'll need permission from your unit, won't you?"

The Company Commander answered Leona in Encrid's stead.

"As a reward for completing your assignment, I grant you a full day's leave."

An unexpected answer. "Why? Don't you want to?"

Leona asked with a mischievous smile. It reminded him of the power of beauty. Even that expression looked cute on her.

A spider that had swallowed an entire trading company, making a cute face.

Despite that thought, Encrid nodded.

"I don't mind." He had met a great many instructors, and they all said the same thing: rest when it was time to rest.

Swinging a sword day and night and pushing his body to exhaustion was not the only answer. Encrid knew that well. Above all, he wanted to clear away this strange sense of indebtedness. "Good. In that case..."

Leona returned to Mattis. Meanwhile, Jaxon approached, and Encrid spoke first when he saw him.

"Don't start any strange rumors."

"Save that for the barbarian. Do you think I would do that?" Once again, Encrid was glad he had brought Jaxon. Had it been Rem, he would have spread stories about things that never happened. "Good work, soldier."

By making no particular attempt to stop him from staying alone with Leona, the Company Commander proved that everything she had said thus far was a joke.

"You may come back if you miss me, soldier."

Still, she had to add another Fairy joke. He had heard so many by now that they no longer even embarrassed him. "Yes, I will."

As he took it in stride, Jaxon quietly spoke beside him.

"If..."

"If?"

"If she has any other pieces from the Carmen Collection, use your good looks to seduce them out of her if you have to." Was this bastard joking or serious? It was even harder to tell than with the Fairy Company Commander's jokes.

"I'm joking."

At least he said it was a joke. That was a relief.

Then again, it sounded half-serious. He had genuinely wanted that Carmen Collection piece, after all. "I'll head back first."

Jaxon and the Company Commander left. Leona finished settling matters and returned.

"Let's go." After that, Encrid and Leona enjoyed their time together. They browsed the market and ate their fill, guided by Encrid, who already knew where to find the good restaurants.

"This is really delicious!"

She even gave a thumbs-up after trying the herb pie and Vanessa's pumpkin soup. The latter was the signature dish of Vanessa's Pumpkin Soup, the best of the four inns when it came to food. "This is delicious too!"

Encrid laughed at one of Leona's jokes, and in turn she giggled at something he said. It had come out of nowhere, but oddly enough, they had quite a good time. After sunset, they had a drink or two.

"I had fun."

They spent the night together, but neither sought the other's body.

"All right. We're friends from today onward."

"Agreed." And so they became friends, chatting until morning before parting. Encrid wore a briefly absent expression from time to time, but there was no doubt they both enjoyed themselves.

* * *

"Well, this is unusual."

Mattis thought it extraordinarily rare. Leona did not know how to rest. She was relentless, decisive, and exceptionally capable. Otherwise, he would not be here now.

In short, Leona was in an entirely different league from that imbecile Polid. 'And he calls himself the previous head's son.'

He was so stupid that it was no wonder rumors claimed he had been picked up somewhere.

From childhood, Leona's life had followed an entirely different course from Polid's. And now a single man had occupied an entire day of her time? It was rare indeed. Not that it diminished his respect for her.

'The company's future is bright.'

The Roquefried trading company would now follow a better path than it had under the previous head.

Mattis believed in Leona. After her day of rest, the head returned looking refreshed.

"Let's go."

And so the company went on its way. Leona had honored the previous head's dying wish that she make one last attempt to talk through the succession, while doing everything she needed to behind the scenes. That was how she had swallowed it all. That was the answer she had chosen.

The previous head had saved her and raised her. Merely sparing Polid was repayment for that kindness. Leona knew very well that this had been the true intent behind his final wishes. In the carriage on the way back, she smiled at the memory of the previous night.

'That was fun.'

How many conversations had she ever had with nothing to gain? Chattering away without a purpose was hardly like her.

And yet...

'Encrid.'

His name lingered in her mind.

* * *

The plain-looking man and the rapier-wielding warrior left Polid's party and headed out. No one stopped them. The man named Mattis had glared fiercely, but a single remark from Leona had settled that.

"Leave them be."

The two went straight out through the gate. Even with winter, the final season, drawing to a close, the road was harsh for only two travelers. Demonic beasts and monsters could spring out at any moment.

But neither man worried about such things. "Why did you do that?"

They shared an allegiance. They served the same country. Of the two, the rapier-bearing warrior was exceptionally skilled, the sort of man who would not bat an eye at an ordinary monster.

The plain-looking man knew how indifferent the warrior usually was, which made this incident all the more curious. Advice for someone he had merely crossed paths with? A stranger at best, an enemy at worst?

"Watching him, I thought it was a waste."

Not everything in the world ended neatly. Things like this happened too. "I see."

The plain-looking man accepted that. It was time to return. Their operation had failed, but they had gained something: the knowledge that the next head of the Roquefried trading company was an extraordinarily capable woman.

Information was always valuable.

* * *

Encrid returned to the base that morning.

"Well, someone's been having the time of his life."

Rem greeted him as soon as he arrived.

He had already heard everything. That much was clear from his first words. "Was it good?"

The misunderstanding was understandable, though he and Leona had only talked. Whatever answer he gave now, more nonsense would follow. That was the sort of man Rem was.

Instead of answering, Encrid raised his sword.

"Spar?"

"You never get tired of this, do you? Fine by me." Without pressing him further, Rem picked up his axe. He liked it when Encrid chose him as his first sparring partner upon returning. This time was no different.

Encrid faced him and reflected on the day he had spent with Leona. It was strange. It had been rest, a holiday. He could fairly say he had forgotten about the sword and taken a proper break.

He had talked with Leona all night, too. An endless stream of chatter, time spent on what could well be called meaningless conversation.

So why? 'I think I can do it.'

While spending time with Leona, Encrid had felt something strange. Perhaps it was more accurate to say he had gained a tangible sense of something.

Time had not slowed, nor had his concentration flared and brought about some change. He simply felt he could do it. As though he could demonstrate it without effort. The arc of a sword swing, the step that preceded it, the movement of a shoulder. All of it came together to offer one answer.

What was speed?

Ever since facing the rapier-wielding swordsman, he had carried that question with him. Now he felt he could demonstrate part of the answer, however imperfectly.