Chapter 194

Translator: Willia

Dramatic changes rarely come into our lives. And on those rare occasions when they do, they are usually misfortunes.

A finger severed in an accident, a back injury that leaves someone disabled, parents lost in childhood, or strangers suddenly storming into a village one day to kill and burn as they please.

Yet of all those dramatic misfortunes, the greatest misfortune is being born into this world.

Every human life begins in misfortune. Woman or man, king or beggar, strong or weak.

But there is no need to despair. If anything, it is cause for joy. Having begun in misfortune, there is nowhere to go but upward.

The slaying of the devil in Esck was both a dramatic change and not especially dramatic at all. Outwardly, very little had changed.

The people did not praise Ricardt. Nor did they hail him for having accomplished some great deed.

A brief tale merely took its place as one small strand in the long, tedious story called Esck: that he had wielded moonlight and slain the devil.

That meant they had accepted an outsider as one of their own and would respect his authority.

A sign hung on the manor in Klorens where Raphael had been staying: ‘Master Alliance Esck Branch, Benzinen Problem-Solving Office.’

In the dim predawn, before the sun had risen, Ricardt stood with his hood up, looked at the sign once, then turned away with Roy.

He did not mind the lack of praise or acclaim. He had never sought that sort of reward in the first place.

But a question stopped him as he was about to leave. It was Reman's voice.

“Isn't ‘problem-solving’ a little too broad and vague a concept?”

“That was deliberate. It means we can do whatever comes our way.”

“And what exactly do you intend to do?”

“Well, maintain public order, mediate disputes, things like that......”

“Why? Why should you be the one doing such things?”

“There is no grand purpose behind it. I just want things, whatever they may be, to get a little better. Lately I've been thinking that everyone seems to be neglecting work that needs to be done, so I figured I might as well do it myself. More importantly, Reman, are you going back now? The sun will be up soon. Will you be all right?”

“I am surprised you would worry about me. I am already walking toward a death I chose for myself. If death were to come upon me suddenly, I would welcome it instead. It would mean I had upheld my will to the very end.”

Reman was a vampire who had resolved to starve himself to death. What he meant was that if he suddenly died in an accident, he would at least have kept to his own decision until the moment of his death, which he considered fortunate.

Papa was a deviant, but Reman was no ordinary deviant either. The only question was whether that deviance was harmful or harmless.

Ricardt looked back at Reman. His hood covered half his face.

“If you ever need help, tell me. I don't like living in debt.”

“You helped me once before, so I merely returned the favor.”

“That wasn't so much helping you as taking a commission. It was work.”

“It was not work to me. In truth, the very concept of a commission does not exist for me. I merely made a personal request according to the ways of humans.”

“The ways of humans? There is one thing I've been wondering, though, Reman. You were human once too, weren't you? Was it so long ago that it's hard to remember?”

“It is not so much that I cannot remember. From the moment I became a vampire, I realized that I had become an entirely different being, that I had left humanity forever. The alluring world of night was unbearably intoxicating, and I felt that although everything remained the same, everything had changed. Would it not follow that the way I think and the things I pursue would be different as well?”

“I suppose......”

“Live long and without misfortune. May our paths cross again.”

Reman's farewell was no different from that of any human. He stepped into the deep shadow cast by the manor and disappeared.

Roy, who had been listening to their conversation, asked,

“He's a strange vampire.”

“In what way?”

“He somehow seems more humane than humans do. But why did he decide to starve himself to death?”

“He says it's his ultimate act of defiance against God. To me, it looks more like a fierce struggle to regain his humanity.”

“What does that mean?”

“You'll understand when you're a little older. By the way, aren't you going to say goodbye?”

He meant to ask whether Roy was really going to leave without saying goodbye to Bellin. Roy was eleven now. It was still a little early, but before long he would be old enough to start a household.

“What? Ah. I don't know.”

“Let's stay a little longer. At least until everyone wakes up.”

“I-I'm fine.”

“You are? Then let's just go. You'll probably run into her again from time to time. She's part of the Alliance now.”

Ricardt did not ask again and simply started walking. Roy's feet were reluctant to move, but after what he had said, he had no choice but to follow Ricardt.

Just as when they had arrived, the two carried nothing with them as they left. No, one small bond had taken root in a corner of their hearts.

If that was the reward for this entire affair of revenge, it was enough.

The days steadily grew hotter. There was no denying it anymore. Summer had arrived.

The Master Alliance steadily extended its reach through Caldebern County, Brummbar Duchy, Frederia Duchy, Beringen Margraviate, Esck, and other areas, until its influence reached across the entire eastern region of the Empire.

The War of Imperial Succession was still underway, but what caused more harm to ordinary people than armies clashing against armies were the smaller conflicts.

Just as mold and poisonous mushrooms grew in damp, shadowed places, when public order deteriorated, bandits gathered and ordinary people themselves found it easier to succumb to the temptation of crime.

The Master Alliance dealt with that series of problems. In that sense, it played a role similar to the Adventurers' Guild that had once existed, except it was far more systematic and professional.

As trade routes became safer, goods naturally began circulating more freely, greatly easing the damage caused by the war.

As a result, places wishing to join began springing up one after another, starting with small and midsized cities and villages and eventually extending even to major cities.

Handling work like this required reliable pay and suitable personnel, and what they lacked most desperately at present was manpower.

They had hired large numbers of people from Beringen Academy and the Viola Clan, but it was nowhere near enough to keep pace with their growth.

Ricardt had no clear solution to the manpower shortage either. And among the nobles, some were beginning to cast suspicious glances in his direction.

What ulterior motive could the King of Adeloron possibly have for voluntarily taking on such work? Could he perhaps be coveting the Imperial Throne?

They had little choice but to be suspicious, because maintaining public order and mediating conflicts were duties that should have fallen to the lord of the respective territory. Otherwise, such things should have been done under the Emperor's authority.

In other words, what they were really asking was why Ricardt was the one doing any of it.

Ricardt could hardly argue that he was only stepping in because they were failing to do their jobs properly. As the charter of the Council of Six itself stipulated, the Alliance could not infringe upon the rights of a lord.

What the Master Alliance was doing was, in truth, somewhat dangerous. Outwardly it was helping, but in essence it was slowly encroaching upon the rights of the lords.

“So I've been thinking. I think I need to step down as Chairman.”

Ricardt said this at the Alliance headquarters, which was not yet fully completed but had more or less taken shape.

From outside came the workers' rhythmic heave-ho, heave-ho, along with the steady knock, knock of hammers. It was not loud enough to interfere with their conversation.

“Is there anyone besides you who can take the job, Ricky? Honestly, one wrong move and this whole thing could fall apart. It's important to have someone holding the center.”

Karllich, who handled most of the Alliance's administrative work, voiced his disagreement.

It was a valid point. They had all sorts of operations underway in different places, and without someone at the center keeping everything together, the various groups could easily start speaking with different voices.

Once that happened, the organization could fall apart in an instant. On top of that, the Kingdom of Adeloron, Beringen Academy, the Viola Clan, and the Miquella Sword Monastery were all completely different in character. Without Ricardt, bringing them into harmony would be difficult.

If things started turning into each group protecting its own people, friction could arise throughout the organization.

“No. Now is the time for me to step away for a while. That's the right thing to do. More and more matters are coming up that are beyond my abilities. If we start clashing with lords all over the region, that'll become an even bigger problem.”

“Then who are you going to appoint as Chairman? Do you have someone in mind? Volka?”

Bori looked toward Volka as he spoke. When it came to running an organization, Volka at least had some ability. But Volka himself was skeptical.

“Sorry. I'm not really suited for it. To be honest, the Clan comes first for me. The Alliance has gotten too big. I can probably handle ordinary matters, but when it comes to dealing with nobles, I'm just not good enough with words.”

“Well, I'm certainly not cut out for it. And Ice? I have an even harder time imagining that.”

Bori spoke. Ice was there as well, but he did not bother denying it. The two of them were exceptional swordsmen, but administration required a different kind of ability. Ricardt was the only one who could do both.

No, there was one more person.

“Aren't you all overlooking Marie a little too much?”

“......Oh, right.”

Bori spoke as though the thought had only just occurred to him. Marie had merely been included as a member of the Council of Six, and because she had spent all this time guarding the kingdom and had not been able to join them, they had simply forgotten about her.

Karllich, however, folded his arms and furrowed his brow deeply, still looking dissatisfied.

“Hmm...... Wouldn't that be even more dangerous?”

“How?”

Ricardt asked.

“Wouldn't the nobles take it as an even more blatant move? She... no, Her Majesty the Queen is a member of the Imperial Family too, after all. From the outside, anyone would think you were putting the Queen forward while secretly coveting the Imperial Throne from behind the scenes.”

Karllich had been in the same cohort as Marie, but the two had never been particularly close, so halfway through he corrected himself and referred to her as the Queen.

“......Would they? Paolo said it would be fine. He said we could actually put even more pressure on them that way.”

“If your intention is to step down as Chairman, then putting pressure on the nobles contradicts the whole point. You need to ease off and reduce their suspicions.”

That made sense. Paolo's opinion had made sense too.

Ricardt's intention was to pause and catch his breath in preparation for greater growth, but it was not easy to show the outside world that he had no personal ambitions.

An army was something to mobilize when there was a clear target, when a problem required a strategic solution. Mobilizing troops in a situation like this would only mean voluntarily plunging into a quagmire he could not handle.

While Ricardt wrestled with the problem, Ice spoke.

“Don't we need to choose a clear course?”

“For what?”

“Whether you want it or not, Ricky, either you aim for the Imperial Throne, or we stop here.”

His words went straight to the heart of the matter. Once an organization grew large enough, pretending otherwise while quietly expanding its influence among the civilian population was bound to attract attention.

The Master Alliance was, after all, a private organization rather than an officially recognized one. The old Adventurers' Guild had been able to operate because it had been sanctioned under the Emperor's authority.

In other words, if they wanted to exercise influence across the entire Empire, there was no answer other than the Emperor's authority. That was what Ice was pointing out.

“Didn't we originally create this just to guarantee our own safety? Maybe bringing everyone else into it was greed on our part.”

“Having influence across the eastern region is already an incredible achievement. Let's stop here, Ricky. And you should stay on as Chairman.”

“I think that's right too.”

Bori, Karllich, and Volka spoke in turn. Three members of the Council of Six were in agreement. But Ricardt could not bring himself to give an answer so easily.

No matter how much he thought about it, no clear answer emerged. In the end, after long deliberation, he reached a conclusion.

“Let's ask Marie.”

Discussing the matter while leaving out the person concerned was, perhaps, absurd in the first place.

Still, they had no choice but to be cautious about this decision, because there was no telling what sort of dramatic change it might bring. And dramatic changes were usually unfortunate things.

Yet sometimes people rose above misfortune and went on to accomplish great things. Only God knew what would come of it, while each person was free to decide whether to move forward or step back.

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