Chapter 19
“Be careful with the food.”
I was splitting firewood while mulling over the note.
-Pow!
The secretly delivered note had already been burned, but I could vividly recall it as if it were still in my hand.
Ever since I received the note, I had been searching for the maid who had passed it to me. But she seemed to have vanished like a mirage, and I couldn’t find her anywhere.
I wonder. Maybe the person who delivered the note wasn’t even a maid. It might have been someone pretending to be one.
“…Hah.”
My head was a mess.
That brief piece of advice was causing me a lot of turmoil.
The more the conflict grew, the more force I poured into the axe.
-Pow!
First off, who would give me such advice anyway?
There was no one on this land who would stand by me. If they wanted me dead, they’d make sure of it and wouldn’t bother trying to save me.
Or maybe if I died, my father would be so afraid of trampling this land that he’d give advice to prevent it?
…But my father wouldn’t trample this land over just me.
He might do it for Rondore, but he wouldn’t go against the Delum Kingdom behind them.
If we and the Rondore family went to war again, it would mean mutual destruction.
My father would never make that choice.
Of course, that was something only I knew, as Rondore was oblivious to this and only I understood my father’s nature.
Or perhaps it was a spy from the Allen family trying to help me? That doesn’t make sense.
If there was such a plan, my father would have given me a hint before I left.
Next, the warning about the food is also ambiguous.
Are they warning me to be careful because the food might be spoiled, or is someone truly plotting to poison me? I can’t tell.
The former is a ridiculous delusion, but with limited information, I couldn’t grasp anything.
And if it’s hinting at poison, would it even make sense for that information to reach me?
Such things would likely be prepared very discreetly.
To make matters worse, I’m part of the Punishment Unit. It’s standard to scoop food from a giant pot and serve it into wooden bowls one ladle at a time.
There’s really no time to worry.
Unless they intend to poison all the boy soldiers in the Punishment Unit, they can’t just target me.
Even if they could, I’d likely see one or two fall before I even got to eat.
“Hah.”
I placed the highest likelihood on the note being a prank.
Maybe someone just wanted to gift me some inconvenience in my daily life.
“…”
…But still, the idea of dismissing it as a prank felt rather uneasy. Especially since this was Rondore territory.
…
I took the split firewood and went to the blacksmith’s forge.
Gulk, the head blacksmith there, nodded at me.
“Allen. You’ve come. Leave the wood over there.”
-Crash!
I tipped the wood off the cart and handed it over to the forge.
The forge was already bustling with activity.
The interior was dark, with only the blazing fire of the furnace casting a red glow around.
The warm heat spilled out into the outside air, pushing away the coolness.
At the center of the forge was a massive bellows. One apprentice was busy wiping the sweat from his brow while working diligently to provide air for the senior blacksmiths.
The smell of iron mixed with smoke was thick in the air.
What was being made here were the tools that sustained Rondore.
Agricultural tools, weapons, and various other implements.
Gulk must not have had much to do, as he came over to me and asked,
“Isn’t the heat intense?”
He was one of the few who hadn’t seen my execution.
Since he was rather easygoing, he didn’t pay much attention to rumors.
Because of that, he was one of the few who didn’t hold any significant hostility towards me.
“Yeah.”
I treated him with respect.
I didn’t want to push away people who didn’t show me hostility.
Dealing with others was already challenging enough.
I said,
“You seem pretty busy.”
“It’s because of the march. We have to get everything ready before it starts.”
“A march?”
“Didn’t you hear?”
Gulk looked surprised. Come to think of it, I had been so busy resting by the river for the past month that I hadn’t heard anything.
He explained,
“Vivian turned 14, so she decided to march around the territory. During that time, she’s going to freely hand out agricultural tools and various other items to the locals. I’m talking about the agricultural tools we’re making right now.”
A march, huh.
It sounds like a way to reinforce her responsibilities and authority as a ruler.
The Allen family sometimes did similar things.
Especially when my younger siblings were born.
But more than that, the significance of this event was in managing the discontent of the locals.
In that light, gifting agricultural tools was a good choice.
“Was it Vivian’s idea to hand out agricultural tools?”
“How would I know who thought of that? But Vivian did come down herself to issue the orders. It’s really kind of her. I only feel bad for her being alone.”
“…Where does the iron come from?”
“We reduced unnecessary furniture in the castle. You know, things like iron candlesticks and tongs. Oh, and we also melted down a few pieces of armor from the knight brigade.”
I looked at the forge, where heat was radiating.
Suddenly, I recalled Vivian’s words.
Had she said she’d bother me soon? I don’t know how, but she had said she would.
Perhaps because of the march? I suppose she couldn’t just not use me for that.
What would relieve the locals’ discontent the most would be to insult me rather than handing out agricultural tools.
If I think back to the day I first arrived in this land, it makes sense.
“Gulk! Stop slacking off and come help!”
One blacksmith shouted from inside in a gruff voice. Most of the blacksmiths wrestling with smoke had deep, raspy voices.
“Got it!”
Gulk looked at me and said,
“You can head back now. Great job, Allen.”
I nodded and turned to leave, but hesitated at an uncomfortable feeling grabbing my ankle.
“…Gulk?”
“What?”
Be careful with the food.
That incessant thought nagged at me.
“Could you spare me just one piece of charcoal?”
****
I entered the dining hall of the Punishment Unit for dinner.
The inside was already filled with people joyfully eating.
I stood behind those waiting in line to get served.
The boy in front of me took one look at me and subtly created some distance.
It was a familiar distance.
-Thump!
At that moment, someone hit me on the back.
In the Punishment Unit, there were only three people who approached me.
Balron, Willas, Martin.
Recently, Balron, who had lost a bit of weight due to the strenuous training, spoke up.
“We’ve been waiting for you. Where have you been?”
I had reached a point where I could manage to chuckle at their presence.
“I’ve been busy.”
They always waited to eat with me, even without me saying anything, which was somewhat sweet of them.
As a noble, I didn’t have many friends of my age.
Even if I did, there was always an unseen hierarchy, making it hard to feel at ease with them.
Perhaps that’s why I didn’t fully understand the concept of friendship, but this trio seemed to convey that feeling, even a little.
Willas, shaking his curly orange hair, pointed at my back pocket.
“Kyle, what’s that?”
These guys have started calling me by my name lately. I didn’t mind much.
I glanced at what he was pointing to and replied.
“Charcoal.”
“Why do you have charcoal?”
“It might come in handy.”
“Are you planning to draw or something?”
“Do you think I would?”
“I heard nobles know how to do everything.”
“Only the ladies do.”
“What about Lady Vivian? Would she know how to draw?”
I scratched my neck.
If she had grown up as a regular noble lady, then maybe?
But now that she was busy being the head of the family, I wasn’t sure if she would have time for that.
Having no answer, I simply shrugged my shoulders towards Willas.
The line in front of us kept getting shorter, and I prepared to get served.
I watched the serving staff carefully.
When it was my turn, I kept an eye out to see if they did anything unusual.
-Thump.
I received the wooden bowl first.
“…”
I examined the inside of the bowl closely. I made sure that if there were any liquid stains, they weren’t sticky and that it was water.
Martin saw me inspecting and said,
“…You’ve been doing that since yesterday?”
“Mind your business.”
It was the same when I received the spoon.
I turned the cutlery over to make sure nothing that looked like poison was stuck to it.
Next came the food.
As the server dished out what I call dog food into my bowl, I carefully watched to ensure they dished out the same amount as the person in front of me.
Making sure they weren’t adding anything extra or looking at me with tense eyes.
“…”
I found no issues at all.
I took the food I was served and sat down anywhere at the long table.
Willas, Balron, and Martin followed.
“You’ve been acting weird since yesterday?” Balron tilted his head.
“It’s not just since yesterday. It started from the execution.” Willas replied.
“That’s not what I meant. It’s definitely been weird since yesterday. You’ve been giggling alone and fiddling with your cutlery.”
“…”
The giggling was probably because I was thinking about Vivian, and the fiddling was definitely due to my worries about poison.
I shook my head to dismiss their concerns.
“Just eat.”
As I began to eat, I found it hard to bring the spoon to my mouth.
A small possibility kept me hesitating.
I never imagined that not being able to eat comfortably could be such a huge inconvenience.
My appetite plummeted.
Balron, noticing my hesitation, said,
“…If you’re not going to eat, can you pass that to me?”
“I will eat.”
I scooped some food and put it in my mouth. I could only shake off the suspicions of poison after taking a few more bites.
As I continued eating, Martin nudged my arm with his elbow.
“Hey, Kyle. Did you hear?”
“…?”
“They’re saying we’ll be marching around the territory in about ten days. Our Punishment Unit is included.”
Willas hit Martin on the arm.
“As if Kyle wouldn’t know that. He’s the one who’s going to get the most complaints during that march.”
I ignored Willas and backed up Martin.
“No, I just found out today.”
But Martin hadn’t even considered that I might be the one getting yelled at, looking dumbfounded by his blunder.
It wasn’t his fault, so I continued to inquire.
“What’s that about anyway?”
“…No. I was just going to ask you if it wouldn’t be fun to look around the territory. But thinking about it, you probably wouldn’t find it interesting.”
Balron sighed.
“I wonder if we’ll get to see our younger siblings? It would be nice if we could exchange a few words.”
Willas seemed to want to avoid talking about family, as he quickly switched the topic.
“So about this march. Why do they even do that?”
I replied nonchalantly.
“In fact, it’s already quite late to be doing this.”
“Why?”
“…Since the head of the family changed, they’ve never shown their face to the locals. If that’s the reason, I can’t believe I’m still being ignored like this.”
Willas looked at me cautiously and asked,
“…So that’s your opinion about being ignored?”
I kept silent.
“Anyway, so this march is basically a way to clearly let the people of Roktana know who the head of Rondore is?”
“That is part of it…”
Huh?
“…”
It was something obvious, but something about it felt off to me.
What was it? It was a fleeting thought that was too weak to grasp.
“…Kyle?”
“Ah. Never mind. It’s just what I said.”
****
I tried, but I ended up leaving some food on my plate.
Even knowing there wasn’t poison in it, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy about that small possibility, dampening my appetite.
Today, that human food felt even worse than usual.
With this lingering unease, I entered the Castle of Rondore.
I was searching for the maid who had given me the note.
Whether she would be there or not was uncertain.
Even if I did find her, I doubted she would have any answers for me.
But taking action made me feel more at ease.
As I wandered around the castle, I happened to encounter a few retainers of Rondore.
“…So, you tell Count Korod…”
“B-Brieden.”
Brieden, who was talking with one of the maids, stopped his conversation as he noticed me and quickly cleared his throat.
Then, he gave the maid a pat on the shoulder and said,
“Anyway, just send that message.”
He then scurried off like a cockroach, leaving the treasurer behind.
The spy Nesto also reacted similarly upon seeing me.
“…Reporting, perhaps… Oh dear, Kyle Allen. Do you have a hobby of eavesdropping?”
“…Were you talking about something you didn’t want others to hear?”
“I just don’t want to pass any information to the Allen family.”
After that, knights, guards, maids…
Whenever they came face to face with me, everyone clammed up.
As Nesto mentioned, part of the silence was likely due to being an outsider and the fact that I was from the Allen family.
But there was an even more chaotic atmosphere that felt palpable.
Vivian had mentioned that all of Rondore’s retainers had their own reasons for acting mysterious.
“Kyle Allen.”
At that moment, a familiar voice called out.
It was Vivian. She raised an eyebrow, surprised at my presence in the castle.
“…What are you doing here?”
Seeing the retainers around her and then looking at me made her seem even more isolated.
I felt compelled to sympathize with her but wanted to make a quick excuse and leave… but I decided to tell her about the situation.
“I’m looking for a maid. Can you help me?”
“…A maid?”
Vivian looked at me as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Keep getting confused… don’t you get it? You can’t order anyone around here.”
“It’s not like that… I just have a question…”
Realizing there was no point in trying to explain further from the look on Vivian’s face, I swiftly moved past her.
“Hah.”
But then the contents of the note suddenly blocked my way.
“…Hey.”
At my call, Vivian frowned slightly and turned around.
Should I ask? No matter how I thought about it, I felt like I was overthinking it.
“…You…”
As I hesitated to speak, Vivian urged,
“Spit it out.”
Ultimately, I blurted out,
“You’re eating properly, right?”
“What?”
Vivian looked at me as if I were a bug.
Her expression morphed into one of confusion, as if she thought I was mistaking something.
“…Allen, are you perhaps confusing our relationship—”
“-Let it go, let it go. That was a silly thing to say.”
Uncomfortable with the atmosphere, I waved my hand and turned to walk away.
Behind me, Vivian exclaimed in disbelief, “What the…?”
Honestly.
This was the note I received, so why was I worried about her food?
Unlike me, she must be dining in an atmosphere of attentive care from her maids.
As for whether there’s poison in her food, they probably filter it out on their own.
I shook my head and dismissed any strange assumptions.
I should focus on taking care of myself.
