Much to the villagers’ regret, Shan could not simply settle down as the castle’s new master, even if he wanted to. If that were possible, the lords of countless rural villages and estates would long since have been “subjugated” and replaced by robber knights flocking in from every direction.

When some misfortune left a lordship vacant without even a family to inherit it, custom dictated that the estate’s overlord reclaim the title. Kastaman Castle fell directly under the Crown, so either the bedridden king or the new king who eventually took the throne would grant its lordship to someone.

Once they had finished putting things in order, Shan’s army returned to the city where it had first been recruited, on the third day after the battle with the vampires. There, Roden ended the mercenaries’ contracts and paid their promised wages.

“Huh?”

“Um, my lord...”

“What is it?”

“This is more money than you said before.”

The other mercenaries shot the man looks, wondering why he had to bring that up. But he had his reasons. What if keeping a knight’s money landed him in trouble? It was hardly enough to justify keeping his mouth shut and fleeing to another region, either.

“That is because you fought harder than we expected. Spread the word that Sir Shan is not stingy when it comes to rewarding his men!”

Shan gave an approving hum and nodded at Roden’s words. In truth, he did not even know exactly how much they were being paid, but he trusted Roden’s judgment.

“Oh...”

“Thank you, Sir!”

With more money in their hands than they had expected, the mercenaries bowed and scraped before departing. Watching them go, Shan asked Roden,

“Did you give them a lot?”

“Actually, I drove a pretty hard bargain when we first negotiated. Paying them this way makes us look more generous than promising good wages and simply paying what we owe.”

“Oh.”

“Besides, with the vampire remains, the magic stone, and all the other things we made off with, this hardly counts as a loss. If those fellows walk away with full purses and spread good rumors about us, we’ve gained more than enough.”

This knack for weighing gains and losses that had no set value and winning people over was far too difficult for Shan. If he kept watching Roden at work, would the day come when he could handle such things just as naturally? Perhaps understanding them was what it meant to become an adult, he thought.

* * *

“Hahaha! Drink all you want! It’s all on me today!”

“Whoa, come into some money, have you?”

“You bet! Let me tell you what I did—”

Just as Roden had intended, the mercenaries who had unexpectedly come into a tidy sum strutted about boasting of it to everyone. Wasn’t it human nature to want to splurge and show off whenever money came into one’s hands?

“Is that really true?”

“I’m telling you! He waved his hand, and the blue sky turned pitch-black all at once. The sun vanished! It was the end of the world, I tell you!”

As their tales grew taller, they became brave warriors who had faced hundreds of vampires pouring out of some castle, while Shan became a legendary warrior who had fought the mighty vampire king commanding those monsters—a being who could turn day into night. Never mind that not one of them had actually seen Shan fight the greater vampire Kudrak. That was how most legends were born.

* * *

With a substantial haul of spoils strapped to their backs, the two traveled for several days before returning to the capital. As they entered through the northern gate, people recognized Arwin, realized who Shan was, and began to murmur.

“It’s Sir Shan!”

“The Cockatrice Slayer!”

“The Sword of the Altoans!”

As a stream of nicknames embarrassing enough merely to hear came pouring out, Shan smiled awkwardly and gave a little wave. He had thought the rumors might die down while he was away hunting vampires, but if anything, they seemed to have grown rather than diminished.

“I suppose I won’t be able to come and go quietly like before with Arwin along.”

“Look on the bright side, Sir. Plenty of knights risk their lives for the sort of fame you enjoy.”

Roden offered this consolation in a polite tone, mindful of the people watching.

“No, it’s not that I dislike it...”

Shan said quietly that he just missed the days when he could blend naturally into a crowd, almost as though he were invisible. He knew this was no more than childish complaining. To achieve his goal, he would have to become far more famous and accomplished than he was now.

After waving to the cheering onlookers all the way back to the Wievers mansion, Shan finally relaxed his shoulders and sighed.

“Whew.”

“Well, there’s no need to worry too much. They may be making a fuss now, but hardly anyone will recognize you if you go out in ordinary clothes.”

“I suppose so.”

As servants helped them out of their armor and unpacked their belongings, one addressed Shan respectfully.

“Younger master, the barding you ordered just yesterday has arrived.”

“Oh! Where is it?”

“We’ve left it beside the stable. At your word, we can...”

Before the servant could finish offering to fit it, Shan ran straight for the stable.

“Arwin! Let’s try your armor on!”

He had worried himself sick that she might be struck by the vampire’s magic last time. Even Shan would struggle to protect Arwin by knocking aside every arrow in a volley coming from all directions.

Arwin looked unimpressed by the extensive plate armor the servants brought out, but she did not resist as they fitted it. When they finished a short while later, everyone exclaimed in admiration.

“Oh...”

“A magnificent horse in magnificent armor. Twice as impressive! A shame it hides that beautiful coat, though.”

The barding covered almost every part of her, leaving only small openings for her eyes, her nostrils, and her legs exposed. Even her uncovered legs had such a metallic sheen to their hair that she truly looked like a horse made entirely of metal.

Shan mounted the armored Arwin and rode an easy circuit of the garden, speaking to her as they went.

“How is it? Uncomfortable? If anything gets in the way when you run, I’ll have them fix it.”

For all her abilities, Arwin could not understand human speech, but she gave a soft whinny and sprang into a leap, showing that the armor did not hamper her movements much. Her larger-than-usual frame meant the barding alone weighed nearly thirty-five kilograms, yet her movements remained so graceful and smooth that one could not help admiring her.

“Hmm, perhaps I should ask her to enchant this barding with the vampire’s magic stone...”

“You should get your own armor enchanted first. And don’t go talking about enchanting things with magic stones out in the open. Even if there’s no one here likely to overhear.”

Looking incredulous at Shan’s infatuation, Roden reined him in and glanced toward the servants standing some distance away. All the Wievers household servants had proven their loyalty over many years of service, of course, but there was no need to give them an opportunity to test it.

“More importantly, let’s work out how we’re going to visit the princess. Unless you go alone at night, I don’t think we’ll have an easy time escaping notice.”

The fact that Prince Elvin had learned of their previous midnight visit with Kagon as their guide showed just how difficult it was to act in secret. One visit might be overlooked, but being seen returning again and again would obviously be bad.

Of course, Shan could go alone as he had on his most recent visit, but Roden felt uneasy about letting him meet the princess by himself. It was rather like leaving a child alone at the water’s edge.

‘Hmm. Then again... perhaps there isn’t as much to worry about as I think?’

Thinking it over, Shan might be naive, but he was fairly sensitive to hostility directed at him—or feelings of that sort, at least. He had good instincts, one might say. Naturally, Roden was better suited to handling negotiations, but the princess was behaving amicably for now, hoping to win Shan over.

Shan’s offhand remark interrupted Roden’s thoughts.

“Couldn’t we ask Professor Maya?”

“Huh?”

“She was how we first met the princess, wasn’t she? I thought we could send word and go see her. I needed another examination anyway.”

“Now that you mention it, you’re right.”

Unlike Shan, Roden did not see her often, so she had not immediately come to mind. Since the subject had come up, he promptly sent a servant to Maya’s workshop with a message asking to book a physical examination for the following day.

That evening, Kalion returned from work drunk and wearing an uncharacteristically loose grin.

“Everything’s been going my way lately!”

“That well?”

“Of course! Those knights who used to turn their noses up at me actually bow their heads now! Their heads!”

“To the health of the great Sir Shan!” Kalion cried, raising his cup, and Roden shook his head. After all that flattery, Kalion mentioned that several knights-errant hoped to make Shan’s acquaintance on an informal basis. Shan replied that he would be happy to whenever he had the time. It was nothing compared with all the support he had received.

* * *

The next afternoon, Shan and Roden headed to Maya’s workshop in comfortable, inconspicuous clothes. As expected, Aran and Kagon were loitering nearby, looking around just as they had before.

“Hello.”

“You’re here.”

“I’ve been thinking this for a while, but aren’t you both a little conspicuous for secret bodyguards?”

“A-are we?”

Kagon looked flustered at Shan’s observation. Judging by that reaction, they seemed to believe they had been doing an excellent job of guarding her discreetly.

Leaving the pair’s questions about what they should do instead unanswered, Shan and Roden knocked on the workshop door. Before long, a plain-looking middle-aged woman opened it.

“There you are! I heard you won the joust. Congratulations!”

This was their first meeting with Professor Maya since the examination she had performed with Princess Sherin’s help. Although Shan had become a knight and won a joust in the meantime, Maya still treated him as an ordinary boy, just as before. There was something comforting about that to Shan now.

“Thank you, Professor.”

“You’re here for an examination, aren’t you? Come in and sit down.”

They followed her inside, where Princess Sherin was waiting as expected, dressed just as she had been at their first meeting.

“Hello.”

“It has been some time, Your High—”

“Why so formal all of a sudden?”

“Pardon?”

So taken aback was Roden by Sherin’s question that he dared answer with a question of his own.

Professor Maya surely knew who Sherin was as well. Was she really going to insist on maintaining the pretense of being an ordinary young mage when everyone present knew the truth? Surely that was asking a little too much.

Seeing the conflict written across his face, Sherin chuckled.

“Oh, very well. I’ll stop! In any case, there’s no need to stand on ceremony. I’m only here as a mage today.”

“Thanks for doing this.”

Roden turned toward Shan with a startled sound. Wasn’t that far less formal than before? Almost as though they had become close during their last meeting.

Then Sherin looked at Shan and chided him playfully.

“Now, now. I told you, only when we’re alone.”

“Oh, my apologies.”

“You needn’t be quite so stiff, either.”

Only when they were alone? That sounded not merely improper but downright irreverent. Had strangers spoken that way, people would probably have assumed they were lovers. Watching Sherin and Maya for their reactions, Roden discreetly asked Shan with a glance just what had happened during that private visit.

‘Was there something you didn’t tell me?’

‘A little.’

‘We’ll talk when we get home.’

The examination that followed was much the same as before. They drew a little blood, clipped some hair, and shone light from an unfamiliar magical tool over various parts of his body. The only real difference was that Sherin and Maya, no longer needing to conceal the princess’s identity, treated each other according to their respective stations.

After the examination, the two mages studied the reactions of several reagents and gave quiet groans.

“Hmm.”

“Ah...”

“How does it look?”

“Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any particular change.”

They had already mentioned it in their letter, so Maya knew that Shan had killed a greater vampire. That was also why Sherin had come to take part in the examination. Shan was a little disappointed by Maya’s answer, though he did not show it. He did not understand the details, but according to Sherin’s theory, he should have absorbed some of the vampire’s power. Had the creature been too weak for that? Or was it because they had not been in the Demonlands?

While Shan pondered this, Sherin spoke with Maya.

“What do you think, Professor Maya?”

“Perhaps we need to determine exactly how strong the vampire was? Individuals vary considerably even within the same species...”

“We’ll need some remains to analyze. Did you bring any?”

Roden, who had been quietly listening, took out two pouches hanging from his belt.

“As it happens, I did. I was hoping to ask you to appraise them.”

“Good. That saves us a needless trip back and forth. We have the equipment here, so let’s do it now. One moment.”

The ashes of a greater vampire burned with silver were both proof of its destruction and a high-grade magical ingredient. Sherin measured out a small quantity on a scale, then mixed and rubbed it together with another powder. Suddenly, she exclaimed in surprise.

“Ah...!?”

“What is it, Your Highness?”

“Oh, nothing. It was stronger than I expected. It’s truly impressive that you killed it without a single injury.”

After that evasive, almost defensive answer, she abruptly turned to Maya.

“Professor Maya, I know it’s rude of me to ask, but could you fetch some black tea from my guards outside? I’d like a cup.”

“Of course, Your Highness. Shall I add a little milk?”

“Please.”

Sending her out for black tea in the middle of all this testing and discussion? What an absurd request.

Once Maya had left the workshop, Sherin toyed with her tightly bound hair and said,

“The professor won’t be back for a while. That was a signal that I wanted to speak with you in private.”

“Oh...”

“It will be easier to discuss the spear you used, the vampire’s relationship with Elvin, and everything else with just the three of us here.”

“Does the professor know nothing about that plan?”

When Roden referred to the ambition Sherin had previously revealed, she nodded.

“Well, it’s not that I distrust Professor Maya. But whenever possible, I prefer to keep information restricted to those who need to know. To win Sir Shan over, I had to tell him. And once I told him, you would learn of it anyway, so there was no point in keeping it secret from you alone.”

Besides, cold as it sounded, Maya was not worth recruiting at the cost of revealing such a secret. She was an excellent mage, but Sherin had already won over the head of the Magic Society, the finest mage in Pendia, to help realize her dream.

Roden nodded in understanding and presented the second item he had brought in his pouch.

“Here you are, Your Highness. All the useful documents we found in his castle.”

He handed over the letters and the vampire’s diary they had recovered from the lord’s quarters.

Sherin skimmed a few letters and rapidly leafed through the diary, then gave a disbelieving laugh.

“Elvin’s handwriting. He doesn’t seem particularly interested in hiding it. Thank you. I can put these to good use.”

“If possible, I’d rather he didn’t hold a grudge against Shan.”

“You really needn’t worry about that. I’ve already finished laying the groundwork. He’ll mistakenly believe Conrad used Shan indirectly to ruin his plans. The Elvin I know won’t harbor unreasonable anger toward Shan. If anything, he may want him all the more.”

Faced with her confidence, Roden decided not to press the matter further. There would be time enough to challenge her if something actually went wrong.

“Understood. There was also mention in the diary of a group called the Council. I’m concerned they might be a problem.”

He meant that they might resent Shan for destroying what was effectively their farm.

Sherin frowned slightly at that question as well.

“Hmm. I haven’t heard of any such group either. If I don’t know them, they probably aren’t active at court at all. I’ll conduct a separate investigation using this diary.”

Whatever else might be said of her, Princess Sherin’s intelligence-gathering abilities were reliable. Despite having only two rather inept knights accompanying her as trusted retainers, she seemed to know everything.

Sherin turned to Shan.

“So, how was the spear?”

“It was excellent.”

It was so extraordinary that the ordinary, ready-made weapons Shan had used until now could not begin to compare. A normal spear might have snapped while piercing the shield Kudrak had conjured with blood magic, and even if it had pierced his body, the wound would have healed at once.

As Shan enthusiastically listed the new spear’s virtues one after another, Princess Sherin spoke with a somewhat awkward expression.

“Y-yes. I’m glad you liked it. But there’s something I wanted to mention...”

“Please, go ahead.”

“I found quite a difference between the two greater vampires’ remains.”

“Yes. The one called Kudrak was much stronger. He used plenty of unusual magic, too.”

She had said stronger vampires were more valuable, so perhaps they could expect quite a high price. The spell that crystallized blood and fired it at his enemies had been particularly impressive, even in hindsight. Without armor or even a weapon, Shan probably would have been unable to block or evade those attacks. It would have meant charging through a hail of arrows with nothing but his bare body.

“Can you use magic like that as well, Your Highness?”

“Let’s say I could manage a fair imitation if necessary.”

“Oh...”

He had only a moment to think that he would like to see it sometime before noticing that the princess seemed strangely hesitant. In his experience, that look tended to precede some major declaration—

His instincts proved entirely correct.

“However, the stronger vampire’s remains weren’t burned with ordinary silver. It appears you used truesilver—and a large quantity of exceptionally pure truesilver at that. Do you have anything to tell me about that?”

A brief silence fell over Maya’s workshop as Sherin finished speaking. Roden’s head snapped toward Shan.

‘Don’t tell me you burned that thing with A Thousand Forms?’

‘Yes.’

‘You should have told me!’

‘I didn’t know burning it with truesilver would make a difference.’

‘Well, neither did I, but...’

They did not communicate every word of that exchange, but their glances conveyed the gist. Swallowing hard, Roden committed the discourtesy of answering the princess’s question with one of his own.

“Could anyone learn that by examining those ashes?”

“Someone well versed in alchemy could. Among the more advanced techniques, there are recipes that require vampire ashes made by burning the creature with truesilver rather than silver. Anyone who has studied those would recognize it. Perhaps three to five people in this country.”

The workshop fell silent once more. Shan and Roden looked at each other, wondering how to handle this. They had concealed the true nature of A Thousand Forms because it was an extraordinary treasure—absurdly so. Even the spear Shan had praised so highly a moment ago, a first-rate magical device in its own right, was mere junk beside A Thousand Forms.

The amount of truesilver in that weapon alone was enough to make two kingdoms go to war, and the enchantment within it was mighty ancient magic from the Alto era that no modern mage could reproduce in a lifetime. They had hidden its true nature even from Kalion, Shan’s greatest patron and Roden’s own father.

“Well, Your Highness, that is...”

“Is it something you find difficult to discuss? If so, I have no intention of prying. I simply didn’t want to hide the fact that I knew.”

Their possession of a large quantity of truesilver had already been exposed, so Roden had been about to at least obscure its form. At her unexpected answer, he promptly closed his mouth.

Even before being a princess, she was a mage, and surely she must crave a magical medium as powerful as truesilver. Yet Sherin displayed unexpected restraint. Presumably, that was how much she wished to preserve her friendship with Shan.

‘What a relief...’

Roden had barely let out an inward sigh of relief before he saw Shan reach for his own collar and cried out in alarm.

“Hey, wait—”

Before he could stop him, A Thousand Forms flowed smoothly free, took the shape of a sword, and pointed at Sherin.