The people of Wheat Bran Village reacted with profound alarm and hostility to the sudden arrival of some hundred and fifty Altoans. At a time when even an ordinary band of westerners had to be suspected of being brigands, Altoans—already notorious for the high proportion of criminals among them—were descending on them by the hundred? Surely anyone in their right mind ought to shout at them to get the hell out.

Naturally, the reason they opened their gates and let them in anyway was Shan. When he promised to take responsibility and drive the entire lot off if anything happened, they could hardly tell him, "We don't trust you."

The Altoans who entered the palisade looked a wreck, as though they had spent a long time wandering the wilderness.

"All right, everyone, rest! No leaving the ranks without permission! Until further orders, you are forbidden to approach the villagers!"

"Understood!"

Having delivered his orders with an air of authority, Roden approached Shan. He wore a sheepish expression, evidently aware himself that this was hardly a normal situation.

"Who are all those people?"

"Well, that's going to take a while to explain..."

"Young Master Roden!"

It was the personal attendant who interrupted him, running over from a distance. Roden looked pleased to see him, but also puzzled.

"Oh! What's this? What's he doing here?"

Shan gave the bewildered Roden the briefest account he could of everything that had happened, from Kalion being attacked by thugs and knocked unconscious to rescuing Sherin from the palace and escaping the capital together.

After hearing the whole story, Roden let out a deep sigh, gripped Shan firmly by the shoulder, and said, "There's a lot I want to say...but first, thank you. Truly. For saving my father."

If Shan had not rushed ahead to the capital, rescued Sherin, escaped, and had the operation performed, Roden would have lost his father. Having lost his mother at a young age, Roden treasured Kalion, his only remaining blood relative, more than anything.

Shan scratched his ear with an embarrassed look.

"Your father's my father too, isn't he?"

He genuinely thought that, if he had a father, he would want someone like Kalion or Roden. Not some vagabond who left a newly weaned baby behind in a village.

After that awkward expression of thanks, the two headed for the village hall to talk properly. Sherin, Kalion, and the members of the Wievers household welcomed Roden.

"Young master!"

"Mr. Tata, Mrs. Leda..."

As Roden exchanged greetings with the servants, his gaze turned toward Kalion, whose forehead was swathed in bandages. Considerably stronger after several days of rest, Kalion adopted a solemn expression.

"Did your journey go well?"

"Yes, Father. How's your head? I hear you took quite a beating."

"Listen to the way you talk... It's much better. There's no need to worry."

Everyone present could feel the affection behind the flippant question and brusque reply.

During their conversation, Sherin turned to Roden.

"Now, I would like to know what happened with those Altoans outside."

"Ah, that... Everyone, please excuse us a moment."

After a quick look around, Roden excused himself to the others and drew only Sherin and Shan aside to explain. His story was nothing short of astounding.

* * *

After parting with Shan and heading west, Roden soon noticed an ominous mood spreading through the party. Under the circumstances, there was only one thing the mercenaries could be plotting behind his back: seizing their supplies, including the immensely valuable ogre materials.

The greed of men who lived from one day to the next was stronger than one might imagine. After considering how to deal with it, Roden settled on a bold solution. He discreetly approached the Altoan mercenaries who belonged to the Brotherhood and informed them that he worked for the organization.

["What? But you're..."]

["That's right. I'm not Altoan. I was invited to serve as a special adviser."]

Rather than reveal that he was the Lion mask himself, Roden presented himself as something of a covert member serving under him—a man the Lion mask had personally recruited to draw Shan Barendil into the Brotherhood.

Between the token possessed only by the organization's higher-ups and the secret passwords, they had no choice but to believe him. Hadn't they joined Shan's army in the first place on orders from above? In that light, there was nothing particularly strange about Roden, Shan's squire and lieutenant, being a secret operative as well.

["Do you know what's behind the mood in camp?"]

["Yes..."]

Having concluded that he was their superior, the Brotherhood mercenaries immediately reported everything: some of the mercenaries were urging the others to kill their employer, Roden, divide up the supplies, and disappear.

Using their reports to uncover the plot, Roden executed every ringleader and restored discipline. Reduced from twenty-eight to twenty-four, the party continued safely west toward Hasra.

It was roughly four days later that they encountered a band of Altoans.

"Apparently, a few days ago Prince Conrad lifted the capital's lockdown and ordered every remaining Altoan and mage expelled."

The catalyst had been Shan's escape. With the blockade already breached once, maintaining it had lost much of its purpose. Food was also running short, so Conrad reopened the capital and drove out every Altoan.

Those cast out formed groups and scattered in every direction. Some headed east and encountered Roden's party coming from that direction. Among them were several Brotherhood members and their families, making it difficult simply to turn them away.

Perhaps things might have been different in the days when the Brotherhood exploited Altoans at will under the pretext of protecting them. But hadn't it now undergone sweeping reforms to become an organization that truly protected its people? No—even without that, Roden would have been unable to turn his back on them. Beneath his stern, solemn exterior, he was a tenderhearted, kindly man.

* * *

"I took in a few at a time, and word spread that there was a group of Altoans traveling together. More kept joining...and somehow we ended up with this many."

"You really did have quite a time..."

"Well, nothing compared to you. You're infamous around here, you know. They say an Altoan knight has seized a village. That's why I came here on purpose. Otherwise, we'd have taken a bit of a detour."

"What? That's what people are saying?"

Roden told the puzzled Shan about the rumors circulating in the area: the Green-Eyed Knight, Shan Barendil, had killed a royal knight sent by Prince Conrad, seized a village, and was now acting as its lord.

In truth, Shan had merely been staying in the village hall and paying for his food. Apparently, some of the villagers he had threatened to kill had started spreading malicious rumors.

"If those rumors are going around, why haven't any Altoans come here?"

"Of course they haven't. Why would Altoans gather just five or six hours' walk from Hasra and invite disaster? Even these people wouldn't have come here if I hadn't led them."

"Oh..."

After hearing that, Shan felt they ought to leave the village as soon as possible. Conrad was leaving them alone only because of his confrontation with Elvin. If Elvin rashly attacked and suffered a crushing defeat, or retreated farther south to await another opportunity, Conrad would surely come to deal with them the moment he had the breathing room.

Even Shan could not stand against several royal knights and an army of hundreds.

"Actually, there's something I wanted to talk about on that subject."

"What is it?"

"The princess and I talked about what we should do from here."

Shan relayed Sherin's proposal exactly as she had made it. By the time Roden had heard everything, including the dukedom and the authority to become independent, he was staring at Sherin as though she had lost her mind. In truth, the terms were absurdly generous to someone unfamiliar with the situation—no, even to someone who knew it well.

"You really...offered those terms, Your Highness?"

"Yes. I can swear it on my mother's name."

Unlike Shan, Roden had not shared any deep emotional connection with Sherin. Even so, he could instinctively feel the weight of her invoking her mother's name. Looking grave, he turned to Shan.

"Have you talked to Father?"

Kalion had previously entrusted dealings with the royal family entirely to Shan and Roden, but circumstances had been different then. Weakened though he was, he remained the head of House Wievers. They ought to hear his opinion.

"Yes. He told us to discuss it and decide between ourselves."

"Did he..."

"You're the one who'll have to lead the Wievers household from now on."

Kalion was recovering from the injuries sustained in the attack, but he remained frail. Convinced that his judgment was not fully sound, he had left the choice to the two of them.

As Roden squeezed his eyes shut, Sherin stepped back a few paces.

"I imagine having me beside you would make it difficult to talk?"

"Thank you, big sister Sherin."

"What?"

Roden's eyes widened in shock at the address Shan had uttered without a thought. Realizing his mistake, Shan gave a sheepish smile.

"Oh, we just agreed I'd call her that when no one else was around."

"You..."

Looking between Shan and Sherin, Roden let out a disbelieving sigh.

"A lot really did happen while I was away. Anyway, what do you think?"

"I'd like to help her, of course."

"I thought as much... Well, my thoughts aren't all that different."

"Really?!"

"Yes. The reward's worth the risk, isn't it? Besides, we don't have anywhere suitable to take all these Altoans. Pales should have room for this many and more. It's Pendia's greatest breadbasket."

In truth, what mattered most was that Sherin saw more in Shan and valued him more highly than anyone else did. Conrad went without saying, and Elvin, who had fled south, seemed unlikely to make much use of Shan either. From everything Roden had seen and heard, directly and indirectly, Elvin was a textbook example of someone easily swayed.

Lug, too, had been treated poorly despite his ability because he was a country knight without connections. To rise beside a man so easily manipulated by the schemers around him required skill in politics and intrigue, and Shan simply was not that sort of person. There were limits to what even Roden could do to help.

More importantly, judging by that familiar form of address, the two might become closer than a mere sovereign and subject. Given Shan's status, it was an utterly preposterous notion, but if things happened to go well... Keeping that audacious fancy to himself, Roden gave Shan the answer he wanted to hear.

"At the very least, I think it's a far more concrete and reliable plan than striking out on our own and becoming some warlord somewhere."

"All right!"

Clenching his fist in delight, Shan called Sherin over and told her Roden had agreed as well. Her worry-filled face blossomed into a radiant smile.

"Ah, truly... I can finally rest easy. Thank you for making this decision, Roden. I promise a fitting reward not only for Shan, but for your family as well."

"That isn't necessary. My family are merely merchants, and I am only a squire. All I ask is that my lord, Sir Shan, receive a reward worthy of his abilities."

"He most certainly shall."

Sherin nodded with a satisfied smile.

* * *

The first thing Shan and Roden did was settle matters concerning the mercenaries' contracts. Their original assignment ended upon their return to Hasra, but their destination was now expelling all Altoans under Prince Conrad's policy. Shan offered them long-term employment.

Those who remained had possessed enough conscience to stay silent rather than actively support the betrayal. By mercenary standards, they could be considered men of fairly good character. With every soldier precious to them, these were resources they could ill afford to lose.

Naturally, Princess Sherin planned to pay their wages out of Count Pales's fortune. Wealthy as the Wievers household was, the money a handful of people had carried out could not possibly cover long-term employment for dozens of mercenaries.

Fortunately, all but a few accepted. Shan was an excellent employer, and in these harsh times of persecution against Altoans, they needed someone to rely on rather than a chance at one big score. Even those who declined only wished to find their families, scattered by the expulsion from the capital. They promised to come to Count Pales's domain once they had reunited.

They also decided that the Altoan refugees would accompany them. Beyond rebuilding the scattered Brotherhood, Sherin's envisioned magical revolution would require a new rising faction willing to follow it.

Taking them in benefited Shan as well. In a land where he had no connections apart from Sherin, having a faction that supported him wholeheartedly would make an enormous difference.

As it happened, although they were called refugees, a considerable number were young, healthy, and able to fight. Sadly, those who were not had already become food for monsters. The area around Hasra was unsafe, as Sherin and the Wievers servants had discovered when they fell into danger after being outside Shan's protection for only a short time.

If he took such people into his service and trained them, he would gain a reasonably dependable fighting force. An army of Altoans would hardly be welcomed by anyone else, after all. Given westerners' wariness of them, only in times like these could such an army truly be raised.

With their general course settled, they began planning their journey to Count Pales's domain in earnest. Looking down at a roughly drawn map, Sherin spoke with concern.

"More than anything, I don't know how we are to obtain enough food for a hundred and fifty people."

They could replenish their drinking water at rivers and streams along the way, but food did not fall from the sky. The party was far too large to provision through hunting or purchases from nearby towns and villages.

Roden answered with a smile.

"Fortunately, we needn't worry about money. We have Altoan relics."

"Oh... You intend to sell them to a lord along the way?"

"Yes. If anyone tries to seize them by force, it will be unfortunate in more ways than one."

Even a few relatively inexpensive relics would readily buy up the food in a rural domain like this. Once they picked out some items to sell and planned their route accordingly, the arrangements came together more easily than expected.

"We must stop at Toredel Castle on the way. The people my uncle sent should be there."

The place where Sherin had originally arranged to meet Count Pales's agents lay northeast of Wheat Bran Village. It seemed to be about five days' walk away.

The next morning, the party, now some hundred and fifty strong, left the village without delay. After a long time wandering, the Altoans had barely had a day's rest and still looked visibly exhausted, but they did not object. Above all, they now had a definite destination where they could stay.

"We're going to Pales?"

"That's the place they call Pendia's paradise!"

"I thought we'd be lucky to end up in the most backward village in the eastern countryside..."

Even those who had lived in Hasra knew of Count Pales's domain. It was said to be the only place in Pendia where monsters were rarely seen, a haven flowing with milk and honey. If they could begin a second life in such a place, they could endure these hardships.

Parents and older siblings traveling with young children coaxed and scolded their whining charges, struggling not to fall behind the march.

"I don't want to walk. My legs hurt. I want to rest."

"Just a little longer. It's hard for Mommy to carry you too."

"Waaah..."

"Why won't you listen!"

When gentle coaxing failed to make the child obey, the woman lost her temper. She had lost her husband in the recent upheaval in the capital and was doing everything she could to provide for the one child left to her. Now even that child was making things difficult, and she could not help crying. Her younger brother, the only other person she had, was busy looking after his own family...

As mother and son wept together, a dark shadow fell over them. Not only the woman but even the sobbing child abruptly fell silent.

"Ah."

Frightened by Roden's piercing gaze as he looked down at them, the Altoan woman quickly bowed her head. It was a practiced gesture, familiar to someone who had spent her whole life groveling.

"I'm sorry. We'll catch up right away."

"Give him here."

When Roden scooped up the tearful child, the woman reached out in alarm. But rather than throwing him away, Roden seated him on the expensive Horace warhorse.

The woman spoke, looking overwhelmed by his generosity.

"Lowly people like us, on such a fine horse..."

"It's all right. A few children won't weigh him down. He's sturdier than you might think."

Shan had given Kamad's former Horace warhorse to Roden, who had named him Ripo. With three young children on his back, Ripo walked calmly along, seemingly untroubled by the load. Between that and his ready acceptance of a new master, he was certainly far more easygoing than Arwin.

"Look at him. See? You could let them ride without a fuss too, couldn't you?"

Arwin, by contrast, glared furiously and made her displeasure plain whenever they tried putting children on her. Only Shan's soothing presence beside her kept her from trying to throw them off outright. Having assumed all Horace warhorses had such foul tempers, Shan sighed at this newfound truth.

Despite such incidents, the march north went more smoothly than expected. Their sheer numbers discouraged minor monsters from attacking. The occasional attackers were held off by the mercenaries on watch or trained refugees until Shan came racing over like lightning and slaughtered them all. Watching his overwhelming skill, the people felt protected.

What they had not expected was the steady stream of wandering Altoans who began joining them soon after they left the village. As they moved north, their original hundred and fifty swelled until they numbered three hundred. There were even one or two senior Brotherhood officers among them.

For better or worse, after about three days their numbers stopped growing much, perhaps because no refugees had fled that far.

On the third day after leaving Wheat Bran Village, with the food purchased at the first village running out because of their unexpectedly large numbers, they arrived at a manor. Roden negotiated with its owner, a baron, and sold several relics in exchange for a large quantity of flour.

The baron looked covetous, evidently wondering whether Roden had more relics. But with Shan, the Altoan mercenaries, and the refugees standing behind him, he dared not indulge his greed. It was always true, but especially in times like these: even trade was safe only when backed by strength.

Even after filling their bellies with their now more plentiful provisions, the party continued stopping at large villages and small towns along the way. At each stop, several Brotherhood mercenaries, acting on Roden's orders, secretly left coded messages instructing all Brotherhood members to come to Pales.

After crossing a small river and circling around two mountains, on the sixth day of their journey they finally encountered Count Pales's troops, stationed near Toredel Castle.

"Your Highness!"

"Aran."

Aran, Sherin's female knight and bodyguard, rushed over in tears and clasped her hands.

"You were so late that I feared something had happened. I would have gone looking for you if I hadn't been afraid we'd miss each other..."

"A few things happened. First, I owe you an apology."

"An apology? What do you..."

Only then did Aran notice Kagon's absence, and her face went white. Sherin bowed her head slightly.

"Kagon lost his life protecting me."

"I...see. He did what a knight ought to do."

Aran's face was filled with grief as she forced out her reply. Shan understood why she reacted that way. Sherin had quietly told him that Aran and Kagon had been engaged to marry soon.

Shan, who knew neither of them personally, had never noticed. Surprisingly, Roden said he had suspected it. Apparently, he could more or less tell just from the way they looked at each other.

"But why is Sir Shan here?"

"Ah, he has agreed to swear fealty to me. We intend to hold the ceremony after we arrive in Pales."

At Sherin's words, Aran's expression shifted into a complicated mixture of joy and lingering sorrow. She was surely glad that the princess she served had seen her wish fulfilled, but not enough to bury the grief of losing the lover with whom she had promised to spend her life.

"I look forward to serving alongside you, Sir Aran."

"Yes. As do I."

Sir Aran had brought around fifty soldiers. Their arrival made the journey north easier. Where they had previously had only twenty-odd properly trained warriors, they had gained fifty more fighters in an instant. At least Shan no longer had to rush over in a panic every time a few monsters appeared.

Another tedious march north followed. Fortunately, now that they had ample food, they reduced their daily distance and traveled at a more leisurely pace, so no one collapsed from exhaustion.

On the fifth day after leaving Toredel Castle, an immense river finally spread out before them. Sherin, looking weary from the long march, announced with a smile,

"We're finally here. Well done, everyone. Once we cross this river, we'll be in Pales."

Realizing that their long journey had at last brought them to paradise, the Altoan refugees cheered.