CH 13

Vagabonds — Part 3

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

「Night watchman for vagabonds?」

「Yes. I think you are the right person for the job. I think it would keep us safer than our current security system.」

It was late afternoon after I told Claude about the series of events that had taken place. When I told Father, who was working in his study, that I wanted to hire him, he sent Emily and the others back out and asked me why once we were alone. While I was dispatched to conduct the survey, I was inspecting Amyn and presenting the improvements and countermeasures I noticed in the city.

「What made you think that way?」

「They also know the back streets well. I was told by the knights who lead the night watch that the current night watch, which is made up of citizens who rotate, loses track of criminals when they flee into the intricate back alleys.」

「Certainly. But the levy is a right that the lords have over the citizens of the city. We can’t just lose it and leave it to Claude and the others. Plus you will have to feed them. How will you pay for that?」

「In exchange for eliminating the night watchman levy, you will pay a small amount of tax. That should be enough to cover the costs. It will be less work for the citizens than having to guard at night and work again in the morning.」

Father seemed to be contemplating it when he heard it. The levy is also a sign of authority as a lord. Even if they can gain real benefits, they are probably concerned about the loss of authority by reducing them.

「Father. They, as fighters, are obligated to protect their lords. Hence they are allowed to rule. A lord who can provide them with an environment where they do not have to worry about food and can sleep in peace is what they are looking for. Even if the number of installments is reduced, their admiration for Clanetta, who has done this, will not waver in the slightest.」

「Hmm. What if the vagabonds never performed the night watch in the first place?」

「That seems unlikely.」

Even they do not like to be vagabonds. Claude had told me that life was hard in the alleys, where people had to scrounge for food by begging or working a day job, and that some worked hard if they were lucky enough to get a menial job with the various artisans and stores in the city. I insisted that even those who are considered outlaws can be good citizens if they are guaranteed shelter, and I got Father to approve the adoption of this system, albeit on an experimental basis.

When I told this to Claude, who was waiting in the guest room, he joyfully went to town, despite his illness, and gathered nearly twenty vagabond children in a few days. This was an unexpected benefit, as at first I thought they might be wary of me, and only hoped to get a few people together.

Claude had a few acquaintances, and while they looked at him strangely as he never stole, even when starving, they thought they could trust him. This number of people came together thanks in part to their mouthpiece, Claude, who is not a man who tells lies.

After a few days of instruction by the knights, the former vagabonds, boys and girls, performed their night watchman duties with aplomb.

◆

「I, may have misjudged the Princess.」

「What does that mean?」

Under the moonlight, a former hobo with a torch is performing his role well. A knight as large as a bear, who was checking the scene from his horse, questioned the words spilled by his dark-haired peer who lined up next to him. The two were knights who had once accompanied Eliza on her inspection tour as part of Marcel’s platoon.

「I thought she was just a good-natured aristocrat, but she is not. That girl is facing the common people.」

「I don’t understand. You mean she’s a nice person?」

「Well, on one level, that would be true. But she’s also the toughest person of all.」

「I’m out of ideas. Bernhardt. Can you explain this to me?」

When the large knight surrendered, scratching his dusky brown head, his peer, Bernard, asked him the opposite question.

「Hey, Gregory. We have talked about this before. The reason why we sold ourselves to this Order of Clanetta.」

「Ahh, we were both in desperate need of food, weren’t we?」

「Actually, I had another reason. I wanted to be someone who wasn’t deprived.」

Gregory, looking at his huge body, replied in a slightly amused manner, and Bernard muttered a few words, then began to speak in a voice that was hushed so that the children would not hear.

「Nobles, no matter how pretty they say they are, don’t care about us commoners. They just use us. The commoners are just sucked up and die like a wilting flower. I didn’t want to be on the side of the nobles, on the side of the suckers, so I honed my swordsmanship and became a knight in the service of the nobility.」

Bernhardt’s martial arts skills, which are developed from his supple physique, are among the best or second best in the Knight Order. However, there was no sense of pride in his words, and even a hint of bitterness.

「Did something happen in the past……?」

When Gregory, concerned, asked Bernhardt this, Bernhardt’s face clouded over for a moment. But, perhaps out of concern for his colleague, he replied in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

「My sister died of hunger. It’s a common story.」

「…Sorry.」

「It’s fine. It’s not your fault. It’s the lord of my hometown. Fortunately, the lord here was still good, and there is a princess. Right. It was how the princess was different from the other nobles.」

Gregory was surprised that Bernhardt’s voice was so heated that he forgot to keep his voice down. He is said to rival Platoon Commander Marcel in swordsmanship, but he was also known for his calm demeanor that did not match his young age.

「The Princess is trying to make the vagabonds independent. She is not just feeding them like we feed our dogs, but she is helping them to live on their own. That is something that would never occur to other aristocrats who think of us commoners only in terms of numbers. They use us as they see fit, and when they see a vulnerable group such as vagabonds, they toss them aside like a bunch of bad grapes.」

「They’re treating us like human beings.」

「That’s right. That is why if we neglected the night watch, the princess would punish us severely. The kids know this firsthand, which is why they work so hard like that.」

They remember Eliza, who was preaching to the assembled vagabonds to be night watchmen.

——Elizabeth Clanetta. If you all are not hungry and want a good night’s sleep, listen to me.

The mouths of the vagabonds, who had at first underestimated her as a small child, opened in surprise at her regal demeanor, and by the time Eliza finished speaking, they realized who had given them the opportunity, and they all fell to their knees on the ground and bowed to her.

「Gregory. We call ourselves knights, but we are just mercenaries of our lords. I knew that the nobles saw me that way, and as long as they didn’t take it away from me, I was fine with that. But now I want to be a『knight』of the Princess.」

「As Platoon Leader Marcel often says?」

「Ahh. The princess who treats us as people will surely clash with those who do not. What if I, who know her at that time, don’t put my life on the line to protect her?」

Marcel, who had only half listened to his daughter’s words about the little princess being Clanetta’s honor, thinking that she was being greedy toward her master, said with shame at his own lack of discernment.

「It’s a little different, Bernhardt. It’s us. I mean, if I’m going to serve, I want someone who will look out for us commoners.」

「Right about that. We will be her sword and shield.」

The platoon commander’s take on it, though, Bernhardt added, and they laughed quietly.

◆

「——By employing these vagabond children, the security of the city was dramatically improved. These are the young people Count Jungk mentioned earlier. We trained our night watchmen to do dangerous work so that they would not get hurt.」

「But according to those who have sued in our territory!—」

Edmond raised his voice, trying not to be overwhelmed by the momentum of Eliza, who returned a clear statement. However, the evidence was deemed insufficient and no defense was allowed.

Still having the means to hunt down Eliza, Edmond began to talk about his next『suspicion,』but he never realized why Eliza had even mentioned the reform of the territory and its achievements in her statement.