Chapter 111

The cargo carried by a single transport ship amounted to 50 tons, akin to a gold mine that required no pickaxe during the imminent lean season.

The attackers surged forward with relentless ferocity, but Seberik countered them with equal tenacity.

He had to calculate how many lives could be saved among the Northern people with the 50 tons of grain on that single ship, and such calculations weighed heavily on him.

“Your Excellency, the calculations are in.”

Lysena opened her notebook with a trembling voice.

Each time a single ship was taken, clear numbers pressed forward before him, indicating how many children and soldiers in the North would go hungry.

Seberik’s face contorted, reflecting the frigid winter itself, showcasing just how ruthless a desperate strongman could become.

“You leech-like creatures!”

‘I can give my blood, but I cannot give my people’s blood.’

With Tenitia by his side, he rushed across the water, cutting down both large and small ships of the attackers.

It was a display of skill that even Valencius found awe-inspiring yet frightening.

“Charge! Even if we just get one out of several hundred, that’s still 50 tons of grain!”

However, witnessing the increased numbers of the attackers the following day, Seberik could only let out a low growl.

Greed always triumphed over fear.

They had the sheer amount of hundreds of ships, and it was only natural for them to expect they could steal one.

After a night of fierce combat, he barely managed to repel them.

It was a horrific morning where the scent of blood mixed with the dawn air.

At that moment, Valencius cautiously made a suggestion.

It was evident that they would face an endless war of attrition if things continued like this.

When facing extreme foes, extreme solutions were needed, and he was prepared to become the villain.

“I have a good idea.”

“What is it?”

“The Duke will hang the captives he executes on the masts. It will serve as a message from afar.”

“Wouldn’t it just be us showcasing one ship we’ve taken?”

“Who said it should just be us?”

“Excuse me?”

Valencius’s golden eyes flashed cruelly.

“We will hang the heads of captives from every mast of the hundreds of transport ships.”

Lysena gasped in shock, and even Seberik, who was used to violence, couldn’t readily accept it.

“That’s…”

While death was common for him, it was noble, and he believed that even with enemies like the attackers, one should not treat the deceased carelessly.

“If there is no better way, I will act as I see fit. I am the nominal commander of this fleet.”

However, Valencius had seen countless horrific wars during his 40 years before his return, wars that made them seem child’s play.

Executing captives was a merciful choice compared to what he had witnessed.

“Duke Valencius, I thought the rumors about you were wrong.”

“…”

“Perhaps I was the one who was mistaken.”

Seberik regretted thinking he understood the boy duke before him.

This inhuman man nonchalantly put forth a plan that defied common sense.

They could look at each other, but they ultimately stood in different places.

“No, there is no right or wrong in this world.”

“!”

“There are only solutions that can solve a problem and mistakes that cannot solve it.”

Friendship, like power, is harder to maintain than to build.

The understanding forged overnight melted away like snow, and Valencius turned his back on Seberik.

Throughout the day, he carefully moved the small boat around the fleet, distributing bodies or heads one by one.

Hundreds of corpses hung from the masts of the transport ships, swaying back and forth.

The fleet cut through the still lake’s surface, leading with corpses in the foggy dawn.

That scene was enough to instill fear even in the crew members affiliated with those ships.

“…Crazy bastard.”

“I have no words. None.”

“Is this something a human would do?”

“That brother is just like that sister.”

Captains openly displayed their discontent.

A lower noble who accompanied them even challenged Valencius to a duel, claiming he would defend his ship and honor.

“This isn’t right. I have no intention of hanging signs of insult to the dead on my ship.”

“If you wish to say ‘no’ to me, then bring me one of two things: a better plan than mine or the power to silence me.”

Valencius batted the captain’s face as if striking down with a meat tenderizer, then hung him upside down from the mast.

If a captain has the authority akin to a king on the ship, then the ship’s owner holds an authority similar to that of a pope.

Seeing such a shipowner swinging upside down from the mast was enough to instill terror in all the captains.

“Good job. I am sorry.”

“No, Your Excellency. It was an honor to serve the Empire and the North.”

However, only four knew that Valencius had carefully altered the shipowner’s face with blood magic that night and guaranteed a ten-year exclusive trade right limited to the official trade between the Emperor and Dukes.

Seberik, Lysena, Tenitia, and Rudi.

At last, the fleet reached the opposite shore of the lake and entered a river flowing north.

Until that moment, there had been no further attacks from the attackers.

Seberik asked hesitantly, a rare hesitation for him.

He felt a mix of disgust for this cruel act and unease towards Valencius, who willingly committed it, but his curiosity grew stronger.

“Duke Valencius, why did you go so far? No, how did you know this would work?”

Valencius chose his words carefully.

He needed to convince Seberik, who valued life dearly.

With a fitting smile, he declared as if announcing.

It was grotesquely inhuman to Seberik’s eyes.

“Stirring emotions is an inefficiency and an irrationality.”

“What does that mean?”

“We are moved by a thousand paper cranes and feel chills looking at tightly packed dolls. It’s the same. Whether it’s emotion, gratitude, apology, or fear, the opponent must think, ‘Is it really this extreme?'”

He answered with his yellow eyes glowing inhumanly.

He wanted to show Seberik what kind of human he was, and he certainly succeeded.

Seberik had not encountered Valencius for an entire day, and the next morning he sought him out in the cabin.

* * *

The cabin was not overly cramped, but it was not spacious enough to walk more than a few steps.

As the tall Seberik entered, the cabin felt crowded.

I faced Seberik while secretly breaking out in a cold sweat.

He was the swordsman who had survived three encounters with Jeilliris and had at times overwhelmed her.

With hair as dark as a stormy sea and eyes as calm as a snowy field, his cheeks were cold as ice, formed by the weight of his gaze, and the only hint of color was in his lips.

The loneliness and glory reflected in his haggard eyes and pale cheeks, combined with the dignity and authority resonating in his trustworthy voice.

He seemed as if the North itself had come to life.

He was a good person and a great commander.

But at the same time, he was the worst noble.

He had turned against Jeilliris, ultimately losing, and destroyed the North he had sworn to protect from the south.

He rebelled not for the Northern people but because he was a good person.

Due to his convictions, he led those he wanted to protect into hostility against the Emperor.

A good noble thinks that they should protect their territory and people, even if it means bowing their heads before the opponent.

I wished he would be a good noble rather than just a good person.

If somewhere things went wrong and the Empire fell back into civil war and conflict, if Jeilliris’s army rampaged, creating bloodshed, and I failed despite risking my life to defend against it due to infiltrators or other factors.

At that time, I hoped he would be a good noble, quietly protecting only the North, just as he had until now.

I pondered how to express this as I listened to the tales of the Septentrius castle.

From our first meeting with explosions, through awkward moments, sharing swords and friendships over a night, that brief friendship had briefly fractured in front of the attackers, and he stood before me again.

I was glad he was a good person, but paradoxically, I wanted him to become a good noble.

Before long, Seberik spoke with a soft sigh.

“Duke Valencius, I will start by expressing my apologies and gratitude. I apologize for expressing discontent without a plan, and I thank you for protecting the transport ships from the attackers.”

I tried not to show my relief as I responded.

“Not at all, Duke Seberik. Until just now, I also thought there might have been a more gracious solution.”

Seberik looked at me with his gray eyes.

Looking at the calmness hidden behind his haggard eyelids and cold gaze, I felt embarrassed as if I were changing clothes in front of him.

“Duke Valencius, I will ask again. Are we truly the only two here?”

He did not know how to lie.

“Is the Imperial Court trying to economically subordinate the North?”

I shook my head.

“No.”

“!”

He let out a deep sigh.

“I too am a noble of the Empire. The North needs the Emperor’s support to fend off monsters and other threats.”

He struggled to continue his thoughts.

I understood.

The distrust between the Imperial Court and the North was not a recent issue.

* * *

There had long been tales in the Capital that the Northern Duke intentionally did not kill all the monsters.

The story went that he suspected if all the monsters were killed, the Imperial Court would abandon the North afterward, hence he refrained from exterminating them to preserve their necessity.

There were rumors that the amount of grain and weapons deliberately supplied by the Imperial Court to the North had been reduced.

There were fears they might turn the swords southward if the North killed all the monsters.

I despised lies.

I hated falling deeper into bigger lies, having seen people lose their lives as a result.

So perhaps the current solution would be a straightforward truth.

I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them as I spoke.

“Yes. The Imperial Court will support the North to fend off the monsters and other threats. Even if it leads to famine in the Central and Southern regions, they will do so.”

“Then…”

“So.”

I spoke firmly.

“The North must not divert its gaze downwards whatever happens; bask in the Emperor’s favor, and focus solely on the extermination of monsters and threats.”

Seberik’s expression mixed with gratitude and lamentation.

He began to address a long-unspoken topic regarding the North and the Imperial Court.

“What happens after the North wins against the monsters and other threats?”

I sighed deeply, carefully choosing my words that I could be responsible for.

I had no intention of repeating the struggles from before my return.

“I must inform you that everything depends on the Emperor’s will. However, the Emperor has shared with me his plans to support the North. And if I communicate the victory of the North to the Emperor, when the time comes to determine the North’s relationship with the Imperial Court, I want to say this.”

Seberik leaned toward me.

I spoke with a steady demeanor.

“If treated as friends, we are friends; if treated as foes, we are foes.”

“!”

Regardless of how independent the North was, it remained a vassal relationship.

The words “friend” and “foe” carried significant weight for both sides.

For the first time, ripples formed in his calm gray eyes.

“However, the Imperial Court will never attempt to seize and manipulate the North. The Court respects the autonomy of the great lords across the territories, not out of kindness but because it must.”

Monitoring and interfering were impossible in a realm as vast and populated as the Empire.

There were distances that would take weeks to traverse even by wyvern to uproot all those issues.

“The North will continue to be governed according to the will of the Septentrius family. So…”

“So?”

“Please make a promise here, Duke Seberik.”

Seberik raised an eyebrow in surprise, as if taken aback.

I laid out every promise I had wished for from my previous life.

“Will you promise not to descend into the South to aid stability during an Imperial civil war?”

This promise bore no binding force.

A duke would naturally twist any promise or alliance to serve the interests of their territory and citizens.

Thus, this became an echo resounding within the confines of this narrow cabin.

What I said and what he said echoed the same way.

But we feared and respected each other, and thus, we imbued meaning into those echoes.

“Yes. I promise.”

“Will you promise not to descend into the South even if a war breaks out in foreign lands, unless a summon is issued first?”

“Yes. I promise.”

That was the last.

“Will you promise not to descend into the South, even if people suffer due to such matters, without the Emperor’s consent?”

Seberik fell silent.

It was a serene silence reminiscent of a snowy night.

“I am sorry, Duke Valencius. I cannot make that promise.”

He broke the silence himself then.

It was a poised yet brutal honesty.

I nodded, feeling both a sense of despair as though the sky had collapsed and a satisfaction that my predictions had been correct.

“Yes. I expected that.”

I knew he was just that kind of man.

“Indeed… You are noble.”

He had been like that even before my return.

Even when aware that the war with Jeilliris was destined for failure, he once again took up arms to protect those he had once shielded from monsters.

I fight for one person, while he fights for all.

Thus, though I may resent him, I cannot hate him, and I find myself wanting to help him again.

* * *

“Duke Seberik!”

A voice calling for him came from outside the cabin.

“Let’s go together, Duke Valencius.”

“Very well.”

We opened the cabin door with lighter expressions.

In the end, we were still parallel lines.

At our innermost depths, we faced each other, yet we did not see the same horizon.

However, we could still respect each other as humans.

Bang!

“Lady Trentia! Rudi? Lady Lysena!”

With short red hair and the skirt of a maid’s uniform, the neatly dressed black-haired figure vanished around the corner.

“I guess they heard everything.”

“Hehehe.”

We forced a smile as we walked toward the crew.

“What was the matter?”

“They are demanding an exorbitant toll.”