Chapter 29:
Defective Catalina
A MONTH HAD PASSED SINCE I, FAUST VON Polidoro, promised Princess Anastasia to make peace negotiations. Finally, my long-awaited armor was finished. I’d visited the forge every single day, and I was so bored that I ended up training Martina in her swordplay skills. Now, I wore the great helm over my head.
“What do you think, Sir Polidoro, advisor to Princess Valiele?” Ingrid asked.
As I turned to look at her face, I couldn’t deny that my view had grown smaller. Yeah, I can’t see as much as I’d like, I thought. But the helmet was sturdy. I lightly hit the bucket helm with the greatsword, and it didn’t budge an inch. While the armor was tough, I imagined that the person wearing it would receive quite the impact; in this case, however, I’d be the one wearing it, and I knew that I’d be unfazed. The magic sigils also worked well. I noticed the court mage, who’d been roaring angrily just the other day, walk up to me.
“Here, I’ll give you this too,” she said.
Is this a harness? She handed me an item that resembled a saddle. The fabric was thick and wide enough to cover the body of my beloved steed, Flugel. This saddle was filled to the brim with magic sigils; the scarlet fabric looked sturdy enough to be a bard for my horse.
“I went and saw your horse grazing about,” she explained. “His name’s Flugel, is it? He’s a fine horse. That cloth will protect him should the worst come to pass. Treasure it, will you?”
The mage had finished engraving my armor within two weeks. I’d thought she’d spent the rest of her time lazing about, and hadn’t expected her to fashion some armor for my Flugel. I’m sorry, I internally apologized. You’ve got a vulgar mouth, and you always looked furious, so I truly misunderstood your character. I quietly bowed my head to her in gratitude.
And now, both Flugel and I had full sets of armor—preparations were complete. My steed currently resided in the pastures on the outskirts of the royal capital. He freely grazed about and ran happily. I’d initially wanted to send him over right away to Duke Astarte’s duchy in hopes of producing a foal, but I had to prioritize peace negotiations first. Breeding would come later. I knew that the duchy could likely prepare an excellent steed for me to use in lieu of Flugel for this mission, but no horse could possibly match his splendor. I had little choice but to bring him along.
“As I thought, that bucket helm doesn’t look great,” the mage said. “I do plan on making a Maximilian helmet soon…”
I guess this helmet doesn’t suit me. It wasn’t that the great helm looked poor; the combination of this helmet with the rest of my Maximilian armor made my appearance look a bit off. The two components simply didn’t complement each other. But this helmet is still a fine one. It might narrow my scope of vision, but it’s sturdy and built very well.
“I’ve taken a liking to it,” I insisted.
“Nah, I’ll make a proper helmet later,” the mage replied. “I can only start after you’ve left, though.”
Pray that your efforts won’t be in vain—that I won’t be killed in Villendorf by someone who wants to avenge Lord Reckenbell’s death. I was fully aware that Villendorf didn’t have that kind of tendency, but there were always exceptions to any rule. It was best that I prepared myself for the worst.
“Thank you for your work, everyone,” I said.
My words came from the bottom of my heart. I gave my gratitude to the smiths, the mage, and Ingrid, who’d been by my side for a month when she surely had other work to do. Last but not least, my words were pointed at Martina, who lay on the ground with her limbs splayed out.
“Are my hellish days finally over?” the little girl asked.
She seemed utterly exhausted by the swordplay training. You had fun, didn’t you? I, at the very least, enjoyed it. Naturally, I hadn’t relished beating Martina again and again—my enjoyment came from her rapid growth. She absorbed knowledge absurdly well; she wasn’t just precocious. After every loss, she began to cook up new methods of attack to catch me off-guard the next day. Not once did she throw in the towel as she tried trick after trick. Sparring with her was far more instructive than fighting against regular soldiers or bandits. And she was only nine, to boot. Caroline, you can rest assured that your daughter will do great things in the future. I thought back to Caroline, Martina’s mother, who likely couldn’t go to Heaven or Valhalla for her deeds. I don’t like you one bit, but I remember your final words well. You called out your daughter’s name, didn’t you? You can rest well with the knowledge that she’s in good hands—I’ll take care of her. I swear that I’ll have her achieve greatness as a knight.
“Will you be off right away, Sir Polidoro, advisor to Princess Valiele?” Ingrid asked. Respect was apparent in her tone.
“No… I’d like to take a break for a week,” I replied.
Frankly, I was drained, even if all I’d done was spar with Martina. I was sure that my citizens back at the inn were tired of waiting. Plus, I had to report back to Princess Valiele and check to see if her corps was ready. I wasn’t worried about the latter bit; they’d received a month, which was more than enough time to prepare.
I also wanted to check up on Flugel—it was imperative that I led him out of the pastures and spent some time with him. Letting him run free sounded good on paper, but I’d neglected taking care of him. Is he mad with me?
“I’ll leave after a week,” I said. “I’ll head straight for Villendorf’s royal capital.”
“What route will you be taking?” Ingrid asked.
“Why are you asking me that?”
Surely my route shouldn’t have been Ingrid Company’s concern.
“Ah, well, if your peace negotiations go well, you’ll pave the way for a major trading partnership that’ll last for at least a decade,” Ingrid answered. “I wanted to gain a head start and secure a route for ourselves. Is it wrong of me to do so as a merchant?”
“Peace negotiations might not go well,” I pointed out.
“This is an investment, sir. One cannot invest if they’re afraid of failure. If possible, I’d like your permission to accompany you on your march.”
Well, this is coming from none other than the head of Ingrid Company… I won’t reimburse you if your investment ends up failing. If you don’t mind that, you can do as you like. I quietly let out a sigh.
✦ ✦ ✦
“You’ve lifted the gag order, I see,” I said. “Very good. This is the perfect time.”
“Indeed,” an elderly lady agreed. “I had the weaklings of Anhalt send over Faust von Polidoro as their envoy.”
I’d placed a gag order on those who’d participated in the Campaign of Villendorf. In particular, I had those who’d seen Faust von Polidoro with their own eyes keep a tight lid on what they’d witnessed. I didn’t do this to protect Lord Reckenbell’s honor, nor was it out of fear of my citizens becoming enamored with Faust von Polidoro. I simply wanted Anhalt to grant me my one wish: for Faust to visit my kingdom as an envoy to negotiate peace.
“If they’d caught wind of my desire, they would have used that as a starting point to force me to compromise,” I said. “The gag order was useful for keeping that under wraps, but there’s no need to maintain it any longer.”
“Indubitably,” the elderly lady replied. “If they’re the ones offering him, then it technically isn’t our request or weakness.”
Only the two of us were in the throne room of Villendorf. I was still only twenty-two years old as I sat on my throne. In front of me stood an elderly lady, Villendorf’s Minister of War. She cackled with delight, happy that her scheme was successful.
“I shall admit that you’re very skilled,” I said. “And you lifted the gag order with impeccable timing. Will there be any changes in the mindset of our citizens?”
“I imagine that they’ll soon discover that the heroic songs about him are true,” she replied. “In fact, they’ll have little choice but to accept that Faust von Polidoro is a man who surpasses the songs.”
“Can we suppress any angry outbursts that might be directed at Sir Polidoro?”
As Villendorf’s queen, it was imperative that I remained vigilant and careful of my actions. My elderly Minister of War cackled once more.
“The chances of that happening at all were slim to begin with,” she said. “It doesn’t suit the nature of our citizens. What’s more, now that they’ve learned that he won against Lord Reckenbell fair and square, if they dare take revenge on him, it’d only sully Lord Reckenbell’s good name. We can safely say that the probability of such an outburst is zero.”
I expected as much, I thought. Oh, Reckenbell. I’m so sad. I must be feeling sorrow right now.
Ever since her death, for the first time in twenty years since I’d been born, sadness had overwhelmed me. For the first time in my life, I learned of grief. Everyone claimed as much. When I first heard of your death, I could hardly understand the report I’d received. So much so that I even stopped trying to understand. Even after I was told that you’d died, I refused to believe it. I simply repeatedly gave the order to invade Anhalt.