Chapter 13

Chapter 13. Entering the Family Registry (1)

“A special peacekeeping period?”

“We’re currently under a ceasefire with the Rong tribe, so we exchange gifts and hostages outright and have a one-year peacekeeping period. Within that year, we can focus on the war against the Yeon tribe without worrying about the Rong tribe and bring it to an end.”

The knights nodded in agreement.

“One year. Well, that isn’t bad. The period wouldn’t be too burdensome for either side.”

“If we give them some suitable gifts and exchange hostages, there’ll be less worry about being stabbed in the back by the Rong tribe.”

“We could stop the Duchy of Galleon from using the Rong tribe as an excuse to stay out of the war.”

One knight looked at Aslaf and asked,

“But Aslaf. Would the Duchy of Galleon try to send a hostage?”

Aslaf nodded.

“We can say that we, the Duchy of Gironde, will send the hostage.”

“We will? Who would we send?”

The knights looked at one another with reluctant expressions. No one wanted to go as a hostage himself, nor did anyone want to send his son as one.

Aslaf spoke carefully.

“Someone who directly participates in the war would be unsuitable.”

“Of course. They have to go to the battlefield. Then who?”

“It would have to be someone around the level of a noble’s son for the Rong tribe to trust us.”

“A noble’s son? Who would send his own son to barbarians as a hostage?”

“There isn’t a suitable person.”

They watched Aslaf’s mouth with curious expressions.

“So? Who do you think would be suitable?”

Aslaf had raised the topic with an answer already in mind. He had been waiting for the knights to ask who would be good as a hostage.

“Beden Castle will not participate in the war because it has to block and defend the route the Yeon tribe might use to invade, so I think the son of the lord of Beden Castle would be suitable.”

“Beden Castle Baron Lenke’s son?”

“Baron Lenke does have a son. Was his name Tyron?”

The knights slapped their knees at Aslaf’s suggestion to send Baron Lenke’s son as a hostage to the Rong tribe.

“That would be good. Since Baron Lenke isn’t participating in the war anyway, we should tell him to send his son as a hostage at least.”

“Right. Let’s suggest that to Marquis Sigrid. We’ll send Baron Lenke’s son as a hostage, make a peace agreement with the Rong tribe, and receive military support from the Duchy of Galleon.”

“Baron Lenke’s rank is low, and he isn’t directly participating in the war, so he won’t be able to refuse the marquis’s proposal.”

They thanked Aslaf for telling them such a clever move and left the shop.

‘Now it’s time to leave this place.’

That night, while closing the shop and cleaning, Aslaf said to Iwan,

“I’m going back to Beden Castle.”

“You’re going back to Beden Castle? We’re finally starting to save some money.”

Iwan looked at him in surprise. But as always, he did not ask why or object.

“Then I have to go too. I’ll get ready.”

They sold their belongings, exchanged them for gold coins, and put their affairs in order.

A few days later, rumors spread that they would conclude a one-year peace agreement with the Rong tribe and pursue an exchange of hostages as a symbol of peace.

‘It’s going according to plan.’

Aslaf told Jacques that something had come up and that he had to return to Beden Castle.

Jacques was sorry to see them go, but at the same time, he encouraged them.

“Right. You two are too good to remain only as arms dealers. Go out into the world and do whatever you want to do.”

“Someday, I’ll come back to pay my respects. Please stay healthy until then.”

Aslaf said farewell to Jacques and returned to Beden Castle.

When he had come to Pordis, he had suffered through all sorts of hardships, but when he returned to Beden, he bought horses with the money he had earned and rode back in comfort.

Since he rode a horse, wore a sword, and was dressed in fine clothes bought in the city, people’s treatment of him changed as well. When he told farmers he would like to stay the night, they readily gave him a clean room and prepared food for him.

It was completely different from the year before, when they had chased him away as a thief even if he offered to pay.

At last, familiar scenery came into view.

The stream flowing through the valley, the watchtower of Beden Castle, the chapel’s bell tower, and the hill.

When he arrived at Beden Castle, the first person he encountered was Juan, who was herding sheep in the meadow.

“Y-you?”

Juan, who had been lying down asleep and had raised his head at the sound of hoofbeats, thinking it was Tyron, went pale as if he had seen something he should not have. It was only natural. He had thought Aslaf and Iwan had burned to death in the storage room, but after a year, they had appeared on horseback, so he thought they were ghosts.

“S-spare me. It’s a ghost. H-help! Someone help me!”

He abandoned the flock of sheep he had been herding and ran away alone, splashing across the stream as if his life depended on it.

When Aslaf entered the inner yard of the castle, everyone stared at them in surprise.

“Aslaf is here!”

“He was alive!”

“Iwan was alive too.”

Aslaf lightly lowered the broad-brimmed, thick black wool hat on his head in greeting as he passed them, then strode forward.

“Wow, I almost didn’t recognize him.”

“Look at the way he greets people. He’s completely like a noble.”

“He’s gotten really tall too.”

Aslaf, who had once been a shepherd boy in shabby clothes, now appeared on horseback wearing a lace-trimmed silk shirt and gleaming satin trousers that were difficult even to see in a rural place like this, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

“Look at his saddle. It’s even finer than Young Master Tyron’s.”

“Those leather boots are incredible too. I guess that pointed shape is fashionable these days.”

Overwhelmed by Aslaf’s appearance, no one dared stop him even as he went to Baron Lenke’s room. In the past, he would not have dared approach the baron’s room unless the baron summoned him first, but now he knocked loudly on the baron’s door in front of everyone, the sound echoing through the corridor, and not a single person could open their mouth.

From inside the room came the sound of sobbing and crying.

“How can you send our precious Tyron to those barbarians? Absolutely not!”

Baroness Anne Lenke was crying, saying they could not obey Marquis Sigrid’s order to send Tyron as a hostage.

Perhaps the sound of knocking was buried under her shrieking sobs, because there was no response.

Knock, knock.

When the baroness’s crying died down as she took a breath, Aslaf knocked on the door again.

“Come in.”

The baron’s voice was heard. Aslaf opened the door and entered.

Inside, Baroness Lenke was holding Tyron and sobbing, while Baron Lenke held her shoulders and comforted her.

“A-Aslaf?”

All three froze and could not move when the person they had thought dead appeared before their eyes. Tyron, in particular, flinched in shock and stepped back when Aslaf, whom he had believed he had burned to death, appeared.

“H-how......?”

Baron Lenke saw Aslaf, opened his mouth, then approached him slowly while breathing hard.

“...You were alive.”

Perhaps overwhelmed with emotion, he tightly embraced Aslaf without caring that his wife was watching.

“I didn’t treat you well and only acted harshly toward you... When I thought you had died... I... how much I......”

The baron could not continue and seemed to swallow back tears.

“Have you been well?”

Aslaf spoke to him warmly, then looked at Tyron and Anne, who were glaring at him, and greeted them coldly.

“Have you been well, young master, madam?”

They did not return his greeting and merely breathed harshly. Since they were in the middle of misfortune, Aslaf’s appearance seemed to anger them even more unbearably. They glared at him as though they hated him to death.

“Tyron is about to be thrown among barbarians. This isn’t the time for this.”

Anne urged the baron in a sharp voice.

“Think of some way to say we can’t send him.”

The baron suppressed his emotions, wiped his tears, and looked back at them.

“That is Marquis Sigrid’s order, and the other castle lords have agreed to it as well, so it will be difficult to refuse. As you know, everyone else has participated in the war for sixteen years, while only we have stayed one step away from it.”

“Then you can participate in the war.”

Anne burst into tears again and grew angry.

“It is not enough for me to go alone. I would have to lead soldiers with me, and then you and Tyron, who remain in Beden Castle, might be in danger.”

Baron Lenke sighed in distress and spoke to Tyron.

“Tyron. Noble sons are not killed carelessly just because negotiations fail. Do not be afraid. Life there will be uncomfortable, but since you are going as a hostage anyway, if you train hard in swordsmanship there for one year as you did here, time will pass quickly.”

At the baron’s words, the baroness cried even louder, and even Tyron began crying with her.

“I don’t want to go, Father. I said I don’t want to go. Why do I have to go somewhere when I don’t even know where it is? I was born here, and I’ve never taken a single step outside Beden.”

Before the two of them, whose lips trembled as they cried their eyes out, Baron Lenke let both arms hang helplessly and did not know what to do.

“This is all because you have no power. Do something. Goodness, what a fate I have. I never should have married such an incompetent man.”

The baroness threw a hysterical fit, crying and dripping tears and snot, but there was nothing the baron could do.

“There is a way.”

Aslaf watched them, then quietly opened his mouth.

“What way?”

The three of them turned their heads at the same time and looked at Aslaf.

“Wouldn’t it be enough to send Baron Lenke’s son as the hostage?”

“That is true.”

A heavy silence flowed through the room.

“There is no rule saying the eldest son must be sent. It should not matter if the second son is sent, correct?”

“But there is only one son.”

Anne stopped speaking and closed her mouth.

She had realized what Aslaf meant by saying that. She opened her mouth and muttered with unfocused eyes,

“So you mean we should send another son instead of Tyron?”

“That is correct.”

Anne chewed her lip and twisted the handkerchief in her hand.

“If you acknowledge me as the baron’s son, I will go as the hostage in Young Master Tyron’s place.”

“Don’t spout such nonsense!”

Tyron flew into a rage, approached Aslaf, and grabbed him by the collar.

“How dare you covet my place? Do you want to die?”

Aslaf quietly whispered so that only Tyron could hear.

“Do you think you can kill me?”

“What?”

Cold sweat ran down Tyron’s forehead, and his pupils shook.

“You have already failed, haven’t you?”

At Aslaf’s tone, which said he knew exactly what Tyron had done, Tyron was so terrified that the strength left his hand.

At that moment, someone approached and quietly took Tyron’s arm. It was Anne. She whispered to him in a calm tone.

“Tyron. Otherwise, you have to go. Even if Aslaf is acknowledged as his son, you are still the eldest son and the heir to Beden Castle. Don’t get agitated. Think calmly.”

Tyron’s eyes rolled, but even with his mind, he could no longer think of a better solution.

He shoved Aslaf away by the collar and released him. Even then, as if his anger had not cooled, he pointed at him and shouted,

“Don’t think you’re really our father’s son. I’m warning you. Don’t act superior. This is only an external, formal acknowledgment so you can go as a hostage.”

Aslaf did not answer and let him bark whatever he wanted. Tyron was only barking to gather up his collapsed pride. No matter what anyone said, Aslaf was the winner today.

“Begin the registration procedure at once. He has to leave tomorrow.”

When Anne spoke coldly, the baron hesitated for a moment, then gave the butler an order.

“Call the monk and witnesses. I will enter Aslaf into my family as my son.”

At the baron’s sudden words, the butler’s eyes widened as if he doubted his own ears, and he hurriedly looked at Anne. He was afraid of what she would say about entering the illegitimate son she had treated as a thorn in her side into the family.

“What are you doing? Hurry and call them.”

When she snapped at him to carry it out quickly, the butler quickly lowered his head and went to summon the witnesses.

They all went to the chapel. Soon afterward, the monk and witnesses arrived.

Aside from the witnesses, Beden Castle’s residents had already flocked to the chapel after hearing the rumors and came to watch.

“They say the baroness is entering Aslaf into the family.”

“Wow, is that true?”

“Aslaf is becoming the baron’s son?”

“So suddenly? What happened?”

They stood on tiptoe outside the chapel and watched through the windows as Aslaf became a member of a noble family.