Chapter 21

Chapter 21. Revealed Truth (2)

Umbeji listened to the chiefs without saying anything. However, his fists were trembling. At last, he slammed his chair with a bang.

“I will pass judgment.”

As if he had made up his mind, he pointed at Ungus.

“A fair trial is more than you deserve.”

Then he listed his crimes one by one.

“You delivered a forged letter from Alexei I and drove the Rong tribe into a corner. You forged Undine’s letter and trapped someone else. You repeatedly created conflict, and because of you, the Rong tribe came to distrust one another and suffered great harm.”

All the chiefs nodded and agreed with Umbeji’s words. In a community run by custom, a man like him, who created distrust and fights, became a great threat to everyone even through small actions.

“A bastard like you, who disrupts order, must never exist among the Rong tribe.”

Umbeji handed down his punishment.

“Ungus will be returned to nature.”

“N-no. Please spare me.”

Ungus turned pale blue and trembled.

The words “returned to nature” were a kind of death sentence.

It was an extreme punishment where the condemned was executed in the forest in the middle of the night and his corpse was left there to become food for wild beasts.

“Repay your sins like that, at least, for the souls sacrificed because of you.”

It meant that since the Rong tribe would hunt the wild beasts that ate him and obtain meat and hides, he should compensate the Rong tribe for the harm he had caused by becoming food for the mountain beasts.

“I-I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

Ungus struggled, but the warriors tied him tightly and dragged him away to prison. The sentence would be carried out that night.

“It’s a m-misunderstanding. P-please let me meet Young Master Aslaf. I’ll explain everything.”

Aslaf did not attend the chiefs’ meeting, but he heard the result from Untet.

“Ungus says he wants to meet Young Master Aslaf.”

The guard watching the prison told Aslaf.

Aslaf went to the prison where Ungus was being held. When Ungus saw him, he grabbed the bars and stretched out his hands.

“Young Master Aslaf. Why are you doing this to me? We were on good terms, weren’t we? That day, I was drunk and lied while bragging. It wasn’t true.”

He pleaded with Aslaf in a sorrowful voice.

“Please testify that I was drunk and talking nonsense. Please save me. I will never forget this kindness and will repay it for the rest of my life.”

Aslaf asked Ungus,

“Then are you still insisting that the letter you delivered wasn’t forged, but truly was Alexei I’s letter?”

“Yes, sir. How could a lowly man like me dare do such a thing? Forging a king’s letter?”

He did not repent for his sin and continued lying, insisting that Alexei I’s letter was real.

“Think of the people who suffered for more than ten years because of the false letter you delivered. Think of everyone who died, starved, and came to hate one another because of the one hundred gold coins you coveted.”

Aslaf spoke in a heavy tone.

“But I....”

“I told you, didn’t I? Never forget that the fate of many people rests in your hands and feet.”

Hearing those words, Ungus’s eyes widened, and the strength left his legs. He collapsed to the floor.

“Y-Your Majesty Alexei I?”

The words Aslaf had spoken were what Alexei I had always said when he stamped his seal, sealed a letter, and handed it to him.

‘Ungus. The fate of many people rests in your hands and feet. Do not forget that, and fulfill your duty.’

It had happened before Aslaf was even born. How could he know it?

“H-how do you know that....”

Aslaf saw straight through Ungus’s lies. Aslaf spoke as if he had personally watched Alexei I and Ungus exchanging letters, so no excuse would work.

“I told you that the letter you delivered was my voice as Alexei I, and there must not be even a single shred of falsehood in it.”

Ungus trembled in unknowable fear as though he had seen a ghost. He froze as if struck by lightning.

“Now you are receiving the punishment for that.”

At Aslaf’s words, Ungus could not answer at all and sat there in a daze.

That night, Ungus was executed in the forest.

The howls of wolves stretched on until dawn.

The next day, not a single strand of hair remained where his corpse had been abandoned.

“Thank you for revealing the truth.”

As Aslaf passed through the village, one Rong tribe chief approached him and greeted him.

“To think such a wicked man who deceived us lived in our village for sixteen years. If not for Young Master Aslaf, we might never have known.”

The Rong tribe’s attitude toward Aslaf changed greatly after he exposed Ungus’s crime. They had treated him specially before as a noble of the Empire, but now they looked at him with heartfelt respect. Even Umkton, who had once glared at Aslaf in displeasure, quietly turned his head and avoided his gaze when Aslaf passed by.

Among the Rong tribe, Aslaf’s status rose at once from hostage to chief-level.

It was because Aslaf had mediated and resolved a matter that might have turned into a major fight between Umbeji’s tribe and Untet’s tribe, who bore grudges against each other.

Once the misunderstanding about Alexei I was resolved, their hostility toward the Empire also softened somewhat.

Untet had been kind to Aslaf before, but after that incident, he came to trust Aslaf completely.

The one year they had agreed upon for exchanging hostages came to an end, and the day arrived for Aslaf to return.

Aslaf thanked Untet for taking care of him during that time.

“I owe you much. Thanks to you, I have stayed here comfortably. The period of the special peace treaty has ended, but I hope peace will continue from now on.”

Untet smiled faintly.

“If everyone from the Empire were like Alexei I or Young Master Aslaf, there would be no reason to fight. However, because men like Marquis Georg oppose and obstruct us, the Rong tribe is also swayed by hardliners like Great Chief Umbeji.”

Aslaf nodded.

“When I return to the Empire, I will do what I can for peace with the Rong tribe.”

“I will also work here to build public opinion in favor of peace with the Empire.”

The two joined their wills and agreed to work for peace.

“If Young Master Aslaf needs strength, I will help at any time. Contact me.”

Untet’s words meant he would respond if Aslaf proposed a mercenary contract.

“Not only our tribe, but many people from other tribes as well will run to help at any time if Young Master Aslaf asks.”

Of course, hiring mercenaries could not be done with an empty mouth. Money was needed.

Aslaf had succeeded in becoming a noble, but at present, he possessed nothing and had no inheritance, so hiring mercenaries was a pie in the sky.

Even so, the mere fact that Untet would respond to a mercenary contract meant they had formed an enormous relationship of trust. Among mercenaries, there were many cases of pocketing money or deliberately slacking off. If they fought and thought the commander was useless enough that survival would be difficult, they sometimes ran away.

Conversely, employers often refused to pay the contracted money to mercenaries and cheated them, so negotiations over contracts alone usually involved months of tug-of-war.

Yet saying he would respond to a mercenary contract at any time meant that he trusted Aslaf’s ability and would believe in and follow him unconditionally.

As long as Aslaf secured military funds, it was as if he had gained an army he could use at any time.

“Goodbye, young master.”

“Thank you.”

The Rong tribe came out beyond the village to see Aslaf off.

The guide who had brought them here led Aslaf and Iwan to the border.

After they walked for several days through dense forest paths, the plateau where they had concluded the peace treaty one year ago appeared.

A little while later, the Empire’s delegation appeared at the foot of the mountain.

Untet’s son Nkun, who had been exchanged as a hostage with Aslaf, was with them.

After meeting again at seventeen years old for the first time in a year, Aslaf and Nkun pointed at each other and burst into laughter.

“What are you? You’ve completely become one of the Rong tribe. If someone from the Empire saw you, they’d think you were a bear.”

Nkun chuckled when he saw Aslaf wearing fur clothes patched together like a rainbow by color, with orange, gold, white, and brown fox fur and wolf fur.

“You look like a noble young master yourself. Are you on your way back from dancing at a ball?”

Aslaf also grinned and teased Nkun. Nkun laughed heartily and cheerfully accepted the joke.

“I went to balls too. I was quite popular with the young ladies.”

Nkun was wearing lustrous satin clothes woven from silk, so judging from their clothing alone, it was hard to tell who was from the Rong tribe and who was from the Empire.

Aslaf and Nkun, now seventeen, had both grown much taller.

Nkun had been large to begin with, but now he was very large even among the Rong tribe, and his physique had become more imposing.

Aslaf too had shed his boyishness and now had the feel of an adult.

Nkun must have studied hard during his year in the Empire, because he now spoke the Empire’s language fluently. Perhaps because he had seen and felt much from the Empire’s advanced culture, his expression had also become mature and dignified. Even so, his subtly prickly way of speaking remained the same.

“Did you live well? You were so small that I worried a wolf would bite you and carry you off, but instead, you caught wolves, skinned them, and came back wearing their hides.”

Aslaf copied his tone and teased him.

“You speak the Empire’s language well now too. Did you learn it at balls? Seeing pretty ladies must have made your tongue loosen on its own.”

“If you can speak the Rong tribe’s language, there’s no rule saying I can’t speak the Empire’s language.”

Nkun lifted his chin, puffed himself up, and shrugged.

“I heard from Father. They say your deeds were impressive.”

Unlike one year ago, he treated Aslaf warmly. It seemed Untet had informed him by letter that Aslaf had uncovered Ungus’s conspiracy.

“Thanks for helping our tribe. If I ever have business in the Empire later, I’ll come visit.”

“Sure. Come anytime.”

The year they had each spent as hostages in the other side’s camp gave them a sense of kinship.

They exchanged greetings. Then Aslaf moved with the delegation, while Nkun followed the Rong tribe.

“Young Master Aslaf seems to have become even healthier. Perhaps because you lived among the Rong tribe, your build has come to resemble theirs.”

The envoy looked over Aslaf’s body, which had become larger and sturdier than most adults in the span of a year. One year ago, Aslaf had been smaller than the envoy, but now Aslaf looked down at him.

“Is that so? I suppose it is because I ran through the mountains hunting game and ate roasted mountain-beast meat.”

Aslaf walked along the road and asked the delegation about the result of the war with the Yeon tribe. The purpose of concluding the peace treaty with the Rong tribe had been to end the war with the Yeon tribe, so he was curious whether that goal had been accomplished.

“Did the subjugation of the Yeon tribe end well? I heard they raided the Yeon tribe’s stronghold.”

He knew because he had heard rumors, but he wanted to hear the details of how things had gone beyond the surface-level account.

“They found a Yeon tribe village and burned it, but apparently everyone had already fled, and it was empty.”

For the Yeon tribe, who lived by pitching tents and moving around, losing a village was not a particularly great blow.

“Instead, they were ambushed on the way back, and our side suffered greater damage.”

Perhaps the Yeon tribe village had merely been a temporary bait prepared to lure the Imperial Army. Therefore, the claim that the Imperial Army had burned a Yeon tribe village was probably just an excuse to cover up a poor battle and defeat.

“Since they failed to break the Yeon tribe’s momentum, we’ll continue to suffer headaches from Yeon tribe invasions in the future.”

At Aslaf’s words, the envoy also sighed.

“Indeed. A large punitive expedition that invaded Yeon tribe territory for once returned after losing troops without any major gains, so I worry about the future.”

“Are there no peace negotiations with the Yeon tribe?”

“Are those bastards the sort who keep promises? Whenever we try to negotiate, they always demand an enormous amount of money we could never possibly pay, so how could negotiations work?”

“Well, even if you negotiate peace with one Yeon tribe, another tribe plunders, so it’s useless.”

“You seem to know the Yeon tribe well.”

The envoy turned and looked at Aslaf as if surprised.

There were a few Yeon tribe people living in the Empire, but there were few experts who knew the traits and behavior patterns of the Yeon tribe living on the plains.

“I know a little.”

If one pillar of Alexei I’s forces had been the Rong tribe infantry, then the other main force had been the Yeon tribe cavalry.

If the Rong tribe was the shield that took charge of strength and endurance, the Yeon tribe was the spear that handled attack.

That was the reason Alexei I’s army had been invincible.