The Warrior’s Ballad

When these ten people fight against another group, typically those two or three brave ones would take the lead while the rest would simply follow behind.

If those two or three brave ones were killed, the remaining people would naturally scatter. Therefore, when fighting ten enemies, it wasn’t necessary to kill all ten.

Just two. Or three. If the core fighting power could be neutralized or driven off, that battle was effectively won.

When a Senior Adventurer died, it was a huge blow and burden for the guild. This was because it was these Senior Adventurers who determined the guild’s reputation and standing.

However, when a hundred brave people gather, one among them would be a Hero.

On a night with an exceptionally bright full moon, ten Senior Adventurers died all at once. And they weren’t the only ones as many had died in duels before that.

Of course, they weren’t all from the same guild, but it was no small number.

As a result, the attempt to capture the Kaitz Highlands was naturally thwarted. By one boy Hero.

The guild alliance, which hadn’t had much trust in each other from the beginning, dissolved, and each guild withdrew from the war.

Now, they were in a situation where they could barely take care of their own affairs. They’d messed with something that seemed tempting, only to be badly burned and forced to retreat.

But the war wasn’t over. The guild alliance, including the Heigen Guild, had only come to scavenge whatever scraps they could get.

The true enemy of the Beringen Guild was elsewhere. It was the guilds around Siegfringer, led by Brabant.

The reason the leadership of the Beringen Guild hadn’t properly supported the Kaitz Highlands was because of this.

They had a real enemy to deal with, so they couldn’t afford to allocate their forces to those who’d come just to scavenge.

However, they couldn’t ignore them entirely either, so it had been a source of frustration—until the boy Hero appeared.

And the appearance of that boy Hero spread beyond the guild, reaching even the common folk.

The story of how he subdued the notorious Ernburg Five, his twelve duels, and his defeat of the ten vengeful swordsmen spread from mouth to mouth.

As is often the case with rumors, the stories became embellished, sometimes gruesome, sometimes thrilling.

In taverns, on the streets, children and adults alike, whether poor or wealthy, highborn or lowborn, from prostitutes to noble ladies, whispered the boy Hero’s name. Ricky. Ricky. Ricky…

There was power in that name. Hearing it, speaking it, made hearts race with admiration, desperation, and exhilaration.

Of course, people believe what they want to believe, and much of it was drawn from their imagination. So the stories were far from the actual events and the reality of the person involved.

What, then, was the true feeling of the person behind that much-whispered name? And what was in his heart?

Only he could know. And it was something he had to bear alone.

A gust of wind made his red cloak flutter. Ricardt’s figure, standing at the edge of the cliff, looked somewhat precarious.

If he took a misstep or if someone pushed his unguarded back, he could fall straight down.

But whether he was unaware of such dangers or simply didn’t care, Ricardt let his hair flutter in the wind as he gazed off into the gentle ridge in the distance.

“Ricky.”

A familiar voice came from behind. When Ricardt turned around, he saw Boribori.

“Did you have a fight with Marie?”

Ricardt couldn’t help but smile. Perhaps Boribori was asking because things seemed a bit tense between them lately.

“No.”

“No? Hmm, it doesn’t seem like a no…”

Boribori furrowed his brow, placing his hand on his chin, as he fell into a rather serious contemplation.

Ricardt found his innocent appearance cute and had to suppress a laugh, but he didn’t want to discuss matters between men and women in detail. Well, maybe he could tell Boribori a little?

“It’s just… we can’t get any closer than just friends. I think it’ll be okay with time. It’s something that’s out of my control.”

Boribori’s eyes widened.

“Getting closer than friends? Is that even possible?”

“Well, I’m not so sure myself.”

“So even Ricky has things he doesn’t know. If you have something on your mind, just tell me. I’ll listen.”

Somewhere along the way, Boribori had really grown into quite a mature person. It probably started when he met Nameless.

Ricardt and Boribori were no longer just in a simple leader-follower relationship. Now, they were friends who supported each other as equals.

“…Yeah, thanks.”

“You’re still going to stay friends with Marie, right?”

“I’d like that too. But it’s not something I can force…”

“I’d better go let her know.”

“What? Hey, hey. Hey!”

Boribori turned around and trotted off with a determined stride. Even as Ricardt called out urgently, Boribori didn’t look back.

Marie was sitting near the watchtower, chatting with Delphi. It looked like she was either getting advice or being comforted, as Delphi gently stroked Marie’s back in a soothing manner.

Boribori ran up to Marie, pointed in Ricardt’s direction, and started saying something to her.

Seeing this, Ricardt felt his face flush red. Talking to Boribori suddenly felt like a life-altering mistake. Bori, you traitor…

However, Marie showed no change in her expression. She merely glanced at Ricardt with a blank face, then turned her gaze to the gentle ridge in the distance.

Boribori came running back to Ricardt.

“Marie says she understands. It looks like you two can stay friends.”

“Hey… you…”

“What?”

“…Nothing…”

Getting upset over Boribori’s well-meaning efforts would accomplish nothing. Ricardt just decided he shouldn’t tell Boribori about such things anymore.

As he looked down from the cliff, he saw that the bustling crowd had disappeared, leaving only litter scattered here and there across the valley.

This meant there was no longer anything to see, and it signified that the battle for this area was over.

Since it was an uninhabited and rarely visited place to begin with, the Kaitz Highlands had returned to its former quietness once the battle was over.

From a strategic perspective, they had secured the rear well, and now Ricardt wondered if there was even a need to continue holding this place.

It had been four days since the victory news had been delivered, and Ricardt and his friends were waiting for someone to arrive from headquarters.

That person arrived just after noon. Walking up the Kaitz Highlands, their feet made soft crunching sounds on the short grass. To Ricardt’s surprise, it was someone he knew.

“Sandy?”

“Well, well, well, look at our little young master all grown up! Making your noona run errands?”

How long had it been, two years? Sandy, smiling playfully with that familiar grin, hadn’t changed a bit. Her brown hair was tied up tightly behind her, and her slightly upturned eyes made her a striking beauty.

Out of sheer happiness, Ricardt gave her a light hug.

But the moment they separated, he felt an unusual tension. Turning around, he saw Marie lowering her head, breathing heavily as if trying to suppress her anger.

Realizing his mistake, Ricardt quickly explained.

“This, uh, this is Sandy. She’s the one who brought me to the Academy from Reinfurt. That’s all. Just someone I know. My senior, really, my senior.”

Ricardt didn’t even realize he was speaking as if he were making excuses. Marie, still looking down, took a deep breath to calm herself.

Noticing the interaction between Ricardt and Marie, Sandy immediately caught on and smirked knowingly.

“I told you, didn’t I? That you’d end up making a lot of girls cry.”

Ricardt could only give a sheepish smile, unable to refute her. Although… it wasn’t really a lot of girls…

Of course, including Daisy, he had made two girls cry, but Ricardt had completely forgotten about Daisy.

Sandy, with the wisdom of an experienced senior adventurer, gave Marie some advice that reflected her years of experience.

“Don’t show your feelings so openly. If you do, it’ll only make other girls target him more.”

However, it seemed this wasn’t the right time for advice. Marie shot Sandy a sharp look, her eyes flashing with the same fierceness she displayed in battle, and responded curtly.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Don’t pretend like you know me.”

“Hmm… looks like you were rejected recently. You need to let go of some of that resentment. It’s just sad to see someone as pretty as you like this.”

“What? Huh!”

Marie was so taken aback that she was left speechless. When it came to a verbal sparring match, Marie was still too young to take on Sandy.

Feeling a cold sweat coming on, Ricardt hurriedly tried to defuse the situation by introducing his other friends. A woman’s intuition was scarier than the sharpest blade.

“Ah, shouldn’t we do introductions first? This is Boribori, over here is our clan leader, Volka, this is Delphi, and… this is Marie.”

Sandy gave Marie a look that was somewhere between amused and condescending, then turned to greet the others.

“I’m Sandy from the ‘Fighting Cock’ clan. I’ve heard a lot about you, Volka.”

“Me? Not about Ricky?”

“If you’re leading the clan that Ricky’s in, wouldn’t that make you famous? And Boribori, you’re a lot cuter than I expected. I heard you enjoy chopping people up.”

“Uh… I don’t actually enjoy it…”

Perhaps Boribori was the one suffering the most from the rumors. People practically saw him as a crazed killer.

“Anyway, it’s crazy these days, absolutely crazy. Whenever two adventurers meet, all they talk about is your clan. And what’s with last year’s graduates? There’s this guy named Ice too… the master seems to be having trouble handling them when dealing with enemies is already tough enough.”

“What do you mean ‘having trouble handling’?”

Ricardt found the phrase ‘having trouble handling’ somewhat grating.

“The pie is only so big, right? It’s probably hard to figure out how much to divide up. I heard some voices in the leadership are even suggesting they stop giving out missions altogether. But I don’t know the details.”

Every organization had its own internal politics. Within an organization, there could be factions formed around influence and power.

These factions sometimes led to mutual development through competition, but at other times, they gnawed away at the organization from within.

It was a troublesome issue, but as long as humans lived in societies, it was an unavoidable one. Across cultures and eras, it was a problem that always cropped up.

Factional conflicts had been around a thousand years ago, and they would still be around a thousand years from now. The core of the problem lay in how to distribute limited resources and power.

The Beringen Adventurers’ Guild was no exception to this issue. There were established clans and Senior Adventurers with influence within the Beringen Guild, and now, suddenly, Ricardt and the Viola Clan were rising rapidly.

In times of war, their abilities were desperately needed, so they were put to use. But now that things had settled down a bit, the question of how much reward they deserved had become an issue.

If they were given too little, they’d feel discontent, but if they were given too much, the existing factions would get a smaller share.

It would be ideal if rewards could be distributed fairly based on merit, but the world didn’t operate so simply.

There were two things in this world that made people lose their minds: power and money. When these two came into play, reason went out the window.

It wasn’t rare for situations to arise where everyone became both an aggrieved victim and a vicious perpetrator, driving each other mad.

Kings killed their own children, princes rebelled against their fathers. When power and money were involved, even family ties could be forgotten—such was human nature.

“So?”

Ricardt asked, sensing something unsettling.

“Leave this place to the pig, and the master wants to see you guys. That’s the message I came to deliver.”

The ‘pig’ Sandy referred to was Reinhardt, the clan leader of the Widowmakers Clan. Perhaps his simple-minded way of living was the wisest of them all.

“What’s the situation on your end? You didn’t share much the last time I visited,” Volka asked.

“At first, they planned to split the territory into three parts, but that guy Ice turned out to be far more impressive than expected. So then they thought about dividing it in two instead, and since things seem to be under control here too, it seems the thinking has shifted to maybe just letting Ricky come and they take it all. At least, that’s what it looks like to me. I don’t know exactly what headquarters is thinking.”

“…That’s not good.”

Hearing Sandy’s explanation, Ricardt muttered to himself.

“Hm?”

“You don’t conduct a war like that. You need to set a clear objective and end it cleanly once the goal is achieved. If you keep thinking, ‘Maybe we could take a little more,’ or ‘Maybe it’s not quite enough,’ and drag things out, you end up losing everything.”

Ricardt had seen many operations fall apart in his past life precisely because of that kind of half-hearted strategy. Whenever things went wrong, it was always that sort of complacent thinking from the commander that was the root of the problem.

“I’m not a fan of it either, but what can we do? It’s not our decision to make. Guilds are never something you can rely on. They always let you down if you expect too much. The only thing you can truly depend on is your clan. That’s how everyone lives and thinks. But then again, Ricky, your case is one of a kind, so even I can’t say for sure how it’ll turn out.”

“…”

Knowing it was pointless to argue with Sandy about it, Ricardt held his tongue.

If you looked back through history, there were plenty of cases where achieving too much success created its own problems. For those at the top, having incompetent subordinates was an issue, but overly capable ones could be just as troublesome.

Ricardt had never met the guild master, so he didn’t know what kind of person he was, nor could he predict how things might unfold.

However, he did have one small measure of reassurance. He had told him to reach out if he encountered any trouble, so if things went awry, he could always do that, right? (TL: Here, “He” refers to Hellauman, the Emperor’s Champion)

Anyway, after having a meal with Sandy and telling Reinhardt they were leaving, they all departed from the Kaitz Highlands together.

Their destination was Siegfringer, the place where Ricardt, Boribori, and Nameless had operated during the past winter.