[Trantor - Jjescus]


    [Proofreader - Gun]


    w


    Chapter 14: Jedrick


    ‘Count Vadio is suspicious of me.’


    As Ram patrolled around Jedrick’s tent at night, he recalled the look on the count’s face when they crossed paths earlier in the evening.


    ‘General Terdin made a mistake. He should have treated me the way Master Selken did.’


    Selken never gave Ram anything more than the tasks of carrying food or luggage, nor did he grant him any rank beyond that of a ve.


    When Rampleted an assassination mission, he received rewards, but they were never more than what any other capable ve might earn.


    The other ves never suspected that Ram was doing anything special.


    But Terdin?


    He openly treated Ram as someone exceptional.


    Even though Terdin insisted it would be discovered eventually and couldn’t be hidden forever, Ram didn’t want things to be that way.


    In truth, the area around Jedrick’s tent was already guarded by two soldiers, so Ram didn’t need to patrol it so meticulously.


    Yet uneasy thoughts kept creeping into his mind.


    ‘How does a curse begin?’


    Ram sniffed the air, recalling the scent of the two powders the wizards had shown him, wondering if he could detect anything simr. But nothing happened.


    With nothing to do, his thoughts grew more tangled, and he found himself dwelling on what the wizard had said.


    What was it about curses?


    An arrow loosed from its bow, deflected by an unexpected gust of wind.


    A shield raised to block it.


    Or, it could even strike, but the victim survives.


    Arrows and shields.


    ‘That wizard cast a spell on you,’


    the young wizard had said, and it lingered in Ram’s mind.


    Magic.


    The witch’s magic.


    The witch who spread nasty rumors about Baron Selken.


    ‘Enough. Stop thinking. Just forget it.’


    Whenever Ram faced tough times or troubling thoughts during his life as a ve, he focused only on the task at hand.


    That way, he could forget everything else.


    ‘Master always said it, didn’t he? Don’t think. Just do what you’re told!’


    And so, he did.


    “Do you need anything else?”


    Ram entered the tent and sat before Jedrick as he asked.


    Before himy only empty dishes from the finished meal.


    Jedrick shook his head.


    “If you have something to tell General Terdin, I can deliver it to him directly, without involving anyone else,”


    Ram offered again.


    “I already have.”


    Though Jedrick finally spoke, his response was brief.


    Encouraged by his first words, Ram pressed on.


    “If anything iscking in your meals, let me know. I’ll try to prepare something simr.”


    “This is satisfactory.”


    Though he wanted to ask more, Ram recognized that Jedrick wasn’t in the mood for conversation.


    A ve knew to retreat in such moments.


    As Ram rose to leave, Jedrick spoke again.


    “Will you be attending to me from now on? What about a man named Jenavin?”


    “That knight was called away on urgent matters, and I’ve been assigned to take his ce.”


    “Then we’ll meet regrly. It would be useful to have something to call you. What name do you go by?”


    As he picked up the dishes, Ram thought to himself, What do people even base their ims of barbarians against the Geronians on?


    Jedrick neither spilled food nor used utensils improperly.


    Ram had heard the Geronians ate meat with bare hands, drank blood, and couldn’t stomach milk.


    Yet Jedrick’s manners were as refined as any southerner’s.


    He even seemed better with a fork than most soldiers.


    ‘He hasn’t even asked me to taste the food first. Doesn’t he suspect it could be poisoned,ing from the enemy?’


    Carrying the dishes, Ram replied,


    “Call me Shadow.”


    “I may not be fluent in Southern Common, but even I know that’s not a name.”


    “I have no name. I prefer to be called that.”


    “Are you referring to the shade of a tree beneath the sun, or the illusion of something nonexistent but seemingly present?”


    “In the southern tongue, it could mean either.”


    “Then I’ll call you Stuga in ournguage. It carries a simr meaning.”


    Living without a name now, Ram found it irrelevant what he was called.


    “That works.”


    “Let me ask you something, Stuga.”


    “I’ll answer anything I can.”


    Pointing at the dish he had eaten from, Jedrick asked,


    “Is this cow’s milk?”


    “It’s goat’s milk.”


    “You brought goats to the battlefield?”


    “I’m not sure. When I was conscripted, the goats were already in the camp.”


    “They must’ve stolen them from us.”


    “I don’t know where they came from.”


    “Our women haven’t had goat’s milk in months, and our children are starving without their mothers’ milk. Did you know that?”


    “I didn’t.”


    “Why did you attack us?”


    “I don’t know.”


    “You must hold some rank to be speaking with me like this, and yet you im to know nothing?”


    “I hold no rank.”


    “What is your position?”


    “I have none.”


    “You truly know nothing.”


    “I truly know nothing.”


    Ram waited, hoping Jedrick would say more.


    But Jedrick stayed silent.


    He didn’t bring up curses or ask any personal questions.


    Without mention of curses, Ram had no reason to bring up what Terdin had told him—that a soldier had fallen into a filth pit and died.


    He was curious but couldn’t ask first.


    The next morning, a short rm horn blew early.


    A lone Geronian man approached the southern camp, riding so slowly it was almost like walking.


    Though Southern soldiers remained wary, they didn’t prepare for battle.


    The old man wore armor but carried no weapons.


    Ram remembered his name: Sao, an elder.


    Sao was led to the tent where Jedrick was confined.


    He dismounted and unloaded the bundle from his horse.


    A soldier checked its contents.


    No weapons.


    Jedrick emerged from the tent to greet Sao.


    “Are you well, Jeje?”


    The elder’s slurred pronunciation made the Geroniannguage harder to understand, but Jedrick’s speech was clear, more so than many southerners speaking Common.


    “Yes, Elder Sao. General Terdin has treated me withoutcking.”


    After bowing, Sao stepped back, and Jedrick ced the bundle he had brought before the tent for all to see.


    Funeral items.


    [Trantor - Jjescus]


    [Proofreader - Gun]


    w


    Jedrick wrapped the head of Mantum in a blue cloth, turning it left several times, then right.


    The precise number of folds seemed significant, with Sao carefully counting each.


    The tying technique was meticulous, deliberate, even sacred.


    When the wrapping wasplete, Jedrick ced the head, now secured in blue fabric, inside an obsidian box.


    Jedrick handled every step himself.


    Though Ram was ready to assist, he refrained, not wanting to risk viting their customs.


    Sao, too, answered only direct questions and did not intervene.


    Ram stayed nearby, ready to help if asked, but Jedrick never requested it.


    “It’s done,”


    Jedrick finally said, turning to Terdin.


    “In everynd, it is a son’s duty to see his father’sst journey through. Do as you will, Elhorn.”


    "Off you go, then."


    Jedrick and Sao went ahead first.


    "Maintain formation. Make it seem like the six of us can take on all of them."


    Aedun issued the order in a voice brimming with bravado.


    Ram was momentarily at a loss.


    Terdin had only said to follow and observe without specifying what exactly to do.


    Aedun''smand was directed at the six knights apanying them, not at Ram.


    Moreover, Jedrick hadn’t told him to follow.


    If he were to follow orders precisely, Ram was still under Terdin’s standing directive:


    Protect Jedrick.


    Ram had no choice but to obey thatmand.


    Jedrick didn’t say anything when he noticed Ram following him, and even Sao didn’tment.


    Gradually, Ram found himself approaching the ranks of nearly a hundred Geron warriors.


    They were elite fighters, reputed to be able to face ten Triton soldiers each.


    Terdin often said that if war ever broke out again, it would be impossible to defeat them.


    The warriors surrounded Jedrick and Ram in an instant.


    Although their posture wasn’t overtly threatening, the pressure they exuded was overwhelming.


    Still, they didn’t act hostile toward Ram.


    A few nced at him but went no further.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Ram quietly observed the Geron ritual of transferring Mantum''s remains.


    They spoke in aplex, iprehensiblenguage as they tied an obsidian box with ropes made of multicolored threads.


    Four men then ced the box onto a crossed stretcher and began their procession.


    The rest of the warriors followed.


    Jedrick stayed behind.


    Though it was his father’s death, he didn’t shed a tear.


    Sao, the elder, waited for Jedrick onest time, as if asking if he would join them.


    But when Jedrick stood motionless, merely watching the procession disappear, the elder urged his horse forward without a farewell.


    Gazing after his departing kin, Jedrick spoke in the southern tongue:


    "I hear your king ising. I could hear themotion outside."


    "That’s what I heard, too."


    "Let me guess,"


    Jedrick said, his tone slow and deliberate.


    "King Gant wille. He’ll proim ournds as part of his domain and install a new lord here. That new lord will probably be General Terdin. After all, Terdin conquerednds everyone thought untouchable and took the head of Adian, whom no one thought could be killed. It’s only natural he ims this vast territory."


    Ram couldn’t respond.


    While it seemed usible, there was no such indication among the general or the othermanders.


    "What do you think of my deduction?"


    "I wouldn’t know,"


    Ram replied cautiously.


    "Of course you wouldn’t. Just a thought,"


    Jedrick murmured, steering his horse toward where Aedun waited.


    Ram tried to turn his horse but fumbled, causing the animal to spin in ce.


    Eventually, he managed to straighten its path and rode alongside Jedrick.


    "You’re not very skilled with horses."


    "I haven’t ridden much."


    "Stuga, who are you?"


    Jedrick suddenly asked, shifting the topic.


    "I don’t understand the question. I’m just a soldier,"


    Ram said hesitantly.


    "Why were you assigned to guard me? Is it just because you can speak ournguage?"


    "That seems to be the main reason,"


    Ram replied.


    "Yesterday, there was a noble giving you a hard time. Vadio, was it?"


    "Yes."


    "He said you took the position that should have been his, didn’t he?"


    Ram held his breath briefly.


    He’d worried about that when Count Vadio was berating him earlier.


    Inside, the enemy chieftain hears everything.


    Better be careful what you say…


    But Ram couldn’t stay silent.


    When a noble spoke, a ve was expected to listen meekly, even if the noble wasn’t their master.


    "Yes... that’s what he said,"


    Ram finally admitted.


    "If I understand correctly, on the day I stood before General Terdin to surrender, it should have been Vadio of Norallin, not you, standing behind him. That’s what they mean, right?"


    Jedrick even brought up “Norallin,” a name Ram barely remembered, cornering him further.


    "They say that from the day Mantum died, you became the shadow behind Terdin."


    Jedrick’s words left no room for lies.


    Remaining silent was an option, but Ram wasn’t good at that.


    As a ve, it was ingrained in him to confess, even if it wasn’t his fault.


    Saying something—anything—usually lessened the punishment.


    "…Yes, that’s correct."


    Before Ram could gather his thoughts, Jedrick continued:


    "On the day Mantum died, there was an intruder in our camp. A man who’d been mauled by wolves and was on the brink of death. His clothes were ragged, but his speech and manner suggested he was amander or a noble of high rank.”


    Ram’s heart began to race.


    Zenri was dead.


    He was killed by wolves.


    That was what they said.


    But had it been confirmed?


    He hadn’t seen it himself.


    He’d only overheard two soldiers talking.


    "The wolf’s bite missed his vital organs, striking only his arm. Left untreated, he would’ve died, but our healer saved him. When asked why he’de, he answered without resistance. He said he’de to kill Mantum. Normally, such a im would beughable… but then the heavens began to wail.”


    "That eerie sound terrified us. Some of our warriors even wept. Watching this, the manughed hysterically, calling it the sound of Triton’s god killing our god.”


    "I asked him who killed Mantum. I didn’t even have to torture him. He volunteered everything. He said his ve did it. And he promised to hand over that ve if we let him go."


    Jedrick stared at Ram’s profile as they rode.


    He hadn’t moved closer, yet Ram felt as if Jedrick’s lips were pressed against his ear.


    "You’re the one who killed my father, aren’t you?"


    With that, Jedrick said no more.


    Even as they returned to the allied camp, as Jedrick entered his assigned quarters, met with General Terdin, and passed by Count Vadio, he remained silent.


    Ram had no chance to report the conversation to Terdin.


    The camp burst into chaos upon hearing that the king of Triton was soon to arrive, the atmosphere tense as if preparing for battle.


    [Trantor - Jjescus]


    [Proofreader - Gun]


    w