Chapter 218

Chapter 218

***

As you live on, there was something called a turning point. It refers to living a similar daily life all along, and then a change occurring triggered by a certain point in time.

For Lena, Ravenna, and Graf, meeting Rickart might have been the turning point of their lives.

Had it been about four or five days since they met him. Outwardly there was no big change, but they were feeling inwardly that something was changing.

On the road from the Capital Nibelungen to Stormhearts, in a place slightly deviated from there, Lena was swinging her sword alone.

Concentrating with the most serious expression in the world all by herself, she unexpectedly cut the grass growing in the field. The stem of a bright yellow flower was cut and dropped thud.

Then Lena tilted her head. Muttering asking 'this was not it, that was not it', it was at a level where if others saw it they'd wonder what the heck she was doing.

But actually, others were looking. It was Rickart, Ravenna, and Graf who were sitting in the shade of a tree to take a brief rest.

"What is she doing?"

Graf asked. Whether pollen brushed the tip of his nose, he sneezed ACHOO as soon as he asked. Around the time he wiped his nose Rickart answered.

"Chasing a feeling."

"What kind of feeling?"

"The feeling of saying 'this is it'."

As always Rickart's words seemed understandable or not. He was an advisor rather than a teacher. If asked he answered, but didn't necessarily push or instill until they understood.

"Once you learn how to swim you don't forget it for the rest of your life. If you find your own sword you absolutely don't forget it. Until then it's neither swordsmanship nor anything. Lena is just beginning to float on the water."

"The spar with the Duchess must have been a big help."

Ravenna, whose squirrel-like front teeth were characteristic, said.

Duchess indeed, Rickart was dumbfounded but didn't necessarily teach them Marie's true identity. Since it would be tiring even if he did.

He had just left the kingdom briefly to concurrently hold a Council of Six meeting and to enroll Vilter. Now he was on the way back, and if he stopped by Stormhearts and arrived at the kingdom his journey would probably end.

Meeting the trio of young adventurers was purely because a slight interest arose in the Codex, and because that Codex was none other than Caldebert's work he just ended up unintentionally accompanying them.

Rickart thought so. That the tie with these young people was just like a thin skein of thread. So he gave help where he could give help, but didn't intervene that recklessly.

"But I think I somewhat know what kind of thing it is too."

Graf nonchalantly pulled a weed on the ground and said as he threw it into the air. Then Ravenna asked Graf who was beyond Rickart.

"What feeling? Teach me a bit too."

"What the Academy taught are excellent basics, but should I say it felt like it didn't somewhat fit me. But I thought that not fitting feeling was because I lacked, so all this time I just practiced. But looking at it now, sewing is truly familiar to my hands. So I wonder if the sword could be like that too. Although it's a very absurdly unfeasible story."

"It's not an absurdly unfeasible story."

Rickart said. And explained additionally.

"In the past, my friend handled the sword exactly like writing letters. It's different from back then now but it seems that became the basic foundation. So Graf, you too, who knows? Whether you'll unfold swordsmanship based on sewing. It's better not to think too seriously at first but to think lightly. Like play."

"Is it another friend? Is that person also eccentric and scary?"

Ravenna asked. Because she suffered severely from Marie or whatever, if it was Rickart's friend the thought that they were scary came first.

Rickart quietly thought to himself. The ones he recalled in his head were Bori, Ice, and Marie. Because the ones who achieved accomplishments with the sword were those three.

And subsequently he also recalled Roy, Becca, and experts of a considerable level in their own way when Rickart looked at them.

"Didn't think about it like that but I think that's correct. Those kids are uniformly eccentric. Not me."

"How strong are the rest of your friends? If compared to the Duchess."

"Wouldn't they be about the same."

"What about you, Mister?"

"I am the strongest. I have never lost. Whether in a duel, or in a war."

"That's a bit too much. I heard bragging severely becomes worse as you get older."

Graf said while chuckling sneaking. He knew Rickart was incredibly strong, but still, not knowing defeat and being unable to find an adversary was too much right? Especially saying he had never lost even in war? No matter how outstanding an individual was, that's a no.

Rickart ended up just laughing. He just spoke exactly as it was, but if they thought it was bragging it didn't matter if they thought so. Perhaps because he had matured to that extent now.

"Hohoho......"

"Let's go now. That kid doing that might do that all day."

Ravenna lightly brushed her butt and stood up. Rickart also raised his body, and grabbed Graf's hand to help him stand up.

And approaching Lena who was swinging the sword one by one, very carefully, he said.

"Let's go now. If you forcibly hold onto what's not working it won't work even more."

Lena wiped her sweat with her sleeve and nodded her head. Because the young person devoted herself to the sword this much, Rickart didn't feel perfectly bad looking at that figure.

So he usually wouldn't tell more, but explained it as nicely as possible.

"Earnest desire is bound to become an obsession. But if you look beyond obsession it becomes a wish, and a wish is exactly same as praying quietly. Then when the time comes it finds you on its own. Not you holding onto it."

And then he walked across the field. Near the place where Lena was standing was a pile of grass and flowers she had cut down.

The innocent grass was pitiful too, but it was also fortunate that it wasn't human corpses. How many were those Rickart had cut down.

To Rickart, who had reached the ultimate peak in killing techniques, the sword was just a tool for killing. It was himself who would say exactly like a habit that there was no need to get sentimental.

Perhaps the eccentric Bori's words were right. Saying that learning swordsmanship isn't just learning techniques for killing, but could become a single academia.

Can the sword become a tool for disciplining oneself? I don't know. Given that it's Rickart it didn't mean he knew all the logic of the world.

However, the ones who met a turning point might not only be the three young adventurers, but Rickart too might similarly be so.

That many things had changed was exactly the same for his hometown. Stormhearts's base was naturally centered on Stormhearts Castle where the lord lived and the farmhouses around it.

However, as if the belly button became bigger than the belly, because of the Master's Federation Headquarters settled on the outskirts of Stormhearts, this place was exactly like the base of Stormhearts.

The place where the Federation Headquarters was had changed into quite a large city, and if you walked a few hours getting out of that city, there was only just a quiet farming village.

When unseen people looked at it, the lord's castle and its surroundings had no choice but to look exactly like they were far completely deviated from the city.

Reaching this point they should separately name the city instead of Stormhearts, but they couldn't did that. Because the owner of Stormhearts was Abellich after all.

Although the city had much more money, and was equipped with military force, they couldn't treat the lord recklessly. Because everyone knew who his son was.

So on the condition of borrowing and using the name Stormhearts City, and regarding leasing the land, the city had to pay taxes to the lord Abellich.

That massive amount of gold and silver passed through Abellich and entered the pockets of the Countess of Caldebern and her husband Kraut. And also serving as a back pocket for the Imperial Family's money laundering. The funds running the Empire didn't only consist of honorable money.

Anyway, if the Capital Nibelungen was the political and diplomatic capital, Stormhearts City was no different from being the center of Imperial civil security.

Of course that civil security wasn't public power. To use the service called 'civil security', one had to pay money.

Although one might wonder if it's a bit heartless, just this was a tremendous development. Because in the past even if you wanted to pay money you couldn't.

There was only the lord's army, and with just the army it was structurally difficult to maintain civil security.

Because of that, the lords who were the people who had to maintain civil security would just neglect the work they had to did, or rather only extort money from people.

So starting from Rickart's thought of saying 'Since nobody ddid it, I must did it at least.', it ended up growing this big.

However, exactly like the destiny of all organizations, the powerful and huge Master's Federation also revealed various problems and contradictions. Sometimes even the Council of Six couldn't be properly controlled.

But Rickart wanted to wash his hands of it around this point. Since it's exactly the society where humans gather and live, conflicts and problems have no choice but to occur inevitably, and I can't solve all of that one by one myself.

Like the words telling one to save oneself, if a problem occurs the best path was for the people themselves to overcome it.

Rickart thought, since nobody ddid it I can thread the first button, but the rest the people themselves must did.

"Is it your first time in Stormhearts?"

Rickart asked the three who were absorbed in looking around the city.

"Right. For adventurers, Stormhearts is the center of the world after all."

"Is that the Federation Investigation Bureau building?"

Ravenna pointed at a certain building and asked. As Rickart looked back, there was exactly a building looking like a very large mansion in a place slightly like a hill.

But even looking at it Rickart didn't know well. Because having a Council of Six meeting, making resolutions, and issuing directives was all he did. He only somewhat knew the Inner Circle people, but didn't know well the ones who practically served as hands and feet.

"Well, maybe it is."

"Where is the Headquarters?"

"The Headquarters is over there. See the spire? That's the Headquarters."

He knew the Headquarters because he directly spent money and built it himself. The Investigation Bureau was something created after that.

For reference, the Master's Federation had lower organizations like the Postal Bureau, Investigation Bureau, and Intelligence Bureau, and the Headquarters took charge of things like propagating directives coming down from above, or issuing wanted notices, tracking, and executing criminals or specific targets.

Such division of labor and organizational structure all came from the head of the Principal of Beringen Academy, Karlrich.

"For now I have business at Stormhearts Castle and Count Caldebern's Castle, so you guys get a room first. Do city sighting after that."

Rickart planned to visit his father, older brother, and sister-in-law to say hello, and concurrently look for if there were any clues about Caldebert.

"Yes."

"I also haven't been here in a bit of a while so I'm somewhat fuzzy, but there's a decent inn. Let's go there."

Rickart walked towards the Headquarters. But because there were so many people on the street it was hard to even take one step. Squeezing through, around the time they reached near the Headquarters, it was at least quiet there.

But although he saw it nicely while coming, near the Headquarters almost all the people were those from Beringen Academy or Viola Clan. He could know that by looking at the color and pattern of their cloaks.

For Beringen Academy, the phrase 'Discipline shall set you free.' was embroidered with white thread on black cloaks, and for Viola Clan, purple violets were embroidered on white cloaks.

He heard their relationship hasn't been good lately anyway, but with the contrast of black and white it looked even worse.

But since it was entirely just such people, Rickart's red cloak or the dark brown, or dark green cloaks the party was wearing rather stood out more here.

Rickart didn't feel anything, but the three people felt a strange sense of alienation. Because the difference in background was so severe, they even felt intimidated.

Rickart entered the inn that was built first a very long time ago, exactly around the time the Headquarters was just about to be constructed.

But inside was worse. Because white cloaks were hung neatly on the wall. It seemed the people sitting at the tables had taken them off.

As Rickart and the three young adventurers entered the inn, all the people inside stared at them. They didn't particularly show vigilance or anything, but it was a gaze exactly as if asking what kind of matter was this.

Rickart walked up to the innkeeper at the bar and said.

"I'd like to get a room. I will leave soon, so a room suitable for the three people to stay in."

The innkeeper didn't even answer and just blankly stared at Rickart for a moment. Then scanning the three people standing behind him he said.

"Where are you from?"

"Why should you know where we're from to stay at an inn?"

"Is this your first time here? Then go towards the outskirts. Only those from the Viola Clan can use this place."

Wondering what the heck this sound was, Rickart was bewildered.

"Was there such a rule? I don't think there was in the past."

"Aren't they all people working for the Empire, so wouldn't it be correct to provide conveniences in a place close to the Headquarters?"

It sounded exactly like correct words but also strangely felt like it wasn't right.

But while Rickart stayed still briefly being dumbfounded, someone at a table asked with a somewhat provocative tone.

"Are you deaf? The owner asked where you are from."

Then Lena, who was only watching from behind, stepped up. Her personality was exactly one that couldn't hold back such things.

"Our three people did graduate from Kalitz Academy."

"......Absurd."

"What's absurd?"

"Don't even want to completely mix words so leave right now."

At the words telling them to leave, Rickart frowned and cut in saying.

"Hey, look here. If someone saw they'd think you're nobles or something. Even nobles don't act like that."

"So which noble would go to something like Kalitz Academy? The three people are from Kalitz, and where are you from then?"

"I did graduate from Beringen Academy though."

"......"

As Rickart revealed his background, the inside of the inn suddenly became chilly. Because everyone here was entirely people from the Viola Clan.

The fact that a person from Beringen Academy, with whom their relationship was recently getting worse and worse, came here was no different from invading their territory.

For a while only an icy silence lingered, then a person sitting alone in the corner said. Blonde with neat features, and exactly a man with an atmosphere entirely like he only stepped on elite courses just looking at his appearance.

"A person from Beringen Academy brought people from Kalitz Academy, and came to an inn of the Viola Clan...... Isn't this practically asking to fight? Can I take it that way?"

Rickart suddenly thought 'wow, what exactly am I supposed to did about this'. Acting only as a member of the Council of Six all this time, did the world run in this way? was even the thought he had.

Although he didn't necessarily bully kids during Academy days, it was himself who didn't let friends who challenged him just pass by.

Bolka, the current head of the Viola Clan, was beaten up tremendously by him, and conversely Karlrich, the current Principal of Beringen Academy, was beaten by him and almost died before surviving.

Now almost 20 years after graduating, I suffer something like this? What was exactly this? Rickart was beyond dumbfounded and it was hard to pull out from the shock in this way and that, in various ways.

But human ties were quite peculiar, wondering what kind of affection she gained meanwhile, Lena stepped up instead of Rickart and said.

"We only know skills after competing. Aren't you exactly just acting out trusting only your background without having skills?"

"Hmph!"

Then the opponent snorted loudly. And arbitrarily guessed Rickart's intention. That he deliberately brought people who have a bit of skill among people from a clumsy background to insult us.

If so, he thought that making them clearly feel that difference was trampling on Beringen Academy's intention.

"Weeds should be trampled on exactly in time. No need to speak long. Come out."

Saying so he naturally picked up the sword leaned against the table and strode outside. It was to confidently show off on a street where there were many Beringen Academy people too exactly on purpose.

Reaching this point, Rickart slightly regretted 'I should have taught the kids a bit more diligently'.

Thinking 'first Lena winning was the best, and if it doesn't work I can step up', he went outside.

And although he intended not to intervene if possible, he also thought he should meet Bolka or Karlrich and say a word.

Not that exactly they wouldn't have put in effort, and he particularly didn't say anything meanwhile knowing that, but looking at the scenes exactly happening before his eyes, it was true that it was a bit pathetic.

What the heck kind of background were they nitpicking so much......