Chapter 22
Episode 22. The Guest (5)
In his life, Elric had encountered only two individuals who seemed to be cut from an entirely different cloth than the rest of humanity.
The first was his father, Hoven Portman; the second was his close friend, Elbus Graham.
His father was a cold-blooded pragmatist who sacrificed every other element of life for the sake of utility.
Elbus Graham was the opposite—an eccentric who sacrificed himself for the sake of his convictions.
Facing them had always stirred in him a sense of alienation, mixed with a sliver of admiration.
Today, Elric felt that emotion once more.
‘I cannot allow the insult I feel to cause harm to the fief. At the very least, one who leads must not do so.’
Tiria Wibin was the third.
She was a woman who seemed to blend the cold utility his father lived by with the convictions his friend had loved—half of each, making her both familiar and yet even more incomprehensible.
She was the kind of woman who made him realize, at an instinctive level, that he could never become like her.
And so, Elric felt respect for her.
Because she was so noble, unlike himself who had crawled through the mud, he found himself drawn to her like a man in a dark cave chasing a light.
To use a metaphor, she was like a piece of fine glasswork.
There was no better comparison, for she was so beautiful that one couldn’t help but worry if she might shatter, or if the storms of the world might wear her away.
Scritch—
Whenever a worry surfaced, he found himself scratching the desk with a blunt dagger, as was his habit.
Elric stared blankly at the grooves being carved into the wood as he replayed her words in his mind.
The more he did, the deeper a certain feeling grew.
He wanted to help.
One might call the root of that emotion pity for her, having endured everything alone, or self-loathing for being the one who made her that way.
Whatever it was, the core of it was that a new feeling had begun to sprout within Elric—one different from his previous desire to simply leave.
And within that feeling, Elric’s thoughts were simple.
Rather than analyzing the cause of the emotion, he thought of how to resolve the emotion that had already formed.
Thus, the thought that arose was: ‘How shall I help?’
Elric was not a man who knew how to draw a grand design.
He only knew how to thoroughly crush what was in front of him so that it could never rise again.
Since he could not be like her, Elric’s task was clear.
This time, just like the previous affair involving the Wibin family, he decided to utilize violence, which was always closer at hand than the law.
“Lord Polo, may I come in?”
“Gah?!”
Clatter, bang!
A frantic noise erupted from inside the assigned room.
The door opened immediately after.
“C-C-Come in…”
Elric knew the reason behind that trembling voice.
As the door opened, he saw the portly man sitting in a chair.
He looked terrified, even at a glance.
“I’ve come because I wish to speak.”
Saying so, Elric closed the door.
“Or, since we are already acquainted, should we exchange greetings first?”
The reason he was certain the man had recognized him was simple.
The entire time they were in the dining hall, the man had been walking on eggshells around him, and the moments he chose to intervene were always the moments when Elric’s anger had reached its peak and he was about to flip the table.
Since the man had so blatantly shown his fear of what would happen next, how could Elric not know?
Polo, as expected, shook his head frantically.
And then,
Thud!
He fell to his knees on the floor.
“I am truly sorry for what happened that day! Today was entirely a coincidence! I didn’t know you were here, and I had no intention of offending you! It—it was just an accidental mishap…!”
“Shh.”
When Elric placed an index finger to his lips, Polo let out a hiccuping gasp.
“Commotion would be troublesome. For both of us.”
Tap, tap.
Leaning on his cane, Elric walked toward the seat Polo had occupied just moments ago and sat down.
The man kneeling on the floor looked up at Elric.
It was a deliberate positioning.
Intimidation begins with the eye level.
He felt a bit sorry for the man who was this frightened, but Elric intended to make use of this conditioned fear.
Polo bowed his head, trembling like an aspen leaf.
Finally, what I feared has happened.
The gaze looking down on him was piercing. The voice he heard was sharp enough to remind him of the banquet five years ago.
“I did not ask for this meeting because of a personal grudge against you. To be honest, I know I am also responsible for the day’s events due to my own lack of courtesy.”
“T-That is…”
“Of course, I have no intention of apologizing. I have no reason to forgive you for insulting me.”
Polo froze stiff.
However, the words that followed were unexpected.
“So, let us set aside our respective grudges and think of the present. Let us make today’s matter beneficial for both of us.”
Polo’s head lifted slightly.
Elric, wearing a chillingly expressionless face, added,
“As you know, I am not a patient man. I do not tolerate insults directed at me well, and I do not tolerate insults directed at what belongs to me. That is the case with today’s matter.”
“Yes, y-yes…”
“The behavior shown by the supply officer from Armin was quite unpleasant to witness. However, it is difficult for me to step forward personally. If I were to reveal my identity, wouldn’t the peace of this land be shattered?”
He was right.
Such was the weight of the name ‘Sword Demon Kasha.’
Kasha was a name that could change the course of the current Western War.
He was a strategic weapon in human form; his mere presence could halt the fall of a nation and shift the tides of a battlefield.
What would happen if it were known that such a man was here?
Factions would come to recruit him, and those who held grudges would come for his head.
The former would be overbearing, and the latter would be violent.
The factions trying to recruit him would use political leverage to pressure Wibin.
Those seeking revenge would disregard their own lives to strike at those around him.
And the Kasha that Polo knew was not a man who tolerated such things.
The moment Kasha’s name was revealed, this place would surely turn into a bloodbath.
The wheat to be born next year would grow nourished by blood.
“I do not wish for my recuperation to be disturbed. I want to let this pass quietly, but they are making it difficult.”
Meanwhile, one thing became certain: he had not left the battlefield for good.
Seeing him lean on a cane now, it must be a period of rest due to an injury.
“So, let us do this.”
Elric leaned his upper body forward.
As the distance closed, Polo shrank back even further.
His eyes darted up, catching the reflection of Elric’s cold smile.
“I need you to help me. Of course, it won’t be for free. I am proposing a legitimate transaction.”
He reached out a hand.
“Didn’t you come here to buy wheat? I shall give you a fair price. So, please do me a favor.”
Polo’s body flinched.
The story that followed was a proposal that wasn’t bad for him at all.
The Portman estate had a reception room for greeting external guests.
By Elric’s standards, it was the only space in the mansion filled with lavish decorations; to Tiria, it was a space that showed an appropriate level of aristocratic dignity.
Five people were seated there today.
The Portman couple and the three supply officers from the West.
“Then, let us begin the discussion regarding the transaction,” Tiria said.
“The amount of wheat for sale is as previously notified. This year’s harvest is exceptionally bountiful. We have only one condition: can it be purchased as a single bulk lot?”
For Tiria, selling in bulk was the way to leave the highest profit margin.
The distribution process for wheat was quite cumbersome if it had to be split and sold to different locations.
Even though the world had advanced, transporting wheat from this rural Wibin to the West still required wagons.
In other words, they had to hire contractors, and that required a significant amount of capital for logistics.
That capital would increase exponentially if the sale were divided and sent to different locations.
“Please understand that as our fief is not particularly wealthy, this choice is inevitable.”
Having finished her piece in a way that wouldn’t offend anyone, Tiria observed the supply officers’ reactions.
‘Disha is out.’
Trouble was already written across their face.
They must have already endured significant expenditures at the previous fiefs.
There was no need to even look further.
Even if they tried to force the transaction, the process would likely stumble.
Next was Armin.
“Now, you’re being far too cold.”
A greasy smile hung on his lips.
Tiria let out a silent sigh.
His leering gaze was repulsive. His slimy tone of voice was irritating.
He was a type she encountered more than once.
Tiria hid her emotions even deeper.
‘He’s someone I’ll never have to see again anyway.’
There was no reason to react personally to his gaze.
Because this was the moment for business.
Furthermore, if she had told Elric he must endure and then showed a change in her own emotions, how shameful would that be?
The distance between her and Elric was finally closing bit by bit.
Tiria did not want to push back the distance she had gathered the courage to close.
She immediately shifted her gaze.
‘The Empire is…’
She wasn’t sure.
Ever since his first appearance, he had looked uncomfortable, but now that look was even more pronounced.
No, there was something that had changed.
If he had looked restless at first, now he seemed to be waiting for something.
What on earth was he aiming for?
It was at that moment.
“…I—I can purchase the entire lot. And I will add a condition to that.”
Polo, the supply officer of the Empire, raised his hand.
“The Empire will handle the logistics costs directly.”
“Hey now!”
Slam!
The supply officer from Armin struck the armrest with his fist.
The Imperial supply officer gave a snort of contempt.
“Is there a problem? I’m saying I’ll buy it at the full price.”
“There is! If you do something like that, the market price of wheat will…!”
What was happening?
Confusion took root inside Tiria.
The condition the Empire was offering was simply that nonsensical.
To begin with, it was wartime.
No matter how important securing military rations was, the funds required for war in other areas were astronomical.
In such a situation, to say they would cover all logistics costs from Wibin at the eastern edge to the Empire in the West—that was not a decision a mere supply officer could make.
However, the Imperial supply officer’s demeanor was far too confident for it to be a lie.
‘Did he come here having promised that condition from the start?’
No, for that to be true, she had only made the decision to sell to a bulk buyer this morning.
There was no way that news could have reached the Imperial command already.
She lacked information.
If this was a lie to drive out competitors, it would cause setbacks in future transactions.
If it were the truth, that was also a problem.
To endure such an expense just to buy wheat—that was a mistake even a novice learning administration wouldn’t make.
It was at a level where she had to judge that they had some other motive for Wibin besides the wheat.
‘Just what…’
If there was a motive, what could it possibly be?
It was at that moment.
“Then we must sell to the Empire. Is that not right, wife?”
Elric said with a bright smile.
The atmosphere froze.
I Waited for My Wife in the Wheat Field (Serial)
