TOPWL 220

Shane tried to stop him, saying it was dangerous, but Yudit has already made his decision. After that, everything moved quickly. They brought Carmen, a female knight who had good hands and knew how to do makeup, to help Yudit disguise himself, and Carmen disguised herself as a dancer too. They also needed guards and jesters, so they thought about who to take, and Garen and Edmond took those roles because they were good at speaking the Gotar Kingdom’s language and could play instruments. Another reason was that they were still young, clean-looking, and didn’t have a strong knightly air.

At first, Edmond was happy because he finally had a proper mission, but when he found out what kind of disguise he had to wear, his face turned pale. But it was fortunate that he didn’t roll around on the floor saying he wouldn’t do it. Garen had to wear an even more ridiculous disguise because of his big build, and though he flinched when he heard that, maybe because he was gentle by nature, he didn’t strongly resist.

So Shane disguised himself as a guard, Bagon as a coachman and porter, Yudit and Carmen as dancers, and Edmond and Bagon as jesters and musicians, and they left for the Calmor Territory.

While they talked about various things, the day dawned before they knew it. The outer walls of the castle could be seen in the distance. The soldiers standing there tilted their heads when they saw the carriage Yudit was in. Inside the carriage, Yudit met his companions’ eyes and spoke.

“Let’s all do our best in our places.”

When the carriage came closer, the guards gestured for them to stop. In the middle of a war, it was natural for them to act that way since the carriage looked suspicious at a glance. Bagon pulled the reins and made the horses slow down. The horses, so thin that their ribs were clearly visible, came to a halt slowly. Two guards approached warily from both sides. When they looked inside and saw the shabby figures, one of the guards frowned.

“Never seen you before.”

“We’re a traveling music troupe. We came by invitation from a noble lord.”

Bagon held out an invitation that was wet and worn to the point of being hard to read. The knight who saw it frowned.

“I can’t recognize it.”

“But we really were invited. Look here, it says Benjamin.”

“Benjamin? That’s not a Gotar Kingdom noble name.”

“Yes, yes. He’s a noble from the Jaklit Kingdom. He saw our performance before and asked us to come to Calmor once. He said he wanted to show us to the other noble lords.”

At Bagon’s words, the guards looked troubled. The Jaklit Kingdom was across one sea from Calmor. It was about two days away by ship, and because Calmor was much warmer and good for resting, most Jaklit nobles spent their winters there.

Because of that, the wealth of Calmor was heavily supported by Jaklit nobles who opened their purses without hesitation. So even the authorities treated Jaklit nobles with slightly more favor than Gotar nobles. When the guard glanced at his companion with a troubled face, the one who seemed to have a higher rank shook his head.

“It’s wartime right now, so no one can enter. Go back.”

“What? We can’t!”

Bagon cried out with a desperate look.

“Please send someone to speak for us just once. They’ll definitely vouch for us over there.”

“I said no. Even most merchants can’t enter right now. We can’t let a troupe in just because they claim a noble invited them.”

“Please, have mercy on us!”

When the guard stayed firm, Bagon clung to his trouser leg and grabbed it tightly. He had completely thrown away all knightly dignity.

“The war broke out and it’s already hard to survive, but a few days ago we met bandits and lost our last food. We thought we could at least eat something if we reached the noble’s house, so we starved for days and came all the way to Calmor, but if you don’t let us in, we’ll all starve to death here!”

“It’s unfortunate, but we can’t let you in. Leave.”

The guards refused to yield. Yudit bit his lip, and then Bagon suddenly opened the carriage door, grabbed his wrist and pulled him out.

“Then at least let this one in. He’s an omega, and Lord Benjamin said he would take him as his concubine.”

“An omega?”

The soldier narrowed his eyes and looked Yudit up and down. Bagon didn’t miss the moment and pulled off Yudit’s robe. The thin, shimmering fabric beneath caught the sunlight like a dragonfly’s wings, and his skin showed through.

“Yes. And he’s pure. Back then, the lord had to leave right away, so they didn’t consummate it, but it’s almost like they’re bound as husband and wife.”

The guard stared at Yudit and swallowed. Yudit, filled with shame, covered himself with the robe and turned his head away. The guards stepped back a few steps, whispered among themselves, and then gave their answer.

“Then let that one in.”

“Thank you! Um… but couldn’t you let us all in?”

“You want all of you kicked out?”

“No, no. It’s just that, didn’t I say he’s pure? Because he’s so beautiful, many people have tried to take his purity. We somehow managed to protect him so far because we have several people in the troupe, but if he goes in alone and loses it, the money we were promised will all be gone.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Bagon hurriedly took off his boots and pulled out a small gold piece from his dirty sock. The guard frowned like he had seen something disgusting.

“It’s the advance payment we received from Lord Benjamin. We were promised twenty times more when we hand that omega over. If you just let us in, we’ll give you half of it.”

For a moment, greed flickered in the soldiers’ eyes as they looked at the gold. One of them turned it in the sunlight and said,

“This is real gold?”

Even if Calmor was a wealthy land, low-ranking soldiers were always poor. And now that the war had made gold skyrocket in value, ten pieces of gold were worth a great deal to commoners. The guards who had been ready to drive them off now had a different look in their eyes. One of the soldiers hid the gold in his coat and looked into the carriage. His gaze moved over Carmen, Edmond, and Garen, then stopped on Shane.

“You. You have a sword.”

“Oh, that one’s our guard. The sword’s fake too.”

“Come out here.”

At the soldier’s order, Shane stood up and stepped outside. Before Shane could even get into stance, the guard swung his blade. Shane reflexively blocked it. Clang! The two blades collided, and the metallic sound rang out. At the same time, Shane lost his balance, fell backward, and landed clumsily on his backside.

“What’s this? This guy’s completely useless.”

The soldier laughed as he looked at Shane sprawled on the ground. Then he turned back to Bagon and asked,

“You’re really going to give us half, right?”

“Y-yes. Of course.”

“You better not get any ideas. The Calmor estate’s deputy guard captain, Mori, runs this place tight.”

So the balding guard’s name was Mori.

“I wouldn’t dare.”

Bagon bowed, fawning as he spoke. Then the deputy captain looked at one of his men and said,

“You watch them. If they try anything funny, kill them.”

He deliberately raised his voice to warn them.

“Yes, sir.”

The deputy captain whispered something in the subordinate’s ear, and the man’s face brightened. It seemed he had promised to share a few gold pieces.

“I’ll give you three days. Be back by then.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much!”

Bagon bowed again and greeted the deputy captain.

“Enough with the bowing. Get inside quickly. And don’t tell anyone about this.”

“Yes.”

Bagon climbed onto the carriage in a hurry and started the horses. When the carriage began to move, the guard inside turned pale.

“How could anyone ride a carriage like this… urgh.”

Then for a while, the sound of something unpleasant echoed from outside the carriage again.

***

“Yuli, are you ready?”

Inside a small temporary tent, Yudit, who was adjusting his outfit, came out at Carmen’s call. Carmen had thrown off her robe and was leaning against the wall in a seductive outfit.

Yudit was using the alias Yuli. The others weren’t famous enough for their names to cause trouble, but since someone could call a name wrong and cause confusion, Yudit was the only one using a false name. Hearing the name he missed so much, Yudit smiled and nodded.

“Yes, you look beautiful, Carmen.”

“Not as much as you, Yuli.”

Carmen grinned and reached out her hand.

“Then let’s go.”

When Yuli extended his hand, Carmen grabbed it and pulled him along. A moment later, in the square overflowing with music and liveliness, Yudit and Carmen began to dance.