Black Iron's Glory

“I’ve never imagined that there would be such a beautiful white mansion here in the wood,” Kefnie said. Her face was flushed red and her sleeves were rolled up high, revealing her two fair and smooth arms. Her brown-red long hair covered part of her forehead and there were some stains on her face which she accidentally got from cleaning the windows.

“Then again, your wooden hut is pretty great too. No wonder you stay at the wood all the time instead of coming to town,” the girl added as she washed the vegetables for Claude.

Claude kneaded a few chunks of cut beef inside a large bowl. The sauce and seasoning had to be adequately pressed into the meat for a better flavor. Since Welikro was going to stay for Claude’s cooking, Kefnie was also asked to. Claude said that he would send them back to town after they finished eating.

Siori and his wife, Lancy, were also invited to dinner. Perhaps aware that they drove their carriage to Claude’s home only to bring back old furniture they wanted instead of helping out, Siori had his wife help out with the wooden hut when he returned to the wood. Not only did they clean up the trash, Siori also went up on the roof to make sure that the wooden tiles hadn’t rotted to make sure there were no leaks.

Bloweyk forgot about the pain of losing his father almost completely after he arrived. He played around with his snowhound on the meadow outside the white mansion. He had never had such a large place to run about to his heart’s content before and almost lost himself in the fun.

“It’s much quieter here and I don’t really like all the fanfare of the town. That’s why I don’t often leave the wood after I got a job here,” Claude said.

“That’s right. I haven’t seen you after graduation at all.” The girl paused, and said, “I thought I would see you on new year’s eve, but you didn’t come. I was disappointed, you know. I even bumped into you on the way back. I didn’t think you would be all dressed up like that, and you even didn’t admit that it was you.”

Claude’s hands twitched. “What are you saying? I don’t understand…”

The girl giggled. “I knew it was you, don’t deny it. I could tell from your eyes alone. You even spoke and I heard your voice.”

Looking left and right to make sure that nobody was there, she whispered, “And that night when we were captured by the Blacksnakes, you were the one who barged into the house to save us.”

At that moment, there was one sole thought in Claude’s mind: Should I silence her?

“Do the others know my identity too? Your sister and Jerad, I mean.”

“Hehe, you admit it now, right? I knew it was you,” the girl gleefully said, “They don’t. I won’t tell them, of course. I knew you barged in to save me that night. I was so worried for you. I could tell from your eyes and that getup and knew you had come. But when you asked Old Luke to rob Jerad, I really wanted to laugh. Jerad was terrified and even said you were some mysterious magus and that it was already a miracle that he survived an encounter with you.

Claude looked at his hands and visualized the scene of him snapping her soft neck in two, only to disappointedly find that doing so wasn’t within his capacity. The girl was still happily gloating over being able to discover Claude’s identity, not knowing in the slightest that Claude was considering how he should silence her.

“Kefnie, promise me one thing. Don’t tell this to anyone, alright?” Claude said sternly as he lookd into her eyes.

The girl blushed when given that intense stare. She looked down shyly and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. This is a secret between us.”

Claude finally felt relief. As a player in his past life, he knew perfectly well what her expression meant. However, he didn’t have any plans on resuming his promiscuous lifestyle of the past in this life. All he wanted was to study magic and live a life of freedom without any family weighing him down. Getting to know Kefnie was only a mistake, one that his friend, Eriksson, had ‘helped’ with. Though the old Claude might have liked her, it didn’t mean that the transmigrator felt the same.

Though he had to admit that Kefnie was indeed a really pretty girl who would no doubt mature into a fine woman and wife, Claude had no plans on forming a family that soon. The world was so vast and he wanted to look around. He wanted to explore the mysterious sights this world had to offer and he didn’t intend to be tied down in this small town.

He sighed softly and thought that all he could do was to trust that she would keep his secret as she promised. He would make do if there were any changes down the line. He wasn’t a sicko who could take the life of an innocent girl just to keep a secret, especially one who liked him.

“This matter is really crucial and many people’s lives depend on it, including my family’s. Do you understand?” Claude reminded.

The girl bit her lip and nodded.

“By the way, are the Blacksnakes still troubling you?” Claude asked.

“No. We’re living on the second floor of The Mermaid and they won’t trouble us there. Uncle Aleksim is a good friend of my late father and with him taking care of us sisters, the thugs won’t dare to cause us trouble. They’re mainly trying to look for Jerad, but since he’s hiding out somewhere in the docks, they have no way of going in to look for him.”

The girl seemed to think of something funny as her eyes narrowed and curved. “That Butcher Bill actually thought he could occupy the docks openly now that he’s wearing the garrison’s uniform, yet he didn’t think that the two naval ships would come and take over that area instead.

“Butcher Bill was going to march in with his band spiritedly to get Jerad and the others, only to be stopped by the navy outside the docks. They said that the garrison are forbidden from entering the perimeter without orders. Butcher Bill didn’t want to leave and stayed to argue with them. In the end, two naval officers came to shoo them off. They left in the end and that became quite the talk among the onlookers nearby.”

Claude paused in thought. “Actually, getting Jerad to continue hiding isn’t the solution. Blacksnake has Sir Fux and Mayor Robert behind their backs and Butcher Bill’s now a bandsman. Their influence will only continue to grow in town and it’d be hard for Jerad to escape pursuit.

“If he wants to form a family with your sister, Kesline, Jerad ought to join the army, more specifically, the navy. By the looks of those two warships, they seem to be going to execute something big. I bet they might make the docks a naval base for the new sailing route my father and his friends discovered.”

The new sailing route from Whitestag to Nubissia was no longer a secret. Quite a number of people were guessing that a naval base would be built at Whitestag, especially given the fact that the navy patrol ships are circling Balinga to measure its depth. The naval ships also didn’t look to be docking only temporarily. Instead, they seemed to be carrying out some kind of mission.

“If Jerad sides with the navy right now and hands over the shares of the docks Shark has to them, it would be doing them a huge favor. Naturally, that’s assuming the navy is going to set up a base in Whitestag. Since they would need to spend a huge sum to buy the privately owned docks, with Shark’s support, they’ll be able to save up a lot there. Jerad might even get to be an officer for his contribution.

“The moment he becomes a naval officer, he no longer has to hide from Blacksnake. He can even prance about before them proudly. The Blacksnakes won’t dare to touch even a single hair of his or they’ll be wiped out for rebellion. And when Jerad becomes an officer, he can proudly marry your sister. I’m sure she’ll be glad to be wedded to a naval officer.”

When she heard what Claude said, her eyes glowed brightly. “How are you able to come up with schemes like this? You’re too smart! I’ll go home to tell my sister about it immediately.”

“Wait, Kefnie, it’s no rush. I’ll send you back after dinner. You can tell her then.” Claude waved his hands and said, “I’m not smart, some things are just easier to solve when you’re an onlooker that can see the situation from outside.”

After some thought, he said, “Actually, I’m quite sorry about the whole thing. It’s all because my father and the rest wanted that voyage to happen after discovering that trade route that Jerad’s brother and the other elites of Shark disappeared. That’s why Jerad wasn’t able to fight back against Blacksnake’s pursuits.

“So far, he still has the shares of the docks. Both those of the dock warehouses and the tavern are like hot potatoes for him. It would be a shame to throw them away, but keeping them won’t help him much either. It would be better for him to give it to the navy to save himself and his subordinates. Even though they’re no military men, they’re experienced ship hands and living at sea shouldn’t be foreign to them. They’re the best candidates to join the navy.

“And unlike the ground forces, the navy doesn’t care about one’s family background and promotions to officer positions are more lax. So, Jerad and the others would be given high regard if they join. But you should know that there are dangers of joining the navy too. Becoming a member of the naval forces is more risky than being a fisherman. Your sister and Jerad should think this through well.”

It wasn’t that Claude felt like telling Kefnie all that on a whim. Morssen’s funeral following his suicide had so many attendees that even he was shocked. Given that Jerad and Shark were also involved because of what happened of the trading fleet, Claude believed that it would be better to help them out, no matter how distasteful he found gangs, lest they be swallowed alive by Blacksnake.

“I think my sister and Jerad will agree. Jerad had said a number of times to my sister that he doesn’t want to become Shark’s replacement chairman, but he doesn’t have a choice since he brother left the gang in his hands. He has no choice but to carry out his duties. If Blacksnake treated them well, he’d have wanted to hand the shares he owns and the men of Shark to them and disband Shark before marrying my sister and living as a common fisherman.

“We just didn’t expect that Fatbull Bowen would come with so many men and threaten us with crossbows. They caught us and even killed Ablonk in front of us and tried to force Jerad to sign over the shares… They even threatened to sell us to those kinds of places… I already despaired back then… Had you not barged in…”

Kefnie teared up as she spoke. However, when she looked at Claude, her gaze seemed especially passionate.

He awkwardly stroked his nose as he was certain that he had only gone there to rob. He was so poor that it was driving him nuts. Saving them was just something he did as an aside. He didn’t do it for her, but the girl misunderstood. “Uh… Ahem… The past is the past. Since you promised not to reveal our secret, don’t say that I saved you.”

“Sorry, I almost forgot.” She poked her tongue out and nodded. “So, Claude, are you going to join the army in the future too?”

“I don’t know…” Claude felt a little troubled. He didn’t think that he wouldn’t be able to take charge of his own fate even as a transmigrator. “It isn’t a question of whether I want to, but when I’ll receive the order to enlist. A physical stream student like me would find it hard to avoid that in the first place. There are some things that I just can’t think too much about, and I can’t make any promises with regards to that either. Who knows what will happen on the battlefield…”

Claude hoped that his words would extinguish the girl’s feelings about him, but he was disappointed. The girl told her with her gleaming eyes, “It’s fine. I’ll keep on waiting. I believe you’ll definitely return safely…”

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