“Surely you don’t mean the Sedrun I know?”
Until just a moment ago, Hesen had been conversing in a warm, friendly mood.
But the instant he heard that one name, his face stiffened and showed no sign of relaxing.
I had only met him today, but I could tell he was a serious man with no taste for jokes.
A gentleman like that surely wouldn’t be playing some prank on me.
“Uh… Did I perhaps make some kind of mistake?”
“Are you saying His Highness truly introduced Lord Ethan to Sedrun? That man?”
Not that person, but that man—an openly negative choice of words.
Thinking something was strange, I asked if there might be another person named Sedrun.
But in the imperial military, there was only one man who used the name Sedrun.
It turned out the person I had been introduced to and the man Hesen was referring to were one and the same.
And so Hesen’s face grew even stiffer, and he kept letting out sighs.
“Why exactly are you reacting like this? Is there some problem?”
“There are many. A great many. To put it simply, that man Sedrun is someone who does not suit Lord Ethan at all.”
“Someone who doesn’t suit me? What do you mean by that?”
“That is… ha…”
Hesen started to speak, then let out another sigh and closed his mouth.
When I asked him why, he said that if he went on like this, it would feel as though he were speaking ill of someone behind his back.
If he gave a negative assessment in front of someone who was about to meet him, it would inevitably have an influence.
As someone in charge of the Bureau of Military Equipment, no matter how he thought about it, he said it did not seem quite right.
“When you say it like that, it only makes me more curious. It’s something I could find out by asking others anyway, so I’d like to hear at least a somewhat objective assessment from you, Lord Hesen.”
“I worry that I may be doing something unnecessary.”
After hesitating for a moment, Hesen replied that, in that case, he would evaluate him as objectively as possible.
“First of all, as you may know, Sedrun is a man affiliated with the imperial military. His first appearance was back when His Majesty the Retired Emperor was still a warrior, when, as a boy, he distinguished himself in battle against the northern barbarians.”
“That’s impressive. If they were winter barbarians, they must have been extremely rough and ferocious.”
“They say he was already rampaging like a wild beast from his very first appearance. Afterward, the common assessment from those around him was that he was far more terrifying than even those winter barbarians. In any case, even after the empire’s founding, he continued to remain in the north, serving as a field commander, and came to the capital only a few years ago.”
It meant he had an extraordinary wealth of practical combat experience. As a commander, he was top class.
If I looked only up to this point, there was no problem at all. So why was Hesen acting like this?
“The problem began after he entered the capital. Since his position had risen, he should have taken on duties appropriate to that rank, but he kept drinking and going out to amuse himself, always with women at his side. From noble young ladies to women from brothels, at that.”
“Ah.”
“Even not long ago, did Her Majesty the Empress Dowager not pass away? Though His Majesty the Retired Emperor grieved so deeply, Sedrun was still busy drinking and frolicking with women even then.”
“That’s a bit… serious.”
“It is extremely serious.”
Back when the Retired Emperor was still a war hero, Sedrun was someone who had risen this far thanks to him.
As a field commander, his valor and boldness were surely first-rate.
The proof was that he had never been at a disadvantage in head-on battles against the barbarians.
Since he was said to have always been victorious in battles against them, his ability was certain.
The problem was what happened once he stepped away from military affairs. In peacetime, he was a troublemaker.
Indulging in alcohol and women even during a period when one ought to have been cautious was fatal.
This world was somewhat more open than the history I had known in my previous life, but still.
There was at least such a thing as propriety, and this man Sedrun had gone too far.
“There must be a lot of talk.”
“Internally, his evaluation is the worst. At least when His Majesty the Retired Emperor was emperor, he shielded and protected him, but now that is no longer the case, so everyone thought he would be pushed out. Yet I hear the current emperor also considers Sedrun’s talent too valuable and keeps rejecting calls for him to be punished.”
“Is his ability that exceptional?”
“As I said, he is a man seasoned through and through in battles against the northern winter barbarians. According to the assessments from that region, he fought on the battlefield almost as if he were flying, and the barbarians feared him, calling him a blood demon in their tongue.”
When it came to being drenched in blood, the northern barbarians would not lose to anyone.
If even those bastards feared him enough to give him a name like that, he must truly have been a formidable fighter.
The period when the Retired Emperor was actively operating in the north was about twenty years ago.
Those who had been with the war hero back then were now entering their fifties or sixties.
By contrast, no matter how old Sedrun was, he was not even forty.
He was still vigorous in his youth, and on top of that, his abilities as a field commander were excellent?
If the winter barbarians had not been completely wiped out, then he could not help but be even more precious.
From what I had heard, the winds of war were already beginning to stir again in the north.
It would be difficult to discard a commander who would surely have to play an active role before long.
On top of that, both the current emperor and Ishmael knew Sedrun well.
“In any case, I do not know. Sedrun’s talent may indeed be extraordinary, but no matter how I look at it, he does not seem to be of a similar disposition to Lord Ethan. I do not understand what His Highness intends by introducing him to you.”
“Well. Surely he has his reasons. His Highness the Third Prince is wise in many ways, so there must be a reason.”
“That is true as well. Though Sedrun’s internal evaluation may be the worst, his ability as a warrior is outstanding. For now, it would be best for you to meet him in person.”
At Hesen’s words, I agreed that this was indeed the right course.
Just how bizarre a person was he, for opinions of him to be so extreme?
Surely he wasn’t an alcoholic who lived with a bottle in hand from broad daylight?
*
Why Hesen and the other officials disliked Sedrun.
I was able to understand the reason clearly the very next day.
“You’re the one who’s the Director of Enforcement?”
“That is correct. Are you Lord Sedrun?”
“Lord, my foot. Just call me comfortably. What’s with men calling each other ‘lord’ this and ‘lord’ that?”
The founding emperor had stepped down as the Retired Emperor, and the second prince had gone from crown prince to emperor.
Outwardly, things seemed stable, but since the monarch had changed, there was no way there would be no confusion.
The emperor’s younger brother, Berkel, was currently being shaken down by our Enforcement Division.
Even today, he was probably gritting his teeth as he watched his subordinates get battered here and there.
There was no way things could be quiet. All the officials had to watch the mood and hold their breath.
In such a situation, Sedrun and I were meeting in none other than a tavern.
I had told him that people’s eyes were on us, and that a tavern did not seem appropriate.
At that, what he said was, if that was the case, couldn’t we just go into a private room?
Though I insisted this really was not right, he dragged me along by force and finally sat us down in a private room.
A short while later, women even came in carrying liquor, so I stopped him.
I told him that the atmosphere in the political world was not good right now, so please, let us show some restraint.
“Good grief. It’s not as if the winter barbarians are charging in right before our eyes, so I don’t know why everyone is acting like this.”
At least the winter barbarians are enemies, so if they try to kill you, you can kill them back.
But in politics, if you try to kill someone without justification, you end up dead!
You, who have always been protected by those above, would never understand even if you died and came back to life!
Or perhaps you do understand, but deliberately ignore it because of your damned liquor and women!
“I heard from His Highness. He told me to meet the Director of Enforcement. Said it would surely be a worthwhile meeting.”
“So. What do you think?”
“You do nag, but at least you’re not one of those officials who would bolt out of here saying they can’t stay. I’d say you’re not a completely stiff-necked man.”
“That is an extremely favorable assessment. Thank you.”
“Winning over the grassland tribes was quite an impressive feat. Fighting those things is another hardship entirely.”
If he had no ability and only indulged in liquor and women, I would have stepped in and gotten rid of him myself.
There was no way a bastard like that would have no tax issues. There would definitely be something dirty behind him.
Even if there wasn’t, there was always the method of applying heavy pressure under the pretext of an investigation.
I would be leaving before long anyway, so taking one person by the throat would not be difficult.
But Sedrun was different from that kind of filth. His ability alone was certain.
There had to be a reason he could remain in the military despite having the worst internal evaluation.
In fact, considering there was hardly any place more closed off than the military, the answer was already clear.
This man, though his behavior and personality were those of the worst kind of troublemaker,
was the type who, once placed on a battlefield, became a monster that soared through it.
‘Before that, let me confirm it first.’
A way to get a sense of just how exceptional a warrior he was.
As it happened, I was currently receiving news from the north.
And not from just anyone, but directly from our brother Ishmael.
“Have you heard the current news from the north?”
“Roughly. The barbarian bastards are moving again, aren’t they? We killed them and killed them again after killing so many of them, and still. In any case, they’re the sort whose heads go completely empty after just one year. We should wipe them out down to the seed.”
“You know very well that that is impossible, do you not? Even I, who have not entered military service, know that much.”
“Wiping them out down to the seed may be impossible, but trampling that seed underfoot is not entirely impossible. Director of Enforcement. It is not difficult. Divide the army into three and advance. Then concentrate force on one point and crush them before they can respond, and they will collapse on their own.”
“The enemy is the winter barbarians. Would that be so easy?”
“It is not something we can avoid doing simply because it is difficult. War is a contest of concentration and speed. And among them, speed is something that is not easily withstood.”
He did not merely speak; he even drew a map on the table with gestures of his hand.
It was clear enough that even I, who did not know the geography of the north in detail, had no difficulty understanding.
Thinking of him drawing this with a pen on paper made me feel it would be even more accurate.
“The north is a harsh place, so if you are pushed back once under that momentum, it is over. The barbarians are the sort who, once they judge their opponent weaker than themselves, will tear into them until death.”
“You mean we must come out strong from the very beginning and break their morale.”
“I simply want to drive my fist into the faces of those who, without even knowing that much, keep saying we should just defend well. Do they think everything will be solved if they tell us to defend without properly knowing anything?”
He spoke irritably, then gulped down his liquor.
One could not do everything through conversation alone.
But at the very least, one might be able to find a gap.
Yet in Sedrun’s words, I felt neither hesitation nor pretense.
These were things he had seen and learned while staying and fighting in the north for a long time.
‘At least his ability seems genuine.’
Hesen, who was in charge of the Bureau of Military Equipment and fully devoted to gunpowder research.
Sedrun, a troublemaker, but one whose field command was certain.
These were the people Ishmael had recommended when I asked him to introduce me to military personnel.
They had nothing in common. The places where the two belonged were entirely different.
Their dispositions were different too. The serious Hesen and the excessively rough Sedrun.
Then why on earth? Why introduce these people to me…
“…Ah.”
“Director of Enforcement? What is it?”
“Nothing. The liquor tastes rather good.”
“Oh. You’re a man who knows how to drink.”
Now I understood. The reason he had introduced Hesen and Sedrun to me.
Each of them clearly possessed ability or talent.
But one had no time for anything else because he was devoted solely to research.
And the other caused so many incidents, big and small, compared to his ability.
They were people who had been unable to belong to any noteworthy force or faction.