When Ted returned with the bag, I took out the four maps stored inside and unfolded the one I’d obtained from the Imperial Knight commander. Sure enough, the church in front of us matched the one drawn on it.
The mark sat near the church’s courtyard garden, so the commander’s treasure seemed to be buried somewhere in there. But the mark was vague enough that even narrowing down the likely hiding spots was a chore.
"You really think something’s here, just like the map says?"
"The treasure chest the commander hid should be somewhere in this courtyard."
"Treasure?! Should we dig the whole place up? Conveniently, the priests are nowhere in sight."
Ted brandished a shovel, ready to tear up the entire courtyard, but pulling a stunt like that could put us on the Church’s bad side. However diminished its influence may be, if the Church decides to come after you in earnest, things get truly ugly.
I was mulling over other approaches when someone approached us. Ted nearly jumped out of his skin, but it was only a nun. Something about her eyes was odd, though. How to put it—pupils without focus?
I once saw the eyes of a blind old man, and hers gave off a similar impression. Not all blind people go around with their eyes closed. The nun, with her strange air, spoke.
"You mustn’t be here. Please return to the cloister, brother."
"My apologies, Sister. The courtyard left such an impression that I wandered in without thinking."
Indeed, this courtyard showed every sign of being tended with loving care. Various herbs were planted, and the stone statues and trees stood in harmony. Small as it was, the place brimmed with affection.
"I have tended it for years in the abbot’s stead."
"Your eyes seem to trouble you, yet such devotion. Remarkable."
"...Do my eyes not disgust you?"
"If so little disgusted me, I’d faint dead away on a battlefield."
In the medieval era, the disabled weren’t treated as proper human beings. They were seen as people born bearing sin against God, and even approaching them was considered profane. Slightly better treatment than executioners got, at least.
There was a belief that giving them alms could carry you a step further up the stairway to heaven. So beggars of every stripe faked disabilities. And because of that, the genuinely disabled were crowded out and could barely even beg.
"Brother, might you be a knight?"
"I am. I carry a modest bit of renown, in my own way."
Ted looked at me as if to protest: What kind of nonsense is that? I simply called myself a knight because I didn’t feel like bragging to a blind nun. And it wasn’t untrue, either.
Just then, Ted spotted something. Right behind the statue of the Virgin Mary, the largest statue in the courtyard. Ted gestured toward the nun. The message was clear: keep her attention occupied.
Ted has a surprising knack for searching.
But how do I divert the nun’s attention?
"I see. As one who serves the Lord, I know this question is improper, but there is something I simply must ask you, Sir Knight."
"Ask away."
The nun then led me toward a spot the priests didn’t frequent. Thanks to that, Ted’s digging stayed out of sight. Still, what could she want to ask that required bringing me somewhere quiet?
"There was a knight who would visit here from time to time. Rough-tempered, but truly a poor, lonely soul. He used to come once a week, but then all word of him ceased."
"When a knight who visited faithfully goes silent, it’s one of two things. He died in the civil war, or he fled somewhere else. Which do you believe it is, Sister?"
The nun couldn’t bring herself to answer. The Manager Scouter showed her state of mind as sorrow. I didn’t know who this knight was yet, but he and the blind nun clearly shared some bond.
"He is not a man who would flee. If he were, he would have fled his cruel fate long ago. He was clumsy with his feelings, but he was a brave and gentle man."
"Did you love this knight, Sister?"
"I have given my all to the Lord. Such feelings are impossible for me."
A nun falling in love is hardly rare. Between the monasteries and the nunneries, young nuns and young priests met and kindled romances all the time. To them, asceticism was merely a wall to climb.
And between the two stand the orphanages.
Most orphans there are children born to nuns and priests.
It lays bare how pious, noble devotion amounts, in the end, to so much empty chanting. Yet surprisingly, many people have no idea. Meanwhile, the real orphans roam the streets. A pity, and there’s nothing more to say about it.
From a distance, Ted held up a hefty leather pouch he’d dug out of the ground. That must be the treasure the commander hid. Time to end this strange conversation with the nun.
The moment had come to tell her the cruel truth. I’d known the knight’s identity from the start. Honestly, it would be stranger if I hadn’t. Only, the man I knew and the man she knew seemed to be entirely different people.
"The Imperial Knight commander was an arrogant man who knew nothing of honor."
"...Is that so."
"At the tournament, he even made advances on another man’s wife. He earned himself a foul reputation, and the injury he suffered then sent him tumbling into the abyss. And in the civil war, we met as enemies."
"..."
"The man who killed him stands before you, Sister. You cannot see it, but I killed him. He resisted desperately to the very end, and I cut him down with these hands."
"..."
"Do you resent me? Yet not a single soul mourned his death."
"..."
"Still, it seems one person remained after all. To you, Sister, he was the kindest, finest man in the world. So your resentment is not wrong."
"I do not resent you. I only pray that his soul may find rest."
The nun quietly pressed her trembling hands together. Her emotions were aimed squarely at me, resentment and hostility both, but she let none of it show and returned to her duty as a nun. That was truly no small feat.
A tragic love between a nun and a knight.
The only irony is that I’m the one who ended it.
"My name is Ranie, Sir Knight."
"Sister Ranie, I am Baron Wolfgang Ritter von Streit."
"I pray the Lord’s grace dwells upon you, Baron."
Leaving the quietly praying nun behind, I exited the courtyard and rejoined Ted. He made a great fuss about how heavy the pouch was. Finding real buried treasure seemed to have him worked up.
The commander once tried to bargain for his life with 200 gold coins. Back then, I chose to eliminate future trouble rather than take the gold. And I’ve never regretted that choice.
The reason the Imperial Knight remnants were running wild around Dellingen was, without a doubt, that they were after the money their commander had hidden. So we returned to our encampment and opened the leather pouch.
...Isn’t this far too little to be 200 gold coins?
"G-g-g-gold coins! I’ve never seen gold coins in my life!"
Ted was stammering, but I felt little excitement. No, I was disappointed at how few coins there were. Let’s see, twenty or so. That bastard had lied to me about the 200.
To think he tried to cheat me even in a bargain struck at death’s door.
This is why a man should live by his principles.
Something else caught my interest more than the gold. What’s this parchment? I unrolled it, and it was blank, as if it had never been used. Then a system message appeared.
[Imperial Knights Commander’s Map complete]
[You have acquired 20 gold coins, 1 equipment repair kit, 10,000 points, and Strategy Map Piece No. 4]
[The Strategy Map can only be used by those of prince rank or higher. Collect all the pieces]
And the map vanished without a trace.
The rewards from this map were quite handsome.
What kind of item this Strategy Map was, I couldn’t gauge for now. A map that lets me view every territory the Streit family owns at a glance?
Hmm, given that only princes can use it, odds are it’s exactly that kind of map, one that makes managing territories easy by laying them all out at once. Which means I need to collect all of these strategy map pieces.
That leaves three maps currently in my possession.
The map from the Pauper’s Crown, the map from Rafel’s hideout, and the map Old Man Bertheim left behind. Doesn’t that mean I can obtain three more strategy map pieces?
One thing was certain: this was an interesting treasure hunt. Judging by how well Ted sniffed this one out, he might have more talent for treasure hunting than I thought. Hmm, should I hand him the remaining maps and let him take a crack at them?
The next day, with Cavalry Commander Pensler’s farewell behind us, we set out for Breisburg.