"Hiyaaah!" Yae screamed out with burning spirit. Her wooden sword plunged
forward, catching Viscount Swordrick off guard and stopping right as it reached
his neck. The speed of her sword was the very image of lightning striking its
target. The Viscount, defeated, relaxed his face into a smile.
"...Impressive. This round goes to you."
"Thank you for your tutelage!" Yae bowed before the viscount. Still, even
though she'd won, she didn't look all that happy about it. No surprise
considering this was the seventh round, and she'd only just finally landed a hit
on him. It took her seven attempts for a single hit, and she had to use an
incredibly risky move to just barely manage it.
No doubt she was cursing her own weakness, blaming it on inexperience. I felt
she really shouldn't be so hard on herself, considering that her opponent was
widely recognized as one of the greatest swordsmen in all of Belfast.
We traveled to Viscount Swordrick's dojo so that Yae could practice with him.
The audience consisted of Yumina and myself. These practice matches had gone
on so long that the sun had begun to set. Crows began cawing in the distance.
"Your skills have grown such that I might've taken you for a different person.
Have you grasped something, perchance?"
"I do not know whether it is yet in my grasp or not, I do not. However, your
words that day when you asked me what I sought from the sword are beginning
to make somewhat more sense to me now, they are."
"Oho. Very well. Then it would seem you've taken the first step toward
realizing your own way of the sword." Yae's words brightened the viscount's
expression. With their practice over, the viscount came over to the corner we'd
been watching from and prostrated himself before the princess.
"I am terribly sorry that I could not offer better hospitality, Your Highness."
"Please, pay it no mind. It was I who requested to stand in to observe your
practice sessions." Yumina offered words of polite forgiveness to the viscount.
With that formality out of the way, he cast his attention in my direction.
"I never could have imagined that the young boy from that day would go on
to save the king's life, let alone become betrothed to the princess. And I hear
that more recently you've even gone and earned yourself the accolade of
Dragon Slayer."
"About that, if you could keep my engagement with Yumina a secret, that
would save me a lot of trouble. I know there are plenty of nobles who'd be
quite upset about the idea."
"Fret not, I won't tell a soul. I, too, am well aware of the many greed-driven,
stubborn old nobles of Belfast." As it stood, I was officially engaged to Princess
Yumina. However, we still hadn't made this fact public.
Marrying Yumina meant marrying into the royal family, giving one great
political influence within Belfast. Naturally, that kind of social position drew out
the greed in a lot of people.
To those who would think themselves or their children more suitable for the
princess, I'd be seen as a rather big nuisance. That said, any who did approach
her out of vile intentions would be caught out immediately by Yumina's Mystic
Eye.
"However, if they know about your Mystic Eye, then would villains rather not
dare to approach you in the first place?" The topic came up as Yae asked
Yumina about her Mystic Eyes during the walk home.
It had already grown dark, but the viscount's estate was fairly close to the
western district, so we figured that it might be nice to walk home the oldfashioned way for a change. The streets were derelict of people, and at most
we saw a wagon passing by on the road every now and then.
The street lamps were dim, and there wasn't a hint of moonlight. Well, that
was basically just how things were in this world's night.
Yumina thought over Yae's question a little before giving an answer.
"Well, you see... Simply having vile intentions alone does not mean you've
actually done anything wrong yet. I can't accuse someone for a crime they've
yet to commit. Besides, all people are at least a little bit greedy at heart. Some
even approach believing that they've fooled my Mystic Eye... And those are still
among the less bothersome types." Yumina spoke with a strained smile. I
struggled to imagine having to put up with someone like that putting on an
overly friendly attitude, knowing all the while that it was just an act. Sounded
like a pain in the ass.
"You mean there were even worse kinds of people?"
"Yes. The most difficult kind of person for me to deal with is someone who
has deluded themselves into believing that all of their actions are correct and
justified. They tell themselves that they haven't a thing to hide, so they
wouldn't worry about my Mystic Eyes reflecting on them. If anything, they
expect my Mystic Eyes to find them with an untainted heart, thus proving their
own justice. I can't stand those types at all." I think I got what she meant. Those
who might claim that their actions are all for the sake of Belfast, that it was they
who were best suited to lead the country, that it would be in Yumina's better
interests as well... The sorts of people who think like that tend to have no
awareness of the fact that they're being nothing but a nuisance. They'd never
even considered Yumina's feelings on the matter from the beginning.
It was more like trying to use their own virtuous nature as a selling point,
though in fact it came across as more self-righteous than anything.
"Can you not see through those types with your Mystic Eyes, can you not?"
"No, I can still see through them. Mine are the Mystic Eyes of Intuition. They
let me see the corruption in a person's soul. The self-righteous have tendency
to march forward in a straight line with no care to their surroundings, causing
trouble for people without recognizing that fact." Those who would act out on
their own personal definitions of justice have a tendency to get into conflicts
with others. When that person is acting as the face of the country, it could very
easily escalate into war.
I swear, whoever said that "The world has too many Heroes, that's why war
doesn't end" really got it right. Yae and I both stopped in our tracks.
"Wh-What's wrong?" Yumina started panicking a little. I took her hand in
mine and spoke with a soft voice.
"I don't know who, but someone has us surrounded."
"What?!" Yumina cast her gaze wildly around our surroundings. The air was
thick with ill intent. What the hell do these guys want?
"Get out. We know you're hiding there."
"Hmph. Tricky kid, ain'tcha?" Groups of men came crawling out from the back
alleys. Every last one of them had the looks of a thief or thug.
They were carrying around swords and clubs openly. Definitely not the kind of
person you'd like to get involved with.
"What do you want with us?"
"Only one we're after here is you. The women are free to go." Eh? Free to go?
The bandits were letting the girls go free?
"Touya-dono, what have you gone and done this time, then?"
"I... can't really think of anything off the top of my head." To tell the truth, I
actually wasn't too sure about that. I'd gotten into trouble with many sorts over
my travels, even becoming rather infamous myself. Come to think of it, there
was that one guy whose face I broke when he came up and picked a fight with
me. Are these guys his friends, then?
"Nothing personal, kid... But I gotta kill you now!"
"Yeah, you and me both." The man swung at me with his sword, so I
ruthlessly shot him down with Brunhild. Ruthlessly shot him with perfectly safe,
Paralysis-inducing rubber bullets, mind you. The thug collapsed to the ground,
his face contorted in agony. Even though all they did was paralyze a target,
there was still the force of the rubber bullet itself to consider. It would still hurt
a fair bit.
"You've gone and done it now!"
"What, were you expecting me to just stand still and let myself get stabbed?"
I took down several more of the closer bandits, but they kept coming. They sure
were brave, if nothing else, as not a single person tried to flee even after seeing
hordes of their companions get taken down. These kinds of situations were
honestly even more annoying to deal with.
"Safety Mode." I shifted Brunhild into the blunt-bladed shortsword, on stun
mode. Then, I dodged a falling sword and used my momentum to slam my
sword into his torso.
In truth, there was no real reason for me to swing my sword so hard against
them. All it would've taken was the lightest graze and the paralysis would set in,
so long as the person wasn't wearing any talismans. That was all the force that
was really necessary.
A few minutes passed before all the assailants had been laid down to relax all
over the street.
"Phew... Man, what a pain."
"What should we do with them, do you think?"
"Mmm... I wouldn't really mind just leaving them here like this, but I wouldn't
want them coming after us again once they get back up... I think I'll pay a quick
visit to the nearest knight's station and—"
"What are you up to over there?!" The knights that I'd thought to go and
report to came to us instead. Apparently they'd headed over upon hearing
some kind of commotion going on in the area.
I displayed my guild card to prove my identity and explained the situation to
the knights. Since it was impossible to forge a guild card, they worked as a proof
of identity in times like these.
"They just jumped on us from out of nowhere, so we beat them up instead."
"I see. Some of these faces take up a few wanted posters. I'm guessing they
just saw you as an easy target." Oh right, anybody who didn't know me would
naturally just see me as a weak-looking kid from their perspective. I've run into a
lot of people like that, so, honestly, I've gotten used to it.
Still, did they really think that a weak-looking kid like me would be loaded
with money or something? I mean, I was, in fact, incredibly rich, but that was
beside the point.
"We'll take care of things from here. We'll let the guild know about what
transpired, too."
"Alright. Thank you very much." I bowed to the knights and decided to use
this as our chance to make a break for it. Part of it was that I just wanted to get
home, but it was also because it would be a pain if they found out about
Yumina. If people started getting worked up about an attempted abduction of
the princess, we'd never hear the end of it.
It seemed these were lower-ranking knights, however, since they didn't seem
to recognize Yumina at all.
"Misdeeds still occur even in the capital, they do."
"The crime rate just naturally rises with population size. I'm sure it's difficult
to deal with on my father's end, too." Sure sounded tough being King.
We continued chatting like that until we arrived home.
◇ ◇ ◇
"...Come again?"
"As I said, there was an incident yesterday involving a group of men who were
slashed to death in the middle of the street. We were investigating possible
leads when one of them led to you, Touya." Lyon came first thing in the
morning with unpleasant news. In my tired state, I took a moment to process
things.
There'd been a slashing incident? I'm the prime suspect? That is silly! It just
doesn't make any sense!
"It all happened on Fourslet Street in the western district. Several men were
found dead with slash wounds. It's thought that they all died instantly. Right by
the scene of the crime, we found this." At Lyon's words, Deputy General Neil
placed a solid rubber cylinder on the table. Wait a minute, that's...!
"That's definitely mine. It's the rubber I use for creating new bullets."
"Several people from the neighborhood also heard the distinctive noise of
your weapon... Brunhild, you called it? They claim they heard that very noise
being fired off last night. Do you admit to having been at the scene of the
crime?"
"W-Wait, hold on! Yeah, I was there last night, but I didn't kill anyone! Didn't
you get a report about this from those knights yesterday?!"
"...We haven't received any reports like that from any of the knights who
were on duty." That didn't make sense. What was going on? I carefully retold in
detail the events of the night prior to Lyon and Neil.
"That is indeed odd. I can confirm that we've received no such reports.
What's going on here?"
"What were they like, these knights who rushed to your aid? Can you describe
their appearances?"
"Can I describe them...? Let's see... One of them had eyes that were a bit high
up on his face, and the other had a nose that was like... Hang on, I've got a
better idea." I cast [Mirage] and projected the images of the two knights I'd run
into during the incident. I couldn't recall the faces of any of the bandits who'd
assaulted us, but I'd gotten a good look at both of the knights at least. I'd seen
their faces, so I could even recall what their voices were like.
Lyon and Neil were surprised by the sudden appearance of the projected
images, but calmed themselves down and inspected them in detail.
"I'm afraid I don't recognize them at all. Lyon, are these men under your
charge?"
"To my knowledge, there are no knights like this enlisted, at least not in the
First Division. Never mind that, I've never even seen these men before." Hold
up a sec, does that mean they were only posing as knights? If that were the
case, it meant that they were probably the ones who hired the bandits to attack
me. And, as soon as we left, those fake knights killed the bandits and planted
evidence in an attempt to frame me for the crime. They'd pushed me into a
position where it was near-impossible to prove my innocence by evidence
alone.
Heck, given that all of my assailants were dead and I hadn't so much as a
scratch on me, it just made it look like I'd one-sidedly slaughtered the lot of
them. Even pleading self-defense would be a challenge.
"...I suppose that claiming we were tricked by fake knights would just make
me sound even more suspicious in this case."
"That's true, but you also have Princess Yumina as your witness in this case.
We can't exactly just march up and arrest you under these circumstances."
"What do you believe the culprits' goal was? To frame Sir Touya for the crime
and have us imprison him?" This was... some hefty grudge I'd gone and earned
myself.
"It's strange that there were even any bandits out in the western district in
the first place. It may not be the nobles' district, but it's a well-guarded area, so
there's no way a group like that should've been able to move around freely
without getting picked up by the patrol or reported for suspicious activity." He
had a point. Without the aid of someone on the inside, it would've been
impossible to pull off a feat like that.
"The question is, what are you planning to do next?"
"I guess I'll just go catch the real culprit and clear my name. That seems the
quickest way to resolve this."
"Indeed, but how exactly do you plan to do that?"
"What do you mean, how? We've already got their faces right here." I pointed
to the images of the fake knights projected by my [Mirage].
"Run search. Find the fake knights I met yesterday. As for the range... They
should still be within the capital."
"Searching... Search complete. Displaying." Lyon and Neil were slightly
startled when Cesca suddenly began speaking out of nowhere, but their
expressions instantly turned sour when they saw the pins on the map now
projected in the air.
The search results were pointing to... An area in the nobles' district. On the
inner side, at that. It was an area full of people of very high social status. It was
even in the same area as Sue's, or rather, Duke Ortlinde's, estate.
The points on the map moved through the nobles' district before stopping in
front of one place in particular, at which they vanished from sight.
"Hm?"
"Targets have entered a barrier preventing the trace ability of search magic. I
am no longer able to track them." Whoever the culprit was, they had a barrier
up just in case. Always could count on sleazy nobles to do that kind of thing.
"Whose estate was it that they entered?"
"...That was Marquis Rygel's estate, no doubt about it. It all makes sense
now."
"Indeed it does."
Marquis Rygel? I didn't know if they expected me to recognize the name, but
he must've been a bigshot to have the title of Marquis.
"Sir Touya, do you recall the incident with Viscount Barrow?"
"...Not ringing any bells. Who was that, again?" The two knights simply
shrugged their shoulders with a face that said they'd been expecting as much.
What?! I'm serious! I don't remember the name of every two-bit villain I take
care of!
"Viscount Barrow was the father of a certain ex-knight trainee that you beat
to a pulp just recently. They're the family that were disbanded after their boy
tried to raid your mansion."
"Oh! The spoiled rich brats! Yeah, I remember them." There was no way I
could've been expected to remember their names, though. I didn't exactly care
much for them. Still, I'd have understood if it were the remnants of that house
who had a bone to pick with me, but where did this Marquis guy fit into the
picture?
"A member of Marquis Rygel's bloodline had taken one of the Barrows as a
wife. They were pretty close, those houses. They were more like a protege
house, I suppose. Also, while it's incredibly distant, Marquis Rygel has some
royal blood in him from some generations ago. The Marquis has been trying to
get his son married to Princess Yumina for quite some time now. A large part of
his claim being that his lineage was surely the most suitable. Naturally, His
Majesty has been refusing the proposal. The boy himself was judged as being a
mere brat who's being propped up on a pedestal due to his family's influence,
too."
To sum up, what this meant was that this Marquis Rygel must have found out
about my engagement to Yumina from the Barrows, and now for their own
plans as well as to avenge the Barrows' fall, the Marquis was trying to get me
out of his way. He'd have had no complaints if the bandits got me, and even
should they fail he would just frame me for their murder. Of all the slimy
tricks...
"Though you haven't ever openly committed any crimes before, you're plenty
infamous among the general populace as it is. The Marquis most likely planned
to emphasize this fact as proof that you're not qualified to marry the princess,
and that his own son would be a far better choice, no doubt. There are rumors
that the Marquis is willing to stop at nothing to marry into the royal family."
Hrmph... I was starting to get pretty pissed, but it had nothing to do with the
fact that I was being targeted. Learning that these people only wanted to use
Yumina as a tool to boost their own influence had lit my fuse.
"...Hypothetically, let's say these guys were the masterminds behind the
whole thing, and that they'd tried to have me assassinated. How serious a crime
would that be considered?"
"Fairly serious, I'd imagine. I highly doubt His Majesty would take the
Marquis' side, either. The Marquis has been a stubborn old coot on par with
Count Balsa for years, contesting the king's decisions at every turn."
On the same level as Count Baldy... So basically, a walking ball of sheer
incompetence? The more I learned about him, the more I learned that my guess
had been pretty much spot-on. There were rumors that he was involved in
some crooked dealings, and that he had vehemently opposed the trade and
alliance deals with Mismede due to his inherent contempt for Beastmen.
Lyon didn't even try to hide his dislike of the man. I couldn't really blame him,
considering his girlfriend was Olga and all.
"Still, even if we confront the Marquis with what we have now, it's obvious
he'd play dumb to the end. That would be why he hired bandits, nonrepresentative of his house, for the initial assault. The fact of the matter is,
were it not for your magic, Touya, we wouldn't even have this lead to go on."
That was true, too. Even the fake knights that had tricked me could easily be
saddled with all of the blame, letting the Marquis get away scot-free.
Considering the state of things already, that seemed a highly plausible outcome.
"Without solid evidence, even the king couldn't press an accusation like that.
How do you plan to find any such evidence when they've gone to such lengths
to cover their tracks?"
"Oh, that's easy. If we can't find any evidence right now, then we just have to
make some." I slipped a ruthless grin onto my face and began plotting my next
move.
◇ ◇ ◇
"And? What became of the brat?"
"The Deputy General and the Commander of the First Order paid a visit to his
house this morning. He was escorted to the knights' headquarters last we saw
of him. We can assume they'll launch their investigation into his background
before the day is out."
"Kuhahaha! Yes... Excellent. Those filthy rats that call themselves adventurers
should know their place in the world. Any commoner who gets in my way
deserves to end up like this!"
"You did it, Papa! In yooouuur face, commoner! Eehehehehe, now I'll be the
one to marry Princess Yumina! Me and me alone!" Standing out on the terrace,
facing the garden, was a man laughing in delight. He was a large-built man in his
fifties, wearing a luxuriously expensive-looking suit. He sported a very small
mustache and was the master of this estate; Marquis Rygel.
By the Marquis's side stood his only son, who was currently puffing out his
cheeks in joy. He was a blubbery little specimen of a man who, despite only
being in his twenties, already had a receding hairline. A layer of grease seemed
to coat the man's balding cranium as well.
Standing before these two, out in the garden, were a pair of particularly
notable men. They were the false knights who had appeared the night before at
the Marquis's order, as well as the true killers of the bandits in the street. They
also happened to be the Marquis' private guard.
"Next, we must sneak stolen goods into his belongings. For good measure,
you understand. When that arises during the inspection, his crimes will be
twofold!"
"Stolen... Stolen goods, sir?"
"You know, the ones you brought back after assaulting that one trade caravan
last month. We can use that! When it's announced that the princess' fiance was
a savage bandit, the whole country will be in an uproar!"
"You're the boss, boss..." The fake-knight also worked part-time doing
highway robberies under similar orders. This guy was an honest to goodness
Marquis de Bad.
"For the finishing touch, we'll make sure the fact that the princess' fiance was
a murderer and a thief and a jaywalker is rubbed in the public's faces. With this,
I shall approach the king and demand that the engagement be called off at
once. The king will have no choice but to oblige, given the circumstances. The
people simply would not accept a man known as a violent criminal as the
husband of the princess! We'll prove to everyone that the king is simply not
capable of choosing a suitable partner, then take full advantage of that! I can
already see him the very picture of shame!" The Marquis grinned gleefully to
himself. So convinced of his victory was he that even his reflection in the glass
window seemed alive with a rapturous joy of its own.
"...And this is how you plan to get Princess Yumina to marry your son?"
"Ehehehe! I can't wait! Once the princess belongs to me, I think I'll bully her a
little! She always looked down on me with those cold eyes, that impudent brat!
I'll have to make sure and spend plenty of time training her how to service me
as my wife!"
"Do with her as you please, just don't play with her so hard that she breaks.
Remember, your job is to knock her up and get those kids out. She's only useful
to us while she can still get pregnant. Don't forget that, boy."
"Ehehehe! I know that, Papa! I'll knock her up nice and good, and then that'll
make you into the new king's grandpa!" The boy's indecent laughter rang out
into the night. As though infectious, this filthy laugh spread to the marquis as
well. Their whole putrid conversation was loud enough to be heard echoing
down where we were in the garden.
"Touya, my boy. I believe this is quite enough. Any more and I fear my ears
shall rot off."
"Yeah, I was feeling the same actually."
"Wh-What the devil?!" The marquis was intimately familiar with the voice
presently emerging from the mouth of what should have been a member of his
private guard.
By our good friend's orders, I canceled the illusion cast by my [Mirage] spell.
The marquis' private guard slowly began to take on his true form.
"Your Majesty! But how!? That's impossible!" Made to gaze upon His Royal
Majesty the King of Belfast, who had been here from the very beginning, was
evidently such a fright that it made the Marquis fall to the ground on his
backside. By the king's left and right were Lyon, and Deputy General of the
knight order, Neil.
"Wha-Wha-Wha... What is the meaning of this?!"
"We took the liberty of borrowing your guards. Right about now, the real
ones are in a prison cell confessing to things we hadn't even accused them of
yet, I'd imagine. We were able to get more than enough information from them
to prove my innocence, but I felt that the king should hear your side of the story
personally, so I took the liberty of escorting him straight to your garden."
"...Perhaps there is a grain of truth in your accusations, Marquis. I must
indeed be a terrible judge of character, what with having learned that I've been
letting a scoundrel like yourself loose on innocent people." The king spoke to
the marquis in a deep, intimidating voice, not unlike the terror of thunder itself.
The king was absolutely and completely enraged.
"This can't be happening! I set up a barrier around this whole estate, even the
garden! You can't use magic in here!"
"That's it? A regular barrier? The most that does is exclude you as a target
from any spells aimed at the area it's cast on. That's why teleportation magic or
search magic ceases working the moment the spell interacts with the barrier.
However, if it's myself that I'm casting a spell on, then your barrier is powerless
to stop that. It wouldn't protect you very well to block any magic cast against
me, after all. So, my [Mirage], an illusion spell that I can cast on myself, is able
to slip straight past your barrier without a problem. Maybe you should've spent
a bit less time on evil plotting and a bit more time studying the very basics, at
least."
"Insolent knave! Do you not understand that you are in the presence of a
marquis, you bottom-feeder?! Know your place!" Perhaps the lecture was a tad
much, as it seemed to have sent the marquis off indignant with fury. Did he
even understand his own position?
"I'm being insolent, am I? Tell me this, Sir Marquis, which of us is the one who
committed murder, pinned the crime on an innocent man, plotted against the
king he was sworn to follow, and as if that weren't enough, used bandit groups
to assault and rob innocent people? That was all stuff you did, right? In my
opinion, I don't believe you're even deserving of being spoken to in a polite
tone of voice. Hey, pigboy, let me hear your opinions on the matter. Well?"
"P-Pig?! How dare you?! Don't think you can get away with talking to me like
that, commoner! I'll make sure you never—" I wasn't in the mood for these
charades, so I closed the distance between us faster than they could blink, then
lifted the fat bastard from the ground by his collar.
"...You're the one I'm the most pissed off with right now, piggy. You sure had
lots of fun going on about knocking up my future wife... If I ever hear another
word like that come out of your mouth, I'll rip your tiny pecker off, shove it
down your throat, and then stitch your mouth shut. You'll be sucking yourself
off for the rest of your days. Understood? Nod if you get the message, asshole."
"E-Eek?!" I threw all the malice I could muster in the boy's direction with my
every word, only to find that he'd wet himself and passed out from fear.
It was absolutely disgusting, so I tossed his piss-stained body against the wall.
"A-Alexander!" The marquis let out a scream at the sight of his son's body
being thrown aside.
His name was Alexander? That's the least fitting name I can possibly think of
for that sack of shit.
"Intruders! Intruders on the grounds! Take them out!" At the marquis's
command, the full force of his private guard came rushing out from their rooms
into the garden.
They were apparently exactly the sort of pathetic underlings you might expect
to find, since it was clear that they didn't so much as recognize the king inperson. They drew their swords and pointed them in our direction.
"Marquis Rygel, do you understand the gravity of your actions at this
moment?"
"Silence! I'll just subject you to brute force, instead! Guards, cut those men
down! Leave not a single one standing!" The marquis was so mad that His
Majesty the King's words were no longer even reaching him. He was a
completely lost cause at this point. Basically, he'd gone berserk.
"Guess we can safely add 'high treason' to his list of crimes."
"Idiots, the lot of them." Lyon and Neil each let out a heavy sigh.
It didn't exactly take a genius to consider that there was no way the king
would come out to a place like this in person without taking any precautions
whatsoever. The king made eye contact with me, so I took Brunhild from my
hip, then fired a single loud shot straight up into the night sky.
The explosive noise was their signal to move out. The royal knights swarmed
the garden in great numbers within an instant.
"Who... Wha... How...?!" Outnumbered this heavily, the marquis's private
army had no choice but to surrender. The marquis himself turned pale as he
watched his private guard throwing down their weapons one after another.
"Marquis Rygel, your title is hereby revoked on counts of high treason and
attempted assassination of the crown, among various other petty crimes. Your
guilt is clear as day. Just give up." The king's words shocked the marquis so hard
that he fell to his knees. Neil brought some rope to bind his arms with.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Responsibility for this incident rests entirely upon my shoulders. There is no
excuse for what you went through, Touya."
"Not at all. You managed to bring an enemy who had kept himself hidden for
a long time to justice. All's well that ends well, Your Majesty." I tried to appease
the king, who had taken a bow before me.
The day after the incident, I had gone with Yumina to the Royal Castle. I was
curious to find out what happened to the marquis and his son. Naturally, they
had both been given severe punishments.
"Won't this be kind of a big deal, though? I mean, he was technically a
marquis and all."
"Not at all. The whole affair is entirely sorted. He was a man that Yumina was
never fond of to begin with, so I never cared to delegate any important matters
to him anyway. I now have an open estate to offer to any of the more
responsible nobles should they perform a great enough service. I consider this a
good thing." Meaning he'd known all along that the man wasn't to be trusted
ever since Yumina first saw straight through him with her Mystic Eyes. In the
end, she was more right about him than any of us wanted her to be, however.
"Both of their souls have been caked thick with mud since I've first known
them. I always knew that they were thinking despicable thoughts on the inside,
but I didn't imagine that they would go this far... I had taken him for one to
participate in petty power struggles, not high treason. It seems I'm still far too
naive about the world." Yumina's Mystic Eyes were remarkably sharp, but not
so omniscient that they told her exactly what kinds of evil thoughts one might
be having. Seeing Yumina looking all dejected gave my hand a mind of its own,
and I was patting her on the head before I even knew it. Don't be so hard on
yourself, I wanted to say.
Marquis Rygel was marquis no longer. The incident had set an example for all
of the other nobles, and sent a message that none, not even those with blood
relations, however distant, to the royal family, would be pardoned for their
corruption.
Ex-Marquis Rygel was executed, and his son, Alexander, was sent off to work
in the mines for the rest of his life.
It turned out that the boy took after his father a little too closely, as his own
expansive list of crimes was uncovered after that night. I'd heard that he had
even been using his family's private guard to kidnap women from the streets.
Naturally, his father had covered it up each and every time, letting his son do as
he pleased. Evidence also arose that Viscount Barrow had been involved in
these very dealings in the past, too.
"The thought that those scoundrels had so much as a drop of royal blood in
their veins makes me want to vomit."
"That trace blood connection of his was from following his family tree back
over a thousand years, wasn't it? By that point you're literally just strangers."
Thinking to protect Yumina's feelings from going the same way, I offered my
opinion. The fact was that if you traced back two people's family trees far
enough, you were bound to find some kind of connection between the two
eventually. Well, with the exception of myself, who was just dropped into the
world by God one day.
"At the very least, I believe this shall put an end to any harassment from other
dissenting nobles for the time being. I shan't dare to think of any foolish enough
to follow the marquis's example."
"That almost makes it sound like I'm the one personally responsible for
bringing the marquis to justice..."
"That is essentially what you did, is it not?" It looked more to me like he dug
his own grave. All I really did was take the king to meet him, after all.
I felt that the most credible form of evidence would be the kind that came
straight from the culprit's mouth. All I had to do was get him to talk about it
openly.
My original plan had been to record the marquis's confession to all of his
crimes on my smartphone and present that as evidence later, but when the king
caught wind of my plans he insisted that I take him along to witness the truth
with his own eyes. I felt I would probably never get used to this ridiculous king's
antics.
"And when you snapped at that moron of a child, it sent chills down my spine.
Yumina is a fortunate girl indeed to have met a man who cares so intensely for
her as you do, my boy."
"What did he say?"
"Can we please drop that subject...?" Just thinking of that outburst made me
red to my ears. I had completely let the situation get to my head when that
happened. Yumina tried to pry it out of me, but what I'd said was far more
vulgar than anything this girl ever needed to hear, so my lips were sealed.
"Staaaaaare..." Don't even count on trying those eyes on me this time. I shan't
breathe a word of it.
"Touya, my boy. If you truly do care for my Yumina so much, then I believe
the best way to go from here would be for you to make a child with her! Well,
I'm sure you two'll be getting to it sometime soon, regardless!"
"Your Majesty, please cease and desist!"
"Father!" Yumina, beet-faced, screamed at the top of her lungs, loud enough
to blow out one's eardrums and echo throughout the entire castle building.
I, too, was undoubtedly red as a tomato, but that was neither here nor there.