22. Retrieval of the Sword. (2)

All things certainly had cause and effect, and everything happened when the rights and wrongs were established. However, if a crime was caught at the scene, that was undeniably grounds for immediate execution. Of course, that was limited to the person who had the right to act this way; since most of these guards were Duke Bariatta’s personal guards, only he had the right to punish them. However, that wasn’t to say that Davey was at a rank where he couldn’t slash them.

“Hup…”

Everyone fell into a deadly silence. Thump… As something round and black went up in the air before falling onto the ground, everyone’s gaze was slowly drawn to the object. They soon realized it wasn’t a round object at all.

“Huh… Huh? Ackkkk!!!!” As the guard realized what the ‘round object’ was, he collapsed onto the ground and screamed. At the same time, hot red blood began spewing everywhere like a fountain. “You… You lunatic!”

“Surround him!” The guards commanded.

“It was expected, but…” Davey murmured quietly and shook off the blood from his sword.

In this world, it sometimes seemed like a human life was less important than a fly’s. At least on Earth, or in South Korea, murder was considered a very heinous crime to the public. However, someone could die from just ruffling the feathers of a nobility, and war was rampant in the continent not too long ago. War had only been eradicated in the last fifty years to some extent as the Continental Union emerged. And it was obvious how long that would last.

“How dare you?!”

As the guards aimed their weapons and charged at Davey, the situation began to worsen. Davey wondered if the guards knew that they were trying to attack the First Prince of this kingdom and that their actions amounted to treason, a grave offense that could destroy their three future generations. Of course, this happened because he didn’t provide proper identification, but their crime had already been proved from the moment they tried to kill the person rebelling against them to hide their disgrace.

‘Duke Bariatta won’t even care about this little territory.’

The Valhalashad Territory was just one of Duke Bariatta’s territory. He wasn’t someone to care about this, since he had now become involved in a political fight with Marquis Peiltris.

As Davey dodged the swift blade coming at him, the guards persistently charged at him and swung their weapons. The other people ran away. They were shocked at the sudden sword fight and disruption, leaving only Davey and the hostile guards in the vicinity.

“The first virtue that a kingdom’s nobles must learn is the protection of their kingdom’s subjects.” Davey calmly spoke as he deflected the sharp blade coming at him.

“What nonsense!”

“Die!!”

One of the guards cut Davey off and charged toward him, swinging a halberd. However, his halberd went up in the air before it could even reach Davey.

Slice! The guard’s hand, which gripped the halberd, was easily cut off. After swinging his weapon, he suddenly realized that something was missing and he flinched. When he finally noticed that his hand was missing, he went pale and screamed.

“Ah… Aaaackkk!!!” The guard’s hand gruesomely rolled across the ground.

Davey trampled the panicking guard who lost his hand, then pointed his sword at the guard’s neck while releasing his killing aura. “Next, it’ll be your neck. Don’t make me say it twice; get me the administrator of the estate.”

Everyone silently shuddered in terror. The guards probably felt like they had to immediately attack Davey to take him down, but they feared the possibility of losing a limb like the guard who had been trampled to the ground.

A few of the guards stared at Davey in confusion since the blow he just landed wasn’t that of a Class F newbie mercenary. Davey had ignored the attacks of a trained and armored knight, precisely cutting off their hands and feet at the speed of light; however, he was only a Class F mercenary, the symbol of a newbie. Realizing that something wasn’t right, the guards stiffened up.

“Hey.” Davey spoke to the last guard while pointing his sword at him.

“Shriek!!” The guard instinctively stepped back, horrified.

“Are you going to make me say it twice?”

“Th… That is…”

“Who is the one causing a ruckus here?!”

This was exactly a ‘speak of the devil’ situation. The guards all turned to the fat man, who was proudly stroking his strangely twirled mustache, and bowed their heads. Well, except for the ones who were screaming on the floor. The rest of the guards shouted, “Viscount Guerta!”

“What is all this noise?” Viscount Guerta looked around with an arrogant expression, as if he didn’t care about Davey’s existence. As he looked at the guards on the floor and Davey holding a bloody sword, he squinted and silently looked Davey up and down. Viscount Guerta asked, “Is this your doing?”

Davey calmly nodded.

“Right… It is you…” Viscount Guerta murmured as if in thought, then turned his head like this was trivial. He ordered the guards, “What are you all doing? Your opponent is a lunatic. Kill him.”

“Sir, how… However! He’s danger…!”

“Ahem! You dare to not listen to me?”

The guards looked helpless at Viscount Guerta’s words and pointed their weapons at Davey again.

It seemed like things were going to get complicated if Davey let things go on. ‘It all comes down to social status.’ Davey pulled out an object from his chest and lightly threw it at the viscount.

“Hm? What is…” Viscount Guerta naturally became speechless. He seemingly couldn’t believe his eyes for a second, then his face expressed his shock. He was looking at a mithril ID card that represented high-ranking nobility or royalty status.

Even if Davey was an overlooked prince, it didn’t change the fact that he was still a prince of this kingdom.

“As I said before, the nobility’s responsibility is to protect the kingdom’s subjects.”

Viscount Guerta glanced at Davey in disbelief. ‘Well, it’s definitely a territory pretty far out in the countryside for royalty to come visit.’

“Th—This is…”

“How could such a noble try to commit a crime and enjoy the privileges without taking responsibility?”

As Davey stared at Viscount Guerta, who was deep in thought, he could almost read the viscount’s thoughts. “Think wisely. Don’t try to do something because my escorting knight isn’t here.”

“Hup!” Viscount Guerta opened his eyes wide and trembled, as if Davey had hit the nail on the head. Most high-ranking nobility or inspection officers didn’t come here often. This was the territory of Duke Bariatta; they were able to shamelessly commit these acts because it was his. Viscount Guerta evaded Davey’s glance as if in contemplation, then kneeled in front of Davey and shouted, “I am in the presence of Prince Davey! M—My name is Viscount Guerta!”

“Well, at least you recognize me.”

Viscount Guerta bowed his head and trembled as he heard Davey. “Pl… Please have mercy… Because the territory was in such bad shape…”

Viscount Guerta made excuses that obviously wouldn’t work, because everyone knew that the historic site of the thousand-day blacksmith was a tourist attraction and a designated national treasure by the Continental Union. For this reason, the Continental Union was sending a considerable amount of money to this territory as administrative fees.

“And you’re saying you don’t have money?”

Viscount Guerta trembled. He probably thought that it was nonsense, too. He began thinking hard, then even shouted at Davey, “Th… This is unjust! A disguise! In no kingdom can royalty come to a territory like this and punish someone!”

“What kind of bullshit is that? There’s no place in the kingdom that royalty can’t go to.” Davey dragged his sword on the ground.

“Since you don’t have the proper documents, this is tyranny!!”

“So. You want official documents?”

Trusting that Duke Bariatta was watching his back, Viscount Guerta recklessly pushed back against Davey. “Th… That’s right. Duke Bariatta will not just take this lying down!”

Well, this was definitely something an inspections officer would overlook in fear of the consequences, since most of the territories were probably openly violating the law. In fact, as Davey was staying quiet, Viscount Guerta smiled victoriously, thinking that the prince had faltered at Duke Bariatta’s name. He declared, “We… We can take care of this. I will not disappoint you…”

“Viscount, however…”

“Yes?”

“Does a crime disappear because there are no official documents?”

“What do you…”

Slice! Those were Viscount Guerta’s last words.

-Those are some brief last words.

Even Perserque, who believed that life should be treasured, seemed like she had nothing more to say.

‘You think the Duke Bariatta, the one who holds the most power in the kingdom, is going to watch your back? He’s too busy taking care of himself.’

The decapitated body went limp and collapsed onto the ground.

“It’s absolute bullshit.” Davey couldn’t help but swear. As he did, he heard gasps from his surroundings. He clicked his tongue. “What are you doing? This is a criminal’s corpse. Clean it up.”

“Hup!”

Davey could display Viscount Guerta’s head on a gibbet. The exploited residents of this territory would probably enjoy that, but unfortunately, this was a tourist destination. He didn’t want to show his kingdom’s disgrace to other countries.

The guards silently and expressionlessly stared at Davey’s back.

* * *

-Viscount Guerta’s crimes are clear, but the people under him aren’t totally innocent, either.

“Any more than this, and I’m overstepping.” Too much interference could actually create a difficult situation, so Davey simply added, “Duke Bariatta will take care of the rest of these nasty guys on his own.”

Duke Bariatta was probably in no position to leave even a hint of something that could cause trouble. Therefore, once he realized that Davey had done something like this here, he would hunt down everyone involved and cut off their heads to cover up the evidence. The guards, who were vacantly staring at Davey, would eventually be linked together like sausages and be harshly punished, since they were in cahoots with Viscount Guerta.

Davey had no reason to have more blood on his hands. The inside of the territory peacefully carried on without any knowledge of what had happened outside.