To Deprive a Deprived Person

The sense of justice that doesn’t allow any evil is terrible. Even if the wrong person was a noble, if they did something wrong, they would be violently purged without any care. As a result, he was often alienated from other aristocrats, but were favored by the people with great support.

Count Wyatt was more justified than anyone else, as he had the power to exercise it. With only a few dozen tactics, he fled the army of another country that had invaded the territory and earned time before the Udon Army arrived, or led a million forces to destroy a horde of monsters.

It was more than two decades ago that Earl Wyatt, who was said to be a noble among the nobles, rebelled. There were various theories in this rebellion. It was too reckless and inexplicable for Earl Wyatt, who, to say nothing of his domestic affairs, to excelled both as an individual and as a general to lead the army, marched to the royal capital with thousands of troops. In fact, many nobles and knights raised many questions, conspiracy theories that some had incited Earl Wyatt, others who suspected that intelligence agents from other countries were jumping, magic and skills Some claimed to have been manipulated.

But whatever the circumstances, a rebellion is a rebellion. The Udon Kingdom sent an elderly man to the rebels led by Count Wyatt. So. Instead of the army, he sent only one old man――a great sage.

According to a notification from the Royal City of Tencassi, troops from each city scattered from the Comer City to the Royal City were ordered to wait. As if knowing this in advance, Count Wyatt walked through each city, approaching the royal capital at once, but the great sage blocked him. It is said that there was some conversation between Count Wyatt and the Great Sage before the battle began, but the details were not disclosed.

And the fight――no. It wasn’t something that could be called a battle. The great sage literally ransacked the violent veterans led by Count Wyatt. Count Wyatt himself is a warrior who boasts an army that can easily slaughter monsters of rank 7 or so. The knights who hardened the surroundings were also a lineup of soldiers which were not inferior in the future.

But――they were powerless in front of the Great Sage. Numerous 『Sword Techniques』 『Spear Techniques』 『Bow Techniques』 and other high-level magic are constantly being released to the great sage, but not even one wound could be achieved.

Less than half an hour after the start of the war, the rebels, led by Count Wyatt, were annihilated without even being able to step into the capital city of Tencassi.

In the Udon Kingdom――no matter what country, the clan party who rebels is bound to――be executed commonly. However, Count Wyatt’s Buff family had not been executed or stripped of their title. On the contrary, his son Muss took over the land, and although he did not participate in the rebels, the vassals who served the Buff family for many years were not guilty. It’s not a pardon. Despite the huge popularity of the folk weeds, despite many nobles’ petition for commutation, the procedure was generous to the nobles who bowed to the king.

It was utterly whispered in the palace and among the nobility that Balue Voli Nox was involved in this.

Balue has been different since that time. It is by far the most prestigious Nox family, and you can see from the fact that he has already gained the Viscount title, despite not being the head of the family. He had already gained powerful power and violence, as he won a harsh power struggle with rivals who were equally strong, such as the family, from his blood-divided brothers and even his political opponents avoided a direct conflict with Balue.

It was rumored that Balue had appealed directly to King Udon to prevent the Buff family from taking responsibility for the rebellion caused by Count Wyatt. Even if he is a Viscount and directly appeals to the king, and even if he talks about the punishment of rebellion caused by the noble with the Count’s title, it is no wonder that the title is taken away rather than the territory. However, the punishment of Wyatt’s rebellion was limited only to the party, Wyatt and the knights and soldiers who joined the army. It’s virtually like no blame, because they have been killed by the great sage. Nobles rumored that Balue Voli Nox’s whispering to the Buff family was somehow credible and that the Buff family would eventually be incorporated into their own faction.

However, the Buff family were not included in the Balue faction. The young Muss Goffa Buff, who succeeded Count Wyatt, didn’t like it. The rebellion of his father, Wyatt, left him not only with the nobles in the Udon kingdom, but also with the nobles he was socializing with, lost many vassals and those who left the Buff family. In such a situation, Muss, along with a few surviving vassals, defended Comer city and the territory.

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「What was that!!」

A hysterical woman’s voice echoes in a room in Count Muss´s mansion. As Muss sits face-to-face, he doesn’t move and drinks tea with the same expression as usual.

「Pauline-dono, I guess it wouldn’t be nice for a lady to make such a loud voice」

Pauline’s willow eyebrows are still rising to Muss, who smiles as if to instruct a small child.

「Count Muss. Don’t call my name so familiar! Do you understand that you are the one who get me into a bad mood? You’ll be reluctant to refuse the invitation of Finance Minister Balue. So I need to come to such a remote place!」

「Ahaha. It’s a remote place. Even so, Comer city is growing steadily every year. If it grows as it is, it is not a dream to become the best city except for the royal capital」

「I don’t care about that. I’m curious if you’re going to visit the Finance Minister in the royal capital, apologize for your disrespect and drop your head and join the faction. Therefore――」

「I´m not afraid, even if I’m told to bring Satou to the royal capital"

「What’s wrong with you? Your Majesty rewards you with the Udon Big Ribbon. Nobody rejects this honor」

「Uh, Satou isn’t interested in that. It’s an embarrassing story, but it seems that my house guests have been starting a fight with Satou the other day. To be honest, it’s hard to invite him」

「What do you say? What do you need to withhold when the noble Count Muss is talking to a little-skilled adventurer? Just command him」

Pauline closes the fan that she was spreading so frustratingly. Despite having traveled from the royal city to Comer city, she never thought that Muss would refuse to persuade him.

「It would be easier for me if I were the one who ordered and listened to it」

「It seems like you’ve been talking a little bit from the beginning. Even if such a vague attitude is allowed by Finance Minister Balue, I will not forgive you!」

「Hahaa. I’m not going to do that. I am very aware of the fact that Pauline is the messenger sent by Finance Minister Balue and I know what that means」

「Then shut up and accept it honestly!」

Despite being an messenger for Finance Minister Balue, Pauline’s arrogant attitude without a title was undeniable with respect to Muss, who had the Count’s title. However, such behavior is permissible. No, the power of the Finance Minister was so terrible that he had to endure. Butler Nung, who refrained from Muss’s side, looked as usual, but in his heart, he was angry at Pauline’s behavior as his intestine was boiling.

「In the first place, Count Muss. You are indebted to Finance Minister Balue」

「Indebted? I wonder if something happened」

「Who do you think protected the Buff family from the rebellion caused by Wyatt Goffa Buff, the shame of the Buff family? Balue goods that are unique to others」

Then the tea cup falls. Muss has thrown it down. Everyone’s gaze gathers on the table at the sound. Tea in the tea cup runs down the table and hangs down on Muss’s feet. Even though it’s been a while since the brewing, the steaming tea falls onto Muss´s pants and the stain spreads. Originally, Butler Nung or maids were likely to respond immediately, but no one move.

「My father, Wyatt――Pauline-dono, I didn’t hear you well. Could you tell me again what you said?」

Muss hasn’t changed――it should. Although it was an easy-going Muss as usual, the air in the room was still heavy. It is as if anyone other than Muss feels as if they were carrying a stone.

「Muss-sama, your clothes」

Nung, who quickly regained himself, wipes off Muss’s dirty trousers with a silk handkerchief. Next, the maids hurriedly hid the dirty part with a new arm towel.

(I am pressured by those who are ridiculed by the nobles of the royal capital as being weak!?)

Pauline makes fun of Muss, who was born weak and had no outstanding career. She realized that her idea was wrong, in front of a stranger who was wearing the skin of a person smiling in front of her. Pauline hurriedly spread her fan and hid her mouth so Muss couldn’t notice her fright.

「Ve, Verbal slip」

「So. That’s fine」

「Response......I’ll wait until tomorrow」

「You should stay at the mansion today. Let’s have a room」

「It’s fine. If I’m an unmarried person stay in Count Muss´s mansion, who is also single, there will be some people who will say something bad」

「That’s a shame. It is sometimes troublesome in a strange place. If you have any problems, don’t hesitate to use Nung over here」

「Please order me not only in case of trouble, but also in any other way」

「I thank you for your consideration. Then, I excuse myself because I remembered an urgent business」

Nung and the maids bowed down and saw Pauline leaving the room.

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Leaving Count Muss´s mansion, Pauline took her servants and escort to the west gate of Comer City. At the end of the road along the west gate, she sees Yuu´s mansion, known to all residents of Comer City. Pauline shouted hysterical for the second time today.

「Wh, What!! Try to say it again!!」

「Yes. My master cant see you」

At the door of the mansion, Ariane, a fox beast slave maid apprentice, answered. In addition, Pokori, a raccoon and Nepora, a demi-human, stared at Pauline with a smiley face.

「Who do you think I am!」

Lowly commoners. It was clear to see that Pauline was furious though she hid her despising of the bad smell of those commoners with the fan so as not to reach her nose.

「Who is it? There’s no way I can tell who’s calling my master without a name, even if you don’t name yourself」

To Ariane´s words, Pokori said 「You said it well」 and became enthusiastic.

「Th, This! Ru, Rude fellow!!!」

Until now, Pauline, who had never been treated like this, was even more humiliated by the fact that her opponent was an demi-human. As a result, instead of dyeing her face red with anger, she realized for herself that the blood yed off and turned pale.

「Rude fellow!!!」

When one of Pauline’s escorts tries to pull out his sword, he put his hand on the handle.

「Naa! Sw, Sword――what is this cloth!?」

The hand holding the handle of the escort man and the sword sheath were tied with a cloth. No matter how much power a man put in, he didn’t get scared, and when you looked at it, the cloth was as hard as iron.

「Y, You. 『Cloth Magician』!!!」

The male escort glares at Nepora. A cloth was tied between Nepora’s right hand and the arm of the escort man. The cloth is a waist cloth for maid clothes. In the hands of Nepora, a 『Cloth Magician』, a soft cloth can quickly turn into steel.

「Are you afraid to know where you are? Our Master is a B-rank adventurer, who has no territory, but has the same status and say as a baron. You´re going to turn the adventurer’s guild and the Udon kingdom into enemies!」

Escorts and servants falter at the reprimand of Nepora. They understood that they couldn’t win even if they fought properly, but also realized that they were disadvantaged in the legitimacy of Nepora’s quick work, which had won the opportunity at an unstoppable speed.

「I’m a noble from Udon Kingdom. If you understand, bring Satou here quickly. In the first place, how long have you kept me waiting in a place like this!!」

The only one who didn’t falter was Pauline. Her behavior was absolute and you could glimpse the arrogance that the other party should admit one´s fault, even if she was wrong.

「Please give me your name and rank」

Pokori asks intuitively.

「Naa! Ru, Rude fellow!!! Who am I――」

「So I’m asking you」

Pauline’s whole body trembles with anger.

「I judge that you do not have a rank if you can’t answer. Then, please return」

「This maid has been rude since a while ago! I wonder if anyone knows this person! She is the daughter of the Papal family!」

「Satou doesn’t know how to be polite to guests!!」

The words of the abusive escorts and servants did not resonate with Ariane and the other maids at all.

「Our master will not meet with lower rank nobles. Please come back with a letter of equality or a letter of introduction from Count Muss」

Pokori could imply that such nobles couldn’t see her master? It was said.

「We are looking forward to seeing you again」

As if not hearing the words of curses, Ariane and the maids bowed deeply and saw off Pauline´s group.

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「I, I´m sorry. Fo......Forgive me」

「Who are you speaking to! Who knows me, who!!」

Pauline hits the man in the face with a whip. While looking, the man’s face swells and doubles. The man being hit is the male escort whose movement were confined by Nepora while trying to pull out his sword earlier.

「You!! Because it is not worth it! How much humiliation do you think I’ve experienced!! I inherit precious blood! I am a noble!! I was ridiculed by a demi-human!!」

「Hiii. Please forgive me」

Pauline rented the top floor of one of the most prestigious inns in the city. As a matter of course, she was driving out the guests who had stayed there first.

「Haahaaa」

Breath-raising Pauline throws her whip away and a servant presents a chilled towel and tea.

「There is an assassination guild in Comer, too」

Pauline asks the attendants, cooling her heated hands with the towel.

「Yes」

One of the attendants answers. Eyes of fear appeared.

「Go right away, Satou――no. Arrange to assassinate everyone, including that demi-human」

「!!? Th, That is......is that okay?」

「What do you want to say?」

「I don’t have that kind of, so sorry」

「If you understand, go fast. You can spend a little money. Good? Tell them to kill them while suffering as much as possible」

「I’ll do it right away!」

Several servants and escorts leave the room in a hurry.

「Hu, huhu. You made me angry. Don’t think you’re going to die easily」

--------------------------------

Assassin guild. As the name suggests, it is a guild that undertakes murder with money. For a slightly larger town or city, there are one or two assassin guilds. Naturally, in Comer city――

「It’s a fruit shop at the back of this street. You can buy two app fruits with one gold coin and one empire gold coin and the guide will take you to the destination」

「I see. This is an information fee」

Pauline’s servants give an information fee to a man who can only be seen as a tramp.

「Welcome」

「Give me two pieces of app fruit. The price is here」

Upon receiving the gold coin and the Imperial gold coin, the general store owner calls an old man from the back of the store.

「This old man will guide you and you just have to follow him」

As the servants follow the old man, they go through a number of alleys and through a few old buildings, until the servants will see doors leading to discarded underground waterways. The old man opens the door with a cane and only said that he could guide him this far and on return he would do the same again.

「Okay, let’s go」

「While it’s a guild, the other party is an assassin guild. Don’t let your guard down」

As the men watch out for the abandoned underground waterways, a large cobblestone plaza jumps into their eyes. There was a certain amount of light maintained by magic tools and it was so bright that it was not necessary to squint even though it was underground.

「Do you know our requirements?」

「Hiihi. Look, come here to meet us. There is only one thing」

A man with an eye covered in his ragged hair with an eye patch approaches them with an unpleasant laugh. In the square, about a dozen men are mocking Pauline’s servants and guards as if they were reversing. They have the appearance of common men who seem to be everywhere, a dirty old man who is likely to be found in the slums, a well-dressed middle-aged man, etc., varied in appearance, but these are those who make assassination a living. Each of them had a formidable technique of killing.

「That’s enough. Will you kill Satou and his maids in a miserable way......?」

「Can you do it? We’ll pay as much as you like」

「Hiihii. Well, don’t panic. If you say Satou, you mean the famous adventurer who lives here in Comer City. Why do you want to kill him?」

「I understand. I’ll pay you this amount of money as the price」

The male servant removes a cloth bag from his item pouch. The contents of the cloth bag are gold coins. When he put it on the table, the table squeaks with its weight.

「Ohoo! Thats great. Your employer and you seem to have a grudge against Satou」

「Stop the idle talk. I’m in a hurry. Start right away!」

「I told you not to panic, didn’t I? Hey, bring that」

When the eye-patch man says so, someone brings a box from the back to the table enough to be held by both arms.

「What is this?"

「Hihii. Don’t panic. As a matter of fact? We had a request a long time ago"

Tension runs through Pauline’s servants and escorts bodies. That would be so. The reason why Yuu is alive and well is because the assassin guild failed the request before.

「Well, we weren’t asked to kill like you. We had a hard time with a cheeky kid, and what’s more? It was a request from a certain aristocrat. Oh, I can’t say the name of the client. It’s such an irresponsible job, but what is it?」

The servants and escorts shouted in their hearts of what the murderer meant.

「Well, the hand that the person who asked for the request used was to use a kid of the slums. We’ll do the assassination arrest and in some cases, murder......」

When the eye-patched man scratches his head, a white thing like dandruff or scalp becomes powder on the table and falls. The servants turn their eyes away to that displeasing thing, but the guards don’t let their guard down as they are alert.

「That’s the case. Well, it’s not funny to be a kid of the slums, it’s a waste of time, as no one cares about it, is it? Oh, the nobleman who was against Satou was angry and called out to him saying there was something to discuss about. Then Satou came to the slum area. The aristocrat requested that Satou come under his control before he gets hurt and Satou says nothing. I mean, Satou wasn’t going to be a subordinate, so as it became a hard time, the kids who were waiting for the signal swarmed to Satou」

One of the servants shakes his feet frustrated what this story means.

「Hihii. This is an important story, so please listen to the end. One of the kid’s had a knife attached with poison. You guess Satou was also on his guard because his opponent was a kid, right? He will beat them up. Hiihi. Satou was also a rookie adventurer who wasnt D rank at that time. If he was hit with the poisoned knife, it would have worked. We were already certain to win, and the noble tried to negotiate that he was going to safe Satou´s life if he becomes a subordinate of that noble. The kids――haaaa......the slum kids flocked to pay for it. But Satou didn’t give up so easily. He was so persistent that the noble was so depressed that he killed one of the kids. we couldn’t do that. We’re doing this kind of crazy job and are ready to die someday, but we couldn’t do that. This is too much, isn’t it?」

「What are you saying......」

「Hi, hihii. Open that box. All right, look. You can tell by looking at it」

When one of the servants opens the box as he fears, there is――

「Hii!? Wh, WhWh, What is this!!!」

「What are you doing!!」

「You bastard!!!」

The contents of the box rolled on the table at a surprised time. The contents of the box were――human heads.

「Hihihii. Hyaahyaa! Are you surprised? But it’s good. It’s still too soon to be surprised. Come on, calm down and see it again, okay? Look at it」

The guards point their swords at the eye-patched man and servants with surprised buttocks turn their eyes to the head on the table.

「Baa!? Idiot!! Is this head......alive?」

「That!!? Th, ThTh, This is......an un, un, undead?」

Although the head doesn’t speak, it opens its mouth like a fish and turns its eyes to those around it with empty eyes as if to appeal to something.

「Hi, hihi. That’s right. That’s an undead. How painful is it not to die if you want to die? Satou was quick to find our assassin guild hideout. Holding that head, Satou said, 「This is a punishment. He’s a man named Ben, but his consciousness is clear even in that kind of state. It’s a good day, he will cry all day long asking you to kill me. He is going crazy」」

「What is the purpose of Sa, Satou? Th......this is a cruel way to play with an human life!」

「Hihii. That’s right. We’ve always been told not to show up again with someone who makes such a stupid request in the future. What do you think we would do if such a fool appeared?」

Only then did the servants and guards realize that they had been trapped. The surrounding doorways were blocked and weapons were held in the hands of the assassin’s guild members.

「It’s no use trying to escape? This is something more important than life. Even if you’re dead, we’ll kill you」

「Wa, Wait! We’ll pay as much gold as you want!! And who do you think our Lord is!!」

「Money, is it? Who is your Lord? Don’t be stupid! We´re going crazy every day!! Because of that, we are not going to turn Satou into an enemy!! If you understand, die now! Naa? Naa! NaaNaa!!!」

「Wa, wawa, wait......gyaaaaaa!!!」

「Damn it!!」

「Don’t fight! Escape somewhere――gyaaaaaaaaaa」

No one in the square would keep Pauline’s servants and escorts alive. The only ones who could leave this place were the corpses who couldn’t speak.