“Uh... Well, I guess, if the king’s gonna make sure they’re properly punished...though I don’t think that ‘eradicating his entire lineage’ thing is necessary. I mean, just punishing the people who were directly involved in the crimes might be enough?” I said.
Yeah, there was no need to punish people who had nothing to do with any of this. Sure, the count’s family would become commoners when his title got stripped, but that was his fault for using his status for evil. It was the same thing as someone’s dad getting fired because he’d abused his authority at work. His family would lose the benefits and position they’d enjoyed through him even though his crimes didn’t extend to them. That seemed like common sense to me.
“Ah, such benevolence!” the lord cried out. “Even if he was deprived of his house and title, his family would still have the option of returning to his wife’s relatives, and wouldn’t be left with nowhere to go. If we are to limit the punishment to Count Tartus himself and his associates without involving their families, the sentencing should go rather swiftly at the royal palace. If he insists on his innocence when you’ve shown such mercy, his punishment will default to the standard one with repercussions for his entire clan, so his family and defenders of his faction should keep their mouths shut. I would assume the culprits wouldn’t dare complain if they can spare their wives and children from blame.”
So that’s how it works...but what do I do now?
My original plan worked in four simple steps: First, I’d wait for the enemy to commit a crime so blatant that it warranted me using confession potions on them. After all, it wouldn’t have felt right to use it when they hadn’t done anything yet—though that wouldn’t have stopped me if I’d needed to use them to avoid danger, if they’d angered me, or if I’d run out of other options. Second, I’d confirm who the mastermind was. Third, I’d hit ’em and crush ’em. What are they, iron demons? For the fourth and last step, I’d inconspicuously leak information about the incident to deter others from messing with the stray priestess ever again.
I’d accomplished the first and second, but the local lord had stopped me from taking the third and fourth steps. He wanted to report the incident to the king to have the count officially punished by law, which was probably the proper response in a civilized society. On the other hand, I was seeking judgment at my own hands; it was basically vigilantism. It would’ve been one thing if he wasn’t gonna be punished by the law, but in this case, he actually was. There was no reason for me to carry out my own brand of justice. Besides, letting the government handle things would be a good deterrent for other potential bad guys in the future. It would send a powerful message to other nobles, and the commoners would praise the decisive judgment.
Wait, am I going to be used in some scheme by the royal family and aristocrats to win the hearts of the people?
Well, that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, and it would accomplish the effect I wanted in a perfectly legal way. Maybe I didn’t need to do anything else at this point.
“In that case, I’ll leave the rest to you,” I said. “I will resume my journey to continue my training and charity work.”
Things would be resolved here without my involvement, so I decided to take my leave. The people in this town were acting a bit too suspicious for my liking.
“What? Wai—I mean, n-never mind. (I want to stop the Angel from leaving, but the thought of keeping such volatility in my territory is terrifying. Besides, the Goddess’s blessings shouldn’t be monopolized by one territory or country, but shared universally. That must be why the Angel has been on her journey rather than living a life in comfort at the Temple... She wouldn’t agree to stay here, and it would be insolent of me to wish for her to do so.)” The lord was about to say something, but seemed reluctant to speak any further for some reason. I took that to mean it was fine for me to leave.
It was completely dark out now, but we were still within the town limits, so I didn’t have to worry about running into monsters. Besides, I was just a few minutes’ walk away from the rows of houses. Just as I was thinking that I’d be fine walking on my own, the Blazing Valkyries ran over to me and got into their escort positions. I had hired them to protect me, so I should’ve expected as much. I mean, I was walking around the outskirts of town at night; why wouldn’t they escort me?
I guess that means I have no choice but to head back to the inn...
What to do now?
We returned to the inn, then I left the Valkyries to retire to my own room. And the first thing I did was...
“Come on out, Reiko!” I called out.
“Oh ho ho, ho ho ho ho!” Reiko said dramatically as she dispelled her concealment spell.
“The plan to bait them and take them out worked, but the lord took over from there,” I said, though Reiko had been watching while invisible, so she already knew this.
“It’s like someone read us just the first half of Adult Wolf Guy. It feels like...” she trailed off, then...
“There’s no closure!” we both said in unison.
“I mean, it’s not like our plans were for the sake of personal gratification, but still...” I trailed off too.
“It’s pretty frustrating!” we said together.
Reiko and I were usually on the same wavelength about this sort of thing. We both let out our anger when upset and got frustrated when things didn’t go our way. In other words, we let our emotions out like any normal person would...unlike the demon without malice, Kyoko. Reiko and I hadn’t included her in our plans this time because we didn’t want anyone getting hurt more than necessary.
“I think we’re getting to the point where I can’t continue my work as a wannabe saint without anyone messing with me,” I said. “There have been a lot of rumors about me going around, so there will be more cases like this in the future. Taking out all of the obvious bad guys will be a pain, and if an aristocrat or wealthy person goes the diplomatic route, I won’t be able to do anything crazy.”
“Yeah, and the king isn’t gonna like it if you go around taking out all of the noble families,” Reiko pointed out. She was right, and it wasn’t as if we wanted to fight them. That left us without much of a choice.
“Think it’s about time?” I asked.
“Maybe it is,” she said.
It was probably time to pack it up. We’d built up enough of a track record and gained publicity through local activities, and it was time for us to advance to the royal capital.
“Kyoko’s shop is becoming a big name, and there are some businesses that should be cooperative with us in the royal capital, like the Tavolas Trade Company branch store and the big-scale shop, the Hawkes Trade Company. And if things go south, we have a reliable ally in the Kurth Trade Company, who’d give us their full support. How are things on your end?” I asked.
“I’m up to Rank C now. Rank-wise, I’d still be considered a normal hunter, but I’ve been putting my name out there as a girl hunter who fulfills any mission by solo hunting high-ranking monsters. But unlike you and Kyoko, I’m only well-known among the Hunter’s Guild staff and other hunters, so aristocrats, merchants, and the general public don’t really know who I am.”
That couldn’t really be helped because of the nature of her job. Though, if she really wanted to, she could get famous pretty easily by flying around the world on Kyoko’s dinghy to hunt high-rank monsters with cheat weapons, and by using a special sensor to collect rare herbs and ores to sell to the guild.
In fact, I already had a bunch of those rare items stocked in my Item Box. If she’d gotten her name out there that way, not only would nobles have flocked to her, but she might’ve even gotten an invitation for a meeting at the royal palace. Kyoko, too, could easily have made a name for herself by auctioning rare items. Not only did we have materials the three of us had hunted together, but we had things that we’d crafted on the mothership, and my potion containers too.
As for me...well, my case was the most difficult. I mean, sure, I could’ve just created potions and called them the Goddess’s blessings, but there’d be pandemonium as a result. It might not be as big of a deal if I stuck with minor blessings, but...actually, I’d probably get a visit from the Temple’s personnel. Even if a doctor or apothecary could provide better treatment, a girl who could invoke (minor) blessings of the Goddess would be extremely useful as a walking advertisement for collecting donations and making political statements.
Anyway, there was a much bigger problem for us to deal with at the moment.
“We need to tell Kyoko about this whole incident, don’t we?” I asked.
“If we want to be transparent with each other and to maintain a relationship of trust—yeah, of course,” Reiko confirmed.
There was a moment of silence.
“Think she’ll be mad that we left her out of it?” I asked after a pause.
“Yeah, definitely,” she said. “In fact, I don’t know why you think it’s remotely possible that she wouldn’t be.”
There was silence again.
This is bad. Very bad.
“What are we gonna do...?” we said in unison.