My name’s Karina, and apparently, some bad people are after me! Scary! I can’t live comfortably with these hoodlums and ruffians running around, so I’ve got no choice but to send ’em flying myself! I’ll contribute to maintaining the public order, and while I’m at it, I’ll take whatever money they’ve got and donate it to the church! Aren’t I a good girl?
And so, I wandered the streets alone at night, holding a liquor bottle filled with water. Where was Aishia, you ask? Back at my base, of course—it’d be too dangerous to bring her along for this. She’s probably snoozing on my futon right about now.
Pretending to stagger around like a drunk, I entered a back alley—the same one where the guys had tried to hit on me—or rather, shake me down—the other day. Now then, will they take the bait?
“End of the line,” a voice said.
“And nowhere to run,” added another.
Two wallets ripe for the taking appeared, just as I’d hoped! The corner of my mouth turned up in a smirk. Heh heh, I’m sober today, so rest assured, I won’t be running away this time.
“Huh? What’s that smirk on your face for? Hey, bro, block her exit from behind. Now that I get a good look at her, she’s pretty cute. We won’t let her get away.”
“On it, bro! Leave it to me!” I heard footsteps behind me. Oh no, whatever will I do? I’m sandwiched between two wallets—now I have to choose which one to take money from! Woe is me! Wait, these aren’t the same guys as the other day, I guess. Hmm... Oh well. As long as they’ve got money, it’s all the same, really.
“What’s going on here?” I asked. “Are you guys muggers or something? Am I about to be assaulted?”
“Heh heh, quick on the uptake, aren’t we? Then let’s cut right to the chase—hand over everything you’ve got. Clothes included.”
“Naturally, we’ll be taking the body in those clothes too—once we’ve had a little bit of fun with you, we’ll sell you into slavery.”
“Wh-What? Slavery? But I’m an upstanding citizen with no criminal record or debt to speak of! No slave trader would buy someone like that!”
“Doesn’t matter! The moment you were unlucky enough to have Master Bareas lay his eyes on you, your fate was sealed!”
Bareas, eh? I feel like I’ve heard that name before... Wait, that’s the slave trader I bought Aishia from! I only knew a few people here so far, so remembering his name was easy.
“Huh? In other words, that pervert attacked regular citizens and forced them into slavery? Wasn’t that, like, a massive scandal that could get him in serious trouble if someone found out?”
“B-Bro, this is bad! Why’d you tell her that?! We were supposed to keep it a secret!”
“She’s getting sold into slavery either way, so who cares? No one’ll find out!”
“Oh, that’s true! You’re a genius, bro!”
Uh, no, if I manage to escape here, you’ll all be finished. You should have waited until you’d captured me first before talking. Or, wait, I guess with two able-bodied men against a weak young girl, anyone would think I was as good as captured already. Normally, anyway.
At any rate, now that they’d announced their intent to make me a slave, they’d displayed clear intent to harm me. That meant I was probably clear to act in self-defense already, but just to make sure my counterattack would be justified, I needed a little more. Like a punch in my direction, for instance.
“Hm, well, how should I say this? You two just aren’t my type, so don’t think I won’t resist.” I adopted a weak-looking fighting stance. All right, now hurry up and come at me. Do your thing.
My intent must’ve gotten through to them, because the one in front of me, Wallet A, unsheathed his sword. “Hey, little girl. You don’t want that pretty face of yours to get all messed up, do you? Then you better do as I say.”
With a snicker, I deliberately lowered my guard, pointed at him, and laughed. “Ah ha ha! You idiot, I’m not gonna be worth anything if you touch my face or my body! Yet you’re threatening me with a blade? Is there really a brain in that head of yours?!”
“Huh? Er... Now that you mention it, I guess you’re right.”
Wait, what? No! Don’t agree with me, you fool! I’m trying to rile you up! C’mon, attack me already! Right now I’ve made myself invincible with I Am The Star! So hit me with your best shot!
“Hey, bro! She just called you an idiot!”
“What?! Who’re you callin’ an idiot?! I’ll kill you!”
“You just realized?!” I couldn’t help but retort.
Anyway, here it comes!
Thunk! He tried to bludgeon me with the flat part of his blade. Even without the sharp end, a sword was a mass of metal and thus plenty effective as a blunt weapon. Easy to bash in a young girl’s head with too. But not me—I took no damage, and my posture didn’t even budge! What’s more, I was now completely in the clear to retaliate in self-defense!
“Wh-What the hell? It’s like I hit a rock or somethin’...”
“In you go!” With a shoop, I opened a pocket of space and sent Wallet A inside. Naturally, it was a separate pocket from the one Aishia was in. I also froze time in there, so I didn’t need to worry about him causing a ruckus.
Having witnessed Wallet A disappear all of a sudden, Wallet B looked fearful. “Wh-What...? Hey, what did you do to my bro just now?! Where’d he go?!”
“Where indeed? Guess he just ceased to exist all of a sudden! What’s the matter—are you scared? Chicken? Bawk bawk bawk!”
“W... Waaahhh!”
Oh, looks like Wallet B’s not running away either. He’s charging toward me! Good, good! Go on, punch me as hard as you can! Although, even if I know it’s not gonna hurt, I can’t deny having a fist fly right in front of your face is a little unnerving. It feels like being attacked by an enemy in VR, except in this case it’s not V, just R.
“Huh?! Why does it feel like I’m hittin’ a steel block?! What the hell are you?!”
“Huh? Why, a regular citizen, of course. For you to punch a defenseless, innocent girl like that for no reason—you really are terrible.” I snapped my fingers, freezing the lower half of Wallet B’s body in place. Sorry, you’re not gonna escape from me.
“My legs! I-I can’t move! No... Have mercy!”
“Hey now, you two tried to kill me first. Heh heh heh... Oh, whoops, we can’t have you squealing pathetically, now can we? Someone might overhear.” I cut his voice off. Wallet B’s mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air, but no more sound came out.
If the so-called God of Destruction couldn’t escape from these bindings, no way some two-bit criminal could. “Now then, tell me everything you know—like the whereabouts of the rest of your little gang. Oh, don’t worry. I can still understand what you’re saying, so go on. Spill it.”
“!!!”
Hey now, no screaming. You’d better start talking, ’cause this isn’t gonna end till I get some information. The night is still young, after all!
After extracting the information I wanted from Wallet B—and his wallet, of course—I popped him into my space of holding with the other one.
“Still, how broke can you get? They both had hardly any money at all. Oh, right—that’s probably why they turned to crime in the first place,” I muttered. Wait—it’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell who the villain is in this situation, isn’t it? Not good, not good! Karina’s supposed to be a paragon of justice! That’s right—justice should be my goal here. After all, as long as it’s in the name of justice, people can be as cruel and brutal as they want!
“But really, to think that slave trader’s involved with human trafficking... Wait, or is he allowed to get away with that because he’s a slave trader? No, no, of course not. Any way you look at it, he’d never be permitted to abduct people in his own town.”
I didn’t know much about the laws of this kingdom, but I couldn’t imagine how that’d pass muster. Rather, if it did, the problem would lie with the kingdom’s laws themselves.