“Kuk, kheuk, what the hell is this shit!?”

The young man, who was frowning intensely as if his back, which had hit when he fell, was quite painful, spat out curses upon seeing the food debris on his back.

Judging by his flushed face, he seemed to have drunk quite a lot of alcohol.

As he got up with a groan, his gaze met Adelaide’s, who was in a daze wondering what on earth was going on.

Seeing the bright golden hair and violet eyes, the young man jumped back in surprise.

“Y-you’re one of them too!”

“Huh?”

There was no time to ask what he meant as the young man suddenly swung the knife in his hand without warning.

Before understanding the situation, Adelaide’s body reacted.

Turning half a circle using her left foot as an axis to avoid the knife, grabbing the opponent’s wrist with her right hand and pulling, then stabbing the opponent’s neck with a fork held in reverse in her left hand.

“Ah.”

A moment later, she thought she had gone too far, but spilled milk couldn’t be put back in the bottle.

When the young man’s companions who came down from upstairs discovered their fallen comrade, the situation worsened further.

“Here! They’re here too!”

“Zhang’s been taken down!!”

Four or five men drew their swords at once and surrounded Adelaide and her companions.

Even at a glance, it didn’t seem like a situation where they would listen to explanations.

As Adelaide was deliberating whether to draw her sword or not, another shadow slipped through the hole in the ceiling where the first young man had fallen.

Swinging her golden hair tied back like a tail, the shadow crossed the space.

Slash!

With each swing of the intruder’s sword, blood sprayed, and young men fell.

Adelaide’s eyes lit up with admiration.

Beautiful.

It was surprisingly fast and dazzling swordsmanship.

The afterimage of sword energy left in the air looked almost like a fully bloomed flower.

The shadow, who had taken down all the men in the time it took to take one deep breath in and out, turned to look at Adelaide.

The beautiful face, cold and emotionless until now, distorted with surprise.

“Lennart Mask…!”

“Wait, wait, stop.”

Adelaide unconsciously forgot her usual tone.

Maris von Lennart.

Guardian Knight of the Empire. An overwhelming background as one of the legitimate daughters of Duke Lennart.

Excellent swordsmanship pursuing adaptability, speed, and a depth of mind that didn’t match her young age.

There was no end to the men eyeing her, one of the next-generation leaders of the Lion Duke’s bloodline, but none had seen proper results.

Maris was famous for her cold and arrogant temperament as much as her outstanding beauty, after all. Suitors lamented that they couldn’t see even a faint smile even if they brought a thousand gold coins.

“Hmm? Ah, sorry, sorry. I mistook you for someone else. You look very similar to a certain ‘fan’ I saw before.”

“I-is that so. If it’s a mistake, it can’t be helped.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

And now, that cold beauty was teasing Adelaide with a very friendly smile.

It was a sight that would make people who knew the usual Maris rub their eyes, wondering if they were seeing things.

Of course, Maris had her reasons.

How could men trying to make advances to somehow get close to her be the same as a younger family member who gave interesting reactions the more she teased?

She wanted to keep teasing like this, but unfortunately, the situation didn’t allow it.

“Young Lady. Are you alright?”

Two knights who appeared on the stairs connecting the fourth and third floors approached Maris.

They were holding swords dripping with blood, and perhaps because they had just cut down many people, a killing intent not completely gone still emanated from their eyes.

They showed puzzled looks upon seeing Adelaide with Maris, then their faces hardened when they saw the Tin Knight beside her.

“Young Lady, please come this way.”

“It’s fine. If these people were with those guys just now, they wouldn’t have come rushing in like this. Originally, if just one of the knights here had stepped up, they would have swept them all away, so why make a fuss?”

“But still—“

“Enough.”

At the firm command that allowed no objection, the two knights bowed their heads as if apologetic.

Just as Maris, who had stopped her subordinates, was about to open her mouth again, it happened.

Murmuring sounds were heard from below, and a man who looked like the store owner and a group of soldiers appeared.

“They’re here fast.”

With an annoyed remark, Maris’s face froze coldly.

The one who seemed to be the captain of the guards approached Maris and said, “We received a report of people causing a disturbance in the restaurant. We ask for your cooperation in the investigation.”

Maris asked back in a cold tone, “Are you saying you see us as the culprits?”

“…This investigation is to determine that. Do you need an explanation of the investigation procedures?”

It was a strangely polite attitude for interrogating suspects.

Perhaps because of the two guard knights behind Maris with fire in their eyes, the guard captain and the entire guard seemed somewhat shrunk.

“I’ve experienced it enough times, so it’s fine.”

“Then, we’ll begin.”

The guard captain lifted something from his waist.

In the place where a sword should have been was a scale with black and white plates.

“Did you kill these people?”

“Yes.”

Clunk, the black plate went down greatly.

“What was the reason for the killing?”

“These guys told me to pour them some drinks. At first, I refused verbally, but their brains must have been pickled in alcohol because they started using force, so I retaliated.”

The black plate rose up a little.

“Which side drew weapons first?”

“These guys.”

The plate rose up again.

“Did you feel a threat to your life during the fight?”

“Well, when someone comes at you with a knife, you can’t help but feel threatened, right?”

Woong!

The scale shook as if wailing.

The guard captain said impassively, “Please refrain from false statements. If you didn’t feel a threat to your life, why did you kill the opponents instead of just subduing them?”

Maris’s eyebrow twitched.

“…Because showing mercy carelessly would come back as a bigger trouble.”

The black plate of the scale went down again.

After additionally mentioning the number of people killed and the state of damage to the building, the guard captain checked the state of the scale.

The scale had markings on it, allowing the degree of tilt to be quantified.

“It comes to 20 months of imprisonment. Please decide whether you will serve the sentence or pay bail.”

“There’s probably no other guard force in the world that works as comfortably as you guys.”

With sarcastic words, Maris flicked something up with her finger.

Two imperial gold coins containing a brilliant light settled on the white plate, and the next moment, they began to melt into the air as light.

The scale, which gradually regained balance as the gold coins melted, achieved perfect equilibrium when one of the two gold coins had completely melted and only about a third of the other remained.

The guard captain held out the remaining gold coin fragment to Maris.

“Why don’t you just take it as a tip?”

“Privately handling remaining bail money is strictly prohibited by law.”

After bidding farewell to Maris with an extremely civil servant-like attitude, the guard captain then held out the scale towards the store owner and began to ask various questions.

Adelaide’s party couldn’t take their eyes off this strange and wondrous sight.

Maris shrugged, then said to Adelaide, “Shall we move to another place for now? It’s awkward to exchange greetings in such a messy place, and it seems like you have a lot of questions. Since neither of us could properly enjoy our meals, I can at least treat you to some food.”

“Uh…”

Adelaide looked at the Tin Knight and Sophia.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ shouts that while Dorothea would say she doesn’t want to get involved in unnecessary things, he welcomes it!]

“You can do as you wish, Adel.”

One in favor, one neutral.

The choice was passed to Adelaide.

Although Adelaide couldn’t be said to be very knowledgeable about politics, she knew that Maris held quite a high status within the main family.

She was famous enough that related news would reach her ears even without actively paying attention.

Perhaps because she had heard the Witch of the West’s story, her interest in the main family had grown a bit more.

Adelaide nodded towards Maris.

***

The place the party was invited to was a mansion on the outskirts of the city.

While its height might not be much, in terms of width, it was easily six times the size of the restaurant they had just been in.

“Do you live here?”

“Hmm? No, I just rented the whole building for a while. It might seem like I’m making a fuss, but staying in a normal lodging would be a nuisance to the surroundings in its own way.”

The security of the mansion was strict.

There were over dozens of visible soldiers, and among them were some with golden hair or violet eyes scattered here and there.

Adelaide instinctively felt that a considerable number, perhaps all of them, were skilled enough to handle sword energy.

Originally, entering such a place would require disarming, but thanks to Maris mentioning it was fine, the party was able to enter the interior without hindrance.

While the meal was being prepared, the party exchanged formal greetings with Maris.

Adelaide led the conversation.

Usually, when Dorothea was absent, Sophia took on the role of the party’s representative, but this time, since the other party was of the Lion Duke’s bloodline, Adelaide was deemed the most suitable.

“I’m Maris von Lennart. I don’t have an official title yet since I haven’t taken up public office.”

“Adelaide von Lennart. Heir candidate of the Friedel domain in the Kingdom of Ionia.”

At “heir candidate”, Maris showed a strange smile and turned her gaze towards the Tin Knight and Sophia.

Adelaide, who was about to introduce the two according to etiquette, hesitated for a moment.

…Come to think of it, what should I call Sir Knight…?

Dorothea called the Tin Knight by names like “Tin Can,” Sophia used “Sir Tin” and Adelaide herself used “Sir Knight”.

That was enough among companions, but when trying to introduce him to others, no particularly appropriate title came to mind.

“Um, this is Miss Sophia. And this is Sir Knight. They’re my travel companions.”

That was all she could manage to say with a hesitant air.

Fortunately, Maris didn’t pursue that point. Maybe she wasn’t very interested, or maybe she noticed Adelaide’s difficulty and was being considerate.

“First, about what happened earlier, I’m sorry for getting you involved unnecessarily. It seems they attacked thinking you were with me because of your appearance.”

“A… fight?”

At Maris’ words, Adelaide tilted her head.

It was a question she had felt even when hearing what Maris had said to the guard captain earlier.

She wondered if there were people bold enough to pick a fight with the daughter of the Guardian Knight, of all people.

Even if they didn’t know she was the Guardian Knight’s daughter, one couldn’t help but recognize her as being of the Lion Duke’s bloodline with her distinct golden hair and violet eyes.

It might be understandable in the outskirts where the Empire’s influence was relatively weak, but this was one of the five cities where a Lennart dojo existed.

As if guessing what Adelaide was thinking just by looking at her face, Maris let out a dejected laugh.

“Sounds impossible, right? I thought so too, until I experienced it myself. But it actually happens in this city.”

“How is that possible?”

“Because that’s the law of this city.”

Wrongdoings committed outside Justitia are not questioned inside.

‎

Wrongdoings committed inside Justitia are not questioned outside.

‎

Wrongdoings committed in Justitia are punished internally in Justitia.

‎

All judgments are presided over by the “Scale”.

‎

All punishments can be substituted with “value” enough to balance the Scale.

Adelaide tilted her head.

There were too many things she couldn’t understand.

“So, even if you commit some wrongdoings here, it can’t be punished outside? And even for any crime, it can all be resolved just by paying money?”

“There are actually loopholes, but in principle, yes. At least they can’t punish openly.”

“Why?”

To Adelaide’s question, Maris answered, “This is the King of Heaven’s territory. Because it’s the earthly territory of the Kingdom of Heaven.”

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken