Ch.269EP.60 – How a Knight Deals with Beasts (5)

“…Hey, do you know where the head maid is?”

One servant asked his fellow staff members while looking for the head maid, but they could only shrug their shoulders.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her.”

“Where could she have gone? I need her approval for something too.”

“Hmm, ah, maybe she went to see the young lady again?”

“Ah, that must be it.”

Proving that several minds are better than one, they quickly deduced where the head maid might be, and nodded in agreement at the plausible conclusion.

“The head maid is so mean—I mean, she doesn’t need to treat the young lady like that…”

“Hey!”

“Mmph!”

When one maid voiced her complaint about the head maid, a colleague quickly scolded her, and the complaining maid hastily covered her mouth.

Even the maid herself realized she had misspoken.

“Watch your words. It’s fine if you’re the only one punished, but don’t get others in trouble too.”

“I-I’m sorry…”

The maid apologized.

The day before—or rather, about two years ago—all the servants had been collectively punished because one servant had expressed dissatisfaction with the head maid.

Would you believe that at their age, they were beaten with switches until their calves were bruised?

Yet no one dared complain about this, and the servant who had voiced his dissatisfaction was expelled before his wounds could even heal.

This was because the Orodo family, which formed the largest faction among the Modred branch families, was backing the head maid.

There were even rumors that the head maid was romantically involved with the current head of the Orodo family.

‘The head maid really goes too far.’

The maid who had complained cursed the head maid in her heart.

Although she was too afraid to voice her complaints openly, she truly despised the head maid.

‘She shouldn’t torment the poor young lady like that. Adults shouldn’t behave that way…’

None of the servants working at the castle were unaware of Lady Louise’s situation.

The branch families and vassal houses had determined that she could disappear without any issues since she was born without the [Mystery] unique to the Modred family. They were waiting for the direct descendant, Lady Louise, to either fall to her death or go missing without adult supervision.

They were hoping for the child’s existence to vanish from the world somehow…

It was a cruel act that no one could consider appropriate for adults to inflict on a child, yet they were doing it openly. And the head maid, who was surely aware of this situation, was going even further by tormenting Lady Louise.

She had heard that the head maid, who came from a commoner background, tormented the young lady due to her inferiority complex toward nobility.

It was truly vicious, to say the least.

‘Sigh…’

The maid inwardly sighed and resolved to secretly leave some cherries for the young lady who would be feeling downhearted tomorrow.

Lady Louise…

‘She likes cherries.’

It was the only act of sympathy that a powerless maid who knew how to feel compassion for a child could offer.

“Mira, do you know where Santa is?”

“Pardon?”

“Santa, I mean Santa. I need to work with him, but I can’t find him anywhere.”

“Ah, Mr. Santa… Well, I’m not sure…”

“Tsk! Where the hell is that guy…!”

“…”

A servant frowned as he searched for Santa.

‘There he goes again, this guy.’

The servant was named Tony, who had quite a few years of experience among the staff.

He was known to be avoided by other servants due to his violent and oppressive tendencies, and it was well known that despite his years of service, he hadn’t been promoted because of his personality.

Though he himself seemed unaware of this fact.

In any case, perhaps because his peers were getting promoted while he remained a low-ranking servant?

Due to some kind of inferiority complex, he bullied new servants, and particularly disliked those who were good-looking.

‘Is it because he’s ugly himself?’

So while most of the castle servants showed fondness for the new servant Santa Rihan, Tony was the only one who disliked him.

‘Mr. Santa is in trouble for getting involved with such a strange person…’

Just as she was making a mental note to warn him to avoid Tony if she saw him…

“Hey, you bastard!”

“…Ah.”

As if on cue, the person in question had already appeared.

Santa Rihan had shown his face, and Mira unconsciously smacked her forehead.

What terrible timing…!

‘M-Mr. Santa, run away!’

Mira gave him signals with her eyes and feet, trying to warn him.

As if to say he’d be in danger if he didn’t flee now.

But whether he didn’t notice or didn’t care…

“…”

He just stood there silently.

Mira wanted to smack her forehead again, but before she could, Tony stepped forward.

“You bastard! Where have you been slacking off until now! A newbie like you thinking about playing around instead of working!”

It sounded like he was describing himself, and everyone gave him incredulous looks, but the one facing that fierce expression…

“…”

Once again responded with indifference, which only added fuel to Tony’s fiery temper.

“Have you ever seen such a disrespectful bastard!”

Grab!

“T-Tony! Calm down…!”

“Santa’s just frozen with fear.”

“Senior Tony, you shouldn’t do this. If the head maid finds out, we’ll be in big trouble!”

“Let go of me!”

As if he couldn’t see anything else, Tony acted like a rampaging wild boar and raised his fist.

True to his hasty nature where fists came before words, he threw a punch before others could stop him.

Thwack!

“!!”

Sure enough, there was a sound of something breaking, and the servants closed their eyes tightly, thinking Santa’s face would be a mess.

They all felt sorry imagining that his face, which was like a work of art, would be turned into a bloody pulp.

“Aaaagh!!!”

See there, Tony was screaming in pain—

…Huh?

“What’s going on? Why is he screaming?”

“Tony?”

When those who had turned away or covered their eyes looked back at the scene of violence, something was off.

Somehow, the one crying out in pain was…

“T-Tony?”

“??”

It was Tony, not Santa.

“Aaaaargh…”

Tony was rolling on the floor, clutching his hand and screaming in agony.

In contrast…

“Pathetic…”

The one who was hit looked at Tony with a disgusted expression, and people had to experience a cognitive dissonance that made them temporarily lose their comprehension.

He looked completely different from the kind, innocent, polite, and hardworking Santa they knew.

But whether they understood or not, Santa wasn’t looking for their understanding.

“You might have a permanent disability, or it could last your whole life. I used ‘Inch Force’ when you hit me. Not just your fist, but your entire arm muscles are probably torn. You probably won’t be able to properly use your left arm for the rest of your life.”

“You, you…!”

“Hmm, I like that defiant look in your eyes until the end. You’ve got persistence. Much better than that guy Richard or whatever his name was. But you know what.”

Crack!

His foot kicked Tony’s leg as he lay on the ground, and in an instant, the servants learned for the first time that a person’s leg could break in such a direction.

…A fact they absolutely never wanted to know.

As expected, Tony let out a terrible scream, but as if his screaming wasn’t enough to elicit much sympathy, Santa remained expressionless.

Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say he was cold?

“Tony, right, that was your name. You’re the one who asked the young lady to vouch for you, aren’t you?”

“P-please spare me…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. That would be ‘too easy,’ wouldn’t it?”

“!!?”

Shiver-!

People felt their knees weaken.

Their spines tingled, and their jaws trembled involuntarily from the rising chill.

It wasn’t even that cold, yet they felt as if they were standing naked in the middle of winter, and they looked at Santa with terrified eyes.

‘Aura?’

Mira, who was feeling the chill less than the other servants, judged objectively what was happening.

Long ago, when she was a child, she had followed her grandfather, who was a hunter, and seen a tiger in the mountains.

Grandfather had hidden little Mira behind his back and told her not to move, but even without his warning, Mira wouldn’t have been able to move.

The tiger, that predator, just by being there, made her body freeze as if it had turned to ice.

Fortunately, the tiger disappeared into the mountains without bothering them, but Mira could never forget that incident.

And now, Mira saw that Santa’s presence was identical to that of the tiger she had encountered as a child.

No, in some ways…

‘He seems even bigger and scarier…’

As everyone stood unable to even swallow their dry saliva, Santa finally spoke.

“From now on, the personnel I name will go outside. Go take care of Lady Louise, and treat her with respect. Understand? With respect.”

“…”

“I’ll name them. Mira, Violette, Anna, Erwin, Marx, Elvin, Donna. These seven, go outside.”

“??”

“I’ll count to five. One, two, three…”

“?!!”

Without time to hesitate or question, the seven named individuals quickly went outside.

Like Mira, those who were relatively less affected by his aura, or more precisely, those whom he was ‘letting go,’ were not restricted in their movements.

But the remaining personnel…

“M-me too, p-please…”

“Ugh, ugh, ugh…”

“W-wait…”

They remained pale-faced and frozen like ice, wanting to reach out for help but unable to even properly attempt it, forced to let out silent screams.

As Mira was going outside, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, and she could hear it.

His, Santa Rihan’s…

“—It’s quite a sight that there are only this many worth saving.”

…his chilling murmur.

…Ten minutes later, when he appeared again, his body was covered in blood stains, and she could tell it wasn’t his blood.

* * *

—One week later.

Half of the Modred branch and vassal families were annihilated, and the remaining half knelt before the new master of Modred.

“Cherries are delicious!”

“Please eat plenty, my lady.”

“Santa, you eat too!”

“Yes, yes.”

Louise Iphed de Modred, Margravine.

This was the name of the youngest ruler who became the new master of Wales at the age of 8.