Ch.375Changed NPCs. (5)

The blonde beauty with blue eyes was walking gracefully in a beautiful silver-white dress, escorted by an appropriately dressed man. What would people think? At minimum, they’d assume she was dating him, right? But when there are many people around, thoughts become diverse, and there are always some bastards who reach strange conclusions.

“Hey, young master. Looking fine, aren’t you?”

“Wow, what a sight! Hmm? So dazzling I might go blind!”

“Aah!! I think I’ve really lost my sight! How are you going to take responsibility for this, huh?!”

“…Well, um. Ray. I’m sorry.”

“Huh? For what?”

I’m sorry that because I showed off and dressed you up nicely, we’ve attracted these idiots who haven’t reached an intelligence level of 3. Wait, isn’t this Neity? What’s the Spirit King’s barrier doing if not keeping out trash like this? Besides, wouldn’t people normally leave nobles alone when they’re dressed like this?

“Hahaha!!”

“Oh~~ So you’re a noble?”

“Then why are you walking? Where are your guards? Huh?! Did you come for an Academy event?!!”

Then, these fucking punks burst out laughing, saying, “Did you perhaps walk all the way here from the fallen Empire?!” as they surrounded Ray and me. Ray cutely tilted her head, genuinely confused about why I was apologizing. Sigh. Don’t do that—you’re just shortening these bastards’ lifespans for nothing.

“Hey, young master. Give us some money and we’ll let you go. How about it?”

“Well, if you can’t give enough… maybe we should get some from the lady too~?”

“Kekeke! How about you leave your money and the woman behind? If you report to the guards, you might find the woman in about a week~?”

“See? Because you’re being so cute…”

“C-cute! Uwuuu…!! Jack is so strange today. Really, my heart is pounding so much I could die!”

“Fuck, are you ignoring us?!!”

“Is he crazy?”

“Hey, woman! We’ll make your lower parts throb more than that lanky bastard, so just quietly…!!”

*GRAB!! CRACK!!*

“…Huh?”

I grabbed the wrist of the guy reaching for Ray and twisted it lightly, and voilà! A magic trick where his middle finger touches his elbow!

“Ah, AAAAARGH?!! My, my h…!!!”

“Y-you crazy bastmmph…?!”

Despite seeing their companion’s hand twisted backward, either they’d lost all sense of fear or their heads were purely decorative. When the remaining guy drew his weapon, I covered his mouth with one hand and lifted him up. He panicked and started swinging his weapon wildly, but—

*SNAP*

“You see, brother normally calls for his lawyer to have conversations. But today is a really important date, you know? So today, instead of the compassionate lawyer, I’ve brought the stern judge. Say hello. This is Judge Hand.”

I think I’m really starting to abandon my humanity? A blade comes flying at me, and I catch it with my bare hand and break it. Without even unfolding my arms!

When the weapon he swung broke in half like a toy, he panicked and tried to flail his limbs, so I read Judge Hand’s verdict right into his ear.

*SLAP!!!*

“———?!!!”

“Next. Line up quickly. The judge is busy.”

“Huh, what…?!”

“L-let’s run…?!!”

“My lady. May I unfold my arms for a moment?”

“Heheh!! Are you still doing that? In this situation?!”

Ray, who had been blankly watching me fight while escorting her, covered her mouth and laughed as if genuinely amused, making my lips curl up involuntarily. I’m glad you’re enjoying this. Well then.

“Those who run get the verdict read twice.”

Since the fleeing bastards seemed to have heads just for decoration, I swung Judge Hand’s verdict twice each, making sure it went straight into their ears.

*

“Yes. Gold-rank adventurer Ray Sol, confirmed. We’ll take these guys into custody.”

The city guard arrived quite quickly to address the street incident. What’s this? The guards in this neighborhood are actually competent, so how did these idiots… Come to think of it, only one guard showed up?

“My, my arm… p-please… it hurts, my arm…!!”

“Fuck!! We’re the victims here!! Don’t you see his twisted arm?! And my ear…!!”

“Aaah!! Mom!! My ear, I can’t hear with my ear!!!”

“Ah! Aaah!! I can’t hear anything?!! What’s happening! My ear!! How…!!”

Most of them were screaming that they couldn’t hear anything, as if Judge Hand’s passionate speech had ruptured their eardrums. Some, whose heads weren’t purely decorative, had only one ear damaged and were complaining about the injustice.

Feeling wronged? Don’t like Judge Hand’s verdict? Want me to read it again?

“Eeeek?!”

*THWACK!*

“Urgh?!!”

“Shut your mouths, morons!! Sigh, I apologize, Headmaster. While Mayor Naika has been away these past few months, these idiots have increased in number. On top of that, recently there have been cases of kidnappings using these thugs. The city guard is short-handed…”

I’m truly sorry that these fools are now operating so brazenly even in broad daylight, the guard apologized respectfully after seeing our appearance. After telling him not to worry about it, we handed over the thugs and turned to lea—

“Kidnapping. Where? Don’t tell me it’s children ‘again’?!”

There was no way we could leave. I knew our justice-loving Ray wouldn’t turn her back after hearing about kidnappings. I gave a slightly reproachful look at the guard who had carelessly leaked unnecessary information, but the guard, not noticing my gaze, immediately began explaining the situation in detail.

The kidnapping targets weren’t just children but all kinds of people in the city. Most were found within the city, but some showed signs of being taken outside. According to him, this suddenly became active about two months ago, after the Empire fell. The city guard and Academy professors were responding to the situation, so no students had been harmed yet. But the numbers were alarming. Already…

“62 people have been kidnapped, and only 45 have been found. Even with requests to the Adventurers’ Guild. Recently… ahem. Ah, this is supposed to be secr—”

“It’s because of Aigram, right?”

“H-how did you know that?!”

Ray listened attentively and predicted his words. The obvious answer came out. Probably, with all the Gold-rank adventurers in the city being pulled away, they judged that the remaining adventurers below Blue-rank weren’t suitable for taking on these requests. Damn it. Why now of all times…

“Actually, there aren’t even any Blue-ranks left in the city. The highest-ranked adventurers currently in the city are three parties of Red-ranks close to Blue. We simply couldn’t entrust such dangerous tasks to—”

“That’s fortunate then. Since I’m a Gold-rank, I’ll personally accept that request. Could I see the information gathered by the city guard, and meet the kidnapped people who were fou—? Oh.”

Ray, who had confidently stepped forward to take on the request, cutting off the guard’s words, suddenly hesitated and looked at me with slightly trembling sky-blue eyes. Hm? What’s wrong?

“…We, we were on a date. I’m sorry, um…”

“Ha! Is that what you’re worried about?”

It seems she was concerned that our date would end abruptly because she had arbitrarily decided to take on this work. Come on. Why worry about something like that?

“Guard. I’m also a former Gold-rank. Due to certain circumstances, I couldn’t fulfill the basic requests required within a year, so I’m no longer an adventurer, but I’ll accompany my fiancée here. I’m sure I can be of help.”

“Oh, OH!! A Gold-rank husband and wife party!! You two make a wonderful couple! But, um…”

The guard’s expression brightened considerably upon hearing we were Gold-ranks, but then he suddenly trailed off and began to look awkward. Hm? What now? Is there some problem…

“Well, you, you mentioned wanting to hear from the kidnapped victims. Actually…”

Of the 45 kidnapped people who were found, all were placed under protection in hospitals, but none of those found since two months ago have opened their eyes. What? What does that even mean?

“Skilled mages and spirit users from the Academy came to help, but they said it wasn’t due to any magic. Naturally, there were no head injuries either. But they just can’t open their eyes. So…”

Ah, so that’s why they’ve been struggling to track down the culprits? I mean, it is strange that they found kidnapping victims but couldn’t identify the kidnappers. If there’s no problem with the city guard, then this is an unusual situation. Wait, but…

“Hey. You. Arm-cripple.”

“……”

This bastard doesn’t respond even though I haven’t passed judgment yet?

*SWISH*

“Eek?!”

“Open your mouth one more time without answering, and you won’t be able to answer even if you want to. Earlier, you said that after taking Ray, she could be found in a week, right?”

“I-I didn’t say th—”

*CRASH!!!*

“…?”

When Judge Hand recited the verdict on the wall this time, the wall shed tears of joy. Ah, this is what a righteous verdict looks like. How about I recite one on your head too?

The thug’s eyes trembled, not understanding why the building was crying when I hit the wall with my palm, and I spoke lightly.

“Last chance. Think carefully. I don’t know who you’re working for when kidnapping people, but our Judge Hand will catch them all within a day or two and make them all deaf. Adding one more slap to your face is nothing. Who ordered you? Where were you planning to take Ray? Answer.”

The lone guard who arrived stood with his mouth in an O-shape, stuttering in confusion at the merciful actions of the judge and me, while the beautifully adorned Ray immediately prepared herself, holding her magic sword that had been transformed into a ring.

“All bastards who interrupted our date will receive their verdict before sunset today.”

That is Judge Hand’s decision.