Chapter 86: True Hero (1)

“A royal messenger will soon arrive to officially grant Lord Ian the Pierre territory.”

I had thought the royal family’s contact would come later, but it seemed they had already anticipated this outcome.

They probably expected me to win after hearing I’d defeated Lobo.

“I’ll keep that in mind. But what would have happened to that mother and daughter if I had lost?”

“Even if that had happened, we would have proceeded with the investigation into the impersonation case separately.”

Whether I won or lost, from the moment their deception was exposed in court, those women had no chance of survival.

Thinking of that mother and daughter, who had sat on the sofa staring intently at the crystal ball without knowing this fact, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, since the job’s done, we’ll be going now.”

“Are you heading back to the palace?”

“No, we need to hurry or we’ll miss out on good seats.”

Seeing their smirking faces, I could guess what they wanted to watch without them saying it.

“Then please give my regards to Prince Euclid.”

“Huh?”

Before I could ask what he meant, the knight left the room with his colleague.

“What was that about… By the way, don’t you need to go too? You’ll miss the good seats if you stay here.”

Karn glanced at the door the knights had left through and shook his head.

“It’d be a lie to say I’m not interested in seeing those women punished. But I’m more curious about what you’re going to do next.”

“You’re quite perceptive.”

With a smirk, I got up from the sofa and left the room to carry out what Karn was expecting.

As I exited, the mansion’s servants were waiting, trembling.

“What’s going on? Why are you all gathered here?”

“Well, you see… a guest has arrived…”

“A guest?”

“It’s me.”

Marina appeared, looking somewhat displeased.

“…I saw some unpleasant scenes outside. Was that your doing, Ian?”

“Didn’t you see the state of the city on your way here? Those b*tches deserve worse, even without considering the impersonation.”

Marina seemed to understand logically, but couldn’t shake her displeasure. She said nothing more.

“So what brings you here…?”

“With so many nobles gathered in this city right now, I was worried that any excessive actions might tarnish Ian’s reputation.”

In short, she was saying it was fine to punish them, but to maintain my reputation, I should keep it within reason.

I wondered if there was any reputation left to lose at this point, considering I’d already shaved their heads and paraded them through the streets.

“I don’t care about such things, so you needn’t worry.”

“Haa… I thought you’d say that.”

“You’ve come to know me well.”

From now on, many things that would make Marina frown were about to happen in this city.

Rather than seeing unnecessary things and getting upset, it would be better for her to wait here until everything was over.

“Tell Jessica and Euclid this: They’re about to see many disturbing sights, so it’s best if they wait here.”

“…I’ll relay the message. But don’t you need to tell that commoner student Hori who came with you?”

“Hori’s got a strong stomach, so there’s no need to worry about her.”

Knowing Hori, she was probably already mixed in with the commoners, throwing stones at those women.

“Hori seems… to be cut from the same cloth as you.”

“Yes, so there’s no need to worry. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.”

Passing by Marina, Karn and I headed to the cemetery where generations of the Pierre family were laid to rest.

The Pierre family cemetery was so covered in flowers and decorations that it resembled a park or flower garden more than a graveyard.

“Karn, in the East, there’s a punishment called ‘desecration of the corpse.’ Do you know what it is?”

“No, I’m not familiar with Eastern punishments. What kind of punishment is it?”

“It’s a punishment for traitors or those who commit comparable crimes. They dig up the criminal’s grave and behead the corpse. It’s a way to dishonor them even after death. Don’t you think it’s a fitting punishment for this situation?”

“…Heh, indeed it is.”

Walking alongside the smirking Karn, I finally found the graves of the first Ponpon mother and daughter.

-Clunk!!

As we approached the tombstone, Wolffang clunked, as if sensing the scent of those women.

“It’s really fortunate that the burial custom here is interment rather than cremation.”

I stomped my foot once, using the power of the ley lines to pull up the coffins of the first generation mother and daughter from deep underground.

The luxurious coffins, adorned with precious metals, bore the seal of the Pierre family. Seeing that seal, Karn gritted his teeth in disgust.

“Let’s see just how thick-skinned they were.”

Opening the coffin, I found a corpse so badly decomposed that I could barely tell it was a woman from the remaining hair.

Though I couldn’t discern the expression on the rotted face, it somehow unpleasantly felt as if she were sleeping peacefully.

[…Want… to kill…!!]

Unable to contain its bloodlust, Wolffang trembled as if it wanted to draw itself immediately.

“You can’t kill someone who’s already dead. But we can still dishonor them.”

Placing my hand on Wolffang’s hilt, I drew it towards the withered corpse’s neck.

Drawn out with more fervor than usual, Wolffang severed the corpse’s neck, bone and all, and cut through the coffin she lay in, along with the earth beneath.

After beheading the mother, I pulled the daughter’s coffin out of the grave. This time, I didn’t even bother opening it, decapitating her head coffin and all.

“Not a single person descended from these b*tches will rest peacefully here.”

Having researched the family tree beforehand, there was little difficulty in selecting which corpses to dig up.

Using the power of the ley lines, I pulled out the coffins one by one, and together with Karn, we arranged them in a line.

“Now all that’s left is to dig up that knight’s grave.”

“I know the location of his tombstone.”

Karn said that even after the Pierre family left, the knight was recorded as a loyal servant who served the two women faithfully and was given an honorable burial.

I had suspected as much, but hearing it confirmed only irritated me more.

“So what do you plan to do with the corpses? Behead them in front of people or…?”

“I’ve got something in mind. By the way, aren’t you hungry?”

“Pardon?”

Karn looked at me with a face that said, “What nonsense are you talking about in the middle of digging up graves?”

“Everyone must be hungry. We’ve got plenty of firewood, so I’d like to gather everyone and have a meal.”

“…Firewood?”

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Raei  Translations
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[We are whores who impersonated the hero’s descendants and sucked the blood of the people. We will pay for our sins with death.]

Seeing the sign the man held out, I snapped back to reality as if I’d been hit on the head with a hammer.

In my current state, I had no time to mourn the loss of my loved ones.

“Um… Kyaa!!”

“M-Mom!!! Ugh!!”

When I tried to speak, hoping to avoid such humiliation, I was met with a slap.

Not just me, but my daughter too, who had worriedly opened her mouth out of concern for me, had her face turned by an equally hard slap.

“Criminals, don’t open your mouths carelessly. Now, quickly hang this sign around your necks.”

The man handed us signs attached to strings, telling us to do it ourselves. We had no choice but to hang them around our necks.

“Huh, huuugh!!”

Unable to bear it, tears flowed from my eyes. But not a single person showed us any sympathy.

How did it come to this?

It’s true that I hadn’t lived a completely virtuous life, but was that enough to deserve such humiliation?

‘Come to think of it, the impersonation wasn’t even a crime we committed! We just didn’t know…!!’

Such thoughts crossed my mind, but I didn’t dare voice them in front of these men who would slap us just for opening our mouths.

“Well, looks like you’re ready. Get moving.”

“……”

“……”

When we hesitated, unable to bear the thought of showing such a miserable sight to others, the men behind us lashed our backs with whips, as if driving slaves.

“If you don’t move quickly, you’ll see worse!! Get moving!!!”

“Hiiee!!”

The pain that felt like it was tearing our flesh and the first shout we’d heard from a man set our legs in motion.

As we slowly took one step at a time, the men behind us would lash out with their whips whenever we hesitated.

Unable to slow down at all and forced to keep moving forward, we came face to face with commoners lined up on both sides, waiting to witness our disgrace.

I didn’t know how far this road lined with commoners stretched, but I could tell it would be a long and arduous journey.

“Move!!”

At the man’s shout behind us, our stopped legs began to move again.

At first, the commoners just watched us without doing anything, but as time passed, they began to hurl light insults. Gradually, their actions became more violent.

“You filthy whores!!”

Just days ago, these lowlifes couldn’t even meet our eyes. Now, hearing their curses and seeing our pathetic state, my fists clenched involuntarily.

They noticed this and shouted even more angrily.

“You bald b*tches!! Did you think clenching your fists would scare anyone?!”

“Now you’re just like us, lowly commoners!! No, you’re worse than that, the lowest scum!!”

“My son starved to death because of you!! You should die too!! Die!!”

From that point on, the commoners who had only been hurling insults began throwing things at us – spit, rotten vegetables, and the like.

“Ugh…!!”

“Kyaaa!!”

Every time we stumbled from being hit by what they threw, the whips came down without a moment’s delay.

No matter what happened, stopping was not allowed. The only thing permitted to us was to move forward while enduring the insults.

“Sob…!! Waaahh!!!”

Unable to bear the harsh insults and barrage of rotten vegetables, my daughter burst into tears like a child.

But there was no one to wipe her tears or look at her with pity.

Instead, everyone laughed at her crying, saying it served her right and enjoying it even more.

‘Oh God…!!’

If God truly exists, please kill us quickly so we don’t have to endure any more humiliation…

As I looked up at the sky with such a prayer, what caught my eye were more spectators.

Unlike the commoners lining the streets, these people were clearly nobles judging by their neat attire. They were watching our disgrace while standing in the air, using floating magic or creating platforms in the sky.

“…Haha.”

Until recently, we too had stood up there. How did we end up falling this far?

Now, I’d not just fallen to the ground, but into an endless abyss.

“Hahahaha…!!”

As I laughed self-mockingly at the endless despair, the commoners followed suit and laughed loudly.

“Has that b*tch finally gone mad?!”

“No, she must be enjoying this!! After all, they’re women descended from lowly whores!!”

“Hey!! Before you die, why don’t you show us if you’re wet?!!”

After enduring such vile insults for about two hours of walking, we saw a plaza where white smoke was rising as if a fire had been lit.

‘So the method of execution is burning at the stake…’

It would be painful, but if we could die quickly, that would be fine. Thinking this, we entered the plaza and realized the true nature of that smoke.

“Ah…”

The smoke rising in the plaza was coming from a huge cauldron full of stew.

Around the cauldron, large enough to hold dozens of people, a crowd of paupers had lined up to receive their share of the stew.

At a glance, it seemed like a heartwarming scene, but I couldn’t smile at all when I saw what was being used as fuel instead of firewood under the cauldron.

‘Corpses…’

Under the cauldron, blackened corpses were burning brightly, substituting for firewood.

While I was still in shock at this incredibly cruel and incomprehensible sight, that man approached us, panting and holding a bowl of stew like the commoners.

“Haha!! Huff, huff!! Ah, this is really hot!! How about it? Want to have a bowl before you die?”

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