Chapter 87: True Hero (2)

“Not taking it? My arm’s getting sore…”

I held out the bowl, hoping they’d at least fill their stomachs before dying. But the women just hung their heads, refusing to take it.

Embarrassed, I scratched my head and withdrew my hand. I passed the stew to Karn, who was loitering nearby.

“Oh, thank you so much! Tsk…”

Karn bowed repeatedly, then clicked his tongue at the pitiful sight of the Ponpon mother and daughter.

He merely clicked his tongue once without cursing, but surprisingly, the woman who’d already endured plenty of humiliation reacted.

“That’s enough!”

“Huh? What is? Your sentence lacks a subject, so I have no idea what you’re saying.”

“I’m saying this is enough! If you’re going to kill us, just do it already! You lowborn bastard!”

“Oh, mom…!”

Her voice boomed so loudly you’d think she used magic. All eyes turned to the women.

Feeling everyone’s gaze and silence—commoners and nobles alike—she finally realized her mistake.

How I chose to execute them was entirely up to me, the victor of the duel.

Whether I beheaded them swiftly and painlessly or slowly flayed them over days, no one could object to my choice.

In this situation, she dared to shout at me and even call me lowborn…

I smirked at her behavior, which was tantamount to begging for the most painful death possible.

“No need to beg so desperately for death. I’ll kill you soon enough, just wait until everyone’s done eating.”

“N-no! I…!”

She hurried to take back her words, but my interest in her had completely vanished, and I heard nothing.

Leaving the Ponpon women in the middle of the square, I returned to the platform. Karn, whose complexion had been poor since meal prep, spoke up.

“Lord Ian… I hate saying this to you, my benefactor, but you’re like a demon…”

“Haha! You ungrateful bastard, if I were truly demonic, you’d be dead right now!”

Though I meant it as a joke, Karn trembled as if he didn’t take it that way.

“Ian!”

As I stood on the platform with Karn, watching the stew slowly disappear from the cauldron, Hori climbed up with a bowl of stew in hand, grinning.

“You’re here too? Judging by your expression, you seem to be enjoying yourself.”

“Yes! This is my first festival like this, and I’m really excited!”

Festival.

Hori seemed to be genuinely enjoying this horrific scene, likely due to pent-up resentment towards nobles from her time at the academy.

To commoners like her, seeing nobles dragged down lower than commoners was once-in-a-lifetime entertainment.

Not just Hori, but other commoners were genuinely reveling in these scenes too.

“Take this!”

Hori scooped up some stew from her bowl and flung it at the Ponpon women.

The stew arced through the air, hitting the daughter squarely on the head. Everyone who witnessed it burst into laughter.

“Oh my! That young lady knows how to enjoy a festival, being educated and all!”

“I’d hate to waste good stew like that, but…”

“Who cares! It’s just one spoonful! Here goes!”

Following Hori’s lead, others began flinging spoonfuls of stew at the women. Soon, they looked as if they’d bathed in it.

“Ian! Did I do well?”

“Yeah, you did great!”

“Then, if you haven’t decided on an execution method yet, could you maybe give me one of them as a test subject…?”

“No.”

I’d end up drinking whatever potion she made using them as test subjects. No way I’d allow that.

I couldn’t give this woman, who could make such terrifying poisons without human experimentation, any more room to grow.

“Aww… Just one wouldn’t hurt…”

“…Putting aside her request, when do you plan to deal with those women?”

“Hmm… The pot’s almost empty, so just a little longer.”

The cauldron that had been full of stew was now nearly scraped clean.

Karn, who knew what was coming having helped with all the preparations, wore a troubled expression.

“I know they deserve death for their crimes, but I can’t say I’m entirely comfortable with this.”

“I’m not as kind as Pierre, you know.”

Pierre’s kindness 200 years ago led to this mess. It was time to cover that kindness with cruelty.

Shortly after, when the cauldron was completely empty, I descended from the platform and dragged the Ponpon women up by their arms.

They resisted, but how could their frail bodies withstand the strength of someone trained in Baldo?

Dragged onto the platform like cattle to slaughter, they wept, but no one showed an ounce of sympathy.

As they stood on the platform, the crowd fell silent, anticipating what was to come.

“Now that everyone’s finished eating… let the execution begin!”

At those words, nobles and commoners alike united in a roar that spread throughout the entire domain.

As the seemingly endless cheers finally died down, Karn stepped forward and listed their crimes one by one.

Impersonating Pierre’s descendants.

Gaining unfair advantages by impersonating Pierre’s descendants.

Selling off various weapons Pierre had left for his family by impersonating his descendants.

And finally, something everyone had forgotten—their murder of their husbands. Enraged husbands in the crowd shouted:

“Husband slayers!”

“Throw those b*tches off a cliff too!”

“Poison them! Poison is better!”

As the crowd hurled insults and dinnerware, I raised my hand to stop them.

“Quiet.”

At that single word, everyone fell silent. I smiled with satisfaction and spoke.

“As you’ve all heard, these women have committed crimes worthy of death! Therefore, I sentence them to death by boiling!”

“Woooaaahhh!”

Boiling alive—a punishment as cruel and painful as being burned at the stake, if not more so for its prolonged suffering.

“Fill the cauldron with water!”

At my command, the magicians standing by began pouring water into the cauldron.

Seeing the bubbling water and rising steam, the women slumped to the ground, having abandoned all hope.

“…Do you want to live?”

At those words, the women’s heads, which had been bowed to the ground, lifted slightly.

“I’ll ask again. Do you want to live?”

“…Y-yes, we want to live. It’s shameless, but we want to live! Please…!”

“Save us! At least don’t kill us like this! Please!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Just die already!”

As the women cried out to be spared, the enraged citizens began to cause an uproar.

“Enough.”

With that single word, I calmed the citizens once more. Looking at the women begging for their lives, I said:

“Then survive.”

“…Pardon?”

“One hour! If you can endure for one hour, I’ll spare your lives!”

Right after saying that, I snapped my fingers, and Karn conjured a large hourglass in the sky.

The women looked back and forth between the hourglass and me. The daughter spoke up in a shrill voice.

“Don’t be absurd! There’s no way a person can survive in boiling water for an hour!”

“That’s why! I’ll give you these!”

Saying that, I tossed them each a staff. It wasn’t cheap, but it certainly wasn’t high-end either. The two looked at me, dumbfounded, as they held the staves.

“How about it? Do you see a glimmer of hope that you might survive for an hour?”

Blocking external heat was a basic life magic that any mage could use.

Of course, it wasn’t designed for immersion in boiling water, so they’d have to push their mana to the limit to endure for an hour.

“What, you don’t like it? Should I take them back?”

“Ugh…!”

Thinking they didn’t need the staves, I reached out to take them back. The women clutched them like mothers protecting their children.

“Looks like you’ve accepted my mercy after all.”

Just as the water reached the perfect temperature for entry, I pointed at the simmering cauldron and said:

“Now then, into the hot bath!”

-Bubble bubble!

Faced with a cauldron emitting heat unlike anything they’d ever felt, it was impossible to enter immediately when told to do so.

“M-mom…!”

In her distress, the daughter tried to lean on her mother, but mom was trembling just like her daughter, faced with unimaginable pain.

‘To survive, I need to control my magic well! While the water temperature is still low, use as little magic as possible… Focus the magic on the lower body where the water directly touches rather than the upper body…!’

As they desperately tried to think of ways to survive, their balance suddenly shifted, and they toppled towards the cauldron.

“Huh?”

Turning around instantly, they saw that man grinning as he kicked the mother into the cauldron as well.

“I’d grow old waiting for you two.”

Before they could say anything, the scorching heat enveloped their bodies, and they plunged into the boiling water.

“Kyaaaaaah!”