Chapter 102: 057. Imperial Prince Saw Him -1 (Part Two)

“H-hey, it’s Charlotte.”

Suddenly, the boys looked really tense.

Hang on, did some kind of strange rumours about Charlotte spread around in the academy or something?

The boys were exchanging quick glances with each other.

‘What should we do?’

‘It’ll be fine. She’s just a commoner, isn’t she? She can’t do anything to us.’

‘However, didn’t a descendant of a viscount family end up getting beaten to a bloody pulp after trying to seduce her earlier?’

‘That’s just a viscount family. We aren’t the same as that small fry since we’re from major noble houses!’

The three boys were arguing with each other.

I turned my head towards Charlotte and asked her. “What’s this about a bloody pulp?”

“It’s nothing much. A slight misunderstanding, nothing more.”

She responded while sounding unconcerned.

Well, I guess it’s not something to be worried about then...

While I was thinking to myself, the boys finally finished their little meeting. They spoke while coughing to clear their throats.

“Ahem. In any case, they should be the same as Heis since they hang out together.”

“I know everyone from the major noble houses, after all.”

They were glancing in Charlotte’s direction now. The way they swept their gazes all over her from top to bottom was seriously getting on my nerves.

Hmm, should I beat the living daylights out of them?

Argh, just forget it.

Weren’t they just kids from the duke and marquis families? Those noble houses still served the Imperial Family. Besides, these punks were probably still too immature, that’s all.

“Let’s ignore them.”

I spoke up and Charlotte nodded in agreement. I turned around and headed towards the cafeteria.

Did they think we got intimidated by them? Suddenly their attitude became even more cocky.

“Your name is Charlotte, isn’t it? We’ll call for you later on, so come alone, got that?”

“Oh, as for you, the small guy next to Heis? The same thing for you too. Don’t worry, we’ll help you do something especially fun later.”

“...Especially fun, is it?” I asked while turning my head.

The boys shrugged their shoulders, and then pointed at Heis before explaining themselves.

“The thing he couldn’t do? We’ll help you do it. And if you’re from a famous house, then we’ll make sure it’s even more fun.”

The boys cackled away.

I blinked my eyes a couple of times and stared at Heis. He was shedding a lot of cold sweat drops while staring at the floor.

“...You know, that’s a pretty interesting story,” I said while turning my head to look at them. A smile slowly crept up on my face. “Can you tell me more about it?”

“Would you listen to this kid? Where’s your polite speech? Do you think your seniors are a bunch of jokes or something?”

Despite frowning deeply, they still continued with what they wanted to say.

historical

“It’s nothing much, really. Simply put, it’s about managing personal connections, that’s all. A present that we give to our juniors in the academy.”

“What kind of present?” I asked while trying to sound ‘innocent’.

“There are plenty of commoners in the academy, right?”

“We simply pick one of them.”

“And then...”

They began sending me rather evil leers.

“...We enjoy the meal together, get my drift?”

Well, I got the gist of it, more or less.

I thought that the Theocratic Empire was clean as a whistle, but as it turned out, I was wrong.

What remained after chasing out the Vampires from your house was a bunch of trash-pit bottom dwellers of human beings.

The old saying went that humans were scarier than spectres, and it proved to be correct in this case.

A groan automatically leaked out of my mouth.

I looked over to Heis and spoke up. “Hey, Heis.”

“Y-yes?!”

“Go fetch me a shovel, will ya?”

“...I beg your pardon?”

“Let’s just bury them away now. I won’t stand the sight of these idiots becoming the heads of their own houses in the future.”

Whether I liked the idea or not, I had to live in this Theocratic Empire for the rest of my life.

I’ve already earned the trust of both Luan and Hilda, so as long as one of them inherits the Holy Emperor’s throne, I could live a safe life while doing whatever I pleased.

However, there was a small problem with that scenario. If these kinds of idiots showed up and started causing headaches, then it’d put me in a bit of a spot.

I wasn’t sure about how Hilda would react in such cases, but if it was Luan, there was a very good chance that he’d do whatever it took to entice me into taking care of these idiots.

Since that was the case, I might as well snip the potential buds of trouble in the heads right now.

Heis’s complexion paled instantly. He must’ve recalled the events from back in Ronia since he took a stumbling step back with fluster. “N-no, you can’t. They’re from major noble houses, s-so even if it’s you, Saint-nim...”

“Charlotte.”

“Should I bring one from the academy’s storage?”

It’s good that this girl was so quick-witted.

“Heh, you sound like you’re interested?”

The three boys smirked and walked up to us.

One of them reached out towards me with his hand. But before he could touch my shoulder, the boy’s whole body suddenly floated up in the air.

“Eh?”

Now that was a beautiful example of a back throw.

Charlotte grabbed the boy’s hand and exquisitely slammed the fool down to the ground.

After making a squishy splat noise, the boy dazedly stared at the empty ceiling.

Meanwhile, she tidied up her attire and glared down at the downed boy.

“Ohh! Charlotte, that’s so cool!”

I clapped my hands in admiration, and she smiled rather smoothly as her reply.

The still-standing boys stumbled back while looking at her in shock.

“H-hold on, what is the meaning of...!”

“How dare a commoner lay her hands on us! Do you know what’s going to happen to you now?!”

“Ohhh, so are you saying that it’ll be okay as long as it’s not a commoner, eh?”

While asking that, I snapped my fingers.

It was right then – a loud bang resounded out from the academy’s roof.

The boys all looked up. Their expressions froze up right there and then.

“Ah, it looks like you guys don’t know about it yet.” I swept my gaze over at the three boys and smiled deeply. “...That there’s a fairy in Humite that abducts naughty children. You three probably haven’t heard about this story, I guess.”

Up on the roof of one of the academy’s buildings was a Blue Santa holding a large pouch in one hand and wielding a machete with the other.

Its crimson eyes were locked on its new targets.

“...Wha, what...?!”

“Th-the, R-Red Devil?! S-security!”

The boys yelped out. They were about to flee from here while looking back, but the Blue Santa managed to pounce on them first.

It proceeded to whack their backs with the machete’s handle.

“Keo-eork...!”

Screams resounded out in the corridor; the other students hurriedly scattered away from there.

Hiiiya~, this turned into a proper mess, hasn’t it? It’s a complete madhouse now. Man, this brings back memories from my first raid on the Necromancer hideout!

I quietly shook my head.

I tried to keep it down low, yet the matter spiralled out of proportions in an instant.

Holy cow! To think that a Blue Santa would suddenly appear in the academy and abduct the children of the nobles! A ‘Santa Claus’ that respected gender equality and didn’t care about one’s status? Wasn’t that a wonderful concept?

Still, this had to qualify as the ‘quieter’ way of doing things, rather than me personally beating the snot out of these kids. Besides, just like what my dear third brother asked of me, I hadn’t even touched a hair on these kids either.

...Well, I kept half of our promise, didn’t I?

Ah, hang on! Since I’m about to warn these duke and marquis houses, I might as well properly educate these fools using this opportunity too.

The Blue Santa glanced at me.

“Stuff them inside while making sure not to harm them too much.”

The undead nodded while Charlotte simply watched the scene unfold before her. However, Heis next to us had lost all of the colours from his complexion.

“W-what’s going on here?!”

Eventually, the security guards showed up on the scene.

“T-the Blue Santa?!”

The moment they spotted my Blue Santa, they visibly hesitated.

They couldn’t do anything. All they could do for now was just watch the creature stuff these three scions from noble families inside the pouch.

However, that was kinda obvious. The ‘Heresy Inquisitor’ personally selected by the Holy Emperor had issued a decree that none would be allowed to even harm a hair on the Blue Santas found in Humite.

If any soldiers or guards attacked without the shared consent of three archbishops or more, then they would immediately be arrested and punished for the treasonous action of disobeying an imperial decree.

This was the reason why the security guards didn’t do anything even after finding a Blue Santa out in the streets as well.

The Blue Santa glanced at me once more.

I grinned at it and issued another order. “Deliver your cargo to the Crimson Cross. Tell them to instil some morals in the minds of these kids.”

The undead cackled while jumping up to the rooftop. It eventually disappeared from our view.

“Now that we got rid of some dirty trash, let’s go and have our meal in peace, shall we?” I asked the two people beside me nonchalantly.

Charlotte nodded and followed after me.

Heis, on the other hand, just stood in his spot with a hardened expression while alternating his gaze between me and the direction where the Blue Santa had disappeared to.

On the next day.

A trio of buck-naked boys who belonged to some duke or marquis houses or some such were discovered in one of the vacant lots dotting around Humite.

This became a bit of a problem, because it was supposed to be the day of Aslan’s envoy arriving and paying a visit to Humite.

The Third Imperial Prince Ruppel Olfolse learned of the news and immediately sought me out.

His face was as red as it could be and he was clearly angry about ‘something’ here. “Did you do it?!”

I looked at my brother and his terrible mood before smiling brightly.

He must’ve been talking about those three mangnani ‘musketeers’. Oh well, they were from the duke and marquis families, after all. Meaning, they weren’t people that could be handled willy-nilly.

But through this incident, we now had a clear justification to punish those houses, though.

Investigate the duke and marquis houses involved and uncover all of their corrupt dealings, plus other instances of them abusing their authority to harm the commoners – it should be possible to expose them all and punish them accordingly.

Ruppel couldn’t help but groan loudly.

Well, my dear brother was probably under a lot of stress with the matter of the envoy from Aslan, so it made some sense that he’d get pissed off from what I’ve done.

So, I simply decided to come out clean.

“Yes, I was responsible.”

Ruppel gritted his teeth. And then, he spat out some words that I didn’t expect at all.

“You’ve lost your mind, haven’t you?! On the very day that the envoy is supposed to arrive in the city, how could you hang Necromancers by their necks on Humite’s plaza! Just what were you thinking?!”

I ended up freezing on the spot from what he said.

< 057. Imperial Prince Saw Him -1 (Part One and Two) > Fin.