Chapter 50: Looming Threat, the Noble's Extortion (Patreon)

Behold! In that wonderful slum, something terrible was about to happen.

"Fresh out of the oven, never seen by anyone! The Ant Picture, completed from folk legends, showing the heroic figures of the world-saving party from four hundred years ago! Come take a look, come take a look!"

"Apples! Delicious, juicy apples!"

"Boss Natsuki's exclusive secret-recipe mayonnaise! Spread it on bread, take one bite, and you'll go speechless! There's only this little bit left. Damn it, we still aren't making enough, it sells too well! Ahhh, no, please, please stop buying! Boss Natsuki said we can eat whatever mayonnaise is left over at the end of each day, but apart from the first day, there's never been any left! I want to eat it, I want to eat it, ahhh! Customers, stop coming! It's all going to sell out, ahhhh!"

"Oh, a master has appeared! Ten throwing knives, ten perfect bullseyes! Please, take your pick of any prize you like, Master!"

"The Vanishing Head trick! It'll astonish the whole crowd!"

"All right, dear customer, first pick any card you like from this brand-new, just-unwrapped deck. Don't tell me what it is! Everyone else, please keep watch too. You can all vouch for me, I didn't peek! And of course, this customer is not my shill! Now we do this, then we do that, and there! I already know which card you drew. Time to reveal it!"

"So, what's in my hat? Oh dear, nothing at all, right? Huh? But where did these flowers come from? Oh my, oh my, and now a dove is flying out too~"

Across the whole royal capital, no, across all the territory of the Kingdom of Lugunica, no other place could match this bustle and joy. The slum had practically become a paradise where people could cut loose and enjoy themselves to the fullest.

The slum was already huge, but its fame had spread so far that customers were now pouring in from every direction. There were so many of them that the place had begun to feel a little crowded.

Plenty of middle-class customers were even discussing whether to band together and petition powerful, kindhearted figures like Duke Karsten or the Sword Saint Reinhard. They would beg them to lend a hand and allow the slum to be expanded, enlarging the paradise. Otherwise, as anyone could plainly see, it would only get more crowded, and that would be bad.

If it got too packed, Subaru Natsuki and Felt might introduce some kind of daily sold-out ticket system. And if they couldn't get a ticket, they'd be finished! How could they have any fun then?

Waaah, I want the slum paradise! I want the slum paradise!

But before they could act on their plans, a huge disturbance broke out that very day.

"Out of the way, out of the way! Anyone who blocks the road gets thrown in prison for breaking the law! If you know what's good for you, get lost!"

The arrogant, booming shouts stood out even in the slum's present uproar. It wasn't just one person yelling. At least a dozen voices were bellowing together, so overbearing that it made people frown the moment they heard it, and fear the moment after.

When they first started shouting, the visitors were still lost in their fun. But then the group closed in, grabbed people roughly, and, with no concern for whether they got hurt, flung them to either side like garbage.

The customers stumbled and tumbled, tossed away before they even understood what was happening. Their arms ached terribly and they cried out in pain. Some crashed into other customers on the way down, and complaints rose up all around.

But in the next instant, every one of those voices cut off dead.

"The… the Knights! It's the Knight Order!"

Some twenty or thirty Royal Knights stood in formation, fully armed, clad in armor with swords at their hips, gleaming silver. They ringed a single figure standing at the very center, out in front.

If it had only been the Knight Order, that would have been one thing, though the Royal Knights were not without their rotten apples.

Take the notorious head of the Sword Saint's house, Heinkel, father of the Sword Saint Reinhard. After his wife inexplicably fell into a vegetative state, he gave up on himself. He no longer carried himself like a knight at all, spending his days drinking and making scenes, and had bullied commoners more than once.

But such men were a small minority. The Royal Knights had their rotten apples, but the proportion was low. Most knights upheld the knightly code to some degree, conducted themselves admirably, and took the protection of the kingdom as their duty. They were fine people who would never oppress the kingdom's citizens without cause.

So when the common folk saw the Knight Order, they were neither afraid nor distant.

But this time was different.

The man the Royal Knights were escorting was none other than a piece of human trash in the kingdom, one far, far more notorious than Heinkel!

His grandfather was a member of the Council of Wise Men, a man of long standing who had earned merit assisting the previous emperor. His family's title was a duchy, the highest rank of nobility, equal to the Karsten house.

With a grandfather who was both a duke and a member of the Council of Wise Men, and a father who used his grandfather's influence to secure a senior post in the kingdom, the grandson naturally fared no worse. His position was exalted, and he only had to wait for his grandfather to die of old age before the dukedom passed straight to his beloved grandson.

And this scoundrel, though he held no title yet and his only status was the royal official's post he owed to his grandfather and father, was known to everyone for one thing. Cross him even slightly and he could make a complaint that would be pushed straight up the chain, and then you would face the wrath of the Council of Wise Men and a duke combined.

So over the years the scoundrel had run wild in the capital, throwing his weight around. By now he had bullied countless decent citizens, even merchants, even lower-ranking nobles. Many had been humiliated in public by him, and many had been extorted for money.

All because he found it fun. He loved watching people hate him to death yet not dare show it in the slightest, forced instead to smile and fawn on him, and to sing his praises even as he ground them into the dirt.

True, Duke Karsten would never sit by while someone like him oppressed the kingdom's people. But what of it? Duke Karsten was only a duke. His family was a duke plus a member of the Council of Wise Men, a double-pronged shield. No matter how much Duke Karsten wanted to rein him in, she would never have the authority.

Besides, Duke Karsten was away from the capital for long stretches, running her own domain, and had come now only because of the Royal Selection.

As for the Sword Saint Reinhard? Ha, needless to say, that man was a pedant, a loyal dog of the kingdom who obeyed any order the state handed down.

The scoundrel's grandfather was a member of the Council of Wise Men, so of course he had long since issued an order forbidding Reinhard from interfering with his grandson's misdeeds.

So what could the Sword Saint do?

And so the unstoppable scoundrel of the Cavendish family, escorted by a company of deeply humiliated Royal Knights and the lackeys his own house kept as pets, now descended in grand style upon the freshly transformed slum!