Chapter 57: Crusch's Return (Patreon)

"Otto!"

Subaru Natsuki answered, and the gentleness at his core softened the icy edge of his gaze for a moment. He called across the distance, "Is everyone safe?"

"Some people are hurt, but it's fine, nothing serious! Lady Felt and Old Man Rom are both unharmed. You got here just in time. I love you to death!"

Otto was a mess of tears and snot. He had come within a hair's breadth of dying. One of the duke's guards had already broken through to him and was about to run him through. Subaru's sudden appearance had distracted the man, and that was the only reason Otto had managed to kill him first. Otherwise he'd be a dead man right now.

"That's him!" Felt bared her fangs and pointed, shouting her accusation. "That scum of a noble said he'd kill every one of us and take the whole slum!"

Subaru's face hardened and his cold eyes swung back to Cavendish III.

He had known that anything bad enough to make Otto send an urgent messenger had to be serious. Even so, it was worse than he'd expected.

Someone wanted to kill. Someone intended to kill.

For the first time in his life, it wasn't just wanting to. It was actually going to happen.

Subaru tightened his grip on the frost sword and let out a slow, heavy breath. If the man wanted to kill him, he could forgive that. If the man coveted the foundation he'd built, he could even understand that.

But killing everyone in the slum, Felt included… The countless emperor stories he'd read, and the lessons he'd drawn from them, surged through Subaru's mind.

He was kind, no doubt about it. But his kindness was never meant for scum like this!

Sparing a piece of filth like that wouldn't be kindness. It would be cowardice. It would be playing the holier-than-thou bleeding heart!

"I get it now… Hah. Leave it to me, Felt. Every debt owed here, I'll make him pay in full!"

"W-what are you doing? Wait! If you back off now, I might still forgive you! Kill a member of a ducal house and no country will take you in, not even abroad! They'll hand you right over!"

Subaru's eyes grew colder and thirstier for blood as he advanced, sword raised. Cavendish III panicked, his eyes darting left and right. "Attack! Why aren't you attacking? If I die, you're all going to the grave with me!"

The guards and private soldiers heard that and had no choice. Attack or not, if Cavendish III died, his grandfather on the Council of Wise Men would surely make them follow him into death.

But in a flash of blades, a streak of light cut across the air. Every guard and soldier who dared block Subaru's path dropped to the ground, blood spraying from wounds all over their bodies. It was a chilling sight.

The gap in strength was too great. No matter how Cavendish III urged them on, the rest trembled in fear and no longer dared to face Subaru.

The slum residents, propping each other up, had stars in their eyes. They were filled with admiration, and they proudly puffed out their chests.

The tables had turned.

With a boss this strong, this dependable, and this decisive, how could they not be proud?

So what if he was from a ducal house? He was still about to piss himself in front of their boss, a man of the lower class!

The slum folk felt pride and admiration. The tourists who had come from outside the slum for fun, on the other hand, all stood stunned and slack-jawed.

What was going on here?

This slum boss called Subaru Natsuki. Did he mean to kill Cavendish III right in front of everyone?

C-could something like that really happen?

In four hundred years, cases of commoners killing nobles could be counted on one hand. Killing a high noble of ducal rank had never happened even once!

Just how fearless was this man called Subaru Natsuki? Did he have no awe of nobility at all?

Could it be that they were about to witness history today?!

Sensing real danger, Cavendish III hid behind Julius and screamed abuse in a frenzy.

"A bunch of useless trash! What are you even doing? Did I feed you all this time just so you could humiliate me? Useless, useless! Forget it, I won't count on you. Luckily I already had someone wake up that Sword Demon. Heh heh, I only meant to torment him with it, but now he's turned into my reinforcements…"

"Is that so? I wasn't aware that Sir Wilhelm van Astrea had become the savior of a stain on the kingdom like you!"

Cavendish III hadn't lost hope yet. He still had a trump card and still believed he would live.

But the moment he finished speaking, an icy aura swept in. Wearing a military uniform, her green hair flowing, Crusch strode in with ringing steps, dashing and commanding, and took her place on the scene!

"—"

All eyes turned to her.

Cavendish III stared in blank astonishment at the heroic woman in uniform. "Duke Karsten?!"

Subaru stopped moving too. He turned to look, surprise written across his face.

As for the crowd, there was no need to say more. Too much had changed too fast, and it was dizzying. Now yet another famous figure had appeared!

Subaru looked at Crusch. "Duke Karsten?"

That handsome face, that green hair, that figure. There was no mistake. This was Cru-Cru. It had only been a day, and he hadn't forgotten what Cru-Cru looked like.

"…Forgive me."

Seeing Sir Natsuki's confusion, Crusch gave a wry smile and apologized. "As you can see, 'Cru-Cru' was only an alias I used yesterday to hide my identity. I meant to reveal who I was after our talk, but things went wrong. I never intended to deceive you…"

"Duke Karsten, do you know what you're doing?!"

Cavendish III cut off Crusch's apology and reunion, shouting in outrage. "What are you doing, standing with a lowborn peasant who means to overthrow the kingdom? Hurry up and save me! Save me!"

Interrupted, Crusch let out a small sigh. Her voice and expression instantly turned to frost, and she rebuked him coldly. "You commit a crime like this and still dream of being saved by me? How deluded can you be?"

She loathed Cavendish III so much that she no longer even bothered with the courtesy of "Sir."

Cavendish III kept scrambling for excuses. "What crime? I came here on the orders of the Council of Wise Men! Even if you're a Royal Selection candidate now, you can't defy the Council of Wise Men's orders!"

"Enough!"

Crusch turned away from him flatly. "I don't care what lies behind your Council's order. An order this unreasonable, even if every member of the Council of Wise Men had approved it, I will not obey it this time. The Council has made a grave mistake, and it cannot be allowed to go on making it!"

She was grateful. After her talk with Subaru Natsuki yesterday, she had stationed people near the slum to report to her if anything happened, and that was why she could arrive in time now.

On the way, she had also met Sir Wilhelm van Astrea, who didn't know what was happening and believed he was going to suppress a riot. If Sir Wilhelm had fought Sir Natsuki and hurt him, she would never have been able to rest in peace.