GalaxyTL
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Arc 12 begins.
“……They’re late! Where the hell are those fools selling oil…!!”
In an office room surrounded by antiquated furniture, a man paced back and forth with his arms folded.
His eyes rimmed by dark circles had a sharp gaze.
Mischievous arched eyebrows, a hooked nose, and slicked back chestnut brown hair.
Rude as it may be, ten out of ten people would undoubtedly declare “Ah, this guy is a villain” upon seeing this ill-favored face belonging to Giovanno Ack Toh!
A nobleman granted the rank of count in the Pokkeroce Kingdom.
And……befitting that villainous countenance, he was an unrepentant great villain!
Giovanno was a count.
One could say he was in a position to protect his subjects and ensure their livelihoods.
And yet!
He had been secretly capturing the residents of his own Count Toh territory!
Illegally selling them as slaves for money, dirtying his hands in the unlawful human trafficking business!
A villain among villains, an unforgivable great villain!
The reason he currently paced his room in irritation was because contact had been lost with the slave-capturing squad he had dispatched.
Though a band of unruly, dignity-less thugs nauseating enough to make one sick, until now they had reliably completed the jobs paid for.
Yet for some reason, those very same thugs had now gone completely incommunicado.
(Could they have taken the advance payment and fled? No, it’s unlikely they would pull such a thing now. Then…….)
Had they been captured by the national army instead?
The worst possible conclusion crossed Giovanno’s mind, beads of cold sweat forming on his brow.
If that was the case, he was doomed.
If those thugs were interrogated, his wicked deeds would undoubtedly be exposed to the light without fail.
That meant the death penalty for him.
Execution.
(No, but wait. Why would the army take action? How did this leak out?)
No answer came for what had occurred.
He did not know what to do either.
With no clue, only time continued passing.
Before he knew it, the light shining through the office window had become quite red, the surroundings gradually darkening as well.
“…………Phew……”
Scratching his head, Giovanno plopped down roughly into a chair.
The antique office chair creaked miserably under the abuse.
His throat was completely parched.
“……Hey! Tea! Someone bring me tea!!”
He bellowed irritably.
But no response came.
“What’s going on……hey, is anyone there!?”
Cold sweat formed anew on Giovanno’s brow!
This was strange!
Certainly he had dismissed the servants from the office today in anticipation of meeting with the slave-capturing squad.
But even so, this was odd.
For not a single person to respond when their master yelled?
It was clearly abnormal!
Some kind of irregular situation must be occurring within his estate!!
“Tch!!”
Hastily standing from the chair to check outside the room, Giovanno started moving.
However, at that very moment!
“Don’t move——!!”
That childlike voice rang out as the office door was forcefully flung open!
“……Hah!?”
Unable to comprehend the sight before him, Giovanno unthinkingly froze in place per those words.
The person standing in the doorway, the source of that earlier voice, was a girl who could not have been even ten years old yet.
Her beautiful wavy ash-gray hair was dyed crimson by the setting sun’s light.
Giovanno knew this girl’s name.
“Mereucce Runtart……!?”
He inadvertently muttered it aloud.
Mereucce was the young lady of the Runtart Count family.
The rapidly developing Runtart territory infuriatingly bordered Giovanno’s own stagnating Count Toh territory, so as the daughter of its ruling lord, he had been acquainted with her face from a young age.
However, even without that, there was likely no one in the Pokkeroce Kingdom unfamiliar with her name.
Wisdom beyond her years! Swordsmanship! Magical aptitude!
She was the “Fledgling Phoenix of Runtart” highly esteemed even by the king himself, truly a maiden blessed by the gods.
“Giovanno Ack Toh! For your criminal acts of illegal slave trafficking and falsifying related ledgers, your wicked deeds are all known to me!”
Saying that, Mereucce scattered documents she had been carrying under her arm!
They were indeed copies of slave trade contracts bearing Giovanno’s signature!
Irrefutable proof of his illegal acts!
“Wh-What nonsense!? Where did you get these!?”
His face turning pale with panic, the flustered Giovanno was met with another barrage from Mereucce!
“Your crimes are already known to His Majesty the King as well! There is no possibility of escaping this!”
“H-How, why, how did…!?”
Giovanno’s mind reeled, his knees giving out!
Staggering, he placed a hand against the dirty, stained wall for support.
It was then that he saw it.
He saw what was outside the window.
Knights in silver armor had surrounded Giovanno’s estate.
Their armor dyed crimson by the setting sun, they were the king’s elite personal force, nicknamed the “White Dragon Knights” – a righteous order of law upholders who never pardoned evil!
“I had a bit of an inside track! I requested cooperation from the knights as well!”
Seeing Giovanno’s complexion further pale in contrast to the sunset scene, Mereucce grinned slyly!
(What kind of inside track!? How is a young lady commanding the White Dragon Knights!? That makes no sense!!)
“Now! Giovanno Ack Toh! Surrender at once!!”
“Gu, ku……Dammit———-!!”
In a final desperate struggle!
Giovanno drew the concealed dagger from his waist and hurled it straight at Mereucce!
(I won’t just die meekly! You’ve really done it now, you brat! You’re coming with me—-!!)
“Oh my! Were you unaware? I’m rather well-versed in martial arts myself?”
Mereucce simply tilted her petite head, easily evading Giovanno’s thrown dagger.
However!
Seeing that, Giovanno opened his bloodshot eyes wide as an lecherous grin spread across his face!
(How naive! No matter the fledgling phoenix, you’re just a little brat at the end of the day……lacking in actual experience! Now die!!)
For this man Giovanno had a “trump card”!
Originally not capable of anything particularly remarkable, but at this very moment, he had been concealing a trump card more than sufficient to kill the girl drunk on her own overconfidence standing before him!!
Giovanno focused his consciousness to activate that trump card, and then……!!
“That’s enough.”
A sharp hand strike struck the back of his neck, causing him to immediately lose consciousness and crumple to the floor without fanfare.
Standing behind Giovanno, having approached soundlessly to fell him with a single strike, was a tall woman wearing glasses and a maid uniform.
“Muuu! Viola! I told you not to take action, didn’t I!?”
The maid called Viola placed her hands on her chest and bent at the waist in a curtsy of apology to Mereucce, who was puffing out her cheeks adorably.
“My apologies, milady. However, this man seemed to be scheming something. Leaving him be could have led to fatal consequences. Please forgive me.”
“Mu, mu, muuu……I understand.”
With one heavy sigh, Mereucce begrudgingly acknowledged Viola’s reasoning.
She then approached the prone Giovanno lying face-down and squatted to rap him lightly on the head.
“……With this, I’ve avenged your parents’ grudge against you……Naracan……”
The setting sunlight shining through the window cast Mereucce’s squatting silhouette in an elongated shadow.
The clanking sounds of armor could be heard from outside the office.
The knights were coming to catch up after Mereucce had raced ahead.
……And thus the “Notorious Great Villain” wicked Count Giovanno Ack Toh was captured.
After one year’s imprisonment, he would face execution.