Sophie: "Oh, Ryu, are you alright?"

Ryu: "You were quick."

It was indeed Princess Sophie who had entered. Gitt knew her face, of course, as she was his cousin.

Gitt turned pale at the sight of Sophie but quickly regained his composure and put on a façade.

Gitt: "Well, well, if it isn't Princess Sophie. It's an honor to have you visit my humble mansion."

Sophie: "Gitt, Ryu is my fellow adventurer. I'm taking him back."

Gitt: "So the princess is an adventurer. As always, you live a carefree life... We seem to have similar tastes."

Sophie: "Don't compare yourself to me. You're still kidnapping young women and doing evil deeds. You won't get away with just being disinherited and exiled this time, will you?"

Actually, Viscount Gitt had a criminal record. He had been taking the young maids in his mansion into his room, torturing them, and killing them.

Initially, he had his people kidnap the daughters of commoners, but he wasn't satisfied. Eventually, Gitt started targeting the servants of the Duke's family.

Even though they were servants, those who served the Duke's family were from noble families. Many young maids went missing, and numerous petitions from their noble families led to an investigation, which uncovered the truth.

The incident was covered up to protect the Duke's family reputation. But even the Duke, who had spoiled his children, couldn't protect Gitt. He was disinherited.

However, the Duke, being merciful, gave him the title of Viscount and a territory in a rural area. (The people who lived in that area must have been very unhappy about it.)

Gitt: "What are you talking about? I may have been a bit wild in my youth, but now I'm a respectable lord fulfilling my duties."

Sophie: "Respectable, you say... You're doing your evil deeds in the neighboring territory instead?"

Gitt: " ...Even a princess shouldn't make baseless accusations without evidence."

Ryu: "The evidence is in the basement of this mansion."

Viscount Gitt glared at Ryu.

Taking a breath, Gitt turned to Sophie.

Gitt: " ...Are you an adventurer, Princess?"

Sophie: "Yes, so what?"

Gitt: "Did you tell anyone you were coming here?"

Sophie: "...I think I told Golant."

Gitt: "Golant?"

Marie: "He's the captain of the guard in Mimul."

Gitt (to himself): "I can silence him..."

Gitt: "So, if the princess disappears, we'll just say she went missing during her adventure. That's that!"

As Gitt winked, knights came rushing in from the hallway, surrounding Sophie and the others.

Gitt: "Haha, perhaps we'll add the princess to the collection of women in the basement. It's not very interesting to torment commoner women. I was just thinking I'd like to torture some proud noble women again."

Marie and the others grimaced as if they had seen something disgusting.

Ryu: "Do you really think you can do that?"

Gitt: "What are you going to do against so many people?"

Sophie and the others drew their swords, but Ryu raised his hand and stopped them.

Ryu: "Numbers? Where are they?"

At that moment, a magic circle appeared under the feet of the knights surrounding them. Their bodies grew faint and disappeared.

Ryu had teleported them away. (Only Ryu knows where he teleported them.)

Sophie: "Amazing, Ryu."

Gitt: "This... What? What happened?!"

Sophie: "Capture him!"

Marie and Alice charged at the Viscount. But Gitt, with his noble blood, had strong magical power. He instantly unleashed a fireball, but Ryu "stored" it all before it reached Marie and Alice.

Immediately after, Ryu teleported next to the Viscount and shackled him with the magic-absorbing shackles he had been wearing. He was glad he had kept them instead of breaking them. They came in handy.

Marie: "He's frightening as an enemy, but incredibly reliable as an ally..."

Gitt fell to his knees, his body weak. It seems his magic had been drained by the shackles. Ryu was a little surprised at how powerful they were.

(Scene Change)

(Ryu and the others, dragging Gitt, who was weak and drained of magic, roughly by the shackles, headed to the basement.)

Ryu used his brute force to open the cell doors. Was it because of his immense strength, or was the building just old? Every cell door easily broke open.

They entered the room in question at the end and were met with a sight so horrific that Sophie and the others couldn't even scream.

They had assumed that Gitt's crimes were limited to kidnapping women and raping them (which was still evil enough), but they realized that what he had done was beyond human decency.

Marie and the others began to rescue the imprisoned women. Ryu handed out potions he had stored in his spatial dimension and asked Sophie.

Ryu: "So, is this man going to be properly punished?"

Sophie: "Of course. He won't be spared."

Ryu: "But Golant said that nobles aren't punished severely for crimes against commoners. Won't that be the case here too?"

Sophie: "Well..."

Ryu: "Even if he is punished, it'll probably just be the guillotine and that's it."

Sophie: "...Is that not enough?"

Ryu: "Those women who were tortured and killed wouldn't find peace with such an easy death..."

He looked around and noticed one of the women, freed from her restraints, glaring at Gitt.

Sophie: "Then what should we do...?"

Ryu: "I have an idea. Why don't we let the women here take revenge? We can't do anything for the dead, but the ones who are alive would want to exact their revenge."

Ryu dragged Gitt to the center of the room and attached his shackles to the chains hanging from the ceiling.

Ryu: "Fortunately, there are plenty of tools here for torturing him."

Ryu said to the women.

"Do whatever you want. But don't kill him easily. Keep him alive and make him suffer for as long as possible."

Ryu then took out a large number of potions.

"You can use these. If you accidentally kill someone, you can use this to revive them, then torture them again."

Hearing that, the women's faces turned cruel. Seeing this, Gitt trembled and wet himself.

Ryu and the others left the room.

They could hear Gitt's screams coming from behind, but the sound was muffled because of the soundproofing Gitt had installed. The screams couldn't escape.

(Scene Change)

Ryu walked around the mansion, teleporting away the remaining knights and servants.

Sophie: "Where did you teleport those who disappeared?"

Ryu: "To the dungeon's bottom floor. If they defeat the floor boss and reach the teleportation circle, they can escape from the dungeon."

Alice: "The bottom floor... The boss is the Hydra."

Betty: "Ugh... No way."

Marie: "It wasn't just the knights who participated in Gitt's crimes, right? Some of the servants must have known as well."

Ryu: "I checked the knights and servants before I took care of them. I can tell if they're lying by looking into their eyes."

Ryu simply asked if they knew about Viscount Gitt's crimes. All the servants, who were at the bottom of the hierarchy, claimed they didn't know. But Ryu used his divine eye to read their minds and determine guilt or innocence. He was an infallible lie detector.

He released the servants who were simply at the bottom of the hierarchy and didn't know about anything, but almost all the servants (nobles) who worked in the mansion were guilty.

Finally, Ryu arrived in the courtyard.

Suddenly, Baron Toppo appeared, falling from the sky.

Toppo had quietly slipped out of the room when the knights surrounded Sophie and the others, and he had run away. It was a good decision, figuring out that Gitt had lost as soon as the princess arrived. But...

Toppo had been fleeing on horseback, but Ryu's divine eye hadn't missed him.

Toppo, who thought he had escaped, was teleported from his horse into the courtyard by Ryu.

Ryu: "Thought you could get away?"

Toppo: "Ugh! I'm a baron! What will happen if you attack me..."

Marie: "Did you think you could attack the princess and get away with it?"

Toppo: "N-no, I didn't do anything! It was all Viscount Gitt's doing!

Ryu: "You knew about the kidnapping of the women, didn't you? You knew what Gitt was doing in the basement?"

Toppo: "That's... No! I didn't know! I didn't know anything! I swear!"

Ryu: "You liar."

A magic circle appeared under Toppo's feet, and he disappeared.

Volume 2: The End

(Scene Change)

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(Text: The lord's order this time? The knights want to take Ryu into custody. Don't miss it!)