【Charge! Young Miss Mereucce!】Capture! Count Giovanno!

Arc 12 begins.

“......They're late! Where in blazes are those fools dawdling......!!”

In a study surrounded by antiquated furnishings, a man was pacing back and forth with his arms crossed.

His eyes, ringed with dark circles, were sharp.

His eyebrows bent into a nasty, upside-down V, his nose was hooked like a hawk's, and his dark brown hair was slicked back.

It's rude to say so, but his face was so wicked that 10 out of 10 people would declare, “Ah, this guy's a villain.” This man's name: Giovanno Ack Toh!

He was a noble who had been granted the rank of count in the Pokkeroce Kingdom.

And...... fitting for that foul face, he was also an irredeemable scoundrel!

Giovanno was a count.

One could say he was in a position to protect the people of his domain and safeguard their lives.

And yet!

He was secretly capturing the very people who lived in his own Toh County!

And selling them off as illegal slaves for cold, hard cash, dirtying his hands in the unlawful business of human trafficking!

A villain among villains, a great villain who could never be forgiven!

Why was he pacing the room in such a temper right now? Because the slave-capturing squad he had sent out had stopped reporting in.

They were thugs so crude and devoid of dignity it was nauseating, but until now, they had always done exactly as much work as he paid them for.

Yet for some reason, that very lot had gone completely silent.

(Could it be they took the advance and ran? No, there's no reason for them to do that at this stage. In that case......)

Had they been captured by the national army?

The worst possible conclusion crossed his mind, and cold sweat broke out on Giovanno's forehead.

If that were the case, he was ruined.

If those thugs were interrogated, his misdeeds would undoubtedly be exposed to the light of day.

If that happened, he would be sentenced to death.

Execution.

(No, but wait. Why would the national army move? Where did I slip up?)

No answer came as to what had happened.

He didn't know what to do.

And as he floundered without an answer, time simply slipped away.

Before he knew it, the light streaming through the study window had turned quite red, and the surroundings were gradually growing dim.

“............Phew......”

Giovanno clawed at his head and dropped roughly into his chair.

Even that was enough to make the old office chair shriek, mishi mishi.

His throat was parched.

“......Hey! Tea! Someone, bring me some tea!!”

He shouted, giving in to his irritation.

But there was no answer.

“What...... Hey, is nobody here!?”

Cold sweat broke out on Giovanno's forehead again!

This was strange!

It was true that since he had a secret meeting scheduled with the slave-capturing squad today, he had kept the servants away from the study.

But even so, it was strange.

Their master was bellowing, and yet not a single one of them answered?

That was clearly strange!

Some kind of emergency was happening inside his mansion!!

“Tch!!”

Giovanno leapt up from his chair and moved to see what was going on outside the room.

But still, it was at that very moment!

“DON'T MOOOOOVE!!!”

that such a young voice rang out, and the study door was flung wide open!

“......Huh!?”

His mind couldn't keep up with the sight, and Giovanno froze dead on the spot, obeying the command in spite of himself.

The person standing beyond the door, the owner of the voice from a moment ago, was a girl who looked to be not yet ten years old.

Giovanno knew the name of this girl, whose beautiful, wavy gray hair was dyed crimson by the setting sun.

“Mereucce Runtart......!?”

The name slipped from his lips in spite of himself.

Mereucce was the daughter of the House of Count Runtart.

Runtart County, which to his great annoyance had flourished remarkably in recent years, lay right next to Toh County, whose decline showed no sign of stopping, and as she was the daughter of the lord who ruled it, Giovanno had known her face since she was little.

But even if he hadn't, there was likely no one in the Pokkeroce Kingdom who didn't know her name.

Knowledge! Swordsmanship! Magic power! Each of them enough to put grown-ups to shame!

For she was the “Fledgling Phoenix of Runtart,” held in high favor by His Majesty the King, a girl truly beloved of the gods.

“Giovanno Ack Toh! Illegal slave trading, and all the doctored account books that go with it! I already see right through every one of your misdeeds!”

With that, Mereucce flung the documents she'd been carrying under her arm into the air!

Those were indeed copies of the slave trading contracts signed by Giovanno!

Irrefutable evidence of illegal acts!

“Wh, impossible!? Where did you, get these!?”

Giovanno went deathly pale and flew into a panic, and Mereucce pressed home her attack!

“His Majesty the King already knows what you've done as well, I'll have you know! There is no talking your way out of this anymoore!”

“No, why, how......!?”

Giovanno was so distraught that the strength left his knees!

He staggered in spite of himself and caught himself with a hand on the grimy, stained wall.

At that moment, he saw it.

He saw what was outside the window.

And what was there?

Outside the window, knights clad in silver-white armor were surrounding Giovanno's mansion.

Their armor dyed crimson by the setting sun, they were the elite who served the King directly, known as the “White Dragon Knights”...... a righteous order that upheld the law and never forgave evil!

“I happen to have a few connections, you see! The good knights were kind enough to lend me their help, too!”

Giovanno's face went even paler, in stark contrast to the sunset-dyed scene, and at the sight of it, Mereucce grinned!

(What kind of connections are THOSE!? Why is some count's daughter commanding the White Dragon Knights!? That's insane, isn't it!!?)

“Now! Giovanno Ack Toh! Give yourself up!!”

“Gu, kuh...... DAMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!”

A desperate, reckless struggle!

Giovanno took the self-defense knife he had hidden at his waist and aimed it at Mereucce...... then threw it with all his might!

(I won't die for nothing! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME, YOU LITTLE BRAAAAAT! YOU'RE COMING DOWN WITH MEEEE!!)

“Oh my! Didn't you know? I dabble a little in martial arts as well, you know?”

Mereucce dodged Giovanno's knife effortlessly by tilting her head slightly.

But still!

His bloodshot eyes wide, Giovanno watched her do it, and smiled a nasty smile!

(Naive! Fledgling Phoenix or not, she's only a brat in the end...... she hasn't been through enough scrapes! ......Die!!)

This man, Giovanno, had a “trump card”!

Normally it couldn't do anything all that grand, but right here and now, it was more than enough to kill or maim the cocky brat in front of him: the trump card he had kept secret all this time!!

Giovanno focused his mind to unleash his trump card, and then......!!

“Right, that's enough.”

A sharp hand chop landed on the nape of his neck, and just like that, he dropped to the floor, out cold.

The one who had slipped soundlessly behind Giovanno and knocked him out cold with a single blow was a tall woman in glasses and a maid's uniform.

“Muu! Viola! I told you, not to interfere, didn't I!?”

Mereucce puffed out her cheeks adorably, and the maid called Viola laid a hand on her chest and bowed in apology.

“My apologies, young miss. But this man appeared to be plotting something. Left alone, he could have brought about a fatal situation. Please forgive me.”

“Mu, mu, muu...... Fine, I understand.”

Mereucce let out a sigh and, looking somewhat reluctant, accepted Viola's reasoning.

Then she walked over to Giovanno, who lay face-down on the floor, crouched down, and gave his head a little tap.

“......With this, I've avenged your parents...... Narakan......”

The sunset streaming through the window stretched the shadow of the crouching Mereucce longer and longer.

From outside the study, the gasha gasha sound of armor rubbing together could be heard.

The knights had come to catch up with Mereucce, who had charged ahead.

......And so, ‘the unprecedented great villain’, the wicked count Giovanno Ack Toh, was captured.

And after a year in custody...... his sentence was to be carried out.