Ch. 55 - The Demon King Descends

When I asked the man known as Garonne of the White Ash a question, he opened his mouth with a bewildered expression.

"Even if you were the commander of the knights, I don't think I can answer that question."

Garonne sighed and looked at Kalila. "Are you out of your mind? Who is this woman?"

Cutting off the conversation with me and turning to speak to Kalila. How rude.

As I watched with half-closed eyes, Kalila's face twitched, and she shook her head from side to side. "Garonne, I can't watch this anymore. Can I step outside? You probably won't die."

"Kalila… there's a limit to provocations. No matter how you look at it, there's no way I'm going to let you leave for such a trivial reason. Besides, after you made such disrespectful remarks, I can't let you leave for the sake of my reputation," Garonne said in a low, menacing voice.

Then he raised one hand. The men in the room grabbed their weapons and stepped forward.

"If you're resorting to violence, then our conversation is over," I said quietly.

Immediately, a cold light shone in Garonne's eyes. "Teach that woman a lesson."

The men around us all leaped into action.

The magician started chanting, and those with blades quickly closed the distance. They all took up positions that would let them swing their swords easily. Impressive.

In particular, the large swordsman near the door moved well. He covered the distance in one leap and swung his slightly thick, straight sword down in a diagonal slash.

Staring at the tip of the sword, I nodded slightly. "Impressive. It seems you have skills comparable to Kalila."

With that, I thrust my fist forward. With another opponent closing in, I took a half-step forward to maintain my balance and straightened my closest hand.

With a sound like a heavy object hitting thick fabric at high speed, the swordsman was sent rolling backwards.

Seeing this, the eyes of those approaching widened.

"There are many of you, so let's make this quick." I turned my toes and spun around in one motion.

The magician was still chanting.

Infusing mana, I uttered the spell name, "[Sandstorm Blast, Sandblast]."

Immediately, sand and pebbles appeared in the air and were launched with such force that the environment was obscured. It was like a powerful one-meter-wide sandstorm, and those weak to such an attack collapsed on the spot.

"Gya―!"

The unpleasant screams of men resounded all around. Those who tried to attack with weapons also stopped and writhed in pain.

Seeing this, I decided to save time and quickly moved to finish the fight. "Excuse me."

I went around striking the stomachs of the standing men.

"… How pitiful."

I heard Kalila's sympathetic voice from behind, but when I glanced back, she quickly closed her mouth.

Finally, Garonne was the only one left. He looked around at his groaning subordinates in a daze and then looked at me. "W-w-what just happened? In that instant, what…"

Garonne muttered to himself like he was in a nightmare, but after regaining his senses, he became cooperative.

Thus, after visiting and negotiating with four large organizations over the course of a few days, all of them promised to cooperate with me.

Surprisingly, they were reasonable people once we talked. In the end, they all agreed to earn money without causing trouble for ordinary citizens.

However, it was impossible for those who had only engaged in unjust activities to suddenly become decent merchants. So I allowed the five organizations that promised cooperation and the small outlaw groups that followed them to manage casinos.

However, strict rules had to be followed: customers must be over twenty years old, no lending beyond what was repayable, and so on.

And the fundamental principles: no drugs, no human trafficking, and no harm to ordinary citizens.

With those agreements, I retrieved the academy students. I warned them briefly to ensure that they would never gamble again. The students must have had terrifying experiences due to their debts, so I handed the trembling students over to Rox to take care of.

"You're not planning to control this country from the shadows, right…? No, never mind," Rox said with a pale face but nodded regarding the students.

The problem was the outlaws, but after my persuasion, they reluctantly backed down.

"I see. It seems it’s less likely for problems to arise if there’s a large organization that can be controlled. Indeed… even if we destroy all the organizations, new ones will just form. But if people find out we're deliberately turning a blind eye, we'll definitely be criticized. Especially if royalty is involved, it will be terrible. If word leaks, we'll be criticized internationally…"

"Is it difficult?"

"… I'll manage somehow."

He seemed troubled, so I asked him again. He reluctantly agreed while holding his head. If it was too difficult, I had thought about the troublesome task of repeatedly destroying organizations, but if Rox was willing to put in the effort, that was fine.

"Thank you." I expressed my gratitude to Rox, who backed away with a groan, his face reddening.

"What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing!" Rox coughed and averted his gaze. Then he left after confirming the details of what I asked.

Thus, the world's deepest darkness that had permeated Academy City was quietly and swiftly subdued, coming under the control of a single woman, though only few knew this fact.

Thanks to Rox's efforts, it did not come to light, but anyone who stepped into the underworld would inevitably hear the words, "Never defy the Witch of the Academy."

Comments