Volume 1: 08 - Virtuous Old Man, This is Your Fate Encounter with the Emperor

「Stop it! 」

「Hmm? 」

On this day, as usual, as I and Angie are out in town, a blustering voice jumped into our ears.

We turned our attention to the voice.

It is a girl being tangled up with a man on the busy boulevard of Molech.

The girl is probably 16 years old. She is an unquestionably beautiful girl who looks strong with nice features.

The man on the other hand is around twenty years old. His face is well-groomed too, but his frivolity precedes it, which is a shame.

The man is flirting with her using frivolous, all-too-common words, and the girl is not impressed.

It’s a lousy flirtation.

Pedestrians around them are either watching from the distance or pretending not to care.

「Alec-sama, we have to help her 」

「Yes, Let’s help her. You have to stay close to me, Angie. And keep your healing magic ready for me 」

「Yes! 」

The cute Angie is enthusiastic. I take her in tow and walked towards the two individuals.

「Why don’t you leave it at that? 」

「Get out of my way – kid. It’s ten years too early for you to play a hero of justice – 」

「Sleep 」

I do not want to spend too much time arguing with him. The sleep spell quickly sank in.

The man collapsed to the ground asleep, making a snot bubble in the middle of the street.

I’ll take care of him in a moment, I wonder if the girl is okay.

I turn to the girl to find her staring at me with a very serious face.

「What’s going on? Have I anything on my face? 」

「No, it’s nothing. Thanks for the help 」

「That must have been uncomfortable you. Are you hurt anywhere?」

「Yeah, I’m fine. He just grabbed my wrist 」

「Oh, your wrist 」

「His nails must have scratched me when he fell earlier. No big deal 」

「Angie 」

「Yes! Mmmm…… heal! 」

Angie stepped forward and held out her hand to the girl’s wrist.

It was the result of her training with me. With a much practiced hand, Angie cast a healing spell on her.

The red scratches on the white skin will heal in no time.

In the meantime, I decided to deal with the man. I put my hand over his hand as he snot bubble grew thicker and chanted a spell.

「Crime cuffs 」

The spell that I just cast is one of the spells I learned from the Philosopher’s Stone.

The spell became a pattern of light and created a loop on the man’s wrist.

At first glance, the loop looks like a bracelet.

Then I took a piece of parchment and a pen from me pocket and wrote down what I consider to be an official document.

The bracelet on his right hand is magically made and tightens if he tries to commit a crime.

I’ll have it removed in a year when he comes to the house.

I wrote magic handcuffs, the effects of Crime Cuffs, signed my name as Baron, and put the parchment in the man’s pocket.

At the same time as I had done so, Angie’s healing magic on the girl ended as well.

「Good job, Angie….. 」

「Hehehe….. 」

Angie grinned happily.

*

「My name Eliza. Thank you for your help earlier 」

「You’re welcome. I’m Alec and this Angie. Nice to meet you 」

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We left the scene where the girl was involved and went into a nearby tea shop.

After giving out her name, Eliza stated.

「You’re still a kid. It’s impressive that you can do difficult magic 」

「You understand that magic? 」

「I have never seen it before but I know it’s an advanced magic. I mean, it’s a continued spell right? 」

「You’ve got good eye 」

Eliza is right.

It’s not wrong of me to say that attacking and healing magic is not that difficult.

Also the magic that fundamentally changes the nature of things is not the high degree of difficulty.

The most difficult feat in magic use is keeping the 「magic effect 」 active for a prolonged time.

「How long will the effect last? 」

「It’s permanent 」

「Permanent!? 」

Eliza is astonishingly asks.

She was aware that the magic is sustainable but did not expect that it could be permanent I suppose.

「Yeah, it won’t cease until either they die or I disarm it. It’s magic that prevent a person from misbehaving, and it’d be useless if it doesn’t last as long as possible 」

「Perpetual magic… is it as they say? 」

「What? What did you say? 」

「Nothing 」

Eliza mumbled something in a depressed tone, but when I heard it and asked about it, she clearly lied.

「You gave him a quick trial, didn’t you? 」

「Yeah, I’m the son of House Carlisle; the lord of this area is my father. I’ve been helping my father with that lately 」

「You routinely judge bad people? With that magic? 」

「Yes 」

The intent is different though.

「Yeah, it’s a pain. You should have thrown that thing in jail 」

「That would not be wise 」

「Why? 」

「Do you know about the Afterlife Judgement? 」

「Of course. I know it’s the theory that after death, a person’s life’s good and bad deeds will be used to determine their rank in their reincarnation 」

Theory, it’s not a theory.

Having been through it myself, I know it’s not a theory. With the slight mistake of not erasing my memories and reborn as Alexander Carlisle, I know the Afterlife Judgement is a real thing.

「It’s easy to lock people up in jails for committing crimes, but that’s the same as depriving them of the opportunity to do the good deeds and get their records in order for the final judgment「

「So you’re going to let him walk free in order for him to convert? 」

「Yes, that’s what the magic is for. It reacts to the misdeeds a person does and stops the person from doing them. If the person keeps stubbornly continues to do evil, the worst is that they have their wrist cut off 」

「But that does not matter. Some people are prone to only doing the bad. They don’t care if their wrists are torn off or not 」

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「Well, people like that… Unfortunately it’s best to kill them 」

「Kill them? 」

「Yes, before they commit any more evil 」

It reminds of the bandit who killed 461 people and was reborn as a water flea.

If that person had been killed at the time after he killed the first person, he would have been an impoverished commoner in his next life, but at least he would still be human.

He would be reincarnated with his memories and personality reset and given the chance to start over early.

So I do think it’s better to kill the hopelessly evil people in order to stop them.

In that logic, there is a strong sense of not judging them but of helping them.

「Hmm 」

「What is it? 」

「You don’t seem like a child 」

「Perhaps 」

I chuckled.

This topic compelled me to talk about it.

Normally I try to act like a child my age, but for some reason, when conversing with Eliza, I feel the need to talk seriously.

「You’re more like a virtuous man 」

「Is that right? 」

「It’s not a compliment, because it’s losing mind-set. Good people are mostly the ones with more to lose 」

「I see 」

That may be true.

But that is fine with me, I believe.

Eliza huffed and laughed.

「But I like it 」

「Really? 」

「If we were closer in age, I would have made you my lover 」

「I appreciate that 」

*

We are on our way home after we went our separate ways with Eliza.

Angie is somewhat dazed in our walk now.

「What’s going on Angie? 」

「Eliza. I thought she was beautiful 」

「Do you think so? 」

「Yes. She had such beautiful eyes when talking to Alec-sama 」

「Yeah 」

It is easy to see what she is saying.

Eliza had pointed out my maturity, and I thought the same of her.

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She looks like a girl of sixteen years of age, but her mental age is a bit older.

「Can I be like that too? 」

「Those are the eyes of someone who has stood in the midst of family struggles since they were a child 」

「Really? Someone who’s struggling? 」

「Yes, someone who carries a lot of hardships but is not unpleasant to other. It’s precious 」

「Is that so….. 」

「That is another kind of beauty, but Angie you have a different type of beautiful eyes, continue on the way you are now, don’t force yourself to go the other way 」

「Okay. I’ll do as Alec-sama says 」

「Good girl 」

I patted Angie’s head.

Angie giggled, and then looked at me with eyes that appeared to be begging for something.

「What’s the matter? 」

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「Alec-sama, is there something…. We can do to help that person 」

I see, Angie’s response is focused on the 「carrying a lot of hardships 」 part of my explanation.

「Yes, We’ll help her when the time comes 」

「- Okay! 」

「You’re a good person Angie. I’m sure your next life will be good too 」

「Really? Then I want to be with Alec-sama in the next life! 」

Angie’s unrestrained goodwill is a little bit too much sometimes.

「Want to hold my hand? 」

「Yes! 」

Angie and I continued our walk to the mansion, hand in hand.

Our walk is always a peaceful time.

And it seems to cleanse the mind.

But set a foot on the house grounds and it all goes up in smoke.

「An opening! 」

Shouting from the shadows, my father jumped out and slashed at me with incredible force.

Wielding a huge sword, even bigger than his own body, likely made for cutting down horses on the battlefield, he made persistent slashes at me with a mighty force.

I quickly generated a magic sphere of fire.

I released my magic power and collected it in the air with massive potency.

With a high speed, I intercepted my father’s great sword with that magic power ball that had taken a form of a sphere in no time.

Just like the other day, the magic ball melted the great sword with ease.

「Mmm! That’s my Alec. You burned through a custom-made Orichalcon so easily 」

「Orichalcon, what you doing, Father, going to the extent of taking out such a fantastically rare metal 」

「Hahaha 」

Father laughed, and his corners of his mouth twisted into a proud grin.

That is not a good sign. Not good.

『So inviting the Emperor and doing this will inadvertently be a natural way to show off Alec’s genius 』

Yes, he did say that the other day.

This is the exact same form of raid he used on me the last time, but now he has taken it one step further by using a rare metal called Orichalcon.

This must mean–

「Father, I’m sure you didn’t really do it, did you? 」

「I would never do that! I would never do that to my Alec 」

「Really? 」

I gave my Father the benefit of a doubt – since he confessed.

「Hmm. If there is anything to say, it’s the『you did it』 one 」

「…….「

It’s worse than I thought, he is blaming me. The scoundrel.

This is …. He’s here.

He’s definitely here.

And he was watching us.

Father’s『Alec Appeal 』has been discovered, and by the Emperor no less.

I should have stopped him harder. But I did not think that he would manage to make the Emperor come out here.

Sometimes proving a point is not a virtue, Father.

「You have an amazing son, Lord Carlisle 」

「Thank you very much 」

「Had he been born into the House of the Emperor instead of me, he would have made a fine ruler 」

「It’s exactly as you say! 」

I heard a dignified voice coming from behind my father.

The irony of the words made Father very pleased because of the point that I was being praised.

There is no avoiding this – might as well give my greeting.

「Eh? Eliza-oneesan 」

「Eh? 」

Angie’s words surprised me; I looked up at the person standing on the side of my father.

It was Eliza herself, the person I had saved in the city earlier.