Chapter 162

The Verdict: Spinning Around on the Moai and Then Public Shame. And a Revelation.
What did you just say?

No, I understand. Mr. Coote is a beast. Telling an ordinary person that they are ordinary isn't an insult. But you called Alicia a beast. Beastkin are people. They are not beasts. They are people with beastly traits. In other words...

"I will never forgive you."

There was a loud clattering noise behind me. When I turned around, I saw that the guild staff, the Guildmaster, and some of the onlooking adventurers had collapsed. Those still conscious were slowly backing away.

To my left, Helios was about 100 meters away, pointing his large shield at me and trembling. What just happened?

"Mr. Coote... what are you doing? You're a wolf, aren't you? Where is your pride?"

Looking down, I saw Mr. Coote lying on his back, covering his face with his front paws and shaking. Why was he suddenly surrendering?

To my right was Alicia... but she had rolled her eyes back and fainted while still standing. The Woof-Meow Club had been completely wiped out before the battle even started.

"Ah, my lord... slay... blub blub..."

Mr. Coote fainted as well. Does this mean I have to deal with them alone? Well, my father once disciplined a major clan (500 members) barehanded, so this should be fine.

"This is troublesome, so let's end it quickly."

For some reason, the Silver Fangs looked extremely shaken. I pretended to reach into my pocket and instead retrieved a large number of talismans from my Treasury.

"Instant Golem Legion."

The talismans pierced the snow-covered ground, and golems made of earth emerged. These talismans create golems from earth. About 100 of them.

And of course, they were Moai statues.

It was quite a sight to see Moai faces emerging from the ground one after another. The enemy seemed to have realized the battle had begun.

"Calm down! Earth golems are easy to destroy! Salas, handle the golems. I'll take care of the brat."

You're going to fight me? That means getting through my golems first. That's impossible for you.

I kept throwing talismans, rapidly mass-producing Moai statues. Before long, their numbers exceeded a thousand.

"Formation order: V-shaped charge formation."

The golems formed into a wedge formation and charged at the Silver Fangs.

"Shit, they're using formations!?"

"They're too hard! These aren't just ordinary golems!"

"GYAAAHHH!"

The charging Moai statues pierced through the Silver Fangs, who had been grouped together in their parties. Adventurers only fight in formations at the party level, and the same applies to clans. As a result, the Silver Fangs were split into two groups. The moment they were divided, I had the golems dissolve their V-formation and spread their arms wide, like opening a pair of scissors.

Chaos ensued. With such an overwhelming difference in numbers, none of them dared to come at me.

The Moai statues, enhanced with magic, were made of hardened earth—not quite as tough as rock, but far more durable than regular earth golems. Breaking them with a sword was nearly impossible.

Some of them tried using magic, but the mages were swallowed up by the golem horde. With their forces divided, there were fewer people left to protect the magic users.

I gave the golems a command: capture all members of the Silver Fangs. There was no need to kill them. They needed to reflect on their actions and atone for tarnishing the reputation of adventurers.

One by one, the adventurers fell. The Moai statues grabbed them and embedded them into their heads, leaving only their necks sticking out. Naturally, this was a form of restraint. Once buried in earth, no matter how strong someone was, they couldn't move.

Then, the Moai statues spread their arms wide and started spinning.

"STOP THIS PLEASEEEEE!"

Screams echoed from the spinning Moai statues, but it was their own fault for not reflecting sooner. Because of them, adventurers were being glared at by the citizens of the royal capital. I've never been treated like that since I look too mysterious, but suspicious-looking adventurers tend to be avoided.

An hour later, every member of the clan had been captured by the Moai statues. Due to the high-speed spinning, the captured adventurers had ended up spraying filth everywhere, so I kept my distance.

Alicia was still unconscious, standing upright.

"Ugh, what happened to me?"

"You finally woke up. You suddenly fainted, so I was surprised."

Just as I was considering lining up the captured adventurers outside the royal capital's walls, Alicia woke up.

"I don't know... I just had this overwhelming sense of impending doom. How strange."

"I didn't feel anything. But Helios and Mr. Coote were acting weird too, so I'll check on them later. They might be sick."

Maybe they really did get sick. I'll have to diagnose them properly.

"By the way, what do we do with these guys? If you want, I can make sure they never see the light of day again."

"That's extreme. Just leave them outside the outer wall for two days. That should be enough to scare them straight... right?"

"I... I won’t do anything bad anymore... I’ll go home..."

"Aha… ahaha... No way... I just want to go home..."

Adventurers are strong, but they're also known for being vengeful. If you don’t completely break their spirit in a fight, they’ll hold a grudge and seek revenge later. So I made sure to carve fear into their hearts.

At the very least, I was certain they wouldn’t act recklessly anymore.

Well, if I get bored, they’ll understand what it means to receive the same punishment again. I visit Ostland fairly often, so I can check in with other adventurers to see if they've truly repented.

"Can you handle it?"

—Two days, right? No problem—

The spirit contracted with me was speaking much more fluently now. According to the Dark Spirit, it was because I almost never relied on them.

But I can handle most things on my own, so I can't help it.

Besides, relying on them for everything isn’t good. I want to stay on friendly terms with spirits, but depending on them too much often leads to self-destruction.

In fact, there used to be nations blessed by spirits in the past, but those that depended on them too much were ultimately destroyed.

Spirits do not love nations. They love people. The blessing of spirits is given to individuals, not entire countries. And since spirits are whimsical, relying on them too much can cause their blessings to disappear. (Though in my case, since I’m basically the Queen of Spirits, they assured me that would never happen.)

So I try to keep a balanced relationship—not overly dependent, but enough to keep them from feeling lonely.

Another reason is that spirits are just too powerful. They can fulfill most requests, and if one spirit can't, an entire army of them might gather, creating chaos. Nowadays, I rely on my contracted spirits to keep things from getting out of hand.

The Fire Spirit melted the snow, warming the area around the Moai statues.

It should be a comfortable temperature.

Now, spend two days reflecting with the Moai statues.

"Is this good?"

"Yes, with this, those people won’t dare to act up again. We'll provide guards while they're on display. Here’s your reward."

Once again, I acquired a large sum of money. What should I use it for? Alright, let’s build a grand cathedral that will make the Empire weep. I recall receiving reports that the Orthodox Church’s cathedral in Arland is in poor condition.

The Orthodox Church in Arland worships the same Goddess as the Holy Church but strictly forbids discrimination against other races. Anyone who violates this rule is excommunicated, regardless of their status. However, due to the bad reputation of the Holy Church, the Orthodox Church is under heavy scrutiny. Most of the citizens are believers, yet there’s little room for donations. That’s rather unfortunate.

Since they aren’t an evil organization, they deserve a better life. Strengthening ties with the church by offering them a favor is also beneficial. Of course, to prevent them from getting carried away, I'll bring my brother to the negotiation table.

"I want to use this money to build a grand cathedral. Let’s have the master builders design one that surpasses the Empire’s, but without any gaudy, nouveau-riche aesthetics."

"… You’re planning something outrageous again, aren’t you?"

On the way back, Alicia sighed in exasperation upon hearing about my new ambition. But what’s wrong with that? The Viceroy Merchant Union keeps rewarding me generously.

The magic-powered range is not owned by the Merchant Union. The ministers literally got on their knees and begged me not to let that happen.

Apparently, it could be considered a national treasure.

Apparently, no other nation possesses such a miraculous magic tool.

If a merchant union owned something that valuable, it could cause trouble down the line. That being said, about 200 units are already in operation, and production is ongoing. Eventually, around 100,000 will be produced. There are plenty of things I want to create, and I’d love to increase production—for financial reasons, of course.

There’s another reason. Occasionally, the priests in the castle give me odd looks. Even when I asked Alicia, all she told me was that the beastkin nobles were entirely at fault. If I improve relations, they might stop looking at me that way.

It’s not like they glare at me with hostility, though. Their gazes carry dissatisfaction, but it’s not something they can voice directly. There’s no animosity, so perhaps some beastkin noble did something foolish again, but no one tells me what exactly happened. Also, I’ve been told not to approach the temple buildings. Well, I wouldn’t get close anyway, not with beastkin standing in front of the temple with bloodshot eyes, waiting impatiently. That’s terrifying.

"Alice, what are you doing?"

As I was gleefully imagining my grand cathedral, an unexpected voice reached my ears. Sweat trickled down my face. My neck, feeling rusted, creaked as I slowly turned around, hearing a phantom grinding sound in my head. Behind me stood Anon, looking bewildered.

How did she find out?!

Anon’s Point of View

Like Alicetia, Anon was also active as an adventurer. Her reason? She wanted to become stronger. The knights of Ostland were too weak to serve as proper training partners.

Today, Anon defeated an ogre for the first time. Of course, her knight's sword was a masterpiece capable of slicing through an ogre’s muscles like paper. Given her skills, taking down a single ogre was an easy feat.

"Hehe, maybe I’m one step closer to Alice now?"

Anon had decided that, one day, she would gain the strength worthy of being Alicetia’s friend. She happily imagined standing beside Alicetia in the future. Of course, since they were from different countries, it was nothing more than a fantasy.

The multiple storage bags she had secretly taken from her mansion were filled with monster materials. She was in a great mood, knowing she could buy delicious food with her rewards. In Anon’s household, she didn’t live the life of a noble lady—there were no sweets, no dresses, and no tea parties. The Ostland family was one of the rare noble houses solely devoted to martial arts. Thus, Anon had been deprived of sweets. She was still a girl, after all.

"What’s with that weird statue?"

Returning to the royal capital in high spirits, Anon spotted something strange. Upon closer inspection, a sign explained that the individuals involved had been repeatedly causing trouble and were being punished.

It seemed that the Silver Fangs—whom Anon knew—had been disciplined.

Anon disliked them as well. In fact, she had even distanced herself from the capital due to frequent conflicts with them. The reason? They resented her for being Alicetia’s friend. But Anon didn’t care.

"Haha… Ahaha! What the heck are they doing?"

No wonder. Anon doubled over with laughter. The adventurers were embedded into Moai-like statues in a pitiful state—it was hilarious. They were completely limp, likely having suffered greatly.

After laughing her fill, Anon went to the guild to sell her monster materials and receive her quest rewards. Even after leaving the guild, she couldn’t stop laughing. The adventurers drinking in the guild were also roaring with laughter.

"Ah, that was great. Who had the guts to punish them even with that idiot prince backing them…? Oh, was it that kid?"

A little distance away, Anon spotted three individuals—a man in full armor, a woman in a black maid outfit, and a girl wearing a fox mask, a robe, and carrying a staff. She seemed to be around Anon’s age. Probably a girl, given the skirt. Then again, in some countries, men also wear skirt-like traditional attire, so she couldn’t be certain.

"No way… That’s Alice."

Anon’s Alice-radar instantly identified the masked girl as Alicetia von Arland, the princess of a neighboring country and the head of the Viceroy Household.

Her hair and eye color were different. Even her voice changed when Anon got closer. But she was sure—it was Alicetia.

When she first enrolled, Alicetia had erased her hair color, eye color, and even her crest. Changing her voice wasn’t impossible either. Her staff’s design was different, yet Anon could tell.

Because her presence was unmistakably Alicetia’s.

As someone who considered herself a close friend of Alicetia, Anon’s instincts confirmed it.

Anon sighed.

She had wealth, power, and unmatched strength among those her age across the continent. Why was she playing adventurer? Anon had no clue.

But if she didn’t understand, she could just ask.

"Alice, what are you doing?"

The girl who turned around had an unreadable expression. But her aura was trembling with immense shock.

There was no doubt. She was Alicetia.

Even without the mask, her face wouldn’t have given much away. But Alicetia’s presence spoke louder than any facial expression.

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