***Arc 5 The One Who Obstructed, Chapter 95 A Maiden's Play with Meat (Flesh)***
"Hmmm......"
In one of the dimly lit rooms----the interrogation basement in the government office in Kielzaran.
The witness, an old man, Elze, the first legal officer, was blue in the face and had already vomited what was in his stomach twice.
'Hmmm', 'Uhh', Krische crossed he arms and groaned quietly, occasionally swinging her arms.
A muffled scream rose as her dagger ripped shallowly through the fat.
Dagris silently leaned against the wall and watched the situation.
"30,000 pumpkins..."
This was Elvena's price on record.
It was a price that would buy three of Krische's swords.
It's quite a lot of money to raise from Krische's 'pocket money'.
The amount was larger than expected, and Elvena was apparently a very expensive slave.
She was well-educated, good-looking, and obedient.
She had a good memory, a solid knowledge of etiquette, and unlike a mere village girl, Elvena, who was born into a good family, cannot be said to be a bargain.
It seems that the pretext used for her debt was destroying expensive works of art at her former place of apprenticeship, and the amount of debt she owed was more than ten times that of normal slaves.
"Hmm... 30,000 pumpkins..."
"Mu, gu... ... N, ga------!?"
While thinking, she toyed with the flesh with a dagger.
The sound of sticky flesh and dirty screams.
While listening to middle-aged man's screams while gagged, Krische's mind was in space.
She put her finger to her cherry-red lips and thinks.
The debt borne by the slave must be paid at least by the purchaser, even when (political) power is being used like this time and the slave was bought.
For the time being, it was ostensibly legitimate------because it's a legally recognized debt.
The 'minimum guarantee price for slaves' was set by the slave trader, and since it is a fact that they have debts no matter what, If the purchaser tried to free the slaves, the purchaser will inevitably need to take over the debt.
The only other way was to go to court and look back through the records to prove that the debt was incurred through fraudulent means, but that, too, would be difficult.
Of course, the slave traders had also considered this, so considering the amount of effort required to prove it, it could cost them a lot of money.
The reason slave trader was passing the slave around was that they were trying to create a position as a bona fide third party.
A person who purchases stolen goods without knowing it, will not be charged with a crime, and even if an order is made to hand over the stolen goods, it was of course necessary, to guarantee the money spent on their purchase with respect to a bona fide third party.
Just thinking about investigating slave traders one by one to find out if they really had good intentions------that they bought bonds without knowing that they were 'debts owed by unfair means' was a chore.
After all, considering the circumstances, paying the money would be a straightforward solution, but it was 30,000 pumpkins. Krische was at a loss.
Of course, there were violent means.
Regardless of how he could legally get away with it, the merchant was as close to black as he could get, and even if Krische just randomly torture them, she would be able to clear the debt in no time.
They might give it away for free if she threatened to catch them.
Or even kill them in the end.
But that would be an illegal means, such as bribery, extortion, or embezzlement, and Krische had a somewhat skewed sense of ethics.
She thinks that method was bad.
For Krische, the rule of law is basically something that should be obeyed, and it can only be broken if it is not exposed anywhere.
Bery prefers a 'good girl who follows the rules' to a 'bad girl who doesn't follow the rules', and of course, Krische's goal is to make Bery like Krische a lot.
With that rule------the idea of breaking the law to get out of Elvena's debt does not exist in the first place.
Christand's financial situation is not as comfortable now as the war continues.
For Krische, who had talked to Skeleton and thought that it was a pity for Elvena, but couldn't be helped, it's just that much more troubling.
Of course, looking at the whole thing, the amount of money for Elvena is insignificant, but it is still an amount that can feed tens of thousands of soldiers for a day.
Was it okay to ask Selene for such a large amount of money?
'Uhhh', 'ahhh', she thought about it and tore the skin open, damaginf the fat with her dagger without damaging the muscles.
Elze, the witness who couldn't stand it anymore, screamed and vomited into the wastebasket.
The space was filled with the stench of filth.
With a cute and troubled look on her face and two silver tails wagging, Krische's purple eyes recalled Kalua.
----Why was she here?
That was the first question that came to Kalua's mind.
She wondered for a moment whether it was real, but there was no way to doubt it.
She had grown much taller and more beautiful than before, but there was still a trace of when she was young.
Her face looked just like hers. Much more compared to the old days when she was a child.
Her hair was still arranged at her shoulders, just as it had been in the past.
There was a time when she tried to grow her hair long because she admired Kahlua, but it was her hair was a bit quirky.
She could remember as if it was only yesterday that she was crying because she couldn't be like Nee-san.
She was a little different from the one in her memory. It had been many years.
But the girl in the bed was the little sister she had been looking for so long.
"......Elvena."
The hair was disheveled and there were a few whip marks on her white skin.
She was dressed in obscene black underwear that emphasized her breasts and revealing.
She had a tattoo on her left shoulder indicating her status as a slave, and she was in bed.
When Elvena became aware of Kalua's gaze, she quickly covered herself and kept her eyes down, as if ashamed of herself.
This seemed to be a bedroom.
What was she doing on that bed, and what was being done to her?
Kalua's gaze turned to the man wearing only underwear.
A lump of dirty fat.
A repulsive figure----Aah, I've seen this kind of bastard many times, she thought.
She know what kind of man he was.
And now he was right in front of her, and in her right hand was a sword.
"To Elvena...!"
Her head was pure white.
In a single breath, she stepped forward and swung the straight sword down from overhead.
She was going to rip his hands and feet off, torture him up, and kill him.
----However, the blade was stopped halfway through.
A slender hand was holding Kalua's arm.
The hand was on the elbow of the arm that was swinging the sword down----the foot held the knee that had stepped forward.
The origin point of the movement was blocked, with unerring precision.
"Kalua? You can't kill him here."
Her eyebrows lowered as if troubled.
Krische tilted her head slightly and looked at Kalua.
"... Usa-chan, get out of the away."
"U-umm..."
Krische becomes more and more confused.
It was the usual air-headed, dense Krische
How could she explain it to her so that she would understand?
But the murderous intent and impulse moving her body----couldn't afford to do so right now.
"... I've been looking for him for a long time. To kill him, all this time."
Right now, Krische's denseness was annoying.
Keep her distance and catch her breath.
"To Elvena, the one who did cruel things to my little sister. I decided to kill them absolutely... I've traveled for many years. So, or now just shut up, get out of the way..."
"H-huh...? Little sister..."
Krische's questions only increased.
Her frustration grew, and her hatred for the rolling man grew stronger.
"Putting that aside, you can't do it now. If you torture or kill someone without a witness, it will be a lynching. We have to properly follow the procedure."
It didn't matter what the law says.
In this place----it was impossible to get her to understand with Kalua's emotions.
"Kalua, calm down... Ubeh!?"
Mia panicked and tried to hold Kalua down, but Kalua dodged her.
Mia, who was dodged, rushed into bed, and Krische looked at Mia exasperated ------and Kalua moved at that moment.
Only Roland was reflected in Kalua's eyes.
Aiming for the momentary gap that occurred, she jumped above her head.
Using the ceiling as a scaffold, she moved like a spider.
In a single breath, he moves behind Cliche and tries to bury his blade into Rolando's flesh------only to have her sword cut off in the middle.
Without needing to see it, without needing to feel it.
It was Krische's sword that tore through the steel.
She bent her body like a whip, and all the speed generated there accelerates to the tip of her sword.
The blade slid against the steel to prevent the blade from spilling, and the friction caused the sword to crack.
Then she cuts it at a slight angle------an artistic blade where everything was calculated.
Krische easily bisected Kahlua's full-powered sword, as if she was a child wielding a twig.
But it was to be expected.
She knew it was impossible to come ahead Krische with just one gap.
She immediately let go of the sword and moved to thrust the dagger she had already pulled out------whereupon Kalua's body softly slammed to the floor.
"Geez, What is wrong? What Kalua is doing now is a violation of orders...uhm, well, it was a job that didn't require you to come this time, so let's just say it's outside of military business for the moment. Anyway. Krische will get angry if you don't stop it, okay?"
No shock, no pain.
She just put her knees on Kalua's arms and took away her freedom.
The girl who is younger than anyone else here, as if she were dealing with a child, said that to her.
"Hg..."
It was pathetic.
With all her might------still her blade didn't reach.
A girl who was not even serious about her, she wasn't even her opponent.
----Ah, she remembered.
No matter how desperately she try, what she always got was just vain effort and going in circle.
She knew that feeling well. She had experienced it so much.
She knew very well about what a woman with neither money nor skill could do.
So she threw away all kinds of things, did everything she could, and desperately made an effort, but she could not find a single clue, her comical self.
Finally, she happened to face her enemy, and still, she could not do anything.
A lot of things up until now seemed to overlap there.
This figure now was the culmination of the comical path she had walked.
The silver hair in front of her and the purple eyes too become blurred with tears.
"...please, please, let me kill him. ...please"
"Eh, uh...? K-Kalua?"
She could see Krische panicking.
She was so pathetic, there's no helping her.
"...Nee-san, it's okay. I'm fine, so..."
Elvena's voice who rushed over.
Her head embraced, Kalua stifled her voice and sobbed quietly and unbearably.
Krische's processing capacity had reached its limit while straddling her.
Seeing Kahlua and Elvena in such a state, only one person was confused.
"... Mia, what happened?"
She finally asked Mia, who had hit her head on the edge of the bed and was holding her forehead.
1, Kalua had a sister who was kidnapped and enslaved.
2, She's been desperately looking for her for years, but she never found her.
3, When she finally found her here, she found out that she had been enslaved by Roland.
4, Please understand Kahlua's feelings for wanting to kill Roland.
For the time being she entrusted Roland to Dagris, and after listening briefly to Mia, her main point was something like that.
'She looks that much like her, but Corps Commander didn't realize that Elvena was Kalua's relative when you met before? If you had said something at that time, it wouldn't have happened------No, even supposing so, you didn't understand it even in that situation?'
Krische, who received a shocking and accusing look from the four members including Mia, argued that there was no way Krische could understand it without knowing 1, 2, or 3 (without warning/hint/sign), however, even saying that Bagu, Kels, and Adol, who know the same information as Krische, seemed to have figured it out from the conversation at that time.
The situation clearly indicates, Krische's lack of understanding (denseness) was the problem, and she had no allies.
Krische was not very happy with the atmosphere, as if to say that Krische's lack of understanding (denseness) was too severe but putting that aside.
Mia and rhe other three people who heard Mia's story likewise asked if she could do something about Elvena.
Krische understood the reasoning, but the scales were still undecided in her head.
Need to be noted that Krische's first priority was Bery, Selene, and Kreshcenta.
Krische would not allow anything that would be detriment to them.
Money is a concept that generates definite gains and losses, and using Christand's money is ultimately a disadvantage for Bery, Selene, and Kreshcenta.
Personally, she liked Kalua, and Elvena was also a person that Krische preferred, although they had only a brief relationship.
If the money was only for Krische, she would have agreed to it in a beat, but the fact that it was 'Christand's precious money' was problematic.
That is why it was so troubling for her.
While playing with the flesh with the tip of the dagger, Krische thinks while listening to the scream.
What she recalled was the crying Kalua.
Putting aside if it was Mia, it seemed like a big deal for Kalua to cry she thought.
Somehow, her mood becomes restless.
It should be sorted first, she thought as she cut the flesh. Screams arose.
She crouched down and gave the detached pieces of flesh the names Krische, Bery, Selene, and Kreschenta.
Krische, of course, was willing to pay for it.
She wondered what Bery would think then, if faced with the same situation.
Bery would surely say she would want to help.
Berry was helped by Bogan in a similar situation. That's how she met Krische, and she said that she was happy even though she had painful memories. It was that kind of fortuitous encounter she said.
----Fortuitous meeting.
Bery would surely try to help, Krische smiled thar the Bery in her imagination and her thoughts was the same.
What about Selene?
Selene, who respected Bogan more than anyone else, wouldn't she, even as she thought about merit and demerit, would try to help her subordinates, who were reasonably excellent, if they were in trouble.
All being said Selene was very kind after all.
Kreschenta was stupid, sloppy, didn't have kindness, and was quick to kill, but----but she properly thought about profit and loss.
'Isn't it fine if she just works properly proportional to the money spend' was what she would say
"Aah, that's true, too."
She nodded her head and said, 'Kreshcenta is a great girl,' and tapped the lump of flesh she had named Kreschenta with the belly of her dagger.
'Kreschenta' shivered with joy, and Krische smiled.
Dagris, who was watching the event, was bewildered, and Elze, who was witnessing the event, emptied his stomach and stared with frightened eyes at Krische's maniacal smile as she interacted with the piece of flesh.
Of course, Krische didn't notice the gaze and just remembered Bery's words.
'I hate Roland-sama. But thanks to that, Nee-sama met (fortuitous meeting) Gotoushu-sama, I met (fortuitous meeting) Ojou-sama, and finally met (fortuitous meeting) Krische-sama. That's why I'm so happy right now, and even if I could go back in time and choose a different present, I'd still wish for this present where I can meet met (fortuitous meeting) Krische-sama like this.'
----Fortuitous meeting.
Abandoned from the royal palace, her parents were killed in the village, and many things happened, but there was the present now.
It was a coincidence that she met Berry.
'If Krische-sama was concerned about me, ......If meeting me was a fortuitous meeting for Krische-sama, then just like that...'
She met Kalua by chance (coincidence), and she met Elvena by chance.
'With me... from now on, I hope Krische-sama will continue to be with me forever.'
By chance, by chance.
But because she thought it was a fortuitous meeting, that Krische always stayed with Bery.
'......Among the various Krische that Bery said, the Krische that the Krische wants is the Krische that can properly return Bery's love.'
It was a strange feeling that makes her heart go *kyu*.
She didn't know whether it was love (affection) or not, and she didn't know if she was happy or not.
But she've already decided that for her it's happiness----that's why the by chance fortuitous meeting keep continuing and she's always happy.
Meeting Kalua was also a coincidence, but Krische thinks it was a fortuitous meeting.
It's the same with Elvina.
They might think so, too.
Then, after all, such fortuitous meeting need to be cherished.
She met Kahlua by chance, and that's a fortuitous meeting.
And by chance Krische had the power to help Elvena.
"Ehehe, let's put it that way."
'Yeah', 'Yeah', she stood up and nodded then looked at Roland, who was writhing in intense pain, tears and snot dripping from his nose.
The skin and flesh on his body had been scraped away, revealing exposed muscle fibers here and there.
"Huh? You've lost a lot of weight without realizing it. But it's not bad if you think about it, being overweight isn't good for your health."
"...Krische-sama, if you go too far, he'll die..."
"It's okay. ...Noe then, Krische's thinking is over. Krische want to finish it quickly, so please answer honestly to what have been asked. Krische will be troubled if you don't live until tomorrow's execution, do your best. Dagris, shall we begin the interrogation?"
"At last...though it doesn't look like I'll have much to do.'
Dagris approaches, took off the gag, and slapped Roland on the cheek as he was about to faint.
Krische was probably choosing the part of the body to tear. The bleeding was not as bad as it looks.
If left untreated, he would probably bleed to death, but he would still last for a while.
It was a technique that put a skilled torturer to shame.
'Kill me, kill me,' Roland said, in derilium, and Dagris laughed.
"If you answer my and this ojou-sama's questions honestly, I'll let you rest. First Law Officer Elze, I'd like to ask you to be a witness."
"I-I understand..."
The old man Elze's voice was hoarse.
In front of Krische, who was satisfied with the answer to the question she was hesitating about------Roland's hell had just begun.
