The Punishment Hall (6)
The Punishment Hall (6)
Warden Monica followed the trail with sharp eyes. Faint traces remained on the frozen ground.
Bare feet, characteristic of a prisoner. Bloodstains trailing along the footprints, as if they had been cut somewhere on their body while moving quickly.
The footprints led toward the city of Filamon, just as expected. The trail grew fainter the further she pursued, but fortunately, she was no ordinary human.
A snow fox. A pureblood, with the most developed senses among them.
Her strides were unhesitating. Upon reaching the city of Filamon in an instant, Monica sniffed the air.
A faint scent of blood.
It led somewhere. But for a small city, there were many people, and the scents kept mingling together.
Right... no... left?
Monica was anxious. The escaped prisoner was no ordinary person.
A prisoner with a bizarre grip strength that could tear stone apart with bare hands. Despite possessing neither magical power nor Sacred Power, she was a prisoner who had torn twenty-seven humans apart with her bare hands through innate monstrous strength.
The longer this went on, the greater the chance of casualties. In terms of raw combat power alone, she was on par with an apprentice paladin.
She had to subdue her right now... but where...
Monica grabbed passing people.
"Excuse me, did you happen to see someone wearing a prisoner's uniform?"
"Y-yes? N-no, I didn't..."
The man she had grabbed swept his gaze over Monica's body. His previously vacant eyes smiled brightly.
"Is there anything I can help with...?"
"If you didn't see them, then no!"
She asked several more people. But everyone only answered that they hadn't seen anything.
Where? Where could they have gone? No one would walk around openly in a prisoner's uniform. Even the biggest idiot would search for a place to steal clothes.
In that case...
Monica glanced upward. A house standing alone. A place with many passersby and spare clothes always lying around.
On top of that, it was separated from other houses, making it easy to commit crimes out in the open.
"...A hot spring?"
Monica moved quickly. She practically rolled up the stairs and reached the hot spring built near the volcano in one breath.
This was definitely the place. Part of the wall was broken. The traces of forced entry were clearly etched there too!
"Caught...!"
Monica rushed into the building and witnessed a bizarre scene.
A woman trembling with her head pressed to the ground, and a man sitting on top of her as if it were nothing, eating a meal.
Their eyes met. The man swallowed the squid he had been chewing.
"...Good heavens."
Monica murmured without realizing it.
His golden eyes were so beautiful. And that black hair. He was captivating enough to leave her momentarily speechless. A level of handsomeness that most good-looking men couldn't even compare to.
A man who was practically aesthetically complete. When their gazes met, Monica instinctively turned her head away to avoid it. Then she remembered her duty and hastily turned back.
"I-I'm from the First Punishment Office! Have you been harmed...?!"
"Ah. Yes... well... I was sexually harassed, but..."
The prisoner with her head pressed down trembled. The man shrugged.
"I decided to let it go. Because I'm kind and pure."
...He seems pretty far from that, though?
. . .
"W-what?! You're an inquisitor dispatched on a secret mission?!"
"Huh. Didn't you get the letter? Maybe only the Director saw it."
I patted the prisoner's shoulder.
"Back to position."
"B-back to position!"
"Why are you trembling so much? You were showing off your strength so impressively earlier. Getting tired now?"
"N-no! I'm fine!"
Each leg was wobbling. Was that where I'd broken them earlier?
But I had no intention of fixing them. Sex offenders deserve to die. Yep.
"Sex without consent?"
"I-I will absolutely never do thaaaat!"
"Very correct. Good job. What a good child. As a reward, I'll give you some squid."
"M-may I relax my posture..."
"The chair speaks? Since ancient times, objects listen better when you hit them..."
"I-I'm sorry!"
I smiled brightly.
"Chew diligently."
Monica blinked. Her somewhat flushed face looked like she was learning something.
"S-so that's a way to torment people too..."
I'd forgotten.
Right. This one... she was someone who really enjoyed tormenting others.
"Warden Monica."
"Y-yes?"
"I'll hand over the prisoner. In exchange..."
I made my offer.
"Please leave out the part where I helped."
"Y-yes? But that's..."
"It's basically the same as a third party interfering during official duties, isn't it? That would put a crack in your record too, Warden Monica. You manage most of the women's cellblock, don't you?"
"How did you..."
"I told you I'm here on a secret mission. I know most of the ranks. Besides, I'm essentially someone who doesn't exist on paper here anyway. Since I don't exist, I can't exactly earn any credit."
"But I could separately report it to Director Veronica."
"No need. I just happened to run into the prisoner by chance anyway..."
I gave Monica a light wink.
"Getting on your good side is more important than racking up achievements, isn't it?"
"...Hngh. W-when you put it that way..."
She whipped her head away. She fiddled with the whip at her waist.
The diligent warden squirmed. Her small voice trembled slightly.
"I kind of... want to... torment you a little..."
"......?"
Oops.
Her affection level went too far! No! I have to keep that switch from flipping!
"Warden Monica?!"
"Y-yes?!"
"Anyway, you'll grant my request, right?"
"O-of course!"
Monica nodded rapidly. I calmed my startled heart.
Must not trigger her sadistic tendencies. When she gets extremely excited, she's someone who lashes out with her whip without distinguishing friend from foe.
I need to be careful. Careful.
"Then first..."
Monica rummaged inside her thick fur coat. She pulled out restraints.
"I'll restrain the prisoner first... and then shall we move right away?"
"No. I'll follow slowly. You'll be moving immediately, right, Warden Monica?"
"I think I'll have to. If I'm away too long, the Director might misunderstand..."
She glanced at me with a hint of regret.
"Then first... as you requested, I'll report it without Inquisitor Zahard's name."
"Please make sure the prisoner keeps quiet too. Well, if any unnecessary words come out..."
I whispered so only the prisoner could hear.
"I'll just come find you personally."
"......!"
The prisoner trembled violently.
That's what you get for acting up.
. . .
The leisurely hot spring trip with Maya came to an end. Her eyes showed some disappointment, but I soothed her.
"Next time, let's go somewhere else too. I'm planning to go to a place called the Fairy Forest soon."
"...Maya come too?"
"Of course. Where the boss goes, the employee follows. You said there were lots of things you wanted to see. You said you wanted to see the ocean too, right?"
"Yeah."
"Not a frozen sea like here. I'll show you the warm southern sea later. You can soak your body in the water there."
"Really?"
"There's no way I'd lie to Maya. Right?"
She nodded slightly. She naturally sat on my lap and rubbed her face against my upper body.
"Boss. Good. Maya's nest."
Hm. Cute.
Is this what it would feel like to have a daughter?
"Sir... then we'll head straight to Tantalos..."
"Yes. Please."
The carriage moved diligently. The hired coachman was more talkative than expected.
"Why are you going to Tantalos?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Ah, I don't mean to pry. It's just that Tantalos is a terrible place as a travel destination. There's almost nothing to see or enjoy. It's a small city of prisoners, so to speak... As you know, isn't it where the Church of Ra's Punishment Office is? The Empire has washed its hands of it too. Originally it was just a place with one Punishment Office, but goods came out cheap from the prisoners' workshops, and people quietly trickled in one by one until it became the Tantalos of today."
That figures.
Prisoners have no rights. It's basically the same as saying their labor can be used for free.
It's a place where thousands operate at once. I'd heard the Punishment Office receives a separate budget, but an extremely small amount. Most daily necessities are produced in-house through prisoner labor.
One of the reasons the Punishment Office is especially free from the church's influence.
"From farming to mining... quite good quality clothes come out too, and occasionally there are even craftsmen. Prisoners are people before they're prisoners, aren't they? I've heard there are quite a few with real skill. But skill is all they have. Their characters are all garbage, every last one."
"You can't go inside the Punishment Office anyway, right?"
"Tantalos, built around the Punishment Office, is the same. Garbage attracts garbage. Pickpocketing, of course, and petty crimes break out frequently."
"The Punishment Office doesn't care?"
"The Punishment Office is a prison, isn't it? It's a place to punish criminals, not a place to catch and lock them up."
The coachman glanced at me. He whispered quietly.
"Sir, how should I put it... I think you especially need to be careful."
"Why?"
"You're so pretty... these days it's women who do more of... that... ahem... anyway, that's how it is."
Well, he means well.
I leaned back in my seat leisurely. Who would dare lay a hand on me?
I have an excellent employee!
Maya quietly sat up. She must have heard the coachman's words, because eyes were opening one by one in the shadows.
"...Who touches boss's body?"
"No one's touching me."
"Boss. Maya's nest. Maya's."
Maya plopped her face against my chest again.
"Touch and kill."
"You can't just kill anyone."
"Kill discreetly."
"Excellent answer, Maya."
Right. Kill discreetly! You can't just kill anyone!
"Thank you! Sir!"
I paid roughly double as thanks for the conversation. After casually waving at the bowing coachman, I headed straight for the Punishment Office.
A fairly dense urban area. There were a few eyes watching me, but no one approached carelessly. They just glanced and passed by.
Judging by my confident stride, they must have thought I looked important. In front of the massive gate leading into the Punishment Office, I cleared my throat.
I called over a guard standing watch. I lowered my voice and whispered.
"Could you pass along a message to the Director?"
"...To Director Veronica of the Punishment Office?"
"Yes. Tell her I've come on a secret mission, and she'll understand."
The guard nodded. He immediately disappeared inside.
He came back out in less than thirty minutes. But his expression was oddly sour.
"Um... may I have your name?"
"It's Zahard."
"I don't know what business you've come for, but..."
The guard shook his head.
"The Director said she doesn't know anything about it. She said if you don't get lost right now, she'll arrest you as a criminal and throw you in..."
...What?
What's that supposed to mean?