Surviving as the Fallen Northern Grand Duke

Chapter 14: Establishing the Academy (3)

"Let go of her."

"What?"

"Release the child and step back."

"What the hell is this crazy bastard saying? Yeah, tie that girl up. Even if we couldn't sell her sister, we need to sell this one."

The man, who seemed to be the leader, spat out a curse at me and then completely ignored my existence.

He must have assumed that I wasn't a threat, believing in their numbers.

Following his command, the men started wrapping thick ropes around the child.

Their movements were swift, and seeing how quickly they tied her up, I immediately realized—this wasn’t their first time.

Screeeeech!

The rope tightened violently around the child's body.

She struggled desperately, flailing her arms and legs in an attempt to escape...

"Help me!"

She looked at me and cried out.

I nodded.

I was already planning to.

I strode towards them—

Shing!

Slash!

I sliced through the thighs of the men tying her up.

They tried to block me as I approached with my sword drawn, but stopping me with such sluggish movements was impossible.

I gave them one last warning.

"If you back off now, this ends here. Drop everything and leave. If you do, I’ll spare your lives."

At that moment, the cliffside erupted into chaos.

The ones I had cut screamed in agony, while the rest looked at each other...

"Kill that bastard!"

They raised their weapons and charged at me.

A cold, northern coastal village.

Against the backdrop of the wind-blown cliff, they rushed towards me...

"They look like a horde of zombies."

Yeah, they no longer looked human to me.

And that made things easier.

A smirk crossed my lips as I planted my feet firmly on the ground.

"I wasn't expecting much, you idiots. I only asked to be polite. Now then..."

You all deserve to die.

After what you did to someone’s family.

Rumble!

I dug my feet into the ground, gathering power at the tip of my sword—

Swish!

Boom!

In an instant, a blade storm swept through them, disarming over a dozen men.

Giving these lowlifes the luxury of a proper swordfight would be a waste.

So, just like swatting flies, I crushed their bodies with nothing but the longsword’s wind force.

Groans. Moans.

A forceful gust unlike anything they had ever experienced.

They must have felt like they had been struck by a sledgehammer.

They writhed on the ground like worms, veins bulging in their eyes.

And yet—

Crawl...

Even then, they were still trying to reach for their weapons.

So, I walked up to the crawling insects with an easy stride.

And, very slowly...

Stab!

Crack!

One by one, I ‘cleaned up’ the trash.

"Aaaargh!"

"Please... spare me!"

Crunch!

"Aaaargh!"

I believe this.

That I was simply sending them to where they belonged.

That I was making this land a cleaner place.

Fwoosh! Crackle!

The flames still raged on.

I thought of the family that had burned to death in agony, avenging them in their stead.

"I need to finish this."

The last one left.

The leader who had commanded them.

He had survived the longest because, in that brief moment, he had crawled the farthest away.

I had a duty to exterminate him, like the pest he was.

So, slowly—very slowly—I walked towards him.

Tap tap tap tap!

A small, white figure suddenly dashed in and blocked my path.

"Huh?"

A girl.

The last surviving member of this household.

I was startled the moment I saw her.

And for good reason—

'She was tied up, wasn't she?'

I had seen it myself.

She had been lying there, bound tightly.

The men had been so fast that she hadn’t even had a chance to resist before her limbs were completely restrained.

How did she escape those tight bindings?

As I briefly pondered this mystery, the girl spread her arms wide, blocking my way.

"Wait!"

Swish.

I silently stared at the child.

The child continued speaking.

"Don't kill him."

"Why?"

This man was the one who had murdered her entire family.

Yet she was asking me to spare him.

I was so dumbfounded that I had to ask why.

Then, the child answered.

"Give me that sword... I'll kill him myself."

"What?"

"He killed my whole family. If you take my revenge away from me... I'll remember this for the rest of my life."

"…Unbelievable."

I was at a loss for words.

To hear such things from a child.

More than that, I was only seventeen, and she called me ajusshi (old man).

That moment, I felt a strange sense of confusion.

A child who had somehow freed herself from her bindings, now calling me an old man, and asking to take revenge with her own hands.

What a bold move.

But I quickly regained my composure.

It was a complicated situation, but the solution was simple.

Swish.

I handed the longsword to the child and said,

"Do as you wish."

Revenge for her family should be taken by her own hands.

Otherwise, the nightmares would haunt her forever.

And what could I do?

This wasn't South Korea.

I wouldn't be going to prison for letting a child execute justice.

Besides, after living in this world for twelve years, I had grown accustomed to its law of power.

So I let the bold little girl finish things herself.

Thud.

She accepted the longsword.

And then—

Stagger!

Unable to withstand its immense weight, her whole body swayed.

Of course.

That thing is ridiculously heavy.

Johan Kraubitz's body could handle wielding a longsword that size, but even most adult women would struggle to lift it.

I doubted a child could actually complete her revenge with that weapon.

"Ugh..."

She gritted her teeth and took a step forward.

One step, then another.

Using every ounce of strength, she moved toward him.

Crawl...

The man, still writhing on the ground, turned bloodshot eyes toward her.

His body was shattered—he had no strength left to fight back.

Of course, if he did try to resist, I’d just kill him myself.

So I simply stood there and watched.

The man groaned as he saw the sword in her hands.

"P-please... Please... spare me... If you let me live, I’ll..."

And he begged for his life from a child barely ten years old.

"Disgusting. Truly..."

I couldn't help but comment.

The child met his eyes directly and tried to raise the longsword.

She was preparing to deliver the final blow.

But—

"Huff..."

No matter how hard she tried, her frail arms couldn't lift the weapon.

She struggled, gripping the handle with both hands, but the longsword would only rise halfway before dropping again.

Should I just finish this myself?

I wasn’t planning to stand here all night.

Watching her struggle, I debated what to do.

If she kept trying, she wouldn’t be able to kill him even if she had all night.

But then—

Grab!

The next moment, I was utterly shocked.

"What?"

The girl, realizing she couldn't lift the sword by its handle, grabbed the blade with her bare hands instead.

She must have thought that gripping the middle of the sword would make it easier to swing.

"No!"

I shouted urgently.

That longsword—despite its weight—had an incredibly sharp edge.

If she grabbed the blade, her delicate hands would be sliced open.

But—

Drip...

Even as blood dripped from her hands, she didn't scream.

She just held the blade with a calm, serene expression and slowly lifted the longsword.

At that moment, I noticed—

Her fingernails were completely destroyed.

Did she... free herself that way?

I wasn’t sure exactly how, but I could imagine.

She must have desperately torn at the ropes with her bare hands.

Drip.

Blood trickled down her arm and splattered onto the ground.

And then—

Shing!

Thrust!

The longsword fell toward the ground.

The massive blade pierced straight through the back of the man's skull.

"Khrrr..."

A dying breath escaped his throat.

And just like that, the man who had killed the child’s family met his end.

The child,

Saaaah...

With emotionless eyes, looked down at him and twisted her arm.

Crunch. Crack!

The longsword let out a gruesome sound as it split open the skull.

She kept twisting the blade, crushing the man's head even further.

And then,

Swish.

She turned to me and asked.

"Is it over?"

"Yeah. You completely wrecked him."

"…I see."

She had left a hole in his head the size of her forearm, and now she was asking if it was over.

And yet...

Ssss...

Drenched head to toe in blood, she let out a sigh of relief.

At that moment, I just wanted to go home.

This kind of scene was bound to be bad for my delicate mental state.

So, I needed to wrap this up quickly.

"This was your home, right?"

I walked up to the child and asked.

She nodded.

"Yes."

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

"No."

I hesitated.

What should I do with her?

Ah, some people might think I’m too heartless for not offering a single word of comfort to a child who just lost her family.

But I knew that ensuring her safety came first.

If word of what happened here reached the village below, they wouldn’t leave this child alone.

So I needed to get her somewhere safe first, then figure out how to comfort her.

Of course...

She doesn’t look like she needs comfort.

That was another thing.

Should I take her to the academy?

No, that wouldn’t be right.

I was planning to train ‘heroes’ to fight that demon who sought to conquer the world with the new weapon, Krisha.

And my instincts were screaming, This child is far from being a hero.

So, I stood there for a moment, contemplating where to take her.

Then—

"Take me with you."

The one who broke the silence was the child.

"Take me with you. To wherever you’re going."

"Why do you want that?"

"Because... you're strong."

From that single sentence, I could tell how quickly this child had adapted to reality.

Instead of crying or throwing a tantrum, she immediately recognized a strong person who could protect her and asked to be taken along.

Other kids might have vaguely asked to be taken somewhere...

But they wouldn’t have said it with such a clear, strategic intent—to attach themselves to strength.

That was an exceptional level of decisiveness and courage for someone her age.

Sigh.

My dilemma deepened, so I decided to at least ask for her name.

"What’s your name?"

And the child responded—

"…Krisha."