A Story of a Noble Lady Who Was Ravaged by an Incurable Disease and Covered in Bandages All Over Her Broken Body; After Healing Her, She Turned Into a Stunning Beauty and Started Desperately Courting Me - Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Pushing Every Last Bit of Strength to Protect Alicia

I stood tall like a wall, blocking the guys right in front of me. They glared back hard, like they were trying to intimidate us.

I quickly shoved my hand into my pocket, channeling magic power into it, and threw this question at them.

“…So what exactly are you guys doing in that dead-end alley across from the cake shop ‘Shiroir’ on Shizel Street? And chasing a woman all the way to the back like that… that’s pretty scummy, don’t you think?”

“Haha, can’t you tell just by looking? It’s adult business, kid. Anyway, who gives a shit—move it already, you little punk. There’s no way a weak-looking brat like you is seriously picking a fight with us, right?”

“If you really are trying to pick a fight with us, maybe we should just sell this kid off too. Young guys can still fetch a decent price, y’know?”

“Yeah, true. Kids usually go for good money anyway. Let’s grab him too and sell the pair. Pffhaha.”

“…I see. So you guys are the kidnapping type, huh. But… do you even know who this person is while you’re trying to grab her?”

“Huh? What’re you even talking about? What do you mean ‘who she is’?”

“This lady right here is the daughter of the Duke Elfemina family. In other words—you’re about to lay hands on a noble!”

“Wha… what the hell!?”

“H-Haa!?”

As soon as I said that, all the burly guys let out the same shocked growl at once.

Ever since I became an adventurer, Guild Master Douglas taught me a bunch of stuff right away—including about people who get involved in illegal crimes like this.

So yeah, he also gave me the basics on guys who kidnap people for the slave trade. Obviously slave trading is a crime. If they get caught, they’re done for immediately.

And since they know it’s illegal, there’s one big condition they always follow when they kidnap someone. Which is obviously…

“No way… Shit! Thought we hit the jackpot with a prime piece, but it’s a dud?!”

“Hey hey, what do we do now? Slave traders ain’t gonna buy a noble, right…?”

“Obviously not. There’s no way any slave merchant would take a high-status noble. It’s already illegal enough—selling someone whose identity could get traced back in a second would definitely leave tracks.”

“More like, why the hell is a noble wandering around the city all alone anyway? Tch. What an idiot…”

While spitting curses like that, the guys in front of us kept glaring.

Basically, because slave trading is a crime, they never touch anyone whose background could easily be traced. That’s why no slave merchant would ever buy a noble whose identity would almost certainly get exposed.

That’s exactly why I told them Alicia was a noble.

“So yeah—this woman is a noble lady. Meaning even if you kidnap her, you’re not making any money off it.”

“Tch. Screw you… Finally thought we found a good one and it turns out to be pointless?”

“Sigh, this sucks… So what now? Staying here gets us nothing. Should we just bounce?”

“Yeah, I wanna get outta here quick, but… we can’t just let these two walk away like nothing happened, right? Oi, you little shit. You a noble too?”

“…Nope. I’m just a regular commoner.”

“Got it. Then we’re good. We’ll let you go. So hand over that noble chick and disappear already.”

“…Why?”

“Even a brat like you should understand—you mess with nobles, you don’t survive. Nobles have crazy power and connections, they’re a pain in the ass. So we can’t just send her back home to her noble family. Our faces are already known… Gotta shut her up here, yeah?”

“Hii…!”

The guys stared hard at Alicia’s face while saying that. From behind me came Alicia’s scared little whimper.

I spread my arms wide so they couldn’t lay a single finger on her and said,

“Don’t touch Alicia-san.”

“The hell? We said we ain’t interested in a powerless little shit like you. That’s why we’re letting you go—so leave the noble girl and get lost already!”

“We gotta silence her quick and then get the hell outta the capital too. We don’t have all day, so hurry up and ditch her and scram!”

“No way. There’s no way I could just quietly abandon Alicia-san and run away!”

“…Haa. We’re being nice here and you still won’t listen… What, you stupid or something?”

“Looks like it. Guess we got no choice then. Gotta make this shitty brat hurt too. ORAAAAA!”

――BOOM!!

“Guhah!”

“S-Setsuna-sama…!?”

One of the guys swung his arm way back and slammed a full-power punch straight into my stomach.

The hit made me stagger, and I dropped to one knee on the ground. Even so, I desperately fought to stay upright and not collapse.

But while I was barely holding on with one knee down, the other guys joined in—starting to punch and kick me with everything they had.

“Take this! Take it!”

“Ora ora! ORAAAA!!”

“Gugah! G-Guh… guh!”

――BAM! BAM! CRACK! CRACK!

“Ora ora! We don’t give a damn if a piece of trash like you dies! So if you don’t wanna die, ditch the girl and run already! Ora ora!”

“Guh… N-No… I won’t… abandon Alicia-san… and run… no way in hell…!”

“Haa? What’s with this guy?? Seriously cocky little shit! Let’s beat him harder so he can’t talk back anymore! ORA!! ORA!!”

――BAM! BAM! CRACK! CRACK!

“G-Gugah! G-Guh…!”

They kept punching and kicking my body over and over. Obviously my whole body was covered in bruises now, and blood was everywhere too.

Even so, I never tried to run. To protect Alicia, I absolutely refused to fall and kept standing in front of those guys.

“A-Ah… Setsuna-sama… so much blood… w-why won’t you run… w-why are you… protecting me this much…”

“Haa… haa… because I promised… I promised I’d… save Alicia-san… no matter what… I’d definitely save you… gugah!?”

“Oi you! Quit talking whenever you want! This ain’t the time for chit-chat! ORA ORA!”

――BAM! BAM! CRACK! CRACK!

After that they kept beating and kicking me nonstop. My whole body hurt like crazy and felt awful, but I still didn’t collapse—I just endured it.

“What the hell is with this kid. We’ve been beating the shit outta him and he’s still covered in blood and refusing to run… What even are you? Some kinda suicide freak??”

“Haha, for real? We said we’d let you live and run, but you’re actually trying to die, huh, dumbass?”

“A-Ah… S-Setsuna-sama… that’s enough already…! Please just leave me… please…!”

“H-Haa… haa… I’m not running… I’m absolutely… absolutely going to save Alicia-san… so don’t worry… I’ll definitely protect you… haa… haa…”

“A-Ah… Setsuna-sama… sob… uuu…”

“What’s with him? Thinks he’s some prince saving a princess or something? Haha, so fucking lame! Lines like that ain’t for weaklings like you!”

“Yeah, exactly. You can’t say shit like that when you’re this bloody. If you seriously think you can save her while half-dead, you’re completely insane. Pffhaha. That was such a funny joke I actually laughed. But anyway, beating him is getting old. Let’s just finish him off quick.”

“Haha, yeah. Beating up a kid was hilarious but we gotta kill these two and dip—”

“Haha, got it, got it. Then how about you die first? ORAAAA!!”

“…Huh? GYAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!?”

――BOOOOOOM!!

“Eh… w-what the—!?”

“H-Haa!?”

“…Eh… ah…”

Right then, as I was about to black out, I definitely heard their voices in my ears.

“Hey hey? What the hell did you bastards do to my disciple?? Look how messed up you made him… You don’t think you’re getting off easy, do you…?”

“He is a precious disciple to me as well, so I shall assist. Hm, now then… how shall we settle this debt?”

“Hmm, yeah… maybe beat them so bad they wish they were dead instead. Y’know, the classic half-dead treatment. That much should be fine, right? No one’s gonna arrest us for that, yeah? Noble lady?”

“As one noble, I cannot personally approve of such torture-like private punishment… but as a guild master who has to wrangle rough adventurers, I’ll allow it. Let’s make sure every single one of them gets properly half-killed… Skuld-dono.”

“You got it. Then let’s wrap this up quick… Guild Master.”

“Eh…”

“H-Hiii…”

Those two reliable voices reached my ears. It’s gonna be okay now… As far as I know, these two are among the absolute strongest… so yeah… I can leave the rest to them…

――Thud…

Hearing those two voices, I finally felt relieved… and just like that, I lost consciousness…