No matter the circumstances, the priority was to rescue the person first.
Once that was done, Skyler Sierre’s crimes would naturally come to light.
‘I never thought I’d end up doing this kind of thing.’
Wasn’t this a massive cliché?
Rescuing a beautiful noble lady in peril and falling in love…
I shook my head vigorously.
“No, what am I even thinking?”
After digging through Abel’s memories:
Princess Eustia already had a fiancé.
That was normal for nobles, wasn’t it?
To them, children were nothing more than tools for political marriages.
By that logic, I was the same—except this body was a special case.
I had been sent to the battlefield before even coming of age.
There were several reasons: preserving Abel’s life, strengthening imperial authority, etc.
Anyway, that wasn’t important right now.
Rescuing Princess Eustia came first.
“Who the hell are you?”
As I stepped forward, sorting my thoughts, a wary voice immediately rang out.
They were plotting crimes in the dead of night—of course they’d be startled by someone appearing.
But I kept walking without a care.
“He’s insane. Just cut his throat and dump him over there.”
“Yes, sir!”
A deep voice from inside the camp.
The huge man sitting by the campfire seemed to be their leader.
At his command, several men drew their weapons.
Shiiing! Shwick.
Instant combat readiness without a hint of hesitation.
“Drawing swords the moment you meet someone at night—don’t you think that looks suspicious even to you?”
“A dead man sure talks a lot.”
“Haha! Treating me like a corpse the moment you see me—truly terrible people.”
Whoosh!
As I leisurely walked forward, a sharp slicing sound cut through the air.
Two men burst from the bushes on both sides and swung their swords.
I had expected the ones mocking me from the front to move first—this was an irregular ambush.
But I wasn’t someone who’d fall to trash like this.
Clang!
The gavel I swung naturally blocked their blades.
Perfect defense even without using Beast’s Heart.
‘This is easy.’
As time passed, Abel’s martial arts were rapidly becoming second nature.
It felt like automatically ascending to the realm of supreme masters.
Truly eating for free…
‘No, this body already had the strength. It’s not exactly free.’
Then they shouldn’t have possessed me in the first place.
I shrugged lightly toward whatever unknown existence might be watching.
A crazy situation like possessing a young duke’s body doesn’t just happen on its own.
“Block his retreat!”
While I was briefly lost in thought, the enemy had already formed an encirclement.
They were definitely not mere laborers.
Such perfectly coordinated movement could only come from elite troops.
“I smell it. The stench of crime!”
“You lunatic!”
The moment I sniffed dramatically, enemies charged from all sides.
They struck the rear first, then attacked sequentially from the sides and front.
A textbook linked assault.
Most people wouldn’t even react properly and would just get cut down.
One hand can’t block ten, after all.
But when the skill gap is overwhelming?
Beast’s Heart activated
Tssssss! CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
Crimson light flashed, and four swords flew through the air—handles separated from blades.
Every enemy stood with mouths agape.
It must have been their first time seeing this.
They had always relied on superior numbers.
“The empty cart is noisy, and the incompetent collapse all at once.”
Thwack! Thwack!
Satisfying impact sounds rang out continuously.
The sound of me closing the distance in an instant and cracking their skulls.
I wanted to go full power, but I couldn’t.
They were important witnesses and criminals in the act.
And I, standing at the pinnacle of imperial law, couldn’t use excessive force.
‘Beating them without killing is actually harder.’
Don’t martial arts novels say the same?
It takes several times the skill to subdue without killing.
This was exactly that situation.
But I was the monster known as the Mad Warrior of the North, who had reached the pinnacle of military merit.
And they were rookies who had only just awakened their aura.
Being helplessly crushed was inevitable.
Thud-thud-thud!
Every time the gavel danced, one man collapsed unconscious.
“U-urgh!”
“This is insane!”
“It’s a monster! A monster!”
They began scattering in all directions.
The precise linked attacks from earlier were nowhere to be seen.
Only terrified rabble remained.
I didn’t bother chasing the fleeing ones and headed straight for the center of the camp.
My goal was to rescue Princess Eustia, after all.
“You bastard!”
The man who had been sitting by the fire stood up.
For a moment, darkness fell all around.
His enormous bulk completely blocked the firelight.
Of course, it was no problem for me.
With Beast’s Heart active, all five senses were sharpened to the extreme.
“Do you even know whose family business you’re interfering with?”
“Please, as if I came all this way without knowing. This is Skyler Sierre’s doing.”
“…Hah!”
He let out a hollow laugh.
He hadn’t expected to be hit right on the mark.
Normally, people would hesitate to even mention such a big name.
But I couldn’t care less about some ducal heir.
“E-everyone, no funny business—step back. You lot have served the ducal house long enough to know who I am.”
“Why would we need to know a bastard like—”
Step.
Instead of answering, I shrugged.
The flickering firelight briefly illuminated my face.
Seriously, how could they not recognize me now?
A metal gavel, a thick law code, and an absurdly handsome face.
Anyone would know it’s the Empire’s poster boy—High Judge Duke Abel Carius.
Yet the man only snorted.
“Heh heh! You think pretending to be the Mad Warrior of the North will make us spare you?”
He clearly hadn’t expected this at all.
Well, who would expect to meet a duke in the middle of nowhere?
Doubting was natural.
“Heh heh! Even brought a thick book to play judge. Is that supposed to be the law code?”
He sneered and raised his weapon.
A warhammer modified into a two-handed mace scattered moonlight.
Somehow it had turned into hammer vs. hammer.
But I had no intention of swinging the gavel.
His mention of the law code had irritated me a little.
“You think I carry this around for show? Everything has a purpose.”
“What? Planning to recite statutes in front of people? Hilarious.”
“Sometimes, but right now I’m going to use it like this.”
I held the law code upright, raised it high above my head, and smashed it straight into his face.
WHOOSH—! CRUNCH!
A full-power strike with Beast’s Heart active.
Even if it wasn’t a proper weapon, the power was immense.
‘And the law code itself is an excellent weapon.’
It’s a book with hundreds of pages, after all.
Papermaking here isn’t exactly advanced.
Just ten years ago, parchment was still mainstream.
The paper in the law code was stiff and thick.
Hundreds of such sheets bound together—how could it not be heavy?
“GRAAH!”
The giant toppled backward, eyes rolling white from a single hit by the law code.
I smiled with satisfaction and lightly brushed the cover.
For some reason it felt like his scalp oil had gotten on it.
“Definitely effective.”
I grinned and looked around, but the mood was strange.
Everyone stood frozen, unsure what to do.
They hadn’t expected their leader to be knocked out by a book.
I stared at them and lightly shook the law code.
“Anyone else want to get hit?”
“Or kneel.”
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
I had said it without much expectation, but they immediately flattened themselves on the ground.
Even throwing away their weapons.
‘Wait, it’s this effective?’
As I scanned the area in confusion, my eyes suddenly met Princess Eustia’s.
She muttered with a pale face,
“G-God of Death!”
What kind of nonsense is this now?
***
The Sierre ducal house’s private soldiers’ camp was cleaned up quickly.
Tying up the unconscious ones wasn’t hard.
And I didn’t even have to do it myself.
Just order the surrendered ones to do it.
I sat on a log that had been used as a chair and supervised.
“All tied up?”
“Y-Yes.”
“Then finish the rest.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re their comrades, aren’t you? Trying to pretend you’re on my side now?”
“…”
“Bind each other.”
“Y-Yes.”
I couldn’t exactly tell them to tie themselves up, so I personally handled the last one.
There was plenty of rope left anyway.
I turned him into a human cocoon.
“Urgh! N-No matter what, this is a bit…”
“Too much?”
“Yes, could you loosen it a little? I worked hard too…”
“Shut up. You’ll thank me later.”
After dealing with the soldiers, I checked on Princess Eustia.
She was the third daughter of Prince Crawford of the Crawford Principality, characterized by an innocent face and a slender figure.
The very embodiment of purity, one might say.
Calling me the God of Death suggested she was quite timid too.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m finally calming down. Thank you so much, Duke Carius.”
“Not at all. I merely helped by chance. But how did this happen?”
The Crawford Principality was on the empire’s eastern border.
It was so far away I almost didn’t recognize her.
I never imagined meeting her in the mountains of the Sierre territory.
Princess Eustia frowned deeply.
“I was heading to our southern villa for the winter. But we were suddenly ambushed…”
“Your entire escort was overwhelmed, I take it.”
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“There was no escort to begin with.”
What kind of nonsense was this?
A princess of a nation traveling that far without guards?
When I gave her a puzzled look, she smiled bashfully.
“I escaped midway. Traveling with escort knights sticking to me is no fun.”
Ah, now I understood.
A spoiled lady’s reckless escapade had led to this.
And she fell right into the clutches of our crazy little darling.
“At any rate, I’m glad you’re safe. I’ll send you to the capital first. You can contact your family from there.”
“Yes, that would be best.”
I didn’t bother scolding her for why she did it.
We weren’t close, and it would only breed resentment.
Just providing a way to contact the Crawford Principality was enough.
I picked the largest carriage and cleared the interior.
I planned to load the prisoners like luggage and ride on the driver’s seat with Princess Eustia.
Then suddenly, a strange sound came from somewhere.
“Hey! You filthy trash! Trying to sell me to some old noble? Die! Just die!”
Thwack! Thud! CRUNCH!
Startled, I turned around—Princess Eustia was beating the prisoners with the long two-handed warhammer their leader had used.
‘I take back what I said about her being timid.’
Good grief—if she had strength to match, they’d call her a hero.
Scary lady 😅