Noble Reincarnation: Born Blessed, So I'll Obtain Ultimate Power

The next day, I took the maid Jiji and went out into the city.

We wandered around casually, observing the town’s atmosphere.

Almeria Province, Provincial Capital Nishil.

As expected of a provincial capital, the scale was several times that of a typical town.

Divided into four districts, with four magistrates needed for the east, west, south, and north, the size of the city was evident.

Honestly, it had been quite some time since I arrived in the fief, but I still hadn’t fully explored Nishil.

To understand the daily lives of the people, I wandered through the city like this.

“Master, it looks like that way is bustling,” Jiji said.

“Hmm. Maybe there’s some kind of spectacle.”

Jiji noticed and pointed ahead.

It had the typical atmosphere of a crowd gathering around some incident.

I approached the bystanders and asked a nearby man.

“What’s all this commotion about?”

“It’s an execution. Today, they’re beheading a scumbag who committed rape and murder, so everyone’s come to watch.”

The man answered excitedly.

I nodded in understanding.

Executions were often carried out in public.

Rebels were punished publicly as a warning, and crimes that stirred great public anger were executed publicly to appease the populace.

This was the latter case. For a rapist and murderer, public execution made sense.

I understood the situation; there was no need to watch any further.

I am the Prince Minister of Legal Affairs, holding the final decision-making authority over the annual mass executions.

Having held this position for several years, watching executions was neither appropriate nor a hobby.

I was about to leave with Jiji—when suddenly,

On the square where the crowd gathered, surrounding the platform for the execution,

Stepping up one after another were the magistrate, the executioner, the prisoner, and those restraining him.

The magistrate was in formal attire. The law clearly states that one must be dressed formally when carrying out an execution.

The executioner was a muscular man, bare-chested.

He held a well-sharpened sword, its sharpness visible even from afar.

The prisoner’s hands were tied behind his back, and he appeared exhausted as he was brought up onto the platform, forced to kneel.

Shouts and curses erupted from all directions.

It was already known to everyone that he was a rapist and murderer, so the crowd hurled insults at this enemy of society.

The magistrate stepped forward, raising both hands.

The jeering died down considerably.

When it quieted, the magistrate turned to the prisoner and spoke clearly.

“You are Craig Hall, right? Any last words?”

The prisoner, who had been kneeling with his head bowed, lifted his face as if wanting to say something but only emitted a groan from his throat; no words came out.

“None, then. Very well.”

The magistrate signaled to the executioner with his eyes.

Those restraining the prisoner pushed him from both sides, forcing his head downward.

Then, the executioner raised his sword.

“—!!”

The prisoner groaned further, as if wanting to say something.

“…Bahamut.”

“Yes.”

“Interpreter, can you translate?”

“Of course.”

After Bahamut responded, the prisoner’s groans were translated through Bahamut into understandable words.

“I am innocent! I was framed!”

“—!”

The executioner raised his sword—then swung it down!

“Wait!”

I shouted, kicking off the ground and leaping forward straight at the execution platform.

The executioner’s sword did not stop.

I drew Leviathan from my bracelet and unleashed a slashing attack.

Kiiin!

A clear ringing sound echoed as the executioner’s sword snapped cleanly in two.

The prisoner—the one proclaiming innocence—remained untouched, his neck still intact.

“Who are you!”

The magistrate demanded, but like Pascal, he did not know my face yet.

“It doesn’t matter who I am. This person is innocent.”

“An accomplice aiding an escape? Seize him! Seize him!!”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t an escape, but the magistrate shouted in a slightly flustered tone.