The man escaped by jumping out of the pub’s window, so I gave chase. Before I could exit, however, the old barista threw me a Sabre.

“A proper weapon! Thanks! But are you sure you don’t need this?”

“I’m more of a hand-to-hand guy. Now go!”

Wasting no more time, I dashed out of the pub and gave chase to the man.

The night was cold and empty; the only sounds were those of my and the man’s footsteps echoing in the streets. Despite specializing in speed, I couldn’t catch up with him no matter what I did.

And, shamefully, I lost him.

“FUCK!”

I screamed and plopped down to the ground to rest. Heaving for breath, I brought the Sabre closer to my face to inspect it.

‘Yeah, just a normal and cheap Sabre.’

What did I even expect, that the old stingy barista would give me something good for free?

Anyways, going back to the pub right now wasn’t a good idea, so I decided to go back to the inn…after putting the Sabre in my backpack, of course.

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It was the next day. Since I’d so very discreetly exited the inn yesterday, everyone was doing their usual things. You know, Nira bullying Aerin, Mom and Ria and Hannah talking, and Ihwa and Violette and I doing whatever we liked.

As for Nowa, she was still asleep. Mom only let her sleep in this late because this afternoon was going to be very harsh for her.

And Edward… He was standing guard outside the inn. He didn’t need to, but he did, anyways.

Personally, I’d like to think that he wasn’t confident in being able to hold back against his urge to propose to Mom, Ria, or Hannah, and that he was afraid of what I’d do to him if I caught him doing so.

Just a thought, though. I was sure he wasn’t that blinded by lust to risk angering Herald by stealing Mom. His taking Ria would anger Mom and Hannah. If he decided to take either me or Nowa, he’d have to also go through Mom and Ria.

And if he was eyeing for Ihwa… Well, let’s just say that I was curious if there was any food recipe that contained raw human dick. Not that I’d eat it, of course. I’d feed it to Edward himself to make him pay for even trying to seduce my friend!

Grim and very random thoughts aside, I focused on the situation at hand—Nowa’s engagement.

‘If push comes to shove…’ I eyed my backpack intensely. ‘...I wouldn’t shy from challenging that guy to a duel.’

I continued playing with Ihwa and Violette until I noticed a bird standing on the window ledge. Strapped to its leg was a piece of paper.

‘Ah, the information is finally here.’

For context, Enadell Pub offered me even more information about my Sister’s fiance to compensate for last night’s incident.

I excused myself and went to the window. After making sure that my body was blocking the bird, I gently took the paper off it and read it.

‘Ojisa Asshol, fourteen. Despite being only four years older than me, he looks like a dirty middle-aged man.’

An image of that description appeared in my mind. Yeah, gotta bleach my brain later. After suppressing a violent shudder, I continued reading.

‘Apparently, he’s abusive to his servants. He disrespects his Knights and parents, yet he still gets away with everything. There are even some rumors that he’s running an illegal slave-trading business.’

Slaving was, surprisingly enough, banned in Vetrix Empire. Actually, it wasn’t banned until twelve years ago—when a new Empress took the throne.

Of course, even in my previous life, I saw nothing wrong with slavery. It was just an integral part of society back then. But, when the Otherworlders slowly but surely abolished slavery, I was fairly surprised to see that some countries were even becoming more prosperous and lively than before.

Don’t get me wrong, I still couldn’t care less about it at that time, but now, I could see that they might have been actually onto something here.

Anyways, to conclude the information on the piece of paper: my Sister’s fiance was an asshole.

‘Still, I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt…’

After all, I was going to meet him in the next few hours.

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‘Nope, he’s a fucking asshole. He’s better off dead.’

My thought was interrupted by another creepy laughter coming from Ojisa.

He looked just like how I’d imagined him. Fat, sweaty, greasily, and with a face that looked like a middle-aged man’s. Not to mention, his lips were way too thick.

Not to mention, he was eyeing everyone in my group hungrily. Yes, even Edward…somehow.

Anyways, the labored breathing and disgusting slimy sound of sweat were only broken by Mom’s awkward and almost disgusted cough.

“E-Excuse me, Mr. Asshol, but about the engagement…”

“Oh, yes. I’m quite satisfied with this fine specimen of human female right here.” He licked his lips. “And I wouldn’t mind if this Fox-kin lady were to be my wife, also, milady.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“T-That, you’ll have to ask my husband.” Mom gave him a strained smile.

“Yes, I forgot that you had a husband,” he sighed. “You’d be my father’s type.”

“Pardon?”

“Forget I said anything. Now, I accept the engagement. Your daughter and I shall marry at the start of next year.”

What was he going to do— oh, oh no, he was making his way toward Nowa. His greasy hand was inches away from hers. LIKE HELL WILL I LET YOU DO THAT!

I slapped his disgusting hand away from Nowa. Despite wearing a glove, I still felt like I had to wash my hand for a full day for it to become half as clean as before.

Luckily, I didn’t need to put on my sullied glove for long, as coincidently, throwing a glove at another was the Noble’s way of requesting a duel.

“Ojisa Asshol, I challenge you to a duel!”

The pig calmly removed the glove from his face and sniffed it for a bit before stuffing it into his breast pocket.

‘Disgusting!’

“I need to know what the duel will be for, my lady.”

“What will it be for? Of course, it will be for my sister’s engagement!”

Suddenly, Hannah spoke. “Hey, Nova, maybe you should change the wording a little bi—”

“Very well, milady,” Ojisa interrupted Hannah to address me. “And if I win, you will become my concubine alongside your sister.”

Truly, he was disgusting on all fronts. Still, I had to commend him for having the guts to say that in front of a Swordsmaster.

“It’s a deal, then.”

Ojisa led the way into the training ground of his estate. But as I was about to follow him, Mom grabbed my arm.

“Little one, what are you doing f—”

“Mom!” Even I was surprised at my raised voice. But still, I pressed on. “I’m not little anymore! You see it too, right? Nowa will suffer if she becomes that pig’s wife.”

“B-But—”

I gripped her hand hard, making her leak a short squeal of surprise.

“I’ll win.”

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I arrived at the training ground. Not too surprisingly, I saw that all the Knights there were glaring at Ojisa as if he was the biggest trash in the world.

‘Huh, I guess the information was correct.’

Unlike what I’d expected, he wasn’t picking up a weapon himself. Instead, a buff-looking man was standing in the arena.

“Are you scared of a little girl, pig?” I said provocatively. “Enough to use your Knight Captain?”

Seeing Ojisa raising his eyebrows like that, I knew that I was correct in my guess that the Knight Captain was fighting as the pig’s proxy.

“You aren’t fooling anyone. I know what you did yesterday at the Pub.”

I could hear Mom’s confused noise behind me. Dammit, not right now!

“A-Are you stalking me?”

“No.” He smirked. “But one of my subordinates happened to be there that night.”

“Even then, isn’t it a bit too unfair to put a 4-star against me?”

“I have a feeling that you’ll say that, milady. Truly, you are smart enough to marry me.” Ojisa laughed. “That’s why I’ve prepared this.” He took out a collar.

“A Supression Collar?”

“Indeed. Jake, put this on and limit your power to 1-star.”

Jake—the Knight Captain nodded and put on the Collar. Instantly, I could feel his strength dropping all the way to 1-star.

“Last chance to back out now, milady.”

“Like hell I will! He’s 1-star now, this match is mine to win!”

“I’m afraid that you’re still hot-headed, milady.” The pig shook his head bitterly. “In a battle like this, what determines the winner is experience.”

“...I know.”

“And yet, you still want to fight?”

I flashed him a dangerous grin.

“Yes.”

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The battle didn’t start right away since we actually had to get someone from the Royal Palace to oversee the duel.

You never know whether or not bastards like Ojisa would go back on his words…

Anyways, the Judge arrived soon enough. He was a man with a twirly mustache that would’ve looked great on Herald. Too bad he’d shaved it away recently…

Anyways, it was finally time for the duel. I flourished the Sabre that the old barista gave me and eyed my opponent lazily.

‘Stance’s good, but you’re nothing compared to me.’

Right now, I could see a million different ways that I could pierce that little throat of his. However, since this was a “friendly” duel, I decided to just knock him out.

“[Vulpeculae]”

I dashed, and dashed, and slashed. With each attack, thin strands of Aura converged into points that looked like stars.

The Knight Captain tried to counterattack—emphasis on tried. He failed miserably; only being able to block a few. As cuts began appearing all over his body, my Sword style had reached its final stage.

And since I didn’t have another sword with me, I’d have to make do with what I had.

‘My hand, I’ll use it!’

With my left hand on one side of the Captain’s neck—and the flat side of my sword on the other, I crossed them together like scissors, knocking him out.

‘Ouch, was that the sound of bones breaking?’

I was sure it was nothing important… He’d probably get back on his feet soon if Ojisa fed him a decent Recovery potion. But knowing him, he probably wouldn’t.

‘It’s always up to me to do nice things, isn’t it?’

Sighing, I motioned for Ihwa to throw me a High-grade Recovery potion from my backpack; which she did.

Ever since Erza’s death, I’d always made sure to have at least one High-grade Recovery potion available in my backpack. You never know what could happen.

Anyways, I poured the content into the Captain’s mouth, and he woke up soon later. As he was still looking around confusedly, I knocked the hilt of my sword on his head to get his attention.

“Saved ya. Don’t need to repay me.”

Then, I simply stabbed my Sabre into the ground and smirked at Ojisa, making sure to put on the most annoying face I could. After that, I faced the Judge.

“So, are you going to announce the results?”

The judge solemnly nodded and spoke with a voice loud enough that nearly broke my noise-suppressing hairpin.

“I am Judge Henry Isop XI, and I hereby declare that Nova Leinfall is the winner of the duel! Under the Fifteenth Amendment, the loser—Ojisa Asshol, has to annul his engagement with the winner’s Sister—Nowa Leinfall.”

Hearing the judge’s words, I turned back to my family with a smile. While the kids were happy, Mom and Ria were looking at me with worried gazes. Meanwhile, Hannah was staring at me with an annoying smirk.

I knew what that smirk meant—that something interesting and funny to her was going to happen.

‘...Why do I have a bad premonition?’

And, very unluckily, that premonition came true.

“And as per the request of the winner, Nowa Leinfall is now officially recognized by the law as Nova Leinfall’s fiance.”

W-What!? The fuck did you mean!? I looked at Mom and Ria and saw them facepalming. All the while, Hannah was smirking at me with a gaze that conveyed the message, “I told you so.”

Meanwhile…Nowa was beaming. She definitely didn’t know what this all meant for her…

“Yay! I’m marrying Nee-san!”

And, Ojisa was absolutely fuming.

“UNACCEPTABLE!”

“Mr. Ojisa,” the judge said solemnly. “You have to honor the result. It is written the Fifteenth Amendment that y—”

“I DON’T FUCKING CARE! KEN, GET HIM!”

As soon as those words left Ojisa’s mouth, I felt a terrifying rush of killing intent directed at me. I quickly turned around and saw a robed man dashing toward me from God knows where. In his hand was a familiar red Dagger—the same one that I saw yesterday.

On instinct, I slashed my Sabre at him; meeting blades with his Dagger.

The man definitely knew that he couldn’t win since I’d so easily overwhelmed him yesterday. So, he disengaged with me and—

“NO! COME HERE!”

—Made a mad dash at my family…