《Perfection. I swear, if her name is like 12 parts or something mundane like Jane I'm going to break something-》

「That is… A really long name.」

《Shit.》

「Well it's… My first, second and last name…」

「Ah. I see. Well. Thank you then, Sir Vindict…」

He holds his hand up, and with immense confidence in his voice and a grave face, he says…

「Just call me Straf.」

Ba-dump.

She blinks for a second or two as she stares into his eyes. It takes the woman a moment to collect herself, she then clears her throat, assumes a showy pose…

「I am Cycelia, the crown princess and the rightful heir to the throne of this kingdom. I have been falsely accused of murder of my father the king, and the rest of the royal family. The plotter, usurper and murderer on the throne is hunting me ever since I barely escaped the attempt on my life.」

She speaks with similarly serious face and tone, but falls a little short of competition.

「I see… So you struggle with a murderer too, huh…」

《Too? Are we in a similar situation?》

Cycelia wonders as Straf becomes visibly broody.

《Hmmm… Runaway princess, huh? That's a really good roll on the cosmic cliche gacha.》

His expression resets, he looks at the men on the floor and dusts his hands.

「Well, since that's done and dealt with. I see a bit of walls sticking out past the trees. That's a city, isn't it?」

「Yes… But-」

「Great, come along with me, lets visit it.」

Straf simply starts walking.

「No! We can't! It's filled with manhunters! I just escaped from there!」

「So what? Not like I'm going to let them get to you. Come on.」

Ba-dump.

「Aa- Ah… Okay…」

They walk down the road towards the town. As the trees clear, Straf sees a large defensive wall, people and carts pour in and out of the gate ahead.

「Nice. I already see some elements I can comment on, but let's see the full picture…」

「Huh? I don't understand-」

「Oh, I'm just talking to myself, don't mind me.」

「…Do you do that often?」

「Uhh… I do now. Helps me make sense of this mess I'm in.」

《Ahh… I shouldn't have asked… He must be going through difficult times, like me… 》

Straf and Cycelia walk through the gate with the crowd.

「Oh, nice! Look at this! All the buildings have this architectural style vaguely inspired by Europe! It's like the guy who built them roughly had an idea what he was doing, and then winged the rest! What a hard to look at mess!」

「…European?」

「And those streetlights! Classic gas lamp look, but I bet they work by magic, or just light up on their own by some inexplicable power! Hiring lamplighters? What for?! Snap your fingers and let there be light! Man, I really can't stand these things already!」

「Straf, please keep your voice down… You're already attracting attention.」

People avoid walking near Straf and Cycelia as he shouts out apparent criticisms of the city. Soon, the crowd avoids them, and an empty circle forms around Straf as they look down on him with scorn. He runs up to a cast iron trash can, pointing at it.

「Oh! Oh! Oh! Is that a modern-style trash can on the street?! It even has a cute little burlap sack in lieu of a trashbag!」

「Yes, sanitation is important to the kingdom since the plague- Nevermind that! Straf, please! Keep your voice down! I understand the city doesn't suit your tastes, but-」

「Doesn't suit my tastes? This is great! It's like I walked into a kid's crayon drawing and get to-」

「And what do we have here?!」

A man calls out towards Straf and Cycelia. The crowd takes notice and quickly clears the area.

「Oh no. Not again!」

A group of manhunters appears from behind the thinning crowd, right in the center of the cobblestone street. Their hands are on their swords already, but still in their sheathes.

「We have been looking for you all over, princess! I even got a report someone saw you steal a horse!」

A man with a thick gray mustache shouts at Cycelia, who is hiding behind Straf and looking at him with eyes full of fear. Straf is completely nonchalant.

「And who are you?」

The man's mustache twitches left and right as Straf asks him.

「I could ask you the same thing, who are you? And why are you with the murderer princess?」

「I am Straf. Katastrof. Vindict.」

He enunciates every part of his new identity. Mustache twitches again, the man sniffs loudly.

「Hmmmm… Never heard of you. More importantly, are you aware of who she is?」

He asks as he points to Cycelia poking her head out from behind Straf's back. Straf glances at her for just a second, and shrugs.

「Yeah. I guess.」

「And are you aware she carries a large bounty on her head?」

「Nope.」

「Well. You seem to be missing critical information. Allow me to explain the situation then…」

The mustached manhunter spreads his arms, presenting his men to explain who they are, and perhaps as a show of force.

「We are the king's men. I am the head of the 3rd manhunter division. She is a murderer, and not just any murderer. She perfidiously murdered her father and heartlessly slaughtered her family-」

「That's a lie!」

Cycelia shouts at the man, protesting from behind safety of Straf's back.

「You say so, but the corpse of late his majesty begs to differ! After a brief succession crisis, our new king demanded her head and put up a large bounty as a reward for her capture in the interest of justice. Naturally, less if she's dead… 」

She clenches her teeth and fists with wet eyes as she listens.

「And how much is the bounty?」

「A thousand gold.」

「And how much is that?」

Her eyes widen in shock and terror as Straf is asking about the bounty on her head.

《Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no! I was so stupid!》

The head manhunter sucks air in through his teeth.

「What? You're not from around here? Whatever, doesn't matter. Let's see…」

He glances up for just a second, and then back at Straf.

「Enough for you to live in excessive luxury until you die. And your children. And if they're frugal, their children can have a fancy life, too.」

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

「Hmmmm…」

Her hands start to shake. Her teeth start to chatter. Her eyes fill with tears and even her neck is hard to turn from stiffness as she looks for a way to escape in panic, but as she looks back, she sees another group of manhunters are searching near the gate as well…

《No no no no… Why? Why did I trust him? No, I was not wrong to trust him… I was wrong to follow him here! Of course he would choose gold in this situation! He may be a kind man but he's not a saint! Nobody would turn this much down!》

Her mind races as she starts to simultaneously suffocate and hyperventilate.

《Or did he- Did he lead me here knowing this would happen? Is this why he was screaming about nonsense?! Did he plan this from the start?! Was he just pretending this whole time-》

She gasps as she comes to a realization tragically too late.

《…What kind of a person doesn't know his name?》

「I think you're trying to shortchange me.」

「Asshole. You can live your whole life swimming in luxury and you're still trying to haggle? You can take the money, we'll settle for titles from the king. 1000 gold, take it or leave it… Tsk.」

The manhunter glares at Straf, as this whole time he's looking like he's the textbook definition of bored. He stares at the manhunter and his group completely unconcerned. This makes the man click his tongue in annoyance.

The same can't be said of Cycelia, who is chuckling to herself under her breath in complete despair with slumped shoulders. Her mind in a tug of war between accepting the inevitable and struggling to the end. She whimpers in dismay as the world gets too fast for her.

《No… Please… Not like this… It can't end like this… I didn't do it…》

「What I'm saying is… Look at her.」

He moves aside a little to make Cycelia visible, and puts his hand on her shoulder, brushing her chestnut hair aside.

《It has to be a dream, I'm going to wake up soon…》

「She's worth 1000 gold by her looks alone…」

「…Huh?」

Ba-dump.

…Is what she was trying to say, but only a confused vocalization manages to get through her clattering teeth. The mustached man tilts his head and furrows his brows.

「I'm saying you're trying to rip me the fuck off!」

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

He points at the man as he shouts. Cycelia's tremors slow as confusion sets in. The manhunters grumble among themselves.

「…Is what you're saying is, that you refuse?」

「Of course I do, you fucking idiot! Who gives a shit about your 1000 gold?!」

Straf no longer satisfied with just the shoulder, wraps his arm around Cycelia and pulls her in.

「Do I need 1000 gold if I have the path to being the king?!」

「Wh- wh- what?!」

Ba-dump badump badump.

《Well, I could always become the king by force, but I like to keep my options open…》

The man places his fists on his hips, hangs his head, kicks the cobblestone gently while smirking…

「Well. If that's the way it is. You know, in a way, that's very noble of you. Not a whole lot of people would turn down this much money. Especially to side with a murderer. It's very noble indeed… 」

He draws his sword with the noise of a sword being drawn, just a moment later, so do the rest of the manhunters. Straf points towards them.

「Oh! That stupid sound! There it is!」

「Very noble… And very fucking stupid! Kill him! And grab her!」

Straf glances at Cycelia, who has mostly managed to calm down, but now just can't believe what is happening. This time by the way of disbelief rather than dissociation. He lets go and steps in front of her. He once again extends his arm fully to one side and glances over his shoulder.

「Lia, I can't hold back anymore. People might die.」

「I…」

Cycelia crosses her arms onto her chest to give herself some mental safety and comfort. She clenches her teeth and looks down on the cobblestones as she thinks…

《That's right… I can't ask him to do something as selfish as to hold back and not kill for my sake… Just as my father's hands were stained with blood to preserve the peace…》

[Portable Storage] opens, which causes more nervous muttering among the manhunters. He draws the soul-hungering sword slowly from the hole in space as it creates an indescribable sound. The vile look of the sword causes a mild panic among the men, even Cycelia behind him is unnerved.

《Nice! I finally get an excuse to use this fucking thing! And in the most cliche way possible! Forgive me master, for I must go all out just this once… And all that!》

「What's the matter with you?! Are you a bunch of levymen?! Get to work!」

The mustached manhunter drives his subordinates to advance with a rallying shout. They find the courage to walk few steps forward in a tightly packed line.

Straf laughs. He keeps laughing. His cackling makes the men pause. He awkwardly holds the sword sideways, blade up as he shows it off to the manhunters.

「Hey… Do you know what this is?」

The head manhunter scoffs.

「A stupid foreign sword. I see they're not good at mathematics in whatever shithole kingdom you crawled out of… Advance!」

「Bzzzzzzzt. Wrong answer. The cost is your soul. This is 『Demonblade Soul Devourer』. Have you heard of it? Once you die by its blade, wave goodbye to any afterlife you might have hoped for.」

He cackles again… The group of manhunters gasps as he namedrops the sword.

「The cursed blade…」

「…Why does he have that thing?!」

The group is already in near panic as they shout and mutter, and no swords were clashed yet… Even the head manhunter is put off, but he gracefully rallies again.

「He's… He's bullshitting! Anyone can make a replica like this! Advance! Kill them!」

The men clearly have high trust in their leader, as they manage to start advancing again. The advance is brief, and ends as soon as Straf asks the mustached manhunter a question.

「Replica, huh… Who wants to be the first to find out what it's like?」

The men glance at each other in a search for the bravest one. There is no takers.

「Then… Ah, I suppose I should give it a name first.」

Straf thinks for just a moment, then brings the sword closer to his mouth, as if to whisper into its ear.

「…I want those eyesores gone. Omnicidus…」

The terrified men collectively gulp as the anticipation is nearly killing them. Cycelia can't decide whether she should avert her eyes, or witness it all and bear the weight of the crown.

「Rampage.」

The eye opens, it looks at the crowd of manhunters, which already causes them to take multiple steps back with a yelp… Then the blade lets out a deafening growl like a panther, or a jaguar…

And it extends itself into the air, zigzagging about too fast for the men to properly see, it reaches one of the streetlights and like lightning, it arcs to the next one, then the next… The sword dances above their heads, and the only thing they can see is a crimson-black blur. Just as quick as it extended, it retracts into its previous shape.

The head manhunter is unnerved, but he lets out a nervous chuckle and grins.

「S-so the blade is loud, so what-」

Crrreaaaaak…

The upper half of the streetlights all over the street start to slide off the bottom half, as they were cleanly cut through. They crack the cobblestones with the heavy impact of cast iron and send glass shards flying everywhere as the top smashes on the ground. This is enough to break even the seasoned mustached veteran, and the entire group starts to run the other way, squealing like a group of loud schoolchildren.

「Huh? That's it?」

Straf doesn't hide his disappointment, however… He also starts cackling like a villain again. For quite some time. Each cycle louder and louder…

「Straf…」

He abruptly stops laughing when he hears Cycelia call his name. His arms and shoulders drop limp, his head hangs low… He slowly raises it to look at her over his shoulder.

「…Is it still you?」

She asks him with eyes full of fear, her mouth down-turned and lips narrowed so much they almost have disappeared…

And her shaky hands hold the sheathe and her sword's grip.

He grins. His grin starts growing bigger and bigger, the corners of his mouth almost reaching his ears as he shows off his teeth. Cycelia is breathing raggedly…

「What, of course it's me. I was just acting. What did you think, that I went nuts?」

He says as he shrugs his shoulders and furrows his eyebrows sardonically with a smug smirk. He then starts tapping his shoulder with the back of his sword as he puts his free hand on his hip.

Cycelia takes a deep breath, and exhales deeply, then lunges at Strat with her arms. She wraps them around him as she shoves her face in his chest, and her chest squishes against him.

「Straaaaaaf! I was so scared! I thought it really was over! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!」

「I told you didn't I- Wait, what are you sorry for, again?」

She pulls her tearful face away and looks up in his eyes as she sobs.

「I- I…」

「What?」

「I was completely wrong about you! I'm sorry, Straf!」