The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-255

Everyone fell silent as Davey mumbled coldly. Princess Maria, who had followed Davey, looked where Davey and the men were standing with her blindfold on.

“Hm? Whatcha lookin’ at?”

Lina, the girl who was struggling and screaming, soon saw Davey. Her eyes widened.

“It would be better for you to let go of Lina.”

One of the men scoffed wretchedly. “Huh? You know this lady? Sorry, but there’s still such a thing called courtesy in our world too. Stay out of it if you don’t want to get hurt.”

Davey took another step toward the men.

“Woah? Look at this guy?”

“Snicker. Hold up. It seems like that fella can’t give up on this lady because he knows her. Hey, you two.”

Just then, two other men pulled out their jackknives and approached Davey. They pointed the tips of their knives toward his chin and stood haughtily.

“Look, fella. Don’t you know how dangerous this world is? You’re the one who did something wrong, you know that?”

“I guess I’m the one who did something wrong.”

“Snicker. Yeah. People listen when they have a knife to their head.”

“Hahahaha!”

“Well, we’ll spare your life since we don’t want to kill someone who looks like they do the same thing as us. But…give us that girl over there. What do you think? It will be a good…”

Maria frowned as she heard the men speaking, but Davey was just focused on Lina. He muttered, “I didn’t even know something like this was happening in the territory. I’ve only been focusing on things happening in other places…”

Crunch…

“Huh?”

The men began to frown when Davey grabbed the jackknives with his bare hands. Applying enough pressure, he began crushing the sharp metal blades.

“H… Huh?”

The moment one of the men was about to back away in surprise, Davey grabbed his neck to prevent him from backing away. Then, he struck the man’s chin without mercy.

Crack!!!

The confused men watched on as the man slowly flew across the air. Several of his teeth fell out as he flipped in the air multiple times and fell to the ground. He couldn’t move.

“There are three reasons why I am beating you to a pulp,” Davey said calmly and took a step forward. “One.”

“Shriek?! W-Wait, man! What is?!”

“Human trafficking is not allowed for any reason in the Heins Territory. It’s not allowed on my land even if it is allowed in the kingdom.”

“W-Wait!!”

Crack!!!

The man who stood closest to Davey collapsed to the ground as his shin cracked into two.

“Second. It’s because the person you disrespected was royalty. It’s not a reason I love, but I’ll be more than glad to use it if I can get rid of guys like you.”

“F… Fuck!”

Splatter!

The man charged toward Davey like there was no going back, swinging the sharp blade at him without hesitation. However, Davey simply twisted his arm and seized the blade easily.

“Keahh!!”

The third man fell to the ground after sustaining a large injury to his eye. It was quite an extreme punishment, but Davey was not merciful. However, he did not kill any one of them.

“The third reason. I’m just in a really bad mood right now. You guys are just unlucky.”

“W… What…”

“You shouldn’t have come crawling in here if you didn’t want this to happen.”

Smack!!

Davey subdued the men instantly, then walked over to Lina and picked her up. He ignored the men who were now groaning in pain on the ground.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-Your Highness… Sob… Your Highness!”

Comforting the little girl who was crying in his arms, Davey turned away as he heard the clanking of metal boots from far away. He ordered, “Monmider. Give these guys a little special treatment and lock them in jail. Do not kill them.”

“Y-Your Highness… These men…”

“Human traffickers.”

“Hup!! H-Human traffickers?!”

A lot of people had settled in the territory with a large influx of people; Davey should have predicted something like this would happen.

* * *

Tanya gasped in surprise when she saw the beauty of the seigneur’s palace, which was the pinnacle of the dwarves’ style and technology. The architectural style and the culture of the Heins was far more beautiful than most tourist cities. And the seigneur’s palace, which was made with the dwarves’ pride and Davey’s memories, was one of the most beautiful buildings in the Heins; it was not a style that was commonly seen, but it was somewhat similar to the modern buildings on Earth.

“Royal Attendant Bernile. Send a message. Report to the royal palace.”

“Is it a report?”

“Yes.”

“You did something big once again.”

“I didn’t expect to, though.”

A handful of the nobility in the royal palace, wary of Davey’s powers growing too strong, was going to mention something about wanting to keep the wild Davey in check. However, it was obvious why they could not raise their voice about it; hadn’t Davey previously shown them that an entire family could be wiped out if they messed with him the wrong way? Not everyone was perfect.

Watching Attendant Bernile leave the room with the rolled-up report with an antique seal on it, Davey stared at Captain Monmider who was standing nervously. He said, “Explain.”

“That is…”

“Monmider.” Davey rose from his seat after calling him. He said, “I trust in your abilities. Even though you were a commoner, I highly value the love that you have for this territory. Am I wrong?”

“T… That is…”

“On the floor,” Davey said coldly.

Monmider flinched before lowering himself to the ground. He put his head on the floor without hesitation. “I am sorry!! It is my fault.”

“In broad daylight. Even if it was a dark alley, a citizen was a victim of human trafficking. I don’t think that happened without any planning. What do you think?”

“T… That is…”

“I left Amy to deal with state affairs and you to deal with crime in the territory. I know that more has happened as the territory expanded, so I am not blaming you for lacking the ability to stop this.”

“...” Monmider stayed silent as he knew what Davey meant.

“Why did you not report this to me?”

“T… That is… I thought reporting something like this to you while you are busy was…”

“Do you not know that my citizens are the most important to me? I am someone who takes care of the territory.”

Although Davey’s number one priority was his family, the second important thing was undoubtedly his residents. However, there was no report of this while it was happening.

“Do you want a salary reduction and probation for three months?”

“I have no complaints.”

“You’re kidding me. Get up!” Davey shouted. When Monmider shot up from the ground, Davey ordered, “Gather the royal guards at once. Visit each household and investigate if there is anyone who has been harmed by this matter. I will decide the punishment for your actions based on how well you take care of this matter.”

“I will not forget! I will not disappoint you!” Monmider bowed with a determined shout. Then, he cautiously called out to Davey, “Y… Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

“So… What are you going to do with them?”

‘Oh, the ones that I captured? There’s a reason why I treated them.’

“I happen to have a good place that needs some labor. Don’t worry about it. And I’ll take care of the rest, too.”

“You mean you will do it yourself?”

Noticing Monmider’s doubtful glance once again, Davey said, “You don’t trust me?”

“N-No, of course not!” Monmider answered swiftly like he was guilty of doubting Davey.

Davey rose from his seat and said, “You can go now if you’re done. I’ll take care of this.”

Davey had no choice but to go and cut out the cancerous tumor himself.

As Monmider bowed and left the room, Davey looked out the window and mumbled, “Aina.”

Shooo…

Just then, a man wearing a black martial arts uniform showed up from thin air. It was Aina Helishana, the dark elf who was disguising her true appearance. She looked like a large man.

“It’s work.”

“Tell me what to do. Should I assassinate them? Or…”

“Just get some information. I’m going to turn them upside down myself.”

All Aina did was nod in response.

* * *

Aina Helishana was a high-ranking informant and assassin of the Echo Guild, a continental intelligence organization. Her assassination skills were so threatening that she could slash a Master, and her intelligence-gathering abilities yielded surprisingly fast and accurate information through the various networks she had.

If Perserque’s authority allowed Davey to look at a person’s superficial information when he faced them, Aina gave him information about people he did not see often or things related to them. Although she was now more like his personal informant rather than an informant working for the Echo Guild, it didn’t mean that the information networks she had built were going to disappear.

“The thing I asked you to find?”

“I have found it. Currently, there are two criminal organizations that have been established in this territory. They are Blackbird and Jackal.”

“I’ve never heard of those organizations. Where did they come from?”

“They are organizations that were pretty deep-rooted in the central continent, but they began to make their way into the eastern continent a few years ago.”

“So, these guys are in the Heins Territory right now.”

Aina nodded. “Their main forms of business include organ trafficking, slave hunting, and assassination contracts. Other than that, they are in charge of the pickpocketing alliance. There aren’t any slums in the Heins Territory yet, but they hide amongst citizens in their own way. They are heinous people that will do anything for money. They are experts in destroying ordinary citizens with threats, fraud, coercion, and many other ways.”

Davey could not help but sigh as he heard Aina’s explanation. Surely, the Heins Territory had the best conditions for such organizations to establish themselves here: there was no competition and it was quickly developing.

“Their size?”

“Currently, one of the organizations here—the Blackbird—is only a mid-sized organization with a few hundred members. However, the Jackal gang has a huge number of members all around the continent.”

“The way they kidnapped Lina.”

Aina went on like she was briefing Davey. “That is also fraud.”

“Those guys had documents, though?”

“They have a number of ways of defrauding people, but…it was blackmail. Lina’s cousin is operating a carriage in the Heins right now and… Apparently, a member of their organization jumped in front of it and demanded a large sum of money after pretending to be hurt.”

“And they were tricked by that?” Davey asked incredulously.

Aina sighed. “You don’t know because you haven’t seen it yourself. Humans become helpless in front of money. Assembly members have already been bribed, and do you know who the judge from the capital is? It’s a man named Merdein. He’s known to be money-oriented and greedy.”

“Money-oriented? You’re saying they just brought him here?”

“That is… Apparently, there was a recommendation from the Supreme Judge, a member of nobility from the central continent.”

Davey clenched his fists.

‘So… She’s saying that these assholes already forgot about the warning I gave them about messing with me.’

“However, they are still quite capable in the legal field. As such, the criminal organizations that hid in the territory fed them money and made the situation happen.”

They did everything so that all the blame would be put on the cousin who was taking care of Lina and her family.

“These many people are hiding…” Davey stared at Aina as he took a breath. He asked, “Anyone else who seems suspicious?”

“There are a few more, but I do not have any evidence.”

“Doesn’t matter then.”

Davey just had to examine them with the Abyss' Authority and show them the reality of life if they turned out to be the culprit.

“The number of victims.”

“I would have to investigate it further, but it doesn’t seem like there were a lot according to the circumstances.”

“So, you’re saying that it has already happened a couple of times.”

There was nothing for Davey to forgive them about. It was now time to change it up a bit.

* * *

There was a dark underground jail in the basement of the seigneur’s palace. Even if the Heins Territory had low rates of crime, they could not stop all criminals completely. It was natural as people lived here.

“We are here.”

Davey, who was led to the jail by a soldier, stared at the six men who were sitting on the floor in silence.

One of the men stood up and approached Davey. He shouted, “This is unbelievable! My Lord! All we did was follow the formal steps! The judge also declared us innocent! This is… This is…!”

“Violent?”

“Y… Yes! We have done nothing wrong! Although it is our mistake for kidnapping her, it was strictly a contract! And according to kingdom law, slavery is…”

As the man shouted, Davey reached his hand out to Aina who had followed him here. Then, she handed him some documents that she had gathered out of nowhere. He said, “The verdict of the judge, the assessment from the doctor, and the contract your organization signed with Lina’s uncle… Commoners who can’t read don’t even know what this means. You understand?”

“T-That is nonsense! We clearly explained everything with words…”

“Enough.”

Davey stopped talking and then gestured at the soldiers with a jerk of his chin. When the soldiers all bowed and left, he said, “Let’s put aside the verdict from the judge for now. About the doctor’s assessment… You purposely jumped in front of the carriage Lina’s uncle was driving and blackmailed him with an injury you didn’t even sustain to demand a large sum of money from him, correct?”

“No! We actually were hurt…”

“Bring him.”

Just then, a man who was gagged and tied up was dragged out.

“Hup!”

“So, you’re saying you really did get hurt. According to the doctor, it would take over six months for him to fully recover without a high-quality potion,” Davey said as he cut the man’s rope with his hands and removed the cloth in the man’s mouth.

Rip…

“Hah!”

“But he’s pretty normal considering he’s been seriously injured, right? It seems like you guys have forgotten who I am, but…”

‘I’m the Saint, you assholes.’

Davey’s medical knowledge had been acknowledged by the Coalition for Disease Control.

“Do the injured who are unconscious nowadays joke around and hang around women while drinking in an old pub?”

The men froze.

‘Of course, they are shocked. Aina had captured this man who was hiding and brought him here.’

“Right now, I am going to let you and all your members know.”

Davey was going to let them know who they were doing these shitty things in front of.

“Y-You won’t be able to do it, even if you are a prince! Do you know who is backing us?!” The man shouted fiercely.

With squinted eyes, Davey said firmly, “Whoever is backing you, that is your problem. I don’t know who is watching your back, but you’d be better off shutting your mouth unless the person is the emperor of an empire. Take them.”

Clang!!

Once Davey stopped speaking, black-robed skeletons began walking inside. They were none other than the skeletons Davey had taken from the Pallan Empire after killing the two necromancers.

“Ahhh!!”

The men all screamed in fear and confusion, but the skeletons simply ignored them. They grabbed the men with tremendous power.

“Take them to the construction site where the power plant is being made. Don’t treat these guys as human. Work them until they collapse from exhaustion.”