Calika Nehu
Jisend' s eyes widened at Leggie' s response, a sly smile creeping across their face.
"If this place can' t even assess her rank, that must mean it' s higher than [Rank B] , right?"
Jisend stood abruptly and shouted to the personal guards waiting outside.
"Prepare the carriage!"
Then, they extended a hand toward me, their voice softening, no longer as harsh as before.
"I' ll take you to the main branch myself."
I wanted to tear my hair out. No, I wanted to…
I wanted to punch them in the face.
I needed to save my sister, not waste time with this nonsense rank assessment.
As I weighed my options, Leggie hurriedly waved her hands in denial.
"No, that' s not it at all! When I said it couldn' t be assessed, I meant her power is so low it doesn' t even register as [Rank F] . So, we' re classifying her as [Rank F] anyway."
"?"
I was surprised by the assessment result. I was stronger now than before, wasn' t I?
But this was good. It meant I wouldn' t have to waste time going to the main branch for another assessment.
"..."
Jisend sat back down, flipping through the documents, and their next words made me nearly jump out of my seat.
"There are only two people named Dania in this kingdom. One is a noble, and the other was an adventurer."
They fixed their gaze on me and said the words I dreaded.
"But that adventurer had black hair and died long ago. So, who' s the Dania sitting here?"
"W-Well… uh… I mean…"
The name Dania I' d used came from a girl my age I met when we first arrived here as refugees.
She had a similar build and black hair like mine. From behind, she could pass for me, but face-to-face, you' d see the difference immediately. Dania had a red mole on her left cheek, which I didn' t.
I knew her name because, before being herded into the slums, everyone had to register their name and family for screening.
Those from prestigious families or with useful skills were allowed into the city as citizens. The useless ones were sent to the slums.
Our family was about two spots behind Dania in line, so I heard her name called out.
Though we both ended up in the slums, I never saw her again.
About a month later, while sneaking to the canal to fetch water for cooking, I overheard a group talking about Dania.
Dania had been assessed as [Rank D] and became an adventurer like Tiara, but they worked in different parties and never met.
They said Dania' s party took a job to gather herbs in the forest but was ambushed by a beast. Only one survivor returned, saying the rest had died.
Whenever someone untrustworthy asked for my name, I used Dania' s to avoid being traced to my family.
But I made the mistake of giving my real name to the [Shining Fang] guild. I had no choice back then—if we didn' t get money, we wouldn' t have survived.
I was afraid they wouldn' t hire me if they found out I lied about my name, so I told the truth.
I never imagined that giving my real name would bring disaster to our doorstep.
Seeing my stuttering, unable to answer, Jisend set the documents down and turned to Leggie.
"You, leave."
After Leggie left, Jisend turned to me.
"Impersonation, using someone else' s name, deceiving a noble, deceiving a knight, delaying a knight' s primary mission causing it to fail, misleading a knight, causing emotional distress to a knight. If you' re not from this kingdom, we can add illegal entry to the list. Or should I throw in terrorism charges as well?"
"I-I… um…"
"If you were a noble from another kingdom, that' d be one thing. But you' re just slum trash. If your rank was above B, I might' ve considered training you as one of my personal soldiers. But you' re just trash-rank. I don' t know how you managed to jump over the guards' heads, probably some item you used. As for that outfit you' re wearing, I bet you seduced some guy with that face to buy it for you."
"That' s not true!"
"Listen up, princess. Right now, your highest punishment is execution. The next is enslavement. Which one do you want?"
I clenched my fists and glanced at the door.
"Don' t even think about it. My female guards are all [Rank C] . Even if you used some item, there' s no way you' d get past them. And if you try to take me hostage, you' ll be charged with assaulting a knight, which carries the death penalty for your entire family. Not that you' d ever beat me anyway," they sneered.
"…"
"But this can be negotiated."
"…Huh?!"
"Come in."
One of Jisend' s personal guards, as if waiting for the cue, walked in carrying a slave collar and a slave contract.
"If you agree to become a slave, I' ll clear your charges. But let me warn you—if you try to escape, I' ll force you into slavery anyway. Once I' m done with you, I' ll sell you at the auction. With a face like yours, if some pervert buys you, you' ll be broken in no time. So don' t cross me, and you might stay my favorite toy a bit longer."
"…I understand."
"Good choice. Put it on and sign the contract. We' ll head to the slave market next. Oh, and your sister—no, your entire family—will be my slaves too. I hope your sister' s a girl and as pretty as you. It' ll be fun to play with you both," they chuckled.
I understood. I understood perfectly.
No matter how much I yielded to others, the result was always the same—being taken advantage of.
These people never intended to let me or my family go from the start.
I had only planned to use this power against monsters to make a living or to scare off troublemakers by showing it off.
I never intended to use it to harm anyone.
But enough was enough. Knight, noble, or anyone else—I didn' t care anymore.
Martial law violations? Death penalty? To hell with it all!
"I' ve wasted enough time. Help—"
Before I could finish, Jisend cut in.
"You want me to help you put it on? Take off your mask and—"
Jisend didn' t finish either. I stood up and interrupted them.
"No. By 'help,' I mean shut your filthy mouth."
Jisend' s face twitched. One of the female guards, hearing me, grabbed my shoulder to force me to kneel.
"Huh?!"
She was shocked when she couldn' t push me down, no matter how much force she used or how much wind magic she cast to assist. I didn' t budge an inch.
"You little—! Kneel and apologize to the knight now!"
Before she could finish, I spun around and swatted her hand off my shoulder. The mere swipe broke her arm in a gruesome twist.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Her scream echoed, and the rest of the guards rushed into the room.
I pulled back my strength and punched her in the stomach.
Crunch!
Even with restrained force, her armor dented, and her ribs cracked.
CRASH!
Her body flew, slamming into the others. Though they tried to stop her, they were all crushed against the wall, breaking through and collapsing in a heap outside the room.
"Hmph, not bad. But you' re no match for—"
THUD!
I grabbed Jisend' s head and smashed it into the table.
"You filthy—"
I yanked their head up again and slammed it down even harder.
BOOM!
The wooden table split in two. Jisend' s face kissed the floor, teeth shattering, blood foaming from their mouth, scalded by the hot tea spilling over their head.
"ARGH! HOT!"
My hand got splashed too, but I felt no heat at all.
Jisend struggled to get up, but they couldn' t break free from my grip.
Outside, aside from the guard I' d severely injured, the remaining female guards scrambled to their feet and rushed to help.
"Stop this barbaric act!"
"Trash-rank with trash behavior!"
"Get your filthy hands off the knight!"
"You and your sister will pay for this!"
"Beg for forgiveness now!"
Their subordinates were just as vile, weren' t they? Or maybe they learned it from this one.
"You peasant! Don' t think being pretty means I won' t hurt you!"
"Do whatever you want. I' m done playing nice too."
I lifted my foot and stomped on Jisend' s head before the guards could reach me.
BOOM!
The second-floor wooden floor couldn' t withstand the impact and collapsed entirely.
"WHOA!"
"AAAAH!"
"EEEEK!"
Jisend and the screaming guards plummeted to the ground below. I used Jisend' s body as a cushion, so they took the brunt of the fall.
And this was with my strength stat not even at ten, no damage upgrades, and not even using my full force.
Amid the groans, cracking bones, and the shocked screams of the staff, Jisend lay motionless.
I stepped off them, left the office without anyone daring to stop me, and sprinted full speed toward the slums.