Thwack.

“Catch that bastard!”

“That loose-tongued rascal!”

A fist flew towards his face.

“Oops.”

Barbarossa chuckled as he twisted his body.

“You little rat!”

“Why bring such a commotion to catch one little rat?”

Barbarossa wagged his tongue.

Though this wasn’t the knightly education he had received, his talents were being put to use in back alley brawls.

‘Being a ruffian is my true calling.’

It was laughable when he put on ill-fitting noble clothes and acted refined.

“But why am I a rat? I heard it’s you who has a rat down below.”

“Y-you son of a-!”

“No, I’m more wolf than dog. That’s what the ladies say.”

Barbarossa wasn’t afraid of the thick clubs the men were holding. If he had even a long stick, he would have been the strongest person there.

“Attack all at once!”

“Not even considering my numerical disadvantage. Still, a rat trying to bite a wolf is futile!”

Barbarossa nimbly dodged a rough hand trying to grab his back.

He climbed up the alley wall and used the momentum to kick all the men at once.

The men were pushed back by the movement of his long legs with their wide range, then surged forward again.

“Aaargh!”

“A gathering of rats is still just a gathering of rats.”

Ptoo. Barbarossa grinned and spat out blood-tinged saliva, unable to avoid injury in the mob fight.

His orange hair, eye-catching anywhere, wavered like a candle in the wind.

“Come at me one by one.”

The men who had been hesitating grabbed their clubs and lunged at Barbarossa.

How much time passed like that?

Thud.

Barbarossa’s knees buckled only after he had taken down the very last one.

It was a 17 versus 1 fight.

“Hello, fickle brother. Don’t tell me you’re fighting over a woman again today?”

It was a light tone, as if humoring Barbarossa.

A clear laugh sounded above Barbarossa’s head as he lay there exhausted. The hem of a long cloak could be seen touching the ground. It was a high-quality cloak that didn’t suit the back alley.

“You fought well. Shall I buy you a drink as payment for the show?”

Anette, wrapped in a robe, peeked her face out in front of Barbarossa, who was sprawled face down.

* * *

“One orange juice.”

“What? Juuuice? You think we have that kind of thing here?”

Though the magic gold coin was from Grand Duke Inkhart, in fact, even ordinary gold coins could work magic.

The tavern owner’s face changed at the sight of the shining gold coin presented along with the order.

“Actually, our establishment is known for its juices. I’ll bring it right away, customer.”

Barbarossa, forcibly seated beside me, was silent.

“You’re quite the delinquent debtor. Remember these debt documents? They’re all your debts.”

His credit was so rock bottom that buying them all up only cost 1/3 of the amount written on the documents.

“Did you miss me that much? Enough to collect all traces of me?”

Barbarossa giggled and changed his expression.

“I’m sorry, I went too far last time. I can’t treat a beauty like you so coldly when you’ve come looking for me twice now.”

His half-open eyes smiled secretively. He turned his attention to me with a subtle attitude.

“Well, how about it. Does the noble lady desire my company over drinks?”

Barbarossa tried to seduce me while pretending to be pitiful.

For the record, Barbarossa fought today over a woman issue again. He invariably falls for married women with complicated family situations – this guy has a serious mother complex.

I guarantee he wouldn’t even see kind, straightforward women as women. They’re outside his taste.

‘He has his own ways of messing up his life.’

“I’m in so much pain right now, I need some comfort. Your gentle touch could make me forget it all.”

“You really haven’t seen my husband’s face, have you? If you had, you wouldn’t say such things.”

It was a pathetic attempt at skinship.

Seeing the spirit mark on my arm buzzing, it seemed some Confucian prude of a spirit king was firmly gripping the back of my neck, even in this world without Confucianism.

Barbarossa, who had been slapped, nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe I’m tired of the usual taste and want to try something different. When a noble lady clings to me like this, wanting to straighten out my life, I thought I’d try changing my mind too.”

“I’m really worried about you.”

“If you’re so worried, why don’t you embrace me?”

“The woman who worries about you most in this world isn’t me, but your mother, so that’s not going to happen.”

“Mother? Bringing up parents in a place like this? Of course, I’m curious about your parents who gave birth to such a beauty. But let’s talk about that after we become closer.”

“There are people in the world who are sad because they don’t even have a stepmother, but yours is like an angel at that level.”

“Ah, come on. Can we stop talking about that wooden woman who seems like she’d look for God even in bed? I’m really cooling off here.”

The tavern owner carefully set down the orange juice he must have had a hard time finding somewhere in front of me.

Slurp. One sip told me it wasn’t worth a gold coin. The juice tasted bad, and Barbarossa was annoying.

Crash bang.

So I used a bit of force, and Barbarossa fell over noisily along with the chair. That dumbfounded face of his was worth seeing.

“I thought a noble lady coming alone might have flowers for brains, but that’s not it. What is it, an artifact?”

Even though his split lip had opened again, Barbarossa still couldn’t keep his mouth shut. There are just some people in this world born to take a beating.

“How many of those do you have left? Do you have enough for when you go back after we’re done talking? The public safety here is terrible, and there aren’t only gentlemen like me around. You should save some for the way back.”

“Mmm, don’t worry. It’s enough to beat you to a pulp.”

The spirit mark on my arm buzzed as if in agreement. Sylphid is surprisingly humane. Just like a kind-hearted grandfather.

As long as Sylphid was protecting me, I had nothing to fear from anyone today.

“Enjoying the show? All ri- Wait a minute, who here pays taxes?”

I have no obligation to protect unruly subjects who don’t pay taxes.

“What, does no one pay?”

“We do!”

“We do!”

“I will!”

The last answer came from behind the counter. I had you pegged from when the juice tasted strange.

I smashed the counter with my hand blessed by the spirit king.

“Aack!”

“From now on, pay your taxes well, and expect good public safety services in return.”

Only Barbarossa and I remained in the tavern after all the customers had fled.

Even with things having come to this, Barbarossa was still snickering.

“Ah, all my teeth are loose. My face is all I have going for me, so how about you spare that?”

“If my stepmother had been even half as good as your mother, I would have danced her into my wedding ceremony.”

If someone who met a truly terrible stepmother saw this… Oh, that’s me. No wonder I dislike Barbarossa.

“Your mother is worried, so let’s reflect and go back.”

“I’m a bastard with no roots, so I don’t have anything like a mother.”

“Why not? You have the mother who gave birth to you and the mother who raised you. Others have one, but you have two? How nice to have so many.”

Barbarossa, his eyes rolling, raised his body and took a stance to threaten me.

“A guy who said he’d try to change his life by pleasing me can’t even endure this much?”

He has no talent for the service industry. He should quit being a gigolo.

“You think I won’t hit you because you’re a woman?”

“Yeah. Guys who say that usually can’t hit.”

Protected by the spirit king’s blessing, I was tough. Barbarossa sighed, saying “This is driving me crazy,” but in the end, he couldn’t do anything.

I kept needling him.

“I am curious. A man with no sense of chastity won’t hit women. Is it because of the strict education in noble families? Or is it because of a shred of conscience left by Madam Maude?”

“Why do you keep bringing up that woman…”

“Tut-tut, your mother.”

“…Why are you bringing up Madam Maude?”

Barbarossa let out a hollow laugh.

“What, did you come to tell me that I’m seriously misunderstanding something about Madam Maude?”

Oh?

Without realizing it, I looked at the arm with the spirit king’s mark. The spirit king, who must be watching intently somewhere while munching on spiritual popcorn, seemed taken aback by these words as there was no response.

Glug glug glug. Barbarossa took out some random liquor lying around the tavern and filled a glass.

I had been criticizing him as trash who indulged in women and alcohol, but I couldn’t say anything about him drinking now.

“I know. What lies that woman told.”

“She’s too good to be called ‘Mother’ by trash like you.”

“…Right, Madam Maude. When my girlfriend at the time got pregnant, that silver tongue of hers said there was nothing to worry about, but I was actually flustered. I had been with many women before, but never a pregnant one. Because I was on birth control.”

“Male birth control?”

Does this mean he knew from the beginning that the child in question, who might or might not have been Barbarossa’s, was actually someone else’s child?

“Yes. There was a slim chance it could be my child, but that was really just a slim chance. We were just keeping each other’s beds warm anyway. Even though we acted like we couldn’t live without each other when we met, she was seeing another man behind my back? It wasn’t that surprising.”

“You might look like trash, but couldn’t you have told your girlfriend that? That you were on male birth control. It would have been faster for the woman to sort things out too.”

“Well… just because it’s slim doesn’t mean there’s absolutely no possibility…”

“Already being trash, you didn’t want to be called trash by the woman right then and there?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Barbarossa readily admitted.