Ghosts.

They were Siegfried’s hands and feet, his most elite legion, and the worst enemy to have. It’s said that after Siegfried’s death, most of the Ghosts had died in the final battle, but a small number of them survived.

For the Lester Kingdom,1 the word Ghost didn’t hold a pleasant meaning, especially after Siegfried’s numerous atrocities during the war were revealed and that the Ghosts had been the ones to carry them out.

But, in some places, the Ghosts’ notoriety was highly valued, such as the gutter rats of the back alleys. Some time after money started circulating in the city, the underworld started to unify and it was said that a surviving member of the Ghosts was behind it.

The city’s parliament tried multiple times to arrest him, but because they didn’t know his name, let alone what he looked like, they couldn’t. All they got from interrogating a couple of the gang members was that he always wore a black mask.

“So you’re saying that you still couldn’t capture him and you’ve been letting gutter trash like them mess around like that in broad daylight?”

“We’re ashamed of ourselves, Your Imperial Highness.”

Currently standing at attention in front of Elizabeth were the senior members of the parliament. This was the result of Elizabeth revealing her identity and calling for the Parliament to gather.

“The Ghosts…”

Elizabeth sat at the head of the table and drummed her fingers as she fell into deep thought after she finished looking through all the papers.

In fact, there had been quite a few people impersonating as Ghosts. It was very useful to call themselves Ghosts when they were robbing someone or controlling the back alleys like now. But in most cases, it was revealed after they were caught that they were fakes impersonating the Ghosts.

However, things were a bit different this time.

“You sent an entire order of knights to deal with him but as a result, was annihilated…”

Strong enough to completely kill an order of knights; this wasn’t something someone who was just calling themselves a Ghost could do.

Elizabeth frowned as she spoke to the members of the Parliament.

“Why haven’t you reported this to the capital?”

“Well, that’s… We didn’t believe it was such a serious matter that the Imperial family had to be concerned by it.”

It was a terrible excuse at best; complete bull** if you thought it harshly.

Elizabeth responded to the bull** like so…

“Do you want to die?”

Elizabeth was just as firm and strict as her mother.

The Parliamentary members quickly turned pale. While the northern part of the country was somewhat autonomous from the Lester Empire, and it was the Imperial policy to give as many rights as possible to the Parliament…

It was all useless if they got on the bad side of Imperial Princess Elizabeth. Furthermore, considering the fact that the city being revitalized with the development of the coal mines was the work of Princess Elizabeth, it would be rather easy for her to have them killed.

“It isn’t a crime to be lacking in ability, but if you try to hide it? That’s more than enough to be considered a crime.”

At those words, the lawmakers prostrated.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

“I have no excuse, Your Highness.”

Elizabeth sighed as she looked at them. She thought to herself.

‘I’ll deal with them later… Right now, the important thing is the unidentified Ghost.’

She glanced at Rick and Tommy. Their skills were at the level of an Intermediate Expert. While they were quite skilled, considering that their opponent was a Ghost, she wasn’t relieved.

“I’ll be dragged back if I ask for help from the Imperial family… Maybe I can do something else?”

Elizabeth personally took up a pen and began to write letters.

***

“So… you’re telling me that they idiotically just took the beating and now they’re all in jail?”

“Yes, Big Brother.”

“What f*cking morons. Just tell them to die there.”

In a dark bar in the back alley where half of its customers thought of it more as a hideout, was a man who had a woman wearing a lot of makeup tucked under his arm and was drinking straight out of the bottle. He was the mysterious figure who had recently been dominating the city’s back alleys. He was someone who had used his background as a Ghost to bring together all the ruffians in the back alleys and consolidated his own power.

But he wasn’t someone who was so loyal to his subordinates that he was willing to move just because they had been captured.

“If they were beaten, then they’re idiots.”

Having said that, he was willing to overlook the matter but…

“But Big Brother, she’s said to be a great beauty.”

“That’s enough. How pretty could she be, they’re all the same.”

“They say that it’s not like that. They said that they thought a goddess with shining blonde hair came down from the heavens.”

“Seems like she’s some noble family’s daughter. These northern fools don’t know anything. A girl like that would be escorted by knights, so if you mess with her, you’ll be X.”

“Yes. But it seemed like there were only two escorts, that’s why they started harassing them. I think they said the escorts’ names were Rick and Tommy?”

“…What did you just say?”

The man’s complexion changed dramatically.

“Ah, yeah… so there were only two escorting knights and…”

“So what were the two knights’ names?”

“Yes, sir. The boys said they heard them being called Rick and Tommy.”

“…Rick, and Tommy… and a dazzling blonde beauty on top of that…”

The man addressed as Big Brother was lost in thought with his chin on his hand.

“This… may become tremendously big.”

His face revealed unconcealable greed.

***

Princess Elizabeth’s lodgings.

Although it was a luxury inn where only the rich merchants or the upper-class nobles stayed, its security was still lacking when compared to the Imperial Palace.

Aiming for that, a group of ten or so people moved through the dark night. They had covered themselves up in black clothing and even wore masks that it completely concealed their identities.

One of them took out a grappling hook while the others were on the lookout. He spun the hook around and threw it with all his might at the roof of the inn.

Screech!

When he tugged on the hook, the sound of something being scraped against could be heard, but the line seemed taut as if it had caught on something. After tugging on it multiple times to check, they started climbing up one by one.

Their target was a window 5 meters off the ground but for them, it was no different than climbing stairs. Having climbed up, one of them pulled out a small saw and began cutting the wooden frame that held the lattice window in place.

ZzhZzhZzh…

As quietly but as quickly as possible… It wasn’t long before he cut through and the connecting piece fell off; they succeeded in breaking into the bedroom.

They finally saw their target. Although the person was sleeping on their side with their back turned to the intruders, it was clear the person on the bed was by looking at the blonde hair that was clearly visible in the dark.

‘Good. We’re done.’

Considering how experienced they had been in the process, it was obvious that they’d done this often. When he saw how smoothly things had gone, a man dressed in black smiled with satisfaction from under his mask.

One of them took out a handkerchief and began pouring out the contents of a vial onto it. It was something they used to make people sleep when kidnapping them.

Just as he was about to approach to knock their target out…

Swish!

The target suddenly moved and swung something.

Twack!

“Keugh!”

A scream rang out at the same time the clear sound of an amputation was heard. One of the intruders’ arms had been cut off by the sharp blow.

That’s when they finally saw it.

The dazzling blonde hair…

The light and translucent lingerie…

…All worn by a muscular knight.

“Haa… We shouldn’t have decided through rock-paper-scissors.”

It was the second generation Rick Storie.

***

The operation itself was simple.

The plan was to quietly leak the location of Elizabeth’s accommodation and lure in the intruder. Then, one of them would be Elizabeth’s stand-in and act as bait while the other would ambush the intruders from below with soldiers and block off their retreat.

It had been a simple plan.

But then, Elizabeth had brought out lingerie saying that it was necessary for the bait. Rick and Tommy had turned serious as they played a fair but fierce and rigorous game of rock-paper-scissors. The result was…

“It looks better on you than I thought, Rick.”

When Elizabeth giggled and teased him, Rick spoke to her solemnly.

“Now that I think about it… If I’m going to be under the covers, then wouldn’t it be enough to just wear the wig?”

In fact, the intruders would have no idea until Rick pulled out his sword and swung it at them.

However…

“I’m the type of person to give it my all in everything.’

Elizabeth confidently stood by her decision. But contrary to her believable reasoning, her facial expression said she was about to die from laughter.

“……”

“What’s up with your expression? You look like you’re extremely unhappy?”

“You know it very well, Your Highness.”

“If you don’t like it, why don’t you be born as the Imperial Princess next life?”

“……”

What could he do? She was like a ruffian.

“Your Imperial Highness, we’ve subdued all those on the ground.”

At that moment, Tommy, who had ambushed the intruders with soldiers outside the inn, came inside.

“I see. Come on in.”

“No, don’t come in.”

The two voices could be heard simultaneously. Of course, Tommy listened to the higher up. He opened the door and entered.

“We’ve overpowered all of… Pfft!

“Don’t laugh!”

“Ha… Hahahaha…”

Even if he said not to, there was no way Tommy could stop laughing. As Tommy laughed his head off, Rick pulled out his sword and seriously debated whether to cut the bastard or not.

***

After Tommy had calmed down…

“For now, we’ve caught them all. But, Your Highness, about the Ghost you mentioned before…”

“Did you capture him alive? Did you kill him? Don’t tell me he got away.”

Tommy shook his head in response to Elizabeth’s questions.

“We’ve captured him. But… In terms of skills, it’s hard to say that he’s a real Ghost survivor, Your Highness.”

“What?”

“I dealt with him myself, Your Highness, but he couldn’t last ten exchanges and lost his sword. Not to mention, he only looked to be in his 20s.”

“Hm… That doesn’t make sense. Even the youngest Ghost survivor should be in his late 40s now.”

Elizabeth let out a sigh.

“So the guy we found here was a fake as well?”

“Yes, I suppose so, Your Highness.”

“We put in so much effort uselessly then. Well, if we think about it as contributing to the security of this city, it’s okay?”

Having said that, Elizabeth continued.

“Have the Parliament gather early in the morning tomorrow. Whether he’s the Ghost or not, it’s still a fact that he disturbed the security of the city. We have to decide upon a suitable sentence and if he’s committed further crimes, we have to find out what those are.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Elizabeth sent out her two escorting knights and gave a long yawn as she headed towards her bed. If she wanted to start working early in the morning, then she had to get some sleep.

***

The next morning.

Rick knocked on Imperial Princess Elizabeth’s door to wake her up.

“Your Highness, it’s time to wake up.”

He spoke as he knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Something was wrong. As she grew up and matured, Imperial Princess Elizabeth woke up before anyone came to wake her up.

Feeling that something was wrong in his gut, Rick quickly opened the door. What he saw inside caused him to spit out through his gritted teeth, “Damn it…”

Imperial Princess Elizabeth wasn’t inside. It was a room with an empty bed and a broken window. Elizabeth had been kidnapped.

“How did this happen…”

Faced with this unexpected situation, Rick panicked.

Tommy, who arrived a beat later than Rick, spoke up.

“What? What happened?”

“Her Imperial Highness has been kidnapped. Quickly, move.”

“What? What do you mean… What’s that?”

At that moment, Tommy found a letter left behind. He quickly picked it up and opened it…

If you care about the safety of the Princess, then don’t make any reckless moves. I will contact you with further information.

“Damn it…”

There was no way he could keep back his curses.

***

‘I was caught completely off guard.’

Both of Elizabeth’s arms were tied tightly and a gag was tied around her mouth. Although the steel bars keeping her locked in seemed to have been made in a hurry, it was impossible for her to escape on her own with her strength.

She had been kidnapped shortly after she went to bed last night. A new group of people had come in, overwhelmed, and kidnapped her in an instant.

‘Who knew the first group was bait. But according to Tommy’s report, the man who had been disrupting the city’s security had already been captured…’

Elizabeth thought, and thought again. Tied up and unable to move freely, the only thing she could do at this moment was to think. While it may be difficult for ordinary people to think clearly when they’re abducted, Elizabeth was far from the norm. She thought coldly and logically as she tried her best to grasp her current situation.

‘In that case… Right. If that’s the case, then it all makes sense.’

Just as Elizabeth had come to a conclusion…

Someone appeared in front of her. No, perhaps it would be better to say that a group of someones appeared in front of her?

Five middle-aged men with scars covering their faces and entire bodies appeared.

They looked at Elizabeth, who was stuck behind bars, and spoke.

“Sure enough… that’s his daughter.”

“You can see him on her face.”

One of them untied the gag tied around Elizabeth’s mouth.

Now able to talk, Elizabeth spoke with a smile.

“Thank you. I’ve been told I look more like my mom than my dad.”

1. Kept it as Kingdom as the author wrote instead of changing it to Empire