"Damn it! Don't screw with me! You, you, you!"
"Geh... G-Gai... s-stop... forgive me..."
Having returned to the mansion after suffering the utmost humiliation, Gaiska punched and kicked a maid who happened to be passing by.
The maid had not done anything in particular to displease him.
If anything, it was simply a matter of chance—or rather, misfortune—that she had the bad luck to pass by Gaiska just as he was in a foul mood.
Her face, struck with absolutely no restraint, swelled up. She had originally possessed above-average beauty as a maid of Marquis Seisole's House, but now blood flowed from her lips, whether from a cut on her mouth or elsewhere.
Hearing her words, now slurred to the point where she could no longer speak properly, seemed to further stimulate Gaiska's sadism, and the violence against the maid grew even more intense.
Then, as he attempted to land another blow on the maid who could no longer move... his body suddenly stopped.
It was not that Gaiska had stopped beating the maid of his own volition, but rather that he had been grabbed from behind and pulled away.
Startled by this movement against his will, Gaiska shouted in irritation at being stopped at the height of his frenzy.
"Vagrunola! Let go!"
"You must not, Young Master. Any more, and the maid will die."
"My orders are more important than the life of some maid!"
Gaiska shouted at the man holding him back—the elderly knight Vagrunola, who had been entrusted with the mansion's security. But between a man who had survived battlefields for years and even now in his old age never neglected his daily training, and Gaiska, who only moved his body enough to avoid being out of shape, there was a decisive difference in physical strength.
No matter how much Gaiska shouted, as long as Vagrunola did not release his grip, Gaiska could not break free.
Pulled away from the maid, Gaiska watched as Vagrunola ordered the battered woman taken away, and finally calmed down slightly.
No, rather than calming down, it would be more accurate to say he had suddenly lost his drive.
"Vagrunola, that's enough. Let go. That maid is gone now. You can release me."
At Gaiska's words, Vagrunola released his grip.
In that instant, Gaiska swung around and slammed his fist into Vagrunola's face, but for a man who had trained for years, a blow of this degree was nothing.
Had it been a maid like the one Gaiska had just been beating, she might have been sent flying by that single strike.
"Are you satisfied?"
"Hmph. You stopped my actions. Consider yourself honored that this was enough to satisfy me."
Gaiska hadn't expected Vagrunola to go flying just from being punched, but even so, seeing the man's unperturbed expression was far from amusing.
His fist throbbed from having struck hard with a hand unaccustomed to punching, but saying so would only make him look pathetic. So he said nothing and walked off down the corridor.
As the figure of Gaiska—something that could only be described as a storm—disappeared, the maids and butlers who had been watching the situation, along with everyone else, all breathed a collective sigh of relief and directed grateful looks toward Vagrunola.
In this mansion in Anesis, there were not many who could say anything to Gaiska. Let alone someone who could stop his actions—the number was even smaller.
Vagrunola was one of those few.
One of the butlers, seeing the maid being beaten and kicked by Gaiska, had rushed to fetch Vagrunola, and as a result, the worst outcome of the maid's death had been avoided.
That said, the maid's face was a bloody, swollen mess.
Her appearance, beaten so badly that one could not even recall her original lovely features, naturally inspired disgust in those who saw her.
In this case, the disgust was directed not at the maid, but at Gaiska, who had done it.
Nevertheless, no one spoke it aloud, because of the power that Marquis Seisole's House gave him.
If one could stand up to a marquis's house with their own power like Rei, there would be no need to care about noble bloodlines at all.
However, only a truly tiny number of people could do such a thing.
An ordinary person could not defy someone of marquis bloodline, and more importantly, the people working here were employed by Marquis Seisole's House.
Strictly speaking, they were employed by Marquis Seisole's House, not by Gaiska personally, but as long as he was in Anesis as the representative of Marquis Seisole's House, there was no way they could defy him.
"Everyone, please return to your duties. I will check on Lord Gaiska."
At Vagrunola's words, many of the maids, butlers, and others present returned to their work.
That said, having witnessed a defenseless maid being assaulted, there was no way they could cheerfully go back to work right away.
If anything, thinking that they might end up like that maid if they were unlucky enough to be noticed by Gaiska, it was only natural that they would work as quietly as possible.
The one saving grace was that this mansion had a mage who could use Recovery Magic, as well as expensive potions and the like.
That the maid's face would not be left scarred was at least some consolation.
...Though the mental wounds of a maid who had been assaulted for no reason whatsoever could not be healed by Recovery Magic or potions.
"Why was Lord Gaiska in such a rage?"
"Who knows. But... he has always been hot-tempered. Something must have happened, no doubt about it."
"I hope it doesn't lead to more trouble."
"What the hell was that...? Why did that maid suddenly get beaten? You've gotta be kidding me."
"Ah... so you just got here. Until now, you've been lucky enough not to witness that kind of scene."
"Whoa. Lucky or unlucky. That's a tough call."
"True. Though it's rarely this bad, so in that sense, maybe it was good that the first thing you saw was this. If you can handle seeing this, you'll probably manage to keep working here."
"Yeah, the pay at Marquis Seisole's House is higher than at other families, so..."
Returning to their respective tasks, they exchanged such conversations.
Some were seeing Gaiska's brutality for the first time, and many were in shock. Still, compared to the others who didn't seem all that shaken, the difference was stark.
The reason the pay for those working at Marquis Seisole's House—more precisely, at this mansion—was higher than elsewhere was primarily because of incidents like the one with Gaiska.
Many of them understood this and still chose to work here, so this reaction was perhaps only natural.
In any case, the brief reign of terror was over, and the servants eventually dispersed from the area.
"A mere commoner, defying me, a noble? Damn it, this is why people who don't know common sense are so troublesome. Does he think that being an Alias Holder means he's superior to nobility?"
Sitting on the sofa, Gaiska muttered openly, his irritation on full display.
The fact that he wasn't smashing things in the room was probably because he had already vented some of his frustration by taking it out on the maid.
That said, the one who had initially called out Gaiska was Ara, but before he knew it, the target of his grudge had shifted to Rei—which went to show just how much it must have displeased him that a commoner like Rei had opposed him head-on.
"To do such a thing to me... to slight Marquis Seisole's House... I absolutely cannot let it go."
Though he thought this, the mere image of Rei that flashed through his mind for an instant sent a chill down his spine.
If he hadn't backed down in that moment, or if he had let his momentum carry him into challenging Rei to a duel, there was no doubt he would have been beaten down.
No, depending on the circumstances, he might have been killed.
Because Gaiska was someone who bore the bloodline of Marquis Seisole's House, he had never stood on a battlefield.
In reality, as one could see from Elena, it was not uncommon for nobles to fight on battlefields, but in Gaiska's case, he viewed combat as something base and vulgar, so he had never undergone combat training.
What Gaiska considered a fight was nothing more than one-sidedly committing violence against those of lower station, those who absolutely could not defy him—just like that maid earlier.
Since Gaiska had no combat training, the fact that the maid didn't suffer fatal injuries was a silver lining.
If Gaiska were someone who trained in combat, then the maid who had borne the brunt of his tantrum today, along with all those who had been punched and kicked by him before, might not have gotten away with just injuries—they could have lost their lives.
That it hadn't come to that was, perhaps, still a stroke of fortune.
"There's no need for me to dirty my hands directly with such a barbaric man. Let the lowly deal with the lowly... Hm, fortunately, I hear there are many adventurers who are short on money right now. ...Hey, summon Deotres!"
At Gaiska's command, the man waiting in the adjacent room moved, and about ten minutes later, a knock came at the door and a man appeared.
The man, who looked to be in his thirties, entered the room, stood before Gaiska, and spoke.
"Young Master. I heard you summoned me. Is there something you need?"
"Yes. Deotres, you said before that when winter comes, there are adventurers who struggle because they run out of money, correct?"
"That's right. Work inevitably dries up during the winter, and not many people want to go out of their way to work in the snow."
"How many would that be, specifically?"
"How many...? Are you asking in terms of numbers?"
Gaiska frowned slightly at Deotres's tone, but the man before him, while insolent in his speech, still served as his hands and feet.
As long as that was the case, showing some degree of tolerance was important. Telling himself this, Gaiska spoke.
"That's right. I want to gather as many as possible."
"Well, that depends on what kind of work it is, doesn't it? If we're posting a request through the Guild, we'd need to explain the circumstances."
"I need to teach a lesson to the one who smeared mud on my name... on the name of Marquis Seisole's House."
"That wouldn't happen to be Crimson, would it?"
Hearing the alias Crimson, Gaiska's brows furrowed in displeasure.
But quickly reminding himself that he was gathering people to exact revenge on Rei, he somehow managed to suppress his irritation.
Gaiska, of course, knew that Rei excelled at wide-area annihilation magic.
But this was Anesis.
There were few places where such magic could be used.
"Indeed. But there's no need to worry. That man's specialty is magic that affects a wide area, correct? If so, he shouldn't be able to use such magic in the middle of the city."
"Well, from what I've heard, his skill as a warrior is also considerable, you know?"
"I know that as well. But if we use adventurers to deplete that man's stamina without giving him the chance to use magic, then ultimately we can manage however we please."
This was essentially saying he would use the adventurers as disposable pawns, but there was not a trace of guilt in his words.
To Gaiska, adventurers were consumable goods—he felt like telling them they should be grateful he was using them at all.
As such, no matter how many died fighting Rei, he would feel no semblance of guilt.
"Yeah, but... this is Crimson we're talking about? If we're gathering enough combat power to fight him, no one's going to take the job. Even if we make the request without going through the Guild, once they find out the opponent is Crimson, a lot of them will run away without even fighting."
With a Guild-sanctioned request, fleeing midway would incur a penalty. Depending on the circumstances, they could even be designated as bounty targets.
But with a request made outside the Guild, naturally no such penalties existed.
Their reputation would certainly suffer, but if they hired people without telling them they'd be fighting an Alias Holder adventurer, it was virtually certain that almost everyone would flee.
Even so, if they stated upfront that they'd be fighting an Alias Holder adventurer, then even for an unofficial request, and even with a generous reward promised, very few would accept.
No, few was an understatement—it was unclear whether anyone would accept at all.
Among the adventurers in Anesis, there were naturally those who had participated in the war against the Bestia Empire, and just how inhuman Rei was—many had seen it with their own eyes.
With those people having heard the stories, Deotres himself doubted how many would actually agree to fight Rei when told who the opponent was.
However, to such a Deotres, Gaiska offered a smile.
"A mock battle. We gather them under that pretext... and reveal our true purpose only to a handful of capable fighters. ...How about it?"
Floating a dark smile, he declared as much.