51. Illegitimate Child Barbarossa

Thwack.

“Catch that bastard!”

“That smart-mouthed punk!”

A fist flew toward his face.

“Oops.”

Barbarossa dodged with a snicker, bending his body.

“Rat bastard!”

“Why bring so many people just to catch one little rat?”

Barbarossa wagged his tongue.

Though this wasn’t what his knight training was meant for, his talent was being displayed only in back alley brawls.

‘Being a ruffian is my true calling.’

It was laughable when he used to wear ill-fitting noble clothes and put on airs.

“But why am I a rat? I heard what’s hanging between your legs is more rat-sized.”

“Y-you son of a bitch!”

“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 in his hand, he would have been the strongest person there.

“Hit him all at once!”

“Not even considering the numerical disadvantage. But rats trying to bite a wolf won’t get far!”

Barbarossa nimbly avoided the rough hands trying to grab his back.

Climbing up the back alley wall, he used his 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.

“Arghhhh!”

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

Ptui, unable to avoid getting scratched in the pack fight, Barbarossa smiled faintly and spat out blood-mixed saliva.

His orange hair, noticeable anywhere, flickered like a candle in the wind.

“Come at me one by one.”

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

How much time passed like this?

Thud.

Barbarossa’s knees buckled only after he had finally taken down the last man.

It had been a 17 against 1 fight.

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

The tone was light, accommodating Barbarossa.

Above him, who was sprawled out exhausted, a clear laugh rang out. He could see the hem of a long cloak touching the ground. It was a high-quality cloak that didn’t belong in a 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 lying face down.

* * *

“One orange juice.”

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

While the magical gold coins belonged to Grand Duke Inkheart, ordinary gold coins could also work magic.

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

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

Barbarossa, whom she had forcibly seated beside her, remained silent.

“You’re a poor debtor. Remember these debt documents? They’re all yours.”

His credit was so bad that buying all his debts cost only 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 about last time. I was too harsh, wasn’t I? When a beauty like you has come looking for me twice, I can’t treat you poorly like before.”

His half-open smiling eyes were secretive. He turned his attention to her with a subtle attitude.

“Well, how about it? Does the noble madam want me to serve her drinks?”

Barbarossa tried to seduce her while pretending to be pitiful.

For reference, the reason Barbarossa got into another brawl today was, again, woman trouble. He invariably falls for complicated married women with troubled home lives—this guy has a serious mother complex.

She would bet that he wouldn’t even look at kind, straightforward women as potential partners. Not his type.

‘He has so many ways to mess up his life.’

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

“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 her arm buzzing, it seemed that a certain spirit king, who was like a Confucian moralist despite living in a world without Confucianism, was firmly gripping the back of her neck.

Barbarossa, who got slapped, nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe I’m tired of the usual taste and want something different. When a noble lady clings to me offering to straighten out my life, I thought I might try changing my heart.”

“I’m genuinely worried about you.”

“Can’t you embrace me as much as your worried heart?”

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

“Mother? Is it appropriate to bring up parents in a place like this? Of course, I’m curious about the parents who gave birth to someone as beautiful as you. But let’s talk about that after we develop a deeper relationship.”

“There are people in the world who are sad because they don’t even have a stepmother, and yours is practically an angel.”

“Ah, come on. Can we stop talking about that wooden woman who would probably look for God even in bed? I’m really losing interest.”

The tavern owner carefully placed the orange juice he must have struggled to find somewhere in front of her.

Slurp, after taking a sip, she realized it wasn’t worth a gold coin. The juice tasted bad, and Barbarossa was annoying.

Crash, bang.

So she used a bit of force, and Barbarossa fell over noisily with his chair. His dumbfounded face was worth seeing.

“I thought a noble lady coming alone might have flowers in her head, but that’s not the case. What is this, an artifact?”

Even though his already split lip split again, Barbarossa still had a loose tongue. There are just some people in the world born to get beaten up.

“How many charges does that have left? Do you have enough for after our talk? This area has terrible security, and not everyone is a gentleman like me. You should save some for your way back.”

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

The spirit mark on her arm buzzed in agreement. Sylphid is surprisingly human-like. Just like a caring grandfather.

While Sylphid was protecting her, she had nothing to fear today.

“Came to watch? Everyone get out…… Wait, anyone here who pays taxes.”

She had no obligation to protect unruly territory residents who didn’t pay taxes.

“What? Does no one pay?”

“I do!”

“I do!”

“I will!”

The last answer came from the store counter. She had spotted him since the juice tasted strange.

She grabbed the counter with her hand blessed by the Spirit King and smashed it.

“Ahhh!”

“In the future, please pay your taxes properly and receive good security services in return.”

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

Even after things reached that point, Barbarossa still chuckled.

“Ah, all my teeth are loose. Since my face is the only decent thing about me, could you spare it?”

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

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

“Your mother is worried, so repent and go back.”

“I’m a rootless bastard with no mother.”

“Why not? You have a birth mother and a foster mother. Others have one, but you have two? How lucky of you to have so many.”

Barbarossa’s eyes rolled back as he rose to threaten her.

“Can’t you handle even this much when you said you’d try to change your life by pleasing me?”

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

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

“Yes. Men who say that usually can’t hit.”

Protected by the Spirit King’s blessing, she was fearless. Barbarossa sighed in frustration but ultimately couldn’t do anything.

She continued to taunt him.

“I’m curious. A man with no sense of chastity who won’t hit women. Is it because of your strict noble upbringing? Or is it because of the little conscience Lady Maude left in you?”

“Why do you keep bringing up that woman……”

“Tsk, it’s your mother.”

“……Why are you bringing up Lady Maude?”

Barbarossa gave a hollow laugh.

“What, have you come to tell me that I’ve thoroughly misunderstood Lady Maude?”

Huh?

She unconsciously looked at her arm with the Spirit King’s mark. Even the Spirit King, who was probably watching somewhere while munching spiritual popcorn, seemed taken aback by this statement as there was no response.

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

She had criticized him as trash who indulged in women and alcohol, but she couldn’t say anything about him drinking now.

“I know. What lies that woman told.”

“She’s a mother who’s too good for a trash like you.”

“……Fine, Lady Maude then. When my girlfriend got pregnant at that time, I pretended to be fine with this silver tongue of mine, but I was actually shocked. I’d been with many women before, but none had gotten pregnant. Because I was taking contraceptives.”

“Male contraceptives?”

Did he know from the beginning that the child in question, which might or might not have been Barbarossa’s, was actually someone else’s?

“Yes. There was a slim chance it could be my child, but that was really just that—a slim chance. We were just warming each other’s beds. Even though she acted like she’d die without me 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 taking male contraceptives. It would have been faster for her to sort things out too.”

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

“You’re already trash, but you didn’t want to be called trash by a woman in that situation?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Barbarossa admitted it readily.