## Chapter 1177 – Bumbling Through Foreign Lands

I may be from a modern, law-abiding country, but compared to this world, it’s just a primitive legal system. Laws should harmonize with society to be effective; otherwise, they’re just fantasies or madness.

This is so fucking absurd.

“Haa. Making such a fuss over killing a mere robber. Foreign countries are really different. The culture is just too different.”

Liztina shook her head, saying that.

“No, it’s beyond just different cultures… it feels like different standards. Seriously. In this day and age, having a law that respects murderers and robbers? It’s just a barbaric custom.”
“Wow.”

Her words were so obvious that I couldn’t help but nod.

Killing a murderer-robber shouldn’t be a crime.
It should be socially encouraged.

They should even give out a courageous citizen award.

“Even if we concede that they held a trial for killing a robber, it’s absurd to be found guilty. Twenty years in prison? Are they insane?”
“Right? That’s common sense.”
“Just think of it as running into something weird today. You were surprised, right? Come here.”

Liztina said that, subtly pulling my head into her cleavage, burying my nose in her bosom. Smelling her scent calmed me down.

“Sss.”

It was literally a strange occurrence.

Was this what Alice felt when she first went to Wonderland? In Wonderland, some crazy Trump card bastards strut around as soldiers, and a rabbit in clothes sprints while looking at a watch. And to top it off, a disappearing monster cat mocks humans with a crazed smile.

“…”

In such a place.

In such a strange land.

The ideologies and legal systems you’ve upheld until now become useless. It’s because the world is literally different. So, in Wonderland, you have to accept those bizarre, dreamlike entities as reality.

“Well, now.”

I feel like I’ve become Alice.
From today on, I’m Kim Katte in Wonderland.

“Well, it’s not like a bunch of clueless kids made the court. It’s insane to think that all murderers and robbers are precious and equal. People have different values.”

Karin also said something like that.

Anyway, I pulled myself out of Liztina’s cleavage.

“Right. It doesn’t make sense to waste administrative power on a mere robber. How are the people of this country supposed to protect themselves?”
“Doesn’t the city guard protect them?”

Liztina shook her head at Winia’s answer.

“I don’t think that’s very helpful… No matter how many city guards there are, ultimately, protecting yourself and punishing enemies should be your own responsibility. If you leave it to others, you end up being able to do nothing.”

It was such obvious common sense.

“Um… I think it’s better to take care of regular people instead of just robbers. No one’s going to like it if you take care of robbers except for the robbers themselves!”

Everyone nodded at Hilde’s words.
It was a truly rational opinion.

From my perspective, that’s what the Karga Kingdom is doing right now.

“From now on, this country’s name is Robber Powerhouse! No! Robber Exporting Country! That evil idea of treating murderers and robbers the same is what’s eating away at this world!”
“Is that the devil speaking right now?”
“What are you talking about! I’m already an angel!”

Hilde is an angel.

“Hehehe, yeah. Our Hilde is an angel. Come here.”

I stroked the angel’s head.
As I was doing that, Risha opened her mouth.

“Hmph… Anyway, shouldn’t it be that each country has slightly different customs? This lady doesn’t quite understand it, but if they live while adhering to those rules, there’s not much of a problem.”
“I guess so.”

Well, that’s true in a way.

There’s not really a problem. It would be a problem if they tried to force a punishment on me, but the judge wasn’t someone who couldn’t think that far. They know it too. That there’s no need to go to war with me over a mere robber.

For someone who knows that to say that.
What a joke.

“Still, it’s the first time I’ve heard someone say that killing a robber is a crime. It’s really bewildering. Does that mean someone who lost a loved one to a murderer-robber can’t even take revenge themselves?”

Claudie’s question.

“It seems like that’s the case under this country’s law.”
“Strange.”
“Really strange.”

It doesn’t make sense not to be able to take revenge and punish with your own hands.

In the first place, it’s not a good idea to leave it to others. There’s the issue of satisfaction, but ultimately, if you’re not convinced, the revenge doesn’t end.

To entrust even such personal matters to the law is just suppressing people’s souls.

“It was like a legal system that only kids whose parents are all robbers would believe in.”
“It kind of feels like that.”

Winia agreed with Karin’s words.

“Anyway, it doesn’t seem like a good country. So it must be a small country. Let’s go now. Let’s get out of this country quickly.”
“Yes, Sister.”

Then shall we go now?

“I don’t know, but even I, an Alraune, found it a bit bizarre.”
“Even Alraunes are rejecting this bizarre legal system. Right?”
“Yes. I can’t understand what use there is in doing that for robbers. Um, so I wasn’t weird after all. I’m glad.”
“There’s no need to even think about being glad.”

* * *

We immediately escaped from that kingdom of indescribable bizarreness.

I did receive an expulsion order, but that was just bullshit. This is simply me leaving because I have to go.

I still couldn’t quite understand the judge’s madness. But the unpleasant thoughts about him disappeared cleanly as soon as I left that realm of madness. I’ll have to stop by once on the way back, but I’m never coming to this kind of country again.

Anyway, after carrying out the departure and passing through one more kingdom, we finally arrived at Akelbarren, the last human kingdom and the strongest power in the west.

This place is a country that borders the Dwarf Kingdom.

Looking at the map, this country had a territory roughly a bit larger than the Merkudia Kingdom, bordered the westernmost part of the Elven Forest to the north, and had the land of the Dwarves to the west.

“A kingdom that borders the territories of two races at the same time.”

In any case, there’s nothing particularly to do in this country.

Our destination is the Dwarf Kingdom.

Let’s just keep going.

“If we just get past here, it’s the Dwarf Kingdom! It’s been a long journey! Let’s rest here for a bit before we go!”
“Ah, should we rest here for a bit?”
“Yes!”

She says rest, but she’s just being affectionate because she wants to have sex right now.

“Father, wouldn’t it be okay to use the World Tree’s Crystal Ball soon?”
“Hmm… Would it be okay here?”

For now, I’m trying to avoid using it as much as possible. You should only use things like that when necessary; if you check it all the time, the power might disappear.

“Let’s use it when we get closer to the border. I don’t know for sure, but the closer we get, the more accurate the World Tree’s detection will be.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”

In that way, to commemorate our arrival in the last human kingdom, we moved westward at a leisurely pace.

As we moved, I saw that there wasn’t anything particularly special about this country.

There were just cities and rural villages that could be found anywhere. But as I gathered some information while traveling, it seemed that if you wanted to see unique scenery, you had to go west, which bordered the Dwarf Kingdom.

How should I put it?

There are many mines there. There are regular mines, and even a few rare metal mines, so if you go west, you’ll find mining cities and industrial cities with a completely different feel. Is it a country with slightly developed heavy industry?

Thinking about that made me a bit excited.

No matter what, it’s always fun to see exotic scenery. But not that country with the crazy laws. That’s not exotic, that’s just fucked up.

“Ah, Blackie. Sisters. It’s in here.”

Winia, who was looking at a book, said.

“Huh? What is it? Winia-nim.”
“What is it?”

Is she going to explain something?

“That Ozentoros we passed through, you know.”
“Ozentoros?”
“The law-abiding country.”

Ah, fuck.

“Wasn’t that country’s name Innsmouth?”
“What? How did Blackie remember it? It’s a completely different name.”
“Anyway, what about it?”

Winia turned over the book she was reading and showed the cover.

「Akelbarren Neighboring Countries Travel Guide」

A travel guide?

“It’s a book that briefly summarizes information about the countries near here.”
“When did you buy that?”
“Last time. Anyway, listen. It says that country has a king, but no nobles.”

Karin tilted her head at those words.

“What? No nobles?”
“Really?”
“There are no legally defined nobles, and the royal authority is weak.”
“It’s a unique country after all.”

It really is unique.

“The previous king reduced the king’s authority himself during his reign. He was said to be a pretty strong magician.”

Winia’s explanation began.

“Anyway, that magician king established the current laws… and there were several magicians and knights who followed that king. They’re probably still around. Those people must be the most powerful people in that country. They must be the ones ruling the country now.”

Hmm.

“Well, I thought there were only weaklings because there were no nobles. Well, whatever. If a country is to be maintained, there have to be superhumans like that.”

Karin nodded.

Certainly, if those superhumans are in the social leadership, the country will run somehow.

It’s a bit strange that all these people support equal laws, but in reality, if you’re in the social leadership anyway, you’re bound to enjoy ‘legal privileges’ without the need for seemingly unequal privileges.

So maybe that’s why the word noble isn’t necessary. Even in a world without nobles and kings, social classes are thoroughly divided.

Maybe they’re ruling the country with the support of the people in that kind of way.

But if there are guys like that, shouldn’t they be trying to catch me to uphold the law? No. If they’re far away, they can’t come to catch me. And they can’t stop me right now either. So that’s why they issued an expulsion order. Since I’m just a robber anyway, they probably just glossed over it like that.

“But the public order is said to be better than expected.”

What?

“The public order is good? Really?”
“That’s what it says in the book.”

Liztina took the book and started reading it herself.

“…Isn’t this an unreliable book? There’s no way the public order is good. Our Katte-ssi witnessed a robber on the street right away.”
“That’s true, but.”

But even developed countries in modern Earth have murderers and robbers. They exist in South Korea, the United States, and Japan. No matter how good the public order is, murder and robbery will never be eradicated. Therefore, you can’t say the public order is bad just because murder and robbery exist. You have to think about it by looking at the incident rate.

Thinking in that context, it’s not something I can’t understand… but it’s a bit strange that the public order is good.

“Well, it’s a unique country, so it could be like that. Sister.”
“Hmm… If that’s the case.”

Winia added a few explanations.

In Ozentoros, the public order is good because all citizens are protected by law. All citizens are protected by law, huh. I don’t know about that, but if that’s the case, then that’s the case. And there are quite a few public order officials in each city.

Is that a natural thing to do to uphold the law?

Anyway, there aren’t that many superhumans in this world, and I’m just exceptionally strong. So most problems are solved by armies with a large number of people.

Is that the feeling?

“Still, the prison is said to be close to full, so there are some financial problems. And the recidivism rate is also said to be high. It seems they’re getting a lot of criticism from the western kingdoms as well.”
“Well, of course.”

The royal family and nobles of nearby countries can’t possibly like the fact that a country with weak royal authority and no nobles is running smoothly according to the law.

“But a book with such detailed information is being distributed so freely. Is it because it’s a powerful western country after all?”

It’s an irrelevant issue.

We headed west while gathering information.