Chapter 41: Sowing Seeds - 4
Chapter 41: Sowing Seeds - 4
Everyone stood frozen.
Most had blood on their hands before, and in terms of raw strength, Yura and Leticia were both superior to Jiha.
Even so, watching Jiha beat Pamin senseless had shocked them all.
The violence was of a different kind.
The sight of Jiha mercilessly pounding his opponent, unconscious or not, was deeply shocking to Leticia.
Beyond that, the act of completely crushing someone's face, even an enemy's, stirred a visceral revulsion in her as a woman.
'They're scared. Just as planned.'
Jiha had precisely read Leticia's psychology.
He had kept beating Pamin precisely to produce this effect.
Leticia might possess greater raw power than Jiha, but she had no idea how to wield it efficiently.
That allowed Jiha to seize the initiative and push forward by sheer force.
Now he could cook her any way he pleased.
"......What did you say?"
Leticia asked again, doubting her own ears.
Jiha jerked his chin toward Pamin's companion, the elf man whose name he still did not know.
"Kill him yourself."
"Wh-what do you mean......."
"Yura, guard the door."
At Jiha's command, Yura blocked the entrance, though a puzzled look crossed her face.
Yura was a Unique. A mere Rare Grade elf male had no hope of slipping past her.
His only chance at survival lay in Leticia taking his side.
"L-Lady Leticia!"
A look of intense revulsion crossed Leticia's face.
Kill a fellow elf with her own hands? What kind of outrageous demand was this?
When Leticia turned, Jiha sneered at her.
"Can't do it? Need your mommy?"
"Why in the world......."
"If that bastard walks out of here alive, you think he'll keep quiet? For the long, long life of an elf?"
Leticia shut her mouth at Jiha's words.
He elaborated.
"Deubang will take the blame for this. And this woman here will serve as the witness."
Lijin, who had been watching in a daze, nodded her head reflexively.
"Yura and you each have your own positions, so you'll both keep quiet. And if Pamin dies right here, that becomes your problem, doesn't it?"
If her fiancé was murdered in a tavern that provided sexual services, all sorts of rumors would swirl around Leticia.
It would not end as a personal matter but would spiral into a problem involving the family.
Leticia could never tolerate that.
"Deal with Pamin on your own. But if that bastard walks out of here alive, he's nothing but a hindrance."
"......."
"Leave him alive and he becomes a threat. Not to me—to you. Consider it leverage against you."
Leticia finally understood.
Jiha meant to fabricate the incident, and Leticia had to agree.
The truth getting out meant the world would learn that her fiancé had frequented such a squalid establishment.
Pamin's companion could not be allowed to live.
Not when he knew that Leticia had consented to the cover-up.
Understanding did not translate into swift action. Leticia hesitated.
Jiha scoffed.
"What? Can't do it? Want me to do it for you? The price is pretty steep, though."
"You shameless......."
"How the hell can you even say that? Who's the one who needs to take responsibility here? Who do you think I was holding back for?"
"......."
"Don't forget it. I could have killed that moron of a fiancé of yours much earlier. I'm giving you a chance to clean this up."
When Jiha's expression hardened and his voice turned fierce, Leticia fell silent.
The sight of Jiha beating Pamin moments ago had left far too deep a psychological scar on Leticia.
In her eyes, he had transformed from a contemptible human she could look down on into an incomprehensibly brutal monster.
She had no desire to clash with the unknown, with something she couldn't fathom, if she could avoid it.
Leticia did not realize it herself, but she was afraid of Jiha.
"Hurry up."
"L-Lady Leticia."
When the man begged in tears, Leticia shook her head.
"If you too are a warrior...... you must have prepared yourself for something like this."
"N-no, please. Please spare me."
Contempt flickered across Leticia's face as the man fell to his knees and clasped his hands together.
After committing deeds that would drag her honor through the gutter, he knew nothing but to beg for his pathetic life—nothing could be more loathsome.
"If you are an elf, then die honorably for the sake of our people's honor."
She was an elven supremacist, but she did not hold elf men in particularly high regard either.
She merely tolerated letting one hold the title of fiancé.
"Deubang."
"......."
At Jiha's direction, Deubang, his face utterly resigned, held out his sword to Leticia.
Leticia accepted it with a sigh.
Ending the life of an unresisting opponent was something Leticia had never done before.
And the fact that he was a fellow elf left a profoundly nasty taste in her mouth.
The sniveling man suddenly howled.
"You fucking bitch! We're both e-elves, and I'm begging you to spare me!"
"......Both elves?"
Stung, Leticia swung her arm.
"Gurk!"
The blade cut through the man's throat, and his body toppled backward, gushing blood.
Leticia spat out her words with a cold expression.
"I am the heir of Yormun. Know your place, mere Rare Grade."
The others held their breath anew at the sight of Leticia disposing of the man without hesitation.
Jiha was the exception.
'Rationalizing it through grade ranking.......'
She, an elven supremacist, had been forced to kill a fellow elf under pressure from a human she had dismissed as base and beneath her.
Her normal mentality could never accept it, so she was grasping at an excuse to protect her own ego.
That for the honor of the Unique Grade, she could kill anyone, fellow elf or otherwise.
Leticia glared down at the corpse with irritation, then flung the sword aside.
Jiha clapped his hands to draw attention.
"Right, let's wrap this up. Lijin, report to the security officer and testify exactly as I instruct you."
"......Yes."
Having witnessed one bloody spectacle after another, Lijin answered briefly.
Jiha turned to Deubang.
"So. Ready to give false testimony now?"
"......What will become of me?"
"Do as I say, and you won't die right away."
"I have no choice......."
Deubang now had no option but to do exactly as Jiha said.
Uniques from both Blue and Purple had agreed to fabricate the incident. Even if Deubang, a Common, tried to claim the truth was different, who would listen?
The moment he tried to expose what had happened here, Leticia would cut his throat on the spot.
Jiha had factored all of this into his calculations when he brutally slaughtered those Rare Grade elves.
Deubang felt a fresh wave of regret.
The price for betraying Jiha without understanding how terrifying he was had been far too severe.
Leticia shook her head, her face weary.
"I will leave before the security officer arrives."
"You'll need to take your luggage with you."
Leticia looked down at the sprawled-out Pamin with irritation, then grabbed him by the waist and hoisted him up. Mana made it possible.
She turned to Jiha and gave a cold warning.
"Handle this properly."
"I'll do my best, but we'll probably need to meet again soon."
"......."
Leticia's face was openly disgusted, but she had no grounds to object.
Four of Purple's Rare Grades were dead, along with one of Blue's Commons.
The incident itself could not be hidden, and Blue and Purple would need to coordinate how to manage the fallout.
What Leticia wanted was to erase the fact that her fiancé had been involved at all.
As Leticia moved to leave, Yura blocked her path.
"......What now?"
"Jiha told me to block you......."
When Jiha gave a nod that it was fine now, Yura stepped aside.
Leticia hurried out. Once the sound of her footsteps had faded, Jiha smiled a cold smile.
"Yeah, you must want to run away as fast as you can. If you really wanted to be safe, you should have stayed to see it through to the end."
Deubang's face went pale at that smile.
Jiha's plan didn't end here.
"U-um......."
"What?"
"......Is there no way for me to survive?"
Perhaps, depending on Jiha's whim, he could still live.
"You won't die right away. After that, it depends on how you perform."
"Yes, yes."
Deubang nodded frantically.
"Lijin, your testimony is...... that I heard a fight had broken out between Deubang and Bunorak, and I arrived late, bringing Yura, a Unique Grade, to stop it."
"The staff already saw everything though......."
"Persuading the people from the establishment is your job."
Jiha said calmly.
"The Unique Grades of Blue and Purple have decided to bury this as deeply as possible. If you go spouting nonsense, Leticia won't let any of you live."
"......That's true."
From the owner to the staff, the truth was that they had all been bribed by Pamin's group.
But for Leticia, the fact that Pamin had been involved here must never come to light.
"If you're hoping this ends with your uncle and his acquaintances just losing their jobs, you'd better do your part well."
"......I understand. I'll persuade them for sure."
Lijin nodded with a resolute face. She was a fairly sharp woman; she would handle the people from the tavern.
"Deubang."
"Yes, Chief......."
"So you still have the nerve to call me Chief."
Jiha smiled. Deubang could say nothing.
"The security officer will come and naturally ask all sorts of questions. You say you were fighting in a frenzy, dead drunk, so your memory is suitably hazy. If it comes down to it, push the blame onto the dead Bunorak."
"I'll do as you say...... but do you think the security officer will believe it?"
"Of course not. They'll find it suspicious."
Jiha revealed the final part of his plan.
"Assuming the security officer in Waris isn't a complete fool, they won't believe two physically weak goblins and a kobold killed four Rare Grades. Especially when the kill sites are spread out so widely."
"Then naturally the investigation will focus on you, Chief......."
"I was discussing things with Enril at that time, remember?"
At Jiha's smile, Deubang's mouth dropped open.
If Enril aligned her statement, the investigation would be unable to dig any deeper.
Even if they investigated, proving that Jiha, a Common, had killed four Rare Grades would be difficult.
"And one of them was killed by Leticia...... The deeper they dig, the more anxious that bitch will get. When the security officer presses her, she'll be squirming on the inside. She's never been through anything like this."
"......."
There had been a reason he deliberately made Leticia deliver the final blow.
Deubang was dumbfounded by the meticulousness of Jiha's design.
What on earth had he been thinking to try and betray a man like this? He wanted to strangle his past self from a few days ago.
"What else should I do?"
"Say you don't remember clearly how many elves there were. That you were out of it."
"Then......."
"Ah, don't worry. Just answering that your memory is hazy at that level will be enough."
The investigators would naturally look into the identities and movements of the dead elves.
Then they would learn that they were close with Pamin, and that they had met recently.
Once Leticia found out about that, she would grow even more anxious.
"You think a noble elf lady has ever stepped foot in the mud before? You think she can stand being in that state?"
Jiha smiled.
Pamin was dealt with. The Commons had been sorted out. And he had confirmed Yura was at least usable to a certain degree.
As for pinning Leticia down, that was only just beginning.