Chapter 169
Chapter 169
Even though the Nostra Family was prominent on the continent, they were just a petty criminal organization before the name of House Draker.
The reason Draker left them alone was simply because dealing with them would be troublesome in various ways.
Skin spoke to Zeke while sweating coldly.
"How could such an honorable person get involved in this mud pit? If you need anything, please just say the word. I'll serve you to the best of my ability."
Resistance was meaningless once he knew the opponent was a Draker.
Instead of answering, Zeke looked not at Skin but at the curly-haired youth next to him.
"Are you a bloodline ability user belonging to the Family?"
Skin spoke instead of the youth.
"He was assigned as my nephew's guard. He has a Bloodline ability but it's limited... He was going to be discarded by the main family, but I thought it would be a waste so I'm raising and using him."
Zeke nodded. He threw daggers to instantly finish off the still-fighting Cyclops and Minotaurus, then took a stance toward Skin.
"Good. Skin, there's something I want to ask you."
"Please speak."
"Tell me everything you know about Vincenzo Rossi who manages Dario Tortolino's funds."
Skin's face turned pale upon hearing Zeke's words.
He shook his head and stepped back.
"Sir, I'm just a low-ranking member who only handles deliveries. I don't know anything about such high-ranking people's affairs."
"I know you're low-ranking. But you're related to Vincenzo Rossi through your mother's family. He's also the one who cleaned up the messes you made outside your territory. Am I wrong?"
Skin's face hardened at Zeke's words.
Only a few people knew about his relationship with Vincenzo Rossi. Most of them were family members.
As Zeke approached him when he didn't answer, Visco cut his palm and took a stance to spray blood.
"Thinking of using your blood ability? It probably won't work on me."
Ignoring Zeke's warning, Visco sprayed his blood.
SWOOSH!
Just then.
WOONG!
[Skill Curse Reflection reflects the curse of 'Hallucination'.]
The Bloodline ability was reflected back, hitting Visco instead.
Zeke thought it was unexpected that curse reflection activated after seeing the message pop up.
'I guess it recognized the Bloodline ability as a curse since it had a hallucination effect.'
"URGHH!"
Since it was his own ability, Visco wasn't completely affected, but he staggered while looking at Zeke with an incomprehensible expression.
In an instant, a dagger appeared in Zeke's hand and flew toward Visco.
THWACK!
Visco groaned and fell backward as the dagger pierced his shoulder.
Zeke slowly approached Skin.
Skin tried to roll away and escape from Zeke.
"S-stay away! Stay away!"
He picked up a repeating crossbow that an organization member had been holding and fired at Zeke.
PAPAPAK!
Zeke caught all the arrows with his hands. Seeing his godlike hand movements, Skin lost all will to resist.
Zeke approached Skin with a dagger and said.
"Whether you die slowly or quickly. You're going to die either way. If you save me time, I promise you an easy death."
Unlike his cruel reputation, Skin burst into tears when faced with death.
And soon the crying turned into screams.
* * *
When Visco opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Frank's face.
"S-sir. He's awake."
Visco jumped up at Frank's voice.
As he looked around, he trembled and shook his hands nervously when he saw Zeke sitting in a chair.
Zeke spoke to Frank.
"Wait outside."
Frank left the office without a word.
Visco looked at Zeke with eyes mixed with wariness and fear.
Then Zeke spoke to Visco.
"I want to hear about the Bloodline ability users in the Nostra Family."
Visco's eyes shook at those words.
Zeke looked at Visco like that, put down his teacup and said.
"You can't speak because you have no tongue, is that it?"
As Visco was about to nod, he felt something strange.
"Huh?"
He could feel his tongue that had been cut off long ago in his mouth.
"H-how?"
It was the first time Visco had spoken properly in ten years.
Zeke picked up his teacup again and said.
"Think of it as an advance payment for the information you'll tell me."
Visco looked at Zeke with a bewildered expression.
He had heard many rumors about Draker, but he didn't know they could even recreate a severed tongue.
He got down from the sofa and knelt before Zeke.
"Please spare me."
Visco had stronger survival instincts than anyone.
He survived even when he was kidnapped by the Nostra Family and received brutal training.
When he was destined to be discarded because his Bloodline ability didn't manifest properly, he created his own usefulness and somehow survived.
Even though he lost his tongue, he was satisfied just to be alive.
Visco prostrated himself and begged Zeke to spare him.
Zeke looked at Visco and said.
"Seems you don't have much loyalty to the Nostra Family."
Then Visco raised his head and said.
"All I have left for them is hatred."
Zeke stared at him after those words and grinned.
"I like that look in your eyes."
Zeke gestured for Visco to sit down.
He openly shared stories about the Bloodline ability users of the Nostra Family to Zeke.
Zeke asked with a serious expression after hearing Visco's words.
"You're saying they injected drugs?"
Visco nodded.
"Yes. They injected us with drugs every other week, and there were also pills to take. After the drug injections, some had their bloodline abilities enhanced, but in unfortunate cases... they went mad or died from seizures."
Zeke's face hardened at the story of kidnapping children under ten and conducting some kind of human experimentation.
Visco continued speaking.
"I was also drugged but instead of enhancing my bloodline ability , it manifested with changed characteristics."
"How so?"
"Originally, my Bloodline ability was causing explosions with blood. Since it was a unique ability that seemed to have many uses, I initially received special treatment in the laboratory. However, after they administered the drug, it changed to a characteristic that causes hallucinations."
"So they decided to dispose of you when your ability changed."
"Yes. Even after stopping the drug injections, the changed ability never returned to its original form. After various experiments, I was ultimately marked for disposal but fortunately survived."
Hearing Visco's words, Zeke recalled what Boris had said.
He had heard about them bringing in Bloodline ability users to strengthen their own abilities, but such atrocities as conducting experiments were unknown facts.
'This smells like something those Empire bastards would do.'
Through secret human experiments, the Empire was creating weapons of war including stimulants, synthetic poisons, and even the Hong-hwa Disease.
The experiments on the Nostra Family's Bloodline ability users could also be a plan to create weapons of war.
Visco carefully spoke to Zeke who was lost in thought.
"I have something I'd like to say."
"Speak."
Visco prostrated himself on the ground again and spoke with a desperate voice.
"Please take me in. Being a slave is fine. Please allow me to serve by your side."
Bowing his head, Visco was like a fighting dog that had been abandoned by its master and didn't know what to do.
Zeke looked at Visco like that and slowly opened his mouth.
"How can I trust you?"
Visco raised his head and said.
"I'll do anything you want. You can take my tongue again, or take my eyes. Just please let me serve you, my lord."
Zeke looked at Visco and gestured for him to come closer. Then he placed his hand on his head.
"Stay still."
Zeke intended to test the dragon's sense on Visco.
Until now, he had peeked at the memories of objects with the dragon's sense, but this was the first time using it on a person.
WOONG!
When the dragon's sense skill activated, Visco's memories instantly flowed into Zeke's mind.
KWANG! KWANG! KWANG! KWANG!
Visco's memories and emotions quickly flashed by.
'Survival instinct, fear of loss. Endless hatred...'
His mind was filled with negative emotions.
But nevertheless, Visco was ready to do anything to survive.
After looking into his past and emotions with the dragon's sense, Zeke nodded.
"Good. I'll take you."
At Zeke's words, Visco knocked his forehead on the ground repeatedly in a bow.
"Thank you. I will serve with all my loyalty, my lord!"
Zeke planned to entrust Visco to Boris.
'If trained well, he could make a decent spy.'
The first condition of a spy was none other than survival instinct.
The will to live was necessary to maintain calmness without losing one's mind in extreme situations. Of course, there was a possibility of betrayal because of that, but Zeke wasn't someone who would fall from one or two betrayals.
In that sense, Visco already had the conditions met.
Zeke paid the fee as consultation costs on Frank's desk, and immediately left Argos taking Visco with him.
A mid-sized organization that had been a longtime fixture in Argos disappeared without a trace, and organization members including Skin were processed as having died from encountering monsters in the dungeon.
There were no traces of Zeke to be found in it.
* * *
Zeke entered Heli bringing Visco with him.
Boris, who had already settled in, greeted Zeke.
Boris and the Rose Knights members were waiting at the safehouse prepared by the Syndicate.
Zeke handed Visco over to Boris and said.
"He seemed useful so I picked him up. Try raising him well."
The quick-witted Visco immediately prostrated himself before Boris.
"Please give me any task!"
Boris, who ended up taking charge of Visco unexpectedly, closed his eyes and trembled at the increased workload.
"I should have just died by the boss's hand back then."
"Boris, you need to look at the world more positively."
Boris sighed and briefly explained the situation in Heli to Zeke.
"It's cleaner than expected. At least in visible places, it's hard to find parts involved with criminal organizations. It seems they mostly do money laundering and fund management here."
Zeke nodded at Boris's words.
The place managing Heli was none other than the Jiemens family.
Among Draker’s blood alliance, Jiemens, which boasted great power, was one of the places that held and shook the financial sector of the central continent along with the Graham family.
Thanks to this, Heli had many headquarters of famous companies and associations.
Because the taxes they paid were enormous, Jiemens was always wealthy, and with that funding, they created even more capital.
Zeke frowned while looking at the documents Boris brought.
"Are you saying there are many companies with suspicious fund flows, though not overtly?"
Boris nodded.
"Yes. It's a method where they set up dozens of ghost companies to launder criminal funds, circulating money between them to make the source untraceable. It's mainly a method used by the Nostra Family."
Among Drake's blood alliance, Jiemens, which boasted great power, was one of the places that held and shook the financial sector of the central continent along with the Graham family.
Thanks to this, Heli had many headquarters of famous companies and associations.
Because the taxes they paid were enormous, Jiemens was always wealthy, and with that funding, they created even more capital.
Zeke frowned while looking at the documents Boris brought.
"Are you saying there are many companies with suspicious fund flows, though not overtly?"
Boris nodded.
"Yes. It's a method where they set up dozens of ghost companies to launder criminal funds, circulating money between them to make the source untraceable. It's mainly a method used by the Nostra Family."
The Nostra Family was an organization with deep history, so they knew well how to handle money.
Zeke scanned through the list of ghost companies Boris had compiled and pointed to one.
"This is it."
Boris was surprised that Zeke picked one immediately and examined the company he pointed to.
"This wasn't a place we considered significant..."
Zeke closed the file and said.
"There's an accountant here who manages Dario's funds. A guy named Vincenzo Rossi."
Boris was shocked at those words.
"If we can catch him, tracking the flow of funds in reverse would be easy."
Zeke nodded.
"If we cut off the funding, there should be a reaction from Dario's side."
Pascal, the leader of the Rose Knights who had been listening to Zeke and Boris's conversation, held up his mace with a determined expression and said.
"Then can we raid them now?"
But Boris shook his head.
"Captain Pascal, I've been telling you repeatedly. This is their den, so we need to be careful about our actions. Please exercise some restraint."
"Tch."
The Rose Knights members, including Pascal, put down their maces with disappointed expressions.
The Rose Knights members all had rough faces and were covered in scars.
Having actually lived in the underworld, though they were holy knights in essence, their actions were no different from gangsters.
Boris pressed his throbbing temples with his thumb and said to Zeke.
"Boss, would you believe me if I said I was more at peace when I was a continental criminal?"
"Think of it as your karma and give up, Boris. Then you'll be at peace."
'If only I could just not talk.'
Zeke roughly consoled Boris who was grumbling internally, and together they made plans to draw out Vincenzo Rossi.
But an unexpected easy solution appeared.
"Black ore mine investment presentation?"