Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: 2. Orphan Gacha Probability-Up Event
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Black blood flowed.
From Carlson's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, black blood flowed.
At the same time, the terrified Carlson threw down his axe and writhed in agony.
"Aaack!"
"Ca-Carlson!"
"What the hell just happened!"
"It hurts! It huuuurts!!!"
Carlson desperately squeezed his eyes shut, clamped his mouth, pinched his nose, and covered his ears, but it was no use. The black blood mocked such resistance as it inflicted hell upon him.
Black blood poured from every orifice, and after some time had passed...
"Gr... uh..."
"Carlson! Snap out of it!"
"B-Boss! Carlson's dead! He's dead!"
"...No way."
Carlson slumped, black blood streaming from him. Anyone could tell without checking that he was dead.
Carlson's sudden death, right when he had been gleefully plotting to kill Tricksy.
Even the Smile Family executives, who had killed plenty of people themselves, were horrified by the gruesome sight of him dying while spewing black blood.
"W-What the hell...?"
"Don't touch the body! It might spread!"
"A curse? Is it a curse...?"
"Shut up with that curse bullshit! Don't jinx it! Carlson must've had some underlying condition!"
"Y-Yeah, right?"
So the executives desperately rationalized it. They tried to drag Carlson's death into the realm of the ordinary, downplay it, make excuses—anything to feel safe. To reassure themselves they had nothing to do with that horrific end.
But their efforts were in vain.
Drip.
"Huh...?"
"Shit! Get away from Malcolm!"
"What... is this? Huh? Why me?"
"Don't come near! Stay back!"
"P-Please. Please save─"
Thud.
Black blood flowed from one executive's eyes, mouth, and ears, and he collapsed. He writhed in pain for a moment before going limp.
Now no one could rationalize these deaths. All they could do was...
"S-Save me!"
"I don't wanna die!"
"You idiots! Don't run!"
"Shut up! I don't wanna die like thaaaat─gack!!"
Flee the warehouse in a mindless panic.
And drop dead one by one, vomiting black blood.
Even the executives usually loyal to Victor's orders fled like children in the face of death's terror. In less than a minute, the warehouse was filled with corpses.
All that remained were a few frozen loyalists and Victor, who was at least trying to grasp the situation coldly. Even he was trembling, though.
'What the fuck is going on!?'
Victor couldn't comprehend it at all. What had turned Carlson and the executives into that mess?
Frantically scanning his surroundings for a way to survive, Victor suddenly remembered something and froze.
"...A curse?"
Curse. The stupid word spat out by one terrified executive.
It was the go-to phrase in incomprehensible situations—and the least credible one. Victor, who had led his family through countless back-alley wars in the capital, knew curses didn't exist. If they did, he'd have used them long ago.
was a different kind of [curse], but that was the stuff of history books. So Victor didn't really think this was a curse. But... Even if not a curse... there was something that could explain this.
"You."
"B-Boss?"
"Bring them here."
"Th-Those kids? If it's them, they'll end up like the others, so we should run now..."
"Shut up and fetch them!"
Crack!
"Aaack! Got it, got it, Boss!"
Victor ordered one executive to drag over the fallen Tricksy and Karen, crushing his finger to force compliance. Murderous resentment burned in the executive's eyes, but it didn't matter. If Victor's hunch was right...
"U-Uh? Hack! Gack!!"
The executive wouldn't be coming back anyway—he'd die.
"Eek! Boss, is there poison around here!? We gotta run!"
"Not poison."
"Huh?"
"...Magic. Lineage magic. Don't know which lineage, though."
That was even more absurd than a curse. Had a lineage-awakened mage suddenly shown up to cause this mess? How did they even know they were here? The executive's eyes filled with such questions, but Victor just glared at the culprit. Thud.
"W-What. Those kids are al─?"
"She's the one."
"Huh!?"
"......"
Her legs shook from the blow Victor had landed earlier, the shock not yet faded. Even so, Karen managed to rise. Ominous black mana swirled around her. 'What the... hell...' Just moments ago, she was a kid who hadn't awakened her lineage, only able to cast basic elemental spells like fireballs. And now she'd awakened it? In this short time? And a lineage specialized in killing, no less.
"Die..."
"Shit!"
"B-Boss! Gack!?"
Karen finally stood and reached out. Victor hurriedly yanked the dumbstruck executive beside him and shoved him in front as a shield. Her hand swiped weakly at empty air, but the executive in its path vomited black blood and collapsed. With even his meat shields wiped out, Victor bolted without looking back. 'Damn, damn, damn!' Everything was the worst. Nearly dying just now. His painstakingly rebuilt forces annihilated. Having to flee from a mere kid. All of it, the worst. He ran until his lungs burned, but thankfully, Karen didn't pursue. Her injuries must be too severe; she was probably staying in the warehouse to guard the other kid. Victor had planned to circle back and grab Tricksy as a hostage if she chased him. He clicked his tongue. 'Anyway, the mana disruptor won't hold much longer.' The magic tool forcibly scattering ambient mana was almost out of time. It wouldn't work on a lineage-awakened mage anyway. 'Run for now!' Back to Happy Orphanage, grab all the assets, and flee. Snag some orphans on the way and sell them to slavers for a tidy profit. That'd be enough. Rebuild his forces in some rural town. Set up another orphanage there and exploit more orphans. I'm not dying here. I'll make a comeback for su─ "Hey there."
"...!? What the!"
"Ah, sorry to bother you while you're in a rush. Is this the way to Happy Orphanage?"
"What?"
Victor scowled at the young man he'd suddenly run into mid-flight. Was this guy after him? But the youth had an utterly innocent face. Staring hard at the young man's face, Victor suddenly realized something and pointed.
"No way... Yujin, the Orphanage Director?"
"Ah, you know me? As you said, I run that little orphanage over there. Got some business at Happy Orphanage."
"...Perfect timing."
Having identified his opponent, Victor steadied his ragged breathing and smiled. The same harmless smile that had earned them the name Smile Family. And when Victor smiled, it meant his true intentions were the opposite. He drew a small dagger behind his back and approached the youth with a grin.
"I'm the director of Happy Orphanage."
"Really? Lucky me!"
"Yeah. Fellow directors like us oughta have a chat."
Harmless smile. Friendly grin. Relaxed posture. All skills Victor had honed as a back-alley boss. To make enemies drop their guard—to fool them with that smiling face before stabbing their nape. 'Kill this clueless fool and I can loot his orphanage too.' Word was the young idiot ran his place alone, without staff. What a stupid, laughable setup. What if the livestock escaped? Victor sneered inwardly at the youth's idiocy, but for now, he was grateful. Beyond just looting the money, there was another reason. 'This bastard's orphans got me into this mess.' A director should take responsibility for his orphans' faults. Right now, he needed a punching bag. Not that monster kid, but someone he could overwhelm. For that stress relief, Victor planned to kill Yujin as cruelly as possible. A brutally murdered corpse would delay investigations out of sheer shock, buying him escape time. 'Start by gouging out his eyes.' Hiding his dark thoughts behind a friendly smile, Victor approached. The moronic blood-clot grinned back and stepped forward. The moment he gets close, stab with the dagger...!? Crack!
"Gr, graaaah!!"
"Talk about lucky. Meeting you right here."
"W-What the hell are you doing!"
"What? You thought I wouldn't know?"
What? Did he find out about the orphanage raid? Did we have a spy? Or did he spot the dagger ambush!? Before Victor could even strike, Yujin casually drew a cleaver and slammed it down on Victor's right arm without hesitation. It wasn't just a wild swing. Even to Victor, who'd fought countless back-alley skirmishes, it was astonishingly skilled. An unimaginable precise joint strike from that innocent-looking guy. As Victor dropped the dagger, his shoulder blade perfectly shattered, staggering back...
"The goods?"
"Huh? Goods?"
"You stole my money using the goods, right?"
Money? Goods? No way?
"Th-The goods are those kids?"
"How don't you know, same line of work? Anyway, where are the goods?"
"...In that warehouse over there."
"In good condition?"
"O-Of course. Knocked out at worst."
"Knocked out? Fuck."
Yujin muttered curses for a moment but seemed focused on the fact they were safe, standing spread-legged as he eyed the direction Victor pointed. 'Go, just go already!' No lies. Lying might complicate things if he had some way to detect it. Victor was banking on the madman heading to the warehouse to check the kids himself. But Yujin just glanced that way without moving. Instead, he glared at Victor, blood dripping from his broken arm, then teasingly twirled the cleaver in a sloppy stance.
"Looks like you're legit. Good. Now hand over the money."
"Money...? What are you─" "I said it earlier. The money you stole using the goods." ──Silver coins stolen from the orphanage. Isn’t this enough? Ah.
"These silver coins...?"
"You kept them nice. Toss 'em on the ground."
"O-Of course."
Victor scattered all the silver coins Tricksy had given him on the ground and watched Yujin. The moment Yujin bent to pick them up, he'd bolt or stab his back. But Yujin just shrugged, incredulous.
"What?"
"I threw them all!"
"Look, you think I'd settle for just the stolen cash after getting robbed? Hand over everything."
"Wha...?"
"Everything you got. Caught red-handed and you're still this cocky?"
What the hell is this guy? Casually swinging that cleaver without a care, and now this brazen shakedown? Victor, who had been called Smile Family for swinging daggers with a smile, felt genuine fear of Yujin. This was the 'real' deal. As Yujin's cleaver gleamed in the moonlight, Victor hurriedly emptied his pockets, throwing all his coins.
"That's everything! For real!"
"Really?"
"Don't believe me, check! I wouldn't carry much cash this late anyway!"
"Fair enough. Alright, time to die."
"W-Weren't you gonna let me go? I gave you everything!"
"So... you wanna let a guy go who stole my money with the goods, manhandled my top merchandise from our orphanage, and tried to wreck our whole operation? Why would I? You'd have killed me if it was the other way around, right?"
Watching Yujin approach, casually spinning the cleaver like it was no big deal... Victor made his final desperate cry.
"I-It wasn't even my orders! It was all that Tricksy bitch...!!"
"You blaming the goods?"
"Huh?"
"It's the user's fault. And more than that..."
Yujin took another step closer. His face twisted in rage, as if facing his lifelong enemy.
"You dared scratch up our precious 3-Star Orphan and 4-Star Orphan, and on top of that, tried to leave a bad review? What if weird rumors spread and they don't sell? You're fucking dead."
"N-No─" Crack.