Beast's Paradise! (4)
“Liz, Klea!”
Before charging in, I called out to Lizbet and Klea, and the two of them moved as if they'd understood instantly just from that. My bitches followed right behind me as I rushed forward. The moment I confirmed Lizbet shoving the man's hand away from the clerk and blocking him off, I kicked the bastard straight in the gut and sent him flying.
“Wh-what...!? Guhuk!!!”
He went soaring, tumbling across the ground far away until he sprawled out limply. The man didn't get back up.
“Uh, uh...?”
“There, there. It's okay now. Could you show me your face?”
Klea sat in front of the clerk, treating her swollen cheek. I left the dazed clerks to Lizbet and Klea, then headed toward the sprawled-out man.
You fucking shithead. Pretty sure I saw the Viper's Fang tattoo on the back of his hand...?
“Hey, you fucker. Get up... Huh?”
...He's dead. Oh shit, my goodness. I killed another one!
“No way... He dies from one hit...?”
...Well, can you blame him? They say even a regular horse kick can kill if it lands wrong, so a galloping horse like me kicking at full speed? No contest. Tsk. But why does it feel so damn refreshing? Barely any guilt at all—kinda unsettling, honestly.
“...Sigh.”
Whatever. Who cares. Looks like he had the Viper's Fang tattoo after all. Most of those guild bastards got arrested as criminals for one shady thing or another anyway. Killing one more won't cause a fuss.
...But why the hell was this prick in Radia?
“Master. Apparently, he was a loan shark collector around here.”
“...Loan shark?”
As I dragged the dead man's body over, Lizbet—who'd been talking to the clerks—explained his identity.
“Yeah. And this building and the adult shop next door? Looks like Viper's Fang owned them.”
“What? Weren't those guys based in the Royal Capital? This is their turf?”
Couldn't just leave the body out there, so I hauled it into the adult shop, dumped it in a corner, and demanded more details from the clerks. We went into what looked like a staff break room, spending a good half hour reassuring the trembling women. They were pale as ghosts at first, shaking in fear, but as time passed, the tremors eased, and they started stammering out explanations.
“Th-that man was one of the managers in charge of collections...”
Listening quietly to their story, it turned out a few Viper's Fang members had been running a loan shark racket in Radia. The women had no choice but to borrow from them due to various circumstances. For a split second, I felt a pang of regret like 'Oh no, I helped out some debtors?' but their tales were heartbreaking. One needed family medical bills, another was stuck with a dead parent's debt, someone else got scammed unjustly... They hadn't borrowed for luxuries or fun—they were in desperate straits where it was borrow or bust.
The dead guy outside and his crew had started with the loans, then slyly pressured them into this—forced into adult shops and the sex trade. The interest was insane, impossible to pay back, and the threats kept coming until they had no choice but to do as told. The clerk who'd been grabbed by the hair today hadn't met her monthly quota, so the now-dead collector had shown up. She'd have been dragged to the bar next door for some seriously twisted sex work.
They were already forced to sell their bodies on the regular... but getting hauled off like that meant enduring stuff too brutal to recover from. As they spoke, the clerks started trembling and sobbing again.
Oh, you fucking bastards... Tax evasion was just the tip of the iceberg—they were into everything sleazy.
“...But weren't these fuckers done for? How are they still operating?”
“Maybe they haven't gotten the message yet? ...Or maybe they're in a spot where they can't receive contact?”
“......Illegal adventurers?”
If these pricks were rogue adventurers who'd snuck into Radia to run their loan shark gig... yeah, they might not have heard their guild collapsed. These scumbags, criminals playing loan shark instead of something honest? ...Or are they doing loan sharking because they're criminals?
“How much was the interest, anyway?”
“It varied a bit for everyone... Mine was 30% a month...”
30% a month? Not even yearly!? These fuckers were straight-up thugs.
“...What about the others? Next door?”
“Y-yes, they're probably there... But you should get out quick... Even if we report them, they...”
Can't have that. Who knows what else these bastards would pull if left alone. Plus... I'd only seen them once, but these were women whose faces I recognized. How could I just walk away after seeing them get hit? I still don't get how it happened, but these clerks had serviced my cock before. Women who've tasted me—I can't just leave them be.
“Don't worry. I'm a Divine Beast who's met the king himself, and Klea here's a full-on saintess. Even if these fuckers have backing, it's nothing.”
The lord didn't seem the type, but even if he was their patron, he couldn't touch a saintess like Klea. What was there to worry about? These pricks were done for.
“Liz. Klea. You two good?”
“Ahaha. If Master wants it♡”
“As Master wills. No need to worry♡”
With that, I took Lizbet and Klea into the building next door, attached to the adult shop.
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“P-please... spare me... Divine Beast, sir...”
One of the four who'd rushed me—now beaten bloody—knelt, blood dribbling from his swollen lips as he begged.
I'd kicked open the office door where they were supposed to be, and the four drunks who'd been boozing quickly sized up the situation and charged. But for guys who rushed in so boldly, they weren't that tough. With Klea's blessings and Lizbet's help, I took them down easy.
...Alone, they might've given me trouble. Guess I should chalk it up to my bitches' support being way better than expected.
Lizbet tying them up and lobbing fireballs to keep them pinned. Klea buffing me so my body felt lighter than ever. With their help, I didn't even need to dodge or guard—just smash the bastards flat.
They tried resisting with fighting spirit for a bit, protecting their bodies... but soon enough, all four were mush under my strength.
“You fucking shits. Don't you know your guild's fucked? Why are you still strutting around?”
“W-what? No way...”
Figures they didn't know. Otherwise, they'd have hidden those tattoos.
“Hey. You illegal adventurers? Your guild in the capital's gone—Bivora's dead. You little shits.”
At my words, all four paled, shaking their heads frantically.
“W-we're not illegal adventurers! Wait, our guild collapsed!? We had solid finances...!”
“Bivora tried bossing us around and got the guild blown to bits. You recognize our Klea, maybe?”
Pointing to Klea behind me, the four finally twigged, flinching hard.
“K-Klea... you don't mean...”
“B-bro said to handle the nun if we could...”
“Bro... no, the guild master... he's dead!?”
Damn... If Klea had wandered Radia alone and run into these fuckers, shit could've gone south.
“Yup. Dead. And Klea's a saintess now. Radia's announcement hasn't dropped yet, so you didn't know. Get it now?”
At "saintess," their faces went ghost-white.
“From what you're saying, some backer let illegal adventurers like you infest Radia... Who?”
The four criminals glanced at each other, clamming up. These shits, trying to play angles?
“Hey. Hey. You still not grasping the situation? Whoever spits something useful lives. I'm handing you to the Lord's Castle as-is—think you'll just get dragged off and executed?”
“B-Brandy Baron! He's the noble overseeing Radia's entertainment district!”
Yeah, figured the lord wasn't it. He looked beat from fatigue, but like a decent guy. Didn't seem the type to back you.
“Got it? You gave up one piece of info, so I'll put in a good word with the lord. Anything else?”
I smirked, shaking them up with my words, and after a dumbstruck glance around, they all shot their hands up like it was rehearsed.
“I-I can tell you our infiltration route!”
“The adult shop's a front—actually smuggling drugs inside the products...!”
“We were stockpiling slush funds to send to the capital guild, and...”
“D-down in our bar, we watered the booze we sold...!”
Desperate to live, huh? Not my problem if you do or don't. You're criminals nabbed by a saintess—the lord'll sort you.
But... damn, so many crimes? They really did it all.
I jotted down their confessions, then dragged the lot to the Lord's Castle and turned them in.