Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: A Beating is the Best Medicine (2)
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The relentless violence crashing against his cheeks one after another brought the boss to his knees.
"I'm sorry."
The boss tossed aside his mace and prostrated himself flat on the ground.
"Hmm."
I tore my gaze away from the boss's full head of hair,
clang.
and picked up the mace that had fallen to the ground.
"Not bad at all?"
It looked far too high-quality for a mere bandit boss to be wielding.
'Come to think of it.'
The bandits who had charged at me earlier had all been armed with weapons of considerable quality.
Bandits were usually drifters with nowhere else to go who turned to this life, so they typically wielded crude gear.
But this Rato bandit gang had been using spears, longswords—actual "weapons."
'Could it be...'
My eyes narrowed like a snake's. It seemed I needed to shake this boss down to the dust.
Thud!
I slammed the mace into the ground and crossed my arms.
"Take me there."
"Wh-where...?"
"Where do you think? That corner where you were cowering like a rat."
"Th-that's..."
The boss's eyes darted around. I could practically see the calculations racing through his head.
In short, figuring out how much he had to give up to survive.
'What a pain.'
An irritated smile flicked across my lips.
He still had the brainpower left for that? Didn't he grasp what it meant that I'd come all the way down here without a single drop of blood on me?
Or maybe what he had hidden there was that valuable.
Either way, it didn't matter to me.
'If it weren't for the info, I'd have killed him already.'
Smack! Smack!
I whipped both his cheeks in succession, then kicked him square in the chest.
"Guh!"
I stuck close to him as he flew backward.
Thud!
I drew the sword from his waist and drove it down into his palm. His hand was pinned to the wall like a stake.
"Arghhh!"
The boss twisted his face and let out a wail.
Spurt.
Blood surged up and began trickling down the wall.
Thump.
My heart pounded again. But it wasn't vibrating as fiercely as it had in front of Mikel.
Just the habitual mania surging up.
I firmly suppressed Requiem as it lifted its head once more.
"Oh, right. We said we'd keep it fair, didn't we?"
With a sinister smile, I drew my dagger, then
stab!
jammed it into his other hand.
"Grrrugh!"
The boss's shoulders heaved roughly. Blood poured from the holes in both palms as he begged.
"P-plea...se... I was wrong."
"You already said that earlier? Doesn't seem like you know what you did wrong."
"I really... really am sorry."
Tears poured from the boss's twisted eyes.
"P-plea...se... I'll tell you everything..."
His face was filled with fear of the future. The dread that if he didn't treat these hands soon, he'd be crippled for life.
'Such worries are unnecessary.'
I muttered coldly and pulled out the sword.
Not because I truly believed him. I just didn't want to waste time.
"Ugh!"
The boss clutched his hands and swallowed his sobs.
"Lead the way."
I nudged his knee with my foot, and he staggered forward.
"Bring out everything you have."
I commanded, then added,
"If even a drop of blood gets on anything, you'll die knowing it."
"-!"
The boss glanced around with a terrified face, picked up a rag, and wrapped it around his hands. Then he scurried to the back of the cave as ordered.
"Hmm."
Leaning obliquely against the wall, I watched him work.
The back of the cave was surprisingly comfortable. Not just a safe for money and jewels, but a desk and even a simple bed.
"Why go to all this trouble to decorate?"
"In case the guards came... a place to hide."
"No thought to fighting back?"
"How could a single bandit gang hold out? No answer to sheer numbers."
The boss answered in a fairly compliant tone.
"I prepared it just in case, for days like this. Hide here, wait it out till it quiets down, then slip out."
He seemed to think that obeying me meekly would save his life.
"I've brought it all out."
The boss set down the items and knelt before them.
"Hmm."
I scanned the goods on the floor with sharp eyes. A hefty sum of money, cheap jewels, valuables.
My lips moved slowly.
"Didn't I say bring everything?"
"Yes? This is everything..."
"You took a letter from the hostage."
The boss's eyes went wide.
"H-how did you know..."
"Can't understand plain speech? Or are you ignoring me?"
The boss waved his hands frantically, sweat beading coldly.
"N-no, misunderstanding. It didn't seem important, so I didn't bring it..."
"Shut up and bring everything."
As my eyes flashed murderously, the boss scrambled up, hauled over the entire safe from the back, flipped it upside down, and dumped it out.
Clang, clatter.
All sorts of junk spilled out. Moldy twisted bread chunks, women's undergarments, a whip, candle wax...
'...Why the hell does he have this crap?'
Amid my disbelief, a fluttering letter caught my eye. I picked it up and checked the contents.
The moment I unfolded it, a familiar handwriting jumped out. The owner, of course, Diego.
'As expected.'
A twisted smile crossed my lips.
Not just the handwriting—the contents were blatantly obvious, exactly as I'd predicted.
"We attacked a passing carriage, and it came from an old man inside. Seemed like a noble house servant."
"..."
"So I kept it thinking maybe we could get ransom. Anyway, a noble like Sir Knight wouldn't need it..."
"Enough,"
I cut off the boss's rambling excuses.
"Is this everything you're offering?"
I glared through him threateningly.
"I'll add a slap for every coin I find when I search you."
"I-I'm telling you, there's nothing left!"
The boss hopped in place.
"I swear on my name! I've brought it all out!"
What honor was there in his name to swear by?
I snorted and beckoned.
"Just answer my questions."
"Y-yes."
"Where'd you get the weapons?"
This time, the boss's face truly drained of color.
'How did he know that?'
It was written all over him.
"Fr-from attacking passing carriages... war spoils..."
"Weapons like those? You must've hit a knight order's carriage?"
I gripped the dagger tighter and growled.
"I'm dying to know which idiot knight order was dumb enough to get robbed by a pissant bandit gang like this."
As my eyes blazed, the boss cracked under the pressure.
"W-we got supplies!"
"From who?"
"Don't know their identity. Always came in a robe, never saw their face."
The boss trembled, eyes fixed on my dagger.
"R-really. Only heard the voice—a young man, that's all I know."
"The price?"
"In exchange for weapons... we attacked the merchant caravans they specified."
"Which merchants."
"Rubino, Zapiro... ones that mainly sell gems."
I rolled the names around in my mouth, lost in thought.
'Who benefits from hitting these merchants?'
I stared at the boss and asked.
"You'd have sold the people as slaves—what about the goods?"
"All sold..."
Seeing my eyes flash blue, the boss quickly corrected himself.
"...but one left!"
He fumbled in his pants pocket, pulled something out, and held it up pleadingly in both hands.
"I-I forgot to take this out and put it here! Really, nothing left now!"
"Hmm."
I picked up the gem on his palm.
"A ruby."
A vividly red gem, beautiful but not highly valued in the current Empire.
Instead of pocketing it, I placed it back on his palm.
"...!"
The moment relief and joy lit up the boss's eyes,
thwack!
A merciless kick slammed into his chest.
"Guhk!"
The boss flailed his limbs and collapsed.
"I hate liars."
With a cold face, I approached him.
"Didn't you just say there was nothing more?"
"I forgot to take it out..."
"You didn't forget—you were saving it as a last resort."
I dismissed it coldly and picked up a dagger from the pile on the floor.
The blade's reflection made the boss flinch and scramble back.
"Y-you said you'd spare me?"
"When did I?"
I smiled wickedly and pointed the dagger at him.
"I never said that."
"Y-you clearly did earlier..."
"Idiot."
I chuckled while eyeing where to stab him.
"Why keep a guy who's spilled all the info? What's the value?"
"P-plea...se! Think it over one more time!"
The boss lurched up and crawled on all fours.
"I'll do anything! Whatever you order!"
"No need."
Stab!
The dagger pierced dead center into his heart.
"You're too worthless to make a subordinate."
"Kk... grk..."
The boss grabbed my hand on the dagger.
Drip, drip.
Blood leaking from his palms had soaked the rag and now dripped below.
Thump, thump, thump.
My heart raced from the thick blood scent. I calmly suppressed it without agitation.
I loosened my sharpening senses and took slow breaths. Like an emotionless executioner judge, my face was blank and impassive.
Not for pleasure, but solely for purpose, I twisted the dagger hand viciously.
"Kk..."
The boss let out a final short death rattle and breathed his last. His painfully twitching limbs went limp.
"...Hoo."
An easy yet difficult kill. Far trickier than cutting down the eighteen before.
I shook off my hands and took the money and a few valuables from what the boss had brought out. Of course, I didn't touch the gem in his underwear.
In that short time, the cave reeked of blood.
"Tsk."
I clicked my tongue softly and retraced my steps out. Then headed to the cell where Blackstar and Philip had been.
Just as I entered the entrance,
"G-get away! Get away, I said!"
"Growl!"
A tear-jerking desperate struggle was unfolding.
"Shoo! Get!"
Philip, wielding a stick to threaten Blackstar, and
"Grrowl!"
Blackstar growling as if it was ridiculous.
Blackstar was pressed tightly against the gap in the bars I'd opened, seemingly blocking Philip from getting out.
"Purr-growl!"
It wanted to bite Philip right then but was holding back on my orders.
"Good boy."
I entered the cell, mocking loudly enough for him to hear.
"Purr-growl!"
Blackstar turned to me and brightened.
"Uh...?"
Philip's eyes bulged.
Thud.
The stick in his hand fell limply to the floor.
"Ah, ahhh."
Philip's finger pointed at me.
"Ah, ah, Young Master Abel?"
"Yeah."
"H-how... Young Master, how..."
Philip muttered in disbelief. He was so shocked his face had gone deathly pale.
"H-how are you here..."
Instead of answering his mumble, I said in a bored tone,
"Put that finger away."
"-!"
Philip flinched and folded his finger.
"It... it's really Young Master Abel..."
"You think it'd be a fake?"
Philip clutched his hands tightly and backed away unsteadily.
"H-how did this happen? Why is Young Master here...?"
"Can't I be here?"
"N-not that. Weren't you in the capital...?"
"I was."
My past-tense reply made Philip stare blankly at me.
"Ah."
Then something dawned on him, and he shuddered.
"N-no way... You were taken hostage...?"