10. Akan (2)
10. Akan (2)
Belak, known as the 'Underground King' of Akan, sat before his subordinates.
"Tomorrow morning, I will have Mayor Gelmour's throat in my grasp."
At Belak's words, his subordinates, who had been crouching before him, straightened up.
"Finally, we can harvest the seeds we've been storing all this time! Boss!"
Belak looked at the subordinate who spoke loudly in excitement and curled the corner of his mouth into a grin.
"Yes, now it's time to throw away the title of King of the Maggots. Hahahaha!"
Belak put a thick cigar in his mouth and lit it. His greedily protruding belly heaved with his breathing.
The roots of the drugs Belak had spread were more extensive than expected.
The reason Belak, a mere drug dealer, had been able to fully root himself in one city was because this place was not a city under a hereditary noble domain, but a term‑limited autonomous city where the emperor directly appointed the mayor.
A woman approached the skinny man who had been sipping alcohol beside him and whispered a few words.
"They say that the agent of the 1st Princess Brigitte arrived in Akan this morning? That he drove out the Revolutionary Group bastards from the train by himself?"
David, who acted as an advisor by Belak's side, frowned.
"He said it's information sent by one of our contacts in Halo Company. So it's quite credible..."
Belak, who had been listening to David, smirked.
"If it's a guy like that, he'll move quickly to finish his business. He won't have time to care about us. And our strength is not that weak."
Belak stared at a large man standing behind him.
"I can take care of the Revolutionary Group bastards myself. Even if that guy interferes, we can kill him. Because everywhere in this land, there are those who've become slaves to my drugs."
The hazy gray smoke that Belak exhaled from his mouth rose, thick like a dark cloud.
"Even the ones Gelmour trusts and relies on."
***
Inn, Uolo (Volo).
Yuma, having nothing that could be called luggage, simply set down the bag Cloné carried and came down to the restaurant on the first floor.
The employee wore a warm smile.
"Steak and tea. Please enjoy."
The employee who had introduced the food with a very kind smile bowed politely at the waist and disappeared.
"Yuma-nim."
Cloné looked at Yuma intently.
It was because of what Yuma had said just before they left the room: even if food arrived, don't eat it, and whether she could check if anything had been mixed into the food.
"Use magic."
"Yes."
The material analysis spell, the formula of Elemental Spectrum, was completed along Cloné's fingertips.
The target of the spell was the tea in the cup.
Cloné's eyes widened.
In front of Cloné's eyes, formulas of chemistry and magical engineering floated in the air, indicating that there was something wrong with the tea in front of her.
Cloné whispered into Yuma's ear.
"...It's poison. It seems to be a sleeping pill or a sedative type."
"Is that so."
In Yuma's mind, the man with blue hair, Mayor Gelmour, came to mind.
'It seems your city isn't yours anymore.'
The inn of the person who had been introduced as trustworthy had already become a den of corruption.
Because putting this kind of drug in food could only be for human trafficking or organ trafficking.
In the first place, the purpose hadn't been to eat but to find out if they would try something, so the intended goal had been achieved.
"Can you evaporate the tea in the cups?"
Yuma planned to set bait.
So that the guys who tampered with the food wouldn't realize their trick hadn't worked.
"Yes."
Following Cloné's gesture, the tea in both cups slowly evaporated.
Those empty cups would serve as the bait.
Since they had already eaten before entering the inn, it didn't matter.
"Let's go up."
"Yes!"
Cloné, excited that she could be useful, nodded vigorously.
Room 302 assigned to them. The two entered the rather spacious inn room and each began preparing to greet the guests who would soon be lured by the bait.
Jeobeok jeobeok
From the stairs, the sound of multiple footsteps could be heard.
"They didn't touch the food?"
"They drank all the tea without leaving any. So by now, they should both be passed out and collapsed."
"Just take the man's organs... Ah, he had a decent face. Would it be better to sell him to the ladies?"
"What about the girl?"
"What do you think, fuck! Kehehehe!"
"Did you say tomorrow is the day Belak-nim will grab Mayor Gelmour by the throat?"
"That's right. We're going to have a better life now. What are we lacking compared to those knight bastards? Huh?"
Along with these extremely vulgar voices.
"Here, the key."
Cheolkeok cheolkeok!
The doorknob was shaken violently.
The door opened.
"...Oh, they aren't collapsed?"
Kkiiik─
Yuma was standing still in front of that door.
The three men and Yuma exchanged glances.
The men, seeing that Cloné next to him was also fine, looked quite flustered.
The brown-haired man scratched his head.
"Did he just touch it with his tongue and notice? Are you a gourmet? No... the tea definitely seemed all drunk."
Yuma's gaze quickly scanned the levels floating above the three men.
[Lv.34] [Lv.31] [Lv.27]
'Trash mobs.'
The [Lv.31] man stepped forward.
"Ha, making us see blood again."
Contrary to his words about not wanting to see blood, the man curled his lips into a wide grin and drew the sword at his waist without hesitation.
Seureung─
"Hey, this is what they call Aura."
A faint aura rippled on the longsword.
Even if calling swordsmen who used aura trash mobs was a bit much, compared to the beings Yuma had faced so far, they really were trash mobs.
And he swung it at Yuma.
The longsword struck like lightning.
Kkaaang!
And the ensuing metallic sound.
<Absolute Counter>
From the tip of <Black Dragon Bernak's Fang>, a purple air current flowed out and curved like a scythe.
Sseo──geok!
The man's head rolled along the floor, degureureu.
Red blood slowly spread across the corridor.
"...Huh?"
A dazed sound came from the mouth of the man with [Lv.34] floating above his head.
Yuma strode toward him.
"F...uck."
The man twisted his lips.
The purple sword path that had blown off his comrade's head.
He hadn't even perceived that sword path.
Yuma's languid expression, which had made him seem like a fool who didn't even know he was walking into his own grave, now started to look like the face of a completely composed strong person.
The fact that he kept his hands in his pockets while his opponent drew his sword now seemed like the composure of a strong person.
"Hey."
And he gestured with his chin toward the one remaining comrade. A pathetic guy who couldn't even handle aura properly yet.
But now there was no choice but to rush in together with that bastard.
"We go together. We absolutely kill that son of a bitch."
[Lv.27] nodded vigorously. He was, in fact, in a state of even greater confidence than the [Lv.34] man. It was possible because he had a bit less knowledge of swordsmanship than the other man.
The two simultaneously stomped the ground.
Swaeaeaeak!
Shuwaaak!
The two streaks of light rushed forward.
Yuma stared straight at the trajectories. The trajectories of the two swords.
And in an instant, he calculated them.
Jjeo──jeojeong!
Perfect parry timing. Two golden light impacts burst out.
[Lv.27]'s neck flew off.
[Lv.34]'s heart was pierced by the raging wind.
Teolssak
Kung!
It was the moment the number of corpses went from one to three.
Yuma passed by the three corpses and headed forward.
To the white-haired middle-aged man sitting dazedly.
Toward the owner of this inn, Uolo.
[Lv.6]
He seemed like an ordinary person without any particular combat power.
Yuma walked gracefully while sheathing the dagger Bernak.
"I think we need a long conversation, innkeeper."
"...I-I-I didn't recognize a noble personage!"
Yuma lowered his head and met eyes with Meidel, the owner of the Uolo Inn. Deep fear was evident in the eyes of Meidel, who had witnessed the strong men Belak had personally dispatched—not just some street punks—being cut down in a single blow.
"Before killing these guys, I heard some very interesting conversation."
-Did you say tomorrow is the day Belak-nim grabs Mayor Gelmour by the throat?
Those were the words of one of the three who had just become cold corpses.
Upon hearing that, Yuma connected it with the information about the Underground King Belak he had heard this morning from William, the Akan branch manager of Halo.
"Underground King Belak. What is he scheming? Is he trying to push out the mayor of Akan, Gelmour?"
The answer was slow.
Kwajijik!
"Kkuh-heeeek!"
Yuma slammed the sword that [Lv.27] had been holding into the floor. Right next to Meidel's right leg.
The effect was tremendous.
"W-we can't push him out completely! Because Gelmour is still a mayor selected by His Majesty the Emperor! He plans to completely seize his weakness and use him as his puppet!"
"Weakness?"
"G-Gelmour's younger brother! Gelmour's younger brother is completely steeped in Belak's drugs! He's using him as a weakness to control Gelmour like a puppet! The execution of that plan is probably tomorrow!"
The underground king who had dominated the underworld of Akan was trying to rise to the surface.