“Urgh, ugh. D*mn it.”
Nicker, the informant who had been knocked unconscious by Lynen’s hand, grimaced desperately as he tried to raise himself toward the window. It wasn’t easy with his entire body bound.
In truth, he had regained consciousness while being dragged here but had pretended to remain unconscious the whole time.
It was to watch for an opportunity to escape.
‘First, I need to figure out where I am.’
He was currently confined in a shabby room covered with cobwebs. This building didn’t seem to have a separate prison.
After struggling for a while, he finally managed to cling to the wall and check outside the window.
The window was too small and covered with a grid of bars, making it useless for escape. But he could see the outside clearly.
“This is… a house near the park?”
The Black Hand was a massive market district, but this place was still inhabited by people.
Where there’s a park for passersby to rest, there’s usually a market, large or small, nearby.
Some merchants settled down and lived near the market. They formed residential areas together.
“And there’s something that always exists where people live.”
A cemetery.
The favorite place of black magic practitioners.
“This is it! With this, I can escape.”
Nicker bit his tongue to draw blood, then began drawing a black magic circle on the floor.
The situation was urgent, so he prepared black magic using his own life force as a sacrifice.
As he drew the magic circle, he felt the vitality being drained from his body. He wondered if this was what it felt like to have your lifespan reduced.
“Cough, cough… d*mn it. I’ll definitely escape.”
He would raise the corpses from the cemetery.
But something worried him.
‘That eccentric woman had a peculiar ability. The man was also hiding his skills.’
So he couldn’t afford to be careless.
Nicker’s movements became more urgent. As he sacrificed his life force without restraint, his body began visibly aging.
“Cough, cough……”
This was what it meant to offer one’s life force as a sacrifice.
It accelerated the passage of time in his body. Nicker, who had been middle-aged, now looked like an elderly man.
But it was worth it.
“…It’s complete. Hehehe. I’ll kill all of you and escape from here!”
The magic circle made of blood began to emit an ominous purple light.
Simultaneously, the cemetery near the park began to stir.
However, there was one thing Nicker had failed to realize.
The man who served a child as his boss was a Sword Master.
And Lynen, being a Sword Master, had already detected the ominous presence.
Even before he had said he would withdraw from this affair.
※※※
“I thought you were quick at calculations, Baron Rotten.”
“Ha, of course.”
Dietrich brushed his bangs aside with a face that said, “I knew it.”
“The… well, your side hasn’t been paid yet for saving our people’s lives.”
The quick-witted Dietrich immediately understood Lynen’s intention.
But Luke, the resistance leader, couldn’t comprehend it.
‘What? We’re treating these nobodies so well, and they’re talking about payment!’
Although they had rescued his imprisoned comrades, Luke, who didn’t know the details of the situation, couldn’t appreciate it.
‘The opponent was just one informant, right? A hunched and frail-looking guy?’
Are they saying the three of them… no, excluding that little kid, the two of them couldn’t subdue just one person?
There was talk about black magic and whatnot, but seeing that even the woman had suffered no damage, the informant’s black magic skills must have been terrible.
‘Our guys who got captured must have been idiots!’
They said they made contact without knowing he was a traitor, so of course they got caught.
Therefore, he had no intention whatsoever of treating them like saviors just for taking down one weak informant.
Rather, we should be thanked for protecting them in this cutthroat district!
While Luke was fuming, Dietrich asked.
“Let’s be straightforward. What do you want?”
“Once the leadership position is safely reclaimed, I want all the Black Hand’s informants mobilized to search for one person’s whereabouts.”
Lynen’s condition. It was to find his nephew, Noel.
Lynen had used the Black Hand’s informants before.
But mobilizing all informants for a single request was a completely different matter.
It required strong pressure and enforcement to suppress the complaints of numerous informants, something only possible for the leader of the Black Hand.
Hearing this, Luke burst out.
“Nonsense! You think we’d accept such a condition?”
“You should.”
“With what confidence…!”
“There are more conditions, so listen before you speak.”
Luke’s face turned bright red. Had he ever seen such a shameless b*stard!
Lynen continued, unconcerned.
“After reclaiming the leadership position, hand over the rebel leader Yulid to us.”
“What!!”
Bang! Unable to contain himself, Luke knocked his chair backward and jumped to his feet. Other resistance fighters also scowled fiercely and shouted curses.
Luke yelled. He noticed the self-proclaimed boss, a child playing with slime, flinch, but he didn’t care.
“You ungrateful wild dogs! I don’t know what third-rate organization you crawled out from, but if you disrespect the legs of the Spide, you’ll pay dearly!”
Spide referred to the Black Hand’s symbol, and the legs of the Spide meant its members.
Not just those who bought and sold goods in the market, but insiders directly related to the organization.
They could be considered the nobility of the underground.
Of course, unlike the surface world, power here was usually given according to strength. This was why Luke was the leader among the resistance fighters.
“Yulid is a traitor! Even if we reclaim our positions, have you thought about the consequences of letting him go peacefully?”
“That’s your problem.”
The silver-haired man tapped his thick knuckles on the old wooden table.
Luke flinched for a moment.
‘His appearance and presence seem faint, but…’
Strangely, that small gesture conveyed a noble and weighty dignity.
It made sense.
The person Luke was facing wasn’t a third-rate organization member but Duke Ortega.
“Since you’re asking ‘me’ to move, you should be willing to accept that much.”
“…The more I hear, the more your arrogance soars. Should I break that smooth nose of yours to teach you your place?”
“……”
“What? Hmph, this won’t do. Boys!”
At Luke’s command, the resistance fighters rose with their weap*ns.
Dietrich tried to stop them in panic, but they wouldn’t listen.
Luke cracked his neck from side to side, holding two daggers in both hands.
“Fine. If you think you’re so great, let’s see your skills. But you know what? Things are different here than in the warm, sunny surface world. Here, the winner makes the law.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, you b*stard. Do you think the three of you can beat all of us? We don’t go easy on women or children!”
“That’s fortunate.”
“…What?”
Lynen leisurely turned his head toward the window.
“Because opponents with that mindset have just arrived.”
“What are you talking about…”
BOOM!
Something crashed violently into the house. Dust fell from the old ceiling.
Luke’s face turned pale when he looked out the window.
“Are those… corpses?!”
Lynen rose leisurely, dusting off his wrinkled clothes.
“Let me know if you need help.”
Calliphe stood up beside him and added.
“For a fee, of course.”
Noah, also standing up next to her, added.
“Naturally, this is separate from the conditions mentioned earlier.”
Translator
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midori
thanks! ahahah, in your face, luke! let them all regret underestimating the trio, rofl. i mean, the power of duke ortega and calliphe! also, hm..yulid has holy power…so does that mean calliphe would have both magic and holy power, and that might affect her internal power, in addition to the curse?