CRASH—!
The boy blocked Liger's greatsword with ease.
Liger's eyes widened, and his fingers trembled.
The boy had stopped his greatsword with a slender straight sword.
Considering the height from which Liger had leaped, the blow should have been even more powerful than an ordinary attack.
"What......"
Liger had no time to marvel.
CLANG—!
The boy knocked the greatsword aside and swung his straight sword, which shimmered with Sword Aura.
It was not the Sword Aura of a top-level Expert.
It was denser and more precise than an Expert's Sword Aura......
"A Swordmaster......?!"
SLASH—!
Liger's head shot into the air and fell to the floor.
To think the last word he had spoken before dying was "Swordmaster."
The boy...... No, Astan clicked his tongue softly and shook the blood from his clothes.
"We can still collect the full bounty if he's dead, right?"
"For a heinous criminal like Liger, you can collect the bounty in full as long as his identity is verified. You need not worry about that."
"All right. Where were we going next?"
"Akid. I will guide you there as well."
Following Phyllis, Astan destroyed each organization's branch. He accepted a considerable number of its members as subordinates and took control of Albarid's slums.
He also beheaded the criminals and opposing forces who resisted him without hesitation.
The criminals bowed before a brutality and violence that seemed at odds with his small frame.
DING!
[Level Up.]
*Name: Astan
*Race: Vampire
*Grade: Intermediate
*Title: -
*Country of Origin: Rabadian Empire
*LV: 140
*Strength: 150
*Agility: 350
*Stamina: 450
*Mana: 750
*AP: 300
*Skills: Magic(+), Basic Swordsmanship, Crode-Style Swordsmanship, Sword Aura(+), Thrall Conversion(+)
*Help Available
He had earned 100 AP as a reward for reaching level 100.
In Albarid alone, he had gained thirty levels and another 300 AP.
Astan smiled faintly and invested AP in all his attributes.
DING!
[Race Grade increased to ‘High’.]
[Skill ‘Sword Aura’ upgraded from ‘lowest-level Swordmaster’ to ‘low-level Swordmaster’.]
[Fifth-circle entry added to Skill ‘Magic’.]
[Maximum thralls increased from ‘30’ to ‘100’.]
Finally!
He had finally become a high-grade demon.
Yes, even if he could not be an overpowered protagonist, he ought to gain at least the abilities of a supporting character!
Astan grinned and looked at the corpses at his feet.
"Heh heh heh......"
At the sight, a chill ran through Phyllis and her shoulders trembled.
'H-he's smiling at the corpses......?'
So a demon really is a demon after all?
She swallowed and looked around.
More than a thousand criminals had died in a single day.
'So this is a Swordmaster......'
She had met the bosses of Despel and Skull in person.
They were monsters who ruled the slums as lowest-level Swordmasters.
The aura they gave off had been enough to make her skin crawl.
But now, all she felt was the urge to submit.
'......He isn't a lowest-level Swordmaster.'
A monster who had reached a higher level had appeared.
"Is that everything?"
"Y-yes, it is."
"Then let's start increasing our strength."
Astan turned thirty fighters ranging from low-level to high-level Experts into thralls.
"This should be enough to put Albarid's slums in order, right?"
"Of course."
"First, at the magic tool shop, Alpha's Ring......"
"We have a stock of Alpha's Rings. The other organizations' branches should have some as well...... I will provide those."
"What about Saran's Necklace and Hus's Ring?"
"I will...... obtain them as quickly as possible and distribute them."
Astan nodded once at her answer.
"More to the point...... the problem now is attacks from the other organizations."
"Hmm?"
"Albarid lies in the middle of the southern region of the Rabadian Empire. It has the largest illegal tobacco market and slave market in the region...... In the underworld, it is even called the center of the southern economy."
"They'll send troops to take it back?"
"Yes."
"Can we hold them off with the forces we have now?"
"Considering Albarid's importance...... I would not be surprised if officers at the level of branch heads flocked here. We could certainly hold off Despel alone, but......"
Despel was not their only opponent.
"Haa......"
I'll have to stay in Albarid for a while.
I should send a messenger to Rabin Village.
"I'll stay at an inn, so......"
"I could have Liger's bedroom cleaned for you. Would you care to use it......?"
"Using the bedroom of someone I killed with my own hands feels a little unsettling."
That from the person who had laughed while looking down at a mound of corpses?
Phyllis was taken aback.
"Th-then, how about using my bedroom?"
"What will you do?"
"There are plenty of bedrooms. Of course, I could also stay with you, boss......"
"I'm a minor."
"......?"
"Vampires grow at the same rate as humans until they're twenty, you know. I'm twelve now."
"......?!"
Phyllis's eyes widened in shock.
'A-a Swordmaster...... at twelve?'
What kind of insane talent was that?!
Astan gave a short laugh at her astonished expression.
"I'm a bit unusual, so don't worry too much about it."
"......"
Of course he was.
If every demon could become a Swordmaster at twelve, this continent would have been trampled in an instant.
Phyllis swallowed hard and led Astan to her quarters.
Corpses lay strewn across the floor.
After showing him to her bedroom, Phyllis summoned her subordinates who lived elsewhere and ordered them to clean up.
"I have taken the position of head of Chaos's Albarid branch. You must have heard the news. The slums of Albarid fell to a single person...... the boss of Chaos."
Her subordinates began to murmur.
"Leave if you wish! But I, along with Akid's branch head and......"
Hearing that criminals who had made names for themselves had submitted to Chaos, the subordinates fell into thought.
Should they stay with Chaos, a new organization?
Or should they leave Albarid and return to a stable, large organization?
"The choice is yours."
"W-why do you follow him, branch head? Karma, the boss of Skull, and Boss Jillian of Despel, have both reached the level of Swordmaster!"
"That's right. Their bounties alone exceed a billion. How could we possibly stand against monsters like them......?!"
Phyllis folded her arms and closed her eyes at their questions.
"I made a judgment. Even if the two attacked together, they could not defeat the boss."
"......?!"
"Wh-what do you mean......?"
"I have met Karma and Jillian in person. I felt fear in their presence then. I was certain I could never beat them."
She still could not forget how it had felt.
Fear that raised goosebumps on her skin.
The lowest-ranking members had collapsed to the floor, frothing at the mouth under the pressure of their auras.
"The boss's aura yesterday...... I could not even begin to fathom it. In any case, make your own decisions. Those who want to stay can stay. Those who want to leave...... get out, now!"
At Phyllis's booming voice, her subordinates exchanged wary glances and slowly began to move.
The Albarid branch of Despel had nearly a thousand members in all.
With 200 killed by Astan and 300 having left, only 500 remained. But Phyllis gathered the surviving members of the other organizations and built Chaos into a force of 2,000.
Some criminals hurried out of the city as Chaos moved to take control of Albarid's slums.
CRASH—!
"This fucking shitty......!"
Karma, the leader of Skull, was wolfkin with wolf ears, red hair, and red eyes.
He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
Skull, called the dominant power of the southern region, was steadily losing its influence.
All because of a new organization called Chaos!
"Do we have information on Chaos yet?!"
More precisely, he meant information about Chaos's leader, Blood.
"I apologize. We have not gathered much. We only have conjectures: he stands around 150~160cm tall, has black hair and black eyes, has a cruel nature that leads him to slaughter hundreds of humans, and possesses abilities at the level of a Swordmaster......"
"Damn it!"
It was far too vague.
But at a height of around 150~160cm......
Would that not make him a child by human standards?
"Could he be a dwarf......?"
"We are investigating that possibility as well."
"Grr......"
As Karma growled, his adjutant quietly lowered his head.
"Find out where Chaos is headed next! Deploy every branch head!"
"......Understood."
Skull was not the only organization on alert.
Despel and numerous other criminal organizations in the southern region were as well.
They mobilized their branch heads to crush Chaos.
Chaos was smashing every organization in the slums.
If they left it alone, the damage to their organizations would be immense.
Sources of income such as illegal tobacco distribution would suffer, too.
The southern criminal organizations had already taken enormous losses over Albarid.
'Its size is growing by the day, too. If we don't crush it now......'
One day it would threaten even the large criminal organizations.
'We must...... We must kill him.'
Karma's orders reached every city in the southern region.
"......Deploy every branch head?"
Ospon, the branch head in the large city of Sajel, was known as a close associate of Karma.
He narrowed his eyes at his boss's orders and skimmed the report his adjutant had submitted.
The branch heads of Despel, Akid, Penber, Barbaras, and other criminal organizations had begun leaving their cities.
"......They have caused quite a stir."
"Losing Albarid...... must have dealt the other organizations a heavy blow as well."
"Do we need to move too?"
"The boss of Chaos has defeated two swordsmen who were top-level Experts. Even if we tried to retake Albarid at once, if Chaos's boss...... the man called Blood made a move......"
Ospon folded his arms and sank into thought at his adjutant's opinion.
As Karma's representative, he had been made commander of the force sent to subjugate Chaos.
Moving blindly and suffering losses would be a disaster.
"It would be best to watch for a while. If the other organizations attack first and wear down Chaos's forces...... that would serve us well. Better still if both sides destroy each other."
"The boss wanted Skull to bring down Chaos, though......"
"Would it not be more appealing to seize all the bases of Despel, Akid, Penber, and Barbaras than to destroy Chaos?"
"That......"
"This is a golden opportunity for Skull to rule every slum in the southern region. It is time you became a branch head yourself."
The adjutant's shoulders twitched as he looked at Ospon.
Becoming a branch head in Skull was every criminal's dream and goal.
The adjutant knew how difficult it was to obtain that position, and desire gleamed in his eyes.