"They have set out."
At Phyllis's report, Astan, the black-haired boy reflected in the communication orb, smiled faintly.
[Good. Well done.]
"Their forces include two top-level Experts and five high-level Experts......"
[Enough.]
"......"
[Unless a Swordmaster has arrived, you don't need to report their strength separately.]
"I apologize."
[No, you don't need to apologize for that. I like people who are thorough. More to the point, the reinforcements......]
"It seems they have not called for them yet."
[Well, I was planning to make Barban a thrall......]
"What about the other organizations......?"
[We'll leave them alone until Despel's reinforcements move. Just keep watching them.]
"Understood."
[Good, then...... I'd better prepare to receive our guests. Well done.]
"Yes."
Astan's face slowly faded from the communication orb.
Phyllis entered her bedroom and looked out the window.
"I was going to offer him some wine......"
Why was he so eager to die?
Phyllis giggled as she recalled Barban's arrogant face.
He had always been that way.
The way he looked down on her.
The way he spoke as if warning her not to get above herself.
She had sworn she would crush him someday.
She simply had not expected that day to come so soon.
If Barban became Astan's thrall, he would be her junior...... the one who came after her.
"I can torment him a little and play with him, can't I? No, perhaps I should become the boss's wife...... and make him grovel on the floor? Khuhuhu......"
With a grotesque laugh, Phyllis offered a fervent prayer for Barban and his party, who had walked of their own accord into the lion's jaws.
"Please...... please feel pain and despair as you submit to our master."
***
"This is the place."
The member serving as their guide pointed to the building that had once housed Despel's Albarid branch.
"It has been a while since I came here."
Barban grinned and stepped inside.
Tables and chairs filled the first-floor lobby.
Had someone been tending to the place regularly?
There was not a speck of dust on the tables or chairs.
"The branch head has prepared drinks for you. The bedrooms have also been thoroughly cleaned...... If anything is inconvenient during your stay, please tell our members at any time."
Barban waved his hand as if he could not be bothered to answer.
The Chaos member bowed and withdrew.
Wooden crates were stacked in a corner of the lobby.
The officers went over and tore the lids off by force.
CRACK—!
"Oh?! She certainly went to some trouble for us."
"Captain, these are packed with twenty-year-old XXXX!"
"And these are fifteen-year-old OOO!"
Barban roared with laughter at the officers' cheers.
"Hahaha! That is Phyllis for you! We cannot slight such hospitality! Drink as much as you please tonight!"
The officers shouted with delight and drank like madmen.
The journey had worn down their morale, and they meant to restore it.
Barban gulped down wine too.
"Haaah! Refreshing. Did she chill it beforehand?"
"Just as you said, Captain, it seems Phyllis did not betray Despel after all!"
"Of course not! She is a batlike bitch...... but she has some sense."
Barban laughed heartily and sat down in a chair.
As everyone grew drunk, someone came down the central staircase.
"Oh my, you are already enjoying yourselves."
"Hmm?"
A black-haired boy descended the stairs.
He gave Barban and his party a bright smile.
"Are you enjoying the service at the Chaos Inn?"
"......What?"
Barban frowned and glared at the boy.
"Who the hell is that little shit?"
One officer staggered and glared at him.
"I am the manager of this inn. We have prepared several services for you...... Please take your time and enjoy them."
Had Phyllis arranged this?
Barban regarded the boy with interest.
The boy approached a young officer.
"First, I will show you a magic trick. Now, here is a head, yes? But then......"
BANG—!
"It is gone, is it not?"
The officer's head vanished as though it had exploded.
THUD-
His headless body fell to the floor.
"I will show you again."
BANG—!
"Ta-da!"
The boy looked at Barban and the others as if to say, 'Surprising, isn't it?'
"Wh-what......!"
"You bastard......!"
Shocked into sobriety by their comrade's death, Barban and his party hurriedly seized their weapons.
"This time, I will show you a dismemberment act."
"Shut up-!"
The boy waved a hand toward the Despel officer swinging a greatsword.
SLASH—!
In an instant, the officer's arms and legs were severed.
"Hahahaha! If you are enjoying yourselves, please give me a round of applause!"
The boy's laughter twisted Barban's face into a savage scowl.
"You...... who are you?!"
"Did I not tell you a moment ago? I am the manager of the Chaos Inn. More to the point, this liquor and tobacco are quite expensive, so I am afraid you will have to pay around 10 billion wid......"
At the boy's taunt, Barban ground his teeth.
How dare he mock him?
Him, a top-level Expert with a bounty of 300 million wid on his head......?
No one in the underworld could look down on him.
Even bandit leaders bowed their heads to him......
And now some little shit dared to?
SHING!
Barban drew the sword at his waist.
"I will kill you."
At his murderous voice, Despel's officers looked confident again.
'W-we were caught off guard for a moment, but Barban can handle him......!'
WHOOSH—!
The Sword Aura of a top-level Expert shimmered along Barban's sword.
Even so, the boy was still smiling.
Where did that confidence come from?
Bis narrowed his eyes at the boy.
Around 160cm tall.
A slender build.
Black hair and black eyes.
'......It cannot be!'
Just as Bis hurried to call out to Barban......
BANG—!
"Gah!"
With a deafening boom, Barban dropped to his knees and retched.
'Wh-what happened......?'
Barban had certainly swung his sword at the boy.
The boy had not moved a single step.
'The sword...... stopped right in front of his face.'
Barban's sword had stopped just before the boy's nose.
And the boy's fist had pierced Barban's abdomen.
Bis shouted urgently to the officers.
"Attack him, all of you! He is...... Chaos's boss, Blood!"
The officers started at Bis's words, grabbed their weapons, and hurled themselves at the boy.
"Damn it!"
Why was Blood here?
Was he not attacking Vuren's slums?
Phyllis's face flashed through Bis's mind.
'She betrayed us! That batlike bitch......!'
Bis cursed inwardly and ran toward the boy...... toward Blood.
"B-Bis is fighting with us! Everyone, attack!"
At an officer's shout, Blood grinned.
"If you cannot pay the bill...... experience points will do instead."
A chill ran down Bis's spine at Blood's eerie smile.
This boy was a demon.
A demon wearing the skin of a child!
Bis gritted his teeth and swung his slender straight sword like a madman.
"Aaaagh!"
Bis of the Swift Sword (Speed Sword).
That was the epithet he was known by in the slums.
He had earned it because he could swing his sword ten times in a single second, but......
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG—!
It was futile against the opponent before him.
"Wh-what......"
The boy had met every one of his strikes.
"You really are slow. Your epithet, Swift Sword, must be weeping. I shall personally bestow on you the title Old Sword."
SLASH—!
Flashes of light rained down before Bis's eyes.
The boy moved like light, too fast for the eye to follow.
His body frozen, Bis stared blankly at the boy before him.
"Just as I thought...... a bundle of experience points."
Those murmured words were the last Bis heard before his head rolled across the floor.
Despel's officers were stunned by his death.
Bis was one of Despel's five highest officers.
For a man like him...... to die so easily?
"Th-that is impossible......"
"If you eat the food, you should pay the bill. Right?"
"Wh-what......"
"I-if it is money......!"
One terrified officer pulled a purse from his clothes. The boy dug his little finger into his ear and snorted.
"Forget it, you fucking bastards. Just hand over your necks."
The boy kicked off the ground and slaughtered Despel's officers.
Barban, who had fallen to the floor, watched in horror.
Was this...... was this truly a human being?
"You...... just die. You're fairly useful. Go to sleep."
The boy was appraising his prospective subordinates, deciding whom to kill and whom to spare.
Barban's legs shook as he got to his feet.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
His organs seemed to have been badly damaged.
"You...... you bastard-!"
"......You're fucking loud."
"H-how dare you......!"
Just as Barban shouted, the boy appeared before him.
A wooden chair was in his right hand.
THWACK—!
The wooden chair, shimmering with a blue Aura Blade, struck Barban's upper body.
"Just wait quietly. I don't intend to kill you."
Barban screamed at the pain, as if his entire body had been broken.
Several officers dropped to the floor and bowed their heads.
Barban, Bis, and the high-level Expert officers had all fallen.
Further fighting was pointless.
It would only mean dying like dogs.
"P-please spare...... spare me."
"I-I have a family to support......"
The boy let out an incredulous laugh.
They committed crimes while they had families to support?
What a joke.
"Do you really want to live?"
"Y-yes! I will serve you as my b-boss. I will pledge my life in loyalty......!"
THWACK—!
"Then pledge it now."
The boy cut the officer off and smashed his head.
The first-floor lobby was filled with blood.
The boy...... No, Astan laid the people he had selected in a separate corner.
"Shall we begin?"
SQUELCH—!
"Ngh......!"
Barban's body twitched.
One top-level Expert, five high-level Experts, and fifteen mid-level Experts.
Astan smiled at his newly added thralls.
Attacking Albarid had evidently been the right choice.
Experience points and fighting strength had come to him of their own accord.
"Now, then...... time to get up, isn't it?"
Astan picked up a liquor bottle rolling on the floor and poured its contents over their faces.
"Ngh......"
"Hmm. Did I go too far?"
It seemed he would have to give them some potions.
Astan fed Barban and the others the Intermediate-grade potions he had prepared in case he needed them.
Their faces gradually relaxed as the pain began to subside.
"Time to wake up. I'm getting tired of waiting. More to the point...... those fellows have become high-level Experts?"
Five of the mid-level Experts who had reached a mature level had risen to the level of high-level Experts.
Well, a good thing was a good thing.
Astan brought over a chair and sat in front of them.
"Nnngh......"
Barban and the others stirred.
Astan sighed softly and lowered his gaze.
"Get up."
THUD—!
Barban and the twenty thralls sprang to their feet, crying out at the pain in their heads.
"Gah...... Gah...... Ngh......"
Barban clutched his waist and gritted his teeth.
"Then shall we begin with introductions?"
"Wh-what......"
Barban trembled as he stared at the boy before him.
"I said, introduce yourselves."
At the flash in Astan's eyes, Barban and the others complained of headaches again.
Barban hurriedly blurted out his name, age, and other details.
The twenty thralls followed with brief introductions of their own.