NOVPUBCRASH-!
A sharp noise rang out as the wine glass shattered.
Blood trickled down the servant’s forehead, and he couldn’t open his eyes, perhaps due to the shattered glass.
Though help was needed, no one stepped forward.
Everyone kept their heads down, busy reading the atmosphere.
That’s because the one who threw the wine glass was none other than Kiton’s Lord, Peros Gelion.
“What the hell is going on here!? What exactly is happening!?”
There was a reason for Peros’s outburst.
An unbelievable incident that occurred in his territory.
It was something so absurd it made him feel dumbfounded beyond anger.
“Half of our funding sources disappeared overnight! How is that even possible!? If you have a mouth, then speak!”
‘Funding sources’ was a euphemism for ‘criminal organizations.’
As Peros said, Kiton is suffering from an unexpected war on crime.
Just one day.
In a single night, one-third of Kiton’s criminal organizations had vanished. 𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
And these weren’t just ordinary criminal groups, but rather funding sources that had direct and indirect ties to the Lord.
With the situation already tense after the collapse of Arken, the largest organization, this incident drove Peros to the brink of madness.
“You’re saying just two guys did all this? Does that make any sense!?”
“…It seems there must be other forces supporting them,” Head Butler Gibson cautiously replied.
“Who is it? Which bastards are making moves? Nofolt? Blower? Adenata? Or is it an invasion from another kingdom!?”
“It’s unlikely to be other territories or foreign kingdoms. They would gain nothing from eliminating criminal organizations.”
“Then what? The only ones left are demons, are you saying some bored demon is playing hero!?”
“…”
“If you have a mouth, speak!”
Head Butler Gibson bowed his head deeply.
What could he possibly say in this situation?
Peros, who had been glaring at the head butler, turned his head irritably.
“Holkman! Where is Knight Commander Holkman?”
“He’s waiting, sir.”
“Waiting? WAITING!? What’s he doing holed up at a time like this? Tell him to come in immediately!”
Just minutes after Peros’s order, Holkman entered.
“Sir Holkman. What exactly is going on here!? How are these guys you said you found still running around like this!?”
“If you could give me a little more time…”
“Time? What were you doing while they were raiding funding sources all night? Where exactly did you spend that precious time!?”
Veins bulged on Peros’s neck and his face turned red.
It seemed like he might collapse from high blood pressure before Choi Hyun-seok could even make his move.
“Does staying silent solve anything? Speak! Say something!”
“I apologize…”
All Holkman could do was bow his head.
In truth, he was the most bewildered person here.
‘What on earth are they doing after copying the Lord’s seal!’
To wake up and find one-third of the territory’s criminal organizations gone.
This wasn’t what Holkman wanted.
From the beginning, he had no interest in eliminating criminal organizations.
No, rather, he wanted to preserve them.
‘Underground organizations are essential if I want to install a puppet Lord later and make money. What are they thinking, destroying them!’
How could he not be frustrated when these precious future sources of income were being eliminated?
“Go… Go out right now and catch them.”
“Yes.”
“That time you mentioned. I’ll give you one more day.”
“I understand.”
Watching Holkman’s retreating back as he hurried away, Peros ground his teeth.
“After all the money I invested. Useless old man…!”
Peros vowed to finish Holkman after this incident was over.
He would bring in someone younger and more capable to serve as Knight Commander.
“Sigh, this isn’t the time.”
After composing himself, Peros turned to the head butler.
“Gibson. Contact the mercenary guild right away.”
“The mercenary guild, sir?”
“Yes. I need to meet with the Guild Master.”
He couldn’t just wait idly relying on the incompetent Holkman.
He needed to find another solution.
‘It’ll cost money… But mercenaries would be more reliable.’
The mercenary guild, Kiton territory’s greatest fighting force.
If they got involved, they would catch those guys much faster than an old man like Holkman.
Though it would cost quite a bit, that didn’t matter.
He could always gather more money.
Once this situation was resolved, he would raise taxes and rebuild the criminal organizations.
On an even larger scale than before!
Then he would be able to make much more money than now.
“For now, catching them is the priority.”
Peros muttered with gleaming eyes.
“Don’t think you’ll die peacefully…”
His face, filled with venom, resembled that of a poisonous toad.
***
“Wow~ These guys had quite a stash.”
A bright smile bloomed on Choi Hyun-seok’s face.
The money they’d collected while sweeping away criminal organizations overnight exceeded expectations.
“Hero! We’re really going to be filthy rich at this rate!”
“Kuhehe! Rich indeed!”
“Hero, hero! When are you going to buy me macarons!?”
“Just wait a bit! I’ll buy you a house made of macarons!”
“Kihah! Hero is the best!”
Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel were unprecedentedly excited.
After leaving the Demon King’s Army, they were a hero and dedicated fairy with peak job satisfaction.
“Kwahak! Kwahak!”
“Bobo, eat slowly. You’ll get sick that way.”
“Kwang!”
Bobo is just as excited.
Thanks to eating his fill while raiding criminal organizations, his belly had become round and bloated in just one day.
“Burp!”
When he burped, a pure white skull popped out.
Roll roll roll…
The skull rolling on the floor stopped at a woman’s feet.
The woman’s eyes looking down at the skull were trembling uncontrollably.
“This isn’t right…”
Her identity was Bell.
She was the woman who had disguised herself as the innkeeper’s daughter at the Warrior’s Rest Inn.
After being beaten by Choi Hyun-seok and falling into a near-death state, she was restored to normal by Abelson’s healing.
Of course, being healed was only on the surface.
Bell’s mind was more devastated than ever before.
“C-crazy bastards… These guys are crazy… They’re insane…”
Bell muttered in a terrified voice.
The scenes she had witnessed during the past night were that shocking.
“P-please… Save me!”
“Did you save those who begged you for their lives?”
“That’s…”
“Don’t hold a grudge. That’s just how the world works, fool.”
Crack!
Another one dies.
No matter how many times you see it, it’s hard to get used to the sight of a head being crushed by just a punch.
It was so surreal that it felt like this might not be reality but a dream.
“Looks like we’re done cleaning up here, shall we move on?”
The mastermind behind all this, Hero Choi Hyun-seok, was unfazed.
His trained mental fortitude and physical strength were at such a level that he could watch gore movies with intestines spilling out while happily eating tripe.
It is a level of mental strength that couldn’t be achieved by just running around in some criminal organization.
After all, what more could be said about someone who came from a group where, when comrades died they’ll still make dinner.
“Hero, won’t they catch up to us now?”
“Hmm, I wonder. It’s still morning, so we might be able to hit one more place.”
“If the tail gets too long, it’ll get stepped on.”
“Well, Ms. Abelson must be getting tired too…”
At Choi Hyun-seok’s words, Abelson shook her head.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“What? Are you sure? We’ve been running around all night…”
“My condition is perfect.”
Abelson said with a bright smile.
It was too radiant a smile for someone holding a mace and covered in blood.
“Hmm, let’s gather the money first. We’ll decide whether to hit another place on our way out.”
“Yes!”
Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel collected the scattered money.
“Bell!”
“Y-yes!?”
“How did it go with placing someone in the mercenary guild?”
Suddenly, Choi Hyun-seok called out to Bell.
Bell is a woman who has been involved with criminal organizations since childhood.
Thanks to that, she knew very well how the underground of this city operated.
It was all thanks to Bell’s help that Choi Hyun-seok could target only organizations connected to the Lord in such a short time.
Choi Hyun-seok had given Bell a new order.
To plant an informant in the mercenary guild.
“It was successful…”
“Oh, in such a short time? You’re quite capable.”
“It was because the amount was so large…”
Bell answered honestly.
Rather than her own ability, it was because Choi Hyun-seok had given her too much money.
How could it fail when he scattered twenty gold coins just to monitor the mercenary guild’s movements?
“Indeed, money makes the world go round!”
Choi Hyun-seok smiled contentedly.
Through his experiences in this other world, Choi Hyun-seok realized a few things.
In the Demon King’s army, fists could solve everything.
In human society, money can solve everything.
Perhaps it meant that people were the same everywhere.
It was both amusing and bitter that the truth of ‘money can do anything!’ was the same whether on Earth or in this other world.
“If we’ve gathered everything, let’s get out of here.”
Finally, after collecting all the money, the group hurried outside.
At that moment, they encountered a group of guards.
“There they are! Catch them!”
Choi Hyun-seok immediately turned and ran.
“Run! Don’t kill the guards!”
“Take this!”
Rachel sprinkled ice on the ground.
“Whoa! What’s this!?”
“Ouch!”
The guards who were chasing urgently slipped and fell.
Rachel hopped around watching their predicament.
“Hehe! Hero! This is so fun!”
“That’s enough, hurry up and come!”
Though his words seemed harsh on the surface, the hero’s face bore a warm smile like that of a guardian fairy.
***
The streets were desolate.
Armed soldiers watched their surroundings with fierce eyes at various points along the main road.
The residents shrunk back, afraid of getting caught in any trouble.
Even the mercenaries, who usually strut around proudly, were hardly seen.
Thanks to that, the streets were quiet, but it was a silence like the calm before a storm.
A tense atmosphere enveloped Kiton.
“I don’t understand…”
Moldbe, the head of the mercenary guild, was looking down at the streets with furrowed brows.
“What were they thinking when they did this?”
Moldbe also knew well what had happened in Kiton.
Although they were criminals working in the shadows, he couldn’t have been unaware when hundreds were killed or injured in just one day.
Moreover, many guild-affiliated mercenaries were among the victims(?).
“How many guild members were affected?”
“A total of twenty-eight. Three Golds. Seven Silvers. Eighteen Irons.”
“Sigh…”
Moldbe let out a deep sigh.
Though it didn’t matter how many Iron-rank died, losing Gold-rank and Silver-rank was an extremely painful loss.
One of the criteria for becoming Silver-rank was being able to handle magical power.
In other words, it was the same condition as becoming a knight.
If Silver-rank was on the threshold of knighthood, Gold-rank possessed military power no different from a full-fledged knight.
Such valuable resources – ten of them – had died.
“Lord… What are you thinking?”
Moldbe thought Lord Peros was behind this incident.
It was an extremely rational and natural deduction.
In this territory, no one else could carry out something of this scale.
“The city guards are intact?”
“Yes. Some seem to be injured, but no one died, I hear.”
The fact that not a single city guard had died in this chaos increased suspicions.
‘The Lord is using outside forces to clean up Kiton.’
He’s now trying to cut out the criminal organizations that grew as one with Kiton, calling them rotting parts.
And he’s doing it by hiring outside assassins.
This was no different from putting a noose around one’s own neck.
Honestly, Moldbe didn’t want to care what happened to the Lord, but he couldn’t help it.
It seemed the mercenary guild was also included in the rotting parts the Lord was trying to cut out.
“Has the Lord truly gone mad? How could anyone do this unless they’re insane?”
What could he be thinking?
To dare touch the mercenary guild.
Even major noble families and Lords of great territories don’t touch the mercenary guild.
That’s because the mercenary guilds in each city are organically connected and form a massive union.
Their scale extends beyond national boundaries to other kingdoms, so not touching the mercenary guild is an unwritten rule.
Yet a mere Lord of Kiton was trying to break that rule.
“Guild Master. The Lord has sent someone.”
“What?”
“They say he wants to speak with the Guild Master directly.”
Moldbe smirked.
“Of course.”
There must have been some misunderstanding.
Or perhaps he’s seeking forgiveness now.
Either way, Moldbe made up his mind.
He would make sure to get a hefty compensation from Lord Peros this time.
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