“This child has been rude. However, as the man from earlier confessed, it seems certain that this is indeed the Nevis family’s hideout. Everyone, please answer our questions honestly.”
As I said this, the men looked dumbfounded for a moment, then burst out laughing.
“‘This child,’ she says!”
“The man from earlier? That guy left through there!”
The men laugh as they point to the wall behind them.
As the three men standing by the wall move away, a black metal door is revealed. Perhaps a back entrance?
“What?! Did that man just deceive us…?!”
One of the guards mutters resentfully.
“No, please rest assured, that person is still here.”
I say this, pointing to the back of the room.
At this, the men once again wrap themselves in a tense atmosphere and glare at me.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
[SIDE: Nevis Family]
What’s with this woman?
That was my initial impression. She looks younger than the red-haired brat claiming to be royalty, but she’s clearly of higher status than Rocks. If the royal claim is true, Rocks must be the second or third son of a secondary queen. Is this woman the eldest daughter of the primary queen?
However, Rocks’s hair is red, while this woman has rare black hair.
What exactly are these two?
I was thinking this, but the moment she crushed a rock in her grip and grabbed my head with that same hand, I understood.
This woman is a demon or something. My head, firmly in her grasp, wouldn’t budge no matter how desperately I tried to shake it off. Looking at the woman’s face, smiling at me, I experienced the greatest fear of my life.
Before I knew it, I had told her the location of the venue we’re currently using. Normally, I would have guided them to a fake warehouse or store we use as a front, but out of sheer terror, I couldn’t even manage such a simple deception.
But usually, even if they enter the building, they wouldn’t reach the casino.
The deliberately constructed back entrance leads to a fake trading company. Even if they force their way in, they’ll only be confused.
Meanwhile, the report will reach the casino on the second floor. After that, we just need to escape through the back entrance with the customers. This building has three exits. The normal entrance to the underground casino would be the most suspicious, but the escape route is different.
I quickly signaled with my eyes to a comrade playing the role of a merchant in the trading company, and silently ran from behind the shelves to the back of the store.
Opening the door on the right side of the passage, everyone furrowed their brows at my flustered appearance.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Did the Knight Order show up or something?”
Waving my hand at the gathering crowd, I headed further in.
“Scatter! Troublesome folks are coming! The casino is closed for today!”
As I answered, everyone started moving while speaking.
“What? What kind of people are they?”
“But we were having such good sales today…”
“Hey, grab that side.”
While making a commotion, they efficiently change the appearance of the room with practiced movements.
“I’m going to report to the boss.”
Saying just that, I hurriedly moved the shelf at the back and stood in front of the stairs. The stairs, painted completely black from floor to walls, look like just a wall from a distance.
Climbing the stairs barely wide enough for two people to pass simultaneously, I immediately knock on the door at the top. Three knocks, two knocks, three knocks, and the door opens instantly.
“What’s wrong?”
I try to calmly relay the facts to my comrade who opened the door with a puzzled look.
“Royalty, guards, and a demon-like woman have all shown up together! We need to flee!”
Hearing this, my comrade lets me in despite his bewildered expression.
“That’s for the boss to decide. Tell him directly.”
“I know. Is the boss in the back?”
“Yeah.”
Hearing the reply, I immediately head to the back.
Card tables, roulette wheels, and other gaming stations fill the room, surrounded by well-dressed individuals eagerly losing their money.
It’s strange how dimming the overall lighting and spotlighting the tables draws everyone in like moths to a flame.
Along the corridors and walls, people with various expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure try to escape the light, but their eyes are uniformly fixed on the illuminated tables.
Most of these people are beyond help. Once gambling takes hold, there’s no letting go.
The same goes for those drowning in debt. At one table, three boys in magic academy uniforms sit with bloodshot eyes, sweating profusely.
As expected, noble children are easy money.
Nobles, bound by many social constraints, can’t consult anyone. When they’re drowning in debt, they fall for sweet words out of desperation.
I can’t give up such an easy business.
I move silently through the room and stand in front of the door leading to the back.
“Boss, excuse me.”
I call out and open the door without waiting for a response.
The moment I step into the room, thick smoke emerges as if drawn by the casino lights, and a glass filled with liquid comes flying at me.
As I hear the sound of glass shattering against the edge of the open door, I bow deeply.
“I apologize for the sudden intrusion, but it’s an emergency! Right now, downstairs…!”
“Shut up, you piece of shit… Didn’t I tell you not to open the door before I answer? Should I re-educate you from scratch?”
I involuntarily shudder at the anger-laced voice, but I must report this no matter what.
“I’m sorry! But this is truly an emergency! Please listen!”
Saying this, I kneel on the spot and look towards the sofa in the back.
In the dim room, a large woman sitting deeply in a red sofa glares at me with piercing eyes.
Swords and daggers at the ready, over twenty ruffians charge at just four people.
For a mage, there’s no time for incantations. Even a knight couldn’t cut down ten people.
They may be former adventurers, soldiers, and thieves, but they’re still professionals. There’s no way they’d lose to ordinary folks when they have the advantage in numbers.
Or so it should have been, but an impossible scene was unfolding before our eyes.
Two knights are each engaged with one opponent. The brat claiming to be royalty is standing against the wall, staff raised, trying to chant a spell.
So where are the rest?
“Gah…!?”
“Ugh…”
“Hii… Hiiiii!?”
Around the time five people were sent flying, everyone understood the abnormal situation.
By the time the tenth person was punched in the stomach and rolled to the wall, the sense of unease had transformed into terror.
“Bladed weapons are dangerous, you know.”
As if gently pointing out a breach of table manners, the woman uttered a single sentence as she snapped a sword she had grabbed with her bare hands.
That alone was abnormal, but the process was even more unbelievable.
Three swords were swung at the woman, but she dodged one while deflecting another with one hand. Furthermore, she grabbed the blade of the third with her other hand and crushed it as if snapping it in half.
The sword broke midway, with the blade tip falling to the ground.
For some reason, everyone’s eyes were drawn to the falling blade.
Silence fell over the room as if all sound had been lost. Everyone held their breath, watching the woman. The sound of someone swallowing echoed.
Amidst this, the woman silently swung her arm, knocking down three men.
Grown men rolled on the ground.
“…Demon Lord…”
For some reason, one of the knights who supposedly came with the woman muttered this with a pale face.
The woman shot him a sharp glance, causing the knight to avert his gaze so quickly you could almost hear it.
Sighing, the woman turned to us and opened her mouth.
“This is as far as I’ll hold back. If you resist any further, I’ll respond with offensive magic.”
At the woman’s words as she turned her palm towards us, we involuntarily blurted out:
“…Hold back…?”
“Respond? Don’t you mean obliterate…?”
“Magic? You’re kidding… Aren’t you a hero-class martial artist…?”
Hearing our pale-faced mutterings, the woman furrowed her brow and narrowed her eyes.
“Time’s up. Ice Double Edge Assassin.”
The moment she spoke, four enormous curved ice blades appeared around her. Looking at the curved blades with cold mist rising from them, for some reason, a shiver ran through our very cores.
“W-wait!”
“We give up! We won’t resist anymore!”
“P-please forgive us!”
Screaming, everyone who could move sat down on the spot and pressed their foreheads to the floor.
It’s no use. This woman is a monster. We only have two choices: be quietly arrested or resist and be killed. Instinctively, I knew escape was impossible.
Boss, please don’t provoke her unnecessarily.
I thought this like a prayer as I knelt down on the spot.
[SIDE: Kalila]
I listen to my subordinate’s report and stand up with a sigh.
I also kick and break the small table next to me.
“…It’s not like the Knight Order has stormed in. Don’t panic and let the customers escape. They probably can’t even make it to the second floor anyway.”
I say this with a snort, but my subordinate argues back with a troubled expression.
“No, this time it’s different from the usual knights or guards. Especially that terrifying woman…”
“Don’t say such pathetic things!”
I reflexively shout and kick my subordinate’s head.
After looking down at my subordinate who has fallen with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, I cool down a bit.
“Tch, this pisses me off. Woman, woman… A woman scarier than me, huh?”
I click my tongue and move towards the casino, suppressing my irritation.
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