Chapter 63: Discovering the Kingdom

"Haa... haaa... haa...!" A girl runs desperately through the streets, fleeing from several men. She ends up ducking into an alley to try to shake them off, but as she runs, she slams into someone’s back and falls to the ground.

"I-I’m sorry... a-ahh..." Her mouth opens as if to scream at the sight of a "girl" covered in blood, with horribly disfigured corpses lying on the ground. She thinks about getting up to run, but when she turns, she sees the men entering the alley.

"..." She shrinks back in fear as the blood-soaked "girl" looks down at her on the ground and smiles.

"Oh, a little street rat..." The men reach the two of them and stop, taking in the bloodstained girl and the bodies on the ground.

"Who are you?" One of the men, holding a knife, asks the girl warily, pointing the blade at her and noting that her clothes are of noble make.

"I’m Yomo. And you must be after this little street rat here, right? Since I introduced myself, how about you tell me what you want? Let’s keep this brief."

"That thieving wretch is a runaway slave. We don’t want trouble — just let us take her and we won’t do anything to you." The tone in the man’s voice makes Yomo’s smile vanish in the face of human arrogance.

"..." The girl looks at both of them in terror, searching for an opening to run, but she’s surrounded on both sides and by the alley walls.

"A slave, is she? Bold of you to speak to me like that without even knowing who I am. Who’s your boss?" Yomo is interested in the criminal underworld and sees an opportunity.

"You think we’ll talk? Just step aside before trouble splashes onto you." The man speaks with mockery as Yomo glances at the girl on the ground. The group of men takes a few steps closer.

"Hey, city rat. You know anything about criminals? If you do, I’ll save you. I’m pretty interested in the underworld and the black market." Yomo asks the girl, who stares at the brutally disfigured bodies.

"I-I do!! I know!! Th-They’ll kill me if they catch me!! P-Please help me!" The girl throws herself at Yomo’s feet. Yomo remains thoughtful. The girl knows she doesn’t have many options — she ran away after stealing money to try to leave the kingdom. If she’s caught, she’ll be killed.

"..."

"You think we’re going to let you help this girl? Now that you’ve gotten involved, you’re coming with us—" Before the man can finish, Yomo explodes all of their heads. No movement, no display of magic — just instant death. The terrified girl crawls backward in fear of Yomo.

Blood spreads across the alley as Yomo sighs, dissatisfied with how fragile humans are.

"I killed five people who might have been useful. You’d better be useful, or I’ll kill you for wasting my time. After all, I’m in the middle of relevant ’work’ right now." The blood on Yomo’s clothes begins to float, forming a sphere that touches Yomo’s face and is absorbed, leaving him completely clean.

"I-I’m useful... I-I swear." The girl speaks nervously, her mind racing with thoughts of how to escape Yomo. She doesn’t trust someone who kills so casually. To any normal person, Yomo is a monster.

"Great. I’m a little busy right now, so come with me." The girl glances at the alley and notices the bodies are gone. Confused, she gets to her feet. Yomo takes the girl’s hand, analyzing the wounds on her body with a discerning gaze.

"You were a sex slave, weren’t you? You reek of drugs, so you’re already filthy and rotten inside. Your blood stinks — there are a lot of aphrodisiac substances circulating through your veins. And your liver is compromised. Looks like they forced you to drink all kinds of garbage... how disgusting." Yomo evaluates her as food and concludes the taste would be awful.

"..." The girl feels somewhat humiliated by the assessment as Yomo pulls her through the streets. Yomo says nothing, but the girl doesn’t resist, afraid of being killed.

"Wh-What are you?"

"Just some random noble trying to learn new things. So, how do criminals operate? Can you tell me?"

"Th-They have... d-different places f-for different services... s-so I don’t know everything..."

"Tsk. So your usefulness just dropped by half. You’re not a drug addict, right? I’m not a nurse to take care of an addict. If you show signs of being hooked on any of that crap, I’ll have to kill you."

"N-No!! I-I’m not!" She denies it in an almost desperate tone as she realizes she can’t run away.

"Perfect. It better not be a lie. Between food and toy, you don’t want to be a toy since you can’t be food." Yomo spins the girl, who grows confused, and before she knows it, they’re in a garden completely different from where they just were.

"H-Huh?" She looks around, bewildered by the sudden change, not understanding how it happened.

"Let’s begin the questions..." Yomo holds the girl’s hand, pulling her into an embrace. The girl feels a slight sting and remains confused, but her entire body relaxes as a blood thorn extends from Yomo’s finger and pierces the girl’s back, injecting a sedative while also casting a spell to make her susceptible to answering honestly.

"How did you escape?"

"I-I ran... t-taking advantage of a c-commotion that’s going on."

"What commotion?"

"A l-lot of adventurers have been active lately... i-it’s generating more movement and p-purchases."

"Slavery is legalized. Why would that be a problem for the black market? And why is the slave trade involved in crimes if the act itself is legal?"

"Because they’re kidnapping people and selling them..."

"Oh, how bold. Okay, but that doesn’t interest me. I want to know about drugs, weapon sales, that kind of thing. Know anything about that?"

"Th-They gather... there are several leaders. I don’t know where." She answers as Yomo squeezes her tighter, making her groan a little in pain.

"Hmmm..." Yomo releases the girl, who falls to the ground. He ponders whether he should kill her, use her, or turn her into a monster under his control after getting what he wants. Yomo stares at the drops of blood on his hand.

’I don’t recognize anything that’s in her body, but nothing refined... Azalea would know. She’s an alchemist, and a chemist could figure this out easily... but... the less Nio knows, the better...’

"What are you doing?" Moros steps out of the mansion and sees Yomo starting to mount the girl.

"Testing a few things with this little city rat. I found out some new things, but nothing too relevant. Most criminals don’t know anything — it seems like everything is outsourced. Probably some nobles are the real leaders of it all." Yomo speaks with disinterest while pinning the panting girl to the ground.

"I’m going to start trying to get invited to parties. It should be more productive to talk to nobles than to hunt down thugs. If we find even one of the heads at the top, finding all the others and replacing them is easy." Yomo shoves his fingers into the girl’s throat, piercing through and injecting a parasite.

A flesh worm writhes and crawls beneath the girl’s skin, burrowing into her flesh and wandering inside her as she struggles weakly against Yomo.

"You’re not hiding anything, right?"

"Of course not. I’m being professional here. Besides, asking me that wouldn’t make me tell the truth if I were trying to hide something. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m busy."

"...Don’t do that in the garden. Someone might see. You’re taking over her brain, aren’t you?"

"...Tsk. Whatever. And what are you doing? Am I the only one working? Are you useless by any chance? Hahaha, that’s not gonna cut it."

"I’m working too!! Unlike you, wasting time killing people, I’ve been investigating the National Rank adventurers! I realized they can hurt us..." As Moros speaks, Yomo steals the information from him — Moros reveals important things Yomo hadn’t known yet.

’Hmmm... Nio is clearly weaker... perhaps... if I controlled the bodies of all the National Ranks... I could defeat her and capture her for myself...’ Yomo smiles, listening to Moros arrogantly show off his accomplishments.