Volume 3 - CH 5

Act 3-5: Information Gathering 2

Anyhow, after seeing Zack’s rampage, every single one of those armed ruffians lost their fighting spirits, except for one spirited person who was sitting in the seiza position right now.

And that person was…

「We’re the Metal Stove family that’s affiliated with 【Crimson Raven】.」

It was the tall baldie with an unshaven beard who looked like the boss of those ruffians who kept shouting “KILL THIS, KILL THAT!” until just a while ago.

「So?」

His eyes opened wide, and he looked at me with a dumbfounded face.

「”SO” YOU SAY!? Do you have any idea about 【Crimson Raven】!?」

He shouted again, letting out a rain of saliva.

「Ah! If I’m not wrong, they should be one of the three kings of the underworld along with the 【Tao Family】 and 【Lost Forest】.」

【Crimson Raven】 was an extremely famous underworld organization. Even I, who lived on the surface, knew about them.

I see now! So that’s the reason he can keep his head up high even though Zack has beaten him to a pulp.

""

「THAT’S RIGHT! They are the king of the underworld! It’s too late to regret now. You guys are finished! Your family, your lovers! They will kidnap them and then kill them!」

The baldie kept spouting a wild delusion that would never come true.

「The way he yelps is so lame. Maybe I have to give him a short course of special training.」

I rolled up my sleeves and took out a few utensils I had prepared for such a situation.

「Shifu, is that?」

Zack asked with a stiffened face.

「Yeah, this is a magic tool that will make him talk obediently like a good kid.」

After taking out every single tool I needed, I casually swiped off one of them with one hand.

Faf often went out to play with Myu nowadays, and there was no good book to read anymore. Therefore, I could finally finish all the books with bad tastes that I found in that dungeon and had set aside before with ease.

「W-What are you going to do?」

I seized the baldie by his collar and raised him.

「Make you feel so good that you’d want to spit out everything.」

""

I let him sit in a chair, then smiled at him.

The baldie let out a shriek!

「So you guys are one of the mafias who manage this area. And you’re allowed to continue your business as long as you offer money to 【Crimson Raven】. Is that it?」

That baldie turned out to be a timid man. I had tested only a few pages of that book on him, yet he already fessed up all the secrets he knew.

Around forty percent of Metal Stove Family’s members, who had witnessed the process first hand, passed out while blowing bubbles from their mouths. The rest sixty percent begged to be spared while discharging nasal mucus and tears.

「H-Hey! W-We only know a part of 【Crimson Raven】, not everything!」

「Why just a part? If it really is the case, for what reason do you give offering money to them? Even if you want to make an offering, you can’t do that unless you know their contact person, right?」

「W-We send our offering through an agency shop in the royal capital! I’m telling the truth! Please believe me!!!」

The baldie squeezed his voice as he prostrated on the floor.

It seemed he was telling the truth. I mean, there was no way the king of the underworld would establish direct communication with these small-fry organizations.

「Uhm, it seems I can use this information.」

To not stand out, a relationship with the underworld is necessary for me. They are pro at hiding after all.

Naturally, there is danger involved. However, they live in the darkest part of society and are indispensable for the development of the territory. If we manage to win over them to our side, they would show far better worth than a petty organization.

Moreover, no matter how powerful they are, they are still underworld organizations. Their real strength is a far cry from that of the kingdom’s soldiers. Rather, they might be just a little bit stronger than amateurs who just got a weapon. So, even if they are hailed as the kings of the underworld, they are not a big deal at the scale of a kingdom.

「Aah, there you go! Shifu’s bad habit!」

Zack shrugged for some reason.

Hasn’t Zack become more and more unrestrained around me lately? For some reason, his reactions remind me of Rose.

Well, not that I care about it. We have more important matters to do right now.

===

Few Minutes Later…

===

「Well, show us the way to one of the information brokers in the royal capital.」

I ordered the baldie.

「Yes, I’ll show you the place.」

The baldie vigorously stood up and walked, albeit with an unsteady gait.

Uhm, compared to his previous rebellious attitude, the current him is a yes man. As expected, these men from the underworld are truly similar to the monsters from that easy dungeon; they become completely obedient after knowing the difference in our powers.

「Shifu, you really are not holding back, eh.」

Zack stated his honest opinion without beating around the bush as he squinted at the frightened baldie, who was walking ahead of us.

「Is that so? I don’t think I went that far though.」

「No, I mean, it was too gross for any normal nerves.」

Gross, was it? There were actually countless records of disgusting methods written in that book with an extremely bad taste. What I had done was a normal and the least dangerous method that wouldn’t cause irreversible damage once the wound was completely healed. Rather, I wanted to return Zack’s remark to himself as he was the one who had beaten the c*ap out of those ruffians.

「Young masters, which organization are you two come from?」

The baldie asked us in a trembling voice.

「Which one, I wonder! You can get the answer, but the key to living a long life is to not snoop where you’re not supposed to! Don’t you agree with me?」

I replied with a really meaningful remark.

That moment, the color drained from that baldie’s face. He didn’t dare to speak again after that.

Soon, we entered a certain, isolated brick house in the southwest corner of the royal capital.

「This fellow is one of the information brokers in the royal capital, Mujina. Now that I’ve completed my duty, I shall excuse myself.」

After introducing us to a black-haired girl wearing shorts and a black robe that hid twin hills, the baldie left the building as if to get away from us as fast as possible.

「’Elcome, I assume that the Metal Stove family introduced me to you! What kind of information do you wish to buy from me?」

The black-haired girl looked at us with an extremely curious expression for a while as she sat in her chair while smoking from her pipe. Then, she went straight to business.

In the end, the information I bought from Mujina was the information about East End and an inn with tight lips.

First, regarding the inn, Mujina told us to buy an old house in the southeast district of the royal capital. It seemed the agency was having a hard time finding a buyer for that particular house since it happened to be right beside the residence of the Metal Stove Family’s boss; due to that, many ruffians loitered around that area, which led to a sharp decline in the house’s price.

The southeast district of the royal capital had a worse public order. Thus, no noble would ever set foot in that district. It was an ideal place to concoct a sinister plan.

After that, I asked Mujina to act as a go-between and bought the three-storied house for eighty million oars.

When I moved into that house, I brought sweets and famous pastries from the royal capital. It was a moving-in gift for the boss of the Metal Stove Family. However, the house which was right beside our house had been vacated the next morning. Why though?

After I commissioned a builder in the royal capital to repair the mansion, the mansion was finally ready for everyone else to move in it seven days later.

「IT’S HU~GE!」

「HUGE-NODESU!!」

Faf and Myu frolicked and raised their voices upon seeing the mansion.

With this, we could have a secret meeting anytime we wanted without being afraid of getting disturbed. Moreover, I had another arrangement with Mujina tomorrow. She might have already gathered tons of information about East End.