Episode 43: Buffalo Dungeon (7)
Before entering this dungeon, the request I made to Chloe in secret was this.
‘Chloe, if you meet that checkpoint staff member in the dungeon, kill him.’
Naturally, Chloe accepted the request without much question. Although I was not used to dealing with people, there was no reason why I could not take advantage of her boundless trust.
By the way, there are two reasons why I asked Chloe.
One, Chloe is an assassin, a member of the Auditore family. While regular cadets are prohibited from harming others, members of the Auditore family are exempt from punishment as long as their cause is justified.
Two, that employee was definitely involved in the inside story of this incident. That’s why I couldn’t just kill him without mercy. Well, if I found out everything, it would be a different story.
If I were to do it myself, the author would be beheaded in one blow, so I planned to make him at least a semi-crippled person and ask him all sorts of questions.
I didn’t even consider the possibility that the author might be an unrelated person.
The intuition that that kid was a dirty kid. The intuition that had become clearer thanks to the protection of the swordsman was able to see through the employee’s sinister intentions exactly.
anyway.
Bam!
Chloe kicks the stomach of an employee who has a katana stuck in one of his legs. The employee flailed around violently, tears and a runny nose running down his face.
“Ewwwwwwwww!”
“Be quiet!”
Kook.
Chloe pressed her foot against the leg where the katana was embedded. The employee let out a loud scream of pain.
Bam!
When there was no sign of calm, Chloe’s low kick landed in his side. The employee’s back bent like a shrimp.
“Ugh!”
He couldn’t even put up the slightest resistance, despite the weapons he had brought, and he sobbed and stammered.
“You, you little brats! Why are you doing this to me?! What did I do!?”
I smiled lowly and squatted down in front of him.
“We need to find out now.”
When their eyes met, the employee’s body froze. Speed Weapon, who was standing behind him, asked with a pale expression.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I asked Chloe earlier.”
I shrugged and continued.
“Weapon, Saki. Think about it. Do you really think it was a coincidence that the buffalo herd went berserk or that the stone gate here was open?”
“… That’s right. No matter how much I think about it, it was definitely unnatural.”
Weapon stared at the employee with a gruff expression for a moment, then took a deep breath.
“But there’s no evidence that that employee is the culprit.”
“We need to find out from now on.”
“Kang Geum-ma, what are you?”
Speed Weapon shook his head as if he was tired, frowning. On the other hand, Ryozo Saki agreed with me as he took off the wrapping of the yokan.
“Kang Geum-ma is right. To be honest, it’s suspicious that that employee showed up with such good timing as if he had been waiting for it. There were no surveillance cameras inside the dungeon. And that guy, I see he’s holding an anti-personnel weapon in one hand. There must be only one reason why he would come into the dungeon with an anti-personnel weapon that he uses against people, right?”
Saki Ryozo takes a big bite of yokan and explains the situation in detail to Speed Weapon, who is not easily convinced.
‘… But would Yanggaeng fall for this situation?’
Saki Ryozo tucked her hair behind her ears and stood close to me. Her skirt was open to the side. She spoke to the staff in a low voice as if nothing had happened.
“Who is behind you?”
A languid yet coldly cynical attitude. A tone that was intended to gauge the opponent rather than threaten them.
“… That, that.”
Then, a look of despair spread across the employee’s face. He tried to speak, but soon his lips moved. Even as he spoke, bloody pus flowed from his groin.
She sighed and looked at the staff. As if she had a rough idea of what was going on, she absentmindedly ate some rice cake and shook her head.
“You don’t plan on talking? What are you going to do?”
“… … .”
Saki shrugged and asked me. I was grateful for her calm demeanor in this easily excited atmosphere.
Of course, Saki also frowned at Chloe’s cruel hands, but she did not deny the necessity.
Weapon turned his astonished eyes the other way.
The only male member of the crew besides me seems to be more timid than I thought. I met the staff member’s eyes without saying anything. My eyes were trembling violently.
Given the lack of any counter-questions, it seems clear that the employee was involved. However, judging from the hesitant look in his eyes, I can infer the circumstances to some extent.
That employee is more afraid of the person who instigated him than of us, who put a knife in his leg.
In that case, there was only one way. I had to instill fear in him until he opened his mouth. I scratched my eyebrows and moved closer to the employee to speak.
“If you don’t intend to talk about the background.”
“… … !”
I nod to Chloe. She nods in agreement.
He approaches the staff, dragging his katana on the ground as he sings the fierce name of Kiririn. The murderous intent is scattered. It is clearly that of an assassin.
“Speak, speak!”
The employee rolled his eyes and stammered, shouting. Chloe glanced back at me again.
I crossed my arms and nodded with a cold expression. Then the employee moistened his dry lips with his tongue and began to talk.
Yellow water mixed with the blood flowing from his groin flowed down.
* * *
“… So you’re saying that a few days ago, someone who appeared to be an instructor at Joaquin Academy handed you a magic stone and specifically mentioned the Ganggeomma?”
Speed Weapon, who had been listening with a bewildered expression, asked bitterly as he muttered. Biting his lip, a rather complicated emotion flashed across his face.
“Yeah, that’s right. I was really surprised at the time. I was really upset about how an instructor could do something like that to a student.”
“No, fuck.”
Weapon swore as his anger grew.
“What did that instructor look like?”
“…uh.”
The employee rolled his eyes at Saki’s casual remark. When Chloe tapped his shoulder with the back of her katana, he moved his dry lips as if he had made up his mind.
“She was a female instructor with purple hair and eyes. She was tall.”
The employee trailed off as if he was afraid. He covered his trembling shoulders.
“Does anyone come to mind, Weapon?”
“Well, I don’t know. I don’t know the faces of all the instructors at the Academy. There are more than one or two instructors at the Academy. At least in the Dragon class I belong to, I don’t think there was an instructor with such an impression.”
Weapon spoke while racking his brain as if his thoughts were complicated. In the meantime, Saki, who had been pondering while holding her index finger close to her lips, spoke one word at a time.
“That female instructor, I think she’s our class’s assistant instructor?”
“Saki, you don’t even pay attention in class.”
“I never forget something I’ve seen once.”
Saki shrugged her shoulders and took a piece of candy out of her pocket and put it in her mouth.
“And I remember that female instructor’s gaze because it was so impressive.”
“… I see.”
Weapon wiped his chin with a serious expression as he collected his thoughts. Then, an exclamation mark suddenly appeared on his face.
“Then, wasn’t that person also planning the midterm exam?”
“Midterms? What happened then?”
Saki Ryozo returned the question I posed to him with a question.
Weapon glanced at me. I nodded. Since I had shared this incident anyway, it would be better to reveal it rather than hide it.
“Oh, that’s it. I had a random encounter with the Mine Mermaid during the midterm exam.”
“What? Then, is it possible that Leon was hospitalized right after the midterms because he fought with Mine?”
Saki’s eyes widened in surprise. Weapon awkwardly shook his head in denial.
“Mermaid, that bastard Kanggeomma, took care of it all by himself.”
“ah…….”
Weapon pointed at me with his raised thumb and said. Saki drooled and then showed an expression of understanding.
Now, no matter what the situation, it seemed like my name was no longer needed to be explained. I let out a hollow laugh.
“Well, we’ll probably find an answer if we discuss it again later.”
“Well, it seems like there’s no point in racking my brain here. I guess I should go back for now.”
The situation was somewhat resolved. The face of the employee who was almost dying began to brighten. Then, Weapon suddenly asked him, as if he was curious.
“But why did you grant that female instructor’s request?”
“… … .”
The employee’s expression changed. The corners of his mouth were noticeably twitching.
‘I guess you have no intention of answering.’
Then it’s time to draw out the answer. I motioned to Chloe.
She nodded and stamped hard on the employee’s leg. The weapon in her merciless hands frowned, perhaps because it looked a bit odd.
“Eww! I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you, stop!”
“so.”
“Well, well… I had some gambling debts, so I couldn’t help it.”
“This is a pure bastard!”
Weapon crumpled his face and shouted fiercely. The staff’s eyebrows twitched at the torrent of curses.
“I am still old.
“Hey, you should apologize to the dog, you idiot. Selling out a student for money?! Oh, you bastard, you’re worse than an animal.”
Weapon clicked his tongue roughly and waved his arms. I lightly patted his shoulder to calm him down.
“Don’t worry. I wasn’t going to leave that kid alone.”
“Sword Master, what are you going to do with that kid?”
I took my phone out of my pocket and showed it to my crew. The recording app was running. Weapon and Saki let out a short sigh, as if they hadn’t expected it.
“Anyway, I already pulled out everything that needed to be pulled out. And there’s even a dungeon that’s supposed to be open that’s open. Isn’t this enough of a situation to turn someone into someone they never were?”
“Wait, wait!”
The employee’s face turned pale. He asked, barely holding back his trembling jaw.
“Surely not?”
I looked straight into his eyes and snickered. Then I turned my head towards Chloe.
“Chloe.”
“Yes, Mr. Geumma!”
Chloe’s eyes sparkled as if she had been waiting for words. Her shoes were soaked with sticky blood.
“I’ll leave it to your judgment, assassin.”
My request was to get the employee to confess, so the rest is up to her, Adito. Chloe nodded obediently. Then she straightened her back and began to wipe away the emotions from her face one by one.
“I condemn you.”
Soon, even her eyes became cloudy and she completely went into yandere mode.
“Ah, no, sleep… … !”
At Chloe’s sudden change in mood, the employee’s expression suddenly became thoughtful.
Chloe tilted her head sharply. Then her shoulders shook.
Denggeng.
The blade passed through the employee’s neck and exited on the other side.
Bam.
The head fell to the floor. Blood spurted out brilliantly. Weapon covered his mouth.
Immediately I took a step back. There was another decapitated body there. I turned my upper body and looked at the employee’s body.
“That bastard is worse than an animal.”
After muttering like that, he picked up his saw and walked towards Cow King. No matter how angry he was, he had to do what he had to do.
