Chapter 137

Chapter 137

Investing Through the Status Window.

Episode 137: Fake Gold (5).

Except for Zerper, whose hands and penis were cut off, the execution proceeded for all the other bandits…

Of course, there was unanimous agreement from the four group leaders and the Prince. The mission wasn’t even completed yet, and they couldn’t drag around nearly twenty bandits. However, they needed a guide, so they spared the big guy’s life. They cauterized the severed parts with fire to forcibly stop the bleeding.

The guy was half out of his mind from the pain of being cauterized, the shock of losing his penis, and the fear of death. Allen squatted next to the guy, who was tightly bound and collapsed on the ground, and smiled grimly.

“I kept you alive because you are still useful… Do you see this?”

Allen swung something hanging from a string in front of the big guy’s eyes, making a small pendulum motion.

That was something very familiar to the brute.

“It’s your dick. If you just behave well, I’ll attach it back.”

Even if he could roughly read the opponent’s thoughts through the status window, it couldn’t be as precise as a map. And they couldn’t possibly search the entire Khalil Mountains.

“A man can’t go without a dick, even if he’s missing a hand. Isn’t that right?”

Allen whispered like a demon asking to sell one’s soul. The brute, still with a face stained with pain, slightly raised his head to look at the Group Leader… He nodded, realizing that if he refused, this terrifying man might do something even worse.

Once a fearsome figure second only to the leader Martolo in the bandit group, Zerper had now fallen to a mere coward who had lost both his hand and his manhood.

Allen laughed deeply at the trembling brute’s reaction.

Now, you’ve been somewhat educated.

To be honest, even if the answer had been good from the start, Allen had already decided to cut off the man’s hands and genitals, no matter what excuse he found. His hands as a warning, and his genitals for negotiation… He couldn’t just leave this dangerous bastard be.

Anyway, after roughly finishing up the situation, Allen went to bed.

Having successfully executed the bait plan, he finally felt a bit relieved.

A bald man, transitioning from middle age to old age, with deep wrinkles etched on his face, walked somewhere with a displeased expression.

Passing through a shabby corridor where not a single beam of light entered, he stood firmly in front of an ornate arched door that didn’t match the corridor, and without knocking, he swung the door open.

“Aang, aaaang, haang, ang.”

Between the women drenched in sweat and semen, there was a middle-aged man vigorously moving his hips. The bald man furrowed his brows as he kicked aside the women in his way and approached him.

Though his expression was displeased, his tone and actions were somewhat polite.

“…Sir, you need to meet the quota by tomorrow. If it’s short like last time, I’ll be the one getting scolded again.”

“I got it, so go.”

“Sir.”

“I said I got it!”

The middle-aged man shouted fiercely, grabbing the back of a woman’s head and slamming it onto the floor.

“As long as I meet it, right? Damn! Making me feel embarrassed!”

The bald man forced a smile and slightly lowered his upper body.

“Then, please, I’m counting on you?”

“I know you’re working hard, Mr. Gould, so don’t worry… Ah, I’ll definitely do it. Satisfied?”

“Then, have a good time.”

The middle-aged man resumed moving his waist, which had previously stopped. The bald man’s expression quickly turned fierce as he closed the door and kicked a pot in the hallway, shattering it.

“Damn it!”

Bald Gould was itching to smash the head of the lazy mage like he did with the pot.

Lately, the situation had been dire, with quotas constantly unmet and the heavy scolding by Lord Martolo. He tried to coax the mage to work harder, but it was challenging to appease the greedy and eccentric mage. Furthermore, the mage never listened.

Still, he couldn’t kill the goose that laid the golden eggs, so he had no choice but to tread carefully, driving him crazy.

Still, hearing that he would do it, the bald man returned to his office. Sitting down nervously in his chair, he pushed away the woman approaching seductively and shouted for his subordinate.

“Damn it, still no contact?!”

“No, sir, still no contact at all.”

Originally, a messenger pigeon was supposed to come every fortnight from the small town of Amper, but it had already been two days overdue. The worker had probably forgotten by mistake. Since this had happened before, he didn’t take it too seriously. He was just furious because of his perfectionist nature.

This bastard, that bastard…!

“Damn it, that bastard Zerper doesn’t manage the guys below him properly either! That son of a bitch, relying only on his fists…!”

Bald Gould, who was in charge of the treasury, did not have a high opinion of Zerper, who acted like the second-in-command, relying solely on his fists.

“Send the carrier pigeon. Damn it, I told you to do your job properly… Whoever it is, if I catch them, they’re dead, seriously.”

“Understood, Boss!”

After the subordinate left, the bald man with a cigarette in his mouth noticed a naked woman cautiously approaching him. She crawled towards him like a dog, panting heavily and smiling idiotically.

Just as Gould, who had calmed down a bit, was about to have some fun with the woman, someone banged on the office door.

-Boss! Boss!

“Damn it… What now?!”

-The Big Boss is calling for you!

For Gould, there was only one person who could be called the Big Boss.

Group Leader Martolo.

Thinking he’d get chewed out again because of the quotas, he walked heavily to the leader’s room.

As soon as Gould entered the room, the strong smell of blood hit his nose, causing him to briefly wrinkle his brow before quickly changing his expression.

“Oh, you’re here.”

Martolo, who had been slashing a woman’s back with a sword, stood up, laughing like a madman.

“What of the mage?”

“He says he’ll meet the quota right away.”

“Really?”

Martolo approached Gould, draping an arm around his shoulder and wrapping his arm around his neck.

“…Last time, you ended up with a hole. Are you going to do that again this time?”

“I will make sure, once again, to tell him.”

The Big Boss poked the Bald Gould’s chest with his finger, speaking menacingly.

“I told you to do a good job. So, you better do it damn well, got it?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yeah, our Gould is smart, so he won’t screw up. I believe in you.”

“I will definitely meet the quota!”

“Yeah, yeah. Do you know how much money is going to that mage bastard? Damn it. We need to get ten times, no, a hundred times the return, got it?”

“Yes.”

“Right.”

At that moment, someone urgently knocked on the Group Leader’s office door.

-Big brother! Z-Zerper has returned!

…Zerper?

However, the food supplies were still ten days away.

“Why is that bastard back already?”

-I-I don’t know. But he’s alone!

“…Alone?”

Bald Gould thought, ‘What kind of nonsense is this?’ Of course, he still hadn’t grasped the seriousness of the situation.

“Gould, go check what’s going on.”

“Yes, Group Leader.”

Gould followed the fidgety subordinate outside, harshly smacking the back of his head before climbing the watchtower disguised by bushes.

The bald man indeed saw Zerper… But wasn’t his condition a bit strange?

And at that moment, when all the bandits’ eyes were on Zerper.

Suddenly, mercenaries who had been out of sight sprang up from the fortress wall and entered the stronghold. The ambush was so sudden that the bandits couldn’t properly defend themselves and were quickly overwhelmed.

-E-enemy attaaaaaaccccckkkkkk!!!!!

As the mercenaries who had entered the stronghold swiftly took control of the main gate and opened it, more mercenaries poured in as if they had been waiting for this moment.

!!!

Gould realized that things had gone terribly wrong. He hurried into the building, quickly grabbed valuables from his office, and headed for the secret passage.

He didn’t care what happened to the others. He had to save his own life first, no matter what.

Even Group Leader Martolo realized the situation late, grabbed his weapon, and came out to fight with the mercenaries, but most of his subordinates were already dead or subdued. No matter how powerful he was, he couldn’t handle all the elite mercenaries charging at him at once.

“You son of a biiiiitch!!!”

In the end, Martolo lost an arm and his weapon and was subdued.

Even while pinned to the muddy ground, he struggled fiercely, trying to break free. But no matter how strong Martolo was, he couldn’t move an inch with several strong mercenaries holding him down.

The situation ended in the blink of an eye. The ambush was highly successful.

Soon, the dark mage who had been enthusiastically indulging was dragged out naked and bound. Even Gould, who was trying to escape alone through a secret passage, was captured.

Allen confirmed their identities with the brute Zerper, who was dragged in a wretched state.

Upon confirming the betrayal, the Group Leader screamed at him as if to kill him.

“You bastard! I’ll kill you!”

He struggled so fiercely that his bones eventually snapped. Yet, he raged on, forgetting even the pain.

Sensing his life was at stake, the mage pleaded pitifully, with an aggrieved expression.

“I had no choice! I was kidnapped and forced to cooperate. I was just following orders! Please, please spare my life…!”

Of course, Group Leader Martolo and Bald Gould protested, calling it nonsense, but Allen silenced them.

At that moment, the Prince, the leader of the group, stepped forward with his hands behind his back and looked down at the mage with cold eyes.

“Are you a mage?”

“Yes, sir! Please, spare my life…!”

“Did you make the fake gold?”

“I-I had no choice! They said they would kill me if I didn’t! Please, have mercy…!”

The mage pretended to have been forced into cooperation. Of course, Allen immediately realized this wasn’t the case and called upon the relatively sane women captured here.

“Is he also one of them?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, they all nodded in agreement. The mage then started to scream.

“These whores are in league with the bandits! I am innocent! Innocent, I tell you!”

The Prince gave a slight nod, as if to signal their execution after giving them one last look over.

With that signal, swords and axes sliced through their necks.

!!!!

Group Leader Martolo, his close aide Gould, and the mage’s head all fell from their bodies. Without exception, the headless bodies all spouted fountains of blood.

The lone survivor, Zerper, shivered in terror. Allen looked back at him and grinned.

“Well, I made a promise, so I must keep it.”

Allen called a healer to reattach the fallen man’s manhood.

Of course, there was the grueling process of tearing off the part seared with fire and attaching the already decayed manhood, but anyhow, Allen kept his promise.

The man looked at Allen with a face that seemed to say, ‘I survived,’ but suddenly, he felt his vision spinning.

…Ah…?

And then his head fell to the ground with a thud.

He belatedly realized that his head and body were separated, but he couldn’t scream. He could only feel his vision dimming.

Though it wasn’t a short journey.

Thus, the culprit behind the fake gold incident had been completely eliminated.