episode_0138

“That’s obviously the price of vegetables, isn’t it? Ah! You can take the vegetables on the mat. If you leave them out for too long, they might spoil, so put them in the refrigerator as soon as you get home.”

“………….”

At the man’s words, Betzdo’s subordinates were dumbfounded and speechless.

What in the world was this nonsense?

Dozens of Betzdo’s subordinates stared at the masked man in disbelief, but the man calmly flicked a gold coin with his finger and said,

“Oh! By the way, I recommend boiling them all before eating. Or you can just wash them and eat them raw.”

“Well then, if you’ll excuse me,” the man said, about to leave, when Tommy, unable to hold back, finally spoke. Was he really just going to leave like this?

“…..So, all 50 gold coins we gave you were just for vegetables?”

“Of course. I told you from the start it was for vegetables. Is there a problem? The vegetables haven’t gone bad…”

The man said so, rummaging through the vegetables.

A problem?

Of course, there was. A huge one.

Firstly, if you bought vegetables with 50 gold coins, you could build a house out of vegetables, not just buy them.

The reason they gave him 50 gold coins was not to buy such meager vegetables, but to stop him from interfering with their path to Betzdo-nim any further.

And among that was the solution to the curse that made them feel like they were just walking in circles, no matter how much they walked.

‘What? He sold us vegetables and now he’s leaving? Bullshit!’

But no one uttered those words.

Everyone’s gaze fell to the ground.

There, two comrades who had been alive just moments ago lay dead, daggers plunged into their necks.

-Gulp.

‘What if I speak carelessly and end up dead too?’

Because of that, no one could speak properly and they all hesitated.

Drawing attention to themselves might just get them killed.

‘Stupid bastards.’

Anyway, if they stayed here and were late, Betzdo-nim would kill them later.

Tommy, the oldest of Betzdo’s subordinates, recalled what the man had said earlier.

What the man said about being able to find the way without getting lost.

‘You have to buy that separately, though?’

Did that mean he would handle that too, if they just gave him money?

Having finished his thoughts, Tommy opened his mouth.

Tommy didn’t realize his body was trembling as he spoke.

“…How much do we have to pay you to lift the curse you cast on us…?”

“Pfft! A curse… Pfft! Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just too funny.”

“What’s so funny?”

“To simply assume it’s a curse just because you don’t understand it. Isn’t that just too foolish and ignorant not to laugh?”

It was clearly a severe insult, but neither Tommy nor the other Betzdo’s subordinates, who had been insulted, could say anything and just cooled their anger internally.

The fate of those who had failed to control their rage and charged at him was lying on the ground below.

“Anyway, how much would be appropriate…? Hmm. Let’s just make it a clean 50 gold coins.”

-Gnash.

‘Again! Again! That damn 50 gold coins!’

50 gold coins when they first met and he sold them vegetables.

50 gold coins when he just sold them vegetables.

And now, again, 50 gold coins.

‘Sigh… Still, it’s a relief it ended at 50 gold coins. Anyway, if we’re late here, we’ll die. Let’s think of it as buying our lives for 50 gold coins.’

Just as Tommy was rationalizing it in his head and about to take out 50 gold coins,

“Oh! Just in case, of course, it’s 50 gold coins per person present here.”

“What?! What kind of bullsh—!”

One of Betzdo’s subordinates exclaimed in surprise at the mention of 50 gold coins per person, but then quickly covered his mouth, recalling the dead bodies.

Betzdo’s subordinates looked at the man, wondering if a dagger would fly again, but,

The man, far from throwing a dagger, was sniffing the gold coins he had received earlier.

“There are dozens of people here. Of course, we don’t have that kind of mo—”

The man cut off Tommy’s words as he put the gold coins into his pocket.

“Drugs, Baron Ashro.”

Two words.

Upon hearing just those two words, Betzdo’s subordinates felt as if their hearts had been struck by a hammer.

‘How does that guy know that?!’

They had definitely given drugs to Baron Ashro and received money.

How pleased Betzdo-nim had been, thinking he could get money and also destabilize the empire.

But Baron Ashro was captured before he could even spread the drugs in the village.

How angry Betzdo-nim had been when he heard that.

On that day, about a third of Betzdo-nim’s subordinates had died by Betzdo-nim’s hand.

Moreover, the drugs, far from being spread, were all collected by the Emperor.

Even if they made more drugs, it would be difficult to find nobles to buy them.

Tommy thought about the gold coins he had and the number of people currently present.

It might just barely be enough for everyone…

“If you don’t give me the money, I’ll just leave.”

“Ah, alright. Just a moment.”

Tommy took out all the gold coins he had from his spatial pocket.

It wasn’t money earned through legitimate means, but Betzdo’s subordinates already considered this money their own and felt enraged.

Of course, they couldn’t express that rage.

Numerous gold coins poured onto the ground, made of dirt, trees, fallen leaves, and two dagger-pierced corpses.

“Wow! This is quite a hefty sum. *Slurp!* Just looking at it makes my mouth water. Oh dear, oh dear. I wonder if I can carry all of this, it’s so heavy.”

-Gnash.

“…Then, can we go to Betzdo-nim now?”

“Of course.”

-Clap!

The man clapped his hands once.

“That’s it.”

That’s it?

So they could go now?

No, maybe not.

“Are you really done with just that? With just such a simple action?”

“Pfft! What do you know just by looking? If you don’t know, just assume so and go. Or do you want to buy more vegetables?”

-Gnash!

.

.

.

Boom! Crash! Bang! Roar!

Betzdo’s subordinates ran headlong towards where the sounds were coming from.

“He didn’t play another trick on us, did he?”

“Tsk! Just run! There’s nothing else we can do right now anyway.”

How long had they run?

“The sound is getting louder!”

Before, no matter how much they walked, the sound stayed the same.

The sound getting louder meant they could reach Betzdo-nim.

“There! I see him!”

“Run faster!!!”

Betzdo’s subordinates, running like people who had forgotten to stop, paused at the sight before their eyes.

Was this what it meant to call a forest “lifeless”?

Trees that had shone with the sun’s light were gone, and the soil where life was born had long been polluted.

And on that polluted soil, countless skulls lay scattered, too many to count.

It was impossible to even guess what kind of battle had taken place here.

‘This is a Necromancer’s battle…’

And in that desolate forest, there was only one person standing.

Their master, Betzdo.

And at Betzdo’s feet, Mordor, who had arrived earlier, lay collapsed and bleeding.

That meant only one thing.

Their master had killed Mordor!

“””Congratulations!”””

They rushed to Betzdo and knelt.

And Betzdo pressed one of his kneeling subordinates’ heads down with his foot and said,

“What? Congratulations? You’re congratulating me when I’m in this state because you were late? If you had come faster, I would have killed him more easily.”

Betzdo’s condition, even to put it mildly, could not be described as normal.

Blood was flowing from his mouth, and his body was covered in wounds.

“So, so sorry. We were obstructed on the way, so we ended up…”

“How many of you are there, and you’re this late just because of a small obstruction? Do you all want to die?”

“””Sorry!!”””

Betzdo’s subordinates slammed their heads into the ground, begging for forgiveness.

If they didn’t do this, they would have all been killed by Betzdo just now.

There had been times when Betzdo had killed dozens of subordinates on the spot because he was in a bad mood, and even times when he killed dozens because he was in a good mood.

Among Betzdo’s subordinates present, Tommy was the oldest, yet he hadn’t even been a subordinate for three years.

The oldest person Betzdo, who lived for a long time, had kept as a subordinate was three years.

This showed Betzdo’s usual personality.

“Damn it! I told you earlier, when that old man came, to be prepared just in case! Did you perhaps wish I would die?”

“””Sorry!!”””

“Aha! I haven’t done a proper purge lately, have I?”

At the word “purge,” Betzdo’s subordinates squeezed their eyes shut.

So it came to this, after all…

“Ten people. Kill each other until only ten remain.”

No matter how great the wrongdoing, killing one’s own subordinates like this was not a good judgment.

But the people here weren’t particularly special.

They were only special because they had received power from Betzdo.

In other words, if Betzdo granted power to a beggar on the street right now, there wouldn’t be much difference between them and themselves.

Knowing that, they had followed his orders until now.

They had gained power that could kill even knights without any effort.

No one here wanted to give up that power and die.

“…………………..”

Betzdo’s subordinates, who had been comrades until just now, exchanged glances.

“If you don’t fight quickly, I’ll kill you all.”

At Betzdo’s words, one of Betzdo’s subordinates attacked the person next to him.

“Aaargh!”

“Uwaaaagh!”

“Ugh!”

And with that, the pandemonium began.

During the fighting, the thought, ‘What if that masked guy transformed into Betzdo?’ flashed through everyone’s minds, but no one dared to utter it.

They knew about the signal, meeting Mordor earlier, and the orders given afterwards.

When Mordor and Betzdo met earlier, only Betzdo, themselves, and Mordor were present.

And above all, in this situation, no one had the guts to ask Betzdo, ‘Are you really Betzdo-nim?’

Because they knew what the outcome would be if they asked that.

Their only option was to be among the ten remaining.

.

.

“Die!”

“You die! I never liked how you always acted like the leader!”

Betzdo, no, Loki, watched them fighting fiercely and thought.

How easy they were to deceive.