Ch.142Family Request – 3

Io Brante.

A mercenary known as a money-grubber at the Academy who would do anything for money, and a character who, after all the “siblings” she had to care for died in the original story, turned to the Demon King’s army in despair and stood in the way of Leona and Aria.

I thought she had completely given up mercenary work and was living peacefully with her siblings after completing the Starlight Order document forgery request and taking an enormous amount of wealth from the warehouse, as there had been no news of her since then.

‘But why is she appearing here?’

“No… no. I mistook you for someone else. Io Brante is inside, so I’ll call her out…”

I was just as surprised as she was, but I quickly figured out what was happening when I saw the woman offering this flimsy excuse.

Io Brante had said she could freely change her face and body shape through an ancient relic. It was also thanks to that relic that she could enroll in Bellium Academy despite being 48 years old.

‘Was that ring she just took off the relic?’

Come to think of it, I think I heard it was in the form of a ring. Since it wasn’t likely to have any connection to us, I had let the information go in one ear and out the other, so I couldn’t remember exactly.

“Judging by how flustered you are, I think I’m right?”

“I said no! How many times do I have to tell you that you’ve got the wrong person!”

I grabbed the shoulder of the woman who was trying to fling open the door while shouting almost hysterically.

“Don’t you remember the hundred platinum coins I gave you as payment?”

“…”

The woman who had been roughly shaking her body as if about to brush off my hand suddenly froze. Then she slowly turned around.

It wasn’t the face of Io that I remembered, but I could clearly see her expression of shock.

“…Employer, sir?”

Only one person ever called me that. I inwardly let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of confirming it was indeed Io. I thought she was living a normal, good life, so why was she here like this?

I quickly removed the voice modulation magic applied to my mask and whispered in my original voice.

“Yes. It’s me. Mira Crate. Remember my voice?”

“Yes, yes. Of course I remember. How could I forget your voice, Employer—”

“You fucking bitch! Are you not going to answer?!”

A shout mixed with vulgar curses interrupted her words. It came from much closer than before. Io flinched, looking terrified.

She probably wasn’t scared because she couldn’t handle those people; there must be something I didn’t know.

“I have a mountain of questions… but let’s deal with them first. They’re not good people, right?”

“No. They’re really bad people. Much worse than me. And… they were the ones who threatened me to attack your eldest sister’s merchant caravan.”

“I see. I’ll check.”

I turned toward the direction of the voice, reactivating the voice modulation magic. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t completely trust Io’s words. I needed to hear their side of the story too.

After all, before meeting me, Io was ultimately a mercenary who would do anything for money. And she hadn’t contacted me once since disappearing.

Giving up on entering the house, I waited alongside Io for the owners of the angry, cursing voices. They appeared shortly after.

“Like mother, like daughter, you orphan bitch, you’re out here and still not answering… Ha, look at this slut. Did you spread your legs for a man already? What’s this now?”

The face was so menacing that it wouldn’t be out of place with “criminal” written on his forehead, and his vulgar way of speaking matched his menacing appearance perfectly.

The men bulged their eyes as soon as they saw me standing next to Io.

“That’s what I’d like to ask. Who are you?”

“So there was a reason you wouldn’t give it to us no matter what? You need to keep your lower hole tight to seduce other men and fleece them, huh?”

It’s generally wrong to judge people by their appearance, but with that kind of look and that way of speaking, I thought it might be acceptable to judge openly in this case.

The man, who had been glaring at Io while mixing vulgar words and curses, completely ignoring what I said, finally turned his gaze to me with a sly smile after he finished saying what he wanted to say.

“I don’t know who you are, mister, but that woman who’s spreading her legs for you is drowning in debt, you know? And the amount is quite large. She might look pretty, but she’ll ruin your life if you get involved with her, so why don’t you quietly leave while you have the chance?”

“Drowning in debt? I gave her quite a lot of money. Wasn’t that enough?”

“Heh, that amount wouldn’t even come close to covering it! It’s an amount that people like you and us couldn’t even imagine.”

“I’d like to hear it. How much is it?”

“The amount due right now is twenty platinum coins, twenty! How about that, impressive, right? You don’t look like someone who has much connection with money, do you think you can handle that?”

Ignoring his comment about me not having much connection with money, I stared intently at Io. The look meant to ask if this was true. Seeming to understand my intention even through the mask, Io shouted angrily:

“It’s fraud! If it’s about debt, I definitely paid it all off last time! Your boss even personally confirmed it! So why is there suddenly a contract I’ve never seen before?!”

“My, my. Fraud, you say? This is just exercising legitimate rights. If you don’t believe it, why don’t you verify it with magic? If it turns out to be illegitimate, I can get rid of it right now.”

“…”

Io gritted her teeth. Judging by their reactions, the debt itself seemed to be legally valid, one way or another. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so confident.

There must have been something unsettling in the process of creating it, though.

“I understand.”

“Great! You finally see the truth! That one might taste good when you eat her, but she’ll definitely give you trouble. Now that you’ve been given a chance, why don’t you leave? I’ll pretend I didn’t see what you’ve been sucking and licking so far. We’re letting you off because we’ll get to enjoy her using that excuse.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

I snapped my fingers. The limbs of all six men were bound by chains made of mana and lifted into the air. Screams of “Waaagh!” echoed from all around.

In truth, I could have bound Io like this from the beginning and interrogated her if I wanted to. I deliberately chose a different approach. Rather than being forceful, I wanted to sincerely ask why she had done what she did.

If I bound and interrogated her, she might have kept her mouth shut. Then I would have had to torture her or scramble her brain, and both options felt wrong somehow.

It seems following my instincts was the right answer this time too.

“Is this bastard crazy?! What the hell are you doing?!”

The man who had been speaking as their representative shouted with veins bulging in his neck. But with his limbs spread wide in a star position while suspended in mid-air, he only looked ridiculous.

“I said I gave her quite a lot of money. It should have been more than enough to pay off any debts and have plenty left over, so it’s strange that she suddenly has a twenty platinum coin debt.”

“You gave that much money? What kind of lie is that, not even a dog would—”

“I’m not finished speaking, so shut your mouth.”

I created a hand in the air and slapped the man’s cheek with a sharp crack. The sight must have been quite funny, as the nearby men burst into laughter despite dangling in mid-air.

The slapped man’s expression, on the contrary, turned red with anger.

“I’m going inside to hear an explanation, and you should prepare what you want to tell me by then. I’ll listen to both sides of the story.”

As I said this, I glanced at Io, who hung her head low, perhaps feeling guilty about something.

“Any objections?”

“Who would believe that, you retard! If you were in your right mind—”

—SLASH!

With a chilling sound of something being cut off, the words stopped. The man slowly lowered his head.

What should have been attached between his legs had been severed and was now rolling on the ground.

“AAAAARGH! AAAAARGH! AAAAAAAARGH!”

A terrible scream erupted a beat late, and bright red blood that burst out with it soaked the weeds and soil. The other men stopped laughing and turned their heads away with their eyes closed.

“There’s a reason they say kind words bring kind responses. Why did you have to curse, seriously? I gave you so many chances.”

Still, to prevent him from dying of excessive bleeding, I used healing magic to stop the blood. As for reattaching it, well, that would depend on how this man behaved when I came back out after hearing the explanation.

I didn’t particularly want to see such a thing either, but it was more effective than a verbal warning. He didn’t seem like someone who would listen to words anyway.

The man whose member had been cut off had fainted despite the bleeding being stopped, dripping cold sweat. The pain must have been too great.

“I’ll ask again. Any objections?”

“…”

They all desperately nodded their heads. I sealed their mouths with magic to prevent them from conspiring with each other, fixed their gazes and heads in place, and quietly warned:

“I’m going to call you in one by one and ask the same questions, so you’d better not think about lying. Anyone who says something different will end up in the same state as the unconscious one.”

The men trembled. Leaving the now-quiet men behind, I entered the hut and closed the door. After confirming the door was completely closed, I removed my mask, and Io muttered bitterly:

“So it really was you, Employer.”

“Yes, it’s me. And you’re really Io Brante? The first-year student from Bellium Academy I hired for a job?”

“Yes. You hired me for the assassination of nobles and to sneak into the Starlight Order’s cathedral to forge documents. The assassinated nobles were four in total, with fifty gold coins additional payment per person, and for the document forgery, there was no additional payment, but you told me to take whatever I wanted from the Order’s warehouse.”

As if trying to prove she was indeed the Io who had enrolled in Bellium Academy, she recited details I hadn’t even asked for.

“You left without a word, so I thought you were living well on your own, but it seems that wasn’t the case.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you anything. I originally wanted to thank you many times. I could have paid off all my debts and lived well as you said. I was going to… I was trying to…”

After clenching her fists and trembling for a while, Io deflated.

“…This isn’t something I can explain while standing here. Please follow me. I don’t know if there’s any tea… but I’ll at least get you some water.”

I followed Io deeper into the hut. The interior consisted of what appeared to be a kitchen space, a living room-like space, and a bathroom. That was the extent of the internal structure.

“You can sit here and wait. Just a moment.”

As Io, who had tapped the table a couple of times, disappeared behind a worn-out curtain, I looked around instead of sitting on the dining chair that seemed like it might collapse at any moment.

She had said she started mercenary work to take care of her “siblings,” specifically orphans with nowhere to go, but those “siblings” were nowhere to be seen. Could something bad have happened to them because of the debt?

I used detection magic. Magical senses swept through every corner of the hut. Before long, I sensed people huddled together under a sooty blanket in the center of the living room. There were fourteen in total.

‘That’s quite a lot.’

I thought there were twelve of them, but had two more been added since then?

Anyway, they were Io’s siblings, and since Io had hidden them, it wasn’t my place to comment. I was about to terminate the detection magic and ignore it when I sensed someone cautiously coming up from below.

The secret door under the blanket opened without making the slightest sound. They must have paid considerable attention to soundproofing the secret space. Someone peeked their head through the gap.

And their eyes met mine, who was staring directly at that spot.

“Eeeek!”

The girl who let out a shrill scream stumbled backward. I used magic to protect her from getting hurt. As her body was suspended and fixed in mid-air, I could sense her looking around at her own body in confusion.

“What’s wrong?! What happened?!”

Io came running with a clatter, then blinked as she alternately looked at the half-open secret door and me.

“She opened the door and our eyes met.”

“What?!”

At those words, Io was startled and ran to the secret door, shouting something down below. It was about how they shouldn’t come out yet.

One of the siblings grumbled that it was too uncomfortable down there, but when told I was the person who had helped them earn a lot of money last time, they immediately quieted down. I also heard someone scolding them, asking what they were doing here now.

‘Maybe I should give them some money before I leave.’

It probably wasn’t intentional, but somehow I felt like I should. While I was mentally counting the gold coins in the inner pocket of my robe, Io sighed and closed the door.

“I’m sorry, Employer. She said she was curious because it got quiet much faster than usual.”

“It’s fine. These things happen. Don’t worry about it.”

Io trudged back to the kitchen and returned with two wooden cups that seemed to have been cleaned as thoroughly as possible. They contained water with a very slight green tint.

I took a sip. It wasn’t even at the level of weak tea, more like plain water with just a hint of color. Not minding, I emptied the cup, and Io averted her gaze as if embarrassed.

“…We don’t have anything else. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t come here for a meal anyway. The explanation?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll tell you now.”

I sensed the girl who had just made eye contact with me and fallen was once again carefully putting her ear to the secret door, but I ignored it. There was no problem with her listening anyway.

Io, seemingly unaware of this, let out a deep sigh and began to speak.