Ch.224The Butterfly Effect-Observing NPC. (3)

“S-stop…!! Puheng?!”

Yellow teeth adorned the darkening sky.

“Cough, cough… Please!! Why are you doing this…?! Kahap!!!”

Blood from the torn cheek soaked the ground.

“I-I’ll report you to the guards… I’ll report both of you okk?!! Urk-ack!!”

By the time the undigested meal in the guy’s stomach created a new pancake painted across his face, Attorney Jubyeon’s etiquette injection was complete. Hmm, with my stats so high, it’s actually harder to hit without killing.

“W-why are you doing this? Shouldn’t you say something so I can at least respond? Don’t just hit me, tell me what you want! Is it money? Items? Please say something. How can we negotiate or prepare otherwise? Huh?!”

The guy who came out first was knocked unconscious following Chikuyo’s instructions, and the one who followed was beaten silently for 30 minutes. Finally, when the bloody mess who had learned to speak politely was kneeling on his own vomit pancake and sobbing, I answered him for the first time.

“I don’t negotiate with terrorists.”

“…What? What do you mean…”

The Imperial soldier showed such a bewildered expression that I’d award him at least one year-end ceremony award if he were a movie actor. Seeing him like that, Chikuyo and I looked at each other.

“Seems like we still have time before Miho arrives, so we have more time for etiquette injection.”

“Okay.”

“W-wait!! What are you talking about?! Terrorists?! I’m just a traveling peddler from a nearby small country…!!!”

These bastards automatically spout lies whenever they open their mouths. I can see everything in their status window, and you call that a nearby small country?

While I continued to punch the nose of this jerk who had learned politeness but hadn’t become a truth dispenser, I started to hear whimpering sounds from the side.

Not the pleasant sounds that Chikuyo or Miho usually make, but painful groans from the other Imperial guy I knocked out earlier, who was holding his nose in pain.

“Nngh… W-what is this…”

“Hey!! H-help me!! Save me!! Pukeheng?!!”

“W-who are you people?!”

The man who had fainted first opened his eyes after about an hour, looking at Chikuyo and me in confusion. The pupil earthquake he experienced upon seeing his colleague getting beaten and having his last front tooth pulled out—I couldn’t tell if he was acting pitiful or genuinely afraid. Anyway.

“This Imperial terrorist bastard kept lying, so I started by threshing his teeth. What about you? Are you also a peddler from a nearby small country?”

“!!!”

When I asked the awakened man while stepping on the head of the threshed Imperial terrorist, he widened his eyes in surprise and quickly began shifting his gaze around. Hmm, judging by his eye movements, he seems to be thinking about escape rather than conversation?

-Tat!!

Sure enough, the Imperial guy with a level of 40 immediately chose to flee. Heh, acting just like the animal that humans are—unable to come to their senses after taking one hit.

He was quite high-leveled among Imperials. The soldier, who was assassin-class like those who had attacked Ragni and me before, quickly distanced himself from us. Hmm, but. Chikuyo, what are you doing? Aren’t you going to catch him?

“Huh? Oh, we don’t need to. Miho’s here.”

“Oh, really?”

-THWACK!!!

“Puhuk?!!”

“Sis, why didn’t you catch him?!”

The silver-white beastkin who dropped from the sky like a hero landing and struck the man’s crown asked Chikuyo the same question I had, frowning in confusion, then carefully set down the bags she had been carrying on her shoulder.

“He was heading exactly in your direction, so I just left him.”

“…These bags were heavy, you know?”

“Oh my, really? I’m sorry, our Miho~”

When Miho grumbled softly, her sister Chikuyo immediately pattered over and stroked her. Sigh, watching those two makes me miss Ira. Seeing the younger sister Miho wagging her tail happily as her sister strokes her despite her grumbling, I feel an even stronger desire to return quickly to my own little sister.

Hmph, I have a little sister too, you know? I’m not jealous at all!

“Miho, sorry to bother you while you’re busy, but did you check what’s in the bags you brought?”

“Ah, yes! There were bombs and some pouches that smelled bad.”

“T-that’s…!!!”

When I asked Miho because I wanted to finish this quickly, the guy under my foot exclaimed in surprise and then covered his mouth with an “Oops!” He probably planned to blow up walls with the bombs and burst the monster-attracting scent pouches together to amplify the chaos. Honestly, at this point, we could just hand them over to the guards, but something feels off?

Feeling uncomfortable like there’s still something stuck between my molars after brushing, I decided to organize the information to find the reason.

First, since the Empire is at war with Ponia, I can understand why such terrorist acts might occur. However, based on what Chikuyo overheard from these guys outside, they knew about the Seven Deadly Sins and demon worshippers in this country. In other words, they were planning to attack this city far from the border and use them to amplify the chaos. That makes sense so far.

But the Empire is quite far from Ponia. And we were able to get this information in Siltra thanks to the elves who had come to Ponia. Moreover, the news about the Seven Deadly Sins being summoned was information the elves heard when returning to Siltra, so time-wise it’s been less than three months…

“It takes at least a year by carriage from here to the Imperial capital, and they already know and are trying to exploit this? Does that make sense?”

No matter how much faster news travels than feet, this is beyond reasonable speed. It’s impossible for a person to make a round trip in that time, so how did the rumors spread?

Given their positions after declaring war on each other, it can’t be easy for Imperial people to come to Ponia or for Ponians to go to the Empire. Yet the Empire knew about and tried to exploit information that’s only two months old? Even preparing bombs? It’s too fast, even if there were Imperial spies in Ponia leaking information.

“…Hmm. This won’t do. Hey, terrorist. Answer my question.”

The guy under my foot kept his mouth shut like that demon worshipper from before. Sigh, if Gorna or Ragni were here, it would be easy to torture him into talking. If I hit him any more, his HP will bottom out and he’ll die before spilling any information. I need some efficient way to extract information…

“Jack, what should we do with these bombs? Should I take them to the guards now?”

“Sniff sniff. Is this monster-attracting scent? I think I’ve smelled something like this before when beastkin warriors used it for monster hunting.”

While I was thinking, Miho and Chikuyo, who had been waiting after tying up the other fallen man, tilted their heads and asked me. Seeing them, I had a good idea.

“No, I think we might still have a use for those items.”

I knocked out the man I was stepping on, then quietly shared my idea with the beastkin sisters. They nodded and followed me, carrying one of the unconscious men.

Well, I’m just returning the favor they were planning to do to us.

*

When the two men—elite Imperial soldiers and the only survivors who had managed to infiltrate the enemy country—opened their eyes, they saw an upside-down world and a dark forest.

“Ugh, damn it. What the hell…”

“You’re awake. Seems like we were ambushed by some unknown man and woman, and now we’re tied up and abandoned in the forest?”

Their current situation, after losing many comrades in their efforts to launch a surprise attack on Ponia, could only be described as a failed operation.

“Damn it. Who were those bastards? If they were guards, they wouldn’t have abandoned us in the mountains like this?”

“…Whatever they were, they knew we were Imperials. Did you get your tail caught somewhere?!”

“Don’t talk nonsense. If I’d been caught, we wouldn’t have passed through the gate in the first place! Besides, wasn’t that man asking you something? Weren’t you the one who got exposed?!”

“Bullshit. I hid in that city for three weeks, eating nothing but alley garbage and avoiding contact with anyone. I looked like a vagrant to anyone!”

The operation had failed. And if they remained abandoned in the mountains, they would soon be discovered by either demon worshippers or monsters and meet their miserable end. As the two men started blaming each other, raising their voices, a familiar voice came from a completely different direction.

“You’re quite energetic for guys hanging upside down, huh, Mr. Terrorists?”

“You…!!”

“What, what is this all about?! I’m just a peddler!! The guards will execute you for this! Release me now!!”

As the man who had fainted twice and hadn’t fully grasped the situation shouted, the gray-haired man chuckled in disbelief and approached them.

“Did getting punched in the nose by me and having your crown hit by our kid make you lose your mind? Or did your colleague not tell you and just blame you? Imperial terrorist bastard, we’ve collected all the bomb bags you hid.”

“W-what…!!”

At Jack’s words, the Imperial soldier who hadn’t grasped the situation widened his eyes in surprise. Jack, satisfied, curled up the corners of his mouth and spoke.

“I’ve always given trash like you two kind options. But that’s when I have time on my hands. When I’m in a hurry, I can’t afford to be kind, you know?”

After saying that, Jack untied a pouch from his waist, showed it to the two men, and continued with a smile.

“You know what this is, right? You packed quite a lot of these to blow up the city and attract monsters. My companions are using these to lure monsters here right now. Oh, we’ve taken care of the undead, so they’re focusing on bringing goblins and orcs. You can look forward to it.”

“W-what do you mean…”

Despite already understanding the situation, the man still questioned, and Jack chuckled before hanging the pouch around his neck and untying the knot so the scent could spread.

“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to kill you. I have a lot of information I want to know. But I don’t think you’ll answer properly no matter what I ask. Besides, torture requires talent, you know?”

After saying “I don’t have that talent,” he leaped up to the tree where the two were tied and delivered his final words with a voice tinged with laughter.

“The monsters will be here soon, and anyone who doesn’t want to become monster breeding stock should quickly tell me everything they know. Of course, I won’t untie you even if you say you’ll talk. So instead of wasting time thinking, speak quickly. Oh, and I’ll only release one of you, so keep that in mi…”

[keeeec⎯⎯!!!]

Jack’s amused voice was immediately drowned out by the terrifying screams of monsters.