Dragonslayer’s Class Regression Chapter 173

Chapter 173

A cart arrived at a farm located in the outskirts between Heli and Mycenae.

The man driving the cart spoke while looking at the luggage.

“Master, we’ve arrived.”

The man was Richmond, who had transformed using a transformation cloak.

Zeke, who was hiding under the cart, got up.

“We arrived without being detected.”

Zeke escaped Heli riding Richmond who had transformed into a beast.

Richmond could maintain his beast form for about an hour. So before his transformation wore off, they rode the prepared cart to the safe house.

After getting off the cart, Zeke pulled out a box hidden under the hay.

When he opened the nailed box lid, Dario was inside, crumpled up in a fetal position.

“Ugh…”

Dario had been trapped in the box for days while being transported.

Zeke dragged Dario out and took him inside the farmhouse.

Inside the safe house, Boris and Visco appeared.

“Boss.”

Zeke threw Dario onto the floor and spoke to Boris.

“You escaped safely. The Rose Knights and the Syndicate?”

“The Knights and Syndicate members scattered and went into hiding separately. They’ll regroup later in Mycenae.”

They were both skilled at escape and hiding.

Zeke nodded.

“Put him down below. We’ll start the interrogation soon.”

Visco quickly grabbed Dario and took him to the prison they had prepared underground.

Watching this, Zeke asked Boris.

“What do you think of that guy?”

“Better than expected. Sharp and quick-moving too.”

“That’s surprising. I thought he’d be picky about who he works under.”

“When he was in the 13th unit, he treated his juniors well. He was once voted the number one agent people wanted as a partner.”

Zeke made a disbelieving expression before asking another question.

“How’s the situation in Heli?”

“Going according to plan. They seem to think it’s Red Eye terrorism since we only targeted Nostra Family front companies and undead appeared.”

“The volatile situation between Red Eye and Nostra helped.”

“Yes. There’s been frequent fighting in the eastern region lately. Soma sells well to the Eastern Empire, but Iason can’t touch Draker’s territory of course, so they’re fighting over neutral city outskirts.”

“The neutral area with the Alchemist Tower?”

“That area’s full of alchemists so it’s easy to find technicians who can refine Soma and good for securing ships to the Eastern Empire.”

“Makes sense.”

“It was originally Red Eye’s territory, but the Nostra Family gradually expanded their influence and now they’re openly setting up operations, causing conflicts.”

“I thought Red Eye only dealt in weapons. They’re handling Soma now too?”

“Soma makes more than weapons. They say selling to the Eastern Empire is very profitable.”

With the major Central Continent mafia organizations Nostra Family and Red Eye clashing, it seemed possible to divert attention there.

Zeke said to Boris.

“Spread more false information to increase the chaos.”

“But what if it causes a real war?”

“When they’re fighting each other, it creates gaps we can exploit.”

“Are you planning to eliminate the Nostra Family like the Mekein Cartel?”

Zeke shook his head.

“This is different. The more we dig into the Nostra Family, the more suspicious things we find. We need to investigate and find out who the boss is.”

Boris shook his head at those words.

“If anyone else said that, I’d laugh it off, but coming from you boss, I can’t laugh.”

“Did you hear anything else about the Nostra Family while in the 13th unit?”

“The mafia wasn’t our jurisdiction, so I only heard bits from colleagues. Nothing specific about the boss.”

Even Zeke couldn’t remember any incidents involving the Nostra Family’s boss from his previous life.

‘Were they laying low because of the Continental War?’

If not, they were either eliminated by the Empire without publicity or perhaps fighting on the Empire’s side.

“We’ll have to hope Dario provides proper answers about the rest.”

After taking a brief rest, Zeke headed to the underground prison where Dario was held.

CLANG!

Dario’s hands and feet were in shackles. Even so, he lunged at Zeke when he came down to the prison.

“Die!”

He tried to stab Zeke with an iron pick he had hidden.

PAT!

In an instant, Zeke snatched the pick from Dario’s hand and threw it at the wall.

The pick embedded completely into the solid stone wall.

“UGH…”

Dario fell into despair once again, realizing his strength was useless against Zeke.

Zeke grabbed Dario’s throat.

“KUHAK!”

“How pathetic. To think you’re one of the Nostra Family’s bosses.”

Zeke threw Dario against the wall.

“Urgh!”

Dario gasped for breath from the impact that felt like it would break his back.

Zeke pulled up a chair, sat down in front of Dario, and looked down at him as he spoke.

“Why don’t we keep things clean and simple by you answering what I’m curious about, without wearing each other out.”

Then Dario lifted his head and spat toward Zeke.

Zeke lightly turned his head to avoid Dario’s spit, nodded, and took out a healing potion.

“Yes. Everyone starts like this at first.”

Zeke forced open Dario’s mouth and shoved in the healing potion.

“URGHK!”

Regardless of his will, the healing potion restored Dario’s body and health.

Zeke swiftly pulled out a chain from his left hand.

CLANK!

The chains wrapped around Dario’s body gradually tightened.

“URGHK!”

He tried to bite his tongue to die, but Zeke somehow knew and forced his mouth open, then restored his body with healing.

Zeke looked at him and grinned.

“Shall we start lightly?”

ZZZAP!

Blue sparks flew as Dario’s screams echoed.

* * *

“Stop, please stop…”

Even though he wanted to die or faint, Zeke’s wide-range buff effect prevented all of it.

After ten hours of interrogation, Dario’s mind broke.

Zeke leisurely took a bite of his sandwich and said.

“Now are you thinking about talking?”

Dario looked at Zeke and said.

“Why… why are you doing this to me?”

“I told you. Because I’m curious about something from you.”

“Then… ask. I’ll answer.”

“I still don’t see sincerity in your eyes.”

“Damn it! Why?! I said I’ll answer! Just ask something already! I said I’ll answer!”

After finishing his sandwich and drinking all his juice, Zeke got up from his seat.

Dario flinched and backed away. Zeke brought a chair in front of Dario again and sat down.

“Tell me everything you’ve heard about the Elder Dragon’s relic.”

Despite saying he would answer everything, Dario kept his mouth shut at Zeke’s words.

But when Zeke took out the healing potion again, he frantically started talking.

“The, the Empire! The Empire side told us first. They said to report immediately if anything about Elder Dragons or ancient relics related to immortality appears!”

Zeke pulled his chair closer to Dario and asked.

“How did Dusk find out?”

Dario answered while trembling.

“We, we found a sorcerer to cast curses. We needed it for business.”

“Did you curse Lady Angelina for business too, you perverted scum?”

Zeke sent lightning through the chains again.

ZZZZZAP!

“GRRRK!”

Dario collapsed foaming at the mouth again.

Zeke restored the collapsed Dario again.

He barely managed to take a deep breath.

Zeke asked him again.

“You know that’s not what I asked about? I’ll ask again. Where did you meet Dusk?”

Then Dario hesitated before opening his mouth.

“I, I was introduced!”

Slowly, the answers Zeke wanted started coming out.

“Where, by whom, how were you introduced? Speak properly.”

Dario trembled as he barely opened his mouth.

“The, the first introduction was through Empire connections.”

“More specific details.”

Dario breathed roughly while darting his eyes around.

After hesitating, he barely spoke.

“I was introduced by a knight of the Scorpio palace—one of the Thirteen Constellations.”

Zeke was shocked by Dario’s words.

“A knight of the Scorpio Palace. An Empire’s commander introducing a sorcerer to the mafia?”

Then Dario spoke while trembling.

“Th…the Scorpio Palace knights and our Nostra Family are blood allies.”

‘HOOH.’

He never expected one of the Empire’s thirteen Constellations would be connected to the mafia.

Zeke moved closer to Dario and asked.

“Dario. Surely you’re not lying in this situation?”

“Damn it, how could I lie about something like this? It’s true.”

Zeke stroked his chin and continued questioning.

“Let’s say the Scorpio aPalace knights and Nostra Family are blood allies. How did they introduce Dusk?”

“Not Dusk, but they introduced me to a group called ‘The Abyss’.”

Finally, the answer Zeke wanted came out.

Zeke pretended not to know and pressed Dario.

“Abyss? Never heard of it.”

“I didn’t know such guys existed at first either. Actually, I still don’t know their true identity properly. The method of contact is very complicated, and I haven’t really communicated with them except when being introduced to the sorcerer.”

“So they’re the ones who introduced Dusk too?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me more details about how the Scorpio Palace knights introduced this Abyss place. Also who came out first and how they made contact.”

Zeke asked Dario similar questions several times in different ways while organizing the information.

The security on Abyss’s side was so thorough that it was hard to find anything special in Dario’s answers.

‘I thought I could find out the true identity of those Abyss guys by interrogating Dario.’

Their true identity was more hidden than expected.

While organizing his thoughts and listening to Dario’s answers, Zeke asked about something that had bothered him.

“Again, where did you say the meeting place was when you first met those Abyss guys?”

Dario struggled to open his mouth at the repeated question.

“My eyes were covered so I’m not sure where, but… it was like a small church.”

“What do you mean it was ‘like’ a church, not a church?”

“The church… didn’t have anything church-like about it, you could say. But it felt like a church.”

Zeke sensed there might be a clue hidden in Dario’s vague answer.

“Dario. Think carefully. What made it feel like a church while not being church-like?”

At Zeke’s question, Dario strained to recall the memory.

That’s when Zeke placed his hand on Dario’s head and used his dragon’s senses.

WOONG!

At that moment, Dario’s memories flooded into Zeke’s mind.

Everything Dario had felt, seen, and heard merged together and seeped into his brain.

The strongest sensation Zeke felt was none other than smell.

‘What is this smell? I’ve smelled it somewhere before.’

And then he heard a sound.

DONG! DONG! DONG!

Bell sounds coming from far away.

Finally, Dario’s vision flashed by.

Long benches were packed tightly in a small, worn space made of whitewashed walls.

Zeke realized what Dario meant by it feeling like a church.

The structure was like a chapel, but there were no Sun God emblems or statues anywhere.

And again Zeke caught that smell from earlier.

A smell like something burning.

Zeke tried to identify the smell from his own memories.

He had smelled it none other than when visiting the Ishtar family.

It was similar to the smell he caught in the market street just before entering the main palace.

Zeke recalled that memory.

The scene of the market at that time came back clearly in his mind.

He could sense the smell rising among the many merchants and people.

There was a man where the smell was coming from.

The man was stirring something in a huge pot with a ladle.

A strong aroma wafted up from inside.

Zeke slowly opened his eyes.

He realized the identity of the smell from his memory.

“Coffee?.”

The strong smell he sensed in Dario’s memory was none other than the aroma of coffee.