Chapter 237
- In a villainous world full of cunning, the clumsy cannot survive (3)
I ended up staying at my former disciple’s house longer than expected. The Demon King stopped at the border, contrary to my belief that he would charge forward.
Could Shuttle be deceiving me?
Or is the God of Nature feeding me false information to toy with me?
So I secretly got information from that former disciple bastard, and he said the Demon King really did stop at the border.
Is he gathering troops?
From my understanding, this country doesn’t have that much national power.
I heard they made trouble by joining hands with the Fernes Empire during the Great War, but when the Fernes Empire was destroyed by the Karan Empire, they even had their souls plundered.
And I know after the Great War, they were paying reparations to surrounding countries, so their funds were drained dry too.
Even the Ruvella City Alliance, which has the highest military strength despite not being recognized as a country, got wiped out. So why are they gathering troops?
It’s incomprehensible.
“Hehe! Master, is this enough?”
Well, thanks to him I’m living comfortably, waited on by my former disciple.
“Thank you.”
“It’s only natural for a disciple to serve his master.”
He said that ridiculous lie with a wide grin.
– You don’t trust your disciple at all, or you’re like that because you’re recalling what you’ve done so far?
– Both.
That’s just how it is with people from evil organizations.
I taught them all kinds of evil doctrines, so of course my disciples can’t be trusted. And in the process, they did all kinds of terrible things, so it’s understandable my disciples would hate me.
It’s truly sad. I raised them with such difficulty!
And at least none of my students died, unlike other instructors!
They’d understand if they tried being an instructor themselves!
None of my disciples have worked as instructors, so they don’t understand me.
– Would they understand even if they did?
Do you think so?
I pick up the fruits my former disciple peeled.
Fresh fruits like these, when trade with the outside is barely functioning.
They’re very fresh fruits indeed.
“Here, eat up.”
I pass the peeled fruits to the hero and Shuttle.
“….”
“….”
Their gazes are odd, even though I specifically passed them fruits after thinking it over.
“What’s wrong?”
“This is…”
“A test, right?”
“A test for what?”
The hero brat answered me straight away, even though I had frowned a little.
“Poison.”
Tch, I hate perceptive brats like this.
“There’s no way. You’re my precious com…rade.”
“I think I just heard the ‘slave’ part of comrade just now…”
“It’s your imagination.”
“I don’t think so…”
I let out a sigh at the hero’s narrowed eyes staring right at me.
But he’s my disciple. When a disciple doesn’t understand, it’s the master’s duty to explain again.
“It’s your imagination.”
“I see.”
As expected, he understands after I say it again.
– Go on.
– Yes, sir…
Sniff sniff.
Seeing the crestfallen metal bat head back to the bed, the hero sighs.
“I’ll… eat well.”
After glancing at my former disciple, the hero starts eating the fruits with great suspicion.
Hmm… no poison it seems.
“Is it delicious?”
“Yes. The fresh fruits are very tasty.”
“Is that so?”
After the hero and shuttle ate about two or three fruits, I took the plate back.
“That’s enough, isn’t it?”
“I’ve only eaten three…”
“That’s more than enough.”
After waiting enough time for the poison to spread, I pass the fruits to my daughter.
“Eat up.”
“Okay!”
She starts eating the fruits happily with the metal bat.
“Is it tasty?”
“Yeah! Super sweet!”
Seeing her eat the apple happily brings me healing.
Ah, I don’t know whose daughter she is, but isn’t she just too cute!
“Isn’t this too much…?”
I hear the hero brat grumbling from the sidelines.
“Adults should know how to sacrifice for children.”
“Is that so…?”
The hero heaves a deep sigh, unable to make his senior peel fruits for him, or perhaps because that senior didn’t want to peel fruits for his junior. He eats the apple whole.
“How long do we have to stay here?”
It was Shuttle’s question as he munched on apples beside him.
Maybe because we’ve been waiting longer than expected, there are a lot of questions.
“We wait until the negotiations progress or the Demon King crosses the border.”
“So there’s no set period…”
I feel bad for Shuttle, but it can’t be helped.
If the Demon King doesn’t move, Mirea who has to control the imperial army can’t move either.
Any messages he receives will only connect along the Demon King’s invasion route.
In just this city, I left a lot when I was going around with the hero.
Oh right, did I let loose the ones I locked in the warehouse?
“Verul.”
“Yes, Master.”
“There were some of your organization members locked in the warehouse we stayed at… Did you go find them?”
“…Yes. I had a junior retrieve them.”
I see.
Thanks to that, unnecessary lives could be saved.
Seeing how they were when I imprisoned them, I couldn’t even distinguish whether they were villains or heroes.
But since he was considerate enough to think of rescuing people, he must still have a hero’s heart.
“You gave advance notice, huh.”
“It just happened to come up in conversation with my senior.”
Ah, it just happened by chance?
“I see.”
To think the hero wouldn’t even consider rescuing people.
Should I feel sorry for the God of Nature who chose a guy like this as a hero, or feel sorry for the hero who got chosen by the God of Nature despite having this kind of personality?
For now, my conclusion is they’re about the same, so neither are pitiful.
The god and that hero, I mean.
“Well, as long as they lived, right?”
“Right. As long as they lived.”
I nodded along to the hero’s words.
Yes, as long as they lived, that’s what matters.
Those guys were probably caught trying to backstab others anyway.
There’s no way my former disciple would have shown the secret passage just to make some petty cash, right?
Right?
“Ah, that was real. We didn’t make it, we were using a secret passage created by another organization in the past to do business.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
It was real, he says.
“If it’s really an evil organization, isn’t using rumors to deceive people and turn them into slaves to sell them off, or just robbing them of money and sending them back, the standard method!?”
“Hahaha! How old are those stories you’re telling? It became so difficult to sell slaves after the Karan Empire started cracking down on it. If we sell them improperly and get reported, the cooperating Kingdom and Imperial army will stomp us out. Howling was completely uprooted in just a month, so small fry organizations like us don’t dare do it.”
Small fry organization… They’re based in this kingdom, but have taken over organizations in surrounding kingdoms, with dozens of branches under them.
“On top of that, with the recent emergence of the Demon King, we have to be extra, extra careful. The kingdom is already putting all their power into eliminating any potential problems that could arise internally. If we foolishly rob people of money and get reported, the organization will be done for.”
“Why not use good methods like murder and massacre?”
“It may be possible normally, but not now. Because external oversight is prohibited, it’s difficult to dispose of corpses. Rather than move the corpses through secret passages, it’s simpler to just take money and send them back.”
Hmm… those are reasonable arguments.
But,
“Why not just guide them all the way to the end of the secret passage, dispose of them there, and bury them around the area?”
“Ah?”
He had an expression of never having thought of that method before.
“As expected of Master.”
It sounds like he’s buttering me up for being good at burying people, is this meant as praise? It’s praise, right?
Ah, but if he’s praising me for this kind of thing, is it really praise?
“Anyway… wouldn’t it be easier to just not do it if it’s so annoying?”
It seems they handle things quite thoughtfully, so why work to earn that petty cash? Was there really a need?
“What would we do lazing around? We can’t even work properly, so we have to earn at least a little pocket money to pay the kids.”
“Is that so?”
It was a fairly boss-like response.
“Ah, there’s one more thing I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“We’ve come to an agreement. My colleagues want to meet up, it’s been a while.”
Ah, so that’s why he was waiting here.
“Hey, wait! You should have told me that first! When, where, how!”
He said it so nonchalantly that I thought it was nothing.
Was that on purpose? It was on purpose, right?
“Ah, we’re preparing for ten days from now. The other three said they’ll all come. Looks like everyone’s feeling bright because business is hard with the Demon King around.”
Ten days? All of them? There’s too much I need to tackle!
“Is that so…?”
“Yes. I’m taking care of all the preparations. Master just needs to wait at ease.”
Wow, this feels so uncomfortable. It seems like there’s definitely some kind of trap!
“Alright. I’ll trust you for now.”
But I don’t need to show that.
For now, I need to handle things well on my own.
But… Why do I feel so anxious?
#3 Their Circumstances: A Certain Hero’s Circumstances
We finally escaped from the evil organization after staying there for quite a long time.
Sneaking out through underground passages, we passed two cities and arrived at a small village.
“Is this it?”
“Yes. A village we created.”
As expected of the best evil organization in a kingdom, to create an entire village.
And the people we’re about to meet are all Master’s disciples, who left Howling and created their own organizations. In other words, they’re all formidable individuals.
Which means there may be a chance to escape!
But the clingy metal bat beside me makes it seem very difficult to seize any opportunities.
Damn! If only Hil was with me like usual…
Master must also realize our current situation isn’t great.
“Here it is.”
While surveying my surroundings and looking for escape routes, we arrived at a place that looked like an ordinary inn.
Was it because of the evil god apostle going around? Or because it was an artificially created village?
Not just the village streets, but the interior of the inn was completely empty.
“You’ve arrived.”
A plain-looking man who seemed to be the inn owner lowered his head to my senior.
“How about the others?”
“They’ve all arrived.”
Nodding with an expressionless face, he looked exactly like the boss of an evil organization dominating a kingdom.
There was always a sense of discomfort when he interacted with Master, but this must be his usual self.
Perhaps… It was just from getting hit a lot during training.
Our class trained under Master for a little over a year after Howling was destroyed.
I only got hit by the bat for a few months.
My seniors were hit by the bat for 4 years, several times or even several decades what he has received.
Considering they were around the same age as me… it’s no wonder they’d develop trauma.
No, even adults would.
“This way.”
My senior who had shown his boss side so clearly headed downstairs to the basement, not upstairs.
“Hmm.”
That was Master’s murmur as we headed down.
The deeper we went, the bigger it got to the point it could no longer be seen as an ordinary inn.
After going down around two floors, a gorgeous door came into view. That door probably leads to where my senior and his classmates have gathered.
I felt a tinge of anticipation, wondering what kind of people they would be.
“You’re here?”
“You’re late.”
“Is this how you act when it’s your own place?”
And inside the room were three men oozing with individuality.
“I’ve been waiting.”
And my beautiful senior who welcomed us with a bright smile.
The problem was, that senior was…
“Why are you here…?”
“Well, I’m the one managing these four evil organizations, no, most of the evil organizations on the continent.”
Not Master’s second disciple, but his third disciple.
