His arm had become lodged in the edges of the steel door, into the hinges. No, it did not stop there. His arm continued to dig in deeper.
With a screech, the hinges announced their parting from the wall.
Sebas freely opened the door that had lost its resistance.
“What …the…?”
As soon as he stepped inside, there was a hallway and a large man with spiked hair stood in front of a half-open doorway. His eyes and mouth were wide open as he wore a dumbfounded expression.
“It was slightly rusted so I forced it open with a bit of strength. You should keep the door well oiled.”
Sebas spoke to the man and closed the door. No, perhaps it would be better to say that he propped it up.
As the man stood stupefied, Sebas walked further inside without reserve.
“—Hey, what’s going on?”
“—What was that noise?!”
The voices of other men could be heard behind the man.
However, being face to face with Sebas and unable to even react to their voices, the man spoke.
“… W…W-Welcome?”
The man fell into confusion and could only stare vacantly as Sebas walked up to his face. Normally, a person who worked in a place such as this would be used to violence. However, the scene that the man had just witnessed was far too estranged from his common sense that he had nurtured up to this moment.
Ignoring the questions from his allies behind him, the man gave Sebas a flattering smile. It was because his survival instincts told him that that was the best course of action. He could also have been desperately lying to himself that this man was a butler who served one of their customers. The man and his bushy beard, his cheeks twitching as he tried his damnedest to show a hospitable smile, such appearance was truly an eyesore.
Sebas also wore a smile; soft and gentle. However, there was no kindness to be found in his eyes. They held a vicious glint that could captivate people, like a sharp blade.
“Could you please step aside?”
A ‘thud’, no, more like a ‘splat’. A sickening sound rang out.
A rough-looking adult man wearing equipment would easily weigh more than 85 kilograms. A man like that went spinning into the air like some joke and was blown aside at a speed that was too fast for the eye to follow. Just like that, the man’s body crashed into the wall with a loud splash.
The house shook as if it had been struck by the fist of a giant.
“…Oh no, if I killed him a bit further inside then he would have been a good psychological barricade… Well, it seems there are more left so I will have to be more careful from now on.”
Sebas told himself that he should restrain his strength a little as he left the corpse to this side and moved further inside.
Sebas opened the door wide and stepped into the room. With graceful movements, he looked around him. Rather than someone who was charging into the enemy camp, he gave off the air of a person who was taking a stroll around a deserted house.
There were two men.
They were staring dumbfounded at the crimson flower on the wall behind Sebas.
The room was filled with the smell of cheap alcohol of the likes that you would never find in Nazarick. It mixed with the smell of blood and entrails and gave rise to a bizarre, stomach-churning aroma.
Sebas put together the information that he heard from Tsuare and the assassin and tried to map out the structure of this building’s interior in his head. Although Tsuare’s memory was filled with holes and had little to offer, he did hear that the real shop was located in the basement. The assassin had never been down there and was of no help from this point onward.
Although Sebas watched the floor, he could not find the stairs as they were well hidden.
If he could not find it himself, then he simply had to ask someone who knew.
“Pardon, I have a question that I’d like to ask you.”
“Guaahh!”
As soon as he spoke to them, one of the men let out a high-pitched scream. It seemed that now, the thought of fighting itself had vanished from his mind. Sebas felt relieved. He could not control his strength very well if he thought about Tsuare and his fists would end up killing them instantly.
If they gave up the notion of fighting back, he could stop at just breaking both of their legs.
The men who were trembling in fear flattened their backs against the wall, all in an attempt to try and get as further away from Sebas as possible. Sebas watched them without emotion and his mouth tore into a smile.
“Hiiii!”
They grew more frightened and the smell of ammonia spread into the surroundings.
Sebas thought that he may have gone too far in scaring them and furrowed his brow.
One of the men rolled back his eyes and fainted. The extreme tension had caused him to let go of his consciousness on his own. The other man looked at his comrade with an envious expression.
“Haa… as I have just said, I’d like to ask you a question. I have business below. Could you tell me how I might find my way?”
“… T-that’s.”
Sebas saw the light of fear in the man’s eyes as he considered betrayal. Although the assassins were the same way, it appeared that this man feared the organization’s purge as well. Remembering about the man who fled with the money he received and how he acted, being purged probably meant death.
Since it appeared that he would not talk without being taught a lesson, Sebas said the words that would cut down the man’s hesitation.
“It seems that there are two mouths here. It does not matter to me whether you are the one to speak.”
The man started to sweat profusely from his forehead and his body trembled.
“O-O-O-Over there! There, that’s where the secret entrance is!”
“Indeed.”
Looking at where he was pointing, it really did look like the seams of that floor were different.
“I see. Thank you. Then you have done your part.”
As Sebas smiled, the man understood the meaning hidden behind his words and trembled, his face growing pale. Even so, he held onto a tiny, thin ray of hope and spoke.
“I-I’m begging you, j-just don’t kill me!”
“I refuse.”
The immediate reply froze the room in silence. The man’s eyes grew round, the expression of a person trying to deny what he did not want to believe.