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.
“But, I told you! Hey, I’ll do anything, so let me live!”
“That is true, but…”
Sebas breathed out a sigh and shook his head.
“I refuse.”
“You… you’re kidding, right?”
“If that is what you wish to believe. There is only one result to come of this.”
“… Please…god.”
Sebas remembered when he picked up Tsuare and slightly narrowed his eyes.
What right did a man of this kind of profession have to ask something of god? And to Sebas, the 41 Supreme Beings were his gods. It felt as if they had just been insulted.
“This is what you deserve.”
From the steely voice that rejected everything, the man seemed to have realized that he was going to die.
Was he going to run, or fight? The moment when that choice was placed before his very eyes, without hesitation, the man chose— to flee.
Even if he were to fight Sebas, the result was obvious. Instead, no matter how small it was, he had a better chance of surviving if he ran. The thinking behind his decision was correct.
Because for a few seconds, no, even though it was only for a tenth of a second, his life had been extended.
Having instantly caught up to the man who was making a break for the door, Sebas lightly turned his body. The gust of wind went past the man’s head and he collapsed like his strings had been cut. A round object hit the wall with a thud and rolled down to the floor, leaving behind a trail of blood.
A moment later, blood sprouted from the man’s headless neck and sprayed onto the floor.
That was truly a splendid technique. To blow away a head with a roundhouse kick, although it had the speed and power to make something like that possible, the most frightening part was that not a single stain could be found on Sebas’ shoe covering his foot.
With the sound of his footsteps, Sebas walked towards the man who had fainted with his eyes rolled back and brought down his foot. With the sound like an old tree breaking, the man’s body convulsed. After a few spasms, he no longer budged.
“…Is it not self-evident what would happen to you from everything that you people have done thus far? But rest assured, at the very least, you have atoned with your bodies.”
Sebas retrieved their corpses.
He lined the area around the stairs with the utterly destroyed bodies. Even looking at them was horrifying; it would strike fear and hesitation to any who tries to flee. It was a method that Sebas thought of should he be unable to destroy the point of entry.
After moving the corpses, Sebas brought his foot down on the secret floor entrance.
First was the sound of mechanical parts being destroyed. Following that, a large hole opened up on the floor. The broken floor cover loudly tumbled down the sturdy stairs.
“Aha… If I just destroy these stairs, then it would be difficult for them to escape through this way.”
The room was not very large.
The desolate interior had a wardrobe to store garments and a bed, nothing else.
The bed was not the shoddy kind which would only have a sheet on top of it. Rather, it was a mattress stuffed with cotton, a luxury used by nobles. However, as if they focused on functionality, the design was plain and its ornaments lacked flavor.