Ankoku Kishi Monogatari ~Yuusha wo Taosu Tameni Maou ni Shoukansaremashita~

Chapter 67.1: Sword Dancer

◆Small Time Villain, Marchas

「Fu*ck… I lost it.」

I was cursing internally while walking down the night streets.

Sienna should’ve been pushed out of the ship and fallen into the sea to drown, but she dodged right at the last second which ended up with me falling from the ship instead. I must’ve dropped the flute I received from Ainoe-neesan during that time.

「What should I do now… at this rate, she’s going to kill me for sure…」

Honestly, I wanted to run.

But, that was pretty much impossible.

I’m sure that an even more terrifying retribution would befall those who tried to escape from the witch. Plus, I have nowhere else to go.

I don’t want to go back to being a sneak-thief again. That’s why, I have to find a way for her to forgive me.

I arrived at my destination while pondering over the matter.

My destination was the darkest place in the Republic of Ariadya.

The Republic of Ariadya was being protected by three stages of ramparts. The reason for that was due to the ever growing size of the Republic of Ariadya. Whenever the outer city became big enough, a new rampart was added to expand its borders. However, the city’s expansion had come to a stop around dozens of years ago

And now, I was currently outside of all three of those ramparts. In short, the outer city.

Anyone could come and live in this place regardless of their identity. That included criminals and the people who were exiled from their homelands. The criminals then banded together and there were many criminal organizations formed.

One of those criminal organizations was a group of heretics who worshipped monsters. This heretic organization was at the top of Ariadya’s underworld. In short, they were the rulers of the dark side of Ariadya.

I, who had no citizenship nor backing to get one, had no choice to either become a freedom fighter or a criminal.

Well, I’d ended up choosing the latter since I’m a lousy fighter.

After walking for a while, I arrived in front of a big building. It was a splendid wooden building.

At first glance, it looked like a normal dinner and inn. But, it was in fact the headquarters of the underworld organization. In the basement of this inn, there was an enshrined head of a black goat which they used to worship the demons.

Ainoe-neesan should be waiting for me in the basement of this place.

「Uhm?」

I then noticed a man at the entrance of the building. The man just stood at the entrance without coming inside.

He didn’t look like a traveler nor did his posture resemble one. The man wore clothes that were usually worn by commoners.

What was he doing right there? Did he come for a prostitute?

The female employees of this inn did also work as prostitutes. Well, he might fancy a girl in there perhaps.

Though he looks like an honest man, when you peel off that facade, all that’s left is a mass of lust. Yup, no doubt about it, he’s one hell of a pervert.

Though, there’s a chance that he might be aiming for a male prostitute, but I don’t see those kinds of signs from that man. There were several cases where the men would be looking for a gay partner, but the look in their eyes was completely different from the one that man has.

But then, why doesn’t he enter I wonder?

Only a virgin would do something like that.

Well, this might be his first experience in using a prostitute. In short, he’s not going inside due to his lack of experience.

At a glance, he looks like a good looking man from a well-off family. Upon a closer look, his face is so well-ordered to the point that I wanted to punch him in the face.

And then, I suddenly got an idea.

Ainoe-neesan might forgive me if I give her this man. In short, I’m going to present him to Ainoe-neesan as her slave.

Sorry, dude, but be my sacrificial lamb.

I mean, he could become the witch’s sacrifice or a male prostitute once he’s been brainwashed with drugs.

This man’s relatives might come searching for him later, but they wouldn’t be able to do anything once they find out that he was working in this kind of place. They might even go as far as hiding his existence. Thus, their investigation wouldn’t ever arrive at me.

That’s why this was a low-risk high-return sacrifice for me.

「Heya brother. What are cha doing here?」

I greeted him kindly.

The man turned around at my call. He seemed to be surprised since he might’ve never expected to be called out like this.

「No, nothing really…」

The man replied with a wry smile.

As I expected. He’d really come to buy the prostitute. He couldn’t say it since it was banned by law. It was what someone from a well-off family would always say when answering something like that.

They did so since they simply couldn’t suppress their fiery passion. That was the reason behind their attitude.

「If you want, I can become your guide. I’m the acquaintance of this this store’s owner, I can even introduce you to nice girl if you want.」

The man looked intently at me upon hearing my words.

And then, he looked at me again after pondering about something for a while.

「I’ll be in your care then.」

The man was grinning ear to ear as he spoke.

He was completely off-guard. I chuckled inwardly as I looked back at him.

「Okay then. Follow me, lad.」

I guided the man into the store.

The first floor was used as the bar and diner. Since it was already evening, the lighting in the store had already been switched on. There were many people already sitting at the bar to drink. Some of them were people with citizenships.

The reason why this kind of store could keep prostitutes was mainly because the citizens secretly supported them from behind the scenes. Though they had citizenships, it was a simple matter to get rid of the lust in their bodies.

Though their deeds were against the teachings of Faeria, Ishtar’s teachings didn’t ban prostitution. I thought that this might be the reason why Ishtar was one of the twelve pillar gods.

The man followed behind obediently.

What an idiot. He had yet to realize that a cruel fate was waiting for him.

We kept walking through the interior of the store before entering a certain room. The room was a mere warehouse.

「Is this, the place?」

The man couldn’t hide his surprise at seeing me guide him into the warehouse.

「Hehe, see for yourself.」

I approached one of the cupboards with a smile on my face. And then, I moved the cupboard to the side, revealing the stairs to the basement of this inn.

「Oooh?」

The man seemed to be really surprised by this gimmick.

「Kukuku, surprised? But still, are you sure that you want to go down even if a babe is waiting for you below?」

I wasn’t lying when I told him that. The witches were a group of beauties after all. But of course, they might be hiding their real appearances with magic.

「Don’t worry. I’ve no idea why you’re showing such kindness to me but, this saves a lot of my time.」

The man sincerely thanked me for bringing him into a trap.

Seriously, just how big of an idiot is this man?

Normally, you would doubt whether there’s really a woman in the basement in the first place. He might’ve been a bird in a cage being raised in a comfortable environment all this time resulting in him being unable to doubt someone’s motives.

I felt the black flame of jealousy eating away at my heart. I really wanted to push this man into the abyss of despair. But of course, that life was waiting for him just beyond these stairs.

I laughed on the inside.

I descended down the stairs along with the man.

The underground floor wasn’t merely dug up ground. The ceiling, wall, and stones were properly leveled, which gave it a unique aesthetic beauty. Though I had no idea who’d made this underground floor, I could tell that the creator was an extremely skillful mage. But then, recalling the figure of the demon who’s bestowed magic to Ainoe, I guess that this kind of work isn’t really a big deal.

We arrived at a spacious room. The basement wasn’t dark due to the lighting placed along the walls. The man just followed after me without saying anything.

The men in robes and the usual witches were already waiting inside that spacious room.

The mean in robes were the ones who saw our arrival. Everyone but the one who led them wore white masks. The mask was a simple mask with holes for the eyes and mouth.

Who are they?

I felt an unpleasant sign from those masked men.

A while later, Ainoe and co saw my arrival.

「Humph, I praise your guts for not running away, Marchas. Well, it’s not like you can escape even if you try with our curse placed on you.」

Ainoe spoke as she looked at me.

「I’m not brave enough to escape from you. By the way, who are those people, AInoe-neesan? 」

I looked at the men in robes in order to divert the topic.

「Humph, even though it’s none of your business, let me give you a special exception this time. That man over there is Tarabos-dono, the vice president of the magician association. Let’s just say that they’re our cooperative workers.」

Ainoe introduced the only man who wasn’t wearing his mask.

Sure enough, he was a splendid magician no matter how you looked at it.

But I never expected that their cooperative worker was none other than the vice president of the magician association himself.

「Ainoe-dono. You’re telling him more than necessary…」

Tarabos spoke with a slightly troubled face.

Surely she wasn’t supposed to introduce such a big shot to someone like me. I could already imagine what kind of ruckus would happen if the secret about the cooperation between the witches and vice president of the magician’s association leaked out.

And yet, Ainoe didn’t have any intentions of keeping it a secret. It was more like she didn’t even care if she told me this huge secret.

She was a rather loose-lipped woman.

「Aah you’re right, sorry. Rather than that, can you introduce that nice looking man to me Tarabos-dono?」

Ainoe looked at the man who’d come with me.

「Hehehe. I did tell you that I’ll let you to meet wonderful sisters, right.」

After I said so, I unsheathed my dagger and turned around towards the man before mercilessly thrusting my dagger towards him.

「Don’t think too badly of me, lad.」

I spoke in a low voice as I thrusted the dagger.

I man should’ve realized that he’d gotten tricked by me, but it was too late. He couldn’t escape anymore.

I looked for the man’s reaction. But, he didn’t give any reaction at all.

His calm and collected appearance in this kind of situation was clearly abnormal.

「So you’re the one called Zeal!! I’ve heard about you!!」

The man suddenly shouted a name.

The witches and Ainoe were clearly surprised as soon as the man said that name. Because Zeal was the name of the demon worshipped by these witches, including Ainoe.

How did this man know that name?

The man’s eyes then moved to Ainoe. But, I felt like Ainoe wasn’t the one he was looking at. It was as if the man was looking at the empty air behind Ainoe.

「Hou… you can see huh? Who are you?」

A hoarse voice resounded in the basement.

At that moment, a big human figure emerged behind Ainoe.