"UGAkk!"

His gastric juices came up due to the extreme stimuli. He couldn't bend down to expel it properly, he had to contend with the bile and stomach acids dripping down from his mouth. Looking straight ahead, he saw his two underlings tied to a chair as well. For some reason, they were loosely tied to the chair compared to him. A man walked into his field of vision, carrying a sword.

The man walked behind one of his underlings and lifted his head to face Marc.

"Who are you?" The previous confident voice befitting an intimidating mercenary was now replaced with a meek, almost hushed voice.

The man with the sword didn't make any attempts to answer him, he only took a step back.

SHWAK!

The man's sword pierced through his underling's chest, with half the sword jutting out. The thug sputtered blood as the internal bleeding started to overwhelm his orifices. Before the thug could bleed out to his death, an elf with a dagger rushed to stab the thug in the head. With his struggle ended abruptly, the thug's head fell limp.

"STOP! By the G.o.ds stop!" Marc now felt rushed as he tried to reason with the two brutal captors in front of him.

Without saying anything, the duo moved to the other thug.

"What do you want? Stop! Please stop!" He was now spitting his vomit mixed with his pleas.

While the man with the sword was holding his only surviving underling's head again, the man finally broke his silence. "Who is the dwarf who sent you."

"The dwarf? The merchant? What has he done to you?"

The swordsman sent a furtive glance to his companion before looking at Marc again. With a quick motion, he sliced the underling's left arm off!

"Nooo!! Stop!! His name is Yokkun! Yokkun Orebasher! STOP!" The metal cables wrapped around Marc's arms already dug in deeper, he was actively bleeding from it.

His underling, however, wasn't bleeding from the amputation site. After slicing the limb, the swordsman placed his sword on the fresh wound and activated his magick sword. With a bright flash, the open wound immediately closed. Only the charred stump and the nauseating smell of burning flesh remained to indicate that the wound was fresh.

Smiling for the first time since he started his brutal display, the swordsman stood up and faced Marc. "Now that wasn't so hard was it. How can we verify this information?"

"You can ask around in the Merchant District! He owns a few shops there. Please let us go. We've answered your question." His tears started to fall. It seemed that all his body fluids were being displayed in front of the man. Almost all anyway.

"We're going to verify the information now. We'll come back shortly. Don't get c.o.c.ky now."

After the swordsman sheathed his sword and made a few claps, the elf came back with strips of cloth to tie cover his eyes and mouth. After robbing him of his vision and speech, he was only left with his hearing and smell to ascertain his surroundings. What seemed like a few hours pa.s.sed, and the duo left after closing the door behind their receding footsteps.

Even with his m.u.f.fled voice, Marc tried to get his only surviving underling's attention. For some reason, his subordinate didn't respond or make any noise whatsoever. Marc feared the worse as he waited in silence for his captors to return.

***

"Master I've come back after confirming the information." Zes opened the door to a dilapidated shack carrying a basket of food. She took off her hood to reveal her strawberry-blonde hair and pointed ears.

"I see that you've also bought some supplies to throw off suspicion. Good job Zes. Please call me Sebastian though." Sebastian took the food basket off her and placed it on the table. He motioned for her to sit down across him.

"Ah, sorry er- Sebastian. I went to the Market District and asked for shops owned by the dwarf Yokkun. There were a couple of shops, however, some of them have already closed down. Only his weapons and armour shops remain open. His remaining shop isn't selling weapons though, only buying them and mana stones. Rumour has it that his business isn't doing well."

"Is that what the nosy housewives and other shopkeepers are saying? That would make sense, however, they have to remember that he is buying weapons and mana stones. He has money somewhere, though he isn't showing it here. His money might come from another city or another person. Are there any missing persons quest regarding Marc and his lackeys in the adventurer's guild?"

"I wasn't able to see anything when I went there."

Silence fell between the two as Sebastian continued to think. Zes stood up and prepared plates for their lunch. After staying in the shack for two days with their prisoners, she was unwittingly getting accustomed to their small s.p.a.ce.

After their meal, Sebastian stood up and prepared the sword on his waist. "Zes, let's go down to the cellar. We'll dispose of them today. As planned, I will intimidate them first."

"Then I will perform the final blow right?" Zes also prepared the dagger on her waist as she followed him.

***

Under the silence and the darkness, Marc didn't have any idea how long they were stranded in that s.p.a.ce. Initially he tried to count so he had an idea, however, he soon pa.s.sed out from hunger and exhaustion so any semblance of time slipped past him. In the darkness, he heard the door open and feet shuffling. Turning his head towards the sound, it drew closer until it stood beside him. With a rough motion, the blindfold and the gag was removed.

"puhat. Did you check? Please let us go." Even before his eyes adjusted to the dimly-lit area, he already pleaded for mercy.

The swordsman came into view again in front of him. He could still see the one-armed underling in front of him breathing, however, his eyes were half dead.

"Yokkun only has one active shop remaining. It doesn't sound like a very lucrative business now, isn't it? I'm just wondering how a failing businessman managed to hire you and your thugs." As if to show dominance, he drew his sword again.

Marc responded with a jolt. "His main shop is in Klance City! He moved his main businesses there. Wildecross wasn't enough." Seeing the sword also seemed to revitalise him into an almost panicked state.

"I see. It seems that there are still a lot of things we need to talk about before this session will finish." The swordsman activated his magick sword, which cackled as if to agree with him.

"No! We can talk! I'll answer all your questions! Please!"

"I'm sure you will." He took a step behind the thug's corpse with the stab wound to head. "Did you know? The interesting thing about electricity is that it can be used to provide a sudden surge of energy within muscles or blood vessels. In turn, this will provide a quick physical change to that body part."

He placed his sword flat on the corpse's chest and increased his mana through it. The body jerked as if it was about to jump off the chair.

"No! Stop! He's dead! Why?!" Marc unconsciously tried to move his hands once more, only to have the wounds open and bleed again. Showing what his body went through the past few days, only a few streaks of blood streamed out of his wounds. He was running out of blood without him knowing it.

"Then let's talk shall we." The swordsman sent another glance towards his companion, indicating she should leave.

Near a small shack deep in the forest, a beautiful and slender elf could be seen picking fruits and vegetables in its vicinity. It provided a homey ambience when you look at the scene from afar. However, if you put your ears on the ground near the shack, you would hear screams and cries of torture.

***

"Is it alright to just burn the shack mas- Sebastian?" Zes walked beside Sebastian as they entered back into the city.

"That should be alright. I've placed accelerants in the cellar so it should burn faster. We also waited there for a while, so the bodies should have been charred by now. The meat we placed near the shack would also draw wild animals to provide an alibi. Anyone else will easily think it was a hunting shack which was besieged by wild animals, causing an accidental fire or something like that."

"I see. Did I do a good job?" Zes suddenly looked at Sebastian with expectant eyes.

Caught off guard, Sebastian had to blink a few times before he understood what was happening. "kuhum. Yes, you did very well. I couldn't have done it without you. Let me know if you want me to buy something."

"My master's praises are enough. Thank you."

With a blus.h.i.+ng elf beside him, Sebastian remembered once more that he was in a fantasy world. The fact that he just came back from torturing and murdering someone felt distant for some reason.

***

"So there you have it. Our next destination is Klance City. I've outlined what I extracted from the mercenary and the thugs that threatened Aima, but it's just about the dwarf and nothing about Nate." Sebastian placed his teacup down as he finished his briefing. The group convened in Mel's house, which was starting to become their home base of sorts. They gathered in the cosy home which was clearly not made for 5 adults. Zes was standing beside Sebastian after she finished tidying up the other party members' teas.

"Yes yes, Klance City it is. More importantly, I still can't get used to Sebastian having a slave." Jin also placed his teacup on the table while staring at Zes, causing her to blush.

"Jin. It's rude to stare. Aima and I have told you time and time again that we will keep an eye on Sebastian to make sure he doesn't abuse his authority. The [Contract] spell should also keep him in line." Mel gave a rea.s.suring to Zes. With Sebastian and Mel's relations.h.i.+p, it was natural for Zes to also respect and follow her requests to an extent.

Seeing an opportunity, Aima started teasing Jin. "If you're jealous Jin, you can always procure one as well. There's nothing stopping you."

"I told you guys that I won't be involving myself in that."

"Oh ho. Have you heard what goes on in the bedroom with these three though?" Aima raised a coquettish eyebrow while she pretended to cover her smile.

"Aima!" It was Sebastian and Mel's turn to interject this time with their flushed faces as they stood up. Zes remained quiet but she couldn't look at the group in front of her. She felt her face flush to the point where she thought she was having a fever.

Sebastian regained composure and sat back down on his seat. "kuhum. We're getting carried away. We'll start preparations for Klance City, we'll leave in a few days."

"How are we going there? It would be expensive if we rent horses or a carriage for 5 days' travel." When it came to money matters, Aima turned serious and was unsurprisingly sensible at times like these.

With a smirk, Sebastian placed a quest posting on the table for the others to see.

After quickly reading through the details, Jin spoke first. "So we will escort a merchant as they travel from Wildecross to Klance City? This is very good timing. What's the catch for this?"

"Hm? Jin, there's no catch for this. Merchants have always requested escorts for transporting between cities for a long time now. This is actually a good suggestion. We can ride for free, our meals are provided, and we get paid for it. We just need to make sure that the caravan arrives safe and sound. Right, Sebastian?" Mel briefly summarised the plan before looking at Sebastian who nodded in silence.

"Oh ho. This part is good though." Aima, who was still reading the quest posting, pointed to the bottom of the text for everyone to see.

Sebastian smiled once again as he read the merchant's name out loud. "That's right. We will escort the merchant Yokkun Orebasher's wares."