Bad Born Blood - Chapter 97



Only Noblemtl

097

Iskan and I checked our equipment before entering the abandoned building.

‘The shock pistol is too powerful.’

The shock pistol Ruina is not a gun that you would use often in a one-on-one fight. It was originally a special weapon made to deal with Rick Silva Nunez.

Kirick.

I touched the guard’s supply pistol. The parts moved smoothly. It was a pistol with a reliable structure without any miscellaneous functions. Its only flaw was its low power, but it could be overcome with precision shooting.

Kiiing.

I pulled out the blade halfway. The blade of the Crucis glowed brightly. I preferred this to the gun.

Whirlwind.

And he also spun around Illei’s gift, the Graken Boot, with one hand. The dagger Graken Boot kept its sharp white blade even without any special care.

“I thought you had the Graken Boots. Did you get them from the Equsians?”

Iskan said, recognizing the Graken Boots.

“I received it as a gift from a friend.”

“It’s a precious thing. You must have good friends.”

“… … I think so.”

I said after a bit of hesitation.

Iskan slightly raised his eyes, surprised by my affirmation, and smiled.

Woohoo!

The roar of an aircraft spread across the skies in the direction of Akbaran.

We crouched and stared at the place where the sound came from. An aerial vehicle stopped in front of an abandoned building and a man got out. He looked around cautiously and then entered the abandoned building.

“I guess there’s something in there. I see people keep coming in.”

We took a deep breath and walked towards the abandoned building. There was no sign of any surveillance equipment on the exterior walls.

Thud, thud.

We walked into the dark interior. It was a cold hallway with no lights.

‘It’s a passage with a lot of people passing through.’

It wasn’t an abandoned building. There were traces of people coming and going. Even the dust on the floor was imprinted with footprints.

“There is someone in front of me.”

I said it in a whisper. Iskhan would know this much.

“Just put away the violence until I give you the signal. We can resolve this through dialogue.”

As the hallway passed, a space was revealed. It was blocked on all sides and had no windows, so it was difficult to see even an inch with normal biological vision.

Kiing.

Only the cybernetic eye glowed in the darkness. Three men stood inside. One of them looked at us and opened his mouth.

“Oh, you’re here already? There’s still some time left until your reservation time… … .”

“You little brat! You’re not a guest!”

“What!”

The men shouted belatedly and then aimed their guns at us. The red dot of their optical sights was stamped on our foreheads.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down. I’m here as a guest too.”

Iskan raised both hands as if surrendering.

“Hey, who are you? A customer? We’re 100% reservation only, you idiot.”

The one who seemed to be the leader of the three men pointed his pistol askew at Iskan. He had no idea that the man in front of him was a high-ranking guard. If he wanted to threaten, he should be holding a bomb that could blow up the entire room, not a gun.

“Please make an exception today. I finally found it after asking around. I heard that there is no other place that provides proper service.”

Iskan lied calmly. He just threw out a plausible statement to see how the other person would react.

“But why are you two here? Are you kidding me?”

The man didn’t attack right away because he had his gun pointed firmly at him, but asked a question.

‘You must be wondering where we got our information and where we found it.’

They won’t attack us blindly until they find out. They’ll at least pretend to be nice at first.

“This is my bodyguard. It’s my first time, so I can’t come alone, right?”

“This kid?”

“You’re good. Aim for this guy’s head and pull the trigger.”

“What? Do you think we can’t do it?”

“I don’t mind dying.”

“Ha, hahaha, you crazy kid. What the… … .”

The man smiled, rubbing his forehead. As he spoke, he quickly changed the direction of his gun and aimed it at me.

bang!

A gunshot rang out. I read the movement of the fingers and tilted my head. A bullet whizzed past my ear.

The men’s eyes widened. They muttered in surprise.

“… … You seem to have the skills to be a security guard. I guess you must be quite wealthy to be able to hire someone this skilled?”

The man’s tone changed. It must be because he thought he wouldn’t be able to win if he fought us right away.

“Payment in kind, not credit, is also possible.”

Credits, as digital assets, are easily traced. The more shady the situation is, the more they prefer other forms of payment rather than credits.

“So where did you get introduced to me?”

The story was unfolding, but the sense of caution remained.

“He asked me to keep it a secret.”

“Hmm, that’s strange. If I had been introduced by another guest, there wouldn’t have been this unnecessary friction.”

“I don’t know the details either. I’m just keeping it a secret because they asked me to.”

There was silence after Iskan’s words. I observed the three men closely. If their attitude changed, I planned to subdue them in one go.

“Let’s go now for today. This kind of visit is difficult. If you come with me after being properly introduced, I will accept you.”

The men were hurriedly packing their bags. As soon as we left, they would immediately change places. And they would contact only the ‘regulars’ to tell them about the new place.

‘What an ironclad attitude. That’s what it takes to do business in the shadows.’

At this point, I was wondering what they were selling. Prostitution and drugs were rampant even in the lower-class areas.

I waited for Iskan’s signal. I’d kill two, leave one alive and torture him, and that would be it.

“If you kick me out of here, it will be difficult for me to continue doing business. I have a bad temper.”

Iskan tried to talk as if he was still trying to resolve the issue through words.

“What the hell is this guy!”

The captain swore and aimed at Iskan. Then my hand moved as well.

“If you knew what kind of person the person in front of you is, you wouldn’t even think of pointing a gun at him. If you want to regret it, then come at him. Do you have any family or friends? We’ll all die together. Because of you.”

I said, aiming my pistol. I said it as if Iskan were some very high-ranking nobleman. And most of what I said was true.

If it doesn’t end with a conversation, you’re the one who’s going to die.

The men hesitated and then lowered their guns. I also lowered my gun and watched.

“… …Do you know what we sell?”

We don’t know. It’s Iskan’s job to figure out how to handle this.

“You came here to buy pleasure. Wouldn’t it be safer for you if I became an accomplice as well?”

This is a vague statement that applies to all shady businesses. I don’t know if it will work or not.

“Huh, I see. Follow me. We never do this. We never accept guests who don’t have a reservation or a formal introduction.”

“I will give you a generous gift.”

“Of course it should be like that.”

The man opened the door. He saw stairs leading down to the basement.

‘What a disgusting basement.’

I grumbled to myself. It’s only natural that people who do this kind of work use underground passages. But after my experience with the Arcane Fortress, I don’t like underground passages.

The man guided us alone. It seemed like the other two had to guide other guests.

Thud, thud.

A man entered the underground passage and held an electric lantern. No matter how much you can see through the darkness, there is no better view than under the light.

“Since you didn’t make a reservation, I’ll just push in the remaining seat. Asking to change seats won’t help.”

The man spoke ahead.

“I came here out of necessity, so I have that much shame.”

“Do you have any favorite equipment or facilities?”

Iskando will also be racking his brain.

‘Prostitution? But if it’s the equipment and facilities… … .’

The vocabulary was strangely cold.

But my thoughts didn’t linger long on those words. I poured my brain’s resources into figuring out the path we were walking. The conversation was Iskan’s job.

“You don’t have to prepare anything separately. I’ll use mine.”

“Hmm, you’re that type of person. I guess you have something in mind.”

“I don’t want to talk about my shameful delusions.”

“Haha, it’s hard to say out loud. Especially for us. We talk about it indirectly rather than directly.”

The atmosphere was much more cheerful. However, something had been bothering me since a while ago.

I slowly removed my lips.

“… … Excuse me, but can I ask you something?”

The man stopped walking at my words.

“I’m sure the bodyguard has no questions about this?”

The man responded somewhat annoyed.

I rolled my eyes and scanned the underground passage. A faint motor noise was coming from my body. Iskan must have noticed that I had increased the output.

“Doesn’t people usually pass by here?”

This is the sense of incongruity I felt. There is no sign of people. There were two guests who came before us. If they had passed by, there should have been signs of people coming and going.

‘It makes sense if each guest uses a different underground passage.’

The man must be careful with his answer, for this will determine whether or not he will use force.

“What are you talking about? Every time I go back and forth… … .”

Before he finished speaking, I took action.

The awkward smiles, the sweat, and the obvious lies. When it all came together, I came to one conclusion.

That guy is luring us into a trap.

Whirlwind.

I turned around behind the man and grabbed his neck. Before I knew it, the dagger Graken Boot was under his chin.

Iskan watched my actions quietly.

“Speak carefully before I rip your throat out.”

“Hey, hey, listen. Hand, sir. What is this… … Whew! Kwaaaaaa!”

I stabbed the man in the jaw with the Graken Boot. The sharp tip of the knife touched his tongue. Blood poured down his neck like a tie.

Threats that don’t involve violence can easily sound like empty boasts.

‘I can kill you.’

You have to make the other person feel that fact in their body.

“I was wondering too… … Since you moved, my hunch was right. This isn’t a guest passageway, is it?”

Iskan stood in front of the man and said.

“Hey, shh, foot. Bird, kaaaak!”

I twisted the Graken boot slightly. The wound opened and the bleeding increased.

“Just answer the questions we ask. We don’t care if you die. We kept you alive to make things easier. If we decide that getting answers from you is too much trouble… … we can just kill you here and move on.”

“Okay, okay, okay. So, put the knife, the knife away first, Show.”

The man spoke with difficulty.

Whoosh!

I took off the Graken boot and shook it lightly. As soon as the blood dripped off, the pure white blade gleamed like new.

Clink, bang!

I snatched the man’s weapon away and threw it on the floor. The unarmed man was gasping for breath, clutching at his gaping jaw.

Iskan stared calmly at the man.

“We don’t care what you do. We have business to attend to with one of your customers. If you just do what we ask, nothing will happen. Just one customer will disappear, and you can go about your business as usual. Got it?”

The man nodded his head reluctantly.

“Then lead us straight to the guest passage. We don’t want to kill people unnecessarily, including you.”

As I listened to Iskan’s words, a question arose.

‘Iskan sticks to peaceful methods as much as possible.’

If it were me, I would have subdued the three men with force from the moment they appeared, and started threatening them right away. After I quickly killed two of them, the other one would tremble in fear.

Sudden death and violence cause people to panic, and panicked people tend to divulge the truth more easily.

Iskan would know this method well, but he chose the troublesome conciliatory measure. He is the one who killed countless people while living as a guard.

‘We don’t want to kill people unnecessarily.’

I interpreted this differently.

‘I don’t want to kill people unnecessarily.’

Iskan preferred non-lethal methods. Perhaps he was sincere when he said he did not want to kill people.

The guardsmen were fighting machines whose natural aggression had been reinforced through training. But he was reluctant to kill.

‘Humanity… to avoid being eaten by the Legion.’

I thought I knew Iskan’s defense mechanism.