Chapter 174 – Pertinax Auction House (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Those centered around the crow masks as they formed a crane-wing formation. Crimson glints shone from within the shadows of their hoods.

The family of order, Auditore. They had raided the Pertinax Auction House.

However, Pertinax the Ninth had known for some time already. He knew that those Shadow bastards had been prowling around Geodam City lately. Rumors spread quickly in the underworld.

At first he had sent someone with bribe money to the House Auditore. That person had come back with only his head and no body. It had been a perfectly clear reply that no conversation was possible.

He had known they were a family of hardheads, but it had truly been a refusal sharp as a blade.

If they were going to come out like that, then what could he . He had to reverse his course. Rather than lose sleep at night from anxiety, he would answer violence with violence of the same kind. Pertinax the Ninth decided to hire mercenaries.

However, a mere pack of nobodies would never be able to stand against Auditore. If he was going to spend money anyway, he had to recruit proper fellows.

The Ninth made contact with the Villain Alliance. And the Alliance readily accepted the auction house’s proposal. They handed over villains who were considered first-rate even within the Alliance as mercenaries.

That ready acceptance was unexpected. He had thought they would reject him several times at the very least. Yet it was settled in one go. Naturally, the Alliance demanded an enormous sum, but the Ninth paid it without a single complaint.

Later, he heard that the Villain Alliance, too, had been suffering headaches because of Auditore. It was because Elder Cladi had gotten hold of their leash.

Auditore had pursued the Alliance persistently, nibbling away at its power bit by bit.

On top of that, the vendetta squad that had gone to capture the traitor Choi Seol-ah had been wiped out completely. They had found out almost nothing of the truth. Only that they had been chopped into pieces? Judging by the corpses, it had been the work of a single man.

So at this point, when the Alliance’s foundation was wavering, cooperation with the Pertinax Auction House was a sweet proposal.

Their front and back were already being scrubbed raw as it was. They needed to earn money and make up for their losses somehow.

Their interests aligned. Between villains, that one fact alone left no reason to refuse.

For the auction house, the Alliance became a sturdy backing, and for the Alliance, the auction house became a goose that laid golden eggs.

And now a place had been prepared to confirm the closeness of those two groups.

Kwa-gwang!

Dozens of villain mercenaries kicked open the doors and charged into the auction house.

Could, the leader of the mercenaries, slowly looked around the auction house. Since he had received the briefing by radio, there was no need for a detailed explanation of the situation.

“What the fuck is this. I’m in the middle of enjoying my dinner and you bastards barge in.”

Khaak- ptui.

Could spat out a wad of phlegm and ground it under the sole of his shoe. Narrowing his eyes, he stared ahead.

That crow mask sitting leisurely in the very middle of the auction house. That had to be Altair, the head of Auditore.

He had heard the rumors well enough, but seeing him in person, he truly deserved to be called the strongest assassin. Even from quite a distance away, the killing intent he was emitting was enough to make one’s throat sting.

‘This isn’t going to end quietly.’

Without showing it as much as possible, Could gave orders to his men.

“Move the way we prepared for exactly this kind of situation. We’re superior in numbers. But don’t let your guard down. Focus on tearing through the minor trash first. Those bastards’ `Blessing of the Crow` is especially annoying.”

His subordinates nodded. They pressed their index fingers and thumbs together and prepared for battle.

“Old Ninth, this was arranged with the higher-ups, so we’ll do our job. But what happens to the lives of the participants is none of our concern, so we’ll fight without caring. Understood?”

At Could’s words, the Ninth fell into thought. If a bloodbath broke out, the participants would be dragged into it without exception.

Most of them would probably die. The possibility that not even a single customer would survive approached zero. If that was the case……

Pertinax the Ninth, who had been pressing hard at the corners of his eyes, spoke in a dry tone.

“I would prefer that not a single one leave alive. Participants or Shadows alike.”

Could suddenly burst out laughing madly.

“Looks like I underestimated you, Ninth. Right, if even one bastard gets out alive from here, rumors will spread everywhere that the Pertinax Auction House has joined hands with the Alliance. So we kill them all and dump the blame on `Auditore,` is that it.”

“If I don’t circle around it… yes, that would be the idea.”

“As expected of someone who holds a seat in the underworld. Right, if you’re going to handle a job, the proper way is to handle it cleanly so no trouble is left behind. I was going to ask for additional pay, but I like your attitude. As for dealing with the participants, I’ll make that my service.”

Could bared his teeth savagely. The Ninth grinned back. Dark malice rose blackly between the two of them.

Just as Could was about to shout to his men in a voice full of exhilaration.

Seugeong- thud.

Could’s temple struck the wooden stage floor. Gravity had begun acting from the side. As though he had laid himself sideways onto a sofa.

…What was this?

His puzzlement did not last long. The sight caught in his vision. A headless body was spurting fountains of blood. Could realized that body was his own.

Could slowly rolled his loosening eyes. A girl was looking down at him while flicking the blood from her blade. Her pupils were so empty they looked like the eyes of dead fish.

Only then did the back of his neck grow hot. The pain had arrived belatedly.

Could groaned inwardly. But the sound only revolved inside his mouth.

The assassin girl muttered with dull eyes from which all color had faded.

“Once this job is over… I can go back to the academy.”

Chloe wrapped her hand around the hilt in reverse grip. Then she drove the blade into his head with all her strength.

Thunk. The sound that came out was like stabbing a pumpkin, and Could’s vision immediately blacked out.

* * *

Beginning with Chloe, the assassins all placed their hands on their sword hilts. Then they manifested the Blessing of the Crow all at once.

Waver- every member of Auditore vanished as though they had melted into space. The next moment, the assassins’ blades assaulted the enemy from the blind spot of awareness.

The pattern was one-sided. Auditore drove the enemy back with unstoppable force. The sounds of death burst out sporadically.

…Kkeuaaaaaaagh!

The assassins’ blades doggedly targeted the villains’ hands. Their fingers were cut off one after another like brittle stalks.

Before they could even scream, another blade flew in from the opposite direction and pierced through flesh.

The assassins carved the villains apart without a single wasted movement, as though the two of them were one body. They peeled their enemies’ skin away as though stripping wrapping paper.

The villains spilled out a fistful of steaming innards. The assassins went as far as cutting off their heads in the end.

To the watching eyes, it looked like the slaughter of livestock. It was not something that could even be called a battle.

Even if it was somewhat extreme, it was a necessary procedure. The vitality of villains was far more tenacious than that of humans.

So they had to make sure one bastard’s life reaction was completely severed before moving on to the next target.

After the Night of Purge, Auditore had thoroughly analyzed and researched methods for dealing with villains. Then they put it into actual practice. They minimized their own losses while at the same time achieving the result of greatly reducing the Alliance’s fighting strength.

‘Oh……’

I couldn’t stop admiring it. Without even lifting a finger, villains were being transformed into vil-lains.

For someone like me, who had always rampaged at the very front line, it was comfortable to the point of being boring. That much the strength of the House Auditore had risen by leaps and bounds.

Chloe’s growth in particular stood out. I had no idea what kind of training she had gone through during the break, but her martial power had leaped ahead. Before her blade, villains had their bodies split apart helplessly.

‘I’d better be even more careful once Chloe came back to the academy.’

…And after a little while like that, the enemy was annihilated. Only the reddish stains left on the auction-house floor remained as traces of resistance.

“Th-this m-makes no sense……!”

Pertinax the Ninth’s complexion died like a corpse’s. Both his knees slammed to the stage floor. Throwing off his clown mask, he emptied out his stomach.

It was hard to endure this disaster that had unfolded in an instant with a sane mind.

While the clown was staring at his own vomit, Kang Geom-ma strode over.

The assassins in black hoods escorted him as though serving their chief. He looked just like the leader of a flock of crows.

Kang Geom-ma crouched down in front of him. Then, keeping one hand on the floor, he stared down at the crown of the fellow trembling uncontrollably.

“Patriarch, is there anything you would like to learn from this man. You need only command it. Your shadow will make him confess without regard for means.”

At that moment, Altair respectfully addressed Kang Geom-ma. Kang Geom-ma’s performance as the patriarch was not over yet.

After thinking for a moment, Kang Geom-ma shook his head.

“I do not wish to dirty your hands any further through something like that. There is nothing to learn from a man like this anyway, so behead him at once.”

“W-w-wait just a moment! O head of the House Auditore!”

With a desperate look, the clown grabbed at his trouser leg. In that state, he began pounding his forehead into his own vomit like a pestle.

“If it’s m-money, I will give you as much as you want! No, if that’s not enough, I will hand over this entire Pertinax Auction House! Of course, that includes all the members’ personal information as well. So please……!”

“The members’ personal information, I already have it all?”

“……?”

Without meaning to, the Ninth lifted his gaze. The crow mask held out a smartphone screen. On it was truly packed full of the information of Pertinax’s members.

“N-no, ah.”

The Ninth was more overcome by panic now than when the mercenaries had been annihilated. How had information protected by layer upon layer of security walls ended up in that man’s hands.

Altair, who had evidently not known this either, was genuinely astonished. That was information even Auditore’s intelligence network could not obtain no matter how many attempts it made.

Kang Geom-ma quietly rose after staring at the Ninth. Turning his body, he cast his gaze to the far side.

A crowd of masked figures watching the platform with tense faces. The corrupt and depraved, hiding themselves behind a shell as they sized up the situation.

So not a single one had been killed. Well, simply having participated in the auction was not enough grounds to kill them.

I let out a small laugh. Once again, I was reminded that Auditore was the family of order.

But I was not Auditore. Even if I cannot kill those trash bastards, I could still strip off those skins they were wearing.

While the bloodbath was in full swing, I had asked Ryozo to hack into the auction house’s network. It was because I had suddenly remembered her words that there might be things she could help with remotely.

Ryozo had grumbled that the security was unnecessarily thick. Even so, she quickly stole all the information and sent it to me.

‘Ryozo’s hacking skills really did improve by the day.’

Handing the smartphone to Altair, I gave an order.

“These are the identities of those present here. Publish them to the press along with the contents of today’s auction.”

“Ah, y-yes.”

Altair nodded with a somewhat blank look on his face. I stood in front of the clown again. Looking down at him collapsed on the floor, I opened my mouth.

“Pertinax the Ninth, I know that you do not deal only in magical beasts and demons. You lot have been secretly buying and selling people as well.”

“……!”

At my words, the Ninth looked as though he were asking how I could possibly know even that.

There was nothing new about it to me. The auction-house episode of Miracle’s Blessing M had been the one that dug up the truth behind it.

With a soul-drained expression, the Ninth muttered:

“J-just how much background digging did you do…… to know even that.”

With that, all of this bastard’s evil deeds had been dragged into the light. Once it had gone this far, there was enough justification for summary execution without any room for leniency. Clean and satisfying.

“I will handle this man myself.”

Altair personally raised his sword. The blade struck the neck without the least restraint. Thud. The clown’s head rolled and fell off the stage.

Clicking his tongue, Altair shook the blood off his blade. He should have tortured the man thoroughly before sending him off, but there were too many eyes watching, so he held back. Instead, if he killed every last one of the man’s arms and legs, the balance would roughly come out right.

The patriarch turned his head to the side. In the midst of all this chaos, Kang Geom-ma was undoing the restraints on the baby dragon.

“After dealing with a life steeped in sin, he saves a life free of sin……”

The patriarch shuddered. It had truly been decades.