I Alone Regress in a Hero Party That Was Annihilated - Chapter 25
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#25. And Then There Were None (2)
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Under the splendid chandelier, the faces of the rat bastards come into view.
Featherback drew his sword without a word.
“Get down.”
The rat bastards huddled together in the corner, paralyzed with fear.
Featherback spoke again.
“If you lie down quietly, I’ll kill you without pain.”
Then one vicious-looking noble lady burst out shouting.
“Bullshit! If we’re going to die anyway, we’ll at least take one of your arms with us!”
At her outcry, a secret door inside opened.
Knights armed in black heavy armor poured out from within.
Several old gentlemen also made subtle eye and hand signals.
Then doors in the ceiling and floor opened, and assassins wielding daggers burst forth.
It seemed they had secretly hidden private soldiers even in places like this.
…Of course,
“One arm?”
Featherback had anticipated all of these situations.
Shing—
The white sword was drawn.
“Not one arm, but if you can cut even a single strand of my hair, I’ll pardon all your crimes.”
Featherback strode toward the knights and assassins before him.
Whoosh!
One knight swung his great sword.
But Featherback raised the shield in his left hand to block it.
Clang!
Despite colliding with the heavy great sword, the shield he received from Cardona didn’t have a single scratch.
…Slice!
Featherback’s sword tip lightly swept through the gap between the knight’s helmet and breastplate.
“Gurgle!?”
A tremendous fountain of blood erupted from around his neck, and the massive knight collapsed instantly.
Mörsolt 1st Form ‘Blood Drawing’.
This alone was enough to hunt down and kill the bastards before him.
…Slice! …Slice! …Slash! …Crack!
Featherback’s sword tip swept across the floor as it was swung.
The ankles and cruciate ligaments of the heavy armored knights were severed one after another.
“Gah!?”
“Aaaaah!”
“Grrrr…”
The knights armed with heavy armor collapsed to the floor and could only writhe helplessly, unable to get back up.
Because the knights had fallen and were writhing on the floor, the path became extremely chaotic for the assassins wearing light armor.
Unable to take advantage of their numerical superiority, they were stabbed in the eyes and groin by Featherback’s sword, and soon suffered the same fate as the knights, collapsing to the floor.
…Thud! …Thud! …Thud! …Thud! …Thud! …Thud! …Thud!
Featherback walked around the room with an indifferent attitude, slitting the throats of the knights and assassins.
Meanwhile, the noble ladies and old gentlemen who had summoned them were trembling with faces pale as death.
The ceiling and walls of the luxury salon were completely stained the same red color as the floor.
Drip— Drip— Drip—
Blood that had splattered up to the ceiling fell down like raindrops.
Featherback only stopped his sword after making holes in the necks of all the soldiers.
A few blood drops had splattered on Featherback’s face as he swept his white hair back.
Soon, everyone prostrated themselves before Featherback.
“We, we were wrong!”
“Please spare our lives!”
“We’ll give you everything we have, please!”
Featherback nodded.
“I’ll confiscate your hidden wealth myself, so that’s settled. There’s only one thing I’ll collect from you.”
Then the noble lady who had screamed earlier raised her head with an expression filled with thread-like hope.
“Thank you! What should we give you?”
“Your lives.”
Featherback’s sword slashed diagonally.
Splurt splurt splurt splurt splurt!
A chain of blood fountains.
The heads of the noble ladies and old gentlemen rolled across the floor.
This was the end of the trash who had spent their entire lives sucking the lifeblood from the common people.
* * *
The slaughter was completely finished.
On the floor of the high-class social hall, which had become no different from a butchery, the blood of dark-haired beasts pooled up to ankle height and rippled.
The courtesans working in the salon kept retching at the sight.
But even in the middle of the hill of corpses and river of blood.
Scrape— Scrape— Scrape—
Featherback was calmly tending to his sword with a composed expression.
A white handkerchief wipes away the blood and oil staining the blade.
Featherback turned toward the knights behind him and asked in a leisurely tone.
“Report.”
“Yes.”
One of Mörsolt’s knights stepped forward and reported to Featherback.
“We captured a total of one hundred thirty-four insubordinates in the lower level of the social club. Fifty-three were on the wanted list, and the rest were simple participants.”
“Give the simple participants guidance and then release them.”
“Should we provide guidance with swords or clubs?”
“Can clubs provide proper guidance? Use swords. Among the fifty-three wanted criminals, how many are dead?”
“Excluding those here, none. They’re simply crippled.”
“Throw them in the underground prison. Any casualties on our side?”
“Of course not.”
The Mörsolt knight snorted and nodded his head.
He looked at those lying dead in the social hall and continued with apparent satisfaction.
“From the circumstances, it seems these bastards were preparing to assassinate the Young Master.”
“Everyone has plausible plans. Until their heads are severed.”
“What should we do now?”
“What are you asking? Bring the families of the dead and throw them in the underground prison for torture. Confiscate all their remaining wealth and use it for poverty relief welfare policies.”
“I shall obey your command!”
At Featherback’s words, the knight beat his chest with spirited enthusiasm.
…Meanwhile.
“You. Come here.”
Featherback gestured toward a corner of the room.
There was one survivor crouched among the corpses, trembling violently.
A middle-aged man with a long goatee.
Featherback’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t be afraid. Didn’t I promise to protect the safety of informants?”
Then the goateed man raised his head.
Sancho.
He was a traitor of the Anti-Mörsolt Alliance.
He was also the whistleblower who had informed Featherback of the time and location of this meeting.
The quick-witted rat immediately ran toward Featherback.
“As expected of the Young Master! I believed in you. I believed that you would sweep away these wicked scoundrels in an instant. Though I didn’t expect it to be quite this instantaneous and extreme.”
The comrades who had been laughing and chattering just moments ago were now sprawled out like slaughterhouse beasts, spewing blood, so his incoherent rambling was understandable.
But Featherback didn’t consider Sancho’s panic.
“Is this all?”
“What?”
“I’m asking if these are all the people you’re going to inform on.”
“!”
At those words, anxiety crept into Sancho’s expression.
Featherback poked Sancho’s chest with his sword tip.
“Originally, you should have been lying here spilling blood too. Considering the damage you’ve inflicted on the territory residents, this is still far from enough.”
“Oh my, you speak the truth! Of, of, of course there are more! There are definitely more! There’s a whole mountain of bastards to inform on!”
“Good. It would have been really troublesome if this was all.”
Featherback sheathed his cleanly maintained sword at his waist.
“Since I would have had to stain my freshly cleaned blade with blood and oil again.”
“Hiiik!?”
Sancho trembled violently with his head bowed.
He never thought he would come to fear a child who hadn’t even lived half his age this much.
But Featherback’s eyes weren’t those of a fifteen-year-old boy.
The eyes of a terrifying beast.
He was merely wearing the shell of a human, but something unimaginably frightening lurked within.
Featherback placed his hand on Sancho’s shoulder.
Then he continued in a low voice.
“All kinds of dirty money must have come and gone through this social hall. Confess everything about where it came from and where it went. Those who entrusted money laundering and those who did the laundering—I’ll kill them all.”
“…. …. ….”
It was the underground economy that had been considered a necessary evil, something that could never be eliminated.
Featherback’s will to completely uproot and annihilate Mörsolt’s entire underground economy was so firm that Sancho couldn’t utter a word.
Because somehow, it seemed like this fifteen-year-old boy before him would really accomplish it.
* * *
The rat bastards of the Anti-Mörsolt Alliance were trapped in boxes.
Those boxes soon began to fill with blood.
The surviving rat bastards were also in danger of drowning in the blood spilled by the dead rat bastards.
The quick-witted rat bastards stepped on other rat bastards’ heads to climb up, without anyone taking the lead.
“Since it’s come to this, we’ll rat them out first.”
“Hurry up. Informing has to be done as quickly as possible.”
“Hurry up. We need to report this as soon as possible.”
“If I side with Meursault, at least I’ll be able to keep my head.”
The fire has finally reached the feet of those who have long scorned the law and exploited ordinary people.
[I report this. The Fishing Village Chief living in the Gromor Family has been regularly sponsoring Lower Administrators at Mörsolt Castle for tax evasion…]
[I am a Scribe working for Baronet Silverrick. Recently, I witnessed His Lordship giving and receiving bribes…]
[I confess. I operated a violent organization in the countryside. However, there are many others far worse than me throughout Eggerser City. The most prominent organizations include…]
[I report a noble family that engages in human trafficking and slave auctions. They hire various violent organizations to commit kidnapping and abduction, then launder the money earned through gambling houses…]
[When the Levatein Judge recently enacted new laws, he received lobbying and created legislation favorable to certain classes. I am sending you ledgers containing evidence of this, so please review them…]
Reports from informants began to surge explosively.
Black money began to be recovered in droves, and unpaid taxes were also collected automatically.
…Soldiers who committed military supply corruption.
…Small business owner guilds that committed tax evasion.
…Human trafficking rings that engaged in kidnapping and abduction.
…Dark organizations that took money to carry out assassinations and assaults.
…Bureaucrats within Mörsolt who took bribes and turned a blind eye to various crimes.
All these entities that had been living it up in the underworld were dragged out by their hair.
Into the surface world. Right before the iron hammer of ‘Featherback’s Special Law.’
Featherback pulled the guillotine rope without a moment’s hesitation.
Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud—
Day after day, evildoers met their deaths.
It was so severe that the white lilies blooming in the execution ground flower bed had all turned red.
Featherback ordered the corpses of those executed to be buried in the vegetable garden in the castle backyard.
“Grow potatoes, millet, and beans here. From now on, make my meals from crops grown in this place.”
Those eerie words made even the Mörsolt Knights tremble.
If the knights reacted this way, how chilled must the criminals’ hearts be?
When rumors spread that Featherback caught and killed criminals, then ate meals made from grain grown with their corpses as fertilizer, the rate of voluntary confessions skyrocketed.
Subordinates reported their bosses, and bosses reported their big bosses.
And the bizarre situation unfolded daily where big bosses came to confess, bringing complete personal details of all their subordinates.
At this point, it might be better to call it a ‘war among criminals’ rather than a ‘war on crime.’
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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