chapter 7
7 – break (2)
Extreme violence leaves no room for compromise. Ashuria put on her brass knuckles and began mercilessly slapping the man’s side. As if dealing with the demon lord’s army, he hit it with a mechanical and regular beat, and the sound of breaking ribs resounded, his intestines twisted, and the taste of blood came out of his mouth.
With each blow, the man’s body slightly bent into a C shape. After making a gentle curve with a series of punches, Ashuria smacked the other side, frowning as if she didn’t like the look.
“Turn it off… ! town… !”
The man rolled his eyes and saliva flowed from his mouth. As a result of several symmetrical fist swings, the man was clinging to the wall in an upright position, with Millet chewing on a dried fruit, his eyes shining.
Ashria said, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
“Don’t you think so? why won’t i die? If you get hit like this, it’s normal to have your intestines burst and pass out, so why am I suffering sober?”
Ashuria showed her golden knuckles and said.
“As a religious person, it is not possible to kill people easily. A man is so weak that even one wrong blow can easily kill him. So, this knuckle was developed. I engrave a healing magic sentence on the center of my knuckle, and when I hit someone with more than a certain amount of power, the recovery magic is automatically activated. Thanks to that, I can feel the pain, but my body doesn’t break.”
Tears welled up in the man’s eyes. Ashria laughed and said.
“You can do it all day. So, in order not to waste each other’s time, I want you to answer the question… … . Will you answer honestly?”
The man nodded. It was because she was so scared to see her laughing with her face right in front of his nose. Millet pulled the rag from the man’s mouth. Ashria asked as she sat on an old box.
“you. You won’t be working alone. Obviously, there must be a gang that cheats or makes money together. Where did you hide the money?”
The man hesitated and rolled his eyes at the mention of money. When Ashuria noticed he hesitated, she got up again and punched the man in the lower abdomen as hard as she could. The man vomited at the unpleasant and painful sensation of crushing his stomach skin and sweeping up his intestines.
“Kooo!”
Once more Ashuria clenched her fists, the man gasped and shouted.
“Let me tell you! I’ll tell you everything! Now, the place is a house with a red tent! Besides me, there’s a cheap drug dealer and a fake drug dealer here! We are collecting money among ourselves and putting it in that house!”
Ashuria laughed, moved by the man’s sincere repentance. Then he stroked the man’s head once and said:
“I will use it for a good cause.”
******
“Ashuria. What have you been doing?”
The warrior, who was passionate about the countryside with me, left the place in a cold sweat as soon as Ashuria arrived. It seemed like he was avoiding the story, but I decided not to mind. Doesn’t everyone have a secret or two? Just as I worked as a porter, a hero might have a reason to disguise himself as a country boy.
Ashuria greeted the hero with a brighter face than usual, followed by Millet weeping. The hero looked more surprised at Millet’s tears than happy to see Ashuria again.
“millet? Why are you crying?”
“Black… . hehehe… . I was impressed… … . Seeing Ashuria donate all that money to good causes… … .”
“money?”
The hero looked at Ashuria in surprise. Ashuria hugged Millet, who was shedding tears, and was loving her.
“millet. How can you have such a good attitude?”
“Sue, I’m suffocating… … !”
Ashuria petted Millet until she stopped crying before answering our eyes asking for an explanation.
“Ah, don’t worry. Someone gave me a huge amount to help the world in the future, so I donated the money to the poor relief fund and came here.”
“You did a good job. You did a good job.”
The words that I picked up my knuckles and received a ‘donation’ were really persuasive. Lena nodded and smiled dubiously, while the hero spoke with an innocent expression.
“That’s great, Ashria. If it were me, I would never have thought of donating.”
Ashuria twisted her body and nodded as if she didn’t know what to do at the hero’s praise.
“Yes, it is… .”
The laughter was uncharacteristically sullen, so I decided to pretend I hadn’t heard it.
*****
The next day, the soldier who knocked on the door like a rooster’s crow handed over the order to the soldier with a solemn face. The next operation area was written on the order with the royal seal, and the warrior naturally read the order and said to the soldier:
“thank you for your effort. soldier.”
Then the soldier naturally saluted the hero and exclaimed:
“Yes! Warrior! Then I will go back.”
“Yes. Please give my regards.”
When the hero beckoned, the soldier nodded and disappeared outside the inn. Lena looked at him and smiled. Seeing as he muttered ‘countryman’, he seemed to have the same thoughts as me. The hero brought up the story of the order to us with a bright face as if he did not know our thoughts at all.
“In the next operation area, we will finally move to the border area occupied by the Demon King’s Army. It is said that there is a confrontation between our soldiers and a female demon named Halifa, and they say that this Halifa is defending with such vicious methods that an all-out war is impossible to win. Due to the nature of the demons, it is not possible to include regular soldiers in the commando team, so I think we will move directly in the direction of Khalifa’s formation without stopping at the military camp this time. Of course, we should send a separate contact so that the unit responds when we attack.”
“You mean we’re going to ambush the devil as a special air force? What year are you doing?”
Lena said with a confident expression. To her, a thief who feeds on raw meat, infiltration and assassination were her most confident actions. The hero looked at Lena with a confident expression and said.
“They say you’re an expert in chemical warfare making poison. He said that his own strength was also at a considerable level.”
“Then is it a demon that sprays poison from its body?”
At Lena’s question, the hero shook his head.
“I don’t think it sprays poison from the body. He himself said that he would wear a gas mask or decontamination equipment and go to the battlefield. Instead, they say that the army is struggling to maintain the front line because they keep spraying poison on the battlefield or upstream.”
“If you do it that way, it will be difficult for you to endure.”
At my words, the warrior nodded. Anyway, the purpose of those demon kings was to occupy all the land of humans and establish a paradise for demons. If it became a poisonous area, nothing would be good. said the warrior.
“If you use poison that you can’t stand, it must mean that you are constantly pecking at the top due to the war situation. Even if he gets reprimanded for using poison later, he probably doesn’t want to give the impression that he’s an incompetent commander.”
“Our warrior is good at empathizing with the commanders.”
The warrior rolled his eyes at Lena’s casually hurried words, then evasive.
“…I was the head of an alley in the countryside.”
Seeing absurd expressions flying from all sides, the hero evaded his words again.
“anyway! Now that the commander is in a nervous state, he must be forming his formation as aggressively as possible. That means we have to ambush from the rear.”
Ashria asked, pointing at the map.
“By the way, warrior. Wasn’t this area originally an imperial territory? None of us know the geography here, so how do we get to the rear?”
With the advent of the Demon King, the empire was destroyed, and few people escaped safely from the empire. The members of the hero party now are all from other kingdoms far from the Empire. Ashuria’s point was right.
“no. I am from the Empire.”
The warrior looked at me at those words. I smiled and raised my arms. Lena, Ashuria, and Millet all opened their eyes wide and looked at me.
Why did I have to be hired as a porter for the warriors’ party and follow them all the way here?
Even if I couldn’t go all the way to the Devil’s Castle, why would I be confident that I would be with the Hero party all the way to the capital of the empire?
There was nothing to hide when he came. I am from the Empire, a traitor who fled across the border on the day my hometown was destroyed.
And now he was a mediocre porter who turned his horse again to save the collapsed empire.
“I was originally from the Empire. The geography of the Empire is very clear. Because he was a diligent country boy among the country guys.”
I continued, pointing to the forest area on the map.
“This is where the demons are camped now, and if you’re dispensing poison along the river, it’ll be easier to break in from the rear if you go this way. If the person who will attack from the rear moves with me, I will assist.”
“I’ll go.”
said Lena. I nodded and pointed to another location near the formation.
“If you climb this rock wall, there is a position where you can see the formation clearly. It would be easy to confuse the enemy camp if we put archers and guards here.”
“Then I must go!”
Millet raised her bow and said. When it came to exorcising demons, she was full of enthusiasm. The warrior nodded and added.
“It would be easier to attack if there was such a high ground.”
So the plan of the operation proceeded step by step based on my geographical knowledge. Poison might be pooling down there, so we were going to move through the higher ground, and we decided where to split into two teams.
“I’m done with this. I think we should stick to this plan. mister. thank you for your effort.”
“no. It should be of some help.”
Ashuria, Millet, and Lena were all looking at me as if I was surprised. Satisfied with the gaze, I opened my arms and pointed to myself.
“The brains of the Hero party.”
“Seriously, I was going to say it’s great if you didn’t say the last thing.”
I ignored Lena’s grumbling.