Chapter 77

Translator: Yonnee

—

Goosebumps rose on her skin.

Even if she didn’t know what those were, Radis would have still taken a step back.

They were monster eggs, so naturally, monsters would hatch from there.

Besides that, it’s impossible to guess what kind of monster it would be just based on the outer shell.

Something really terrible and malevolent might be born from there.

More than that, monster eggs could invite more monsters to come.

Radis now realized what Gorz was doing.

They were summoning monsters using the eggs they had stolen from Monsterwood.

After that, he would threaten the villagers of the towns he visited and receive the payment of ‘subjugating’ the monsters.

“But what’s this?”

That one egg was glowing.

And the shell was the color of bright ivory.

The entire egg was covered with faint patterns as though it had been engraved with gold, and there was a subtle glow leaking out from it.

The light changed to various hues the more she looked at it, so she couldn’t put a label on just what color that glow was.

Radis had seen many monster eggs back then, but she had never seen a glowing egg before.

It was evidently suspicious.

Then, she felt someone’s presence outside the door.

“You said you’d drink to your heart’s content, but you didn’t even bring any money with ya? You idiot!”

“That’s because ya suddenly talked about spiders!”

“S-Spiders! Uuugh-huuuu!”

“Euuurgh.. huh? What’s with the doorknob?”

Luke pulled on the broken knob as he opened the door.

Then, he saw a stranger standing in the room. It was a boy with red hair wearing a short cloak.

‘No, a girl?’

At first glance, she seemed to be a boy because her clothes were all dirty and there was an iron club fastened to her belt. But when he looked at her face, she was definitely a woman.

And he’s met her before.

Luke shouted.

“Auction house!”

“How did you even know this place..!”

Radis raised her head to look at both Gorz and Luke. Then, she opened her lips to speak.

“There’s a few things I’d like to ask.”

“....!”

“First, have you ever killed anyone while doing this?”

Gorz and Luke stared at Radis in confusion.

“Second, these monster eggs have gold patterns, but how did brutes as block-headed as you manage to get them?”

Radis picked up the glowing egg from the cabinet.

“Lastly, what on earth is this?”

Luke had just been staring blankly right then, but in his astonishment, he brought out a sharp dagger and shouted.

“Are you crazy? Do you wanna die? Put that down!”

Gorz, who remained still thus far, stepped forward and spoke.

“You! If you think I’m not going to get back at you just because you’re the Marquis’ person, you’re mistaken! I don’t know what kind of gall you have for coming here alone, but if you put that down, I’ll be generous enough to spare your life!”

After saying all that, Gorz reached towards Radis.

It seemed like he was going to grab Radis by her hair, but that in itself was ridiculous to her.

Radis dodged nimbly and grabbed Gorz by?his?hair instead. ..That was to say, if he had even a?single?strand of hair on his shiny bald head, she would have reached for that, but since he didn’t—

She reached for his beard instead. While clutching a handful of the scruffy hair, Radis asked.

“I’ll give you some time to think. Do you want me to let you live, or do you want to get hit because you wouldn’t speak?”

Caught by his beard, Gorz staggered forward. At this, he clenched his hands into fists and exclaimed indignantly.

“You!”

Radis sighed.

“Fine. I’ll hit you once, then let’s start talking.”

* * *

In her previous life, Robert and Radis’ high level of combat eventually raised the status of the entire subjugation squad—but it wasn’t like that at first.

There weren’t many people who voluntarily joined the subjugation squad like Radis did.

More often than not, being sent to that subjugation squad was like a death sentence.

Theirry was sent there after a duel. It’s said that it’s because he killed a high-ranking person. Tez, too, was caught smuggling goods.

Laszlo was brought in for theft.

And with such a group like there, there’s only one way to discipline them.

Hit ‘em once, and they’d start loosening up.

If it doesn’t work the first time, then keep hitting.

Until it does work in the end.

However, if you hit too hard and they die, then it’s not even worth the effort of hitting that much.

So, as long as their skull wouldn’t get cracked open, as long as their brains wouldn’t pour out, as long as their eyes wouldn’t turn over, or as long as their tongues wouldn’t turn purple—it’s all good.

It wouldn’t be beneficial to accidentally break some bones, since those took forever to mend.

Moderation was the key here. If you hit ‘em carefully and sincerely, equally spreading out the hits throughout all other body parts without bias, then it’ll work better.

Radis used this method of hitting today, and the first mouth she managed to open up was Luke’s very swollen mouth.

“Keeeuugh! W-We diwn’t giwe it to peopwe, Ma’am!”

Then, Gorz’ mouth soon opened as well.

“Ku-huhp! W-We happened to come across a passageway. Ku-hngh! I-It’s directly connected to M-Monsterwood, Ma’am!”

Doubled over, Gorz’ face was soaked with tears trickling down his eyes, which were either swollen or just closed. Who knows.

“Passageway?”

“Ku-uurk! W-We entered the forest through that passageway m-many times. A-And we got the eggs from there and sold them, that’s how w-we made money..”

“So you managed to make all this money from things you got in the forbidden region? It’s a lot, huh.”

“I broke one egg before by mistake and the monsters chased after us.. I knew we shouldn’t do something like that, but..!”

Radis sighed briefly as she looked down at the miserable Gorz and Luke.

Even though they knew they shouldn’t do it, they still would have repeated it diligently.

Until one day, their methods would get exposed—because of this, they’d become wanted men. They’d eventually get caught by bounty hunters, then promptly executed.

‘People don’t usually change from their ways.. Should I just get rid of them here?’