Episode 16 - Branch Pruning 2

A small village inhabited by settlers, located four hours by carriage from the capital of the Maritime Kingdom where Pink Rose Street lies.


According to Whispermeer's intelligence, the largest of the Four Gang Lords' drug workshops should be hidden within the lumberyard tucked away in this village's corner.


“Hmm...”


Originally, it should have continued operating to expand the village, but when monsters like trents began emerging from the nearby forest, the logging volume decreased, and it was naturally abandoned. As a result, it had become a prime hideout for the underworld organization.


Watching the nearly half-collapsed lumberyard building from afar, Kaftin slowly began to approach.


Whether for camouflage or not, there wasn't even a guard stationed outside.
Kaftin snorted derisively and slipped inside.


As expected, the interior was nearly abandoned.
According to the intel, a passage leading underground should be somewhere here.


After circling the interior once, he found a relatively neat wooden trapdoor that clearly didn't match this old structure.


He roughly kicked aside the blanket covering the door, then slowly opened it, careful not to make a sound.
Seeing the ladder leading down, Kaftin silently climbed down.


“This must be it.”


After descending about five meters, his feet touched the floor.
Stepping fully off the ladder and looking straight ahead, he saw a light beyond a short passageway.


They were undoubtedly hard at work.
He gladly set off to put an end to their business today.


Leaning against the wall, he moved slowly, as if seeping, toward the light.
Soon, the sound of someone being beaten with a club reached his ears.


“You lazy bastard! Who told you to stop working?!”
“……!”
“Move now! Quickly! You idiot, you plan to fail your quota again today?!”


The sound of small feet scrambling hurriedly followed the shouting, and soon a small figure fell with a thud right in front of the passageway where Kaftin was hiding.


“……!”


Yes.
They were exploiting even children in their drug manufacturing.
And that child, struggling to rise from the ground, sniffling...


“Hey, you dimwit! How can you call yourself a half-elf!? Huh? Move faster, faster! Move!”
“……!!”


Half-elf. And likely half-dark elf, judging by her slightly bluish skin and pointed ears—a striking girl.
She struggled to her feet in her shabby clothes, but soon began staggering.


Blood was seeping from her scraped knee, the result of the fall.
But the anger in the voice didn't subside.


“Hurry up and go! What are you doing!?”
“…….”


Just as she turned back, determined to run even if she had to force herself, her eyes met Kaftin's.


“……!!”
“…….”


Without a word, Kaftin flashed his signature charming smile and raised his index finger to his lips.
A sign to say nothing.


The girl, quick to catch on, responded not with a nod but by rapidly blinking her eyes. She then turned and began walking, limping.


Then, the sound of heavy leather boots approached from the opposite direction.


“You little brat…! I told you to run faster-!?”


A burly man, seemingly a Gang member, approached the girl's back, holding a riding crop.


“……!!”
“Come here. I'll teach you a lesson…! ”


The startled girl crouched down, her eyes tightly shut.
Just as she thought she'd inevitably get beaten today, leaving scars on her back,


”You damn brat... Gulp!?
”......?!”


Suddenly, a gasping sound and the thud of something collapsing echoed.
The startled girl opened her closed eyes and cautiously turned her gaze...


“Guh... Gulp...!?”
“That’s right... You spoke well. I’ll teach you a lesson. A truly spectacular one.”


A deep, resonant voice—quiet yet strangely resonant, never sounding small.


The gang member, struck in the groin by Kaftin's superhumanly powerful kick, could only clutched his crotch and groan in pain.


The others, startled by the stranger's appearance, scrambled into a corner and crouched down.


The half-elf girl hesitated, considering fleeing herself, but then swallowed dryly and slowly rose to her feet, looking up at him.


“......”
“...Wait a moment. I'll heal you later.”
“......?”


To the girl tilting her head in confusion, Kaftin silently pointed a finger at her injured knee.


“……!”
“More importantly... is this it?”


Approaching the alchemy table used for potion-making, Kaftin spotted a flask containing a toxic substance used in potion-making and picked it up.


This should be a proper lesson for that worthless bastard.


“Guh... Haah...! My, my... My precious...penis...!”
“Right. Looks like you're slowly coming to. That's a good sign.”
“You, you...! Wh-What the hell are you doing...!”
“Ah-. Don't mind it. It'll be over soon.”


Even as he spoke, he calmly stuck out his butt and swiftly pulled down the crouching bastard's pants.


“Wh-what?!”
“Relax your butt. You'll tear it.”
“What?! S-stop...! Gaaaah!?”


After forcing two fingers inside, he thrust the neck of the flask he held in his other hand into the gaping hole in the buttocks as if he'd been waiting for it.


The flask, already filthy from the poor working conditions, was filled with toxic substances used in drug manufacturing.


Unsurprisingly, the liquid poured through the forced opening into the gang member's stomach, beginning to melt his insides.


“Gwaaaaah... My stomach! My stomach! S-save me...!”
“Hm... It's already too late. With this level of toxicity... in exactly 8 seconds, your intestines will be turned into soup. Even if a god himself came, not a priest, he couldn't save you.”
“H-hii...!?”


With a voice brimming with delight, as if he were mad with joy, he pronounced his death sentence. Then, he swiftly snatched the whip from the man's grasp.


Holding it for a moment, lost in thought, he suddenly chuckled and carefully placed it into the hands of the half-elf girl who had been staring blankly at the entire scene.


“This is yours now.”
“……!”


The girl, holding the whip, looked up at him with a complex expression.
Kaftin silently smiled with his eyes and whispered to her.


“...You can do whatever you want with that guy now. I've got business inside and will be back shortly. Play with this.”
“......”


Her eyes lit up at his words, and she nodded vigorously.


Seeming satisfied with her reaction, he gave her a hearty pat with his large hand before asking her where the highest-ranking person in the facility was.


“……!”


The girl immediately pointed down a passage leading deeper into the facility.
He nodded, brushed himself off, and began walking in that direction.


The girl, who had been staring blankly at him, looked down at the Gang member struggling desperately to pull out the flask and smiled for the first time in her life.


“W-wait, just a moment...! What are you trying to do with that...!”
“……!”
“Stop it! You insolent little bastard...!”


Soon, the crisp crack of a whip echoed through the air.


*


This space was clearly different from the workshop they'd just been in; six proper doors lined both sides of the passageway.


Kaftin hesitated briefly, then abruptly knocked on the nearest door. He placed both hands on it and shoved with all his might.


Thud.


The wooden doorframe, nailed into the cave wall, was torn off entirely by his brute strength.


He pushed straight through, charging at the Gang member sitting directly facing the door, who was gambling with cards inside.


“Wh-what the hell?!”
“What?! AAAAHH!?”


In an instant, the Gang member crushed between the door and the cave wall screamed. The others playing nearby immediately grabbed clubs and axes lying close by and swung them at Kaftin.


“This fucker!?”
“Who the hell do you take this place to be-!”
“……!”


After a quick glance left and right, Kaftin immediately used the side of the door he was holding to deflect the axe blade, then instantly spat directly into the eyes of the gang member wielding the axe.


“What?! You filthy…?!”
“Gotcha…!”


He closed his eyes just in time to avoid the spit, but in that split second, Kaftin swung the door like a greatsword in a full, sweeping arc.


The massive door, swung within the narrow room, struck both armed Gang members squarely in the neck and shoulder, sending them tumbling to the floor.


“Kek!? Damn bastard…!”
“You bastard…!”


The Gang member who barely caught the club with his shoulder swung it with all his might at Kaftin’s back of the head. But, as expected, the club snapped, only tapping his forehead.


Flustered by the unexpected turn, he discarded the broken weapon and frantically searched for another. Seizing the moment, Kaftin kicked the gang member swinging the axe squarely in the groin with his toe, knocking him completely unconscious.


“Damn it all…! Take this, you bastard!”


Just as he grabbed a half-empty liquor bottle that had rolled off the table and swung it down, Kaftin twisted his body and swung the door again, knocking him flat.


“Aaargh!”
“How dare you... That's my specialty.”


Immediately, Kaftin smashed the door in half with his knee, flinging it out of his room. He picked up the bottle the man had dropped.


“You, you bastard... Who are you?! We're the Four Gang Lords...!”
“Shut up.”


He smashed the bottle with a single blow, then with fluid, graceful motion thrust the shard precisely into the spot where the man's eye should have been.


“Gwaaaaah?!”
“Ah. Now he's even louder. Well... it's pleasant to hear, so it's fine.”


He wanted to take his time enjoying this bastard, but he still had work to do.
He couldn't waste time just for fun.


He immediately began hammering the glass bottle's neck into the bastard's skull with his palm, driving it deep into his brain.


"Aaah! Aah! Wh-what are you doing…! You, you can't stop!?“
”Stay... still!"


He brutally grabbed the front of the desperately resisting creature's hair and continued hammering it in steadily with his other palm.
When the one screaming in agony finally quieted down, he stopped his hand and flung the creature's head onto the floor.


Thinking he might still be alive, he kicked the broken bottle with his toe one more time, forcing the shards deep into the bastard's skull. Only then did he turn around...


“Don't move!”
“If you move, I'll make you just like my friend over there...!”


Two gang members who had heard the noise and rushed out from the next room were already aiming their bows at him.


“Huh... You're going to shoot anyway, so why bother with that useless talk?”
“You bastard!”
“Hey! Just shoot him!”


Despite the bowstring being drawn in front of him, Kaftin calmly picked up a wine cup rolling on the floor.


“You little shit! Damn it!
“This is revenge for my friend—!”


Gritting their teeth, they released the arrows.
They were certain their arrows would pierce both of that bastard’s eyes, tearing from him a scream of agony.


-To be continued-