Master’s Smile

《Historical Records》

“Ahyahyhahya! Awesome! Ain’t this a massacre!!”

There are currently multiple figures inside the grey guild after Sorglos and her master left.

“This was supposed to be the so-so grey guild that Reel person belongs to, though…!”

The man looked around and distorted his mouth in a delighted way.

The inside of the guild displayed a very gruesome scene.

Corpses whose head had been separated from the body.

Corpses whose head and parts of their body deformed as if it were crushed.

Corpses that has kunais stuck in their body similar to a cactus.

Each of the corpses displayed fear and pain on their faces and shed a lot of blood.

They searched everywhere but couldn’t find a single corpse that has no physical defects.

“Uweeh…”

“Oi oi! Don’t you go vomitting with only this many corpses! Yer’ a member of the dark guild that is feared by all in the kingdom, “Iron Queen (Inicken)”!”

(TLN: I misread the raws for the guild name before, it was supposed to be Ai-nii-ken)

Russelt, the guildmaster of “Iron Queen (Inicken)” sighed while looking at one of his members who was trembling and holding his mouth.

Russelt is fair-skinned, yet it doesn’t indicate purity on him not even a bit.

Instead, it creates a somewhat ominous and corrupted feeling around him.

There’s also a big black circle under his eyes as if he’s not a human.

“B-But…. If you show me this large number of severely damaged corpses-…urk..”

“No, what’s this person saying?”

Saying so, Russelt looked at the man who just made a comment and was about to vomit while the other man was laughing at him.

The man that was about to vomit has an appearance of a youth who has just become an adult.

Although he doesn’t have a bad face at all, his face is currently completely pale.

Even for the youth—-Ild, who has taken out a number of people up until now, didn’t torment his enemy nor destroy their corpses like what Russelt and the other “Inicken” members do.

Hence, it seems that his tolerance in this is pretty low unlike the other members.

However, for a human from a dark guild who only takes illegal requestsーーーespecially “Iron Maiden (Inicken)”ーーーto almost vomit just by seeing the corpses seemingly as an ordinary person, will nothing but inviting laughter.

“Ooooi, Ild! I keep ya’ alive because yer’ somewhat useful here. But ya’ see, if ya’ being this annoying, I’ll end up killing ya’, got that!?”

“Hiie…!?”

Ild let out a shriek after being threatened by the frustrated Russelt.

The dark guild, “Inicken” that Russelt wishes is a guild that should be the cruelest and most powerful one.

Having to have such weak reaction is unreasonable.

Although Russelt recognizes Ild’s power and let the guild shelters him, he still loathes the weak traits in him.

“But as expected, are they a dark guild just like us? I had overlooked it since I got no info on them. Well, that was a nice miscalculation from me!”

However, there’s no doubt that this is a terrible situation.

It was so humorous that it raised Russelt’s mood.

He highly evaluated the “Salvation Army (Yelquchira)” that created this slaughter scene.

He wasn’t stupid enough to underestimate his enemy.

……though, it would be a mistake for them to fight in the first place.

“Right, those guys are really dangerous.”

Ild, who had just been threatened, spoke to Russelt as if nothing had happened.

Yet, it was Russelt who got frustrated by his boldness.

Though, it makes him felt a little calmer than seeing these corpses which makes him irritated and unpleasant.

Besides, what Ild just said wasn’t a mistake.

“Umm… who was it again that did this?”

The tallest muscular man among them tried to ask.

Once again, Ild replied with an over-familiar tone.

“What? Didn’t you hear what Master said? It’s the “Salvation Army”, the “Salvation Army (Yelquchira)”.”

Currently, the “Iron Queen (Inecken)”-…Russelt is being hostile to the “Salvation Army (Yelquchira)”, which is also certified as a dark guild by the kingdom just like his.

It’s a guild that was established long before “Inicken” and boasts a history that is no less older than that of a regular guild with a long history.

They barely appeared on the surface but was now even more hidden compared to before.

“Ah, right, I’ve never heard of them, though.”

“It’s annoying that I have the same thought as this guy, but still, I don’t know them either.”

Continuing with what the muscular man said, a thin man followed after.

He’s equipped with a thin swordーーーKatana on his waist.

Russelt was not angry with what his members just said. Rather, he sympathized for them.

He thinks that it can’t be helped for them to not know about it.

That is because, “Yelquchira” does not really appear in the surface world.

It seems that the dark guild wasn’t like this in the past, up to the point that it was even recognized by the world as what they are.

However, that guild is now completely hidden from the society.

Most people in this world, like the two members, would not even know the existence of “Yelquchira”.

Of course, it would be different if they are the same underworld residents as him or they are top-brasses of a country.

However, it is also the role of a guildmaster to put a nail on his carefree members.

“You bunch would be fine, but don’t get too careless. Sooner or later, we will fight over which one is better.”

“Uweeh… so we’re really going to fight them…?”

Ild uttered with complete abhorrence.

He was oblivious to the times he had hit Russelt’s nerves.

Russelt then pointed his sharp eyes at him.

“I-I mean look, there are a few things about “Salvation Army (Yelquchira)” written in this book…!”

Despite the quivering, Ild hurriedly presented an old book to Russelt.

He received and looked at the cover which was plain with its title being faint and unreadable.

“What’s this shitty-looking book…?”

The muscular man which was casually behind Russelt let out a big laugh when he saw the book that Ild gave.

Likewise, the thin man with a sword was also laughing.

“Ahyahya! For ya’ to push a trash to me…are ya’ prepared to die?”

“I-It’s not that!!”

Ild shook his head and hands to appeal of his innocence.

“That’s a history book of a country called Lard Empire.”

“Ahn? Never heard of that.”

“That’s because the country is no more. It’s said that it was destroyed by the “Salvation Army (Yelquchira)”.

“Haah?”

Russelt replied as if he doesn’t understand the meaning of what he just said.

In this world, it is not unusual for a village to disappear.

There are various reasons, but the most common one is it was destroyed by monsters.

However, when it comes to a town which is bigger than a village, it would be hard to destroy just because of mere monsters.

Using the area as a measurement, the result will be significantly different depending on the size of the town, but they can still deal with the monsters since there will be armed forces placed inside.

Of course, powerful monsters might appear in small towns, so at that time, they will buy some time to request some reinforcements from the capital.

If they do so, a powerful army will come from the capital and quickly subdue the monsters.

Hence, it would be impossible for a country to be destroyed even if it was in one town.

It would be possible if it’s a war between nations, but no matter how strong “Yelquchira” is, one dark guild cannot destroy a nation.

“Don’t ya’ go spreading a stupid lie.”

“Ouch!?”

That’s why, Russelt decided that it was just a foolish lie and hit Ild’s head with great force.

He was probably irritated a lot with Ild, who was always hesitant and unbecoming for a person from the dark guild “Inicken”.

Ild then complained with teary eyes.

“B-But! In that book…!”

“Ahyahya! Well then, this book is a downright lie. Of course, it would be impossible to destroy a country even for a dark guild like us.”

“T-That is…”

Ild seemed to be in a loss for words as he was unable to deny that idea.

A country won’t show a huge response if a small village with few people got destroyed.

If they respond to such things one by one, it will go on endlessly.

However, even a slow-to-act country will definitely make their move if it’s a town.

If many of their people, who are important sources of income, are killed, the country must fight for their existence.

Then, even after the country is destroyed by the dark guild, the neighboring countries won’t stay silent about it.

Although they might only wish to take the blank territory, it’s still impossible to leave a crime guild with enough force to destroy one country, be as it is.

Most likely, the neighboring countries will form an alliance to eliminate the “Salvation Army (Yelquchira)” to the core if Lard Empire is destroyed.

To begin with, the infamous “Iron Queen (Inicken)” has destroyed several villages and two towns, but has yet to destroy a single country.

“Now then, Ild’s tall tale was boring so let’s just go back home now.”

“No, it wasn’t a tall tale at all!”

“Aahh~, shut it or I’ll kill ya’.”

Ild, who was upset, instantly went silent after Russelt lightly threatened him and stepped on Reel’s head that was rolling near him.

“The “Yelquchira” guildmaster and a woman are now infiltrating a crappy little guild. Let’s wait for more information from our spy.”

“M’kaay”

Russelt threw away the book that was handed to him by Ild and walked to the exit.

Following after him, the muscular man and thin man went out of the guild as well.

“Is it really a lie…?”

Ild, who was left behind glanced at the book that was thrown away.

Since it was thrown to the ground covered with blood, the papers began to soak in some of the blood.

As one would expect, Ild didn’t feel like picking up the book by now.

“Oi! Hurry up!”

“Y-Yes!”

Ild ran like a rabbit while being shouted once again.

The only thing left was a large number of corpses and a small dirty book that was wet with blood.

From that book, a note that Ild was not aware of fell softly into the sea of ​​blood.

“We…touched…that we shouldn’t…Lard Empire…destroy… monsters…The subjugation alliance has been wiped out. All killed…I too will be killed soon…At least…only this…I should write…

――――― Don’t put your hand on that man.”