Adryan looked at the book in his hands with utter disgust.
"Seeing people as nothing more than commodities... You didn't deserve to die a quick death, you bastard." Adryan growled looking at Tomas' body.
He should have done it very slowly. So that this scumbag could at least get a taste of the pain of all the people he hurt and killed.
"There's nothing you can do about it anymore Princess... Besides you might want to turn your attention back to the book." Flora said in a tone that surprised Adryan.
It was the tone one would use when faced with encountering something they loathed.
And it was the first time Adryan had heard Flora speak in that tone.
The redhead returned his attention to the book and continued reading.
*Merchandise Update. Friday, August 3, 1493*.
We managed to capture 20 people. 10 less than last week.
If this keeps up we will be the ones inside that cage.
These are the data of the cargo that will be delivered tomorrow.
7 young men in decent health, 6 middle-aged men in decent health, 3 young women in decent health, and 1 teenage girl with apparent nutritional problems, but nothing that affects her health very negatively.
The women and the girl may save us a little. If only we were still in contact with our previous sponsor the girl alone would be worth more than all the men... Hopefully, the meeting the boss is attending tonight will allow us to recover our previous relationship with them...
**
"What the fuck..." Adryan muttered confused and disgusted.
'Former Sponsor? What the fuck does he mean by that?'
The disgust he felt before only grew even more, this guy was talking about human beings as if they were cattle. Moreover, this guy had used the Inventory book as if it were some sort of Diary.
'The private Diary of a mentally disturbed person...'
The red-haired man's mind filled with questions and his attention momentarily returned to Tomas' body. But shaking his head, the redhead continues to read.
He would ask all the necessary questions to the man's spirit, but first, he needed to finish reading the book...
Adryan didn't know why, but he felt he would end up finding something he wasn't going to like at all...
This was not something that came from his spirituality but from deep inside him... And he didn't like it at all.
*Merchandise Update. Friday, July 27, 1349*.
We managed to capture 30 people. We had to move the base for fear of being discovered by James Holmes. The Red Skeleton has fallen and we could be next if we are not careful...
*Merchandise Update. Friday, July 20, 1349*.
We managed to capture 31 people. Holmes is making things very difficult. Dead Shot is down, without them we are supposed to have less competition, but Holmes is making it very difficult...
*.... Friday, July 13, 1349*
... 40 people.
*... Friday, July 6, 1349* ...
... 71 people.
...
...
...
...
...* Merchandise Update. Friday, April 23, 1349*.
This is the last batch for our mysterious Sponsor, I have no idea who they are, but I don't care! For our great work these past 5 months I have been given a very juicy reward. Starting tomorrow I will be a Prisoner!
The pay was already extremely juicy, but this takes the cake!
But I can't help but be a little disappointed, the competition this month was strong and we couldn't collect as much cargo, we are 200 below regular! And worst of all it was Red Squeleton who beat us! But it doesn't matter. The boss is already the next sequence to Prisoner so if I want the next formula I just have to ask him for it, and who knows? Maybe he will also be rewarded with a new formula...
This month we have captured 519 people. 300 men, 121 women, 54 boys and 44 girls.
*
"..."
The silence that fell in the room was choking and the tension was so much that one would feel crushed by it.
Adryan could feel his blood run cold and his heart heavy in his chest. He slowly turned to look at Tomas's body...
If Tomas were still alive now, he would have died of terror at the sight of Adryan's eyes.
Empty glaciers filled with barely contained anger, threatening to explode and burn everything. Adryan clenched his fist and it burst into flames. But controlling himself, he plodded over to the body and checked his pockets.
...
Clink Clink
Placing the keys to the basement cage in his pocket along with Tomas' wallet, Adryan attacked.
A powerful attack of concentrated fire hit Tomas, his entire head and torso exploded, painting the entire wall red, and chunks of flesh and bone scattered across the floor and the now red wall.
Seeing the mangled body of the wretch, Adryan took several slow breaths to calm himself.
"Don't feel bad princess... I would have done the same." Flora said in a dark voice.
Adryan huffed and shook his head.
"I don't feel bad at all Flora. If anything I just regret even more that I killed him so quickly" He said with a growl clenching his fists even tighter.
The number he got after adding up all the cargo kept repeating itself in his mind
"17.358..." Adryan repeated under his breath as he put a hand to his forehead in disbelief.
Dead Rose had kidnapped and sold 17,358 people. 15,618 of them were sold to the mysterious sponsor Tomas mentioned earlier in the book.
And that wasn't all...
'The Creed, Red Squeleton, Dead Shot, Dead Rose... Shit even Black Skull... According to this book-Diary, all these gangs sent people to this mysterious Sponsor for 5 months...'
"And I destroyed all those gangs..." Adryan whispered feeling like he was nothing more than an insect that fell into a stream and was hit and crushed by it.
Adryan's head felt light and he had to sit in the chair that once belonged to Tomas. He put both hands to his face and stared at the ceiling for a while.
The fact that Red Moon was not on the list worried him greatly. If before he didn't plan on hunting this gang now he would avoid them like the plague.
"Princess?" Flora asked somewhat confused by the red-haired man's attitude, but he just ignored her.
'This is too much of a coincidence...' Adryan let out a sigh so heavy it sounded more like that of an old veteran elder than a young adult of 21.
'This mysterious Sponsor, who are they? The only organization that has the formula of the prisoner's pathway is the Rose School of Thought... But I don't think it's them. Their activity is more focused on the Southern Continent so they shouldn't have time to kidnap so many people...' Adryan thought before his eyes widened slightly.
The Bootlicker's words rang in his head.
'New secret organization...'
'A new secret organization that serves that bitch? Shit.'
'Something bad is going on in Backlund... Something really bad.' He thought looking up at the ceiling.
He then shook his head, now was not the time to think about it.
'If I assume that the other gangs kidnapped a similar number of people then from December 1348 to April 1349 over 78,090 people were kidnapped...' The mere thought of that number made Adryan want to smash his face against the wall.
"How come the Churches didn't notice this? Such a large number of people disappeared in such a short time, but they did nothing? How dare they claim to watch over them if they allow this to happen?" Adryan growled as he clenched his fists.
Flora fell silent at Adryan's words. After a few seconds, she said something crude.
"We both know why Adryan."
"Haha... You're right... It was a stupid question." Adryan laughed dryly as he shook his head.
The answer as to why the three big Churches did nothing was simple...
Because it all happened in East Borough and it was no surprise.
"East Borough is the largest and poorest area in all of Backlund. With the most homeless and homeless children. Every year thousands and thousands of children are born and go unregistered due to poverty or unwanted births. The worst of the worst are gathered here, even if 100,000 people disappear the Churches would not notice because their control here is minimal if not nil." Adryan said calmly as he lowered his hands from his masked face.
The fact that the number of kidnappings went down was not only because of his movements as Holmes but also because of the Churches hunting him down.
"In the years I spent looking for ways to restore the honor of the Jacob family I visited every continent. And no other major power has an area in as bad shape as the Loen Kingdom has. Sure, Feysac and Intis have their areas where there is a lot of poverty, but even the worst of those live at least 15 times better than the people here." Flora commented on her experience of moving around the world and Adryan nodded still looking at the ceiling.
After 5 seconds Adryan spoke.
His words were dark.
"East Borough is the cancer that will kill Backlund."
...
Clink!
The sound of the basement door opening caused everyone in the cage to look up the stairs expectantly. People who had not seen Holmes in action were stunned.
Did he finish with them already? But it was only five minutes!
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs reached their ears and all the people couldn't help but stop breathing.
The footsteps got closer and closer and anxiety appeared in people's hearts.
Due to the poor lighting in the basement, they wouldn't know who was coming down the stairs until he was already here.
Almost everyone had that anxiety except two people who were looking straight ahead.
These were Jerry and the woman.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Before everyone knew it, a tall man arrived in the basement. This man was dressed completely in black with a grim mask on his face.
Adryan was rolling the key to the cage on his finger.
"Did you miss me?" The read head asked amused.
++++
I decided to publish these two chapters as a teaser.
I hope you are excited because believe me.
You don't have the SLIGHTEST IDEA of what is in store for you on Monday.
See you in two days.
bye bye