[Beyonder Trait of 'Judge' x1]
"Thud, thud~"
A frost-covered head was kicked like a soccer ball, landing in front of the chubby middle-aged man. Carpine looked at Horace's lifeless face and shivered uncontrollably. The once invincible Horace was beheaded and his head kicked around so easily. Carpine couldn't stop trembling. If he could, he wished this was a nightmare from which he could wake up just by opening his eyes.
"Mr. Carpine, right?" Ashes approached slowly, looking down at him.
"W-What do you want...?" Carpine, terrified, collapsed to the ground, his voice trembling.
"Miss Casey from Nobel Street, Jowood District, is dead. Do you have anything to do with it?" Ashes asked seriously.
"No, it has nothing to do with me! I don't even know her!"
"What about Miss Eve from New Year Road, Hillside District?"
"I don't know them at all! Sir, sir! Whoever killed them, it definitely has nothing to do with me! How about you let me go, and I can help you track down their murderer?" Carpine kneeled, crying and begging for mercy. He felt he was suffering undeservedly, claiming he only trafficked people in the East District and had nothing to do with murders in Hillside and Jowood Districts.
"I see," Ashes nodded slightly, as if believing Carpine's words. Then, he raised his ice-blue longsword, making Carpine realize that no matter what he said, Ashes had no intention of sparing him.
"No, you can't kill me!" Carpine's eyes widened in terror, his fear skyrocketing. "You can't kill me! I'm with the authorities!"
"Authorities?" Ashes paused, looking down at him.
"Yes, yes, I'm with the authorities," Carpine quickly nodded, nervously, "We are on the same side."
Carpine felt a brief relief, thinking he had guessed right that Ashes was with the authorities. He had lied, though. He didn't know Eve, but he knew Casey because a subordinate of his had been arrested for her earlier that day. He had even planned to have someone silence that subordinate to avoid trouble. Given that someone came to his house asking about Casey the same night she died, he guessed Ashes was from the authorities. Ashes attitude confirmed it, so he felt safer.
"Sir, I..."
Carpine started to speak but froze as the ice-cold sword was placed against his neck.
"Which authority?" Ashes asked coldly.
"I-I am..." Carpine, fearing for his life, ignored Katie's furious gaze and almost blurted out the answer but stopped himself, too afraid to reveal it.
"Sir," Carpine's voice trembled as he glanced at Horace's head, "I can't tell you who I serve. I can only tell you that Mr. Horace and the other two Beyonder individuals are from the Arbiter Sequence."
"Arbiter?" Ashes glanced at Katie and Parker, who were being controlled, and then at Horace's headless corpse. If he recalled correctly, in the Ruen Kingdom, only the royal family controlled the Arbiter pathway. Though it was possible for rogue Beyonder individuals to follow this path, it was unlikely that all three would be Arbiters by coincidence, implying royal support for Carpine's human trafficking.
"Are you trafficking people under their orders?" Ashes asked suddenly.
"Yes." Carpin swallowed, ignoring Katie's murderous look, and nodded with difficulty. "Sir, I've handled at least 100,000 slaves. Think about it, how could one person support such a vast market? The ones I got from the East District were at most a few hundred. Most of the slaves were transported by sea; I was just a middleman. Besides, who could buy so many slaves at once? Only the forces behind them could handle it. Their purpose for needing so many people is..."
Carpine deliberately dragged his words, glancing subtly behind Ashes. There, a burly man aimed a grey-white steam rifle at Ashes back and pulled the trigger.
"Growl!"
A rotten dog with scarlet eyes suddenly lunged from the shadows, biting the burly man's head just as he was about to shoot.
"Bang!"
The burly man's body fell to the ground with a thud, the rotten dog crouching by his feet, blood and flesh dripping from its mouth.
[Beyonder Trait of 'Interrogator' x1]
"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Carpine," Ashes said without turning around, looking at Carpine solemnly. "As a reward for the information, I give you two choices."
"First, I'll leave you a complete body and hang it on the first street lamp."
"Second..."
"I choose the second! I choose the second~!" Carpine, terrified by the first option, shouted before Ashes could finish.
"Good." Ashes nodded slightly. "So, as you wished, I'll hang you on the second street lamp."
"No, wait, I have..." Carpine tried to say something, but Ashes had no interest in hearing more as he could tell Carpine had exhausted his useful information.
"Why are you still here? Waiting for the police?" Ashes frowned at the scantily clad girls.
"We, we..." A girl with brown curly hair, trembling, looked at Ashes frightening wolf head and said, "We have companions locked in the basement."
"You should know where the key is. Get it and rescue them yourself." Ashes replied casually as he picked up Horace's body, preparing to hang it on the street lamp.
The girl hesitated for a while, then gritted her teeth and walked towards Carpine's corpse, trembling as she retrieved the key while the rotten dog watched with its red eyes.
"Th-thank you." The girl whispered in fear and then ran towards the basement.
(End of Chapter)
50 Power stones = Extra Chapter