Chapter 41 - Fracture

In the southwest suburb of Vance City, there was a small castle surrounded by walls. The mercenaries of a wealthy Gray Dwarf merchant used to be stationed there.

In the Underground World where the powerful thrived by exploiting the weak, aside from money strength was required to be successful and wealthy merchants were often not too far away from having a big army. Just a pity that the mercenaries the Gray Dwarf chose to hire had been a little too ambitious. In less than 3 months after being employed, they got rid of their boss and fled with his fortune.

Afterwards, this land was purchased at a cheap price by another merchant. This merchant had trade dealings with Sulfur Mountain City so he sold it to us at a slightly higher price.

Personally, I liked this piece of land a lot. It might be a little too far from the heart of the city and the land around it was quite remote. But to us, who had quite a bit of enemies in the city, it was actually a good thing.

At least, no one would be hurt in the traps set up by the Hunters and Mages and the landmines happily set by the goblins.

"Boom!"

Un, it was indeed the right choice, otherwise, these frequent explosions would have disturbed the neighbors.

After hearing the explosions that I had gotten used to, I nodded my head as I looked at the 70% done goblins whose souls were floating out of their body.

Looking down, I casually ignored the two naked man who just flew past… Eaglestorm who grew a pair of wings + Xueti who was riding on him.

Should I exclaim at Eaglestorm's powers? Despite Body Transformation being a high-level technique that only few of the Great Druids who specialized in Transmogrification could use, he used it to give himself a human body to spread his teachings of not wearing clothes.

"Wowowowowo! I am the king of the world!!"

Alright, looking at the Tauren, he was slapping his chest and shouting loudly in the air. He was simply too much of an eyesore to ignore, so…

I picked up a round-shaped goblin landmine and threw it over like a frisbee.

The frisbee made a perfect curve but Eaglestorm's sharp eyes noticed the sudden attack. By tilting his body slightly, he easily dodged the attack.

"Haha, you missed!!" That dumb cow didn't know that his identity was long exposed by me and still shook his butt towards me, flinging his bird…

"Using that 'King of the world' as the target, test the might of the fixed cannon towers and the Goblin's hand grenades, fire!"

After passing down an order to the engineers and shooters, I turned around and leaft. As I expected, the screams of agony of the two fools could be heard for a long time.

"Hmph, to dare to show your bird in front of me… Anyway, they're both Legend-ranks and tough enough, they won't die even if they fall down directly. It's a good opportunity to test the effectiveness of our defence devices."

"Yes, Lord!" Truthfully, my words were excessive. To an engineer, as long as there was a chance to try out their treasures, why would they be worried about the life and death of their lab rats.

3 goblin cannons continuously fired and the Goblin shooter's hand grenades never stopped. 'Suoooooo' and multiple rockets fly towards the sky…

While a large portion of people looked skeptically at the rise of engineering, perhaps due to my interests as a Transcender from a foreign world, I made Sulfur Mountain City support the development of engineering.

In current times, due to the presence of many engineering masters, Sulfur Mountain City had become the sacred land of engineering for the entire Underground World.

This time, in order to sustain those 'Rolands', I brought all of the engineers to make up for the incident previously. With the help of the engineers, the last-minute defence system was currently being renewed at the speed of 3 times a day… seems like I accidentally used the wrong phrase, but it's enough as long as the meaning was there.

Cough, after researching the engineering system of this world carefully, I realized that their energy sources were still mainly derived from the energy crystals found within magic beasts. The fossil fuels were still a few centuries too early before they could be truly used. In that instant, I knew that it was impossible for engineering to hit it big in a short period of time.

Why? It was just the basic conservation of energy. If you wanted to move a giant device that was sufficient to kill a top-tier magic beast, you had to first use the magic crystal of a top-tier magic beast… The Titan Heart and other kinds of permanent energy source couldn't be mass produced. On top of the unrefined usage of fossil fuels by goblins, the negative view in most people's mind that engineering = explosion also made it difficult for engineering to be spread around the world.

At the same time, there was a ruckus at the doorstep. I walked there and saw the familiar Dracon, Beifeng Herault. He was currently carrying a sack with something struggling within, intending to sneak in… But it was a pity that the Dark Elf Knights wouldn't allow such an obvious criminal act to happen and had surrounded him tightly.

"Let go of that horse!!"

2 hoofs were exposed from the struggling in the sack.

"…I am a Centaur, not a horse! Right, is there anyone outside? Save me! Save me! There is a kidnapper here!"

"Hey, hey, Town Security ladies, I am just following the teachings of my instinct and fulfilling my role as a Hunter by bringing a prey back. This isn't a district under your control so you can't dictate my actions right."

For a moment, the Town Security was at a loss of words. From a certain perspective, they really did not have the authority to carry out the law in this city.

Looking at this perverted Hunter who was good at debating, I couldn't help but think of the new pervert scale created by the Town Security — Beifeng scale, and my head started to hurt.

"There are too many perverts in Sulfur Mountain City but Beifeng's perverseness cannot be matched, so he became a SI unit for perverseness. The Beifeng scale is decided by a vote from everyone. As he's hated by everyone, he's known as 1 Beifeng. The one that always flirts with female nobles, The Moving Obscenity, only had half of his hate ballots, so she was 0.5 Beifeng. The explosion maniac brothers were 0.6 Beifeng, that ugly eagle hooked-nose (Eaglestorm) was 0.8 Beifeng, that Tauren who always strips naked was 0.1 Beifeng…"

"Wait, even though they are both perverts with a fetish for nude running, why was there such a great disparity between them?"

"Hmph, it's hateful how he brought it out and flung it about despite not having the capital."

Their answer made me sweat profusely.

"Also, don't just look at how gruff he looks, that Tauren is actually quite obedient. He doesn't retaliate when you hit him, he doesn't even scold you back when you insult him. He's fit and can undergo beatings, fulfilling all the standards of a good man in our heart. Actually, many girls in our team are interested in him. If he could get rid of his bad habit of stripping naked, he might be even more popular. After all, no one would wish for their own property (male) to be exposed to the public…"

Fine, should I say as expected of Dark Elves? At that time, I tried to test them a little…

"Then, what about Lich Roland?"

"10 Beifeng! I'm sorry, I know that he has dealings with the legal system and you hope to spare him. But whenever we think of him, everyone starts to grind their teeth in resentment and finally, we unanimously decided to give him the highest value!"

"…10 Beifeng huh. Hehe, then what about number 2? 5 Beifeng?"

"Of course it's Beifeng himself 1 Beifeng! Hmph, that bones must be a pervert whose head got dunked in water, otherwise why would he keep doing things that harm others and don't benefit himself."

Fine, the moment I recalled of the fact that I was seen as a 10 Beifeng dumbass whose head was dunked in water while the silly cow on top was only 0.1 Beifeng and popular among the girls, my anger seemed to rise from somewhere…

"Engineers, if you all are unable to shoot him down, then you all will be confined as a group. If you hit them down, they will be confined instead. Put in more effort, I expect to see results before lunch!"

Alright, the moment that my voice echoed out, the firepower was increased by more than 3 times. At the same time, I walked slowly to the side of the Dracon who was still standing triumphantly.

"You lot, did you all turn dumb from reading too much from the codex? Indeed, this is not the district under your control, but you all aren't enforcers here too. Since you all came in your own capacity as an individual, there's no one here to interfere with you all. What's the point of being so considerate when you all want to beat someone up?"

Beifeng was indeed alert and just as I finished my sentence; he was all ready to make a run for it.

"Incantation of Law: Judgement, Incantation of Law: Stripping of Freedom."

As expected, Beifeng who had just commited a kidnapping turned light red and was immediately stopped on the spot by the Incantation of Law.

"Beat him up!"

Maybe my commands were excessive. The Town Security whose hatred was exploding immediately swarms in. Those who were kicking were already considered mild, there were those using whips and shovels… Looks like, the rules of Sulfur Mountain City preventing the abuse of those captured had the Town Security quite frustrated from restraining themselves.

A fight burst out here but instead of watching it, I looked worriedly at my quest board.

[Daily quest: Set your dogs out to hurt others. Order your subordinates to surround and beat up people who you consider an eyesore. The stronger the target, the more vicious the beating, the better the reward. Current progress: 2/3… Hero, did you think that as a Demon King, I won't have my loyal lackeys? If you wish to face me, first get rid of my underlings, the Left and Right Guardians, 3 Sky Gods, 4 Heavenly Kings, 5 Gold Warriors, 6 Protectors, 7 Arhats, 8 Sky Dragons. Hahaha, I shall be waiting for you at the 99th floor of the labyrinth.]

"There's still one more lacking, who shall I look for? Forget it, anyone will do. With this bunch of perverts, do I still need to be afraid of being unable to find a reason to beat someone up?"

"Thank… Thank you. But, can you be responsible for me?"

A shy voice resounded by my side, but the content was unbelievably explosive. Even the Town Security forgot to beat up Beifeng and the goblin cannon shooter stopped from the shock.

"What, what, what, responsible? Me?!?!?"

Fortunately, the mask covered my expression. Otherwise, everyone could have seen the silly look from my lower jaw bone falling down.

Looking carefully, it seemed to I recognize her.

"You… from that day?"

"Great! Lord, you still remember me. It's all because of you, I lost my most precious thing that day."

A golden-colored horse tail swayed along with the wind. The other half of the horse's body was still in the sack but the redness of her embarrassment extended all the way down to her neck.

"Lord… can you take responsibility… I don't request a lot, as long as I have sufficient food, I don't mind sleeping by the corridors."

Vaguely, I felt that the gazes from my back had changed from respect to one looking at trash.

"She's so small… It can't be that Lord's also a special product from Sulfur Mountain City — A Gentleman."

"Furthermore, a centaur. Her lower body is a horse. So his taste is the same as Beifeng's. No wonder Lord couldn't find a girlfriend in Sulfur Mountain City and fooled around the moment he came out."

"Hmph, Momo's perfect image of him in my heart has crumbled, how disappointing. I thought Lord was cool but I didn't expect him to be a pervert as well. What's more, a hypocrite who pretended to be righteous. Hate meter explodes! At least 0.9 Beifeng!"

"This… Actually, we shouldn't comment too much about his private relationship. Lord is a male after all, so he has the freedom to choose who he loves. However, messing around at the start and abandoning her afterwards wass wrong!" The Town Security Captain Diana was understanding like always, but I really didn't need this kind of interpretation.

"Huala!" Hearing the sound of the movement of ropes, I immediately lowered my head. Not surprisingly, a cold magic wire flied past slightly above my head.

"Hmph! Master, do you prefer wood or iron? Let me book for you in advance."

"I don't need a coffin!!" Even if Elisa didn't point out what these materials refered to, but the frost on her face, the blood veins on her pretty face and those endless wires that were furiously twisting about were sufficient to tell everything.

"Such a picky customer. Then, just die on the cross on the fields. Not only will it be environmentally friendly, we can also make good use of the trash as a scarecrow to get rid of pests."

Under Elisa's summons, countless ice particles formed from the solidification of water vapor, turning into wires that brought about death. As for me, I could only dodge frantically.

"Centaur lass! I promise you! I promise you everything and I shall take responsibility. Help me explain, quickly!!!"

"Great! Lord, since you are willing to provide Anya with a job, Anya will work very hard for you. Ahhh, ever since I lost my job because of you Lord, I really didn't know what to do. It is really fortunate that you are willing to provide me with a job."

"Job!?"

"Responsible?"

After shouts of surprise, from the explanations of the Centaur girl, everyone finally understood that it had just been a misunderstanding.

The one before me who was speaking shyly and even playing with her horse tail was Centaur Anya, the unlucky fellow who had lost her job after I caused a scene in the Platinum Order Auction House. She, who viewed her first job in life as the most precious thing to her, naturally couldn't forget about me who caused her to lose it.

"…That, initially, on the afternoon two days ago, I found a job in a restaurant as a waitress. But, a Holy Knight caused a scene there, saying that she wanted to arrest a criminal. In the end, she broke some tables and chairs in her fight and ran away. And the boss blamed me for not stopping them and even wanted me to pay… Those Elf Holy Knights were so fierce, how could I have stopped them?"

Holy Knights? Furthermore, Elf Holy Knights? This wasn't Sulfur Mountain City, so I turned my gaze to the Town Security and unsurprisingly, that lass Momo was intending to sneak away.

"Capture her!" Alright, a few seconds later, there was one more dumpling on the floor that was mumbling to herself. "This's too much. How could it be my mistake to punish those slave traders, Momo isn't wrong!"

"Yesterday afternoon, I found another job in the bath house… But, it was so scary! A bunch of naked perverts rushed in to bathe and after bathing, they ran out naked again. Furthermore, they didn't pay any money and scared away all of the customers. The boss blamed me for not stopping them again and I lost my job once more…"

I silently focused my gaze on those engineers. In the next instant, the firepower tripled once more.

"Yesterday in the evening, I found another job as a servant at the Lion King's Residence. But, several hours later, I met with misfortune once more. It was so scary, a very beautiful big sister suddenly rushed in, saying that she wanted to borrow a scepter to take a look. My boss refused and they actually started to fight. In the end, half of the Lion King's Residence got destroyed."

"Was that big sister black-haired red-eyed with a dragon tattoo-like insignia on her left face?" That centaur girl's story was simply too legendary that even Little Red had come over to listen. But at this point, she suddenly asked seriously.

"The Dragon Empress?"

After receiving confirmation, Little Red smiled and her smile was full of malice.

"It was definetely her. Hehe, borrowing Eternal Night Scepter to take a look? This can only be used to fool a kid. The #3 excuse commonly used by the Dragon Tribe's for extortion 'Lend me that so that I can take a look, I'm just going to take a look'… If you really had lent her that scepter, then you should be prepared to never get it back."

"#3? Then what are the first 2?"

" 'I heard that there is a beautiful princess in your home', 'I heard that the boy in your home is destined to became a dragon-slaying hero'…"

"Then, doesn't that there are excuses to extort from both genders… Who created them? How exquisite! Truly a genius!"

"Of course it was I, who was born smart and pretty. But it's a pity that those jealous idiots won't admit it. I was obviously the one who created it but everyone started using them."

"Ha, there are some things that can be done but not said. After you said it out directly, naturally, their pride couldn't accept it. However, since the fragile alliance of the Dragon Empress and Beastman Sovereign is starting to fracture, the Dragon Empress should have come alone… Un, pass the message to Kajah and Eduar. Perhaps today's 3rd dog will be quite strong and I'll be able to reap great rewards from my daily quest."

  1. He used the phrase that authors normally use to promise their readers to publish X amount of chapter each day and the phrase here means 3 chapter a day.
  2. Most of it are references to Buddhism