Chapter 260 : Chapter 260
Chapter 260 : The Kingdom's Legacy (3)
Ramba had a good reason for being terrified.
From the moment he turned his back on the Wild Dogs and Sewer Rats, the beggars of each branch aimed for his life.
Thus, Ramba eventually ended up going all the way to the southern part of the Kingdom where there were no branches, and at its threshold, he was finally caught by the elite Wild Dogs.
"If it weren't for the milords of Brakenport...... I truly would have died helplessly."
Therefore, he had no choice but to be afraid of facing the 'Queen of the Underground'.
Ramba wrapped his arms around himself and shuddered.
"Above all, that woman, her temper is famous for being utterly fucking crazy. On the outside, she's so alluring and neat that she puts noble ladies to shame, but there's no way to know just where her mind is twisted. She's someone who has no hesitation in slitting a person's throat while smiling......"
Ramba continuously flicked his tongue as if his lips were burning dry.
"Anyway, you must never lower your guard either, Milord. I mean, she's a very formally crazy bitch."
"I will keep your advice in mind."
Perhaps gaining courage from my calm reply, Ramba bravely took the lead again. He seemed to believe that his life would not be in danger as long as I was here, at the very least.
How long did we walk down the maze-like path?
Soon, a murmuring sound could be heard from somewhere.
As we turned the corner, the beggars' hideout finally revealed itself.
The gazes of the beggars, who were sprawling around the entrance and giggling, poured out. They seemed to be the gatekeepers.
"What do you want?"
One among them stood up while sniffling his nose. The rest of the guys also awkwardly raised their bodies.
"I-I have come to see the Queen of the Underground."
At Ramba's answer, the beggar bastards stiffened in unison. As the guys only blinked their eyes in that state and checked each other's faces—
"......Puhahahahaha!"
As if promised, a burst of uproarious laughter erupted. They were exceedingly ugly bastards. On faces dripping with grime, they were showing off with all their might the mere three or four yellowed teeth they had in total.
"Is the Boss your friend?"
"Fuck off. You beggar's footwrap-looking bastard."
Abruptly, Ramba grabbed one of the guys in the middle by the collar and pulled him close to his front.
"W-What!"
"Look at me straight!"
"What the hell does this crazy bastard want me to look at—"
"I'm Ramba! The Ramba of Conwell you bastards tried to kill!"
The bastards' complexions hardened again. The guy grabbed by the collar glared his eyes around and soon spoke in an urgent voice.
"G-Go and bring a Hound......! Hurry!"
As one beggar swiftly entered the rear entrance, only then did Ramba let go of the collar.
I had kept my mouth shut from the beginning, but.......
A strange tension suddenly lingered among the beggars.
While only the vibration of the fierce water current flowing from beyond the wall was felt through the soles of my feet, the beggar who had been grabbed by the collar opened his crooked snout.
"R-Ramba! I don't know what kind of confidence this is, but you'd better abandon any thought of making it out of here alive!"
Saying so, he struggled with all his might to check my face hidden inside the robe. He seemed to guess that Ramba had brought a highly skilled mercenary from somewhere.
Soon, from the dark entrance behind the bastards, men dressed in similarly pitch-black clothes poured out in droves.
One bastard among them roughly pushed aside the triumphant gatekeeper beggars and stood facing us.
"Did you come to offer your neck?"
As he said so, his gaze was directed at me. Because of that, it was only human nature for me to answer.
"You mean to ask if I came to 'take' it."
"Ha, look at this bastard?"
The bastard snorted. His hand headed for the club at his waist.
The Lust Demon was dead, and the kill order on Ramba had practically lost its justification. Furthermore, from a position of needing to obtain help, there was absolutely no reason to make enemies of them. It was a situation where even if I, being the one in need, acted compliantly, it wouldn't be enough.
'......This damn temper of mine is the problem.'
The black-clothed figures, who crawled out in a line from behind, surrounded Ramba and me in a circle. It seemed these bastards were the 'Wild Dogs' in charge of fighting within the 'Wild Dogs and Sewer Rats'.
"M-Milord, I-I will try to speak to them well. If possible, a-avoiding a fight is—"
The terrified Ramba's voice trembled. I clicked my tongue.
"Even at a glance, they don't look like they'll obediently listen to words."
"S-Still, a conversation—"
"Violence is the fastest and most effective means of conversation. Isn't that so, Hound?"
"Hahaha......! Look here, Ramba. Just where did you bring this greenhorn who can't even tell right from wrong? He seems to think we're just beggar bastards begging on the streets."
The Hound strode right up to my nose. He was a head taller than me. The bastard's gaze plunged down from above.
"Didn't your mommy and daddy teach you?"
He thrust his sneering face forward. It was a declaration of war beyond compare.
SMACK—!
I immediately turned his jaw with my elbow, then slammed his swaying body onto the floor.
CRASH—!
Kampringen, my body definitely remembered it.
"I guess the parents in this country teach their children how to suck up to beggars?"
"Keuheok......!"
I mounted the bastard's body and crushed his head down. The Wild Dogs surrounding us stirred with their clubs drawn. Shifting their feet back and forth, they looked ready to pounce at any moment, but could not readily step forward.
Looking around at those bastards in a circle, I leisurely raised the corners of my mouth.
"Bring your leader. The Queen of the Underground or whatever."
Only the sound of gushing sewage filled the silence.
At that time, the Hound crushed beneath my palm began to snicker and laugh.
"Leader? Keuh, that's fucking uncomfortable to hear."
"I heard the Queen of the Underground is your leader."
"......Cut the dog-shit nonsense. Ramba, did you come crawling here on your own two feet to beg for your life?"
Ramba and I briefly exchanged glances. Something was strange, but we did not show it. Acting naive at a time like this would only result in being treated like a fool.
Instead, I pressed down harder on the Hound's face. The sound of bones crunching and screams intertwined.
"Uwaaaaagh!"
"Then what, are you the leader here?"
"Uuuugh......euk!"
"Ah, this, your jaw is shattered......, things have gotten troublesome. Hmm? Isn't that right?"
I raised my head again and scanned the surroundings. Before I knew it, the number of personnel had swelled further.
At that time, a woman in the center caught my eye amidst the swarm of beggars. Living up to being the only woman among them, she was a woman whose overall impression was truly like a red flower.
"Are you the Queen of the Underground?"
She did not deny it. She merely looked down at me with an expressionless face, appearing like someone who had mastered the art of managing her expressions.
Presently, she lightly nodded her head.
***
As I walked behind the woman, the surrounding scenery changed one by one like a lie.
Before I knew it, a plush carpet was laid over the damp floor, and as the sound of the waterway's water was blocked out, a stillness lingered as if I had entered a vacuum room.
GULP.
It was the sound of Ramba swallowing his saliva. The guy walking side by side next to me met my eyes and silently flinched like a bastard caught stealing.
It wasn't like anyone forced us, but both Ramba and I were keeping our snouts firmly shut.
'It's an atmosphere where it feels like I should just shut up for some reason.'
Even the candlelight hanging on the walls seemed like part of an antique and elegant wooden style. The rotten fishy smell disappeared like a lie, and only a sweet scent lingered at the tip of my nose.
'Did we come to a place connected to the underground waterway?'
A high-class tavern in the back alleys where dangerous guys would gather every night to plot conspiracies. It was generally exactly that kind of atmosphere.
CLICK—
As the woman turned the doorknob decorated with gold leaf, a splendid interior no less than the reception room of a decent noble's mansion was revealed.
The woman sat as if throwing her body onto the velvet sofa placed in the center, then arrogantly crossed her legs.
"Now, then, shall we hear what you have to say? I already know that the stocky one is Ramba of Conwell."
She added while picking up a slender silver pipe placed on the side table.
"You there. Why don't you take off your hood?"
Smoke drifted up thinly from the end of the pipe she bit in her mouth.
A hollow laugh came out first. I slowly looked around the rest of the room, which was adorned lavishly to the point of debauchery, and spoke.
"......If you're going to imitate a noble, at least do it properly."
"What?"
"Offering a seat when a guest enters is basic etiquette."
At my sarcasm, she silently only twisted the corners of her mouth. Her slender fingers stroked the pipe, and her movements were strangely sensual.
Her red pupils shone piercingly through the scattering smoke.
"A guest? How cute. You know how to say quite cheeky things."
She blew out a thick puff of smoke through her red lips, then languidly gestured with her chin toward the door behind Ramba and me.
"Mountain, come in. Our precious guest is asking for etiquette."
Almost simultaneously with the call, a tremendous presence was felt behind my back.
The figure that entered while filling the doorway completely was closer to a massive boulder than a person. It was to the extent that even Bolero would look like a child if he stood next to it.
FLICK—
As the woman pointed her finger, the guy roughly crossed between Ramba and me. If we had stood our ground without stepping aside and collided, we would have been sent flying helplessly.
The bastard firmly stood his ground right next to the woman.
'He's fucking ugly.'
With a bulk that size and a face that menacing, he would inevitably live alone in solitude his whole life and drop dead in old age. As a fellow man, I somehow felt a sense of pity, and my head bowed of its own accord.
At that time, the woman's laughter could be heard from the front. Her laughter was quite frivolous, as if mocking my sympathy.
"Kyahahahaha! What's this, why did our guest suddenly become so polite? Guess you finally remembered what etiquette is?"
My sliding gaze touched Ramba. Ramba shrugged his shoulders as if he had nothing to say.
I stared straight ahead again.
"I was wondering what it meant to be formally crazy."
The Queen of the Underground and her escort knight, Mountain, frowned at the same time.
Well, it wasn't like I came to have a long conversation in the first place anyway.
"Never mind that, I'll ask simply. I want to enter Simone. Tell me how."
I held out the letter of recommendation Isaac gave me. The woman stayed still as if momentarily speechless, then looked back and forth between Ramba and me.
"Just what kind of situation is this? A traitor with a kill order on him comes crawling in on his own two feet, and the nameless mercenary he brought along is suddenly looking for Simone."
"T-Traitor! In the first place, the Wild Dogs and Sewer Rats aren't an organization with a strict system! We're just a gang where free souls dreaming of an honest and simple life gather to beg for food together and enjoy elegance!"
The woman burst into uproarious laughter as if it was ridiculous. Every time she spat out laughter, a handful of smoke spewed out.
"Honest poverty my ass. Looking at your state, it seems all the meat grease you've stuffed your face with hasn't gone to your belly, but all to your tongue?"
The woman uncrossed her alluringly crossed legs and spread them wide open like a guy. She leaned her upper body forward and growled lowly.
"Shut your mouth, Ramba. Then what's all the information you've so easily sold off all this time? You sucked all the sweet juices dry, and now you're pretending to be noble?"
"I-It was an unavoidable choice so I wouldn't starve to death!"
"Oh, is that so? Then was it also an unavoidable choice for you to push our Wild Dogs into the Conwell civil war? You fearlessly broke the organization's rules and dipped your feet into politics, and since you caught the Duke of Conwell's eye with that, you're going to quit playing the dirty beggar now?"
"D-Don't make things up recklessly......! That was purely the Leader's order! You should know well that I didn't even have the authority to move the Wild Dogs in the first place!"
Suddenly, the woman smashed the pipe she was holding in her hand against the corner of the side table and jumped up. She strode over and thrust the sharp cross-section of the broken pipe at Ramba.
"Hee-ik!"
"Don't bring up the Leader's name with that dirty mouth of yours."
GRAB!
I grabbed the woman's wrist. After warning Mountain, who was flinching behind her, not to move, I slowly took off my hood with my remaining hand.
"......!"
The woman's eyes opened wide. Soon, her red pupils failed to catch their bearings and trembled like crazy.
Just what of mine did she see to show this kind of reaction? I felt like I knew without even having to ask.
'It's not very pleasant.'
A sense of a foreign object filled up over my face. It was a sensation similar to when I first felt the blue ghost fire blooming from the Ghost Eye.
GURGLE— GURGLE—
An unpleasant sound was suddenly heard from somewhere. The gazes of the three people, excluding me, moved as if convulsing toward where the sound came from.
In every corner their gazes touched, insect Demonic Beasts embedded with dozens of eyeballs were coiling up and squirming along the walls and ceiling.
"Haa......!"
The woman soon collapsed to the floor, as if her legs had given out. Yellow liquid flowing out from between her unsightly spread legs soaked the high-class carpet.