How to Survive as a Trash Extra Villain

Chapter 184

***

“Buster Order.”

The Star Child looked at the emblem on the back of my left hand with profound eyes. When I withdrew my mana, the emblem also disappeared. The Star Child nodded in satisfaction.

“The Humanity Preservation Agency has come up with a rather interesting method.”

Outside the window of the flickering candlelit room, the night-fallen park is visible.

“So that bastard will give the signal?”

“Yes. He said that if there is a person with a Buster Order nearby, they can detect each other.”

It would serve as insurance to identify at least trustworthy people in a crisis situation.

“How quaint.”

I only told the Star Child and my family about what had happened at the Humanity Preservation Agency.

“All 35 Platinum Knights and powerhouses beyond the standard…, hmm? It didn't come to me?”

The Star Child shrugged his shoulders.

“As it happens, the Director gave me one.”

I took a Buster Order from my bosom and gave it to the Star Child.

“…The Director? To me?”

“Yes.”

I, who had been asked, was dumbfounded, so how much more so would the Star Child be.

“…Well, the fact that you and I are intertwined is not something one would not know if one looked carefully. But… hmm, really…. He's a strange person. The Director.”

To think the Star Child would say such a thing.

“Well, since I received it, shall I try it?”

The Star Child immediately attached the Buster Order to the back of his hand. It soon melted and was absorbed, and the emblem of the Humanity Alliance was drawn on the back of his hand.

“Hmm, is this the format? The communication magic is inferior to ours.”

“…?”

Ours. I wondered what that was, but Nerjin immediately explained.

“We've added a communication function to the Peacemaker uniforms.”

“A communication function?”

Communication.

It's not magic to be taken lightly. Isn't it strange that there are no telephones in this world?

It is no easy task to bridge the highly volatile space connecting two points and transmit a voice.

At the academy, cadets exchange numbers with their handbooks and text, but that's a privilege. It's a system that goes through the communication magic created by the great mage Lukfels.

“We used the top-grade mana stone that President Martin obtained last time.”

He was talking about the mana stone that was in the hideout of the Defardly Liberation Army. From the explanation that followed, it seemed it was made to function as a sort of base station.

'This will put my mind at ease.'

If Lilac is in danger, won't she just give me a call!

“If you put your mind to it, we can also create a pseudo-Buster Order among the Peacemakers. Well, anyway, back to the topic. You asked earlier, right? The reason why the Kraken King and the Necromancer suddenly started moving. It's probably because of the scale.”

“The scale.”

What does it mean that the scale has tipped. Humanity's right to attack. The blockade of the Demon Lords' entry.

“I see. Since the threat of the Demon Lords has disappeared.”

As they say, when the tiger is gone, the fox acts like the king of the mountain.

“The things that were biding their time must have started to move.”

My questions were pretty much answered. In fact, today's gathering was not because of my agenda.

“Then shall I get to my main point? In fact, my agenda is in line with the 'additional request' you received from the Director.”

It was because of the Star Child's call.

“You've handed those out, right?”

“Yes, Star Child.”

Nerjin raised his right arm. There was a bracelet symbolizing the Peacemaker. Lilac, Savo, and Bianca had the same on their right arms.

“Good. From now on, wear that bracelet when you're doing Peacemaker activities. Since it's the first day, shall we start with something light?”

When the Star Child tapped the table, Stellar Force flowed along the grain of the wood and drew a picture. It was a map.

“As you know, the security in the capital is a mess right now.”

Before the Demon Lord's attack, when the golden age of the Empire was continuing, security would have been maintained without any special measures.

But in the most densely populated area on the continent, where despair and fear had descended, no matter how hard the security forces and the security knights worked, they were not enough to prevent crimes that took advantage of the chaos.

Above all, since they were busy dealing with matters in the open, matters in the shadows were naturally shunned.

“So we will become a small lantern that illuminates the darkness.”

***

Hiding in the dark veil of night, a group of people scurried around. The place they arrived at was a certain collapsed mansion.

“Is, is this the right place?”

“I told you it is! This was originally the mansion of a nobleman.”

It was completely destroyed and collapsed in Kragach's flames, but since it was large, it looked impressive even just from the ruins.

“Good. I’ve confirmed that no one is around, so, yes. Let's have a look around.”

Right before they started, the heart of one of the group wavered.

“B-but, we're robbing a nobleman's mansion…, is, is this really okay?”

“Then what are you going to do?!”

But their reality was too tight to uphold good deeds.

“We haven't even met half of the tribute demanded by the family! At this rate, you'll all die! Either you'll be kicked out and die on the street! Or you'll be beaten to death by the combat team sent by the family! Man! Why do you think I'm here at my age?! Isn't it because you guys couldn't meet your quota?! I'm just here for an inspection! I'm teaching you! To act with this much backbone!”

“Y-Yes….”

It seems there was a sad story. But what could be done. That story wouldn't become a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Theft, like a cat. Stealthily. Six thieves sneak into the ruined mansion.

“Let's see here~?”

“O-Oh, hyung-nim! Look at that bust!”

“Hmm? This is, ugh! The eyes are jewels?!”

“Over there! That doorknob is gold too!”

“Kyaaaah!”

But the cat burglars must know. If they can't be secretive and light-footed.

“That's enough.”

That they are not cats, but cornered rats.

The movements of the thief rats freeze in an instant.

Because gun muzzles were aimed at their heads. Not one or two. A dual pistol, a shotgun, an anti-materiel sniper rifle. The night is quiet, and the cold muzzles are silent.

Moisture rises. It is the cold sweat of the thieves.

“P-please… spare me….”

“…”

The guns are swung. The sound of dull thuds echoes simultaneously.

….

….

….

***

“Ah, ugh….”

The place where the thieves regained consciousness was a certain underground detention room.

No, perhaps… it was a torture chamber. Around them were items that one would only see in the room where the family captures and tortures prisoners. There was blood, too.

'Am, am I alone? Why?'

The others. Are they dead…? Am I, the last…?

“…!”

My limbs won't move. A rope! I'm tied with a rope! As I struggled, a demon whispered from behind me.

“You're awake.”

Click, clack!

A new bullet is loaded into the chamber. I feel a hot sensation on the back of my head. I could tell without looking. It's a gun. The hot muzzle of a gun that was just fired…!

“Speak.”

Hot. Hot, hot, hot, hot! I'm scared! Help me!

“Y-Yes?”

“Say anything.”

“I, I'm, I'm Malcolm!”

“…”

“Th-thirty-four years old!”

“…”

“I-I-I belong to the Muscle King Family.”

“…”

Silence. And more silence. But the coldness I felt from behind me. The fear that a gun was aimed at me urged me on.

“W-we were short on the tribute! W-we, we'll die! If we're kicked out of the family, w-we don't have a proper place to sleep…! I, I…! Keub!”

Tears come out. Because I'm so scared. I felt like I was going to lose my mind.

“…Please, please spare me!”

“How many have you killed?”

“None! Absolutely not! I-I don't do things like that!”

“Have you stolen?”

“That too, no! Th-this was the first time. But! I-I wanted to live! If I die this way, and I die that way! I was trying to salvage something from the abandoned ruins…!”

A cutting sound echoes. ‘Thud’. It fell.

“Kuaaaaaaaaaaak!”

Malcolm screamed.

“Aak! Aaaaaaak!”

However.

“Ah, aah…, ah…?”

There were no wounds. What fell to the floor was the rope that had bound his hands and feet.

The sound of shuffling footsteps echoes.

Soon, a man holding a shotgun walks out from behind. I couldn't confirm his face because he was covered by a white robe with a hood.

He sits in the chair opposite me, crosses one leg, and strokes the shotgun that had been aimed at the back of my head.

“I, I….”

“Hey.”

“Yes!”

The eyes of a hunter flash from under the hood.

“How about you cooperate with us?”

“Of course! Of course, I will!”

As I nodded, the man in front of me stomped on the floor. At that moment, the floor gave way, and my body fell.

“Uwaaaaaak!”

But I landed at the same time I perceived the fall. And it was even soft.

“Uh, uh?”

I scrambled to my feet and found that it was a wide space. I saw the colleagues I had been working with. And….

“That person came too.”

“Yeah, he's here.”

Even the people I had seen here and there in the slums. Even people who were decent but belonged to other families.

“Wh-what is this….”

The people who had been competing for a piece of bread every day to survive split into left and right like well-trained soldiers. At the end, I saw a man leaning back in his chair.

He was wearing a white robe, just like the man with the shotgun. The dual pistols at his waist were impressive.

“Well, welcome, newbie.”

“Yes? Ah, yes, yes.”

In the midst of my confusion, I approached him.

“You, what can you do?”

“Pardon?”

“Don't you have any special skills or hobbies? You were in a pretty high position in the family, weren't you. Hmm?”

“Ah, I, that's.”

I was a beggar who had nothing and only did errands while begging.

Malcolm, whose head was spinning, finally remembered. His own immature special skill. The secret that had raised him from a beggar to an executive of the family.

“…Ah, I, I learned to write by looking over someone's shoulder, so I can do a little….” Orıginal content can be found at novelFirｅ.net

“What? You learned to write?!”

The man in front of me shot to his feet and walked over. Then he put his arm around my shoulder.

“Kyah, where did such a talent roll in from? Alright, from now on, you manage these guys. Find out what they suffered from the family and what they did, and gather all that evidence.”

“Y-Yes?”

“There must be good and bad ones among the families, right. It's a place where people live, so even if they're not perfect, hmm? The guys who at least act like people.”

“Ah, I understand…. But why…?”

“Because from now on… we're planning to take over the slums.”

While the Star Child was 'persuading' the vagrants, upstairs.

“Wow, Master! You’re amazing!”

The door opens and Lilac comes in. She looks new in a white robe over her maid uniform.

“You’re so charismatic!”

“U-uh?”

And this kind of praise from her feels awkward…. What should I say, it feels like I'm being praised while doing something bad....

I'll enjoy the tea she serves me, though.

“Sir Martin.”

The person who arrived next was Anette.

“Sorry to interrupt while you're taking a break, but I've caught another group.”

“It's alright.”

I stood up and slightly heated the muzzle of the gun over the candle.

“Let's start right away.”

***

“Huh? That whole area has disappeared?”

“Yes, Father.”

The muscular man put down the rope he was holding.

From behind, thud, the sound of a rock falling echoes. He had been doing strength training by wrapping a rope around a heavy stone.

“Is that true, Malcolm?”

The large man called Father asked, looking down at the young man who didn't look like a blood relative at all.

“Why would I lie to you? I have clearly investigated through inspection.”

“But does that make sense…? There were more than ten of us in our family alone?”

“I don't know the cause. When I went, there was already no one there. The same thing is happening in other families.”

“Is that so…?”

The slums. To the high and mighty, it might all look the same, but even in cold water, there is a top and a bottom.

If you're close to the city center and the income is decent, you might compete with other family gangs..., of course, the competition develops into a stalemate over time.

'I was thinking of running wild for the first time in a while.'

I don't know about disasters or Demon Lords. What would the beggars of the slums know.

But they are sensitive when it comes to the darkness of the slums spreading. It means the time for territory disputes has come.

So I had dispatched more personnel, but a rather prime piece of land had vanished entirely.

“Damn it, what is it.”

Father scratched his head and stood up.

“Gather the boys, Malcolm.”

“Yes, Father.”

The other families wouldn't just let something of this magnitude slide either. They would surely come forward themselves.

“It's a showdown of the fathers.”