Chapter 249
Let me tell you about a man named Grund.
A truly wicked man at the FBO, said to have committed every sin imaginable.
A criminal who is said to have experienced every conceivable crime.
Yet, he's a character who achieved the feat of appearing from the early stages of the story, repeatedly escaping, and showing the player that he was never caught until the very end.
As for his popularity... well, you can probably guess. He's an unpopular character.
This naturally raises the question of why such a character survived and why the production team kept him alive.
Ignoring player complaints like, "It's ridiculous that a guy like this is still alive, get rid of him already," this was a man who was never captured or killed until the service ended.
"Boss, ain't that thing seriously dangerous?"
Now, he leads a band of thieves, and today, like every other day, he continues to pile up his sins.
"Yeah, it is dangerous.""Then—""Backing out now would be even more dangerous. If we turn tail and run here, what do you think that person would do to us?"
His face showed he was drinking but wasn't drunk as he watched his subordinates work.
What exactly was he seeing with those eyes?
Regarding the item discovered the other day, his subordinates found it creepy and refused to go near it, and Grund himself thought it was dangerous and wouldn't go near it either.
They happened to find ruins; saying that using them as a base was their downfall says it all.Saying that greedily exploring them in hopes of treasure was fatal says it all too.
"......""At best, they'd just kill us outright. Normally, you'd think we'd just become punching bags for that young master. At worst......"
The mysterious sphere they discovered deep within the ruins.It looked like glass but wasn't; a refined container so clear you could see through its contents—an object valuable enough to be worth a fortune on its own.
But no one was happy to see it.This was a group that wouldn't hesitate to kill people if they thought they could sell someone else's belongings for money, yet not a single one of them was pleased.
"It's food for that monster."
They even started blaming the crew member who found the hidden room, asking why he had to find it.If it were just that, everyone could have kept quiet and pretended they never saw it.
"You wanna end up like that too? Then go ahead, tell that scary guy hiding in the shadows over there.""L-like hell I will, Boss! Don't even joke about that!!""Sorry, sorry, just a little joke. Yeah, you're right. With a noble backing us, letting us do as we please, it's unthinkable to turn tail and run."
There was a man among the thieves who gave off a distinctly different aura.He sat alone by the wall, as if he disliked company, maintaining his knife.At a glance, he dressed like the other thieves and seemed like one of them, but his sharp, blade-like gaze kept everyone at a distance.
When his gaze briefly turned to Grund and his subordinate during their conversation, the subordinate froze, and Grund laughed cheerfully, creating a stark contrast in temperature before things settled down. He was a collar sent by a certain noble backing this band of thieves.
Grund flashed a dubious smile and waved, but the watchful man coldly returned to maintaining his tools.
"Man, I wanna get along, but he never even wants to drink with me.""More importantly, Boss, how can you talk to him with a smile? That guy killed our comrades out of nowhere, you know?""Well, I thought that was pretty dangerous too, you know? But hey, on our side, it's common sense that if you pick a fight, you can't complain about getting killed, right? The guys who got killed picked a fight with him because they didn't like him, and that's all there was to it, right?"
When he was first sent here, several thieves grumbled behind his back, annoyed by the constant surveillance, and some rebelled and picked a fight with him.
A bunch of misfits stood no chance against a member of the dark operations unit serving a ducal house. The result was four heads rolling on the ground.
The subordinate who brought it up, remembering this, got goosebumps and turned pale.Killing and being killed were everyday occurrences for the thieves, and he wasn't a man with such a weak stomach to be scared by something like that. Yet, being shown that slaughter with those cold eyes was enough to instill fear, and it wasn't strange.
"Yeah, but...""Well, he only kills those who oppose him. Other than that, we're pretty free. Might as well enjoy the current situation, right? We get to drink, we get food, and as long as we don't go too far, we're allowed to steal. It's the best situation, isn't it?"
Grund, who had surely seen the same scene, grinned and slowly stood up.The ruins they were using as a base were originally a stronghold for a cult of an evil god, so they were habitable.
They had everything needed for people to live: bedrooms, a kitchen, a well, latrines, and even stables.
"Where you off to?""Hmm, just a little walk, maybe. If I feel like it, I might stop by the gambling den.""Got it."
With a band of thieves living in such a place, an illegal environment naturally developed.A gambling den, a tavern, and even a place to satisfy men's desires.
They stole and prepared everything, but they could only provide it because of the immense power of the ducal house backing them.
It was a creepy place, with watchful eyes and shady work, but the rewards were commensurate.
It had a certain level of comfort.
The man leading the group, the boss, walked off, swaying with a bottle of alcohol in hand.He waved to subordinates he passed along the way, putting on a friendly show, but no one dared to look down on him.Instead, they called him "Boss" with respect and familiarity, engaging in small talk.
"......"
While interacting with his subordinates scattered throughout the ruins like this, he quietly erased his presence, slipped away alone, evaded the watchful man's eyes, and Grund ventured deeper and deeper into the ruins.
He advanced as if avoiding being seen by anyone, stopped by a certain room along the way, and then started moving again.Any thief living in these ruins knew what lay ahead.
There were no guards. No one.
The fear that ran through him the moment he stepped into that seemingly defenseless space.
His smirk tightened for just an instant, then returned as he squinted at what lay ahead.
"......"
An appetite—no, a predatory desire—palpable even from within the container.A throbbing pulse, *dokun dokun*, felt even before entering the room.
"Hey, can't you do something about this voice in my head? Honestly, it's exhausting. Every single time, my head hurts when it demands to be fed."
And according to the man himself, those waves had summoned Grund.He tapped his forehead with his finger, took a swig of alcohol, and even in front of the monster, his smiling face remained unchanged as he lodged his complaint.
`SACRIFICE. OFFER A SACRIFICE.`"Come on, I'm not some senile old man. Three this morning, four at noon, and two more at dusk. It's not like humans are infinite, you know?"`OFFER.`
Grund was hiding one thing from the Duke.It was the fact that he could hold a conversation.
Grund had only one idea about what started it.Before finding these ruins, he had injured his hand.
The wound itself wasn't serious, but while he was in this room investigating the magic circle on the floor, blood from the stained bandage seeped through and touched the circle.
As a result, Grund became the only person in the thieves' band who could converse with the monster.
"Yeah, yeah, seriously. Once it gets like this, it just won't listen."
Hearing he could talk to a monster, an ordinary person might recoil and refuse, but Grund judged it could be useful.
What it desired were sacrifices to sate its hunger.Not livestock or nuts and berries—it wanted living humans.
And so, he tossed a burlap sack containing villagers he had secretly abducted from a recently attacked village into the room.The squirming movement proved the person inside was still alive.
Muffled sounds; they probably couldn't see through the sack, but sensing the monster's presence, they struggled. A reddish-black tentacle stretched from the container, instantly entwining the sack and pulling it towards the container.
Screams mingled with the sound of crunching bones and tearing flesh, but he showed no sign of caring.
`NOT ENOUGH.`"That'll have to wait until I get my part. You know how it is, right? This is an `equal` transaction. I brought food for you, who can't do anything. So then, you will?"`TAKE IT.`"Thanks, as always."
This was a transaction. A deal between a monster and a human.Not caring about the scheming noble or the whims of the rampaging young master, he held out his hand. A single tentacle extended from the container, and a red crystal was released onto Grund's outstretched palm.
There was no way something given by a monster could be normal.Nevertheless, Grund stared at the crystal before carefully dropping it into a leather pouch.
`NEXT. BRING MORE.`"I'll bring it in the morning."`......`
He waved his hand flippantly and left the place.The monster, its hunger slightly abated, fell asleep.
"♪"
In high spirits because the monster's voice was gone, Grund didn't retrace his steps but instead hummed a tune and took a different path.
If he exited the ruins, the watcher would spot Grund.
But Grund had been in the thieving trade since he was a small child; even against a member of the dark operations, he had ways to slip past them, if only just.
Making sure no one realized he had been deep in the ruins, he returned from the quiet space gradually back to the lively one.
Making detours here and there, making it look like he had been with his subordinates the whole time, he soon found himself drinking at the gambling den.
"Boss!""How's it going? Everything good?""Hehehehe, not too bad! How about a game, Boss?""Yeah, sure, let's play a little. Go easy on me, okay?""If we went easy on you, Boss, we'd be stripped clean!!"
He had just offered a person to a monster, yet no one noticed, and he seamlessly blended back into daily life.
"Yeah, I'm not interested in men's bodies, you know? If anything, it's more like, well, this?"
Engaging in foolish men's talk, he gestured to indicate what he preferred, and the subordinates' laughter echoed.
"Speaking of women, what happened to that woman you got from the noble before?""Ah, that girl? Seems the young master bullied her quite a bit. She didn't last long. Her mind was in shambles too; couldn't really enjoy her much."
The things they talked about were trashy conversation.But for Grund, this murky river was his place.
He didn't need justice. The idea of doing something for someone else made him want to vomit.This group, greedy, true to themselves, and loving themselves more than anyone else, was his place.
"She was a pretty good woman, right?""Who knows? I don't really remember. I make a point to forget women from the past, you see."
He wouldn't say something like, "to protect this place."If you have no place, you just make one yourself.
You just gather the people cast out from proper society.
Prepare sweet bait, let them have fun, and these kinds of people conveniently gather.
Men or women, it didn't matter. This place, like a murky river, was their dwelling.