As Long as You Have the [Shop] Skill, the Dungeonized World Is a Breeze ~The Bullied Youth’s Payback Lifestyle~

Chapter 57 – Inside the Castle That Is the Love Hotel

―At the love hotel, Sifrur.

In a corner of the red-light district, there was a love hotel.
Sitting in a room on a sofa was a man in a bathrobe, puffing on a cigarette with a cup of sake in hand.

“…Hah? Yamada and the others still haven’t come back?”
In front of the man in the bathrobe, there was a brawny-looking bald man standing on the other side of a table.

The man in the bathrobe was Ryudou Eiichi, the leader of the community that occupied Sifrur.

“What happened? Didn’t I order them to keep an eye on Kuzuhara’s surroundings?” (Ryudou)
“Yes.
But when they didn’t respond to my periodic contact, I went to check on them.
But there was no sign of them.” (Bald Man)
“…Did they run away?” (Ryudou)
“No, I don’t think they had the guts to betray you, Ryudou-san.
In the first place, those puny dregs wouldn’t be able to escape from us alive.” (Bald Man)
“….Then it’s more likely that they were caught by Kuzuhara during their lookout?” (Ryudou)
“That seems somewhat more likely.” (Bald Man)

Ryudou exhaled and let out a puff of smoke as he leaned his back into the chair and gazed up at the ceiling.
It wasn’t clear what he was thinking about as he stared unblinkingly at a single spot without moving.

But if you looked closely, it was possible to see his lips moving slightly.
The bald man just waited on standby, waiting for Ryudou to speak.

“….It’s possible that it was done by a third party.” (Ryudou)
“…! There were 10 people in Yamada’s group.
To be able to take them on, they’d have to have a considerable level of strength.
We have no information that any organization moved against them.” (Bald Man)
“….There’s no reason for it to necessarily be a group, is there?” (Ryudou)
“Not a group…? Then you’re saying it was someone working alone? …Well, I haven’t heard of anyone like that in this city.
Yamada and the others all had weapons, and they were all used to being in fights.
Thinking of someone who could wipe all of them out alone without any traces, it would have to be Kuzuhara or… someone like you.” (Bald Man)
“Well said.
Someone like you would probably be enough, too.
Besides… There have recently been rumors of other such people.” (Ryudou)
“Rumors…! Do you mean that katana user in a hakama?” (Bald Man)
“So you do know what I’m talking about.” (Ryudou)
“But she’s a woman, you know?” (Bald Man)
“You know what they say, where there’s no fire, there’s no smoke.
In other words, that katana-wielding person in a hakama definitely exists, and she’s quite the strong opponent as well.” (Ryudou)
“Then Ryudou-san, you’re saying that woman did something to Yamada and the others? Why do you think this?” (Bald Man)
“Hey, come on now, Kuroki.
Use your brain a little bit.” (Ryudou)

“Yes… I apologize.” (Kuroki)
The bald man, who was named Kuroki, quickly bowed down as if he was afraid.

“I had told Yamada to keep an eye on him and to contact me immediately if anyone unfamiliar comes into contact with Kuzuhara.
Information is the best weapon of all.
It pisses me off when there’s something that Kuzuhara knows that I don’t.” (Ryudou)
“…In other words, Yamada and the others made contact on their own and had the tables turned on them?” (Kuroki)
“That’s more likely.
I had those guys act while making their best efforts not to be discovered by Kuzuhara.
If they were discovered by a third party, it’s hard to believe that that third party would intervene and take them out.
It probably went something like this.
The hakama-wearing katana user came to Kuzuhara’s house for some reason.
Then, to make sure of the reason, they tailed the katana user, and then they caught her while she was alone.
After all, I had told them that the katana user would definitely appear and that they were to kidnap her when she did.
But when they tried to take her away by force, they were killed instead.” (Ryudou)
According to Ryudou, if they had survived then they would have gotten in contact.
The fact that they didn’t meant that it was highly likely they’d been killed.

“…But there were no dead bodies around Kuzuhara’s house, you know?” (Kuroki)
“And soooo, since I told them to do surveillance without getting discovered, they probably ended up deciding to approach her some distance away from Kuzuhara’s place.
What, are you fucking stupid? You wanna die?” (Ryudou)
“…! I-I apologize!” (Kuroki)
Kuroki, who should have been by and far the more brawny and well-built one, was backing away from Ryudou’s intense glare.
It was easy to understand the power dynamic between the two from that alone.

“So try and widen the scope of your search.
If there still haven’t been any rumors of any corpses, there’s a good chance that they were killed in a place that isn’t so easy to find.
It’s unlikely they’d be in the residential area… There was a river near there, wasn’t there? Maybe they were thrown into the river there, or you could try looking around the grass there.
Who knows, maybe you’ll find something.” (Ryudou)
“Understood.
I’ll get on it right away.” (Kuroki)

“Yea.
By the way, Kuroki.
I kinda feel like the quality of the delivered goods have been slipping lately.” (Ryudou)
“Huh?” (Kuroki)
Ryudou glanced fleetingly in the direction of the bed.

There were several women chained limp and naked to the bedpost, their bodies covered with sweat and a cloudy white liquid.
There were syringes, whips, and other such tools scattered around the bed.

“”

“We’ll arrange a hunt soon.
So for now, please bear with the ones we have left on hand.” (Kuroki)
“…Do you know if there are any new ones in the prison?” (Ryudou)
“Yes, there are a few women that I’ve managed to obtain recently.” (Kuroki)
“I’m sure they’ll be to my liking, yes?” (Ryudou)
“That… We’ve been trying our very best to find women as close to your criteria as possible.” (Kuroki)
“Oh well.
I guess I’ll go play around with them for a bit.
Kuroki, I’ll put up with it for now, so you better be grateful, alright?” (Ryudou)
“Thank you.” (Kuroki)
“Kukuku… It’s nothing.
Obedience is the most important thing.
Besides, I’m in a pretty good mood right now.
Do you know why, Kuroki?” (Ryudou)

“No, I don’t.” (Kuroki)
“At last… I’m finally going to be able to bring Kuzuhara to his knees.
Aah, I’m really looking forward to it.
I’ll get to see his despair-filled face again… Kukukuku.” (Ryudou)
A creepy laughter rang out in the room.
Ryudou brought the bottle of sake to his lips and drained it in one go.

For some reason, the empty bottle began to crumble as if it were made of sand.

Kuroki’s eyebrows twitched at the sight, but he didn’t seem surprised.
It seemed that it wasn’t an unusual sight for him.

“Kuroki, if you really can’t get anything out of this matter, just have those guys move to obtain information instead.” (Ryudou)
“Yes.
Those guys, is it? I will move to get in contact with them as soon as possible.” (Kuroki)
“Alright.
Then bring a new woman from the prison for me.
Today, I’m going to have my way with her until she breaks.
Don’t get in the way, okay? Ah, and those toys over there.
I’m tired of them, so take them away.
Give them to the boys and let them have a go or something.” (Ryudou)
Under Kuroki’s instructions, some of his subordinates came in and took the women around the bed out of the room.

Ryudou opened up the curtains and gazed out the window.
It was the time of day where the moon was completely ruling over the domain of the sky.
A nasty, odious smile stretched across Ryudou’s face as he stared at that beautiful, round silver existence in the sky.

“Kuzuhara… Your life will definitely be mine… Kukukukuku.” (Ryudou)
A few hours later, the bodies of Yamada and the others were found floating in the river near the residential area, just as Ryudou had predicted.