## Chapter 382 – Color Out of Space
“Screeeeeeeeeech!!!!”
The chef screamed like a goose that had its foie gras stolen, jolting upright. I silently warned him by repeatedly stabbing his thigh.
“Screech!!!! Kehehek! You son of a bitch!!! What! What the hell!!!!”
I don’t need two bastards to get information.
Once I kill the one next to him, the survivor will naturally spill everything he knows. Criminals are inherently weak to fear and pain.
“Ugh… What’s all the noise? Did you finish with the guests… Ughaaaak!!! Who the hell is this!!!”
“Guess who.”
ㅡThwack.
The innkeeper slit the chef’s throat as soon as he woke up. “Kuh-heok!” He clutched at his neck, spewing blood foam before collapsing. Serves him right for being a chef and putting drugs in the food.
As a law-abiding citizen, I cannot forgive messing with food.
“You mosquito net merchant.”
Let’s comply with food sanitation laws, you son of a bitch.
“W-What the hell is going on…!”
“Stay still. Unless you want to die.”
“Heop!”
Fear and confusion clouded the innkeeper’s face.
Still, this bastard seems somewhat reasonable, shutting his mouth immediately when I put the knife to him.
“Hehehe, innkeeper. That stew was delicious, wasn’t it? So delicious that even three people could eat it and not know they’d pass out.”
His eyes widened at my words.
“He, hehehe? S-Sir? What are you talking about…”
“Don’t play dumb, you bastard. I know you put drugs in the stew.”
“Drugs in the stew? Sir, what is this… What are you doing? K-Killing the chef, we may have overcharged you, but not enough to warrant death…”
“You fucking bitch.”
As expected, he was just like his appearance, not someone you could reason with. Annoyed, I forcefully plunged the knife into the back of his hand.
ㅡThwack!
“Uwaaaaaaagh!!!”
“I won’t forgive you if you keep pretending you don’t know! What are you guys doing? Robbing travelers, aren’t you? Huh?”
“Aaaaaaaagh!!”
“I told you not to play dumb, but you keep pretending you don’t know!! Asura Shattering Blood Fist!!!”
“Keuak!”
Violence is better than words for interrogation. ㅡPow! I slammed the Asura Shattering Blood Fist into his face, scattering shattered teeth and splattered blood.
I don’t offer forgiveness.
If you don’t cooperate, I’ll just kill you painfully. If Eliza were here, she would definitely say that’s all these cruel robbers deserve!
“Where do you think you’re pretending you don’t know! I know everything, you insect!!!!!”
Kim Kat, the Great Demonic Celestial Saint and chivalrous hero, never shows mercy to evildoers!
“Kkeuaaaagh!! Stop! Please stop!!!!”
“Why did you put drugs in it!!!”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, sir!!!”
After beating him for a while, it seemed like we could finally start a conversation, so I stopped the assault.
The innkeeper, who initially seemed like a skilled torturer, was now completely covered in blood, his face transformed into a demonic visage straight out of a nightmare.
“Keuek…!”
“Good, now we can start the interrogation. You bastard, why did you put drugs in the stew?”
“T-That’s… Keuheuk!”
“I’ve already filleted the two bastards you sent up, you little shit. They already told me everything. If you lie now, you’re just going to end up as stew meat. Delicious stew meat, hehehe.”
“That can’t be!”
“Tell me the truth if you don’t want to be boiled alive. Cooperate, and I’ll let you live.”
ㅡThwack!
I stabbed the innkeeper’s forearm again with the knife. He screamed like he was having a seizure and started babbling.
“Kkaah…! I, I’m sorry, sir!!! As you heard, we are robbers who prey on travelers!”
“So you were trying to rob us this time too?”
“Yes! S-Sometimes travelers wander this way… We used to rob those people…”
“Hmph, I see. But that means the whole village is in on it, right?”
“That is… Well…”
“If you’re slow to answer, I’ll start the hole-punching punishment!!”
ㅡThwack!
“Gyaaaaaaagh!!! That’s right! It’s a village-wide operation!!! Keuhak!”
A delayed answer means there’s too much to say and it’s hard to get it all out. In that case, I need to help him speak by making holes in his body.
“Hehehe, I see. So that’s how it is? Hey, but why us specifically? You should have been careful if we looked dangerous, you little shit. Did we look easy?”
“Keuheuk…! It’s because it’s been so long since we’ve seen guests… And…”
“The women are pretty too. Right? You thought we looked easy because we were carrying luggage on Quetes without a carriage, like some beggars.”
“…That’s right.”
“Okay. I understand. It could happen. So, there’s something I want to ask.”
This is the main point.
Killing them is something I can do anytime, but finding where they hid the loot would be quite difficult without their cooperation.
“W-What is it?”
“You must have hidden the money you’ve stolen so far somewhere. Where is it?”
“…”
A moment of silence.
Is he thinking? Or is he pretending not to know? I shouted into his ear as if scolding him.
“Hole-punching!!!!!!”
“Aagh! Don’t stab me! I’ll tell you everything!”
“Good. You understand well. Where is it?”
“T-There’s a warehouse outside… We piled it up there. I swear.”
“Outside? Not in the inn?”
I asked, looking into his eyes, and his eyes trembled severely.
“I, I swear, please believe me! I want to live too!”
“You’re lying through your teeth, you son of a bitch!”
“Eok!!”
This bastard is spewing bullshit!
It looked like a lie, so I immediately threw away the knife and beat his face and torso with only my fists. I didn’t train in fist fighting for nothing. A relentless barrage of beatings pummeled the middle-aged man’s weakened body.
“Kuheok! Kkeuaaaagh…! Keuheuk! J-Just kill me! You son of a bitch, just kill me, you bastard!!!!”
“Oh yeah, you definitely deserve to die!”
I was getting tired of him resisting like this, so I decided to make a decision. I gathered mana from my entire body and unleashed the Demonic Celestial Divine Art.
I immediately grabbed his arm and applied an armbar.
“W-What is this! Stop it!”
“Joint locks know the truth.”
No matter how tough you are, you’ll cry like a baby when you’re caught in a joint lock. As I tried to break his arm, the innkeeper screamed for me to spare him.
It was already too late.
ㅡSnap!
“Kkeuaaaaaagh!!”
A scream erupted as his arm broke.
It would be easier for both of us if he just told me when I asked, but I don’t know why he always makes things so troublesome.
He must be a born seed of a cursed villain who enjoys bothering others. Bastards who don’t listen should just be killed.
“Next is the other arm! And both legs are a service! Finally, stew meat!”
“Underground! It’s in the basement of the inn! Please! Stop it!!!”
As expected, you can only get the truth by inflicting pain.
You can never find out such facts with words.
“Where do you think you’re talking down to me, you bastard!”
“I was wrong! I was wrong! I’m sorry! It’s in the basement of the inn, please stop!!!”
“Hehehe. Good, you should have said that from the start. This is what happens when you keep bothering people. Get up, you bastard. Let’s go to the basement.”
“Keuheuk…!”
I helped him up. Fortunately, I hadn’t touched his legs, so he could stand. He stood up, staggering and crying miserably.
Crocodile tears…!
“Heuek, heuk… Keuek.. Heuek…!”
Looking at him crying, it was confirmed that he was a chilling bastard who only knew himself. Originally, these heinous criminals can never think about what they have done so far. They just complain about their own unfairness.
Terrible murderous intent surged, but the hidden treasure comes first.
I calm my anger.
“Keuheuheuk…! Heuek!”
“Don’t cry. I said I’d spare you, why are you crying? Guide me to the basement quickly. You can stand, right? I’m a conscientious person who doesn’t kill anyone who helps me find money, even if I kill everyone else. Stop it, stop.”
Of course, I have no intention of sparing him.
“A, alright…”
My mind is racing.
Even if it’s just one village, if I rob them all, I can more than recover the cost of this trip.
Thinking about it that way, encountering these robbers felt like a great stroke of luck. As expected, the gods look after heroes.
They allow me to do good deeds and reward me accordingly.
“Kat, the interrogation?”
“He said he hid the money in the basement. I’ll be back in a bit, so wait here.”
“Hehe, okay.”
“Ah, but there weren’t any problems, right?”
“Not really?”
When I said I was going to the basement, Winia made a torch for me. I led the bastard ahead and headed to a room in the corner of the first floor. He said there was an entrance to the basement there.
“T-This is the place, sir.”
When I removed the carpet, sure enough. An entrance to the basement appeared.
“Hoo. You’ve made a good basement. Go in.”
“…”
I led him ahead and slowly headed to the basement.
I was careful in case it was a passage to summon his comrades, but there wasn’t any device and it was moderately narrow, so it just seemed like a basement.
ㅡThud.
I came down completely.
“H-Here, we keep the cash in this chest and the rest is… the loot from the travelers that we haven’t sold yet.”
“Haven’t sold yet? Do you go to other cities to sell the goods?”
“…That’s right.”
Well, how would other cities know that this place has such a murderous secret? This village is probably just known as an ordinary rural village in the fog.
They live normally on a regular basis.
However, the moment a traveler comes, the entire village works together to rob and bury them, then pretends they don’t know anything. That way, rumors won’t spread, and no one will notice.
Even if they know someone is missing, it’s a place with heavy fog and many monsters in the first place.
There’s no reason for the village to be suspected.
Of course, if the traveler seems like they can handle themselves, they’ll just overcharge them and send them on their way. But this time, they made the wrong judgment and put an end to their crimes.
“But what do you do with the women you capture?”
“…”
“Yeah. It must be hard to say. But if I stick a knife in your stomach, you’ll say it even if you don’t want to.”
“Aagh! Wait! W-We capture the women and…”
“Capture them and?”
“Well… T-This is a village with only men… So we use them as playthings for the village…”
As expected, they kill all the men and enslave the women to rape them. If the entire village is using them as playthings, then there is no innocent person in this village.
Judge Dredd Kim Kat is deploying.
“Playthings?”
“When the time is right… We s-sell them. Or just k-kill them.”
“You bastards are really vicious.”
As expected, these bastards are not worth saving.
Showing them mercy would only increase the number of innocent victims. This is a problem that cannot be compromised. They must all be killed.
…Wait.
But they sell them?
“But you sell them? Who buys them?”
“People we don’t know… There are guys who come to the village sometimes.”
As he said that, a feeling like fear flashed across the middle-aged man’s face. Women being sold to people they don’t know?
Are they bandits?
Or just simple human traffickers?
“Who are they? Hey, I’ve been cooperating with you so far, so I’ll only spare you. Tell me without worry. I’m curious.”
“I, I don’t know who they are. They always wear hoods, so I couldn’t see their faces well… I think they’re probably bandits or something… We didn’t care as long as we got paid. We also dispose of the women, and the, ah, the children as well.”
“You crazy bastards. Just die.”
ㅡThwack!
“Keheok?!”
I’ve heard everything I wanted to hear, so there’s no reason to spare him anymore. I immediately stabbed him in the stomach with my knife, and he coughed up blood in a seizure, kneeling down.
“Y-You said you’d spare me…?”
You naive bastard.
I’m most amazed that you believed that, you idiot.
“Of course I lied, you moron. You’ve been deceiving people like that, and you can’t even tell when I’m lying? That’s why you don’t know how scary tigers are and run wild. Go to hell, you bastard.”
“You son of a…!”
“Hehehe, if you want to complain, complain to your dead mother.”
ㅡSlash!
I kicked him in the face as I pulled out my sword, and the innkeeper, who had died instantly, fell backward. With this, I have saved future victims.
“You fucking trash. What do you think human lives are worth?”
I shook the blood off my sword and put it back in its sheath.
“Well, I did a good deed again today… Hehehe.”
I immediately took the treasures in the basement.
There were quite a few piles of equipment, clothes, and boxes.
As expected, nothing is as profitable as justice.
