Love Letter From The Future

The man wielding the long sword was defeated with a single blow.

Whether he found it hard to accept the fact or not, the light faded from his eyes as he suddenly vomited blood. Yet, of course, his fate was of no concern to me.

Grasping the nape of his neck, I dragged him along.

There was a high possibility that he had an affiliation with the Dark Order. His skills surpassed the level of a mere back alley goon.

He was approximately at the level of a squire in a high-ranking noble family.

Though not on par with me, his skills surpassed those of any ordinary thug.

Navigating through the scattered bodies littering the ground became annoying. Eventually, unable to endure my irritation, I kicked the man towards the reception room door in the distance.

The wooden barrier splintered upon impact as he hurtled through it.

Dust billowed as the hairy man within audibly gasped. Swiftly passing the fallen, I entered the reception room in a single breath.

The remaining hulking figures, groaning and attempting to rise, cast wary glances between me and the defeated swordsman.

Voluntarily, they resigned themselves back to the ground, realizing that resistance was futile.

The man wielding the long sword struggled to rise, but I kicked him again on his side.

"Cough!"

Groaning as if in the throes of death, he crumpled once more. Colliding with the wall, he no longer had any more strength to stand.

The middle-aged man, his eyes wide with shock, uttered in a rasping, trembling voice.

"H-How... even with dozens and among them there is Hidden Blade Behind Smile hyung-nim, in just a few minutes!"

"H-How... even with dozens, including Sir Smiling Hidden Blade, in just a few minutes!"

'Smiling Hidden Blade.'

I glanced at the man holding the long sword. He didn't look any older than the middle-aged man, and he never once showed a smiling face to me.

Anyways, the guys from the back alleys were all terrible at naming.

Though I found this alias preferable to being called 'Hatchet Young Master.' I retrieved the hatchet hanging on my waist.

"I'm a third-year student in the Knight Division at the Academy."

"H-hatchet and swordsmanship... what kind of c-crazy... keuarrrgh!"

With a resounding thud, the edge of my hatchet expertly severed one of the middle-aged man's fingers.

As I raised my hand, the hatchet returned effortlessly.

It wasn't an ordinary skill.

To the middle-aged man, it might as well have been magic.

Clutching his severed digit with trembling hands, he suppressed his urge to scream, the fear in his eyes escalating.

He shuffled backward, mirroring his earlier retreat when I exited the reception room. Tears welled in the eyes of the middle-aged man as he faced me.

After all, I was a human being who had defeated dozens of people in a matter of minutes.

It would have been odd if he weren't afraid. Moreover, there was little chance for him to have more tricks up his sleeve.

With overwhelming superiority in the balance of power, I grinned and said.

"Let's stop with the useless questions. We should take what we need from each other. So, whenever you ask a question, I will take one of your fingers."

The middle-aged man nodded without hesitation.

Hesitation would only cost him more fingers. At least I cleanly cut them off so it would be easy to reattach.

Still, he might suffer lingering effects unless treated by a high-ranking priest.

However, should he cooperate obediently, I might consider introducing him to the Saintess.

"Well, first things first. What happened to the missing people?"

"......I-I don't know!"

I stared at him in silence.

Subtly increasing the grip on my hatchet, the middle-aged man, sensing the change, shouted as if seized by a fit.

"I-I really don't know anything! W-We just sold information!"

Repetitive violence could push the human psyche to its limits, particularly when the threat of violence loomed constantly. Thus, I deliberately avoided showing any signs of hostility to maximize the effectiveness of the interrogation.

Since it was unlikely I'd meet him again, instilling a measure of fear seemed harmless.

I continued staring at the middle-aged man as his pupils trembled violently.

He didn't seem to be lying. So, I spoke in a low voice.

"To whom?"

"I-I don't know that either. Like I said, I just did as I was told... Aaargh! I understand! I'll tell you everything!"

As his excuses became lengthy, I had no choice but to raise my hatchet once again.

As soon as I did, the middle-aged man frantically began spilling out any information while shielding his head with both arms.

"The higher-ups! Instructions came from above, but I don't know the details! I-I just passed on information whenever a person cloaked in a black hood visited......"

"I suppose anyone who sees that person would immediately think they are suspicious, right?"

"W-Well, there was no other choice!"

The middle-aged man gasped, continuing his rationalization.

"Selling defaulted loans is the standard practice, after all... Even if we tried to collect the payment, we wouldn't get anything, so we just passed on the debtor's information! Whatever happens after the collection is not our conc... Aaargh!"

Once again, a finger was severed, accompanied by a spray of blood.

There were seven fingers remaining.

I wore a faint smile and uttered a single sentence.

"......I didn't ask."

The middle-aged man took several deep breaths, seeming to regain a modicum of composure.

He staggered, attempting to put distance between us, though there were limits to his movements.

In an indifferent tone, I continued my questioning.

"Even so, there must be something you've heard. There must be more to it than merely passing on info about the debtors"

"I-It’s true... Ah, aah!"

The middle-aged man, who had been trailing off at the end of his words as if feeling unjust, suddenly snapped to attention, as if a revelation had struck him.

Stammering, he spoke, as if this information could offer him a lifeline.

"Ex-experiments on living bodies!"

"Experiments on living bodies?"

The mere mention of the phrase evoked a sense of unease.

Experiments on animals were already unsettling, but the notion of human experimentation, especially since it was probably on the missing individuals, was deeply disturbing.

Furrowing my brow, I watched as the middle-aged man, seemingly realizing the gravity of his words, chuckled nervously.

"He, hehe... T-that’s right! I distinctly recall mentions of providing data for 'experiments on living bodies.'"

"...Crazy bastard."

I sighed deeply and sent him a chilling gaze.

"Even after hearing that, you still passed on the information?"

"Th-that's... "

The middle-aged man's eyes darted around as he tried to gauge my reaction.

However, since he had provided me with such important information, I decided not to torment the middle-aged man further.

Rising, I gathered the remaining documents from the table. They were stained with blood but the contents were still legible.

I continued my interrogation.

"So, how many people have you sold out?"

"Um, so far, about... nine people?"

I sighed, thinking as I sifted through the documents.

Nine seemed a bit too less.

So, I glanced at him for a moment and said.

"But the documents and the numbers don't match."

"Among them, some people have really disappeared! Basically, we transfer all the bad debts, but as I mentioned, there are also cases where they fled during the night! T-that strange man didn't even chase the people who ran away......."

I continued to flip through the documents in silence.

A faint murmur escaped my lips.

"......Doris, the son of Joanne, the woman who runs the mill."

In response to the information I read in a murmur, the middle-aged man, previously fidgeting and trembling, stared blankly at me.

Perhaps he was wondering if I was reading the debtor information.

However, I merely flipped through the documents casually, avoiding delving into specifics.

"Mari, has she already become an adult? It seems like she couldn't wait to start a fruit business... When she was young, her dream was to eat lots of fruits. She especially liked apples."

With a light toss, I scattered the documents on the table, fixing a sharp gaze on the middle-aged man.

"...... Now that she’s missing, she can't even eat apples anymore."

I feigned a motion toward his throat, then seized him firmly by the collar instead.

With ease, I lifted him up. He struggled and gasped in the air.

In a tone filled with rage, I issued a warning.

"Did you think I wouldn't recognize these people? I grew up with them in this small territory since I was a child... Speak the truth. Are there really only nine?"

"Keugh, cough... Y-yes... I swear, cough!"

I then forcefully slammed the man onto the ground.

His body bounced before he fell back to the ground and let out a stifled groan.

I aimed my hatchet at his neck and demanded.

"...... How do you know that?"

"Huh, w-what are you talking about... Kuh......"

"You transferred all the debts to that man, didn’t you?"

The middle-aged man's eyes betrayed his confusion.

Frustrated by his attempts to seek answers from me, I erupted in anger.

"How can you be sure how many escaped or were truly kidnapped by that bastard? You didn’t see it yourself, did you?"

"W-Well......"

Stammering to justify himself, the middle-aged man suddenly wore a foolish expression.

Confusion laced his voice.

"...... Huh?"

In that moment, the atmosphere surrounding him shifted.

His limbs twitched uncontrollably, resembling a malfunctioning doll as he struggled to rise.

During this struggle, his elbow joint bent unnaturally with a chilling crack, yet his face betrayed no sign of pain.

"Why, why, huh, why, why, huh huh... Whyyyyyy?!"

He screamed suddenly, clawing at his skin.

Blood was flowing out, and his eyeballs were on the verge of popping out, but he didn't stop scratching his face.

Instead, he increased the speed of his actions.

I couldn't help but be bewildered by the sudden turn of events.

"No, what... Hey, are you okay?!"

"Why, why, why?! Kuh, huh... Huk. Why, whyyyyy!"

Now sobbing, the middle-aged man's actions intensified.

I paused, uncertain how to proceed.

Despite facing numerous life-or-death situations, this was something I had never encountered before.

A person who had been perfectly normal in conversation was now having a seizure like this.

The middle-aged man gazed at me with desperation, his hands still clawing at his face, blood smeared across his features.

He gasped for breath, addressing me between spasms.

"Y-young Master... Huuh, heeek, w-why, huhuh, why, my, my headddddd...!"

It was evident he wasn't acting like this willingly.

I immediately darted towards him.

I thought maybe I could knock him out.

But at that moment...

A pitch-black pattern materialized before the middle-aged man's neck, emitting a sinister red aura.

Although I was initially surprised, I quickly recognized it—the contract magic of the Dark Order..

I had witnessed it at the Gilford Orphanage.

Cursing under my breath, I stepped back.

"...Damn it."

An explosion rocked the room.

The middle-aged man's skeleton shattered, blood gushing forth as flesh, bone fragments, and brain matter melded together.

Staggering from the shockwave, I gazed bleakly at the headless corpse.

It crumpled to the ground, blood pooling around it.

Surveying the room, I found the other men, including the "Smiling Hidden Blade," silent and motionless. All of them had black patterns hovering above their heads.

With a sigh, I dashed out of the reception room.

Blood flowed like a river, seeping from beneath the door.

Patting myself down to clean the blood, I sighed, lost in thought.

"...First, I need to report this to my family."

I had caught the Dark Order's trail.

Although I found no information about the contract magic, I needed to rely on the Rinella family’s mage corps led by Sir Reynold.

Minutes later, I stumbled out of the building, stopping a passerby.

His face paled at my bloody appearance, but after recognizing me, he let it slide.

Guarding the area until my party members arrived, I left behind a hallway littered with bodies and a reception room awash in blood.

My party members were shocked by the gruesome scene and couldn't help but pause for a moment.

Among them, the expression on Ria's face, representing the Percus family, was the most notable.

Her eyes were wide open, and her lips were trembling.

I greeted my adorable younger sister with a brief nod.

"... You came?"

Before I could say more...

"C-crazy! Are you crazy, are you crazy, are you crazy...!"

"Argh! R-Ria! I told you to stop hitting!"

Despite not taking a single hit during the battle, I endured several smacks to my back from my enraged younger sister.

Life could be unfair.

***

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