Leave a comment

The small and narrow stairwell appeared jet-black and imposing, just like a ferocious beast that was about to devour people.

“I’m going out to take a breather.” Yakov tugged hardly at his army fatigues¹ in an attempt to get more oxygen in this stiflingly small space.

“No…that’s not allowed, sir Yakov! The Auction Master had ordered us to stay and guard here! You’re not allowed to move around by yourself.”

After taking two steps forward with much difficulty, his loyal subordinate proceeded to admonish him, preventing Yakov from leaving his guard duty.

Rubbing the knife scar on his face, Yakov took two deep breaths. However, he almost vomited immediately from the smelly foot and sweat odors that filled the surrounding air.

The knife scar on his face…started to throb increasingly in pain.

“Seriously…” Yakov glared at his loyal subordinate… It was dark and he was utterly incapable of seeing anyone in the direction he’s facing, but Yakov could still sense his subordinate taking a few steps back.

“Is that really the order from the auction master?”
“That’s…that’s right. We were informed personally by the Shadow. He told us to guard the pathway between the 9th and 10th levels with our lives, and not allow even a fly to get past us.”
“What’s the reason?”
“Eh…huh?”
“I’m asking for the reason for us guarding in this place.”
“It…it seems that Eleanor Hamelin has escaped. Furthermore, according to the reports, it’s extremely likely that she had infiltrated all the way here. Therefore, we have to anchor ourselves here to prevent the rabbits from escaping, as well as capture Eleanor Hamelin.”

Due to the thinness of the air, the subordinate couldn’t help but gasp for air after completing his explanation.

Yakov stopped in his tracks while he habitually lifted his blade slightly out of its sheath.

Eleanor Hamelin…that’s a name that would leave a deep impression in people. After all, of the many, many slaves that he had caught, she was the one and only slave that wasn’t afraid to spit her saliva at his face. However, it was a pity that she wasn’t some nobility’s offspring. If not, he would need to teach her a good lesson for her actions.

After thinking for a whole good while, he suddenly recalled that he had captured a young girl yesterday who had something wrong going on in her mind. She…seemed to be also of the same class. However, despite looking like that, she always addressed herself as “this lady”. Yet, she could only be the daughter of a small lord at most, which was utterly incapable of inciting any interest in him.

Furthermore, she was slated to be sold off tonight.

Shaking his head, Yakov shook those useless thoughts out from his head, turning his attention back to his given mission.

All of this was for the sake of a shortlived Fairy Elf. Wilkis, the auction master, always had to put up such pageantry. In fact, he didn’t even hesitate to leave the extremely important 1st to 9th level unguarded. That’s really like the actions of an idiot.

However, all of these weren’t important. To him, all that matters was being able to make those young aristocratic daughters sob and cry for their lives, something that brought great joy to him. As long as he can continue torturing them, he would not hesitate to be someone’s dog.

It doesn’t matter whether their owner was smart or not.

This was also the reason behind his extremely high position within the auction house, despite only being a 6th rank expert. In fact, there were many people stronger than him that were positioned below him in leadership. Although Wilkis is idiotic, he knows that a person like me is born for the sake of revenge. As long as I can take revenge, I’ll never, ever betray him.

“Hu…” not knowing whether it was a misconception or not, Yakov suddenly felt his head turn slightly dizzy, while his chest felt extremely uncomfortable.

Am I ill? How’s that possible? I’m a 6th rank Martial Artist! If a 6th rank Martial Artist can get ill, I should just find a piece of tofu and smash myself to death!

However, this uncomfortable feeling was something he had experienced a long time ago. At that time, he was just an ordinary person, continuously working hard for the sake of fulfilling my life’s goals, resulting in him falling sick from overworking.

Yakov slapped at his head as the uncomfortable feeling grew increasingly serious.

Nevertheless, that was still an extremely happy period of his life, as his important family members were still alive. And every time he fell ill, they would gather by his bedside, chatting about interesting matters that have happened in their vicinity, eliminating the boredom that would build in his heart.

“Dad’s laugh is really ugly…” my 6-year-old daughter would always say that when I reveal my heartfelt smile.

Despite that, I would always feel extraordinarily blissful…

However, everything had completely changed after that incident, as all had seized to exist. Be it his family or its members, all of them were gone! All because of that evil…

“No…that’s not good! Some people have fainted!”
“What…why? Who fainted!”
“I don’t know. I can’t see his face clearly.”

All of a sudden, a commotion erupted among the group of people guarding the stairwell. Frowning, Yakov looked towards the direction where the commotion was happening, though he was unable to see anything at all.

The stairwell… was also too dark.

The dangers lurking in the darkness, the sudden collapse of his subordinate, coupled with the possibility of enemies hidden in the darkness, caused the feeling of unease hanging in the air to thicken.

“Hey… would that enemy by the name of Hamelin have already snuck into here?”

God knows who was the one who had whispered, causing the air to suddenly quieten down.

An instant later, someone spoke out abruptly with a trembling voice: “I…I’ve heard that Hamelin excels in assassinations. A few years ago, the auction master was almost assassinated by her.”

Those words only serve to tell everyone that they had seen a ghost, resulting in everyone erupting ferociously into chaos.

“Quickly! Hurry up and find her! If not, there’ll be more of us that will get assassinated by her!”
“Did you find her? I can’t see anything at all!”
“Me too! It’s jet black over here! I can’t even see my own fingers!”
“Ah! My foot! Who of you stepped on my foot!”
“Why the hell are you complaining about your foot! I didn’t even snort when my 𝓹𝓮𝓷𝓲𝓼 gets smashed by something!”

“Who the hell turned off the light! Hurry up and turn it back on!”
“Idiot! If you turn on the lights, it’ll let our enemies know that we’re lying in ambush here.”
“That’s true. What should we do now?”
“We should identify our enemies first, right…”
“Not good! The guys above us have also fainted!!”
“Dammit! How does she do that! Can it be… that she has already snuck in? And she’s poisoning us from within?”

“……”
“……” the air turned peculiarly silent for a few seconds.

“Dammit! Dammit! We’re all going to be poisoned to death!”
“What should we do…boohoo…I’ve got elderly and kids to take care off! What are they going to do if I die?”
“I also don’t want to die! I’ve yet to use finish my VIP card for the Harmony Brothel! It’ll be too much of a pity to die now!”
“Me too…”
“Stop talking, idiots! Hurry up and cover your mouths and noses and stop breathing!”

Realistically speaking, Yakov didn’t wish to take charge of these low IQ subordinates that Wilkis had nurtured. As the proverb said, one’s subordinates would be a reflection of oneself. Being an idiot, it was only natural for Wilkis to nurture such stupid and idiotic subordinates.

Nevertheless, it would not be easy for him to account for Wilkis if all of his subordinates were to die. Therefore, he had no choice but to speak out and remind them.

However… the more they held their breaths, the worse all of them felt, as time to time, the silence would be broken by the sounds of unconscious people smashing into the ground or walls.

From the looks of it, they have already breathed in quite a bit of poison gas.

Yakov trained his eyes towards the large stairwell. Although he knew that this trap was laid for the specific sake of ambushing their enemies, since his subordinates have already been poisoned, it meant that Eleanor Hamelin had already discovered the hundred over people that were lying in wait for her.

Looks like I’ve underestimated you, Eleanor Hamelin! However, it’ll not be possible for you to escape from here.

Yakov rushed ferociously towards the front, utterly ignoring his subordinates that he had stepped on during his rush, before sending a fist rumbling towards the large door, smashing it apart with a loud bang.

Fresh air rushed in, immediately causing Yakov to feel much better than before.

Indeed, she had poisoned the air. However, from the looks of it, the toxicity of the poison isn’t too strong and wasn’t able to cause too much harm to a 6th rank Martial Artist like him.

Yakov quickly looked to his left and right, only to discover that there was not a single person present around the large doors. In fact, his senses couldn’t even pick up the existence of anyone else other than himself.

However, this should also be expected. If she doesn’t have such covert capabilities, how would she dare to assassinate the auction master, right?

“S- sir…” a subordinate came running over. His condition doesn’t seem too good, an unnatural flush present on his face, with even his movements appearing to be labored.

Yakov started to frown, as he knew that his subordinates were already rendered useless by the poison, causing him to reply:

“Go and get all those who’re still able to move to wake up those that have fainted. After that, go to Roska to get some antidote pills.”

“Er…what about you sir…”

Yakov looked towards the spacious walkway, habitually clenching the handle of his blade before replying: “Eleanor Hamelin shouldn’t have gone far. I’ll personally hunt her.”

1. http://whydotheycallitthat.blogspot.com/2011/09/army-fatigues.html