“Where’s my money, bitch?”

The Otherworlder stared straight into the wizard’s eyes to seem intimidating. When he had seen her being dragged along by whatever foodstuff or condiments those guys were, he was very pleasantly surprised, so he made up his mind to take her captive from her captors, a double kidnapping.

Unfortunately, he had only recovered enough mana to use ‘Veil,’ a Light Magic spell that sucked in the light reflected by any one source to give the illusion of invisibility. He then used his strings and spirit magic alongside the element of surprise to take them down and put up a good show to scare the wizard into compliance.

If only he knew what she was thinking.

“M-money? I don’t know about any money!”

“The money you took by telling people we’re best friends. Don’t act dumb.”

"What...?" Liesl scanned through her memories at top speed as sweat dripped down her forehead from the nervousness. "AH! That money! We took it so we could meet you again!! We kept it safe, at my home!"

The Otherworlder silently observed her for a few seconds before letting her go.

Liesl dropped to her feet and took a few deep breaths. She calmed her shaky breathing down as the Otherworlder used his wires to cut off the cuff and the rope.

“Well... uh... thank you...” Liesl stuttered over her words as she thanked the Otherworlder. Originally, he would have thought that she was just an ungrateful brat, but remembering his own actions, this level of fear did not seem too strange.

“A-about your money–”

“That can wait.” The Otherworlder interrupted Liesl. Since the money was at her home, there was nothing they could do for now. So, he moved on to the next topic of interest. “What is going on here? Where’s the rest of you guys?”

“That... I don’t know myself...”

“Hm?”

“We received a quest to investigate the sewers. We didn’t think it’ll be anything big, so we stormed right in...” Liesl’s tone dwindled near the end and she lowered her gaze. Instead of pushing her, the Otherworlder patiently waited for her to get a hold of herself and continue.

“But down here, we came across a strange couple. They went on and on about some ritual and attacked us. They were strong, very strong.”

The Otherworlder’s eyes narrowed. This could be important information about some future enemy. “What did they look like?” he asked.

“They were very quirky and had colorful hair. Even with the four of us, we could barely defeat them by killing them. The guy was called sugar and the woman spice, I think.”

‘What! So it was those guys!!’ the Otherworlder screamed in his mind about the absurd coincidence but kept a straight face.

“Ahck! Ahck!” Pained coughs resounded from behind the two. Liesl and the Otherworlder turned around to see Onion leaning against the wall with blood spilling out of his face. “I-impossible... You guys... killed sugar and spice? But... they had reported in yesterday.”

A frown appeared on the Otherworlder’s face as he heard Onion’s words. It angered him to think this guy was faking unconsciousness and was eavesdropping on their conversation. The Otherworlder clicked his tongue and crouched in front of the blinded Onion.

He slammed his hand on the wall above his head and spoke up. “Yeah, that was me. We had been posing as them since the last week.”

A great way to divulge information from a conversational target was to reveal information right back, hopefully the kind that contradicted their beliefs.

“H-huh... You’re bluffing. No one knows... the exact code words...”

“Oh, I didn’t.” Information that flabbergasted them, surprised them or shook them worked too. “It was all just a coincidence.”

“Huh?! What kind of sick fuck asks for six cubes of sugar and then some jam?!”

The Otherworlder kept in the urge to smack this guy right then and there as his forehead and eyebrows twitched. He breathed out a sigh and moved on.

“We’ve seen it all. Your plans to revive the god, the paths in these underground channels. It won’t work.”

“Achk! What do you...”

The Otherworlder leaned closer to Onion’s ears and continued. “We’ve already destroyed parts of your sealed god’s body. Thanks to your own sound blocking spells, you didn’t even notice.”

“I-Impossible...” A pained groan came out of Onion as his fingers trembled at the Otherworlder’s words.

As far as the revealed information went? It mattered little to the Otherworlder. After all, this person was about to die right here.

"E-even if you took down... one part, it means nothing... Our leader Holy Water can still revive the snake god Ifcarus... There are more than fifty of us... you'll never stop this town... from being eaten by its true god... never!!"

The shaken Onion assumed the Otherworlder already knew these superficial details and spoke up without thinking of them. His con had worked rather successfully. This was exactly the information he wanted, the numbers, the leader, the god they were trying to revive.

With no hesitation, the Otherworlder pulled out his wires again and wrapped them around Onion’s neck. Feeling the strange sensation, Onion groaned and writhed around, but he was too injured to move enough.

The Otherworlder knew. Ever since he came to this world. No, even in his old world. He knew.

Towards those that tried to harm him, towards those that tried to kill him, whether it be directly or indirectly, with intent or without...

... There was no room for mercy.

“You’ve told me enough,” the Otherworlder said. “Now die.”

A loud thud sounded out as Onion’s body fell limp to the ground and his decapitated head rolled away.

“So, wizard girl. Should we check out the rest of the renovations down here?”

┈ ┈ ┈ ⋞ ⟨ ⏣ ⟩ ⋟ ┈ ┈ ┈

In a faraway part of the underground channels, a beautiful lady with white hair stood in a dimly lit place with her arm crossed. Light of various hues spread into the wide space.

Right in front of the lady was a gigantic sculpture of stone. Two sharp fangs spread down like tusks of a mammoth while an enormous tongue curved almost as if it were alive. The petrified head of a majestic snake shrouded the room with its terrifying presence.

Situated at the top of its head, almost as if it were a third eye, was an equally enormous magic crystal with intricate circles drawn all around it. Dense waves of mana leaked out from the crystal and merged into the head of the snake as it twitched with each new drop going in...

... and with each twitch, familiar grotesque structures of stone appeared behind its head.

Observing the appendage silently, the lady sighed and opened her mouth. "Well, well. This sure looks troublesome."