Right now, I am in the slums. The buildings in this area are mostly rundown, to the point of almost crumbling with just a blow of the wind. Children, adults, and even the elderly were scattered about, wearing what looks like rags. Well, not that kind of rags you would usually see a slave wear, but something along the lines.

The people in the slum area are mostly poor, have shady backgrounds, and some thugs. Some of the children were an exception, but with a body like that, I wonder how long can they survive? Should I use some of my knowledge of modern technology to enhance their lifestyle? But by doing so, it would garner attention to my own self, making it almost impossible to escape the government’s hands. If you look at this scenery, you could tell that there is no difference with the hierarchy with the demihumans and humans.

“This is just horrible… I wonder what I can do to help the poor people in the slums, except the thugs… ”

I pondered for a while if I could help them while not gathering attention, but it feels like it is impossible for now, so I stopped that thought and stored it in my mind.

“Someday, I hope I could enhance their lifestyle, but my priority is Alexis, Kayaka, and Furry.”

I walked into the slums, and not long after, a cliché development arrived.

“Who are ya to trespass on our turf, huhhh???”

A group of five people, no, a group of five thugs stopped me in my tracks. The one who called out to me was a bald man with nose piercings. He held an iron club in his right hand, while a scimitar on his left hand. What bad choice of weapons…

“Hmm? Excuse me, but I have an important meeting in this area, so please move aside.”

“Hehehe… Oi boys! This little squirt thinks he can order us around! How about we play a little with him…”

““““Hehehe…””””

The group of thugs readied their weapons as they readied themselves to beat me up.

“If you bow down and beg for ya life, we might consider letting you go if ya give us all ya money.”

“…Haahh… What are you? A toll, no wait, you are less than that, a garbage toll…”

Hearing them say that makes me sick to the brim. It’s been a long time since I felt like this back on Earth. The first time I felt like this was when I was trying to get a proxy for paying the bills to our house. Since I was under-aged, it was impossible for me to pay the bills, so I had to hire a proxy. Using the money from the insurance and savings of our late parents, I was able to hire one, but that bastard was greedy as heck!

“… Oi… What did ya call me?”

“I called you a garbage toll, actually, let me rephrase that, you are a garbage toll whose worth is only equal to insects.”

Hmm… I’ve been using foul language more often lately. Is it because of stress? Well, anyway, I still have to do something about this development.

“!? YOU BASTARD!!! I AIN’T LETTIN’ YOU GET AWAY NOW!!! BOYS!!! KILL HIM!!!”

While having thoughts about me using more foul language than usual in my mind, the bald man snapped and commanded his underlings to kill me. Even if you try to attack me all at once, you all can’t beat me. Even with a level difference, what really matters is how you use your skills.

[Dragon Tail]!

“One!!!”

My tail instantly crashed into the bald man, causing him to fly for about 10 meters. I unsheathed my sword I got from the bandits in the cave and parried a thrust towards my abdomen. The sword’s trajectory was shifted to the ground. And while the thug was stunned, I used my right leg t kick him in the chin, knocking him upwards while losing a few teeth, and instantly depriving his consciousness.

“Two!!!”

While my leg was still in mid air, a thug wielding daggers lunged at me with a fast pace, a fast pace only for beginners. I calmly blocked it with my tail, causing the blades to shatter. And while using the centrifugal force of my kick earlier, I kicked him on the left side of his head, knocking out some of his teeth, and also making him have an intense nosebleed.

“Three!!!”

The dagger user was knocked down, and while I was open, another came charging at me. He was wielding what seemed to be a mixture of a hammer and spear. What is that? I know that it is a pole arm, but I’ve never seen a pole arm like that.

He swung the mysterious weapon down with a terrifying force. I jumped back to avoid the swing, and in my place, the ground cracked and burst, causing some of the earth to fly towards me. Of course, I blocked it calmly with my tail, and lunged towards the thug. I held my sword and swung at the pole-arm, causing it to split in half. Good thing the handle was wood.

While the thug was dumbfounded by seeing his weapon cut in half, I delivered my kick on his head, knocking him out.

“Four!!!”

When the fourth thug fell down unconscious, the last remaining thug ran with his tail behind his legs.

“Oops, where do you think you’re going?”

I arrived where the last thug was remaining by propelling my-self with my tail. It’s just like when a spring is pushed down, causing it to jump upwards when the force pushing it down is released.

“Hyii!!!”

I grabbed the scruff of his neck and threw him towards the unconscious thugs.

“Now then, please answer my questions or you end up like them…”

“Kyaaa!!!!”

With a smile on my face, I kindly asked the remaining thug to answer my questions. Not long after, an audience started gathering, so I had to stop with the interrogation and head towards my destination.

“Thanks to those guys, I found where I should head next.”

What I had asked from the remaining thug was, ‘Where was the [Black Hand] hiding in this place.’ If he didn’t answer, I kicked him in the face, causing some teeth to fly out, and blood to spill from his lips. Well, I didn’t need to go that far as my face was all I need to ask the questions.

I found out that the place I’m looking for is an abandoned mansion. I’ve thought something like, ‘Why is there a mansion in a slum?’ but it turns out that this was once a prosperous part of the town, and the mansion was the residence of a high elf that came to live in this town. But because of a great incident, the high elf died and this part of the town was reduced to what we see today.

A few moments later, I arrived at my destination.

“So this is the mansion…”

What spread out from my view was a huge mansion. The only problem was the grass and fields were all almost withered, the gate was rusty and prone to breaking, and the mansion looked like it was just about to give.

I thought about what to do, but thought of just walking in casually and asking to join. If they don’t let me join, then I force them, simple. I just hope that this goes well.

While being nervous inside my heart, I approached the mansion, opened the rusty gate and headed inside.

…

… This garden is huge!!! It took me about thirty minutes arrive at the front door. There were two guards at the door. When I approached, they pointed their weapons at me.

“Who are you?”

“What’s your business here?”

The two guards asked me in a threatening voice while getting ready for a fight.

“Ahh.. Please call your superior as I would like to join the [Black Hand].”

“!? Wait for a moment…”

The guard that was at the left side of the door ran inside with a panicked face, while the other guard was still pointing his weapon at me. I just stood there, staring at the withering garden. A few moments later, the guard returned and gave me the news.

“Here, let me guide you to where our superiors are.”

The guard who went inside and came back guided e inside. Inside was just like a horror attraction. Cobwebs littered the place, the atmosphere feels eerie, and the decoration is just like one would find in a haunted house. If this was a horror attraction back on Earth, I’d give it ten stars.

“Inside here. Get going.”

After guiding me to the place where I am supposed to meet his superiors, the guard left me alone to return to his post.

“… Normally, [Black Hand] shouldn’t be known…”

The guard murmured some words, but thanks to straining my ears, I was able to hear what he was talking about. Kiera, Liana, Phana, looks like I’ll have to punish you three later again.

I opened the door to the room and what greeted me inside were a robed man, and a man wearing a tuxedo with gray hair and red pupils. He also had some fangs sticking out of his lip. He must be a vampire.

“Greetings, have a seat.”

The vampire greeted me and asked me to take a seat. I gladly took upon his offer as my legs were starting to ache because of walking.

“Introductions are in order when first meeting. Let me start first, I am Kuhaal Lockus.”

“And I am Jaarl.”

The both of them introduced themselves with only their names. Seems they’re trying to keep their race a secret, well, the vampire is obvious, but the robed man is not.

“Then, my name is Endou Kouta, and I was hoping of joining the [Black Hand].”

I followed suit and introduced myself, but only gave my name, nothing more.

“Hmm… You see, we can’t just accept those who wish to join us, but, I can make you an exception. You see, you have been on the top of our target list, but personally, I would like to employ you because of your strength. You have already defeated some of our members unscathed, so it would be a waste to kill you right?”

“That’s right.”

I nonchalantly replied while giving a wry smile.

“Then, how about we have you do us a little errand. If you want to join us, then kill your three adventurer friends. That should be the perfect job for you if you want to join right?”

… Looks like trying to join has failed, let’s just use brute force.

“Ah ah ah… I wouldn’t do that if I were you. One wrong step and something just might slip off.”

A hand was placed on my neck, while blood dripped down from a small cut on my neck. Damn, this is bad…