-Vol 5: A New Life-

-A Date gone wrong(4)-

This old man and Yuki had a history that goes back a year from now. That year she was just a new recruit in the capital, working as the in charge of foreign affairs officer of DCB dealing mostly with those guild controlled areas of Japan. During those times this old man would frequent the office, he ran a dungeon related material shop. He was a merchant. He had many connections around DCB and due to which most of his illegal materials would safely transport from one region to another.

Since all those illegal materials were some metals and equipment anyway, Yuki also didn’t care. Until one day when she discovered that this man was actually smuggling a very offensive substance in the name of dungeon materials.

Above level 4 dungeon, there was a type of monster called Sea Dragon. It's not an actual dragon, just a snake variant. This snake’s poison had a neurotic effect on its victims that would make them feel like they are in euphoria. Its effect was several times more than some of the worst drugs in history.

Eight years ago, in a certain country, some people found a different use to this poison. By diluting it with some alcohol, they can use it get high. After the discovery of this thing, the word got out, and the snake was haunted like a rare gem. When the government got wind of it, they also discovered that it just made people feel like euphoria, except for that it did no other damage. So they didn’t try to take this seriously until an experiment specimen showed their withdrawal syndrome.

It was violent. That specimen had only taken one dose, and the next day when the time came for his intake, he showed some extreme reactions. That person literally tore himself to death for that drug. After finding this, the government discovered many such cases and instantly put a ban on that product. But this only made it worse, riots started and people who had consumed it started to behave like the very monsters they slew in dungeons. They lost their reasoning and craved for that feeling. Some even went as far as running into dungeons to get bitten by that snake.

It was like hell in that country. The whole government collapsed overnight and matter gone out of control forcing the neighbouring countries to step in. In the end, they had to put down all those inhabitants to maintain peace and security of their own country. It’s a good thing that that country was a small country whose population couldn’t even exceed Mito’s. Taking the example of this, the other countries also put a ban on those things, to the point that even hunting that snake was prohibited by law. DCB had taken it as their responsibility to clean these snakes on a daily basis, so that same thing shouldn’t happen in their country too.

Unexpectedly when she found about this matter, she was very angry. She immediate complained to her superior. Who would have thought that even they were mixed in this trade? Her protest was shelved, no attention was given to it.

When the old man came to know about it, he directly came to her home and offered her a cut from the share to keep her mouth closed. When she refused, he started to mentally harass her, going as far as threatening her life. But she was an intelligent girl since she discovered she couldn’t trust anyone she took matters into her own hands. Using her brain and authority, she layed a complex trap for all them, in the end trapping them all.

Although all those people associated in this smuggling were arrested, only this man was slipped away. Later she didn’t hear from him for a whole year until today. She couldn’t believe that this man would follow her to this place too. Though the reason he was looking for her had changed. He seemed to be adamant on making her work with him, something about binding a shackle in her to make her shut her mouth about some issues.

This time it seems he had a backer and that too the worst kind. Yuki finally realized how a dip in shit she was right now. The will to take revenge had already vanished from her heart, replaced with anxiety which she didn’t show on her face. She knew it would only make her captor happier.

Just as she was about to say something to the deranged old man, she heard footsteps coming closer to her. It seemed to have came from her backside, assuming that its one of the two captors, she didn’t respond until a muscular hand crept on her shoulder and going around her neck. A thick smell of something she didn’t recognize came to her nose, making her wrinkle its frustration.

“Hoh! That’s a nice piece of meat you have caught this time, old man! Mmm…so tender…so soft. I couldn’t help but want to take a bite out of her.” the voice was deep and baritone, making the one who hears it uncomfortable. Moving her head, she found the person to be a middle-aged man of average height, round face and long beard. His black hair was kept unkempt like a bird’s nest. His green eyes look muddy, the same for his face. A putrid smell was coming off his mouth, nearly making her gag. He was wearing a black vest and camouflage pant with brown boots, a typical getup for those soldiers. The scariest thing about him would be a small metallic chain he wore that had a small bony hand as its locket. The hand seemed to belong to a child, the fingers were underdeveloped and small.

‘It's them! It's really them! this old man really allied himself with them!’ Yuki raged inside her heart. Yes, she recognized these people, they are the worst type of people, considered to be worse than monsters. They are cannibals. A group who relish on human flesh, god knows why they liked to eat their own kind, but they seemed to take pleasure while doing so. Not to mention DCB, even the biggest guilds in a country or world had placed an enormous bounty on these people, awarding anyone 100 gold coins if they manage to kill them. And this man took help from those guys exactly, she couldn’t understand why he was so greedy to the point of betraying his own kind like those lunatics.

She was also feeling very uncomfortable to the touching of the vile man, feeling dirty all over.

“Don’t touch me with those dirty hands,” Yuki screamed in anger.

“Hoho! This one is feisty. I like it. Old man, gift this one to me.” the man asked while showing his red teeth to the old man but was refused instantly.

“No can do. She was my property, only I can have her. Go, look for someone else.” The old man denied flat out while coming closer to Yuki and pulling her out of the bearded man’s embrace into his.

“Get off me. How dare you touch me? get off me!!” Yuki struggled to get out of the old man’s hold, but the man held her exceptionally tight.

“Haha! How can I do that bitch? You have given me a lot of trouble. If I don’t satiate my-” the man didn’t get to finish his sentence as he was sent flying by some unseen factor. In midair, his face distorted as his right cheek gave in. A few of his teeth flew out together with blood. Rotating in midair, he landed heavily on the ground.

At the same time, the man and woman pair also treated equally. They were also sent flying while spitting out blood and teeth in midair. As for the vulgar man, he had his arms crossed in front of his abdomen, but still, his right hand was bent backwards. But he didn’t scream, instead looked at the newest arrival in vigilance, it’s a young man wearing some funky clothes. He looked not too handsome also not too mediocre, and his face, it held no emotions.

“Kenshin!” Yuki recognized this person at once, she shouted both in surprise and elation.

“Oii! You brat! Aren’t you jumping way too many steps here? Instead of trash talking and some inspirational dialogue about how you wouldn’t allow criminals like us to exist, you directly beat us to a pulp? We still haven’t asked about your identity and revealed our grand plan to you!” the old man who was sent flying angrily bellowed as he wiped his mouth of grime and blood. He seemed to especially angry for Kenshin’s skipping steps.

“Yeah! Well, we have a date today you see! I can't bother to waste time with you side characters, whose only existence is for making the main characters look good.” with a cool voice Kenshin replied while walking step by step towards Yuki.