Pest Bird Extermination

“G-Gyaaaaaaaaaa?!!”

Filthy screams rang out here and there.

Lives were swallowed by the Mist, carved apart, and vanished.

There was none of the mockery, laughter, or abuse they had used.

It simply killed. It killed them all. That was all the phenomenon did. That was what the hunt of a true predator was.

“My… body… ah…”

The handsome man, the last man still breathing, crawled across the bloodied stone pavement. The composure of the strong he had shown only a minute earlier was nowhere to be found.

Pushing past the death masks of his subordinates, twisted in terror, the handsome man kept crawling along the ground. He fled, fled, fled—

Splat.

Footsteps.

“Ah…”

“Oh, a survivor. Hmm, does the power drop when there are a lot of targets? I haven’t used it much against humans, after all. Well, I’ll adjust it from here.”

“Wh-What are you, mon—”

Splat. The handsome man sank into the pool of blood.

The instant the owner of the footsteps snapped his fingers, the blades that had seeped into the handsome man’s body carved apart his flesh and soul.

Without mercy, mockery, or hesitation, the predator finished its work.

………

…

“Man, what a perfect situation. It’d be nice if it was always this easy to use.”

Amid the thick stench of death, Tooyama Naruhito stored the chipped blade inside his chest. The Mist, which blended naturally with death and blood, rapidly cleared.

“Still, this smell is awful… Yikes. Rest in peace, rest in peace.”

If he had done the same thing in his original world, he would undoubtedly have been sentenced to death with no room for extenuating circumstances. The number he had just killed was no fewer than twenty. The Relic Blade, Tooyama Naruhito’s weapon, had fully demonstrated its performance.

“Lazaar did his job well. Hmm, I should’ve left at least one of them alive. I want to know who they were and why they were chasing me and Lazaar.”

He knew very well how troublesome crime syndicates were. Those people were like pride walking around in ugly suits. Once they had their eyes on you, nothing good came of it.

“At the very least, I want to grasp how many people are involved in this matter. I won’t leave grudges behind. When I do it, I do it thoroughly.”

From past experience, Tooyama understood that when beating down bad people, he had no choice but to silence everyone involved in the matter.

Even if taking down the entire organization was impossible, if he did not at least shut the mouths of the people connected to those who had been chasing him and Lazaar, things would become troublesome.

“Now then, now then, do any of you have anything on you?”

Tooyama began searching the corpses indiscriminately. An ordinary person would avoid such an act, but for a hotheaded explorer, it was nothing before breakfast.

“This one. This one’s the best dressed. Compared to the others, his equipment is fancy. Leather armor, a cloak… Hmm.”

People trembled when faced with death and blood. But explorers were different. They became drunk on death and blood. Tooyama was properly, healthily drunk.

“Age-wise, is he a little younger than me? Not that it matters, but there sure are a lot of good-looking guys in this world.”

“His weapon is a knife, huh… Tch, there’s blood on it. The way it’s stained, did he stab someone? Rida, Luca, you’d better not be dead.”

“I don’t know whether this leather armor is good or bad, but it has a lot of decorations. Hmm, rather than armor, is it also for show?”

He searched the tall man he had finished off last. As he stripped off the cloak and checked its inner pockets, he quickly found it.

“Oh, now this really looks suspicious.”

It was something like parchment with a seal attached. The damp material did not seem to be the pulp paper Tooyama knew well.

“Crap. I can’t read it.”

A problem immediately occurred. Even after opening it, what was written there looked like spell-like characters to Tooyama. It was even less readable than a handwritten letter by a foreigner.

“Huh, seriously? I thought since I could understand the language, I’d be able to read the writing too… What language is this? Can’t be helped. I’ll have Lazaar read it.”

He rolled up the parchment and was about to put it into the inner pocket of his robe—

Click.

At the sound that rang out behind him, Tooyama stopped moving.

“…Hmm. Strange. I’m sure I killed everyone around here.”

“Ahaha. Okaaay, slowly raise your hands. Both hands, okay? That’s right, good job. Now turn around. Slowly. For now, could you hand that letter over?”

Someone was behind him.

Still crouching, Tooyama did as he was told, raised both hands, and slowly turned around.

“You…”

His eyes widened. The face of the corpse sunk in the pool of blood at his feet and the grinning face before him looked far too similar.

No, it was the same face.

“Oh my, what’s wrong? You look surprised. It’s like you’re seeing prey you killed come back to life.”

The man standing behind Tooyama was holding a small crossbow that could be handled with one hand, pointing it at him while grinning. Tooyama recognized that face.

It was exactly the same face as the corpse sunk in blood at his feet.

“It’s not that you’re twins, right?”

“Haha, who knows? Come on, hand it over already.”

Apparently, he was not stupid enough to babble about the trick behind his magic act. To Tooyama, what mattered was not how he had done it, but what to do next, so he did not pursue the matter further.

“Good, good. Nice boy. Did you see what was inside?”

“I can’t read.”

“Hmm. The boss said you were an adventurer-slave, if I remember right… Well, then I guess it can’t be helped. Now, what should I do about this situation?”

“…Is it normal around here for dead people to come back to life?”

“Ah, no, no. Trying to figure out the trick through conversation won’t work. An ability that can slaughter this many people, and the brains to search corpses for information without a moment’s hesitation. You’re totally someone from this side. Ahh, you stuck your neck into one troublesome matter.”

“Hah. Then hurry up and pull the trigger. At this distance, you don’t have to worry about missing, right?”

“Well, yeah, that’s true. But it’s pretty hard not to kill someone. I’m going to torture you while keeping you alive. I want to hear about the lizard. The boss told me to bring the lizard in alive if possible.”

“…The boss, huh.”

“Oops, I let that slip. Hey, you’re strange. With that much power and that much aptitude, you’re definitely the same kind as me, so why are you siding with those brats?”

“You’re awfully relaxed. Shouldn’t you shut my mouth quickly?”

“Ahi. Man, nice. I thought this would be an easy job, but it’s turned out pretty worthwhile. It’s been a while since I had work this satisfying. In this situation, the words coming out of your mouth aren’t pleas for your life? You’re completely someone from this side. So, will you answer my question? Why did you save the brats?”

“Because I felt like doing it, and because they made me feel that way. I need them to fulfill my desires.”

“Haha, those little worms? You’re a strange one.”

“Hah. They’re more useful than an incompetent fool who lets his subordinates die this easily.”

“Huh?”

The handsome man’s smile froze.

Oh? This guy’s easier than I thought.

Tooyama’s thoughts began to turn. His relaxed attitude was probably nothing more than a thin mask.

This seemed easier than expected.

“I mean, that’s true, right? They’re people from your organization or something, aren’t they? From that arrogant attitude, I’d say you’re in a position where you lead people to some extent. Hihihihihi, what a joke. You let this many subordinates die, and you can still act like that? I’m jealous. Idiots with no imagination sure have it easy.”

Tooyama spun his words while probing the handsome man’s reaction.

The atmosphere around the handsome man changed visibly.

I see. This guy is simple. He’s not used to being looked down on.

“…Everyone who underestimated me is no longer in this world.”

“Hihihi, what a cheap line. Then why don’t you deal with me too? At this distance, even an incompetent like you won’t miss, right?”

His prey’s weapon was a crossbow. Naturally, if Tooyama was shot properly, he would not be able to dodge.

But though the man should have shot from a distance, he had come quite close. It was not even three meters.

The chance would be an instant. It was a gamble, but not impossible.

【Skill: Combat Thought】

The way to kill this man had already been completed. All that remained was execution.

Tooyama waited for that moment. The handsome man’s face stiffened, and then his expression turned cold.

“The boss’s order was to bring the lizard in alive. Come to think of it, he didn’t say anything about the robed man.”

The two killers faced each other.

Neither had any hesitation about killing the other. Owners of cursed souls confronted one another.

The advantage belonged to the handsome man.

With Tooyama’s hands raised and no weapon in them, the aim of the crossbow pointed at him was cold and precise.

Click. The tip of the small crossbow pointed at Tooyama. He loosened his knees slightly and checked the ground—

“Well—”

Without hesitation, the handsome man pulled the crossbow trigger. His face was convinced of victory—

“!”

Dropping the knees. A technique in old martial arts used to move without a preparatory motion. Tooyama Naruhito used the body movement he had cultivated during his explorer days.

He collapsed to the right. Thunk. Unable to dodge completely, the arrowhead bolt pierced his left arm. The bolt gouged through skin and flesh.

But—

“Hihih.”

“What?!”

The handsome man’s bolt had not taken Tooyama’s life.

That was the moment the battle was decided.

Pshk.

“Ah… geh, huh?”

The handsome man opened his eyes wide. There was a foreign object growing from his chest. For some reason, a sword had been stabbed into his chest.

“Oraaa!!!”

Even with his left arm pierced, Tooyama charged as though crawling along the ground. The handsome man raised another crossbow he had hidden in his breast pocket, but he was slow, far too slow.

The blade stabbed into his chest had made his movements hopelessly sluggish.

“Gebuh?!”

From just above the ground, Tooyama’s fist swung upward and struck the handsome man’s jaw straight from below.

“I’ll be taking this back.”

Shlk. Tooyama casually pulled out the sword stabbed into the man’s chest, and blood spurted out.

The blade was curved, damaged, and chipped.

“Wh… y…”

“I just came up with it earlier.”

The relic stored inside Tooyama Naruhito’s body, the Relic Blade. It was nothing complicated. The instant Tooyama dodged the crossbow, he had fired it out from his own chest.

He did it because he thought he could. It was good that it worked.

Tooyama’s eyes warped. His narrow eyes, much like those of a Tibetan sand fox, thinned into a crescent grin.

“Eek?!”

“Oops. Stay down.”

He hooked the man’s leg, held down his neck, and slammed the handsome man into the ground. If the man died, then he died. That was the force behind it.

“Geh?! Ah, geah… What… how…”

He pressed his knee into the back of the handsome man, who had fallen face-down, and used his left hand to grind the man’s head against the floor.

The man’s strength was surprisingly weak. For his height, Tooyama could hardly feel any muscle power from him.

“H-Heavy… What is this guy…?!”

The handsome man resisted, trying to throw Tooyama off, but he did not move in the slightest.

Tooyama pulled out the bolt stuck in his left arm. Blood came out, but the adrenaline overflowing from the excitement of battle and his intoxication made him ignore it.

“What’s the name of the one who ordered this job?”

“Huh?”

The handsome man repeated Tooyama’s question—

Slash.

With the same casualness as cutting into ingredients with a kitchen knife, Tooyama used the Relic Blade in one hand to cut off the handsome man’s right index finger.

“—Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?! My, my finger?!”

“If you don’t answer my question or if you lie, the moment I think it’s a lie, I’ll cut off a finger. Next, I’ll take your thumb and little finger. After that, your middle and ring fingers. After that, every remaining finger on your other hand. If you answer honestly, I’ll let you go. I promise.”

“—Hi, hi, hi…”

The handsome man leaked his breath. It no longer formed a voice. His chest wound, his finger, and the new blood soaked into the dirty city stone pavement.

“What’s the name of the one who ordered this job?”

“I-I don’t know!! N-No one knows the boss’s name—higi?! Ah, aaaah, my fingers again!”

The chipped blade, the curved Relic Blade, cut off two of the handsome man’s fingers.

“Why, why, whyyyyy? I wasn’t lying…”

“How many people are connected to this job? How many people are related to your work? Where are they?”

“H-Hey, stop. Don’t cut anymore! There’s no one! There’s no one except me!! I-I was trying to keep it all to myself! The whole organization is chasing the damn lizard, but I’m the only one who had guessed he was in the slums and was searching here! I-I haven’t told anyone about you either! I-It’s true!”

Drippp. Something other than blood began soaking into the stone pavement. It was leaking from the handsome man’s crotch.

Tooyama did not move a twitch and continued looking down at his prey with eyes that reflected the darkness of a mountain deep at night.

“…I should have killed you. Why are you alive?”

“Ha, ha… h-hii, s-stop, please st—Aaaaaaaah, hot, my fingers, stooop!”

Slice, slice.

Because he had not answered the question, Tooyama cut off the middle and ring fingers, the remaining fingers on the handsome man’s right hand. His right hand was now a round mitten.

“I should have killed you. Why are you alive?”

He calmly repeated the same question. The handsome man’s throat trembled as he leaked harsh breaths of hih, hih.

“M-My skill!! My skill! Twin Chance!”

“…Explain the outline of that skill concisely.”

“A clone!! I can create up to one clone of myself near me! If my main body dies, I can move my consciousness into the other clone! I-I can’t use it again today! P-Please, if you kill me now, it’ll be over! H-Hey, if I talk, you’ll save me, right?”

Judging from his reaction, Tooyama decided it was not a lie.

Calmly, Tooyama threw out the next question.

“…Why were you looking for Lazaar?”

“I-I don’t know. The boss’s order didn’t have a reason written in it! I-It’s true! No one knows the boss of the Crows’ name or face. Only the executives of the ‘Three Wings’ even know where the boss is!”

He made a mental note. He would discuss it with Lazaar later.

“Tell me your position in the organization.”

“Y-Yeah, I’ll answer! I’m a member of a lower organization under one of the Three Wings, ‘Milda of the Beak’! M-My job is managing the slums, thinning out the residents, and collecting profits. I-It’s petty work. There’s no point in killing someone like me!”

He had heard everything he wanted to hear. He had also decided how to deal with this man.

Quietly, Tooyama asked in as gentle a tone as he could manage.

“I see… Other than that, tell me something that might be useful to me.”

“H-Huh? Wh-What is that supposed to—It huuurts?! It hurts, stop, stooop! Ah, ah… my fingers, all of them…”

Tooyama turned both of the handsome man’s hands into round mittens. His expression did not change in the slightest.

“Tell me something useful to me.”

The same words, repeated.

“Hi, ah, yeah, money! Money, right? H-How about this? I-I don’t know why you’re helping a Lizardonian! Y-You have talent! Talent for this side! I-I’ll recommend you to the organization! Money! You’ll get more money than you can spend, and women too! Any woman you want can be yours! I-It’s a waste for you to side with the Lizardonian! Right? W-Won’t you become one of us?”

“One of you, huh… Can I earn money doing that job?”

For the first time, Tooyama sounded interested in the handsome man’s words.

That must have been how it sounded.

The handsome man twisted his sweat-covered face into a broad grin and shouted.

There was no trace left of the composure he had shown when torturing the children while his life had been safe.

“You can! Money from all over the Empire gathers in the Crows! Let’s squeeze money from the idiots and take everything from them! Y-You’ll be praised for killing people! I-It’s perfect for you! Those eyes. Your eyes are the same as the executives’ eyes! You have talent! Hey! Hey, hey, hey, l-let me call you partner! Let’s rise up together!”

“…Hmm. Well, that might be interesting too.”

“Right? Right, right?! So come on, let me go. Please, come on.”

The handsome man begged.

Tooyama murmured quietly.

“…Do you know the children’s names?”

“Huh?”

It must have been a completely unexpected question. The handsome man answered blankly.

“The names of the brats you beat up. Do you know them?”

“I-I don’t know! I have no interest in the names of little worms like them! Th-They’re slum brats! People who’d be better off never being born!”

Even in this situation, the handsome man made no attempt to hide his words or his discrimination against the children.

Tooyama made a guess.

In other words, this was how the people of this world saw the residents of the slums. The ethical standards of the world as a whole were probably extremely low compared to the modern day.

“Hmm. I see. Then the lizard. The name of that damn lizard. You were told to search for him, so you at least know that much, right?”

Without seeming to care, Tooyama continued speaking.

“I-I don’t know! He’s a Lizardonian! A cursed race! I don’t even want to know! Those filthy people! Ah, n-no, you’re different! You’re a special human! You have talent for evil. I can tell. You’re different from people like that! You’re different from those pieces of trash crawling by the roadside like something lower than caterpillars! R-Right? S-So please, please!”

It was the same kind of answer as the words he had given about the children.

This should be enough.

There truly did not seem to be any more information he could get from this man.

“…It’s Lazaar.”

“Huh? Wh-What?”

“The name of the Lizardonian or whatever is Lazaar. He’s good at baking bread. The children’s names are Rida, the short-haired one with the undercut; Luca, the one with the cheeky-looking hat; Niko, the red-haired girl; Pero, the blond one with curly hair; and Shiro, the one carried on his back.”

“Wh-What? What is this? Why do those names matter?”

“I understand how you feel. You don’t need to know the names of people who truly don’t matter to you, people whose lives or deaths you don’t care about. You don’t even want to know them. I really understand.”

“Heh, hehe. R-Right? We get each other…”

“But to me, they’re people whose names I want to know. They’re part of the surroundings, the world, and the life that make up my existence. That’s why I know their names.”

“Huh? Heh? Wh-What are you… talking about?”

“Your name, on the other hand, doesn’t matter to me. I don’t want to know it, and I don’t need to know it.”

Tooyama’s words.

After a brief moment, the handsome man seemed to understand what he meant.

His own fate—

“Ah—…?! S-Stop!! D-Don’t! Shit!!! Shit! T-Try laying a hand on me!! Th-The Crows won’t stay quiet! You’ll be hunted!! You’ll be hunted! You’ll never sleep peacefully again!”

“…It’s too late for that after doing something like this, isn’t it? Hah, you’ve given me more to think about.”

He had known the risks. Tooyama had simply prioritized his own desire over those risks. That was all there was to it.

“Ah, aah, liar! Liar! That’s right! The promise! You promised! You promised you’d let me go if I talked—”

“Hihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi.”

Tooyama’s trembling laughter drowned out the handsome man’s pleading words.

“Are you really a villain? You trust people too much. Like hell I’d keep a promise with garbage like you.”

He raised the Relic Blade.

“D-Demon—”

“No. Tooyama Naruhito.”

Thk.

The chipped blade cut and crushed the back of the prone man’s neck, right where the medulla was.

“Apeh. Pehpehpehpehpeh—”

Like a fish thrown onto land, the handsome man’s body and limbs spasmed.

Still without changing expression, Tooyama pushed the Relic Blade deeper into the handsome man’s neck with a grinding motion.

Crack. Something was completely destroyed.

A moment later, splash.

Just like the other corpses, the handsome man who had wasted his second chance sank into the pool of blood.

“See ya, garbage.”

With both hands, Tooyama pulled the Relic Blade free.

He shook off the spray of blood, and in time with that movement, the relic transformed into mist and quietly returned inside its master’s body.

Every person bearing the crow-feather tattoo had been exterminated by the explorer.

“Exploration complete.”

In that place filled with the thick stench of death, Tooyama’s low voice quietly sounded.

Ping.