The mayor announced that the finals would begin in an hour or so to let Ling Tian Yu catch a break, so I returned to the inn we last stayed at. That would be Hina-nee's spawnpoint, after all. The other three girls followed .
When I arrived, I imdiately unlocked the door and went in. There, Hina-nee sat in bed, glancing down at her own hands.
"Hina-nee"
"Kaze-kun?" she slowly turned her head towards .
I quickly rushed over and pulled her into an embrace. She returned the hug, gripping tightly as she began sobbing.
"Kaze-kun I'm sorry I don't know how my weapon just slipped out of my hand"
"It's the work of that bastard's luck," I muttered in reply. "Don't worry though he'll be fighting next the last opponent he will ever face."
"E-Eh? You're"
"Yes, I'm going to kill him," I said quietly, devoid of all emotion. Hina-nee had been crying from our reunion, but I did not. I could not feel sadness anymore, after all.
"Sakura-senpai, you have to stop him," Furuwa interjected determinedly. "Killing is fine, but Kaze intends to torture him."
"Wha-" Hina-nee turned back and stared into my eyes, as if uncertain if what Furuwa said was true.
"He hard my family," I replied in anguish. "He has to pay."
"Well, it's not like you'll get to torture him even if you want to~" Nadeshiko whistled. "Those annoying judges and the old mayor will stop you before you go too far."
I clenched my fists. "Even so I have my thods."
Saying this, I left the inn, a new plan in mind.
*****
"What are you going to do?" Nadeshiko asked, following closely behind with a evil grin on her face. The other three seed to have stayed in the room, since Hina-nee needed to recover.
"It's not any of your concern," I replied coldly, picking up my pace.
"Now, now c'mon, tell ~ I want to learn your thods, heehee~"
I shot her beaming smile a sideways glance, then gave up on trying to throw her off and just continued walking.
She licked her lips in satisfaction. "Hehe, thank you, Master~"
We soon arrived at the place I was looking for a large pill store.
"The Ascentian Alchemist Association, Qilian Branch," Nadeshiko read aloud the sign displayed above the entrance. "Oh, wait, don't tell ."
She shot a knowing smirk which I did not bother responding to, and instead just strode in the building.
This was a place I found out about through my minimap. It was near the center of the city, but I never really paid much attention to it before. It was only until after I learned about pills that I thought about this strategy. Luckily, right now, there weren't a lot of other people here, so we didn't have to wait too long.
"Welco to the AAA. What can we do for you today?" a receptionist asked as I walked up to her.
"I want a pill refined," I replied calmly.
"Very well. What is the na of the pill, so we can know what grade alchemist is needed for this job?"
"I don't care about the specifics. I just want any pill that can be used for torture."
The receptionist's eyes widened. "This"
"Oh? I heard sothing interesting here," an old man suddenly teleported beside us.
Instinctively, I brought out Dokujin and adapted a combat stance.
"G-Grandmaster Song!" the receptionist imdiately bowed and yelped in fear.
I narrowed my eyes. "Grandmaster Song?"
The old man laughed and waved off the receptionist's greeting, then set his gaze on .
"Boy, you're quick but not quick enough. You took 0.78 seconds to get out your weapon and defend. I could have killed you in 0.1."
" What's your point? I just ca here to get a pill refined. Not to get killed."
"Yes, yes, I know. You wanted a pill for torture, huh?" he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Y'know, the association doesn't usually take requests like this."
"There's a 'but' coming~" Nadeshiko giggled from beside .
"Heh. You're sharp, girl. Indeed, I can make an exception this ti but on one condition."
I frowned. "What's the condition?"
He smiled and looked around. "This isn't the place to talk. Follow ."
After exchanging glances with Nadeshiko, we decided to just do as told and see where this path led.
*****
The old man Grandmaster Song led us upstairs. As we walked on the stairs, I noticed many gazes being directed my way, so of curiosity, so of suspicion. I didn't know why, but perhaps going upstairs was abnormal? Either way, it didn't matter to .
We were then brought to an office of so kind. The door had a tal plaque on it that read 'Song Qing Long'.
"Please, co in," the man said, welcoming us inside.
We complied, seeing as how we already ca this far. Might as well see the whole thing through.
Grandmaster Song closed the door behind us and walked over to his seat, across the large table from us. He then rested his elbows on the desk and put his hands together, lacing his fingers, before finally setting his chin on top of them to form a serious, thoughtful pose.
"Now then regarding our deal. If it's a torture pill you need, I have just the thing for you. But as I said earlier, there is a condition."
"What is it?" I asked cautiously, narrowing my eyes.
"It's nothing too difficult. I just want you to report back to what happened after using the pill."
" You an, you want to use this opportunity as an experint?"
He smiled, nodding slowly. "You're quick on the uptake. I like that. Pill-inventing is not easy tests on real subjects are the most efficient thod of perfecting a pill."
"Are there no already-invented pills made for torture?"
"Of course there are," the man laughed. "It's just the AAA does not sell them. That is, unless you are a VIP here, which is a title that brings many other benefits in addition to this here in the association."
I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so? Then I'll add on to our deal a bit. In addition to the pill, I want to beco a VIP here."
" You're quite the greedy brat, aren't ya?"
I shrugged. "Don't try and fool . You purposely brought that up so I would ask this. I don't know why, but you seem to want to beco a VIP here."
Grandmaster Song fell silent for a brief mont, then began chuckling darkly.
"Heh you're the second person ever to have completely seen through my sches."
"I would ask 'who's the first', but to be honest, I really don't care," I snorted. "Just tell , do you accept my conditions?"
He smiled at . "You've got yourself a deal, young man."
*****
I strode out of the Ascentian Alchemist Association, Qilian Branch, and headed off in the direction of the tournant. Nadeshiko followed.
There were roughly 15 minutes left before the finals between Ling Tian Yu and I began. I had successfully acquired my torture instrunt, the Exile's Cursing Pill, as Grandmaster Song nad it. I ended up having to pay him around 1,000 gold still, but overall, this was a sweet deal for .
According to him, this pill was an High-Grade one, so its market cost would've been many tis higher than what I had to pay today. I also earned myself a VIP spot in the association, sohow, so that was a side benefit as well.
I didn't know why Grandmaster Song wanted to make a VIP by bringing that up and baiting into asking for it, but when I asked, he didn't bother answering anyway.
Soon, the three girls who had stayed behind in the inn ca over as well. Hina-nee was now fully recovered, but had a look of worry on her face. Furuwa similarly appeared uncomfortable, not eting my gaze. Aisa, however, remained as nonchalant as ever.
"Kaze-kun" Hina-nee began, as if wanting to say sothing, but before she could, I cut her off.
"Don't worry about it, Hina-nee. You can't stop . Even if you don't want to torture him, I'll do it anyway. Call disobedient, call feral. But I will not let him get away with killing you."
"" Hina-nee bit her lip, unsure of what to say anymore.
"Kaze I won't try to stop you. But I just want to ask you one thing: do you really want to do this?" Furuwa asked, staring into my cold, lifeless eyes. "Once you go through with this there's no turning back for you. You won't just be a murderer anymore. You'll be a true monster."
"I've already killed soone before. I can do it again."
"Killing is not the sa as torturing soone to death" Hina-nee gritted her teeth tightly. "Kaze-kun, I know you're doing this for . Because of that I'll follow you wherever you go, whatever you do. If this is your choice, then so be it. I'll adapt my own personality to fit yours. But just keep in mind we can never go back to our old selves. Not after this."
" I'm aware. Back when I made my first human kill, that fact was already established," I replied calmly. "They say you can't drive out darkness with more darkness, but sotis you have to fight fire with fire. Ling Tian Yu murdered you. I will do the sa back to him, thousandfold. And since I can't kill him 1,000 tis I'll have to make up the pain with torture instead."
Hina-nee, to my surprise, smiled sadly. "I see. So that's your choice."
"I won't bla you if you choose to see as a monster from now on."
However, she quickly shook her head and hugged gently.
"Didn't I say already? I'll follow you, no matter what you do. If you choose to beco a monster then I'll beco one too."
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