n

n

n

n“I don’t want to.”

nI looked down a Goaz, whose skin had been tinted black, and I could feel the corners of my mouth rising into a smile.

nThe sight of a large man kneeling and trembling before me was truly a humorous thing.

nHe had a rugged face.

nHe was the kind person who vainly trained his muscles, the exact kind of person that I hated.

nPeople like him were the plague of my previous life.

nHe reminded me of my old life’s debt collectors.

n“Please forgive me! I’ll do anything!”

nThe men around me had their guns at the ready as they carried out the corpses.

nTheir eyes on Goaz seemed to have a frost to them.

nThis was precisely the reason why I couldn’t forgive Goaz.

nOne of the reasons being that he’s the type of person that I hate, with the second being because he seemed to be misinterpreting the situation.

n“Aren’t you misunderstanding something? You’re saying that you’ll give me all of your treasures, but all your treasures are already mine. The only thing of value you have left to give me is the bounty that the Empire has placed on your head.”

nGoaz’s eyes widened in surprise.

n“Please wait! If you let me live, I can still be useful to you! I might’ve lost to you, but you’ve seen my strength! Without arms or legs, there’s no chance of me ever betraying you! So spare me, I beg of you! I even have hidden treasures worth far more than my bounty located elsewhere that I can offer you, so please! Have mercy!”

nHe started sputtering on randomly.

nWhat he was saying could be true, but it wasn’t enough of a reason to spare him.

n“Oh? You still have a few secrets left? I’m sure you’ll be willing to tell me on our way to the Empire, we have lots of fun torture chambers booked for you.”

n“Don’t screw with me you **ty braaaaaaaaaaa-”

nMaybe he had given up on speaking with me, but Goaz lunged at me the best way he could with only one foot.

nThere was black smoke emanating from his body.

nTo such a Goaz, I pointed my sword and-

n“Shut up.”

n-I chopped him up to the point where he was just barely alive, I even took his last leg.

nAfter slipping on the floor, Goaz had the idiotic look of someone who couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. It took a while, but after understanding the situation, he started to cry while pleading for his life.

n“Help me! Please! Anyone! Please help me!”

nI delightedly looked over my new sword, it was far better than I could’ve ever imagined.

nThat’s when my men asked me,

n“Lord Liam, do you intend to capture him alive?”

n“Is there a problem with that?”

n“N-no, it’s just that he’s killed a lot of our men.”

nI see, I definitely couldn’t show any mercy to this scum.

n“If I kill him, will the total bounty drop? Isn’t it usually better to bring them in alive?”

nI remember hearing that it was like that.

nBut apparently, Goaz was different,

n“No, particularly atrocious criminals are fine if they’re brought in either dead or alive. Goaz is one of such individuals, the rewards should be fully paid out as long as you have evidence of your kill.”

nI was quite embarrassed to have my lack of common-sense pointed out again,

n“Oh, so there was something like that too, huh?”

nGoaz was still crying when looked back at him.

nThe sight of him brought back memories of my previous life– who the hell said that there was room for humanity in debt collection? Because of bastards like that, I was coerced of my life’s savings and forced to live a life of poverty.

n

n

nThey had absolutely no room for mercy.

nI was forced to tell them I had already invested into life insurance.

nNo matter how much I cried, nobody saved me.

nI worked desperately just so I could live to the next day.

nWhy was that world so unreasonable?

nThat said, what about now?

nNow I was in the position that took things away.

nAnd wouldn’t a heinous criminal like Goaz be one of the best people to take from?

n“Please have mercy. I’ll tell you everything, so pleas-”

n“No, you annoy me.”

nAfter I beheaded him to shut him up, I was surprised as to what happened with Goaz’s body.

nHis black skin slowly reverted into a normal skin tone.

nIt turned into a wheat-like shade that was slightly sunburnt.

n“Huh, he changed back to normal. Does this mean he wasn’t a remodeled human?”

nNo matter how I looked at the body, there didn’t seem to be any form of cybernetic alterations.

nSo that black skin was just some kind of skill he had… this universe sure does have a lot of mysteries in it.

nI picked up Goaz’s head.

n“Will this work as evidence?”

n“Y-yeah!”

nMy subordinates immediately replied while bringing over tools for first aid.

nFrom the reports that had started to come in, it looks like we’ve almost completely taken over the ship.

nOne of my subordinates then brought forward some interesting news,

n“Lord Liam, we’ve captured one of their officers and apparently… they have some people imprisoned here.”

n◇ ◇ ◇

nOne of the captured pirates led us to a room that was built nearby Goaz’s personal quarters.

nI thought this pirate ship was built quite well, turns out it was actually a seized battleship from another star country.

nAs a side note, It was a lot of fun ‘overdoing’ my abuse against our captive,

nI kicked the pirate who was guiding me from behind.

n“Hurry it up!”

n“A-as you wish!”

nThe man was one of Goaz’s close aides, someone with the position of a ‘rearing officer.’

nHe was short, fat, and his limbs were thin.

nIn conclusion, he was creepy little man.

nApparently he was assigned to this position because of some specialized skills and knowledge that he had.

nAfter being guided to the room near the captain’s quarters, my men entered first.

nThe rearing officer was trying to say something,

n“Ah, please try your best to not touch the equipment, they’re very important tools of the trade.”

n“Tools of the trade?”

nThey were using tools to raise animals? On a battleship?

nSomething seemed off about all this…

n“Hey, you.”

n“Yes?”

n“Were you raising a dog on this ship?”

nMaybe thinking that I was taking an interest in his work, the man started to smile,

n“I love lords who understand my profession. So you like dogs? I can modify any animal exactly the way that you like, my lord. Do you want me to create an obedient dog for you?”

nWhat the hell is this man talking about?

nAs I pondered how strange this man was, several of my subordinates had practically jumped out of the room.

nSome of them even removed their helmets and started throwing up.

nOne of my escorts began criticising them,

n“W-what the hell are you doing in front of Lord Liam?!”

nThe fully trained soldiers had pale faces, just what did they see in there?

nAs another one of the soldiers walked out the door, he grimly reported to me,

n“Lord Liam, I recommend that you don’t enter the room.”

nThere was no power in his voice.

n“Don’t patronise me. What happened in there?”

nSurprisingly, it was the creepy breeder who answered my question instead of my hesitant subordinates,

n“This is my laboratory. Inside, I was usually tasked with helping with the Boss- er, Goaz’s hobbies. I’m sure my lord would understand the true worth of what’s in there.”

nThe men who had taken off their helmets were glaring at the rearing officer,

n“You’re the devil!”

nAt my subordinate’s words, the rearing officer started to smile.

n“…explanation, now.”

nWith my order, the rearing officer began to fervently talk about their work.

nAnd because of that– with a feeling of disgust welling up inside of me I shot the breeder in the head with my handgun.

n

n

nAs I thought, all thieves are evil.

nIt couldn’t get any simpler than that.

n◇ ◇ ◇

nInside the dark room, creepy tools were hanging off the walls.

nBut what everyone was scared of was the operation table that was placed in the center of it all.

nThis room was called the ‘breeding room’ among the pirates.

nIt was an unholy place where the culmination of the creepy rearing officer’s experiments and Goaz’s hobbies had combined.

nThe ones kept in this room were all people who were once considered ‘beautiful women.’

nGoaz had the hobby of defiling that which was beautiful until it was ugly.

nIncidentally, he also enjoyed the practice of torture.

nOn the other hand, the rearing officer was more interested in the modification of the human body. The repulsive appearance of the former beauties was the result of bringing these two people and their hobbies together.

nAmong them, there was one woman in particular who was treated especially horribly.

nHer name is Christiana Reta Roseblaire- a girl who was once a beautiful female knight.

nIn a small country separate from the Empire, she was born into their royal family and was loved by all as the ‘Princess Knight.’

nShe was captured alive alongside Goaz’s attack on her territory, and became his favourite toy.

nEveryone brought to this room was a person that had a special position in their respective societies.

nThey were the people who were afflicted by Goaz’s distorted hobbies.

nChristiana- Tia was now barely more than a chunk of meat that didn’t have a single vestige of her former self.

nShe was aware of the strange occurrences happening to the ship, so she wasn’t that surprised when a strange armed force entered into the room.

nThe soldiers who entered started to throw up at the sight of her.

nSome of them were even shaking.

nTia began speaking to the nearest soldier,

n“…what happened to Goaz?”

nThe former beauty’s voice was now repugnant and nauseating to listen to.

nOne of the shoulders shook in surprise and raised his gun.

n“-?!”

n“Don’t be scared. I might look like this, but I’m not an enemy. I’ll ask you again, what happened to Goaz?”

nAs she was acknowledging the soldier’s response as only natural, a gunshot could be heard from the other side of the door.

nHer friends in the room felt relief at this sound.

nThis meant that they could finally die.

nOne knight entered into the room soon after.

nYoung and petite.

nA suspicious little boy who carried around an adult-sized sword.

nJudging from the response of the soldiers, Tia could tell that the boy was their superior.

n“What happened to Goaz?”

nThe boy was a little surprised at the question, but answered immediately.

n“I killed him.”

n“…is that so.”

nIn the room, her friends started to moan.

nThey expressed happiness, gratitude, and tears of joy- the sight of which only scared the soldiers, though the boy seemed to be watching Tia with interest.

nOne of the soldiers who was searching the room handed a terminal over to the boy.

nTia was so happy.

nThe boy was like an angel sent from the heavens that she had prayed for.

n“It’s really over… I don’t know who you are, but if you have any compassion left in your soul, please save us!”

nTo die by the boy’s hands would be Tia’s salvation from this hell.

nShe would no longer be forced to live inside this prison of a body.

nTia thought that everything was finally over.

n“You want me to save you?”

n“Yes, you can understand just by looking at us. We can never live as humans again, so by your hands-”

nAfter taking such hideous forms, it would be impossible to revert back to their original states.

nThere was no point in living anymore.

nHowever, the boy didn’t give the order to kill,

n“Understood, I’ll save you. I’ve actually made a lot of money this time, so I can afford it. Somebody call a doctor and have all of them carried out!”

nTia realized that the boy had misunderstood her request for him to ‘save’ them.

n“N-no, wait-”

nBut the boy had already left the room with some of the soldiers.

nSo she turned to the ones that stayed.

n“Please! Kill me! Just kill me!!!”

nBut the soldiers refused.

n“-it’s Lord Liam’s order. We can’t go against it, sorry.”

nInside the darkness of the room, Tia had fallen into despair.

n◇ ◇ ◇

nAs I left the room, I was looking up the original appearances of the modified people on the terminal.

nWhat was interesting about each individual, what kind of experiments were done, and what had been modified was all written in detail in the documents.

nI looked up the modification process, and there was even something similar to a breeding diary.

nApparently all of them used to be quite beautiful, and were experimented on until they had their current appearances.

n“This is a disgusting hobby.”

nI couldn’t understand how anyone could enjoy this.

nMy subordinate asked me,

n“Lord Liam, are you really going to help them?”

nThe one who spoke was a subordinate that had some medical knowledge. He started explaining to me that the methods to treat people who had been modified that much were quite limited.

n“To fix their appearances, we’d have to send them through treatments to reconstruct their bodies from scratch.”

n“Will they be able to recover then?”

n“It’d require an elixir. We might only need to use a diluted amount, but you should know how expensive and valuable they are.”

nUsually when you speak of elixirs in fantasy universes, you’d have the image of a universal medicine.

nThey existed in this universe as well, but there were only a few of them in the entirety of the Empire.

nIf one was brought to an open market, it would definitely be sold for an exponential price.

n“I’ll buy it. They’re something that I’ve wanted as well, so let’s purchase a few of them.”

nIf I sold the treasure that I’ve obtained from Goaz, I’m sure to obtain a considerable amount of money.

nThere might even be more treasures that he’s hidden that I haven’t even found yet.

nBesides, I’ve been wanting to have a personal elixir for a while now.

n“No, it’s not that simple, we’d also need specialized doctors, and state-of-the-art equipment. It would take years for them to revert back to their original forms even all that, and on the off-chance they do recover, then they’ll undoubtedly need therapy to deal with the mental stress they’ve been forced to go through. The costs of treatment would be immense.”

nI didn’t see any real problem since we made a lot of money this time, though.

n“I’m only helping them because they asked me to help.”

n“When they asked you to save them they meant-”

n“I know.”

nMy subordinate fell silent.

nThey couldn’t expect to live a normal life anymore.

nI also knew that- but looking at the processes written in the terminal, I could only say that they were just unlucky.

nI felt sympathy for them, who had suffered through things far worse than what I had.

nMost of the people who were captured had their homes destroyed in Goaz’s raids.

nThe majority of them didn’t have anywhere to return to.

n“I’m feeling a little generous right now. Plus, it doesn’t feel bad to do good deeds every now and then, don’t you think so?”

nMy subordinate was silent and didn’t know what to say.

n◇ ◇ ◇

nWhen I finally returned to my territory, I was given a hero’s welcome.

nMany of the people were crying in happiness like Brian, who greeted me at the mansion.

nAmagi was the same as usual.

nBut Brian was crying to the point that it was almost unnerving.

n“Lord Liam, this Brian definitely believed that you’d return safely!”

n“O-oh, I see.”

nAmagi softly added on,

n“I was only a bit worried, I knew you’d win.”

n“…is that so?”

n—I wish she worried a bit more and cried.

nBrian tried to give a report through his tears, but I could understand what he was saying so Amagi took over.

nAnd so-

n“I’ve been summoned to the Imperial Capital?”

n“Yes, they wish to bestow a medal to the lord who had defeated Goaz’s Pirates. It’s just a statement at the moment, but the official announcement should arrive soon.”

nThat’s when I remembered the guide’s words.

nHe said I’d complete great achievements through military exploits.

nIt all came true.

nFor destroying a pirate fleet of that size, I had received an incredible amount of treasure and honour.

nPirate hunting sure is profitable.

n“In addition to that, we’ve been contacted by the Henfrey Chamber of Commerce and the Seventh Weapons Factory. Thomas wants to begin talks with you about purchasing the spoils.”

n“What did the weapons factory want?”

nI couldn’t really think of a reason for the factory that the beautiful Nias worked at to contact me.

nBut Amagi followed up right after,

n“Many of the weapons that the pirates used were things developed in other countries. They want to purchase them as research materials.”

n“So they just want to secure more things to research?”

n“If you found any rare metals, they’d also like to purchase those to increase their material stocks.”

nThe Goaz pirates did possess a substantial amount of precious metals.

n—though that didn’t make me happy because there wasn’t much gold.

n“I guess I’ll talk with Thomas first.”

n“I’ll begin the preparations immediately.”

nThings really were easy as long as you had competent subordinates working for you.

n

n