I glared back at Saito, but he didn’t budge. Not surprising, since this situation was overwhelmingly in his favor. His killing spree was mere moments away.
“As you predicted, our guildmaster...or rather, our former guildmaster doesn’t get along with Mr. Imabayashi. Not surprising, since she goes around parading as a policewoman or whatever. It’s no wonder that none of us liked her.”
“Oh, right. You said you transferred to the Crimson Moon Brigade from the bastard’s guild. He sent you here to ruin things from the inside, didn’t he?”
“You piss me off, stupid brat. Don’t you know that the smarter you are, the more people are gonna hate you?” He clicked his tongue roughly. “Still in your rebellious phase, I see. You need to learn how things work in reality. The twenty people around you right now are all level 99 wild beasts. I’m sure you can play many roles with your summons, but against twenty of us? There’s no escape for you.”
Twenty at level cap?
I was fairly certain that there were only about thirty level 99s in the Brigade as a whole. Even if they mobilized, it was hard to imagine they could gather this many people in such a short amount of time.
“I think there’s too many of you here.”
“Most of us are from Mr. Imabayashi’s guild. There’s about twenty more outside that door.”
So forty? But I thought the five grand guilds were all at odds with one another?
If the Crimson Moon Brigade only had thirty members, then how was the bastard able to dispatch forty whole level 99s? That should be more than their total number of units.
“Shocked at our numbers? Then I bet you’ll be even more shocked to hear that Mr. Imabayashi’s guild has even more at the level cap. Those of us right here are just a fraction of his power.”
That meant... That fucking bastard! He must have found a quick leveling method on his own!
“I think I get what’s going on here. Now get to the point. Is Ms. Kaori safe?”
“No need to worry. We had to get a little rough with her to get her cuffed, but we didn’t hurt her. Not even sexually!”
Sexually? No, wait. This is that bastard’s guild. Of course all the members would be just as scummy as him.
But even so, in this case, they had attacked a fellow reincarnator, not even the natives they hate so much. How on earth did doing this even occur to them? I doubted I’d ever understand.
“No, really. Relax. Apparently, Ms. Kaori looks like your mom, yeah? If any of us laid our hands on her, Mr. Imabayashi would kill us.”
My head clouded over the instant he said that. I could feel vomit climbing up my throat, as well as a heavy sense of lethargy. It was a horrific feeling that I couldn’t do anything about, the same that I’d had when I learned that the bastard had only seen Megumi as a sex object.
As much as I hated to agree with that repulsive bastard, hearing that Ms. Kaori resembled my mom...I had to agree.
Ah, so that’s it. That was why I couldn’t help but come to like Ms. Kaori, despite her not being completely honest with me.
“Our former guildmaster Kaori Shinozuka has a message for you, by the way.”
“A message?”
“‘I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you. I’m so sorry that you ended up in danger because of me.’”
The vision of Ms. Kaori’s face stricken with grief, tears flowing down her face, crossed my mind. I could feel something cold drip from my lips down my chin.
“Ha ha ha! You’re so mad that you’re biting your lips raw! That’s it! That’s the face I wanted to see on you!”
Even I could tell that a jet-black, fiery emotion was flowing from the pit of my stomach. I wasn’t sure whether it was because I’d thought that Ms. Kaori was a nice person or that she resembled my mom. Whichever it was, the hard truth was that a good person was being subjected to an unfair fate by that bastard.
I hated that truth so, so much.
“You’re right.” My voice was coarse. “I want to destroy all of you, right here.”
“You want to? But you can’t? I see, I see! Insolent as you may be, even you can see the difference in strength at play. You’re finally starting to be a little more respectful.”
More gleeful words oozed from his vicious grin. “You’ll never be able to win against forty level 99 beasts, not in a million years. You can’t even beat me, much less Mr. Imabayashi. This is the power of an organization, of political influence. The power of intelligent adults.”
I wanted to punch his smug mug so bad I almost couldn’t contain myself.
But this was a test of self-restraint. I was also level 99, and I had Release of God’s Might. Even if I fought here, I could still... No, I couldn’t say for sure that I’d win.
“It’s true. I don’t know if I could win against you or not.”
“You don’t know? What’re you spouting? It’s obvious what’s about to happen. You’re gonna get ganged up on, have your limbs torn off, and get thrown at Mr. Imabayashi’s feet for a future of eternal torture. That’s the only fate that awaits you.”
So they really were going to ruin my entire existence. A sadistic, perverted leer was plastered on Saito’s face. The smile looked so much like that bastard’s that if my unpleasant feeling were a stat, it would’ve been maxed out.
“That’s only going to happen if I let things continue as they are. I’m gonna go ahead and refuse the eternal part.”
“Excuse me? Do you even hear yourself? There’s no future for you aside from becoming our prisoner. Whatever, I’m not gonna listen to you. Right now, I’m just excited to see your face when I piss all over your head.”