How a Second Life Knight Lives

27. Mercenary Hunt.

Bingo!

After searching the tavern and warehouse and interrogating the related people three times, I found the target.

The place where the red dot was blinking was an ordinary house next to the tavern.

The place where the guards had already swept through was the tavern.

The place where the red dot was blinking was the house next to the tavern.

I thought they might be hiding like this.

It’s because of the characteristics of the city of Kalmar, which is different from ordinary cities or rural territories.

If Kalmar were an ordinary city, it wouldn’t matter whether they were hiding in the tavern or next to the tavern, they would be found unconditionally.

How could suspicious men who are not natives of the city, and who suddenly appeared, hide from the eyes of the guards?

There are so many eyes watching.

However, this place, Kalmar, is a prominent commercial city.

It is also a logistics hub in a port city with a river and sea.

Unlike ordinary cities where the appearance of a strange group is a monthly event, in Kalmar, it is impossible to even count the people who come and go.

If it weren’t a port city, it would be somewhat controllable,

But since it is a port that is one of the best in the empire, it is reasonable to give up control over strangers.

Because there is no way to know how many people are on the ship.

If they want to deceive, they can deceive as much as they want.

Moreover, the endless rows of taverns and pleasure districts are also a problem.

The guards manage the large places, but

There are too many small places to handle, and the fluidity of their appearance and disappearance is excessive.

Even considering the women who rent a room and do private business, it is understandable that even the violent organizations that dominate the port repeatedly say, ‘Well, I don’t know.’

But I am an exception.

Because I have a minimap.

The problem is that I have to naturally search the house next to the tavern.

Having a reputation for having a good intuition would help my work, but if I am misunderstood as having some kind of foresight-like mystery, it will definitely become very troublesome.

“Hey. Mustache. I know that the guards have already swept through. Do you think I asked you because I didn’t know that?”

“I understand that you are from the city council, Investigator. But I can’t make up something I don’t know. A few low-ranking members of the Red Dramen mercenary group drank here, but that’s all. I haven’t seen them since.”

The mustache, who seemed to be the leader of the prayers guarding the bar, snapped politely.

I wondered for a moment if the friction between the guards and the council was affecting even places like this.

After all, the entertainment district is the territory of the guards.

I can imagine what would happen if an investigator from the city council discovered something the guards had missed.

Both the guards who came to investigate here and the gangster twirling his mustache in front of me would be very unhappy.

But that doesn’t mean I can neglect my duties, right?

“This is just a bar. There’s no lodging facility.”

“That’s right. We’re not pimps. How can a man with pride sell women?”

“Really? Then who are those women?”

I pointed my chin at the women sitting at the bar’s tables, laughing and chatting.

Their makeup was heavy, and their well-dressed clothes were not cheap. They didn’t look like women exploited by a pimp.

Their expressions weren’t dark either.

Still, women sitting with male customers in a bar in broad daylight?

There’s no way a male customer brought his wife, right?

Drinking with his wife in the afternoon? Unbelievable.

“I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not like that. These women bought business rights here and are doing business. They even pay taxes properly.”

“Business rights?”

“To sit at a table in the bar, you have to buy business rights. After that, it’s up to them.”

“Up to them, huh.”

“Well, they can have a drink with the customer while chatting, or they can meet privately, things like that. It’s not bad for us since they increase our sales. Besides, we can’t touch those women. The guards manage them.”

“So, I see.”

“What are you curious about?”

“There are no lodging facilities here. So where do those women go?”

“How would I know that?”

The mustache’s hardened expression clearly showed he didn’t want to talk anymore.

But I had to naturally go to the place where the red dot was blinking.

I naturally grabbed the mustache’s index finger.

I saw the mustache’s face, bewildered by what was happening.

And I slowly applied pressure.

“What do you think will happen if you scream? Will it be fun or not?”

The mustached man’s face was so red it looked like it might burst.

Sweat droplets formed on his forehead.

I pressed the mustached man’s fingers a little harder.

Finally, when the convulsions at the corners of his twisted mouth indicated that he could no longer hold back his screams,

Only then did I release his fingers.

“They shouldn’t be crushed. I didn’t grab them that hard.”

At my calm voice, the mustached man bowed his head and trembled.

“Hey. Do you think I asked because I didn’t know? You guys are the ones who forcibly rent rooms to women. Why are you pretending not to know? And the rent is quite a rip-off, isn’t it?”

The mustached man nodded frantically.

“Give me the list of women who regularly come to work here but were absent yesterday and today.”

The mustached man jerked his head up.

Only then did he realize what I wanted, and his eyes rolled in disbelief.

Hmm. I understand. You probably want to run to the guards right now.

But I also have something I want to hear directly, so that won’t do.

We left the bar with the mustached man leading the way.

I noticed a servant slipping out of the bar and starting to run towards the guards.

He was a quick-witted fellow.

Running a business makes you turn your head at any useful personnel.

I’ll have to remember him.

There were two women who hadn’t shown up at the bar for two consecutive days.

And one of them was staying at the very place I wanted.

A house three doors down from the bar.

It seems like there will be a commotion at the guards later.

A few guys are going to get a good beating.

I put on my studded leather gloves and checked my steel bracers.

This time, I planned to beat them up without killing them.

The mercenaries who came with me blocked the escape routes.

Fortunately, the escape routes weren’t complicated.

Blocking both ends of the alley was enough.

The woman’s one-room house also had a simple structure.

The door and the single window directly connected to the alleyway were the passageways linking her space to the outside.

There was no other hole to escape through.

I stood with Zhukov and Mustache on either side and knocked on the woman’s door.

At my nod, Mustache shouted.

“Milly! Why haven’t you come out today? The regulars are causing a fuss, demanding to see you!”

After a moment, the woman shouted back from inside.

“Get lost, Ben. I’m sick! I told you, I’m sick. Tell those customers or whatever to go die!”

“Damn it. You sound perfectly fine. I’ll go first, so hurry up and get ready. If you’re too late, it’ll be troublesome for both of us!”

Mustache, that is, Ben, shouted as he stepped back at my signal.

Before his shouting even ended, I smashed the door and rushed inside.

As expected, the enemy was waiting, nerves on edge.

A sword thrust at my side from the right.

A short spear aimed at me from the front.

I twisted my body, rotating to the right, and struck the enemy’s temple with the edge of my hand.

Thud!

Stagger.

He didn’t fall immediately; he was a tough one.

But it didn’t seem necessary to hit him again.

Judging by his glazed eyes, his mind had already flown to Andromeda.

The problem was the one now behind me.

The tip of the short spear, thrust repeatedly in a slashing motion, aimed at my head and back.

As soon as I tilted my head to the side, a chilling sensation brushed past my ear.

Even as I quickly turned and moved sideways, the spear tip persistently followed from my neck to my back.

“Master!”

With Zhukov’s shout, a dagger pierced through the space repeatedly.

The one thrusting the spear at me hastily covered his face with his arm and stepped back.

One of the daggers dangled from his arm guard.

I had already turned towards the one holding the spear.

My eyes met the enemy’s through the arm guard covering his face.

Though his face hadn’t yet reached middle age, his eyes looked much older.

He was a man with an old soul.

Silence flowed between us.

The enemy who had aimed at my side finally collapsed beside me.

It would take a long time for him to wake up, having lost consciousness with foam at his mouth.

I slowly took a breath.

“I was planning to leave today, but it’s a pity.”

“You’re leaving when there are still subordinates alive?”

“Those guys are not subordinates. They’re not even Dramen men.”

“It’s hard to believe you were thinking of leaving behind the Black Wolf Graf.”

Mercenary Captain, Deputy Commander, Graf.

These three are from Dramen.

The only surviving mercenaries from Dramen are these three.

“I promised to get Graf out, but seeing that the hideout was attacked, it seems the promise won’t be kept.”

The Mercenary Captain’s words sounded like a growl.

What he meant was obvious.

There was a traitor.

And a high-ranking one at that.

Could it be the guards?

“You’re only saying things that pique my curiosity, but let’s hear it later. For now, drop your weapons and lie down. I’ll tie you up without hurting you.”

“You’re quite the joker, my guard friend.”

“I’m not a guard.”

“Hmm?”

“I was commissioned by the city council.”

“Hmm. I thought so. Everyone’s scrambling to cheat the poor mercenaries out of their money. The saying that there’s no one to trust really hits home.”

Before he even finished speaking, a spear was thrust forward without warning.

Attacking while talking, indeed, the saying that mercenaries are scoundrels is not wrong.

The spear tip aimed at my neck subtly wavered, revealing the intent to follow me wherever I moved.

However, it posed no threat to me.

Seeing even the scratches on the moving spear tip, could I possibly be stabbed by it?

It was an unimaginable thing.

I deflected the spear tip with my hand and took one step, two steps, three steps closer to the enemy.

The enemy also retreated as much as I approached, thrusting the spear repeatedly.

However, the spear tip only bounced off my hand and gradually swirled outward.

A woman’s room used for business.

It’s a narrow place.

It’s not a place where two men can swing weapons and fight.

So one man was just stabbing with a short spear a little over 1 meter long, and the other was punching with bare hands.

But that too had now reached its limit.

I saw the enemy’s back touch the wall as I gently deflected the end of the spear outward.

At that moment, the enemy’s eyes darkened.

It was the moment when the skirmish in the narrow room ended.

My fist repeatedly pounded the enemy’s chest,

and the enemy collapsed forward, spitting blood.

I didn’t kill him.

There was much I needed to hear from this man.