“Answer me. Who paid you?”
“…………”
“I see. Looks like it’s not enough.”
I once again pressed a dripping wet towel on the face of the assassin who is tied to the chair with his head faced upwards. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. I’ll make sure to make him talk. Like magma, a rising anger swirled inside me.
Julia’s funeral ended with only her relatives. Adam couldn’t comprehend that his mother was gone, and he tried to wake her up by shaking her who stayed motionless, and Eve, who was less than a year old, was sleeping peacefully in my arms. Bowing down and putting my head on the ground, I apologized to Julia’s parents. I vowed that I’ll make her happy and I would be with her until we grew old and died. Her parents gently helped me to stand and said that their daughter was happy.
That kindness was painful. I wanted them to call me a liar, abuse and beat me. I broke my promise.
It was only when I came at this point that I painfully understood Tanaka-san’s feelings. To lose something so important that can be said to be a part of oneself is to suffer from a feeling of emptiness that drives you insane. In that hole in the chest, people have to stuff something into it to survive.
I’m very angry. Anger directed at the one who killed my wife. After the funeral, I left my work and children to someone else and spent the whole week torturing the assassin I had captured.
Who sent him and why? Just why!?
I haven’t slept thinking about it for a while.
Oops, it’s time to take the towel or he’ll die.
“How is it? Do you feel like talking now?”
“…………Fuck….. you.”
“It looks like it’s not enough huh. Let’s try again then.”
I pressed the wet towel on his face again. Much harder this time. I wonder if it’s because he is a skilled assassin, but he is surprisingly tight-lipped. But I’m not one to give up after a week or so. Whether it’s a month or a year, I’ll keep this guy alive and make him spit out his client. To do so, I must continue to torture him until he begs me to kill him. Of course, I’m going to do whatever it takes. I’m ready for that.
“Head of Family! Please open the door!”
I heard a knock on the door of the room. I removed the towel on the assassin’s face and opened the door to see who had come. The visitor is the Commander of the Knights of the Imperial Guard.
“What’s wrong?”
“Adam-sama is trying to dig up her mother’s grave! He uses a tremendous sword attack and we can’t stop him.”
“I see. Leave it to me.”
I locked the room tightly and head to my wife’s grave with the commander. There, I saw my son digging in the ground with a shovel.
“Stop it, Adam.”
“Mother is sleeping under here! I’ll wake her up!”
“Stop it. Julia is dead.”
“Liar! Mother is not dead! There’s no way she’s going to leave Eve and me behind!”
“I’m telling you to stop!”
For the first time, I slapped my son in the cheek. At that time, I remember that for some reason, my hand hurt.
“Julia is dead! From now on, the three of us, you, me and Eve, will have to live! Please look at the reality!”
“U-u-…… uwaaaaaahhh”
Adam threw the shovel away and fled. I knew. Adam, who was still very young, could not understand that his mother was dead. Still, I have to raise them well. The two children she left behind. It was the last bastion left for me.
◇◇◇
“I’ll talk…… K-kill…. me… already.”
A month has passed since the torture began. With no arms and legs and needles stuck all over his body, he spoke in a faint voice. At first, I didn’t hear his voice, I just sat in my chair thinking about what kind of torture I should do next. It wasn’t until he said the same thing a second time that I finally noticed him talking.
“You said you are now willing to tell me who is the client?”
“Yes…. I’m going…. to tell you…. already…. so p-please…. kill me.”
“What is the proof that what you are going to say is true?”
“I-….I’ll tell…. where my money is stashed…. I keep a list…. of my clients there….. that should be a proof.”
“Okay. I’ll take your word for it.”
The assassin said the client’s name in a hoarse voice. I almost went crazy hearing that familiar name, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. If the lender dies, the debt is also canceled. I should have thought about it. Why did he come to me at that time? He had no intention of apologizing from the beginning. What a despicable guy!
I got the assassin’s money and a list of his clients, and when I was convinced that what he had said was true, I beheaded the person I was torturing with a sword. I sneered that I had finally caught the back of the person I was supposed to take revenge on.
◇◇◇
“Ohoh! Look at it! The gold coins I swindled from Ryan! He took pity on me without even knowing that an assassin was being sent to him! Hahaha! It’s so funny that I could die!”
“Well done, Johnny. Now with this, we can play for a while again. In addition, you killed two birds with one stone by eliminating Ryan, who is such a busy body. My stock will rise again in the social circles.”
At the Dosad’s mansion, Johnny and his father were smiling sheepishly as they counted the gold coins on the table. From what I can hear in their conversation, they don’t seem to know that I’m still alive.
But, that’s normal isn’t it? Frontier information is slow to arrive unless it is very important. On the other hand, now that I think about it, they should be able to hear about it as soon as I die, but they didn’t realize that. Still so stupid as ever.
I smiled as I looked down through the hole in the ceiling. The person who commissioned the assassination was Johnny Dosad. He cheated me and got my gold coins. It is probably a lie to say that he is borrowing money from the Great Chamber of Commerce. Now that I think about it, his signature and the signature of the Great Company were in the same handwriting.
And the assassination list that I got. It listed more than 20 people who had been killed at Dosad’s request. In other words, this is not their first offense. He is more than a scumbag, he is a deviant.
Because of a person like him, my wife is now…… remembering how Julia had been killed, the blood vessels in my head were about to burst with anger.
“By the way, that person from before hasn’t come back yet?”
“Now that Father mentioned it, you’re right. He usually shows up to report the assassination at thi—”
I jumped from the roof into the room. As soon as I landed, I decapitated Johnny’s father, then I turned around severing Johnny’s left arm from the shoulder. Seconds later, his arm falls to the floor and fresh blood stains the walls of the room.
“Ugy—mmmmph!?”
Before he screamed, I held his mouth with my left hand. This is just an assassination. I should not let anyone find me killing them. With that in mind, I plunged my sword into his thigh, impaling it to the floor.
“Did you think you killed me, huh Johnny?”
“Mmmmmmmmphhh!!! …..mmmph……”
“You’ve always lacked imagination, and I’m sure you wouldn’t think that the person you bullied or tried to kill would come to take revenge.”
“Howhehaaaa!! Howhaaaaheeee!”
“I don’t get what you’re trying to say.”
I pulled out a knife from my pocket and stabs it into Johnny’s other thigh. He tried to scream, but I hold him down with my left hand stopping him from doing so.
“Let’s talk a little more, maybe I can help you if I change my mind.”
He nods his head in agreement. I almost laughed at his desperate appearance. I rolled up a piece of cloth and shoved it into his mouth and then I tied a cloth over it. In addition, I also stabbed his remaining right hand with another knife and fixed it to the table.
Now Johnny can’t escape.
“Do you know that my wife was killed?”
“Hihahahifuha!”
“I don’t think it has reached your ears. Yes, my wife was assassinated. I captured the perpetrator and tortured him. Whose name do you think came out of his mouth?”
“Hihahafuhaha!”
“Yes, your name came up, and of course that’s not the only proof. This is the list that the assassin had. The target, the client, and the amount requested are listed. From what I can see, your name is the most common client. You seemed to have been a good customer.”
“Hohehafuha! Hohafuhe!”
Johnny shakes his head and bursts into tears. I can’t hear the words well, but I presume that he is pleading not guilty.
“Now, here’s the thing. You killed my wife, albeit indirectly. What must be paid for this sin. Or what do you want to pay for it? First, let me hear your offer.”
“Hohahehahahefu! Hihohihaheha!”
“Hn? Mmmm, you want to pay with your life. You lack imagination, but you are recklessly courageous.”
“Hihafu! Hohahehohahafu!!”
“What a strange coincidence. Actually, I was thinking the same thing. I was thinking that you should pay with your life. Oh, and I’ll get this money back. It’s money that Julia and I saved after all.”
I packed the gold coins in a bag and put them in my pocket. Right at that moment, Johnny put his head on the table, showing deep apology. Too late. I don’t think apology is still needed now.
I watched him closely while talking to him this whole time. I was wondering whether Johnny will apologize or not. I thought about letting him go at first. Of course, I am going to peel the skin off his face and then cut off his tongue and limbs so that he wouldn’t be able to speak and his family wouldn’t know who did it.
But with this, I can kill without hesitation.
“Apologize to Julia in hell!”
I pulled out the sword that was stuck in his thigh and decapitated Johnny. Blood gushes out like a fountain, and his headless body collapses.
“It’s in vain, still, I finished my revenge.”
I glanced at the corpse of the parent and child, then jumped up to the roof with my hood pulled on. Thus ended my relationship with Johnny Dosad. However, what came to my heart when I achieved my revenge was not joy but sadness.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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