Claude suddenly realized that he had thought everything too simple. He was faced with a dilemma in his current situation. The first was his getup: his face was covered like when he went to Hurian’s to buy some things. He didn’t want to expose his identity, so he could mask himself and appear like a mysterious magus and didn’t have to care about much. He could even lash out without consequence.
He had planned to locate Arbeit during the night itself and thought that Arbeit would simply be gambling in a run-down gambling den. He had planned to put himself out as a robber to ruin the gambling den and use that chance to teach Arbeit a harsh lesson. That way, people would simply think that Arbeit was in the wrong place at the wrong time instead of relating Arbeit’s unfortunate encounter with Claude.
But he didn’t think that Blacksnake had such a luxurious gambling den in the slums. He had stumbled inside and encountered quite a lot of trouble before he was able to locate his elder brother. It was no wonder the maidservant once more asked him to remove his outerwear and shawl. They weren’t on the old street after all, and nobody within the gambling den had their outer wear on. Some of them were so heated in their games that they sweated so much to the point of stripping. Even the maidservants were dressed in summer skirts that fluttered around to reveal what was underneath from time to time.
Thanks to the copper pipe heating system, the temperature within was a few degrees Celsius higher than the outside. It didn’t feel cold in the slightest. Claude’s getup and his looking around made him stand out horribly. There were a few men wearing tight-fitting vests watching his every move. It was already really gracious of them to send a maidservant to test him.
Right now, he had two options. The first was to refuse the maidservant’s offer to remove his outerwear and shawl. That meant that he would have to face the huge bouncers of the den. They would never allow a mystery man like Claude to walk around in the den as he pleased. They would definitely see him as someone harboring ill intentions that way.
The second option was to remove his disguise and reveal who he is. He believed that he would definitely be recognized by somebody there. If he was recognized, it would be even more troublesome for him. Spells were definitely off limits as he couldn’t silence everyone within the gambling den to keep the secret. But should that be the case, even if Claude found Arbeit, the guards wouldn’t let him act against Arbeit.
The reason for that was simple: Arbeit was a customer of the den. He had money to gamble there. Instead, Claude wasn’t. He had given his last thale to the gang members that brought him there. Someone without money coming into the den to teach someone a lesson would definitely be a no-go for Blacksnake. And without using spells, Claude wouldn’t be able to defeat the guards watching the den.
If Morssen hadn’t been captured and still served as the chief secretary, then the gang would still give Claude some face and wouldn’t deal with Claude too excessively. But now that Morssen had essentially become a criminal and a member of the villainy, the gang would have no reservations towards Claude. In fact, they might even take ‘extra care’ of him as Morssen was one of the people who actively tried to suppress the gang’s influence before his arrest.
Claude was most worried that his actions would involve his mother and younger siblings. In the two years he had lived in this alternate world, he began to consider them his real relatives and wouldn’t want to see them come to any harm because of him. That was the reason he disguised himself before heading out. He didn’t want anyone finding out about his true identity.
But as Claude was pondering over his choice, the maidservant had already made it for him. She tugged on Claude’s shawl, causing him to respond by pushing her down to the ground. She let out an audible cry as she fell, but her hand held tight onto the shawl and pulled it off Claude…
However, the maidservant’s goal of seeing Claude’s true face failed. Claude wore a black-colored facemask that obscured the lower half of his face. Claude had put on the mask before he wore his shawl.
There was already no need for Claude to consider. The vested guards were already approaching, six of them in total. The leader was a bald man that was a head taller than Claude. His bulging bare muscles showed how powerful he was.
The bald man stroked his nose and raised his chin towards the two men beside him, motioning them to hold Claude tight.
“Go ask him what he’s there to do,” said the bald man as he watched Claude. Even though Claude dressed in such a heavy disguise, none of them thought much of him. Faced with six burly men, Claude’s height of 1.8 meters didn’t look that intimidating.
Claude’s weakness was that he overthinked things too often. That was what his boss in his past life criticized him for. There wasn’t always a perfect solution for any given situation, and no matter how well-prepared someone was, there were too many accidental variables that could derail the plans. When a goal was set, one just had to do all they could to achieve it. The end result wasn’t important, what was was that one’s best effort was made. That way, even if it ended in failure, it wouldn’t be one’s own fault.
Though, Claude just couldn’t be as carefree as his boss. But the moment he made a decision, he would go all out to ensure that he achieved his goals. There was no longer a need for him to think now. He would strike first and take advantage of the lack of alertness of the six guards surrounding him. He fired six Magic Missiles immediately.
Pained groans could be heard in all directions. The six projectiles burrowed through the abdomens of the six men, causing them to fall flat onto the ground while clutching their stomachs in pain. Fresh blood soon stained the grey-white ground.
“Ahh… this… Murder…” The maidservant that still held Claude’s shawl was completely stupefied. When she snapped out of it, she let out an ear-piercing shriek that startled Claude.
The merry gamblers in the hall turned around to look after hearing the commotion and dropped their chips and cards or dice in shock. They scattered in all directions in a chaotic fashion and collapsed into each other from time to time, before hurriedly ducking under the tables for cover.
Claude ignored the shrieking maidservant and paced in large steps across the hall towards the stairway that lead to the second floor. The maidservant mentioned that the den provided private rooms, so Claude wanted to see whether his elder brother was gambling over there with some others.
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But soon, he stopped in his tracks. He clapped himself on the body and watched as a group of black-leather-vest-wearing guards appeared on the balcony on the second floor.
There were five of them in total. It seemed that the black leather vests were the uniforms for the Blacksnake bouncers. Unlike the former six guards, the five on the balcony upstairs were armed with an arbalest each. They trailed their weapons towards Claude.
“Who are you? Remove your mask and show yourself. Who dares to cause trouble in Blacksnake’s territory?” Two men stepped out from behind the five arbalest-wielding guards. The first was a middle-aged man dressed in a dark-grey evening robe. His face was flushing red and his yellow-brown hair was combed neatly. It was as if he had just returned from attending a banquet. He elegantly placed both his hands on the railing of the balcony and looked at Claude from high above.
Beside him was a slender and tall man dressed in loose-sleeved attire. He crossed his arms and two protrusions could be seen around his waist that looked like two shortswords. He stood guard beside the middle-aged man.
More than ten other burly men appeared from the two corridors leading to the underground hall with all sorts of weapons, including arbalests. The four guards that were stationed at the iron gate from which Claud entered also approached with their weapons.
The gamblers and maidservants that were scrambling to escape calmed down. They no longer cried out loudly and ran all over the place and instead stood their ground in the hall and watched as the scene play out. On the balcony appeared ten or so gamblers and maidservants who watched the show from above.
Claude realized that Arbeit was among those who showed up upstairs. His face was flushed red and he was hugging a shy-looking maidservant, moving his hands around her body as he watched.
His rage soared. That heartless fool had messed up his family and still had the mood to indulge in sensual pleasures at a place like this. He was a beast in man’s clothing. But Claude kept his calm and only gave Arbeit a cursory glance before turning away. Given that he had acted against Blacksnake, if it was discovered that he had come for Arbeit, even if he managed to escape, the gang might be able to track him down from Arbeit.
Seeing Claude checking out his surroundings without the intent of replying, the middle-aged man angrily ordered, “Attack! It’s better to leave him barely breathing, but it’s fine if you kill him too!”
A series of loud twangs could be heard. The five men on the balcony pulled their triggers and five bolts shot towards Claude like lightning. But the onlookers were completely shocked to find that the projectiles seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier just as they were about to hit Claude. They stopped not far away from his body before falling down to the ground one after another.
The middle-aged man’s face paled. The guard beside him had already drawn his shortswords and readied himself.
Claude didn’t care about that middle-aged man. He used Magic Missile in quick succession, first dealing with the five arbalest-wielding men on the balcony before taking on the tens of men in black vests that were rushing at him.
By the time the last man had his elbow twisted and pinned to the ground before Claude knocked him out with a stomp to the head, ten or so minutes had passed.
He had made a mistake. He shouldn’t have taken out the ranged attackers first. After he used Projectile Barrier on himself, those bolts no longer posed a threat to him. Instead, the guards with melee weapons were the bigger threat.
Fortunately, he managed to realize his slip immediately. Right after finishing off the five men on the balcony, he targeted the men who were going to engage him in a melee. The tens of people swarmed him at the same time, causing him to fidget around in a slight panic. He shot out Magic Missiles nonstop as he retreated backwards and finally managed to fend off that wave of attacks, only allowing three of them to approach. Despite that, it still wasn’t easy for him to deal with them.
Claude found that most of the people in the hall had escaped by the time he was done with the guards. Only a dozen of other people were left behind, too shocked or panicked to leave. They either hid under the tables or shivered in the corner. He looked around the hall and saw the bodies of more than 20 large, burley men littered all over. It was no wonder that the rest were terrified. The men who were still breathing were crying in agony, while the others stopped moving completely. Rivers of blood covered the ground.
Claude didn’t feel the slightest bit of remorse for what he did. Those men were Blacksnake members anyway. They were mere parasites of society whose death was of no consequence. So what if they were dead? There was no point in holding back or regretting killing them. They were the ones who charged in so ferociously in the first place, giving no room for Claude to stop. All that was on his mind was to put down one before dealing with another. He didn’t have the luxury to worry about whether his Magic Missile would land in a fatal location.
Then again, if he did fall into their hands, he would end up experiencing a far worse fate than the fellows lying on the ground. His mother and younger siblings would be involved.
He looked up to the platform on the second floor and saw nobody. Claude recalled seeing the middle-aged man, his guard, Arbeit and the others who were there to watch the show vanish during the fight. However, he was certain that they hadn’t gone downstairs yet. The stairway leading up to the second floor was completely empty and nobody had gone down from there.
As long as they were still up there, Claude was confident he could single them out one-by-one. You just wait, Arbeit. I’m coming… He took large steps towards the stairs.