The Broken Possessors of the Infinite Regression Academy - Chapter 142



Chapter 142 – Family Request – 3

Io Brant.

A mercenary who was called a miser at the academy who would do anything for money, and a character who turned to the Demon King’s army in despair after all of the ‘younger siblings’ he was supposed to take care of in the original work died, blocking Leona and Aria’s path.

After carrying out a request to falsify documents for the Starlight Church and taking a huge amount of wealth from the warehouse, there was no news at all, so I thought he had completely given up on mercenary work and was living peacefully with his siblings.

‘But why are you here?’

“No… … No. You’ve got the wrong person. Io Brant is inside, so I’ll call him… … .”

I was just as flustered as the other person, and then I roughly figured out what was going on when I saw the woman coming up with a lame excuse that she had barely managed to come up with.

Io Brant was said to be able to change his face and body shape at will using ancient relics. It was also thanks to ancient relics that he was able to enter Bellium Academy despite being 48 years old.

‘Was the ring I just took off a relic?’

Now that I think about it, I think I heard something about it being a ring shape. Since it’s something that has no connection to us anyway, I just let it go in one ear and out the other, so I don’t remember exactly.

“I think it’s true because you look flustered.”

“I told you not to! How many times do I have to tell you that you got the wrong person!”

He approached the woman, who was almost in a fit of rage as she tried to open the door, and grabbed her shoulder.

“Don’t you remember that I gave you platinum as a hiring fee?”

“… … .”

The woman who had been shaking her body roughly as if she was going to shake off my hand at any moment froze. Then she slowly turned around.

It wasn’t the face I remembered, but I could clearly see the expression of astonishment.

“… … Employer, sir?”

There was only one person who called me that. I laughed inwardly at the fact that it was Io. I thought I was living a normal life, so why was I here like this?

He quickly erased the voice-changing magic applied to his mask and whispered in his original voice.

“Yes. That’s me. Mira Crate. Do you remember my voice?”

“Yes, yes. Of course I remember. How could I forget your voice, my employer?”

“You fucking b*tch! Aren’t you going to answer me?!”

A shout mixed with vulgar profanity interrupted the conversation. They were much closer than before. Io flinched, looking terrified.

Surely it’s not because they couldn’t beat them that they’re scared, but there must be something I don’t know about.

“I have a ton of questions to ask, but… … Let’s just deal with them first. They’re not good guys, are they?”

“Yes. They are really bad guys. Much worse than me. And… … they were the ones who threatened me to raid your boss’s older sister’s upper carriage.”

“Okay. I’ll check.”

I turned to the direction the voice came from and activated my voice-changing magic again. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t completely trust Io’s words. I should at least hear the other side’s story.

Before meeting me, Io was a mercenary who would do anything for money. After all, we haven’t contacted each other since we lost contact.

I gave up on going into the house and waited for the owners, who had been swearing at me with a very angry voice since a while ago, with Io by my side. The owners showed up shortly after.

“I’m out here just in case someone calls me a motherless orphan, and yet I’m answering… … Hey, look at this b*tch. Did she spread her legs for a guy? What the hell is this?”

He had a face so fierce that it wouldn’t look strange at all even if he went around with the word “criminal” written on his forehead, and his vulgar way of speaking matched his fierce face perfectly.

The moment they saw me standing next to Io, they glared at me.

“That’s what I wanted to ask. Who are you?”

“There must be a reason why you wouldn’t give it to us even if you died. It’s because if you try to seduce another guy and take his money, your lower body won’t be loose. Okay?”

I know you shouldn’t judge someone by their appearance, but I thought it would be okay to judge someone by that appearance and that way of speaking.

The man who simply ignored my words and glared at Io while shouting at him with insults and profanities, only turned his gaze to me with a sly smile after he had finished speaking.

“I don’t know who you are, hyung. That b*tch who gave you your ass is in debt, right? And it’s a pretty big amount. She’s a b*tch who’s going to ruin your life if you mess with her just because she looks good, so why don’t you just quietly get out of here when you get a chance?”

“You have a lot of debt? I gave you a lot of money, but wasn’t it enough?”

“Oh my, that’s quite a large amount of money, isn’t it? It’s an amount that people like you and me can’t even imagine.”

“I’d like to come in and take a look. How much is it?”

“The amount that needs to be paid immediately is a whopping twenty platinum coins, twenty! How is it? Isn’t it scary? Even you, Hyung, don’t you seem to have much of an affinity for money? Do you think you can handle it?”

Ignoring the comment that he didn’t seem to have any affinity for money, I looked at Io intently. It seemed to mean that it was true. Io shouted, as if he had read my intentions even through the mask.

“It’s a scam! If it’s a debt, I’m sure I paid it all off last time! Your boss even personally certified it! Then why is there a contract I’ve never seen before!”

“Oh, you’re a fraud. This is a legitimate exercise of your rights. If you don’t believe me, why don’t you try to get it notarized with magic? If it turns out to be unjustified, I can get rid of it right now.”

“… … .”

Io gritted his teeth. Judging from their reactions, the debt itself seemed to be legal, no matter what. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be acting so arrogant.

It’s just that something unusual happened during the process of making it.

“I understand.”

“Yeah! You finally found out the truth. That thing might taste good if you eat it, but it’s definitely going to cause trouble. Since I gave you a chance, why don’t you just get out of here? I’ll pretend I didn’t see all the shit you’ve been doing up until now. We’re letting you have fun because we got that excuse.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

He snapped his fingers. Each of the six limbs was lifted into the air, each bound to a chain made of mana. Screams of “Waaa!” echoed from all around.

In fact, if I wanted to do this to Iohan, I could have tied him up like this from the beginning and questioned him. I deliberately chose a different method. I wanted to seriously ask him why he did such a thing, rather than force him.

If you tie them up and question them, there’s a chance they’ll shut up. Then, you’ll end up having to torture them or beat their brains out, but neither of those feels right.

This time too, it turned out that following my feelings was the right answer.

“Is this kid crazy? What is he doing!”

The man who had been speaking as the representative since earlier shouted with a bloodshot face. Even so, he was tied up with his arms and legs spread wide open in the air, so it was nothing more than a savage sight.

“I told you I gave you a lot of money. It was an amount that could have been used to pay off all your debts, but it’s still strange to think that you owe me another 20 platinum coins.”

“Someone like you gave me that much money? Where did you come up with that unbelievable lie?”

“I’m not finished talking yet, so shut up.”

He made a fist in the air and slapped the man on the cheek. It was so funny that the men nearby burst out laughing even though they were all hanging around.

The expression on the man who got hit in the cheek became flushed.

“I’m going to listen to an explanation of what’s going on inside, so you guys should also organize what you’re going to tell me in your heads until then. I’m going to listen to both sides of the story first.”

Then, as he glanced at Io, he lowered his head as if he too felt a prick.

“Anyone with complaints?”

“Who would believe that, you idiot! If you were in your right mind—”

-Crunch!

The words stopped with an eerie sound of something being cut off. The man with his mouth shut slowly lowered his head.

What should have been stuck between my legs was cut off and was rolling around on the floor.

“Kuaaah! aaah! aaah! aaah!”

A terrible scream erupted a moment later, and the bright red blood that burst out along with it soaked the weeds and the dirt. The other men stopped laughing and turned their heads away, each with their eyes closed.

“It’s not for nothing that they say that kind words will bring kind words in return. Then why are you swearing, swearing? I’ve put up with it so many times.”

Still, I couldn’t let him die from excessive bleeding, so I used healing magic to stop the bleeding. As for reattaching him, well, it depends on how he acts when I come out after hearing the explanation.

I didn’t really want to see that either, but I had no choice because it was more effective than a verbal warning. It didn’t seem like he was the type of person to listen to words.

The man whose object had been cut off was unconscious and dripping with cold sweat even though his bleeding had stopped. It seemed that the pain was too much.

“Let me ask again. Is there anyone who is dissatisfied?”

“… … .”

Everyone nodded desperately. They covered each other’s mouths with magic to prevent them from conspiring with each other, fixed their gazes and heads, and then quietly warned each other.

“I’m going to call you out one by one and ask you the same questions. You’d better not even think about lying. Anyone who says something different will end up in the same situation as the guy who passed out.”

The men trembled. Leaving the men behind, who had become quiet, I went into the cabin and closed the door. After confirming that the door was completely closed, Io took off his mask and muttered bitterly.

“As expected, you were my employer.”

“Yes, that’s right. You’re Io Branté too, right? That first-year student I commissioned from Bellium Academy.”

From noble mtl dot com

“Yes. You asked me to assassinate a noble and to sneak into the Starlight Church’s cathedral and forge documents. There was an additional fee of fifty gold coins for each of the four assassinated nobles, and no additional fee was charged for forging documents, but you told me to raid the church’s warehouse as much as I wanted.”

Perhaps in order to appeal that he was the Io who had entered Bellium Academy, Io went on and on about things that were not even asked.

“I thought you were doing well on your own since you left without saying anything, but it looks like that wasn’t the case.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you anything. I originally intended to greet you more often. I could have paid off my debts and lived a good life, just like my employer said. But… … I tried to do that… … .”

Io, who had been clenching his fists and trembling for a while, relaxed his grip and fell limp.

“… … This isn’t a story worth explaining while standing here. Follow me. There might be tea… … but I’ll at least get you some water.”

I followed Io into the cabin. There was one space that seemed to be a kitchen, one that seemed to be a living room, and a bathroom. That was the end of the interior.

“Please sit here and wait. Just a moment.”

While Io, who had been knocking on the table, disappeared behind the tattered curtains, I looked around instead of sitting on the dining chair that looked like it would break at any moment.

He said he started working as a mercenary to take care of his younger siblings, or rather, orphans who had no place to go, but these ‘younger siblings’ were nowhere to be seen. Could it be that something bad happened because of debt?

I used a detection spell. My mana-based senses scanned every corner of the cabin. Soon I sensed a group of people huddled together under a blanket in the center of the living room. There were fourteen of them.

‘There are a lot of them.’

I heard there were definitely twelve, but I guess two more people have increased since then.

Anyway, they are Io’s siblings and Io hid them, so it’s not my place to interfere. I was about to end the detection magic and turn off my nerves, when I felt someone cautiously climbing upwards.

The secret door under the blanket opened without a sound. It seemed that they had put a lot of effort into soundproofing the secret space. Someone poked their head out through the gap.

And then, our eyes met as I was looking at that exact spot.

“Hee, heeeek!”

The girl who screamed loudly stumbled backwards. I protected her with magic so she wouldn’t get hurt. As her body was fixed in the air, I could feel her looking around her body in confusion.

“What’s wrong?! What’s going on?!”

Io came running, making a loud noise, then blinked, looking back and forth between the half-open secret door and me.

“I opened the door and our eyes met.”

“yes?!”

At those words, Io was startled and ran to the secret door, shouting something down below. It was something to the effect that he shouldn’t come out yet.

One of my younger siblings grumbled that it was too uncomfortable downstairs, but when I told him that he was the one who had made me a lot of money last time, he immediately became quiet. I could also hear him criticizing me for what I was doing here.

‘Should I give him some money later?’

It wasn’t intentional. But somehow it felt like it had to be done. Io sighed and closed the door while I counted the gold coins in my robe pocket.

“I’m sorry, boss. I just got curious because you became quiet much quicker than usual.”

“It’s okay. That can happen. Don’t worry.”

Io trudged back to the kitchen and came back with two wooden cups that looked as clean as they could be. There was a tiny bit of greenish water inside.

I took a sip of it for a moment. It wasn’t even light tea, but more like plain water with just a little bit of color left in it. I emptied the glass without paying attention, and Io looked away, embarrassed.

“… … There was nothing there. I’m sorry.”

“Okay. I didn’t come here to get anything. What about an explanation?”

“Oh, yes. I’ll do it right now.”

I felt the girl who had just made eye contact with me and fallen down, carefully putting her ear to the secret door once again, but I ignored it. It wasn’t like there was anything wrong with listening.

Io sighed, as if he hadn’t noticed, and opened his mouth.