Swish, swish.

The sound of a blade being sharpened on a whetstone echoed.

Should Ha-Yul call it a drawback of the basement?

Because the sound reverberated, even this small noise sounded loud.

“It’s quite noisy after all. Right?”

No response came, but he didn’t mind.

It wasn’t a question he asked expecting an answer.

The other person was not in a state to answer anyway.

“Using the basement to make this room was good, but it’s more inconvenient than I thought. The sound echoes, and mold grows easily. The smell doesn’t dissipate well either, and it’s too damp.”

‘…Is this enough?’

He stopped sharpening the blade and picked up another knife.

He didn’t bother checking if it was properly sharpened.

Because he didn’t know much about knives. Even if he looked to see if it was properly sharpened, he wouldn’t know.

Some may question why he was doing such a useless action then.

But it wasn’t useless.

He could leisurely pass the time while doing something important.

“But even if the basement is extremely inconvenient, I think it was a good idea to ask Arte and get it after all. Right?”

Again, no answer came back.

He could push further here…

But he decided to just scare the man this much for today.

If the fear became too great, they might faint.
It was his own know-how learned after experiencing it many times.

“It’s the perfect place to dispose of garbage like you.”

Clank, clank.

The man, whose whole body was restrained to the chair, struggled this way and that in an attempt to escape from here out of fear.

But escape was impossible.

The chair was made of high-strength metal and is used in prisons to hold superhuman criminals.

That level of strength wouldn’t make it budge.

Even though the prisoner knew that from trying several times, he instinctively tried to escape again, but realizing he still couldn’t move, fear settled in the prisoner’s eyes.

“You’ve got a lot of energy. Do you still have enough vitality?”

That’s what the time was for. The echoing sound of sharpening the whetstone was all to induce fear in the other person.

Everything else was secondary.

It seemed to be a more effective method than he thought, which made him feel good.

Should he try using it on the next person too?

But his good mood was only momentary.

With the sound of dripping, his elated mood instantly sank.

“…How filthy. Who allowed you to do that?”

He was sure he only gave the prisoner enough water to avoid dehydration.

Irritation surged, and he roughly grabbed the kitchen knife.

When he gently brought it to the man’s neck, blood dripped.

The prisoner’s eyes were engulfed in terror.

…There was no need to be that scared.

He wasn’t planning to kill the prisoner right away.

At least for now, what he was worried about wouldn’t happen.

He really wanted to stab the prisoner’s neck right now, but compared to their sins committed, just dying would be too luxurious.

It would be better for the prisoner to live in fear of his approaching death every moment, to suffer in pain every moment.

“I was going to let you off with one today… Fine. I believe you can endure about two.”

“Mmph, mmph…! Mmph!”

So noisy.

On top of splattering filth in a place that was already hard to clean.

He wanted to kill the prisoner right this instant, but then he wouldn’t be able to make him atone more for his sins.

So he couldn’t kill him yet.

…But in exchange, this bastard would have a harsh day today.

“Reflect on your sins until evening. If I see signs of remorse, I’ll reduce it to one, so stay quiet, got it?”

He repositioned the pliers on the desk so the bound prisoner could see them well.

He instantly became quiet.

Right, he had already experienced this pain, so he knew how it felt.

The prisoner knew well what would happen if he went against his mood right now.

He lied about reducing it, though.

“I knew you’d be here.”

“Ah, Lyla. What’s up? I thought you hated coming here.”

“How many people would want to come to a place like this.”

He didn’t refute her words as she made a disgusted expression.

He knew that few people would want to come to such a repulsive space.

“…Are those teeth?”

“That’s right. Quite a lot has been collected.”

“You usually threw away byproducts like that.”

“I did. But… I’m trying something different this time.”

“…Different?”

“Yeah.”

It was nothing much.

This white thing was that guy’s lifeline.

Like the last leaf.

If it all disappeared… Well, he didn’t need to say the rest.

“… Isn’t your hobby too bad?”

“…”

“I know, I know. I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“So, why did you call me?”

“Ah, right.”

It seemed like a long time would pass if they talked more, so he asked the purpose of her coming here.

“A strange note arrived. I was wondering if you might know who it’s from.”

“…A note?”

“The sender and recipient names are weird. Full of numbers.”

…Full of numbers.

He thought it would be a light conversation like what she wanted for dinner tonight.

He straightened his posture and asked Lyla for the letter.

“Let me see.”

“Ah, okay. Here.”

“…As I thought.”

“Who is it?”

The sender’s name was a combination of numbers. But it matched his expectations.

A strange combination of numbers to someone who doesn’t know.

But official documents from the Association were usually like this.

Always fighting villains, not knowing which ability user might become a villain, it was a set method.

So, it was easy for someone who didn’t know to think it was a misprinted item.

Lyla probably already opened the contents.

There were traces of the contents that should be closed being slightly open.

But she probably brought it because she couldn’t read the contents either.

He was the only one here who would receive such a thing.

“It’s from the Association. Let’s see, the contents are…”

“…? What is it? What does it say that you’re getting so serious?”

“Where did Arte go?”

“Huh? Probably at Siwoo’s house. She always stays there these days.”

“Quickly bring Spira and come there. I’ll go ahead and talk to her first.”

“What? Wa, wait! What’s going on?! And you want me to bring her?!”

“There’s no time to explain, so I’m going first.”

He began moving at maximum speed, repeatedly transforming into mist and back.

It wasn’t an ordinary matter for the Association to send an extermination request.

Especially for Arachne, who played an important role in maintaining public order in the city.

“…Is this really true?”

He was heading to Arte to get help as quickly as possible…

But he stopped momentarily at the unbelievable story and read the official document again.

However, nothing changed.

He read it again, thinking he might have been mistaken, but the document still remained as if it were true.

“A human who communicates with monsters.”

There were performances of capturing them in front of citizens and killing them. Still, there had never been a successful case of truly communicating with them.

He was skeptical, but that’s why he decided to increase his speed and head to Arte again.

Because it would be even more dangerous if it really was a human who communicates with demons.

It was hard to imagine how big the situation could grow if such a human was a villain.

***

“Wake up, Spira! I said wake up quickly!”

“… I’m sleepy though.”

“It’s an emergency! I told you to move quickly?!”

Lyla tapped her feet in frustration.

There were occasional times before when Spira would show laziness, lying still and acting like she didn’t want to move, but it wasn’t this bad.

Sprawling around like a sloth like this started after Arte began staying elsewhere.

After she disappeared, Spira started lying down openly, saying no one was watching, and this was the result.

“Why. I finished all the work.”

“Not that! We need to go out right now!”

“It’s bothersome…”

Even more annoying was that Spira had done all her work and was just playing around.

It wasn’t the first or second time Lyla had been annoyed by her leisurely resting while working beside her. Still, she had no choice but to leave her alone since Spira finished her portion.

But there was a limit to being lenient like that.

Now was the time to move immediately.

Lyla didn’t know the reason, but there must be a reason Ha-Yul moved so urgently and told her to bring Spira.

She was starting to get anxious about wasting time like this.

Irritation surged, and Lyla scratched her head furiously as she shouted.

“…I have no choice. I’ll buy you the game console you wanted, so get up quickly! It’s urgent!”

“Really?! I’m ready!”

“This brat…”

Could it be that Spira planned this?

Spira, who finished preparing to go out with sparkling eyes when Lyla mentioned buying the game console she always wanted, was detestable to the point she wondered.

Was Spira sulking because she ignored her, always pestering her to buy her things, saying she couldn’t go out because of her lower body?

“Hah… Okay, fine. I’ll buy it so let’s go quickly. The one having a hard time isn’t you. It’s me.”

“I have quite a hard time too? Do you know how hard it is to be packed in a box?!”

“Think about my position carrying it too! You pig!”

“A pig?! I’m a snake! I’m not that heavy either! Roughly…only about 200kg! Plus, you’re a superhuman!”

“Not 200kg, more like 230kg, you brat! That’s the weight of about 6-7 skinny women!”

“Kyaa, kyaaah?! How do you…since when! Do, don’t tell anyone that. Got it?!”

“Enough, so hurry up and get in the box.”

“You, you won’t tell, right? Really?”

“I won’t, so get in!”

Lyla sighed, feeling a headache coming on.

To think this brat was a former executive of the Übermensch, a current member of Arachne.

Lyla remembered the comments of citizens who had fantasies about Arachne members and laughed hollowly.

What would they think if they saw this sight?

It was absurd.