Alex stands in front of the weapon shop, staring up at the sky—the sunlight fading fast.
It should close soon, but I'd better make sure.
"When do these shops usually close?" he asks one of the gang members beside him.
"Hell, how should I know?" one of them replies, rubbing his head in embarrassment.
"Idiot. They should close exactly at sunset this time of year," the other snaps, glaring at his partner. "Do we rush in? We can back you up!"
"You can come with me, but we're playing it cool for now," Alex says. "I have an idea."
Why not just rush in, Soulmate? These Peasants are not worth any real effort.
No, Jewel. We're in Alubarna. It's best we lay low. If we're discovered, we might get in trouble. We can commit all the crimes we want, but we can't get caught. It's better if the store closes properly. If a customer walks in while we're 'at work,' that could lead to trouble—and if possible, I want to avoid any issues.
Activating En, Alex extends his senses through the area. His radius is large enough to cover the entire front section of the building, and he senses no customers inside. He waits patiently for a couple of minutes until he finally detects someone approaching the door.
He has something in his hand... should be the key!
Just as the man is about to lock the door, Alex forcefully opens it himself, stepping inside.
"What?!" the man shouts in surprise. "Excuse me, customer, I was about to clo—"
Alex doesn't waste time. He punches the man square in the forehead, snatching the key from his hand as he collapses.
You have dealt 37 x 3 = 111 damage to Salesman
You have killed Salesman
What the?! What did I do... I actually killed him. I even held back a little! I guess a normal person really can't survive a hit from me—even when I pull my punches... My STR is just too extreme compared to his PHY. Shit... That guy wasn't even the target. Figures, there are more people inside. This is a huge store, after all. No time for regret—I need to act swiftly.
Soulmate needs to be careful when punishing Peasants.
Regretting the kill for only a moment, Alex signals the two gang members to follow him, then quickly locks the door with the stolen key, flipping the old-fashioned "open" sign to indicate the store is now closed.
"Hey, you lazy bum! I told you to close up and help me out. We need to prep the next shipment! Hurry up already!" a voice yells from deeper in the shop.
Alex ignores it for now and glances around the store. Alongside traditional swords and spears, he spots racks of firearms—mostly flintlocks and pistols, the kind of crude, old-world weapons this universe seemed to favor, but that can, for some reason, fire without reloading after every shot.
I won't even think about these damn flintlocks that somehow fire rapidly without manually reloading. Reminds me of the revolver I took from Mr. 5. I kinda miss it... Not like it'd be too effective now, but still.
Why does Soulmate even care? This world is not logical. It's no use thinking about it.
You know what? That's the first smart and wise thing you've said in a while. You're actually completely right. Let's move on... I just want to try one last thing. These weapons look interesting.
Before following the voice, Alex casually tries to loot a few weapons from the displays—but, as he expected, the system doesn't recognize them at all.
With no other option, he heads toward the back—but stops short when he spots a classic, old-school cash register behind the front counter.
He looks at it greedily and looks up, seeing more than his own greedy eyes stare at it.
Soulmate, grab the money!
Why not? Money isn't a system item. Surely there must be a lot of cash in the register—weapons are expensive, after all.
Opening the register, Alex pulls out a surprising amount of bills, managing to loot over 2 million Belly.
"Hey! Do you want to get hit again?! I told you to hurry up! I swear, I'll punch the shit out of you if you continue to slack off, you lazy bum!" the voice from the back yells, louder this time.
Alex smirks and heads deeper into the shop.
Expecting an office, he's instead greeted by a massive storage area filled with large crates, weapon racks, and boxes stacked to the ceiling—hundreds of weapons scattered around the place.
"Finally, you lazy shit! Tell your girl to visit me tonight, or you're fired! I need to blow off some steam. Now help me prep the last crates for the soldiers..." a burly, muscular man barks, not even bothering to glance at him. He continues working, packing rifles into a large container. "Hehe, this is fantastic—we're making more money selling to the Kingdom than to the Rebellion, the Marines, or that sketchy organisation! The boss wants this finished today, so move your ass!"
"Are you some sort of satirical villain?" Alex asks, unable to believe what he's hearing. As he speaks, he conjures Mustrano's Malice Mauler, his left arm turning into a deadly black claw.
"I hunger... human... I want fressssshhh blood!" Mustrano hisses.
"Huh?! What the fuck do you mea—" the man begins, turning around.
He freezes when he sees Alex. Panic flashes across his face, but before he can react, Alex drives his claw-hand straight into the man's throat, killing him instantly.
You have dealt 78 x 3 = 234 damage to Weapon Merchant
You have killed Weapon Merchant
"Ah..." Alex mutters to himself. "I should've asked him where the boss was first. This is so easy I'm losing focus. I blame you, Mustrano!"
"Disgussssting," Mustrano comments. "I require higher quality food!"
He glances at the two gang members beside him—both pale and trembling.
"You two can grab whatever you want or get out right now," Alex says calmly. "Consider it a small reward."
"T–thank you!" one of them blurts out, already looking around frantically.
The other grins nervously, scanning the piles of weapons, before realizing his fortune. "Hehe, perfect! Don't mind if we take you up on that offer!!"
En!
There are more Peasants in the back—however, Princess Jewel thinks the boss is on the upper floor of the main building. She detects someone fat and juicy sitting behind a desk. Maybe the Snake-claw would want to taste him.
"Good sssspider. I accept," Mustrano replies, causing Alex's hand to shake slightly in anticipation.
"Great... calm the fuck down, let's get him," Alex says quickly, dashing toward the staircase in the distance.
He rushes upward, Jewel guiding him from time to time, until they reach the top floor—stopping in front of an office door.
Without hesitation, Alex kicks it open. Inside sits a man who perfectly matches one of the faces from the list.
"W–who are you?!" the man shouts, already panicking.
"Greetings from Baroque Works, I guess," Alex replies before charging forward and slashing him across the neck with his claw-hand. The strike cleanly separates his head from his body, sending it spinning through the air.
You have dealt 81 x 3 = 243 damage to Ikonam
You have killed Ikonam
As the head begins to fall, Alex casually catches it midair with his other hand and stores it in his inventory in one smooth motion.
As if guided by instinct, Alex pierces his left claw-hand into the open neck of the body, ripping it apart, causing a bloodbath in the office, dirtying all his clothes in the process.
"Motherfucker..." Alex curses as he tries to shake off the blood from his drenched body. "You shitty, insane claw! If you disobey one more time, I'll fucking starve you for a year!"
"You are sssstarving me already," Mustrano cries. "Only letting me kill lowlivesss and animalsss from time to time... I am ssssorry. I losssst my composssure. I am sssatissssfied... for now."
With the boss dead, Alex looks around the office, frowning in disgust at the mangled corpse.
"No chest, no nothing," he mutters. "All for nothing, however... since we're here, might as well see what else he's got, right?"
He draws his [Executioner's Blade R2], activates Ren, and covers the weapon in Aura, using Shu, the blade glowing mysteriously in Aura. Without hesitation, he begins slicing through the furniture, destroying the formerly orderly office in seconds.
As his blade tears through the desk, fragments of cut-up bills flutter through the air. Inspecting the cut-up desk closer, he spots a hidden drawer tucked inside the cracked wood. Pulling it open, he finds several thick bundles of cash—more than 6 million Belly in total.
"Great, but that can't be all. A big weapons dealer like this could easily be worth tens of millions. Maybe more," Alex mutters.
Meanwhile, Jewel busies herself with the shelf-lined walls. With a triumphant twitch of her legs, she uncovers a hollowed-out book containing a small hidden safe. Inside rests a delicate casket packed with glittering gems and polished gemstones.
❤️
"Whatever... maybe he actually had some brains and put the rest in a bank, his business is halfway legit, so it would make sense," Alex mutters, before sighing. "Let's grab the weapons downstairs and leave."
Making their way back down to the shop floor, they spot three workers inspecting the corpses—likely unaware of who caused the carnage. The two gang members who escorted them are nowhere to be found.
Alex doesn't hesitate. He swings down his blade in a smooth arc, cleaving through two of them in a single blow, killing them both. Jewel lunges at the last, her Ruby fangs flashing as she bites deep into his throat using her new evolved skill, Namtaru Bite, which causes her red teeth to be enveloped in a shadowy, malicious-looking energy. All three enemies taken care of, Jewel's target even completely mauled and broken, dark energy still surrounding the corpse, Alex nods, satisfied.
You have dealt 171 damage to Weapon Merchant
You have killed Weapon Merchant
You have dealt 137 damage to Weapon Merchant
You have killed Weapon Merchant
Jewel has dealt 141 x 3 = 423 damage to Weapon Merchant
Jewel has killed Weapon Merchant
"We did it," Alex says. "Let's pack the stuff... we might be able to sell it ourselves," he continues, beginning to shovel smaller crates and select weapons into his inventory.
Princess Jewel doesn't want these worthless Peasant weapons.
"..."
"Help me out, you lazy spider!"
Soulmate, this is spider abuse....! How could a Princess, like Jewel, grab these filthy weapons?
"I'll show you spider abuse. Pack the fucking weapons inside your inventory... now!" Alex retorts, getting slightly annoyed and looking at her, only to see that she's already at work, having finished unpacking the first crate.
... She knows what to do. She just likes to shittalk a lot. Silly spider.
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