"Creeeak!"
With a dry, grating screech, the heavy, rotting wooden door was pushed open from the outside by a black-gloved hand. Three figures wrapped in hooded cloaks filed in one after another, without a sound.
This was a sealed chamber, its only light coming from a few dim yellow sconces in the corners. The air was heavy and stagnant, thick with the smell of aged timber and dust. Apart from the door behind them, the room was walled in stone on all sides... at least on the surface.
Rose's gaze swept quickly across the walls and corners from beneath the shadow of her hood, and she gave a cold inner smile.
"Welcome, guests."
"Are you here to take on a commission, or to submit one?"
"If you're picking up a commission, please head to the notice board area in the main hall outside."
"If you're submitting one, then per procedure, we'll need to inspect the goods before you receive payment. Any questions?"
Rose glanced at the man.
Behind the counter stood a man in a bartender's uniform, a stock smile fixed on his face. His tone was attentive, but there was no warmth in his eyes. Clearly, he'd long since grown used to visitors who kept their faces hidden.
A seasoned employee like him wasn't fazed in the slightest by customers dressed the way these three were.
Anyone who came to the Underground Black Market to pick up commissions... how respectable could they really be?
This employee had seen it all before.
"Submitting a commission."
Rose disguised her voice into a hoarse rasp as she grabbed Princess Lydia and shoved her forward, at the same time tossing onto the counter the commission scroll she'd snatched from the underground bounty hunters.
"Here's the commission form and the job item."
The employee didn't bat an eye. He respectfully unrolled the scroll and gave it a glance, then lifted his gaze to study the faintly trembling cloaked figure before him. He picked up the small brass bell from the corner of the counter and gave it a light shake.
Within moments, the shadows in the corners of the chamber began to writhe soundlessly. A dozen-odd figures emerged without a sound, quietly hemming in the already cramped space.
"Someone's completed the commission."
A coarse voice rang out.
"Yes, my lord."
"So this one... must be that princess from Chulz."
The last to step out of the darkness was a big bearded man, his face full of thick flesh, a cigar clamped between his teeth. He strode forward and yanked off Princess Lydia's hood with one rough hand.
The cloak slipped down, exposing a face of stunning beauty filled with terror under the dim light, those deep blue eyes brimming with fear.
The bearded man leaned in to study her for a moment, then let a low, muffled chuckle roll out of his throat.
"Not bad. It really is Princess Lydia Melaelsiorelu Chulz."
He took a deep drag of his cigar and nodded.
"The Underground Black Market lives up to its reputation. You did a fine job."
He casually raised a hand and signaled to those behind him.
"Run the procedure."
Several men in black stepped forward, and the metal cases in their hands clicked open. Inside, neat rows of Valis coins reflected a deep, somber gold.
Rose and Kureha exchanged a look. They'd assumed this would be a double-cross, one set of crooks robbing another, yet these people actually meant to pay?
The thought had barely formed when the bearded man turned to the employee still watching coldly behind the counter and asked lazily:
"Hey, so... that wraps up the procedure, right?"
The employee gave a slight smile, made a "by all means" gesture with his hand, and stepped back into the shadows of the corner. The formulaic smile on his face now carried a clear edge of mockery.
Almost at the same moment, there was a soft click... the chamber's only wooden door had been quietly bolted shut.
The bearded man took a contented pull of his cigar and waved a hand with easy nonchalance:
"Take the princess. These two, kill them."
Before he'd finished, one of his men beside him quickly bowed and murmured into his ear:
"My lord, they're two ladies."
The bearded man blinked, narrowed his eyes, and looked Rose and Kureha over carefully, taking in their figures and the way they carried themselves. Then it dawned on him, and he gave his subordinate a satisfied pat on the shoulder.
"Good thinking. Otherwise we'd have left money on the table again, wouldn't we?"
"Didn't expect a bonus catch. Heh, heh, heh..."
He grinned.
"Grab all three. Don't worry about breaking a few arms or legs, it's just a bottle of Elixir's worth of trouble. Just don't damage those pretty faces of theirs."
"Yes, sir."
Listening to the man talk without the slightest restraint, and watching the men in black swiftly surround the three of them, Rose and Kureha glanced at each other and let out a soft sigh.
"Well... no helping it, then."
...
Two and a half minutes later.
"Don't, don't kill me!"
"Please... spare my life, I'll do anything!"
"Yes, money! I have money! I have lots of money!!!"
"Fifty million!"
"No, seventy million!!!"
"Just let me go and the whole seventy million is yours!!!"
Across the entire chamber, including the Underground Black Market employee who'd been smirking off to the side enjoying the show, everyone lay sprawled on the ground, groaning in pain.
Only the cigar-smoking bearded man now knelt before the three of them, frantically slamming his forehead against the floor.
The dull thud of bone striking stone rang out clearly in the silence. To save his own skin, the man had clearly thrown away every last shred of dignity.
Kureha slowly wiped the blood from her beloved blade, watching coldly, her eyes full of contempt. She knew better than anyone in the Familia exactly what kind of creatures these noble lapdogs were.
There was nothing they wouldn't do. Filthy, despicable... those words were compliments by their standards.
That was precisely why she'd been the most merciless in the fight just now.
At most, Rose broke arms, legs, and spines, or simply knocked them out with an elbow and put them out of commission. Kureha's methods were far more brutal: every cut went straight for a vital point, clean and decisive, leaving no room for survival.
The few still lying on the ground with enough strength left to groan in pain were the "lucky ones" who'd fallen to Rose.
As for the ones who'd run into Kureha, they'd gone silent long ago.
Rose's expression remained that same smiling one, as if the bloody clash a moment ago had never happened.
She didn't so much as glance at the bearded man kowtowing madly before her. She only tipped her chin toward the employee curled up in the corner and said softly:
"Could I trouble you to count up..."
"My payment for me?"
At that, the employee gave a start, his face quickly filling with an almost fawning smile as he nodded over and over.
"M-my lord!"
"Of course! It would be my honor!"
He nimbly dragged the case over and began counting in a hurry.
The clatter of clinking coins became the only sound in the chamber.
Rose unhurriedly settled into the room's only chair and said nothing more, simply watching him count the money, her gaze so direct it set the man on edge.
...
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