Chapter 271 - Burnt to ashes

"P-Please, just give me an-another shot! I have the mo-money!" Eiro stared at the back of the junky that he figured was the one he was looking for in the first place, and listened as that incredibly dirty, sick man was basically just crawling on the ground. He was begging the man in front of him that was standing there with his arms crossed, with slicked-back hair and a high-quality suit.

"Don't touch me, you sc.u.m. Fine, show me how much you've got." The man groaned, and the junky immediately nodded his head, holding forward the bundle of gold coins. The moment that the drug dealer took it from him, the junky's hands and arms basically just started to cramp up as he squatted there, waiting to be given his 'shot'.

The dealer looked at the coins with a surprised expression, "Huh... How'd you get this much money? You kill someone?" With a laugh, he pushed the coins into his pocket before turning his head around and nodding at someone that was standing within the hut right behind him.

Just a few moments later, one of the people there came out of the hut and held forward a small bag toward the junky. Although, at that point, Eiro interrupted.

"So, are you the one in charge here?" The Demon asked as he stepped right in front of the drug dealer, still taking notes in his small notebook, and the man looked at him with a deep frown, "Who wants to know that?" 

"Oh, just someone that wants the spir-" Before Eiro was able to finish his sentence, Clark the escort hit the demon's shoulder, or at least attempted to. The Demon took a step to the side and looked at Clark confusedly, "What was that for?"

"Just shut up for a single moment. Let me deal with this." Clark groaned, and then looked at the dealer, "Sorry about him... We're just two people that want to make business. Can we speak to the guy that actually produces these drugs?"

With a light smirk on his face, the drug dealer looked back at Clark, "As if. There any reason for me to bring you to him? Lotsa people wanna speak to the boss, ya know?"

"...Fine, how much money do you want?" The escort pushed his hand into his bag, and the dealer looked at him with his brows raised, "Sorry, my loyalty can't be bought."

"You work on the black market as a drug dealer, and you're trying to tell me you won't accept a little pocket money in exchange for a favor?" Clark asked sceptically, and Eiro, as he had his head turned toward the junky, pointed out, "I mean, what do you expect from a slave? Not like he can go against his owner's commands. Hey, just curious, but aren't you guys kind of breaking a ta-"

Eiro soon noticed the dealer try and grab his shoulder, so without hesitation, the Demon slammed his elbow into the man's face. With a loud crack, his nose broke while he became unbalanced, so the demon just sweeped his leg to the side and caused the dealer to fall onto his back while blood streamed out of his nose onto his suit, ���Don't touch me." The Demon said bluntly before turning toward the escort next to him.

"It's fine, we don't really need his help, I know where we can find his boss." The Demon pointed out as he looked into the middle of the air. There, he was able to see something that he had seen a few times until now, but never really paid attention to.

It was some form of thread that was strung between the dealer and someone that was further in within this underground complex. This thread was similar to the thread that Eiro saw be connected to himself, linking him to Nelli, Gondos, and Lugo. But somehow, they didn't give off an immensely new sensation when compared to before, so Eiro just thought of the threads as the normal sort of connection he felt to those three and didn't pay attention to the actual thread.

But now, it was something external that he was able to see. This thread was a bit different then again, however. It was like there was constant tension on it, as if it was perpetually strained and was about to snap in half just like that. The same sort of thread was connecting all of the people in the hut to the same place that this man here was connected to.

"On a more important note... What's in this stuff?" The Demon inquired as he grabbed the bag that one of the slaves was still holding forward toward the junky. He slowly ripped a tiny hole into the bag and took a light sniff. Of course, it immediately attacked all of his senses to the extreme. 

The Demon was able to quickly get a rough idea of what exactly was going on here, "Ah... Interesting. So you guys are tricking the rules of the taboos, huh? I knew this side-effect was too similar."

The Dealer stared up at Eiro while holding his nose in pain, "H-How do you-"

"How do I know? Well, it's a shame that I'll forget about it, but for the matter of this conversation it might be helpful." The Demon pointed out, "Your boss knows exactly what's going on here right now anyway, right? He can see and hear whatever you do? Then I'll just let him know right away..."

Eiro slowly squatted down right next to the dealer, and then proceeded to whisper a small secret into his ear. The man ripped his eyes open as his body started to shake as a reflex, and the Demon pulled back up, standing upright again.

"I-Is that true?" 

"Don't know, already forgot what I even told you." The Demon pointed out, "But nevermind that. Your scent is disgusting." Without a second of hesitation inbetween his words and his actions, Eiro lifted his foot up and proceeded to kick the dealer in the face. He was quickly knocked unconscious as Eiro squatted down and grabbed the set of keys that the dealer had in his pockets.

And then, he suddenly noticed the junky from before trying to reach out to him, or rather, the small bag in his hand, "Th-That's m-mine... I need it... g-give it to me!" He exclaimed, but Eiro shook his head immediately.

"No, you don't need it. This stuff is literally turning you into something horrible. You will not only lose yourself, you will lose every little bit that you've got left over. And then, you will slowly gain monstrosity before turning into a true abomination that can't ever be counted as a person again. You will rot away with incredible pain and will feel constant hunger and your desires will be strengthened to an extent where you feel like dying if you can't follow through with them. If you think right now you're in a bad place, just wait for that time to come. You will laugh about right now as the 'good old times'." Eiro explained, in a clear and blunt tone. And not only this junky heard him speak, but all the others that were here to get more of this drug were also staring at the cloaked, hooded figure with wondrous eyes as his voice, so filled with determination and power, echoed through their minds.

"If any of you find any worth within your lives, you will stop this right now. And if you can't... Well, I'll try and come by the slums in about a week. I'll help anyone that needs and wants it. Until then, try not to die." Eiro said bluntly before slowly turning around, still holding the small bag from before in his hand. He was following the thin thread from the Dealer while Clark followed Eiro, and soon asked the Demon a question.

"...Why'd you offer help to those guys? I don't think they really deserve it. I mean... just look at'em." Clark pointed out with his hands pushed into his pockets, and Eiro slowly started to smirk underneath his mask, "Sorry, I forgot." He admitted. Truthfully, he still knew a little bit about why he did what he did just now, but he simply didn't want to tell Clark. Although, just after thinking this, Eiro did forget teh rest of what just happened. Luckily, he wrote a bit of it down.

"Well, let's just keep following this thread." The Demon pointed out bluntly as he continued to walk along this rather narrow, annoyingly busy path through the black market. There were a few people following him because of what just happened, obviously, but they shouldn't be too hard to deal with.

"Could you explain to me what exactly we're doing now?" With a deep stare directed at Eiro, Clark inquired, and the Demon himself just turned his head around.

"Finding the guy that contracted that Salamander that's used to make this stuff."

"..." Clark silently looked at the bag that Eiro was holding up, "How is a Salamander supposed to help with that? Boil the liquids they use to make it?"

"Hm? Oh, no, he's burning the bones of people to a crisp until they turn into powder, before that's then mixed in with whatever shit they're doing to make this drug."

"...What?" The escort replied in confusion, "What do you mean? How do you know that?"

"Because I know the smell of the ashes of people, of course? What a silly question, erm..." 

"...Clark..."

"Right, Clark. Why are you here again?" The Demon asked as he looked down at his notebook, "Nevermind, here it is. Well, anyway, we'll be there soon."

With a light grumble and a nervous expression, Clark continued to follow Eiro through the black market without any idea where they would end up. Although, he did figure that it wouldn't really be an especially great place to be, especially considering the way that Eiro was acting toward literally everyone right now. He wasn't being especially subtle in any way. Rather, it was like he was getting more annoying by the minute.

"Just don't get me killed, you hear?"

"I'll try." Eiro said without hesitation, and then suddenly stopped walking as he turned to his right, directly looking at a rather unassuming wooden door set into the rock wall of this cave underneath the slums.

"He's in here, huh?" Eiro thought for a few more moments, before he slowly lifted his leg in front of the door. And with a swift motion, he kicked down onto it. Or at least he tried, it if weren't for Clark, who quickly tried to pull him away, "What the f.u.c.k do you think you're doing?!"