CH 102

Chapter 102

Betray.

The power of that single word was enormous. The surroundings became silent as a grave, such that even a falling pin would sound like a crack of thunder.

"…Betray, huh?"

Pinch shook his head as though pitying Simon rather than showing any special reaction. Then, he let out a deep sigh.

"It has been 20 years since I swore loyalty to the Oldwin Family. More years then you've lived."

He looked down at Simon with cold eyes.

"How dare you, who only spent three days as a hired hand, question my loyalty!"

"The issue of betrayal…"

Simon didn't falter and retorted,

"…isn't a matter to be brushed off by emotional theories blabbering about time and age. Only the clear facts matter."

"So, what ‘clear facts’ dare to drive me as a traitor?"

"The pirates who conspired with you have confessed."

Clamor.

The members of the family began to whisper among themselves with terrified faces.

"Members of the Blue Harbor Sea Force also heard the pirates confessing."

"A confession, huh? If you're a so-called necromancer, it'd be a piece of cake for you to get the answer you want from the captive's tongue."

"Then let us all go to the beach."

Said Simon as though acting up.

"It’s not as if there’s only one or two pirates captured there. It’d be impossible for me to have gotten a grip on all of them. We can find out the truth there."

"We're at war right now. There's no room for that when pirates are rampaging all over the territory."

It was finished.

Simon lowered his stance.

"Then put the Count down, and let's talk about it. You're a suspect for betrayal."

"I'm sure I said I can't make any compromises with the Count's security."

"Uncle Pinch."

Shun, who was held by Pinch's liquid arms, said with a hardened face,

"Put me down."

"......"

An order from the Count himself.

Pinch, who was suspected of being a traitor, whether a temporary hired hand or anyone else, had no reason to refuse this. The surrounding atmosphere had already started to doubt him, too.

He let out another long sigh.

"Alright."

Said Pinch as though resigning. He slowly bent his knees before suddenly soaring into the sky. At the same time, green spheres fell from his subspace, spraying poison mist and paralyzing gas everywhere.

"Kugh!"

"Be careful! Cover your noses!"

Everyone covered their noses and mouths with their clothes. In the meantime, Pinch's lower body turned into something like smoke and flew over and past the mansion.

"P-Pinch really was a…"

The head butler's eyes shook as though he could hardly accept the truth.

Simon, with his nose covered, shouted,

"I'll go after Pinch! Everyone, please spread the news of Pinch's betrayal to the Sea Force and other officials!"

"......"

The head butler bowed his head with a hardened face.

"I'm begging you. Please save the Count…"

"Leave it to me."

Simon immediately used Jet-Black Stepping to run in the direction Pinch disappeared.

* * *

Pinch flew a long distance with Shun.

Through the mansion, through the burning city, through the deserted beach, and finally, to the sea.

The sea was still filled with thick fog. But as he flew through it, he finally saw a pirate ship floating in the sea.

Tap.

Pinch landed on the pirate ship. There were no signs of life on it, only a deep silence.

Pinch bound Shun's wrists with a rope and threw him onto the deck.

"Ugh!"

"Don't start anything."

Shun sat up, letting out a pained groan. When he looked around, the corpses of dead pirates were scattered all over the empty pirate ship.

A magic circle was drawn under each of those corpses. Pinch muttered an incantation and cast dark magic.

Rattle. Rattle.

Shun scrambled back in his seated position, terrified, and pressed his back against the mast.

The flesh separated from the corpses, and undead, who were left with nothing but bones, began to stand up.

'S-Skeletons…!'

"Work, you trash."

Ordered Pinch. Then, the skeletons dispersed in a cacophony of rattes.

They started preparing for the voyage by raising the anchor or holding the ship's rudder. This was possible by utilizing the characteristics of a skeleton. They held strong memories and habits from their past.

"Phew."

Pinch sat down on a chair on the deck with a tired look on his face. Shun, watching the skeletons at work, turned his head and said,

"Uncle Pinch…"

Pinch chuckled.

"You still have the nerves to call me uncle?"

"Why are you doing this to me? If there's anything you're unsatisfied with, then—!"

"It's not you."

Pinch pulled a cigar out of his pocket and put it into his mouth.

"The root of this all is your father."

"…What?"

"The death of my sister, your mother…"

The corner's of Pinch's lips twisted strangely.

"Do you know the truth?"

* * *

Reaper Scans

Translator - Ramen

Proofreader - Artethrax

* * *

Pinch was born into a lowly, fallen family, but he was a genius as far as his talents were concerned. He showed overwhelming achievements from a young age, and rumors that he’d be the next candidate for Special Admission No.1 in Kizen spread throughout the Federation.

Although many families were busy making moves to acquire Pinch, the most active one was the wealthy Oldwin Family based in Blue Harbor.

Pinch's older sister married the eldest son of the Oldwins, and Pinch himself signed a contract as an exclusive necromancer for them.

It seemed like a solid start, but he wondered where it went wrong.

A year after that, during the admission season of Kizen, Pinch didn't receive a special admission offer. Far from being a special admission, he even failed the entrance exam he took after swallowing his pride.

As a result, the Oldwins became a laughing stock of the public. After spending a huge amount of money to recruit Pinch and make their eldest son marry a family with nothing to show, the result was a loser who couldn't even reach the shadow of Kizen.

In the end, although it was inferior to Kizen, Pinch enrolled in Alland, one of the 3 major necromancer schools.

There, he was reborn as an elite student by maintaining his grades as top five, but the ridiculous reputation of Pinch, who had fallen behind in Kizen, also given to the Oldwins, still remained.

Still, Pinch desperately gave an effort. What he believed in was a major change from the system where students from three major schools went up to Kizen. He believed that Kizen would call him.

One day, while he was studying hard to go to Kizen, he got a letter from his older sister, who was married to the person in Blue Harbor.

[This is so, so tough, Pinch. Please take me home. I want to get out of this place.]

He understood what kind of treatment his sister was getting in Oldwin. He knew that her sister was suffering because of him. But the more he learned about it, the more desperate he became.

[Hold on a little longer, sister. I'm sure Kizen will call me soon. If I get into Kizen, the family and the world will surely look at us in a new light.]

However, no matter how much he maintained his high grade in Alland, Pinch never got a call from Kizen.

Each day passed in vain, and in the end, Pinch heard the news of his sister's death soon before he was to graduate from Alland.

The cause of death announced by the family was disease. But after the funeral in Blue Harbor, Pinch opened the coffin and inspected his sister's corpse on a night everyone was asleep.

Bruises covered her body—presumably from her husband—and a clear rope mark wrapped around her neck, though hidden with thick clothes.

Yes.

The truth was, she killed herself.

Pinch lamented in silence. Soundless, he fell to his knees in front of the coffin, gasping repeatedly, and begging for forgiveness again and again from his dead sister.

But the dead never came back.

The only thing a necromancer could do was play around with a lifeless body and turn it into a skeleton or a living corpse. Pinch once again despaired at the fact that the knowledge he had desperately learned over the past three years was all useless.

After exhausting himself crying, Pinch returned to the mansion late at night. There he heard the sound of a man and a woman panting in the master of the house’s room.

It was terrible.

His sister's corpse hadn't even gone cold yet. But her husband, who drove his sister to death, was playing with a young girl from another family who attended her funeral.

His eyes turned so bloodshot it wouldn’t be unnatural for his tears should be dyed red.

Pinch had made up his mind by the time he reached the bedroom door, through which the sound of excitement only worsened his red eyes.

He'd destroy this family.

He'd take everything from this family.

As time passed, the head of the family suffered from a mysterious disease and soon died, leaving his son, Shun, to inherite the title of Count at a young age.

"Mfufufufufu! Bwahahahaha!"

Pinch laughed like a madman.

It was very interesting to see Shun’s expression changing from time to time as the story progressed. He looked at Shun's blank eyes and laughed again and again.

"Dear nephew, do you get it now??!"

Pinch shouted,

"I poisoned your father! I am your father's foe! I am the one who killed your mother's foe!"

"......"

"And I waited for the time when the officials serving the Oldwins would gather in one place, like now! There's no way to escape. The people of this island will be completely slaughtered by the pirates, and the Oldwins will disappear from history! The only member of the family who will own the sovereignty of this Blue Harbor and the property of Oldwin…"

Pinch's face distorted like a demon’s.

"…will be me, Pinch Nickiman."

"......"

"What do you think of my plan, dear nephew?"

Shun blinked once. Then, he took a deep breath and glared at Pinch.

"It won't go as you plan, Uncle."

"Hm, and why is that?"

"Because big brother Simon will come stop you."

Pfft!

Pinch let out a loud laugh.

"Yeah, the only variable in this plan was that you called Kizen's Special Admission No.1. But my impression after seeing that guy with my own eyes…? Hah! My goodness. That kind of mediocre bastard with no special features is the Special Admission No. 1?"

Fury flashed in his eyes.

"I failed the entrance exam! And such a mediocre bastard is Special Admission No.1? Nefthis must've gone blind in her age! Dammit! Kizen! Kizen! Kizen! And I was wondering how great that place is, and how great that bastard is!"

Pinch ruffled Shun’s hair and put the cigar back in his mouth. His expression calmed down as he puffed out some smoke.

"It's fine. It's just all water under the bridge, anyway. I'll take you to the ruins of the Oldwins and take their property, then I'll kill that Special Admission No.1 and the pirates with my own hands."

"Big brother Simon won't die!"

Then, the body of the ship shook greatly. Pinch glared at the skeleton holding the helm.

"Steer properl—! Hm?"

Out of the thick fog, a large pirate ship jumped out of the water.

Craaaaaaash!

"Uwaaah!"

The two ships collided. The deck tilted, and the hull shook violently.

Shun rolled across the deck, but Pinch fixed his feet on the floor with jet-black and stood up.

He puffed the cigar one last time, snapped his fingers, and threw the butt of the cigar into the sea.

Step. Step.

After the shaking from the impact stopped, he could see someone walking from the deck of the pirate ship on the other side. Pinch readied his jet-black and opened his mouth.

"Who are you?"

Shun stared straight ahead in a mix of worry and expectation.

Whatever it may be, it probably wouldn't get any worse than it was now. He thought that maybe Simon had come to rescue him.

'It's not Simon.'

Pinch had a different idea.

He had just met Simon at the mansion and parted ways. Common sense dictacted it was impossible to seize a pirate ship in such a short time and crash it into his.

In conclusion, Pinch was right. The person who revealed himself was a man with a black beard wearing a wide-brimmed hat symbolizing his position as Captain.

"So you were here, Count."

It was none other than the Pirate Captain Guile. His gaze turned to Shun, whose wrists were bound.

"Why are you here?"

Asked Pinch while frowning.

"Isn't that obvious?"

Guile smiled and pointed forward.

"Bring the Count to me unscathed! You may kill those who interfere!"

"Wooooaaaah!"

From the deck of the opposite ship, pirates began to rush in. Pinch scoffed, his jet-black already readied.

'So they betrayed me first.'

Pinch and Guile used each other to their own benefit, but in the end, they had no choice but to betray each other.

Guile hated necromancers, and Pinch wanted the Oldwin's fortune all to himself.

'They're just small fry in the end. It wouldn't be bad to eliminate them now.'

Pinch began to grin as he watched the pirates rushing in.

On the other hand, Guile was anxiously glancing around and gulped.

'Pheww, I'm glad that I didn't get caught. So, what do I do now?'

——