Inside a long alley, a man moved while carrying 100 gold coins, appearing indifferent to the presence of criminals and thieves eyeing him.
'Another useless task,' he thought. Wearing a blue flowered robe, he made his way toward the slave auction house, which he visited weekly whenever new slaves were brought in.
'I'll just use 50 coins and keep the rest on me,' he mused, bringing the blue pouch forward. His eyes gleamed with greed as he clenched the metal coins within the packet, forming a smile.
Whistling, he turned towards one of the alleys lined with shops displaying cages containing beasts and animals imported illegally.
Some of them appeared dead, but they could still be sold at a discount for those who wanted to synthesize pills from them.
The man's eyes roamed around, seeking something that could be sold at a higher price to earn more money. Suddenly, he collided with someone in his path.
"Damn it, are you idio—?!" He lifted his gaze, and his eyes met a very fat woman. She wore deep orange lipstick, a big orange straw hat, and clothes stretched tight over her chubby body, which appeared to weigh no less than 200 kilograms.
In that fleeting moment, a deep-rooted memory resurfaced in the man's mind.
His body loosened and began to sweat, a chill running down his spine before reaching his mind and bombarding it with a traumatic memory from twelve years ago.
Flashback starts /////// { Chapter 15 for reference }
"AAaaaGggggHHhhh!"
A man writhed on the ground, crying his lungs out, his eyes blurred but still reflecting the image of someone through his falling tears.
The image was of a five-year-old child seated on a white chair inside a black dome, sipping tea. The child's clothes were black, and his deep amber eyes seemed to etch the memories of suffering within the man's body.
"Y-yyour.... Agaghh.... Highn--" Even in his pain, the man tried to plead for mercy, struggling to maintain his fading consciousness and losing his sense of time.
His mind was losing its rationality, with his last memories being of adding pleasantries to Lady Carlien, and then the prince of Selvius Kingdom isolating him inside a black dome.
"Didn't Lady Carlien purchase a slave?" Ryuk's eyes, holding a subtle coldness, turned down towards the screaming man, whose body seemed on the verge of breaking from the pain.
"Y...kugh." Though wanting to answer the question, the pain coursing through him suppressed his voice, which slowly faded away.
"After you leave, allow her to enter this place." Ryuk had already anticipated that Jenny's status as nothing more than a mere slave would prevent her from meeting someone like him, prompting him to order the man.
"Haa.... Haaa." The man felt like killing himself under the assault of pain that pierced his mind's every nerve, burning them along with sending a chilling sensation, his heart seeming to be on the verge of exploding.
"I-I understand," the man said, his face stained with tears, his body trembling, having lost every bit of energy as his eyes slowly lifted to meet the child who was nothing but a monster.
After all, someone as strong as the man in front of them couldn't possibly be broke, could he?
'...System, do you have any money?' Ryuk asked the system for financial support, well-aware of the necessity of coins in an auction house, while walking with his hands folded behind him.
[Host, I'm even more broke than the person reading this.]
'....' Ryuk understood that the system was claiming to be poorer than him, causing him to pause in his tracks and tense up, which caught the attention of all four of his followers.
From their perspective, the immensely strong man had abruptly stopped, focusing his gaze in a particular direction, prompting them to follow suit.
'How many coins do I have in my inventory?' Unbeknownst to Ryuk, who had just inquired about the number of coins he possessed, his sidekicks had also followed his gaze and set their sights on a target without his knowledge.
Although Ryuk's senses were sharp, the crowded environment made it difficult for him to pay attention to every detail, causing him to keep his eyes only on a few people who appeared as potential threats.
[Host, you have zero...]
"Kyyaaah~!"
Suddenly, a cry of pain caught Ryuk's attention causing his eyes to turn towards the source of the woman's voice and saw his Number 2 sidekick holding a woman by her hair, proclaiming,"Shut up! My young master has set his eyes on you! Consider it an honor to serve him!"
'What?' Ryuk understood the gist of the situation and felt his mouth twitch momentarily. He intended to teach his sidekick for his wrong actions when another voice, belonging to a young man beside the woman, interrupted.
"Release Zhen'er immediately, you bastard!" the young man cried out before delivering a kick to the man clutching the woman's hair, sending him crashing into a nearby wall.
THUD
"Kughh?!" Number 2 collapsed on the ground, coughing up blood, his eyes wide with shock. He struggled to regain his footing, staring at the young man and threatening, "My young master will definitely kill you and take that woman!"
'What nonsense—' Ryuk couldn't comprehend the turn of events, where the perpetrator of a crime was now attempting to shield himself by using Ryuk as a shield. Before he could complete his thoughts, a notification flashed in his mind.
DING!
━─━───────༺༻───────━─━
Destroy the son of heaven who is trying to protect his childhood friend
━─━───────༺༻───────━─━
'What is this now?' Ryuk suddenly inquired, his eyes narrowing in confusion as he waited for the system to clarify the appearance of a window infront of him.
[....Oopsie...I seem to have forgotten to tell you something, Host (〒_〒) ]