The Loser Lord Who Kept Getting Sweet Revenge and Somehow Rose to the Top - Chapter 12: Execution - Death to Scum

Chapter 12: Execution – Death to Scum

When we arrived at the monastery Gou had investigated, everything looked perfectly normal at first glance. Kids gathered from all over were studying, learning magic, going about their lessons. Nothing seemed out of place.

Even our sudden visit was welcomed warmly, and we were shown around by the head monk. But during the tour, Gou suddenly slipped away somewhere. …No doubt sneaking off to scout the place.

I covered for him, saying my companion had stepped out to the restroom, and was taken to the monastery’s guest room. While chatting there, I felt something strange from the head monk. Thanks to the sensory boost still lingering from riding Comet earlier, I picked up on a presence that felt… familiar.

…Who was it? I couldn’t quite place them, but I knew I’d felt it before.

When I asked about Nina and Alexander, the monk explained that about two weeks ago, they had left with a group of traveling monks to help on their journey. So we had just missed them. …And sure enough, I couldn’t sense their presence anywhere in the building.

My eyes wandered—and caught sight of a document stamped with the seal of an Imperial noble. From the brief glimpse I got, it looked like a thank-you letter for healing their son or daughter. With my heightened perception, even that quick glance was enough to read it. It said that about two weeks ago, thanks to the head monk’s efforts, their child had been successfully treated.

“Ah, that letter? Yes. Even if it’s across borders, saving children is our duty. We healed the child of an Imperial noble ourselves.”

The head monk smiled gently, but something about that smile felt wrong. Making an excuse about the restroom, I slipped out and followed Gou’s presence. Thanks to Comet’s lingering sensory boost, I managed to catch up with him just in time before it faded. On the first floor, behind a wall, there was a hidden passage leading underground—and that’s where Gou was waiting.

“…Sean. Bingo. These bastards… I can’t forgive them!”

The stone chamber looked like a torture room. No one was there, but the splattered blood and dark stains told the story clearly enough. On a table resembling an operating bed, ropes for binding arms and legs were still attached. Scattered across another desk were tools that looked more like surgical instruments than anything holy.

“This is the shipping room for child organs.”

Gou pointed me toward a desk in the corner. Piled there were “shipment orders” for children’s organs, along with documents revealing the head monk’s true identity. Even worse, the papers stated that just two weeks ago, a pair of “siblings” had been shipped out—to be used for organ transplants in some noble’s child.

We gathered up the evidence, then marched straight back to the monk’s chamber.

“Well, well, that was quite a long restroom break. And your companion… where did he wander off to?”

“Tell me, monk. When exactly did Nina and Alexander leave here?”

“About two weeks ago.”

“And when did you treat that Imperial noble’s child?”

“…Two weeks ago.”

“One last question. Where did Nina and Alexander go?”

“…I don’t like sharp kids like you.”

With a snarl, the head monk kicked his desk straight at us. Gou and I dodged easily, dropping into combat stances as I called him out.

“You’ve sure changed your face around, haven’t you—Grid Retenable! So after Talia dumped you, you went and altered your looks, changed your name, and started trafficking children’s organs on the black market?!”

I shouted the name written on the documents we’d found in the underground chamber. His face and voice were different now, but there was no mistaking it—this was Grid Retenable, the head of the Retenable Trading Company I’d destroyed, and Talia’s father. Stripped of wealth and status, he’d sunk into the filth of human trafficking and organ dealing—child organ sales.

“—Shut up!! You’re the reason I ended up like this! Because of you, I lost my company, lost Talia’s trust, and had no choice but to abandon my name, my face, and take up this life in the shadows! It’s all your fault!!”

“Even if I was the spark that ruined your company, everything you did afterward was your choice. Stop blaming everyone else for your own sins, Grid.”

As I braced myself, the windows and doors of the guest chamber burst open. Armed monks poured in, surrounding us, weapons gleaming—they clearly meant to kill us here.

“Five… no, six of them. Hm. They’re skilled.”

“No problem, Sean! I’ve been working incognito as an adventurer, and not just any adventurer—I’m top rank!”

Gou shifted into a stance that looked like martial arts. In an instant, layer after layer of enhancement spells wrapped around his body—most of them focused on speed and acceleration.

“Chase, annihilate… total extermination!!”

The killing intent rolling off him was overwhelming. …Wait a second. Is Gou actually stronger than me now?

“I’ve been living as both an adventurer and a reporter, training nonstop for my goal—for revenge against that man. These monk lackeys are mine!”

He wasn’t bluffing. The aura coming off him made it clear he could handle them just fine. So I turned my attention back to Grid, giving him one last formal chance.

“Either swear you’ll never touch child organ trafficking again… or fall here by my hand.”

“You think I can give up such a lucrative business…? Child organs are worth too much! I’ll never stop!!”

“…I see. Then this is where your story ends.”

From my ring, the words [CAST IN THE NAME OF KING. YE GUILTY.] projected into the air. That meant Grid’s “purge” had officially shifted into execution. No more holding back.

Grid pulled a vial from his robe and downed it in one gulp—illegal magic drugs. A narcotic booster. His arms swelled grotesquely, power flooding his body, and he swung a hand-chop meant to cleave me in two. For anyone else, hopped up like this, his speed would’ve been terrifying.

But to me? Way too slow. After years of battling monsters, his movements looked sloppy. He had power, sure—but no training, no experience. I slipped past his chop by a hair’s breadth, gathered mana into my right fist, and slammed it straight into his gut. Military service had taught me plenty of hand-to-hand tricks, after all.

“Gvoeeehhh!!”

The counter landed perfectly—Grid staggered back, spewing vomit everywhere.

“D-Damn it… not yet. I won’t end here! I’ll rise higher, I’ll make them all pay back—every last one of them! Shakara, Talia, even you! I’ll prove them all wrong, I’ll crush them all, ughaaaaa!!”

…Revenge? Retaliation? I wouldn’t deny that urge in itself. But using it as an excuse to prey on others, to butcher innocent children? Absolutely unforgivable.

I lowered my stance, poured mana into my right leg, then leapt high—bringing my heel down in a crushing kick straight to Grid’s face.

“Pamya—!? G-guh—ha… haha, explod—?!”

As my kick connected, I pumped a surge of mana straight into Grid’s body. He was launched into the wall, embedding deep into it. From the spot where my strike landed, crackling arcs of mana burst out like violent discharges. Standard-issue military combat technique—mana-based body destruction.

“N-No! I don’t want to die! Not here, not like this! I don’t want to—don’t want to—waaaghhh!!”

With that pitiful, sniveling death cry, Grid’s head exploded. His body collapsed headless, twitching as it fell—a textbook villain’s death if ever there was one.

“Heh. What a filthy fireworks show.”

Turning at Gou’s voice, I saw that while I’d been executing Grid, he’d already wiped out the rest of the armed monks. True to his word—he was seriously strong. Clearly, he’d been through a lot and grown tough since leaving home.

The ringleader Grid was dead, but I couldn’t forgive the atrocities that had been carried out here. Not ever.

―I gathered the children who had been imprisoned in the monastery, secured all the remaining documents, and delivered everything to His Majesty the King.