chsdbacks Chapter 29 External Position Wife
Chapter 29 External Position Wife
Chapter 29 External Position Wife
"Damn it, that bastard in charge of buying the kids actually dared to embezzle this money?!"
By nightfall, only six children had emerged, two of whom had broken limbs. They had escaped only through sheer willpower and survival instinct. The bald man, Bill, was furious. He had promised to carefully select promising children, and this was the result?
The only explanation is that the money that should have been spent was embezzled by the logistics officer in charge of purchasing the children. Of course, embezzlement is a common occurrence in today's corrupt empire, where high-ranking officials and nobles enjoy the tributes from lower-ranking officials and nobles.
In this corrupt empire, one cannot advance through ability alone; one must also have money to bribe superiors.
Similarly, the clearest path to a better life is to squeeze money from ordinary people, demand bribes and kickbacks in official matters.
However, it is precisely because of this situation that the empire has become so doomed, with various factions frequently launching rebellions in different regions, and some individuals dissatisfied with the current state of the empire adding fuel to the fire, intending to overthrow the empire.
In this situation, the intelligence agency planned to form an assassination squad to quell the unrest in various places and kill those ambitious individuals hiding in the shadows.
When selecting suitable children, they encountered corruption within the empire itself, which infuriated Bill, who was in charge of the matter.
"They'll take any kind of money. Why don't those guys just sell the rope that got them hanged to the empire's enemies?"
"Lord Bill, someone really did sell them. They sold not only ropes, but also weapons and armor. You've forgotten that guy who sold military supplies a while ago; we hanged him in the square in Carter City."
The adjutant beside him offered a reminder, and Bill's face stiffened. He glared fiercely at the adjutant before angrily saying, "Bring me the communication equipment! I want logistics to chop off the heads of any anti-Imperial elements who dare to embezzle money!"
The adjutant quickly brought a communicator, and Bill dialed the number. The Imperial officer who received the call on the outskirts of the forest changed his expression and immediately went to a tent.
Inside the tent, the young officer who had beheaded the boy during the day was thrusting on top of a girl with lifeless eyes. When he saw his superior officer approaching, he even invited her to join him.
Then, with a bang, a bullet hole appeared on the guy's forehead.
"Go and ransack this guy's house. He dared to embezzle money from the intelligence agency. He deserves to die."
The imperial officer said viciously, and then casually killed the girl beneath the corpse.
The truth of the matter is not important; what is important is that the matter of sending the children away was handled poorly.
Someone has to step up and take the blame for Lord Bill's wrath.
It's inappropriate for him, as the superior, to shoulder this responsibility, but he's also reluctant to let his confidants help him.
Recently, a guy from a declining aristocratic family enlisted in the army. Although he is quite adept at getting along with people and is very respectful to me, there's nothing I can do about it.
The imperial officers now only hoped that there were still some nails left in this impoverished household, and that the money they could plunder could appease Lord Bill's anger.
. . . .
"Now, do you want those six children?"
In the middle of the forest, Bill vented his anger and calmed down before asking Gozchi.
"You hired me as an instructor, surely not to train some trash, right?"
Gozchi countered, saying he had already seen the children who had run away. Leaving aside the two who were injured and had severed limbs, the remaining four who were unharmed did not seem to have high assassin potential. Although they were already quite good compared to ordinary people, he was looking for elites.
"Then we'll just have to wait for the next batch of children to be purchased and put into service."
How much longer?
"Ten days to half a month will definitely be needed."
"So we're just going to keep waiting here in this forest like fools?"
"The forest is more dangerous at night. If you want to go back, let's wait until tomorrow and take the flying dangerous species."
"This is the only way."
Gozci looked annoyed, but there was nothing he could do.
"Hey, you over there, go scatter some mixed dangerous species blood around here. I don't want to get up at night and have to fight off attacking dangerous species."
The clearing in the center of the forest was surrounded by sprayed blood of various dangerous species. The mixed scent of the blood was enough to make these dangerous species, which possessed intelligence far exceeding that of ordinary wild beasts, wary and deter them from venturing into the area.
The mixed scent of blood, in the eyes of dangerous species, only means one thing: that there may be one or more omnivorous apex predators in the area where this scent is present.
. . . .
For example, right now, in the southwest of the Gifunola Sea Tree Forest, an energy blast has created a clearing near the river. There are a pile of dangerous species corpses that have become food for the animals. The complex, bloody smell they emit makes many dangerous species that operate at night hesitant to approach.
Of course, there are also some reckless and dangerous creatures that come wanting to eat something, but they end up falling down and becoming one of the food themselves.
"Everyone, cut the meat into pieces so it will cook more easily."
Broly had gathered more than seventy children, and after arriving at the resting place that others had created, they quickly began to prepare the ingredients for Broly.
Some were looking for tree branches, some were starting fires, some were cutting meat, some were looking for wild vegetables, and some people even picked some mushrooms.
The logistics officer in charge of purchasing these children did not embezzle any money, and these children who were forced to participate in the assassin selection were indeed all capable.
"Brother Broly, here's your meat."
After grilling a skewer of earth lizard meat, the boy named Nahshu, who was starving, did not choose to eat it himself. Instead, he took the grilled meat skewered on a tree branch to Broly and handed the skewer to the boy.
During his days as an orphan and a wanderer, Nahashu would occasionally band together with other homeless children to survive. Such bands were no different from wolf packs in the wild; the leader always had to be the first to eat the meat to prove his leadership.
Nahashu didn't understand when he first started wandering, but after being severely beaten, he understood the reason behind it.
Although Broly did not express any intention of becoming their leader, the rescued children did indeed regard him, who was powerful enough to easily kill dangerous species, as the backbone of this hastily assembled team.
"You are a good person."
Broly was a little surprised to be fed by Nahshu, but he didn't refuse. He gave Nahshu a friendly welcome and took the roasted meat from his hand without any hesitation.
With Nahashu setting an example, the other children seemed to have realized the importance of baking and lined up to hand over their baked goods.
"This is roasted venison."
"This is the tail of a two-headed snake that I roasted."
"This is a wild vegetable and swamp crab soup that I made."
"This is a raw roasted bear paw made using the mud-wrapped chicken method."
"These are the mushrooms I picked. They're so pretty with all those colors. They must taste delicious too."
……
There was something strange mixed in with it.
"Idiot, those are poisonous mushrooms! Don't give your brother weird food!"
The girl named Bonnie had her string of poisonous mushrooms thrown away.
"My mushrooms!"
The girl raised her hand, looking at the poisonous mushroom that had flown out and fallen into the river, with an expression that said, "If my brother won't eat it, I'll eat it myself."
This person has a good resistance to toxins, which may be related to the fact that she has been eating strange and unusual fungi since she was a child without dying from them.
"You are all good people!"
Broly never expected there to be so many kind people in the world; one after another, they came to give him food.
Although most of this meat was roasted from the prey he hunted, the meat processed by others did not belong to him.
Because he said he would share food with the people who helped carry things, it should have belonged to them, but these people were willing to share their own food with him.
Broly was deeply moved. Even though Akame and Kurome were the only wives Crystal Palace recognized as potential lovers, he was now willing to treat these people who fed him as his external wives in this world.
"You know, handing over the first bite of food is a custom in our area when you become the 'big brother'. After you become the 'big brother,' you'll be protected by him. Anyone who wants to take food from our restaurant's leftovers won't be able to compete with us if they haven't become the 'big brother' themselves."
"I see, no wonder I could never outcompete others in the city before."
The child, who used to be a lone wanderer, suddenly realized something.
"Na Losang, did you have a sworn brother before?"
Another child asked.
"Of course, otherwise how could I be so muscular?"
The child who made the remarks about Brother Bai lifted his clothes, revealing a thin, emaciated belly.
Compared to the other, much thinner children, he was considered fat.
"So you're here, but where is your former older brother?"
"He's dead."
"Huh?"
"While we were playing around in the city, my older brother accidentally bumped into a passing nobleman and was whipped to death by that nobleman's guards."
After losing my elder brother, we couldn't compete with others, so I sold myself to slave traders, hoping to earn a living. I never imagined I'd be sold to this place, to be food for dangerous creatures.
The chubby boy looked bitter as he spoke, but he actually possessed superhuman strength. He was the one who gave Broly the raw bear paws prepared in the mud-wrapped chicken style, and he was also the main force in carrying the carcass of the wild bear that Broly had killed to this place.
"However, I now have a new big brother. Broly looks incredibly powerful. He easily dealt with those dangerous creatures. I imagine even the nobles in the city wouldn't be able to kill him easily. With him, I'm sure I'll be able to eat my fill."
Little Fatty Losang looked at Broly by the campfire on the other side, looking like he was determined to follow a good older brother, which made the surrounding children say that they also wanted to follow a good older brother who could feed them.
A group of children chewed on meat, talking to each other with others of similar age who had also been sold there. After learning about each other's past hardships, their level of acceptance of their new sworn brother rose sharply.
This is partly due to the fact that they were rescued, and partly due to the fact that the other party was willing to share food with them and let them eat meat.
They fed Broly, but Broly didn't feed them.
(End of this chapter)