"Now, leave that bag of jewels you've got there. ...If you value your life, that is."

  Gard's vulgar laugh echoed through the dim, bowl-shaped valley floor.

  The tip of a greatsword pointed at me. A poison-coated dagger held by the scout who had circled behind us. And the heat of attack magic ignited at the tip of the robed woman's staff.

  It was a desperate situation, as we were completely surrounded.

  However, what resided in my heart was not fear, but simply a profound sense of futility.

  "...Haa."

  I let out an exaggeratedly large sigh that seemed to vibrate the surrounding air.

  "What's wrong, Sir Noble? Too scared to even speak? Relax, if you quietly leave your belongings, I'll chop your head off before you even feel the pain."

  "No. It's just... thanks to your shallow greed, my 'plan to enter the town peacefully' has to be completely reworked from scratch. I am simply appalled from the bottom of my heart."

  "Hah?"

  Gard frowned in irritation.

  Even with this much killing intent directed at him, the black-haired young man before his eyes showed no signs of wavering whatsoever. His wild instincts must have been sounding a faint alarm.

  But it was too late.

  I had already given up on using them as our "guides."

  "Negotiations have broken down. ...Lily."

  Keeping my gaze fixed on Gard, I called the name of the absolutely loyal vampire waiting behind me.

  "Yes, Young Master."

  "Permission granted. Do as you please."

  "—As you command."

  It was a short exchange, nothing more than that.

  Lily's obsidian eyes softly dyed back into their original, blood-like crimson. Her beautiful lips curled up like a crescent moon.

  "Don't screw with me...! Do it!!"

  The moment Gard shouted and the robed woman tried to swing her staff down to unleash her fire magic.

  —Swish.

  A single, minuscule sound, like the air itself being sliced, rang out.

  "Eh?"

  The one who let out a dumbfounded voice was Gard.

  Because right before his eyes, the head of the woman who had been about to unleash fire magic smoothly detached from her torso and danced through the air.

  Not a single drop of blood spurted out. The cross-section was far too sharp, having undergone some kind of magical treatment. The woman's headless body, unable to even comprehend that she had died, crumbled to the ground with a heavy thud a few seconds later.

  "Huh...?"

  Faster than Gard's brain could process the situation, the hem of a red dress fluttered at the edge of his vision.

  "The first sin. Ruining my Master's merciful plans with your own petty greed."

  A sweet, cold voice whispered right into Gard's ear.

  "Hii...?!"

  Gard reflexively tried to swing his greatsword, but his arm wouldn't move. Looking down, his right arm holding the greatsword had been cleanly severed from the base of the shoulder and was rolling on the ground.

  Before the pain could even reach his brain, Lily's smooth, white hand had pierced straight through Gard's left chest - right through the thick iron plate of his metal armor as if it were tofu - and grabbed his heart directly.

  "The second sin. Directing those filthy blades at my Master's noble person, of all things."

  "Ga, ah... bgh...!"

  A massive amount of bloody foam spilled from Gard's mouth.

  His eyes widened in terror and agonizing pain, finally realizing that the "peerlessly beautiful maid" standing before him was an aberrant monster wearing human skin.

  "And the third sin. ...To become so conceited as to think you could plot against my Master while I am here. You pigs, worthy of ten thousand deaths."

  —Squish.

  Lily squeezed her fingertips.

  Gard's heart was completely crushed inside his armor, and the leader of the B-Rank adventurer party Iron Fangs perished without even being permitted to let out a dying scream.

  "Hii... Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiek!!"

  The remaining three adventurers, having witnessed their leader and mage die instantly "without even shedding blood" in the blink of an eye, fell into a complete panic.

  Even though they wore human forms thanks to the [Ring of Mirage], their instincts understood from the unhideable aura of [Death] leaking out that they could absolutely never win.

  "M-Monsteeeeeerrr!!"

  The scout threw away the dagger he was holding, turned his back as if repelled by a spring, and broke into a run.

  The remaining two warriors also tried to somehow flee on violently trembling legs, but - crimson [Blood Stakes] erupted from beneath their feet, mercilessly skewering their bodies and pinning them to the rock wall of the valley floor.

  It happened in a flash.

  In less than ten seconds since the battle began, the five-man B-Rank adventurer party was completely annihilated, save for a single escapee.

  "...One slow-footed rat managed to scurry away."

  Lily, without having bathed in a single drop of splattered blood, elegantly pinched the hem of her skirt and bowed to me.

  "Rest assured, Young Master. 'Information' such as the route to the town and internal affairs loses its freshness unless it is extracted from a living brain. I let him escape and swim on purpose. ...I shall drag all of his memories out from the depths of despair and show them to you shortly."

  At Lily's words, I simply gave a quiet nod.

  "Yes, I leave it to you. Squeeze every last drop of information out of him. ...I will do a little recovery work here."

  "As you command."

  Lily's figure seemingly melted into the depths of the dim forest and vanished.

  What remained was the dead-silent valley floor and three rolling corpses.

  "Now then..."

  I looked down at Gard's corpse rolling at my feet.

  Mysteriously, not a shred of guilt over killing humans welled up inside me. I wasn't sure if my mental structure as an Archdemon was causing this, or if my dry sensibilities as a gamer were simply winning out.

  Without hesitation, I thrust my hand into Gard's coat, retrieved the bag of jewels I had handed over as an advance payment earlier, and then dragged out his own leather pouch.

  When I opened it, silver coins jingled inside.

  "...Right. It seems concepts like silver and gold coins do exist in this world as well."

  Rolling a blood-stained silver coin in my palm, I smiled coldly.

  The money they had gambled their lives to obtain would be put to good use as my "official toll" to proudly pass through the gates of the town of Karuka.

  ***

  (Rustle...! Snap, thud!)

  "Hah, hah, hii...!"

  The scout, Zack, continued to flee through the dense, dim forest, literally tumbling as he went.

  Even when his feet caught on tree roots and he plunged his face into muddy water, he couldn't stop. Even with sharp branches slashing his face and blood flowing, he single-mindedly kept his legs moving.

  Monsters! They aren't human!!

  The gruesome scene from earlier flashed back in Zack's mind.

  Their B-Rank adventurer party, the Iron Fangs, was supposed to be a group of battle-hardened veterans, well-known even in the frontier town of Karuka. The greatsword of their leader, Gard, had the power to send even an ogre's head flying in a single strike.

  And yet.

  The moment after that black-haired young man muttered a short "Do as you please," the female mage's head danced silently through the air. And then, that maid dragged out Gard's heart barehanded, right through his thick steel armor.

  What the hell is that maid?! What the hell is that black-haired man?!

  Just a naive, rich noble brat.

  That's what he had thought. He figured if they lured him deep into the forest and threatened him a little, he'd cry and hand over all those magic gems.

  But that was a fatal, irreversible misunderstanding.

  They were 'monsters of the abyss' wearing human skin. Overwhelming predators. To them, B-Rank adventurers like us were nothing more than trash, lower than pebbles on the roadside.

  "Dammit, dammit, dammiiiiiiit!!"

  While screaming, Zack activated his scout skills, [Presence Concealment] and [Trace Obfuscation], at full power.

  Normally, it was an escape technique he was confident could shake off even a higher-ranking A-Rank magical beast. Erasing his footprints, eliminating his scent, and taking a complex, winding route, he single-mindedly aimed for the direction of the town of Karuka.

  His lungs burned with pain. The muscles in his legs were screaming, feeling like they would tear at any moment.

  Even so, if he stopped, he would be killed. He would be dismantled like a bug by that maid with blood-red eyes.

  How long had he been running?

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Ten minutes, or an hour? The terror had completely paralyzed his sense of time.

  Eventually, Zack's legs reached their limit, and he collapsed at the base of a massive, ancient tree.

  "Gah, cough, hah... hah..."

  He tasted iron in his throat.

  His heart was pounding like a firebell, and his entire body was a mess of sweat and mud.

  However, there was no sign of pursuers around him. Only the sounds of the silent forest could be heard.

  I shook them off. My scout skills surpassed the tracking of that monster.

  "I-I'm saved...! I survived...!"

  Zack leaned his back against the tree roots and slid down into a sitting position.

  Tears of relief poured out.

  I have to get back to town. Rush into the guild and report the existence of those monsters... No, it's better not to get involved. I'll just run far away and quit being an adventurer altogether.

  Yes, trembling with the joy of survival, he tried to wipe the mud off his face with a shaking hand.

  It was then.

  "—You are quite slow on your feet, aren't you. Mr. Rat."

  From overhead.

  A sweet, cold voice rained down.

  "...Eh?"

  The blood in Zack's entire body froze instantly.

  Moving his neck with a creak, creak like a rusted machine, he looked up toward the source of the voice - the thick branch of the ancient tree he was leaning against.

  Up there.

  In the darkness of the dense forest, a girl with translucent pale skin and glowing blood-red eyes was sitting elegantly.

  Not a single drop of splattered blood on her. Not a single breath out of place. Her beautiful hair (though the disguise of obsidian black had been undone to reveal its true color) and her perfectly arranged maid outfit - nothing had changed from earlier.

  It was as if she had been 'waiting' right there for Zack to arrive from the very beginning.

  "H-How...?! I completely erased my presence and my tracks...!"

  "Presence? Tracks?"

  Lily tilted her head slightly and floated a crescent-moon smile.

  "Ah, you mean that childish mana manipulation? It was a cute effort, like trying to hide the traces of playing in the mud. However, the rich aroma of the terror of death wafting from you is not something you can hide, no matter how much mud you cover yourself in."

  Lily dropped down from the branch without a sound.

  With a soft flutter, moving as if gravity didn't apply to her, she landed right in front of the paralyzed Zack.

  "H-Hiii...! D-Don't come any closerrrr!!"

  Falling into a panic, Zack pulled a blinding smoke bomb from his waist pouch and tried to smash it against the ground.

  However.

  "—The execution of your punishment."

  Lily's pale, delicate hand blurred and vanished from Zack's field of vision.

  "Ah...?"

  Thud. Zack's right hand from the wrist down, still clutching the smoke bomb, fell gruesomely to the ground.

  A beat later, blood spurted from the stump of his wrist, and an agonizing pain that felt like it was burning his brain pierced through him.

  "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGGHH!! My hand! My haaaaaaaand!!"

  "Quiet. This is a sacred courtroom opened by the will of my Master."

  Lily looked down at Zack, who was screaming and writhing on the ground, and bowed with extreme cruelty.

  "Now then. The memories carved into your brain. From the town's behind-the-scenes affairs, right down to how to deceive the gate guards. ...For the sake of my Master's great first step, I shall slurp them all up, leaving not a single drop behind."

  Clutching the blood spurting from his severed right wrist with his left hand, Zack writhed on the muddy ground.

  His vision flickered from the excruciating pain and panic. Even though he was screaming until his throat tore, the vampire girl standing before him - Lily- merely furrowed her brows slightly.

  "...Quiet. My noble Master does not favor the vulgar shrieks of lower lifeforms."

  Lily declared coldly, gently raising her right hand.

  From her delicate, pale fingertips, crimson mana materialized into several [Blood Stakes].

  "Hii...! H-Help...!"

  "I shall hand down your verdict. Attempted robbery for plotting against my Master and trying to steal his wealth, as well as the crime of lese-majeste."

  Swish.

  Along with the sound of cutting wind, a single Blood Stake pierced Zack's left shoulder, sewing him to the thick tree roots behind him.

  "GAAAAARGH?!"

  "And the crime of attempting to flee, thereby wasting my Master's precious time."

  A second and third stake accurately pierced both of Zack's thighs, completely crucifying him to the ground.

  They were not fatal wounds. However, the stakes, driven in without a millimeter of deviation to deliberately graze his nerves, brought an excruciating, maddening pain to Zack's entire body.

  "A-Aaaah... f-forgive me... I have money! In a hidden guild account, I have gold coins... so please, just spare my life!"

  Covered in tears, snot, mud, and blood, Zack desperately begged for his life.

  However, looking down at him, Lily's crimson eyes held nothing but absolute indifference and cruelty, as if she were looking at a pebble on the roadside.

  "Gold coins? Do you truly believe such pieces of metal can atone for your sins? ...Besides, you only have one single use left."

  Lily elegantly crouched by Zack's head and gently placed her smooth, ice-cold white hand on his sweat- and mud-covered forehead.

  "Hii... w-what are you..."

  "To dissect your brain while you are still alive and extract 'information'. That is the final purpose granted to you by my Master."

  Before Zack even had time to raise a scream of terror, dense crimson mana overflowed from Lily's palm, completely enveloping his head.

  The authorities of a True Vampire - a fiendish composite magic of [Charm] and [Mind Control].

  "Ah... ga, a... ah...!"

  Zack's pupils dilated to their limits, and his eyes rolled back.

  Drool hung slackly from his mouth, and his entire body began to convulse.

  It was a sensation of something far more terrifying than physical agony invading his mind.

  An overwhelming mental violation, as if someone with muddy boots was violently prying open the 'drawers of memories' deep within his brain and scattering their contents everywhere.

  "…Hmm. I see."

  Lily's cold voice echoed directly inside Zack's brain.

  "The back entrance to the town of Karuka. The Eastern Third Gate connects to the slums, and security is lax... A gate guard named 'Boyd' is drowning in alcohol and gambling, and will let anyone pass for a single silver coin..."

  "S-Stop... inside my, my head..."

  Zack tried desperately to resist within his fading ego, but before Lily's immense magical power, it was as meaningless as a scrap of paper.

  "The Adventurer's Guild receptionist, 'Marie', is susceptible to bribes and knows a route for forging identification... I see, truly wonderful. With a town this corrupt, it will be effortless for my Master to devour it from the inside out."

  Lily continuously read and plundered the knowledge of the underworld, the town's geography, and the faces and names of influential figures that Zack had cultivated throughout his life as an adventurer, as casually as if she were skimming a book and tearing out the pages.

  Every time information was extracted, Zack's brain cells burned out, returning his memories to a blank slate.

  He was rapidly losing track of even who he was or what he was doing here.

  "...The mistress of the town's ruler, Count Bardia, is secretly conducting illegal herb trades... Fufu, good information. This will serve as a wonderful 'trump card' for the Young Master's political negotiations."

  About three minutes.

  The hellish time that felt like an eternity to Zack came to an abrupt end.

  Slip. The cold hand left his forehead.

  Zack's eyes were completely clouded over, his mouth half-open, reduced to a vegetable merely staring into the void. With all of his memories and ego violently extracted, the human known as "Zack" no longer existed anywhere in this world.

  "Thank you for your hard work. Consider it an honor to have become a stepping stone for my Master's plans."

  Lily stood up and declared in an emotionless voice.

  Snap.

  As she elegantly snapped her fingers, the Blood Stakes pinning Zack down morphed into blades and decapitated him in an instant.

  Unable to offer any resistance to the very end, the life of the B-Rank adventurer Zack was effortlessly snuffed out.

  "Now then..."

  Confirming that not a single drop of blood had splashed onto her maid outfit, Lily smiled in satisfaction.

  "I have obtained perfect information. With this, without troubling the Young Master's hands, I can remake that filthy town into a game board fit for him..."

  She [Disguised] her crimson eyes back to an obsidian black.

  And then, with a light, bouncy step, she began walking through the darkness of the forest back to where her beloved Master was waiting.

  ***

  The scent of blood and a profound silence settled over the dim valley floor. While checking the weight of the leather pouch I had recovered from Gard and his group, I played with a single silver coin, flipping it in my hand. Clink, a high, clear sound rang out.

  Just then, a shadow slipped out from the depths of the forest without a sound.

  "—Thank you for waiting, Young Master."

  Lily performed a curtsy. On her maid outfit, there was not a single drop of splattered blood, nor even a speck of mud.

  "Good work, Lily. ...Did the rat spill his guts?" When I purposely asked in a Demon Lord-esque manner, Lily floated an ecstatic smile.

  "Yes. Rather than making him talk, I scooped up his memories by the roots from the very depths of his brain. That rat's ego is completely destroyed; he is now merely a lump of meat serving as fertilizer for the forest."

  "And the results?"

  "They were wonderful. ...This town called Karuka possesses a level of corruption tailor-made to be your [Game Board], Young Master."

  As if flipping through a catalog of the extracted memories, Lily smoothly began her report.

  "First, we should avoid the main front gate. Due to the aftermath of the grand magic you unleashed, Young Master, security is currently excessively tightened. Where we should head is the 'Third Gate' located on the east side of the town. This is a back entrance connecting directly to the slums, and the security is extremely sloppy."

  "The slums, huh. I see, perfect for faking our identities."

  "Indeed. Furthermore, the guard in charge of the Third Gate today is a man named 'Boyd'. He is a severe gambling addict drowning in massive debt. According to the rat's memories, slipping him a single silver coin under the table grants a free pass without any need to present identification or undergo baggage inspection."

  "...Perfect."

  I couldn't help but raise the corners of my mouth. Gard and his fellow adventurers had intended to rob us of all our wealth. But as a result, they had literally laid down their lives to provide us with our 'immediate activity funds (silver coins)' and a 'passport to the safest back door (memories)'.

  "Well done, Lily. With this, we can slip into the town's underbelly without any troublesome procedures."

  "I am unworthy of such praise! I merely acted in accordance with your profound will, Young Master."

  I turned on my heel and began walking without a single glance at the fallen corpses. "Let's go. We're leaving this valley before the scent of blood attracts any monsters."

  Exiting the forest, right around the time the sun reached its zenith. We were walking eastward along the massive outer wall surrounding the town of Karuka.

  As we deviated from the official highway, the cobblestones beneath our feet turned into a muddy path, and the surrounding air began to mix with the sour stench of sewage and raw garbage.

  Eventually, a small gate made of reddish-brown brick came into view - the Eastern Third Gate. It was a far cry from the magnificent main gate at the front; the iron-grated doors were rusted in places, and the trickle of passersby gave it the distinct air of a "back door."

  Sitting on a wooden crate beside the gate, slouching and yawning, was an unshaven guard. He perfectly matched the description I heard from Lily.

  "That must be Boyd."

  "Yes. Just as in the rat's memories, he has the face of an irredeemable lower lifeform. Shall I behead him right now and make him a silent transit permit?"

  "Cease. Passing through by exploiting their rules is where the meaning lies." Vetoing her dangerous proposal, I confirmed that the [Ring of Mirage] was functioning before approaching the gate with confident strides.

  "Huh? Who're you lot? This ain't the kinda gate for nobles to be passing through." Seeing our attire, a high-class coat and a maid, as we approached, Boyd grimaced suspiciously and slightly hefted his spear.

  "We've lost our way, you see. I heard the main gate was quite congested, so we detoured over here." Smiling, I smoothly stepped in close to his hands, as if to block his line of sight.

  Then, taking the blood-stained silver coins I'd stolen from Gard's leather pouch, I didn't just give him the standard rate of one. I generously stacked two and pressed them into Boyd's palm.

  "...It was a terribly thirst-inducing journey. Thank you for your guard duties. Have some cold ale on me with this." This was the [Underground Password (Bribe Handover Method)] extracted from Zack's memories for passing through this gate.

  The moment Boyd saw the silver coins in his palm, his eyes widened to their limits. His unshaven mouth went slack, floating a vulgar grin.

  "...Heheh. Seems getting lost was quite worth the trouble, eh, milord?" Shoving the silver coins into his pocket with practiced speed, Boyd lowered his spear and exaggeratedly cleared the way. No presentation of ID, no checking of luggage whatsoever.

  "Please, right this way! The road's a bit rough here, but if you go straight through, you'll hit the main street in no time!"

  "You have my thanks." I nodded magnanimously like a noble and passed by Boyd's side. Behind me, Lily was glaring at Boyd with a cold-blooded stare, but Boyd was so preoccupied with the silver he'd just acquired that he didn't even notice the killing intent.

  —Clang. Passing through the rusted iron grate, we finally stepped foot inside the town of Karuka.

  "...What an appalling state of affairs." Looking at our surroundings, Lily let out a voice filled with utter disgust.

  It was a sunless slum. Leaning, wooden hovels were packed tightly together, and grimy children and vacant-eyed vagrants sat slumped in the back alleys.

  However, to me, this stagnant air was exactly the scent that heralded the ultimate [Start of the Game].

  "You think so? To me, it looks like an untouched mountain of treasure."

  Rather than dominating them head-on with a frontal assault, taking root in this filthy underworld and gradually seizing the town's economy and power. For someone like me whose combat power Level is already maxed out, that was the most thrilling and safest first step to a slow life.

  "First, we head to the Adventurer's Guild from that rat's memories. Let's immediately make use of this receptionist named Marie and her route for forging IDs."

  "As you command. As the Young Master's shadow, I shall follow you anywhere."