*Creak*
“How can I hel—” before Jennifer could finish her sentence, Fruela yanked her into the room and clamped a hand tightly over her mouth.
Her eyes widened in terror the moment she saw the bloodied corpses scattered across the floor. Her breathing quickened. Her legs trembled. She tried to scream, but the sound was muffled.
“Mnnnnfff! MNNNNNNFF!”
The desperate cries were useless under Fruela’s palm.
Jennifer’s gaze darted around in panic until it landed on Leon—calmly standing by the window, puffing on a cigar with a completely indifferent look on his face.
*Puff*
Outside, snow had begun to fall.
‘It’s snowing already… I need to be home before both of them get worried. I have to get done with this fast,’ Leon thought as he exhaled smoke and turned his gaze toward Jennifer.
She was drenched in sweat despite the cold air, her body was shaking like a leaf caught in a blizzard.
“For the next one minute,” Leon said, walking toward her, “I want you to listen very carefully to the words coming out of my mouth, Jennifer.”
He placed the cigar back in the ashtray and looked her dead in the eyes.
“If you miss even a single word… you might end up on the floor like the others. Do you understand, Jennifer ?”
*Nod-nod-nod*
Jennifer nodded frantically, tears spilling from her eyes. Her mascara ran in dark streams down her cheeks.
“Good,” Leon said. “Now, I’m going to assume you’re a good girl— just working in this fucked-up place for some financial reason.
You’re also smart enough to realize that when my little elf slave here removes her hand from your mouth, you won’t scream or shout for help… Right ?” Leon asked with a neutral expression as he looked at her.
*Nod-nod-nod*
She immediately nodded once again without wasting another second.
“Good…” Leon spoke as he looked at Fruela, who slowly removed her hand from Jennifer’s mouth.
“Jennifer, your boss caught a large group of dark elves this morning, didn’t he ?” Leon asked with a smile.
“Y-Yes…” she whispered, her eyes still glued to the blood covered bodies on the floor.
“Perfect. Now how about you take me to them—and in exchange, I will let you live.” Leon spoke.
“Y-Yes… T-They’re in the basement…” she stammered, her voice cracking.
“Good. Then be a dear and lead the way.” Leon spoke with a smile.
“T-The keys… they’re on M-Mr. Richard, H-He always keeps them i-in his pocket.” she said, pointing a shaking finger at Richard’s corpse.
“Darling,” Leon turned to Fruela, “fetch them for me.”
Without hesitation, Fruela walked over, dug into the dead man’s coat, and pulled out two iron keys. She handed them to Leon silently.
“Well then,” he said with a smile, “let’s not waste any time, right Jennifer ?”
“Y-Yes…” Jennifer said quickly and turned toward the silent hallway, leading them toward the basement stairwell.
Leon followed with Fruela by his side. As they entered the next room, Leon pulled the Nyxter from his inventory and kept it in hand—just in case.
The room had a trapdoor embedded in the floor—a heavy metal hatch with five different keyholes in it.
Leon raised an eyebrow. “Only two keys… but five locks?”
Jennifer looked terrified. “I-I was never allowed to go down there… M-Mr. Richard always brought the slaves up. He told me about this door though. H-He said if someone places a key in the wrong hole, poisonous gas will be released… and everyone down there will die.”
“Looking at your facial expressions, I can safely say that he never told you which one is the right keyhole, right ?” Leon asked with a smile as he looked at Jennifer.
“Y-Yes…” Jennifer replied with a scared expression.
Leon then turned to look at Fruela.
“I can only sense a bottle attached to the gate, nothing else.” Fruela replied with a neutral expression.
“Very well, Glitch Point.” Leon spoke in a low voice as he activated the skill.
<Glitch Point>
The skill came into effect immediately. Five of the six keyholes turned red.
“That one,” Leon said, pointing to the upper-right keyhole.
“H-How do you know?” Fruela asked, her voice tight with concern.
“I’m guessing,” Leon said casually.
“W-What?!” Fruela snapped, her eyes wide with panic.
“Place the key in Jennifer,” Leon ordered.
“Y-Yes…” Jennifer nodded and slowly inserted the key into the instructed keyhole.
“There are children down there. If they die—this is all for nothing!” Fruela’s voice was strained, barely holding back emotion.
“Turn it,” Leon said calmly as he ignored Fruela.
“Y-Yes…” Jennifer twisted the key and Fruela immediately closed her eyes as she started praying.
*Click*
Fruela’s eyes snapped open as soon as she heard the clicking sound.
“I-It’s open,” Jennifer whispered, her voice full of disbelief.
She lifted the hatch. The door creaked open without resistance.
“H-How did you—” Fruela began.
“Lady Luck,” Leon said with a grin. “Sometimes she just loves me.”
Fruela immediately descended the stairs with a confused expression on her face.
Leon gestured to Jennifer, ordering her to go down before him.
She obeyed without hesitation and went down the stairs.
As Leon stepped onto the stairs, something caught his eye.
Attached to the trapdoor’s internal mechanism were several vials filled with a faintly glowing purple liquid.
He immediately used his skill on one of them.
<Inspect>
[Name: Auqalic]
[Type: Poison]
[Rank: C]
[Description: Auqalic is a dangerous airborne toxin capable of erasing all life in an enclosed space within seconds. It fully dissolves in air after three hours.
Mostly used in sleeping assassination and camp wipe outs.]
Leon whistled softly. “Well, that’s a nasty little poison.”
With delicate care, he removed the vials of Auqalic posion from the trigger assembly and slid it into his inventory.
“This will come handy in future.” Leon thought with a smile as he walked down the stairs and noticed that the basement was huge with multiple cages and jails to keep the slaves in.
But the odd thing was that, most of the cells were empty.
“Why are they empty ?” Leon asked with a confused expression as he looked at Jennifer.
“I-It’s month’s end… Maximum slaves have been sold off and the rest were supposed to be sold off to another slave trading firm by tomorrow morning.” Jennifer replied as she continued to walk forward.
