Torina’s vision went black, her strength drained, and she completely passed out.
At first, Patty had aimed a punch at her abdominal acupoint, which, if controlled well, would have been enough to take away her ability to fight back in one hit.
But Torina’s “Corporate Slave Never Dies from Overtime” skill blocked it.
However, it was obvious that this divine skill couldn’t protect her from the poison she’d willingly swallowed herself.
“Lust is a blade hanging over your head, Captain.”
Patty muttered mockingly, then quickly wiped away the footprints on the ground.
At the same time, her “family” arrived at the scene.
Owen Sindarin.
Eileen Sindarin.
Aiko Sindarin, and a few others of the same generation.
“Finally done? You sure took your sweet time, Patricia.”
Her “father,” the male elf using the alias “Owen,” complained.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, ‘Dad.’” Patty, whose real name was “Patricia,” gave her companions a hollow, iron-masked smile.
“Ugh, stop calling me Dad.
Pretending to be your father gives me the creeps.”
“Tsk tsk, you make it sound like I’m some kind of monster.”
“Aren’t you? ‘Skinner’ Patricia Tarasin.”
Her “mother,” the female elf going by “Eileen,” couldn’t help but chime in.
“But I really didn’t expect this.
Our Skinner is actually so gentle,” joked the elf girl called “Aiko.” “You actually had us play along with this ‘parental supervision, fake couple’ act.
How refined of you.”
“That was just to give me a reason to be in close contact with her twenty-four hours a day.
My soul-searching spell needs physical contact to work.”
“And in the end, you didn’t get anything out of her, so you went for the hard way? You’re really dragging it out this time.
Usually, you’d have taken off both her arms first.”
“She’s strong, and her teammates aren’t pushovers either.
Better to be careful.”
“Ha, strong? In the end, she’s still at our mercy! Hahaha!” Aiko laughed and kicked the unconscious Torina, acting all cocky.
“By the way, didn’t she say she left a message for her Teammates? Be careful,” Owen reminded.
“Relax, none of her teammates are coming,” Patty said flatly.
“She thought I didn’t know she was on guard, but I’d already noticed.
I destroyed all the rune-wrapped messages she left, so nothing’s getting out.”
“Good.
Let’s move her out of here.”
Eileen spoke as she hoisted Torina onto her shoulder.
The others helped erase all traces of footprints and magic from the scene, getting ready to leave.
“If you ask me, she’s nothing special except for her looks.
I don’t get why Lord Oroi wants to investigate her~” Aiko giggled, poking Torina’s head.
“Enough… You’ve got the safehouse ready, right? Find a secret room to lock her up, then you all stay out of it.
I’ll interrogate her myself, and you can pass the intel to Oroi—” Patty was cut off halfway by Eileen.
“Lord Oroi changed his mind.
He wants us to hand her over directly.”
Patty’s smile froze.
“…That’s not what we agreed on, is it? Didn’t he just want information?” “Who knows? We just do what he says.
This is our shot at getting back into the Brotherhood’s inner circle.”
“Yeah, yeah, stop with the roundabout interrogations.
What, you planning to let her go after you’re done? Let’s just take her straight to Lord Oroi!” Aiko urged, her eyes on Torina full of sadistic anticipation, clearly eager to see what Oroi would do to her.
“Ah, I can’t wait to see what Lord Oroi does to her! Will he chop her into pieces? Or melt her into mush? I just can’t stand looking at all that meat on her!” Aiko smacked Torina hard on the butt.
“…Aiko, keep your hands off her,” Patty said quietly.
“She’s as good as dead, what does it matter? Let’s hurry up and hand her over to Lord Oroi! Hey!” This time, Aiko went straight for Torina’s chest—
But she didn’t touch anything.
With a splat, Aiko’s severed arm hit the ground, blood gushing out.
“You—!?” Aiko screamed, but Patty’s dagger was even faster.
In a flash of blood, Aiko’s torso was sliced clean in half!
“What the hell are you doing!!!!” Owen attacked immediately, but Patty ripped off Aiko’s face and threw it at him! The bloody skin slapped over his eyes, blocking his vision, and a lightning-fast throwing knife pierced his chest.
A second knife went straight through Eileen’s skull!
“Sorry, but I’m not handing her over.”
She made her icy declaration.
“Are you insane!?” “You dare betray us???” The other elves lunged at her, but Patty’s body twisted like a shadow, dodging blades from four directions with inhuman agility.
She smeared the flying blood onto her dagger and whispered:
“Bloodthorn Dance.”
In an instant, thorns shot from her blade, slicing through all the elves’ bodies.
Flesh and organs flew everywhere, blood raining down like a storm!
Patty landed, standing in the blood rain, and picked up Torina—
“Patricia! PatriciaPatriciaPatriciaPatricia aaaaaah! Aren’t you getting a little too cocky!!!!” The first to be killed, Aiko, suddenly stood up.
Her bisected body rejoined itself, pulled together by the blood pouring from the cut, and her flayed face began to regenerate! Not just her—every elf who’d just fallen got up in the same eerie way.
Their hair turned white, and their eyes and lips became blood red—
“…Tch, what a pain.”
Patty leapt away with Torina in her arms. With Torina in tow, she didn’t want to get bogged down, and the two quickly vanished into the night.
“Torina, Torina, poor, pitiful, wretched Torina… I’m not handing you over to anyone!”
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……
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Torina woke up groggy.
The pain woke her.
She struggled to turn her head and saw a small syringe stuck in her arm, injecting some kind of colorless, tasteless liquid.
It felt like ice water was being poured into her veins, making her arm cold, numb, and useless.
“…What… mm?” She tried to move, but couldn’t.
Thick thorns, as thick as her arms, were tightly wrapped around her limbs.
There was a collar around her neck, and whatever drug she’d been given made it impossible to use her magic.
Looking around… She was in a stifling, windowless stone chamber, with only a heavy-looking stone door.
Torture devices like spiked clubs, iron maidens, and tiger benches were piled up against the wall.
What the hell is this place?
“Awake, Captain?” Patty waved a hand in front of her eyes.
“…Patty?” It was the first time Torina had seen her dressed like this: plain, tight-fitting black clothes with a hood on her back, perfect for assassination or infiltration.
Her usually loose hair was tied into a neat ponytail, making her look sharp and capable.
“Patty… Where am I? What did you do?”
“Patricia.”
“…Huh?”
“Patricia Tarasin.
That’s my real name.
Let’s be honest with each other.”
“Honest with each other means…”
Smack! Patty grabbed Torina’s face with both hands, forcing her to look straight at her, and said, word by word:
“From now on, you’re my little pet.
Don’t even think about leaving, and don’t try to resist.
Just be good, and do as I say.
Got it?”
