Chapter 12: I Came to Talk Business

After Ruby’s little treat, Kaiser cleaned himself up and left his room.

"Between these exhausting trainings and Ruby, my body’s not gonna hold out." Kaiser clicked his tongue while smoothing his silver hair back.

"At least my head’s clearer now. I need power to get my hands on useful artifacts. For the moment, I can only deal with this damn political mess," he muttered to himself.

Plus, with the Donoghan inquisition that could show up anytime, he had to quickly find a way to counter his impending death.

Standing in front of his older brother’s door, he knocked.

*Knock knock*

"Get lost, I’m busy, Kaiser." An irritated voice answered from inside.

"I came to talk about something important."

Isaak snorted.

"Important? Unlike you, I have a lot to do. I don’t have time to listen to you whine about the broken engagement. Get out. Because of your incompetence, we lost a major ally."

Kaiser knocked harder. "I don’t give a fuck about those damn engagements. Anyway, Ariana was nothing but Duke Hornraven’s tool to siphon our finances. And yes, I did come to talk business."

"Ohhh..."

After a few seconds, the door opened, releasing a faint metallic and foul stench that instantly made Kaiser uneasy.

Isaak appeared in the doorway with a mocking grin.

"Business is business... well then, come in, little brother."

Isaak turned around, and Kaiser’s eyes fell on some kind of thin, curved clamp he was holding, still dripping with blood. He hesitated a moment before stepping inside and slamming the door shut.

The smell was even worse inside, and the reason was the demi-human lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

Probably from the Neko (cat) tribe, her body was covered in wounds and whip marks. Isaak appeared to be conducting one of his twisted experiments purely for pleasure.

’For some reason I’ve never understood, this bastard has always despised the people of Arcadia. Like many humans, he sees them as savages.’

"Fuck, don’t tell me you fell asleep." Isaak kicked her several times, but she didn’t move. He grabbed her by the hair, and finally she reacted.

"Argh... it hurts... cough." She murmured weakly.

"Make yourself at home, Kaiser. As you can see..." He picked up a small chip from the side.

"I’m testing this little wonder. The dark elf who sold it to me said it’s more effective than slave chains... So, what exactly do you want to talk about?"

With the curved clamp, he violently shoved it into the Neko’s nose while she screamed.

"Kill me Arrrhh please, please, please, PLEASE, PLEA-Aaaarrhh."

"It’s really hard to get it in." Isaak wiped the blood that had splattered on his face.

The Count Paragon’s second son, Kaiser, was repulsed by his brother, but in the world he lived in there were far worse things, and even death couldn’t save someone.

’I have to set aside whatever scraps of morality I still have.’ He thought of the arc where the protagonist visited the underworld’s realm of the dead. The cruelty of the demons had driven him schizophrenic.

"I’m not this world’s protagonist. If I act like some overexcited justice-obsessed dog, I’ll just get fucked over stupidly. I have to become the predator if I don’t want to be the prey." He sighed and calmed his mind.

"Brother, I want to learn from you, about the slave trade business."

"Huh!? Hahaha, have you gone desperate or insane, maybe? A coward like you wouldn’t last a day. We deal with sons of bitches, mercenaries with nothing to lose and completely devoid of nobility..."

Kaiser’s expression turned annoyed. ’And you’re not a noble-less son of a bitch!?’ he thought.

"You can be sure of it. Negotiating with those sons of dogs wouldn’t be a problem."

Isaak threw him a look. "And what makes you think I want to teach you?"

"Just like our father, when you become count you’ll have to keep your hands clean. I need to know the ropes, otherwise the business will suffer."

"Hmmm... you’re actually right."

Then he added:

"Looks like the broken engagement really opened your eyes." He laughed.

"And what exactly do I have to do?" Kaiser asked, leaning against the wall.

"Well... finish what I started."

"What!?" His face paled slightly, but he clenched his teeth and rubbed his already sweaty hands.

"You just have to insert this little chip directly into the slave’s brain through the nose to control her. With this device." He showed another gadget.

"Alright..."

"And be careful not to damage her. She cost me a fortune. Those dark elves from the Tower of Fire are real cheapskates."

Kaiser knew his brother was testing him, checking if he had enough cold blood to be ruthless in this illegal trade.

Grabbing the thin curved clamp, the room filled with nothing but heart-wrenching screams to the point Isaak had to activate the soundproofing. He didn’t need to get used to it. Kaiser fully intended to toughen up. Even if his blood-soaked hand was shaking, he still did the job properly.

"Good, good! Ahaha."

His brother patted his shoulder, smearing blood on his clothes. "The Paragons really have it in the blood. Come find me tomorrow night. We’re going to visit our business, my boy."