The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

75 Charge! The local criminal syndicate

Naturally, criminal syndicates exist in the nations and cities of Lambda.

Exchanging stolen goods, smuggling of contraband products such as drugs and cursed items, illegal slave trading, contracts for murder. They are far more villainous than the Thieves' Guilds that appear in the fantasy works of Earth, and there are those that could never be called a necessary evil.

Such a criminal syndicate existed in the city of Niarki as well.

An organization with several dozen members, the 'Fangs of Dark Nights.' It was a criminal syndicate that had recently taken advantage of the economic slump in the Hartner Duchy to profit through slave trading and dealing drugs.

Its leader was a feared man, known as 'Torn Ear' Zagi. When he was young, he had been subjected to torture by an opposing organization, during which his ears had been torn to pieces, but he hadn't let out a single scream.

Zagi was currently glaring at a beautiful woman with red hair and red eyes.

"You bitch... What are you after?"

He had been forced to sit on a sofa inside his base, which was filled with the lingering scent of blood. In front of him was a white-haired child sitting on the opposite sofa and the beautiful woman standing beside him.

Zagi's nearby henchmen were either lying on the floor bleeding or cowering and trembling in the corners of the room along with the women who poured his drinks.

"What I'm after is –" the child began.

"I'm not asking you. Shut the hell up, you shitty brat," said Zagi, interrupting him, still talking with the tone of an important person. "Oi, Nee-chan, I don't know what kind of joke this is supposed to be, but if you thought you could trick me into thinking that this kid is your master, you've failed. There's no way that a woman who could dispose of my men in the blink of an eye would be serving a brat like this –?!"

The beautiful, red-haired woman grabbed Zagi's collar and raised him into the air with one hand.

I'm being lifted up by a woman's thin arm?!

In the next moment, the woman who had lifted the astonished Zagi into the air slammed his back into the floor.

"GAH?!"

The floor made a noise of destruction. Zagi was winded from the impact and began writhing in pain on the ground. The woman added a kick to his abdomen.

Zagi gave a scream, as if the precious little air in his lungs had been squeezed out. As the woman moved to deliver yet another attack, she was stopped.

"Eleanora, calm down," said the child.

"But Vandalieu-sama, such inferior creatures who dare speak careless remarks about you do not have the right to breathe," the woman protested. "He must be tormented and killed as soon as possible."

"Your words are contradicting themselves," the child pointed out. "It would be problematic if he dies, so let's calm down."

"... Yes." The woman turned back to Zagi. "You should be grateful for Vandalieu-sama's kindness, human."

"Ah, it's not good to use the word 'human' like that," said the child. "Me, Eleanora, Zran, we're all 'humans*,' after all. Everyone is human, you know."

TLN*: Refers to all races known considered 'people' in Lambda, not specifically the human race.

"Th-that's right. Everyone is human, everyone is human..." The woman turned to Zagi again. "Be grateful, you scum."