Swindler

'Fuck, not this again,' I cursed inwardly while giving a quick glance at the two people looking in my direction.

One was asking a question with a bright smile while the other was giving a faint smile, silently looking at me.

I was on the verge of turning over in their direction but did not do so.

First, my clothes and hands were stained with blood. Removing them was very hard. Second, they might know my face which is very popular outside of this place.

I understand how come the person in the room didn't recognize my face since, he said, he was in here for a year.

Who knows how much time had passed for the man since then and adding the fact that he was crazy, it's pretty crazy shit to run into another Saviour.

"…"

Not answering their call, I shifted my steps to the other side of the party and slowly walked.

It was a normal one so that it wouldn't give an impression of suspiciousness and make them agitated. How I wish to just be ignored and passed the room without any problem.

"Hey!"

"…"

I remained silent while increasing my pace. After a few seconds of largening the distance, the other person beside him suddenly cursed which I could hear from this distance.

"Shit! That guy just killed someone inside! Chase him!"

Glancing my head to confirm my skeptical thought, I clicked my tongue and saw the other guy already looking at the room

The instant I saw it, it was my cue to run.

"Shit! I'll tell Trov about this. You chase him. Try to call some backup, I'll try to get some too!"

'Trov?' A shiver runs down my spine, 'That was the psychopath! Fuck, everyone here is a psychopath, but that guy is much worse! I have to escape here fast…!'

While trying to escape, I run into a lot of paths in my front.

They have no signs which indicated where they are headed to. Yet, whether I know the place or not didn't matter as long as I survive.

I headed straight.

After a few seconds of running, there are only two paths I saw.

One was on the left while the other was in the opposite direction. I go for the right. A few seconds later, the same view resurfaced with four paths. I run for the third one.

The ways just keep connecting to each other while I continued to run every time I came across one but the sound of the pursuer was still there.

He was getting closer and closer while I was getting exhausted.

Countless minutes of running passed and the path finally formed one way. I keep running yet knowing it wouldn't get me the advantage, I entered one of the rooms I passed by.

Quickly hiding in the depths inside the place, I controlled my breath, afraid that the person could still hear it.

Tap!

Alas, no matter how I tried to large the distance, those footsteps getting louder and louder was enough to make my heart jump in fright.

The footsteps thankfully stopped but not a second later, it was replaced by a door opening. Much to my frustration and shocked, it was the room I was currently hiding!

'Nah, no way. I couldn't believe this,'

I knew the person was already inside and he would be alarmed and guarded. Though he was alone, I was powerless against someone being a Ruiner.

"I heard you came here. Come out now if you don't want to get yourself hurt," The man paused, "Yes, you will pay for what you did but it's not up to us to decide,"

'Yeah, sure.'

I wanted to put my middle finger in front of his face but it made me somewhat reassured as the intentions were revealed and not some convincing words were used.

If the man spoke in a different way like convincing me to let me live in exchange for showing my face, I might get some doubts but still not going to accept it. In a simple sense, it's better to know if they are hostile which they are.

'What are my choices? I couldn't do the same surprise twice. Heck, I think the person would buy time for reinforcements to come and maintain quite a distance from me. He also doesn't have a crazy mind like the other person I met or has a demeanor of aggressiveness. If I were to get to intentionally caught, he wouldn't punch me for half an hour and ask crazy questions, right? As if it would come to that!'

Fuming inwardly, I shake my head before turning serious as one thought came passed to me, 'Shit… I have no choice, am I?"

I swiftly rummaged through my pocket, picking up the baby-fist-like hand Pieces, and looked at them with horror.

Being Ruiner wasn't one of my plans. If I become involved with this, everything would change. That normal life I wished to maintain while helping the mc on the sidelines and leisurely coming back to my world would be all for naught.

There's a danger of being a Ruiner and I excluded the fact of being one of them. I didn't want power. I didn't transmigrate here to conquer these lands. Heck, I wasn't thinking of being transmigrated here!

"I know you are here. Come out now~"

Inwardly clicking my tongue, I began thinking of my options, 'This red Piece and blueish yellow Piece came from that man. Their authenticity is suspicious. Imagine seeing a person crazy and you consuming something that made them that way… fuck, then it leads me to no choice but this…'

I looked at the light grayish Piece box beside the other two Pieces. Without hesitation, I quickly eat it.

There's no time to waste and I took a big gamble.

I didn't know the powers I would have nor had any knowledge of anything at all but it's good to keep it that way since there's a 50/50 chance of this in my situation.

If I knew beforehand the effects whether it was good or not, I would've trembled if it was the latter, and if it was the former, I will be able to think of plans for my current predicament.

Heck, thankfully it didn't come to the point since I will not eat a Piece no matter what!

With that being said, there are many ways to 'control' or 'consume' a Piece.

One way of doing it is by eating them. And it's not very popular nor a norm in this world since one has to study first the Piece before doing something like controlling or consuming.

But I don't have time for those things!

Crunch!

I continued crunching the Piece. It was bitter and tasted like metal. But it became soft in my mouth as it flowed down below.

"I heard you. Why don't you stand?"

Gulping down the Piece in one swoop, I calmed myself down. It was only a few seconds after that the information regarding the Piece had been passed through my head.

My head throbbed, letting out short groans which didn't go unnoticed by the man.

"I'll count down to ten! Ten!"

'Swindler…'

"Nine!"

'Topic control…'

"Eight!"

'Topic shifting…'

"Seven!"

'Nomination…'

"Six!"

'Restriction…'

"Five!"

'Termination…'

"Four!"

'???'

"Three!"

'…???

???

???...'

"Two!"

"I'm here… I'm here. I'll come out now." Weakly standing up in my place, I moved my gaze to the man who was clearly agitated but still letting out a smile.

"What took you so long? Are you really going to make me count down to one?" The man asked, casually having a chat.

"I wouldn't want that to happen. Besides sir, we can take our weapons down." I paused, coughing slightly as I looked at the person, "Your sword is quite crafted. I could see from here how the person takes his job seriously. Mine is a crude one, a bit ugly in my opinion,"

"Huh? Wait—oh, yeah. That's right. This sword is made by someone whom I could tell is very professional." The man maintained his expression while entering the talk casually, "I commissioned it a week ago. It's expensive but very good quality,"

"I see. I was enchanted by the first time I saw it. Like, wow, is this sword for real? Maybe that guy is a skilled craft master or builder. You didn't waste your money in my opinion. I might as well buy it myself," I replied, casually moving towards him without a worry.

"You don't try anything funny, all right? And yeah, my money is worth the product. Hehe, did you know that I conned him? Even threaten his family just to lower the price. Of course, I indeed paid him. I'm a just man, after all. Uhm, hey, your mouth is bleeding,"

Wiping the blood that continued to flow from my mouth, I shake my head with a smile and continued with the topic, "About the sword, may I know the materials that are used?"

"Yeah, sure I could do that but are you not worried about your mouth? You continued vomiting blood,"

"Haha," Wiping another set of bloodstained that flowed, I replied, "I'm just ecstatic to see something a sword that piqued my interest,"

"Ecstatic that you began releasing blood? That's new," The man paused as he answered, "Well, the old man bought cold-boiled steel. He said that he put his all into it—"

I listened to it while moving forward. In the seconds he was explaining, I was already in his front, just a meter away from each other.

"Fascinating sword, indeed. Your money is indeed worthwhile. What's its name or do you still think about naming it?"

"Well, Swordmasters indeed has a name for their sword but I'm still far. When I became like that, I will name it Bloodbringer! Haha, just the sound of it makes someone cower in fear! Well, that's what I would like to name it,"

"May I try holding it?"

"Sure,"

Leisurely handling his weapon, I quickly make light gestures like examining the sword and moving it around, while having my interest piqued.

"Where did you buy the sword?"

"At the capital on the west state. The shop goes by the name, Blacksmiths Workshop."

"I see. That's very informative. Thank you,"

"Welcome. May I get my sword back—"

Slash—!

Without any hesitation, I jerked my hand and slashed the man in my front with the sword. The sword had the potential on cutting someone in half but I only had a bit of it, nevertheless, there's a slice of the sword in the man's front.

"Bleurgh!"

Coughing out a mouthful of blood from my mouth, I took one step before slashing down another strike, ending the suffering of the man.

I didn't wait for a Piece to come out from the man as I quickly headed out to the room, bringing the sword with me.

While walking, I continued coughing up blood, feeling weak and dizzy inside my head.

I didn't have a proper rest this day. I was exhausting my body, exerting a force which is already beyond my capabilities.

'How tragic…'