“Miss Izumi, I wasn’t expecting you here today madam. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

Oh wow, this old man’s polite façade still catches me off guard.

“Nothing to worry about Viktor, just taking care of some rats that seemed to have crawled into my black market. It’s wise to deal with pests as swiftly as possible without showing mercy, before they can reproduce and fester.”

“Yes madam, I will treasure those words.”

“You become such an ass-kisser in front of miss Izumi… Wait, old man… Don’t tell me you have a crush on her or something?!”

“You brat! Watch your mouth in front of miss Izumi!”

“It’s fine Viktor, he’ll be licking my shoes clean in the near future anyways… So what brought you back here again, soon-to-be-slave of mine?”

“Just selling some cartridges, nothing special. I already worked out a deal with the old man here.”

She walks over to the old man, apparently named Viktor, and grabs the cartridge I just sold to him.

“Hmmm… A mana-cultivation cartridge eh? Seems that I underestimated you… Looks like you either robbed or killed someone for it… Or you have some surprisingly rich connections…”

She’s staring me up and down, almost as if she wants to eat me up. *GULP*

“N-None of your business... Viktor was it? Could you please give me that tattoo now?”

Viktor looks to Miss Izumi, and after she gives him a nod of approval, he motions me towards a back-room containing a single chair and a table with some disinfectant on it.

“This is gonna hurt like hell son, bite down on this towel.”

“Forget the towel, just get it over with.”

Not like I was trying to act tough or anything, I’m just pretty confident in my pain tolerance… I would have to be in order to survive my immigration to Japan, not everyone makes the journey… My parents…

As the needle penetrates my skin, I flinch a bit, it has been a while since I experienced such raw pain. I not only feel the needle going in and out, but I can also sense this excruciating painful sensation, like my skin is melting off.

But the suffering luckily didn’t last long.

My mind forgets all about the hellish pain when two soft pillows are suddenly gently laid on top of my free arm.

“M-Miss Izumi?”

Miss Izumi, who’s currently resting her giant breasts on top of my arm, starts eying me up and down again… Not that I mind though, the pressure on my arm feels almost heavenly, enough to not even care about Viktor’s murderous looks.

“You’re pretty tough, aren’t you boy?... Are you per chance looking for an opportunity to make some money? I have just the perfect job for such a strong guy…”

To be honest, I do need more U-Coins… My goal is to quickly reach bronze class, or at least wood [III] in order to participate in more practical magic training, I probably won’t make it with just one attack cartridge… Well, I can at least hear her out right?

“Fine, I can’t promise anything, but please do tell me more about this ‘perfect job’.”

“Like I said when I came in, there are some pests I would like to get rid of… One rat is causing me some trouble however. He’s in deep with the underground organizations, he isn’t strong or anything, but as soon as I hire some ‘exterminators’ he’ll get word of it and flee the country…”

“Y-You want me to kill someone?”

“Well you don’t have to say it so bluntly, but yes, I essentially want you to assassinate a person. Don’t worry, he’s done some horrible stuff in his lifetime, from human-trafficking to rape and even murder, he’s done it all, he can only truly atone for his sins in the sweet embrace of death.”

Assassinating someone huh? I’ve never done it before… Taking someone’s life… Can I do it? Do I even have the right to do it?... I’ve seen a lot of death on my way to Japan, a lot of horrible scenes I would rather forget… My way here was almost entirely paved by the graves of family and friends… But… But their lives were never directly taken by me…

“I see that you’re hesitating… Look him up, judge for yourself if I’m speaking the truth or not. His atrocious behavior is no secret, the police are just too afraid to actually take action, he’s got a criminal Machia guild backing him up after all… ‘Black Bear organization’ was it? Truthfully I was also turning a blind eye to his behavior, it didn’t concern me, that was until… Until he set up a child-trafficking ring in my black market.”

She genuinely looked angry when she mentioned the child-trafficking ring…

“His name is Thompson Hendricks, come back tomorrow evening if you have decided to take me up on my offer. Of course, I’ll reward you handsomely for your work…”

Even if he is a horrible monster… do I have it in me to take someone else’s life?

“I-I’ll think about it…”

…

“There, all done laddy! Here’s your blank cartridge. Now get going! You’re taking up Miss Izumi’s time!”

“Right… Thanks old man…”

*SIGH* “You don’t have to kill anyone kid, there are other ways to make money.”

Aww… The old man actually has a sweet side to him.

I look down at my arm.

The old man really did some fine work, it looks like a black bracelet wrapped around my wrist with a cool dragon pattern on it, there are even some red accents.

I leave the shop while still deep in thought, I’m really conflicted on this issue. It’ll probably pay really good, Miss Izumi said so, and I’m in desperate need of some quick cash… But I feel like I’ll lose something if I take another human’s life, something important…

I don’t get really far from the shop though, as soon as I enter one of the numerous narrow side-streets, I’m suddenly stopped by a familiar face.

“Give me all yer money and equipment unless you wanne die in this shit-hole!”