Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win-Chapter 50: Imoyan Company [2]

Akamir walked inside only to find a muscular woman lying half-naked on the bed...

...along with some weak-looking men.

The bunker-like door closed behind him with a loud thud.

The woman lounged across a plush bed like a lioness basking in the sun after a feast.

Her skin was marked with scars and tattoos.

She raised her head lazily, short crimson hair sticking to her sweat-soaked brow.

The weak-looking men beside her flinched at the intrusion, some trying to cover themselves.

"Well, well," she purred. "If it isn’t the little merchant come crawling back."

Her crimson eyes locked onto Akamir with interest.

"And who the hell are you?" Her voice was raspy, raw, and held the coarse confidence of someone used to violence.

"I don’t recall ordering a masked boy."

Akamir didn’t speak, he just stared at her without a word.

"I’m not here to crawl," Nerco said, his voice firm.

"You destroyed our goods. Attacked us twice. You’ve overstepped."

"You think you can tell me what I’ve done?" she said, rising from the bed without a hint of shame, muscles flexing with each movement.

"This city lives because I allow it. Because my boys keep the real monsters out."

She tossed aside the silk cloth that had covered her lower half and stepped into leather pants.

She stepped closer, towards Nerco.

"And you—" she jabbed a finger at Nerco’s chest, "—owe me. Because you walk in my territory. You breathe in it. So pay, or I’ll take your tongue next."

Akamir stepped forward and the room silenced.

"I have a counter-offer," he said, voice calm and soft.

The woman cocked her head. "Oh? The pet speaks."

"I will give you exactly one chance," Akamir said. "Lay down your weapons, disband your gang, and disappear."

There was a beat of stunned silence before she walked closer.

She put her finger under his chin, lifting his chin up.

"I got a better offer." she purred. "Be my toy for a day and I will cut the price in half."

Akamir tilted his head. "No, thank you."

A flash of silverish hue rushed past her finger.

Then—.

It fell down cleanly cut.

Vesha stared at the bleeding stump where her finger had just been.

For a moment, her mind didn’t catch up with what had happened.

Vesha’s expression twisted not in pain, but in pure, seething rage.

"You little shit—!"

She lunged.

Akamir twirled past her punch as he took out a knife and lodged it inside her back.

Vesha let out a roar of fury as the knife sank deep into her back, but it was the moment she realized the situation had shifted.

Her body went rigid, her eyes wide with shock more than pain.

Akamir stood behind her, his hand still on the hilt of the blade.

"You should have taken the offer," he said softly.

Vesha spun around with a speed that defied her size, her hands reaching for Akamir’s throat.

[Foxdrift.]

But Akamir was already several steps back, his knife still in his grip as he watched her.

"Not very graceful for someone who’s supposed to rule this place," Akamir remarked, rubbing his neck.

"Shut up!"

She lunged at him again, magic circle forming at her palm, but Akamir didn’t let her get the upper hand.

Using telekinesis, he grabbed the knife on her back and twisted it.

"Aghhh!!"

Vesha screamed, gasping for air.

Her hand reached for the bedframe to support herself, but she felt someone loom over her.

Akamir raised his hand and—.

Smack!!

—punched her hard enough to knock her out.

---

"Arghh!!"

Pain flooded Vesha’s mind as she groggily opened her eyes.

"Oh, you are up?"

A voice alerted her as she looked around—. freewebnσvel.cøm

"Good morning."

—only to find the masked boy standing in front of her.

"Argh."

She tried to rush at him, but her body was tied to a chair.

Akamir walked around the room as he noticed a few unique things.

"I have a few questions to ask." Akamir said, picking up a saw on the shelf. "Mind answering them?"

She snarled. "Fuck you!"

"Thought so." Akamir mumbled, passing the saw to Nerco who stood at the corner. "Cut her leg."

Nerco grinned. "Yes, my lord."

"W-wait! What are you doing!?"

Panic creeped into her mind as Nerco grabbed her bound leg and began using the saw.

Vesha screamed.

The sound bounced off the bunker walls, raw and animalistic, as the saw bit into her flesh.

Blood sprayed, staining the cold stone floor.

"Stop! STOP!" she howled. "I’ll talk! I’ll talk, damn it!"

Nerco didn’t stop right away.

He let the blade grind just a moment longer, enough to make the point clear.

"See?" Akamir said, tilting his head slightly. "That wasn’t so hard."

Vesha’s head lolled forward, sweat dripping from her brow.

Akamir grabbed a chair and sat down in front of her.

"It’s impossible to run a gang at this scale without a backing." he said. "Tell me, who is it?"

She spat blood at his feet.

Akamir didn’t move. "Nerco."

"No! No—wait!" she cried, eyes darting wildly.

Nerco raised the saw again, slowly, dramatically.

"There’s... ther—I work for World Reserve Bank, damn it!" Vesha gasped out. "I work for them!"

Akamir placed his chin in his palm. "And why would they need a thug like you?"

Vesha panted, her chest rising and falling with ragged breaths.

"They don’t need me," she spat. "They need control. Fear. The Bank funds dozens of gangs, they keep the company contained under their leash with our help."

Akamir remained quiet for a while.

Things had gotten a lot more serious than he had anticipated.

"And why would they do that?" Akamir asked, standing back. "It doesn’t make sense."

"They don’t want the kingdom to grow!" she growled, already on the verge of losing consciousness. "They want the continent to remain backward."

Akamir frowned. "....Why?"

"I don’t know." she mumbled. "Now...please let me go."

Akamir didn’t reply, instead he walked past the unconscious men towards the bed.

A diary caught his eyes as he picked it up and began flipping the pages.

....It was Vesha’s personal diary.

"I’m sorry, Vesha." Akamir mumbled, closing the diary. "I can’t do that."

"What?" Vesha turned to look at him only for her eyes to widen in horror.

A crown formed over his head and a portal materialized beside his leg.

"...No."

A creature crawled out, moving towards her.

"No!"

---

’What should I do about them?’

Akamir wondered, lazily sitting in the chair as he looked at the unconscious men.

He didn’t want to kill them as it would be hard to explain.

"Can you take care of them?" Akamir asked, turning to look in front of him.

A mimicker with Vesha’s face knelt there.

She bowed deeply. "I will, my lord."

He nodded, standing up.

’Even though it’s a normal mimicker, things shouldn’t be bad.’

The thing with normal mimickers is that they can’t copy power.

No matter whose skin they wear, they always start from zero.

Another deep flaw about them was that they can’t copy memories, making it easier to notice the change in their behaviour.

’But this could help her.’

Akamir thought, playing with Vesha’s diary in his hand.

’...World Bank, huh?’

There were multiple reasons he could think of for their behaviour.

Why they wouldn’t want the continent to grow.

’Perhaps to avoid wars?’

Akamir highly doubted that analysis.

It was something else entirely.

’And I don’t have enough information to determine what.’

He let out a sigh as he stood up and Vesha did the same.

Akamir tossed the diary in her direction. "Memorize it and lead the gang like always."

"Yes, my lord." she replied, bowing slightly.

"And don’t die." Akamir said, placing his mask back. "No matter what."

"As you wish."

He walked out of the room along with Nerco, who had changed into different clothes.

The rest of the gang members just glared at him as they didn’t hear a word.

As soon as he walked out, Nayomi floated beside him.

"You need to stop using them to solve your every problem." she said, looking at him. "It will only create more problems."

"...I understand that." Akamir sighed. "But—."

"One bad day, Akamir." Nayomi interrupted. "And you will have the whole world against you."

"....."

Akamir slowly nodded his head.

He understands the risk of using mimickers more than anything.

Those things are not something anyone should have.

’Let’s limit ourselves to using proper humans from now on.’

"Oh, Necro."

As if remembering something, he looked back at the middle-aged merchant.

"What’s the name of our company?"

"That...." He scratched his face. "I haven’t decided it yet, my lord."

Akamir nodded as he glanced back at Nayomi.

’Should I use her name?’

No.

Using the name of the Witch of End as his company’s name would be stupid.

’Then....’

"Imoyan."

Akamir said, smiling.

"That will be the name of our company."

"..."

Necro nodded enthusiastically while Nayomi gave him a weird look.

He frowned. "What?"

"That’s cringe."

"Shut up."

He turned around, resuming his walk.

"Anyway, it’s time to go."

He said, looking at the sky.

"I need to prepare for my date as well."