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One day a Beast-man named Derick came back to Elden village.
His reputation was poor.
He was also a person who the village’s influential Reville hated, and the fact that he left his hard-working sister and nephew alone also affected his reputation.
Derick pokes around the town regardless of people’s gaze.
And every day he goes in and out of the bar.
He started splashing his money.
At first, the eyes of the unfriendly people were a little drawn to a few free beers Derick bought, and soon after, people gathered around Derick.
“Derrick, where did you get all that money?”
“Money? Of course I got it from mercenary work. How can you make money fast in the city if you don’t risk your life?”
“Mr. Reville says you’re involved in a bad organization. Is it real?”
“Oh, that? There were a few close bros, and the man misunderstood when he saw that. And you guys know that, right? If people like us want to hold out in the city, we need some support from powerful bros.”
Derick treated the story about himself like a rumor, and at the same time acted like he was hugely successful, showing off his abilities.
The villagers, who were not familiar with the city’s situation, gradually accepted his words as true, and especially the young men who envied the city began to follow him unconsciously.
At a glance, it may seem like successful Derick had returned to his hometown and was playing prodigiously without thinking, but in fact, he was achieving his goals one by one under careful planning.
And when all the requirements for the plan were met, Derick began to move slowly.
Late at night, when everyone was asleep, Derick came home with his friends with whom he was drinking together.
In their hand, they had packaged snacks and alcohol purchased by Derick.
“Derick, are we allowed to come this late?”
“No problem. My sister and niece are probably already asleep. Nothing wrong with drinking quietly.”
Derick acted as if his sister’s house was his own.
The party entered the house without any doubt.
They settled down with drinks and snacks on the kitchen table.
“Why did you ask us to drink at home?”
“I just want to speak with you guys in a quiet place. I want you guys to do something and you can get a lot of money.”
“A lot of money?”
When Derick brought up the money, the rest of the men’s eyes widened.
“Yes, I told you before I got a call not too long ago from the bros I knew and it seems they need some help. And I need you guys for that.”
“What is it? What do you need us for?”
“Don’t take your time, tell us quickly!”
“Now, now! Don’t get excited, I’ll explain slowly.”
Calming everyone, Derick took a sip of beer.
With a moist voice, he opened his mouth.
“The bros are interested in the strawberry, and I heard it’s very expensive these days?”
“Yes. Thanks to it, our village is making a living.”
‘I heard there are quite a few strawberries in the strawberry field storage now.’
The face of the party listening to him hardened in an instant.
“Are you trying to steal the strawberries from the storage?”
” You want us to help you steal the strawberries? Are you crazy…”
“Wow, whoa, calm down. I haven’t finished talking yet. Even if you are angry, listen to it until the end.”
Already, the eyes of the party were full of vigilance and doubt.
But Derick continued the story with a relaxed look on his face.
“I’m not asking you to steal the strawberries yourself. I’m just asking for a little help.”
“……how can we help you?”
“You’re all working in the vigilante group, right?”
“Yes?”
“The bros will come to the village in a few days at night. Then you’ll have to pretend like you didn’t see them.”
“Is that it?”
“Yes! It’s not hard, right? If you succeed, You’ll be rewarded with money.”
The Beast-men began to get confused about what that seemed really not difficult.
Derick didn’t miss the moment and pushed them.
“The bros will do all the hard work. Even if they get caught, they won’t spill anything.”
“But it’s a little… Thanks to Sir. Sihyeon, everyone in the village is alive…”
“One empty storage doesn’t mean anything to him. And do you know how expensive strawberries are? You guys, who work hard, get paid a rat’s poop amount of money on a daily basis.”
“Really…?”
Derick’s argument was definitely sophisticated.
However, the Beast-men, blinded by greed for money, were gradually falling for his words.
“How long are you going to be stuck in this countryside? Don’t you want to make a fortune and go out to the city?”
“Hmm….”
“If you succeed this time, the bros will help you both with money and power. What do you think?”
The men began to look at each other’s faces.
Among them, one of the first to make up his mind opened his mouth first.
“……. How much are you going to give me?”
“Hey! Are you sure you want to do it?”
“What about the villagers who worked hard in the strawberry fields?”
“It’ll work out somehow. The storage is going to burst. In conclusion, it’s Sir. Sihyeon’s fault for not defending properly, right?”
“… And you saw how he always keeps only the Demons close to him, right? He must be thinking of us like working slaves? He need us only for work in the strawberry field.”
Derick’s sophistry became a small seed, packing and rationalizing their ugly greed endlessly.
In the end, they gradually began to believe that their actions were justified.
Derick’s mouth was filled with a smile of triumph.
“That’s it!. If we succeed, we’ll give you 20% off the strawberry sales.”
“Just 20%?”
“Isn’t that too little?”
“No, you guys don’t take part in anything dangerous. And there’s a lot of risk in selling strawberries secretly. 20% is really generous.”
Derick looked upset when the men hesitated.
“If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it. I’ll do it some other ….”
“Oh! Who said we wouldn’t do it? We’ve been thinking about it a little bit.”
“What’s the point of worrying about such a good deal? Alas, never mind, let’s just talk about it and have a drink.”
The Beast-men reacted immediately when Derick gently baited them.
“Ha, I’ll do it! ”
“Ugh…I’m in.”
“Me too!”
“I’ll do it!”
Derick laughed to his heart’s content as he saw the men who took his bait.
‘Hahahah, you fools!’
But on the outside, he pretended to be very happy and thanked each and every one of them.
“You’re the best. Come on, let’s have another drink!”
Derick’s plan was very simple.
The four on the vigilante group would be on the night patrol, and while they were on their duty, people from the organization would infiltrate the village and break into Chief Lago’s house and take out the storage key.
From the structure of Lagos’ house to the fact that the key stored in a safe, was thoroughly investigated.
‘If we have a storage key, it’s done!’
He knew that there were no security personnel in the strawberry field.
In other words, it means that if he had the key, it would not be difficult to open the storage.
Several people who decided to help the plan delivered the patrol time of the vigilante to Derick in advance, and Derick again conveyed the fact to his organization.
And as time passed, the promised day came.
Late at night, Derick left his sister’s house on time.
When he finished this work, he naturally thought of leaving the village, so he had already packed all his luggage.
The sky was covered with clouds, blocking the moonlight and starlight.
It was a perfect night for a crime.
Derick’s heart fluttered with excitement and anticipation at the thought that heaven also helping him.
And because of that, he never noticed the little footsteps following him from home.
Carefully leaving the village entrance, Derick headed for the promised place.
Upon arrival, two assistants from the organization appeared.
Both were male figures with the appearance of lizards.
“Is it done?”
“Yes, brother. I have place two near the strawberry field.”
“Well done. We don’t have much time, so let’s move.”
Derick led two men back to the village entrance.
He saw two vigilantes pacing around with torches near the entrance.
Koooo! Koooooo!
Derick whistled under the guise of a bird.
Vigilants then sent messages saying everything is fine.
“Now.”
Derick and his party quickly entered the village.
The two vigilantes, who confirmed the appearance, pretended not to see them and moved toward the inside of the village.
The intruders approached Chief Lagos’ house under the guidance of a vigilante group.
“Is it here?”
“Yes, brother.”
‘The inside information of the house and the location of the safe are correct, right?”
“Yes, I’ve double checked it.”
The two lizardmen took out their equipment and told Derick.
“Fifteen minutes! Fifteen minutes should be enough.”
“I’ll keep an eye on the outside.”
“We’ll go.”
The two secretly crossed the fence of the house and headed toward the front door.
And within seconds, they unlocked the front door and entered the house.
Derick hid himself against the fence.
The beating heart calmed down quickly and waited for 15 minutes to pass.
1 minute…
5 minutes…
10 minutes…
He was nervously counting the time in his heart.
And at that time, on the other side of the street, a group of people with torches were seen approaching.
‘What the hell is that?’
‘Vigilants shouldn’t come this way?’
Derick realized for a second that things were going wrong.
He looked at the front door with a desperate look, but the lizardmen did not seem to show up yet.
‘Damn it!’
‘I had to stall somehow.’
He quickly headed to the vigilantes who were waiting nearby.
“Hey! Do you see the people coming over there? Hurry up and get some time!”
“What, what, all of a sudden? Didn’t you ask us to just guide you?”
“Don’t you know that you’ll die if we get caught? Do you think I’ll keep quiet if I got caught?”
Derick’s threats distorted the faces of the vigilantes.
‘This, this, this isn’t what you promised.?’
“Shut the f*ck up! Move quickly so that it doesn’t happen!”
Eventually, the vigilante pushed by Derick moved towards the approaching torches.
The first person to appear was Reville, who was leading a vigilante group.
“Captain Reville…”
“What are you guys doing here?”
“It’s… I was on a night patrol…”
They tried to make excuses, but they couldn’t calm down their trembling bodies and voices.
Reville looked at them with a cold look.
“Get out of my way right now. If you don’t, I’ll regard you as intruders.”
“Uhhh”
Reville headed straight to Lagos’ house.
Derick, who was watching the scene, uttered a curse in his heart.
‘F*cking idiots!’
‘How the hell did he know? Did I make a mistake? It can’t be…’
There was no other way.
The long-prepared plan has gone up in dust.
All he had left was to run away as fast as he could.
Just in time, the two lizardmen who had sneaked into Lagos’ house jumped out in a hurry.
“It’s an intruder! Get them!”
“They’re running away, hurry up and encircle!’
“Stop there.”
Villagers came running fast with torches.
One of the lizardmen jumping over the fence lost his balance and fell to the ground.
“Argh!”
“What are you doing? Hurry up and stand up!”
“Ugh! I think I sprained my leg.”
The lizardman was conflicted when he saw his colleague who couldn’t stand up.
However, he immediately made a decision due to the angry shouts of the villagers.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, wait! Don’t leave me!”
The lizardman quickly ran away, abandoning his companion.
Shortly afterwards, he joined Derick, who was waiting.
They ran without looking back.
“Derick! What’s going on here? There was nothing in the safe!”
” What..?No way….”
“You spent so much money, but you didn’t get enough information about this tiny village?”
“Uh….”
“I’ll report everything to the Boss.”
Derick’s expression was tinged with despair.
‘I’m in trouble… What should I do? How do I…’
A little girl’s figure popped up in front of Derick, who was running in agony.
“Uncle Derick!”
“What, what?”
“What’s this?”
“Miru…? How the hell are you…”
Unlike the startled lizardman, Derick quickly identified the little catgirl.
“Uncle! Don’t run away and say sorry to the villagers. If you sincerely ask for forgiveness, the villagers will forgive you.”
“What are you doing? We don’t have time to deal with the kid!”
“How long are you going to break my mother’s heart? Stop doing bad things and live here.”
Miru tried to stop her uncle from choosing a bad path again.
Her father never came back after going to the city, so she wanted at least her uncle to come back.
Derick stared blankly at Miru.
What did he think when he heard his niece’s heartfelt words?
Was it Guilt?
Was it Regret?
Was it Shame?
Unfortunately, none of it, his head thought of something unforgivable.
“That strawberry prince or something. You said he cared about Miru, right?”
Before the ugly thought had come to an end, his rude touch struck Miru.
“Argh! Uncle?!”
“Stay still if you don’t want to get hurt!”
Miru tried to escape by biting Derick’s hand.
But that didn’t stop Derick, who was desperate.
He pressed his niece’s head and covered her mouth.
Miru recalled a sweet and reliable figue, while crying with fear.
“Candy Uncle… Uncle… help…”
Unfortunately, the girl’s cry didn’t reach anyone.
A pretty hair ornament that fell on the ground was the only thing that indicated that the girl was here.