I Become a Secret Police Officer of The Imperial Academy

Chapter 41

It’s been about a month.

The old butler successfully sold the jewels and the villa for a good price.

Thanks to that, the house on the hill was running as efficiently as the underground chambers of the old mansion.

With soundproof magic that ensured no noise would escape outside, a large incinerator sending smoke through the sewers, and even secret passageways that an elderly person who had spent their life in the slums wouldn’t know about.

The old butler managed to bring in the mages who used to work at the mansion in just about a week. 

They set up the conversation rooms again and even constructed cages sturdy enough to withstand attacks from several demons at once.

It’s perfect!

We weren’t capturing demons recklessly like before, either.

Instead of the brute method of catching whatever we saw, we sent people to scout the surroundings and worked in a way that minimized detection.

If we went as big as we did back then, we could have wiped out thousands at once, but we wouldn’t have been this efficient.

With only about ten humans working in this house, there’s little risk of being discovered!

Yes, we had been too hasty before.

If we worked like this steadily for ten years, we could get rid of most of the demons one way or another.

Whether they fled in fear back to their homelands or ended up dead by our hands didn’t matter.

There wasn’t anyone who opposed killing demons like this, either.

Marco had lost the daughter of a prostitute, the old butler had lost one grandson and two granddaughters, and everyone working here had lost family to demons.

And I was working hard again today.

Restarting this work after such a long time was fulfilling and made me feel like I had value as a person.

After finishing my academy classes, I slipped into the alleyways, changed into black clothes at the house on the hill, and walked into the space full of conversation rooms. Marco greeted me and shared some welcome news.

“Miss, we couldn’t catch the one running the orphanage, but we’ve got his woman.”

“Where is she?”

“We tied her up in Room 4.”

“Her condition?”

“Haven’t laid a finger on her yet.”

“If it’s a woman, wouldn’t it be better if you handled her?”

“Well, she’s someone I know, so I felt a bit bad about touching her.”

Fair enough.

I shrugged and entered Room 4.

“Hey. Wake up, miss.”

I tried waking the interviewee who was asleep in the conversation room.

Even when I grabbed her shoulders and shook her, she showed no sign of waking.

“Hmm.”

I clenched my fist and landed a punch straight to her philtrum.

One hit, two hits, until her teeth wobbled slightly, and blood began trickling from her mouth. That was when she finally woke up.

“…Ah, ah…?”

She wasn’t fully lucid, likely drugged.

I took a stimulant out of the drawer and sprayed it into her mouth.

Though most of it dribbled out, at least some must’ve gone in.

After a moment, the woman came to her senses.

“Are you with us now?”

“Ah… where am I?”

Still dazed.

I hit her face again.

“Argh! Please! Don’t hit my face!”

Realizing her arms were bound, the woman shook her head violently and screamed.

“Sure, fine.”

Her arms were tied behind her back, and she was kneeling, secured to a tall pillar.

I could’ve just tied her up normally, but that felt a bit unsafe.

What if she turned out to have superhuman strength, broke the shackles, and killed me?

“…I’m just a prostitute trying to make a living! Why me!?

Oh, damn it, Marco! You sold me, didn’t you!?”

She may have called herself a prostitute, but she was more of a high-class escort, cozying up to the elite when they visited.

With about six months of hard work, she could probably bring in enough money to cover the price of Ethel’s mansion.

“Well, I don’t really care about you.

I’m far more interested in your sugar daddy.”

The prostitute’s face twisted with rage, and she clamped her mouth shut.

“Hmm, so he’s really your sugar daddy, huh?”

It wasn’t uncommon for them to just be their pimp.

I brought over a small hammer and some nails.

Her thighs were impressive, probably from her line of work.

After setting the nail in place, I looked at her face before striking with the hammer.

She seemed scared, but more than that, she looked furious.

Why?

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…Are you going to keep living under that filthy bald baron’s thumb?”

What nonsense was this?

“As a prostitute, I can whisper sweet nothings for a night if I have to.

But kidnapping me because I refused to be a mistress?!”

It seemed being dragged to the basement had driven her mad.

“Look, just tell me where your sugar daddy is.”

“Screw you.”

I slowly drove the nail into her thigh.

I expected her to scream her head off, but instead, she clenched her teeth and let out a faint groan, tears streaming down her face.

Surprisingly resilient.

Does it take someone this tough to survive as a prostitute?

I guess that’s why she was into beastly things like bestiality.

Sleeping with horned creatures—unbelievable.

“Miss, don’t waste our time. Just tell me where your demon sugar daddy is.

You’ll talk eventually, so why make this harder for both of us?”

“Killing Zoph isn’t going to make me fall for that bald baron. I won’t talk, not even if I die.”

“Seriously, I don’t care about that baron or whatever. Just tell me where the demon is, and you’re free to go.

I hear they’re raising their kids somewhere, but I need to know where.”

Frustrated, I slipped into informal speech without realizing it.

This was aggravating.

We were completely misunderstanding each other.

High-class escorts often became mistresses for low-ranking nobles, after all.

It seemed someone had been eyeing this woman.

“I couldn’t care less who you end up as a mistress to.”

If she didn’t talk, she wouldn’t even stay in human shape, let alone become someone’s mistress.

She’d asked me to spare her face, so I would.

But this woman clearly wasn’t ready to have a proper conversation.

She needed to look at the other person, consider their position, use the appropriate words, and show respect.

Normally, one would assume that between an unarmed person and someone holding a hammer, the one with the hammer had the upper hand.

“I get that losing your mind over men is pitiful, but bestiality? Really?

Naming a wild animal Zoph and sleeping with it? What kind of nonsense is that?”

“…What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m just asking where your pet, the one who knows about the place where the demons are gathering, is hiding.”

The words weren’t getting through.

That look of incomprehension—it had been a while since I’d seen it.

Whenever I conducted an interrogation in the conversation rooms, the subjects would always look at me like that.

Pitifully, they never realized that the problem lay with themselves.

How should I punish a woman who found pleasure with beasts?

I spotted a small wooden barrel lying around, opened its lid, and took it outside for now.

Marco was juggling daggers idly.

“What, aren’t you working?”

“Why bother? I’d just be chatting with those demon bastards anyway. Might as well have some fun while I’m at it.”

“Fill this barrel with gunpowder.”

Marco took the barrel and filled it with gunpowder before bringing it back to me.

It was a little less than I’d hoped for, but it would suffice.

I returned to the conversation room and placed the barrel under the woman’s crotch.

“Hey, do you have kids?”

Her eyes flickered with realization.

I liked that.

People with that kind of look were easier to deal with than those trembling in fear.

“…When Zoph was hiding out in my house, he once said that some noble went crazy and started dragging demons off to some unknown place indiscriminately. But that family’s been ruined, hasn’t it!?”

“Their power has diminished a bit, sure, but they’re not ruined.

Now, answer me. Do you have kids?”

When she didn’t respond, I punched her face a few more times until she finally nodded, admitting she did.

“If you already have kids, there’s no need to make any more, is there?”

With that, I shoved the barrel into place. No need to describe where.

“From now on, I’m going to start shooting.

First, your fingers. Then your arms.

Next, your thighs, toes, and finally… Well, you get the idea.

What do you think is in that barrel?”

“You insane bitch—ahh!”

She hadn’t screamed earlier when the nail pierced her thigh. Maybe she’d mentally prepared herself.

But when I fired the gun, she let out a piercing shriek.

Her fingers weren’t blown off, but they were shredded.

Next, I aimed at her arm and pulled the trigger.

Then her thigh, her toes, and finally, I pressed the barrel of the gun near where the wooden barrel was positioned.

Her face was now a mask of terror, completely dazed.

“At the end of the day, it’s just a whore’s love. Just talk.

No one’s going to judge you if your mouth is as cheap as the rest of you.

You could die, you know! That barrel’s filled with gunpowder.

Of course, you’d also never have kids again.”

“…Z-Zoph. He’s hiding in my house. No, he’s there.”

Hmm, then there’s no way Marco wouldn’t have found him already.

“Isn’t there something else you’re not telling me?”

“Under the bed. There’s a basement under the bed….”

Selling her chastity for money—of course, she’d talk.

Unsurprisingly, this all ended with frayed tempers.

“I said I’d let you go if you talked, but maybe you’ll end up caught again like last time.”

Given her connections to the nobility, releasing her might be a bit risky.

The thought came quickly.

I aimed at her head and pulled the trigger.

At least I didn’t shoot the barrel between her legs.

I had no particular hobby of tormenting people just to kill them.

I left the room.

Hearing the gunshot, Marco was sitting outside with a slightly bitter expression.

“She said there’s a basement under the bed.”

“…Did Diana die?”

“What else could I do? If I let her go, who knows what might’ve happened.”

“I’ll take the old man and check it out.”

“Alright, take care.”

Operating in the slums had countless advantages.

Most demons in hiding lurked there, and bringing them in didn’t attract much attention.

Of course, occasionally retrieving workers who had been sent back to the farms after a failed explosive spell was a bit of a hassle.

I went to the break room, closed my eyes, and dozed off for a bit.

It didn’t feel like much time had passed when I was jolted awake by someone screaming.

The old butler was dragging a demon by its hair. Its right arm was twisted, and its face was swollen with bruises.

“Ah, you brought it in.”

“Making an old man do this really aches my bones, you know.”

“Good work.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you, miss.”

Not wanting to touch its head, I asked the butler to carry it into the room.

“Your name’s Zoph, right? Diana told me about you.”

“…What did you bring me here for? I’m just a middle manager; I don’t know anyth—”

I cut off its nonsense.

“I don’t care about how your criminal organization is structured.

Just tell me where the orphanage is—the one where you gather and raise demon brats—and I’ll let you go.”

“…You’re insane, thinking about harming the kids.”

I figured as much.

Just in case, I smashed its knee repeatedly with a hammer, then stepped into the room where I’d killed the prostitute earlier.

I gathered the crushed fingers and toes strewn about and brought them back.

“Ta-da!”

At first, Zoph didn’t seem to recognize what they were.

Then, spotting the ring still on one of the finger stumps, it seemed to realize who they’d belonged to.

It started to cry, softly at first, then sobbing outright.

“…Why?”

“We’ll find that orphanage eventually. Just tell me now.

Otherwise, your lover dies too. Surely love is more important than some brats whose names you don’t even know.”

A prostitute’s mouth is as loose as her other parts.

And her pimp, or rather, her sugar daddy, was no different.

People like them had no ideals, no principles, no common decency.

Their only concern was survival.

Thanks to that, I learned the orphanage’s location.

Apparently, Julian had once constructed a space near the sewers to avoid prying eyes, which they’d turned into an orphanage.

After finishing the conversation, I shoved the barrel that had been inside the prostitute into Zoph’s mouth and pulled the trigger.

Its head exploded quite spectacularly.

After cleaning up, I left the room and spoke to Marco.

“Marco, toss the prostitute and this demon onto a busy street. Somewhere with plenty of foot traffic.”

That way, people would assume it was just another demon attack on humans and move on.