"Then what about me, Mr. Ryuji? I am willing to become your slave, as long as you are willing to let my sister go! She absolutely won't go looking for Moroboshi Dai!"
Akemi's face was full of hope.
_ _ _
"You're a love-struck fool who would definitely contact Moroboshi Dai, so I refuse. You two should just stay put in the basement. You can come out when the Black Organization is destroyed."
Ryuji outright rejected them, but his words made Shiho's mouth twitch.
"Don't tell me, Mr. Ryuji, that you can't see this organization is impossible to destroy."
Shiho sighed.
"To someone like you, I can say a bit more. I can only tell you that among the test subjects I received, many were people with political leanings, as well as death row convicts from all over the world."
Shiho actually knew a lot; she just didn't reveal certain information to different people.
As the lead developer of a certain drug, even having a code name within the organization, how could her hands be clean?
Illegal drug trials, human experimentation... these were commonplace for her. From these people, she could glean a lot of information.
So, she absolutely didn't believe her sister's notion that they could just leave the organization.
Because the organization would never let her leave alive!
She knew too much!
However, Ryuji's basement was clearly not a great place either. While Ryuji was powerful, the Black Organization was no slouch either. This time, they were just caught off guard by Ryuji; they still had many methods up their sleeve.
For example, the organization could simply find two or three truck drivers to crash fuel trucks into this house and cause an explosion. She didn't think she or Ryuji could survive such an attack.
Doing something like that would be very easy for the organization, requiring minimal resources and effort.
So, they needed to leave this place immediately for somewhere safer.
As for whether selling their bodies was shameful or not, only an idiot like her sister, who blushed even when holding hands, would think that!
Although she, like her sister, had never slept with a man, in the underworld, such things were hardly anything new!
"No... that won't do..."
Shiho still wanted to negotiate with Ryuji, but he had lost interest. He waved his hand and left, sealing the door shut again.
Shiho touched the still-warm door and couldn't help but pound on it once in frustration. She was deeply worried because if they didn't leave quickly...
The fear for their lives made Shiho start thinking intensely.
"This guy is undoubtedly a lecher."
Recalling Ryuji's gaze, she remembered clearly that his eyes constantly lingered on her face, chest, and crotch. When he looked at her sister, his focus was also on her chest, not her face.
But when he looked at Fujiko, he looked at her face.
This meant that in this man's mind, their status and value were completely inferior to Fujiko's!
And most importantly, he intended to let Fujiko go!
Shiho narrowed her eyes. She looked at Fujiko and asked,
"Is this the 'good man' you mentioned?"
Fujiko let out a light laugh. While Akemi acted naive and sweet, and Shiho cared for her sister, were their hands truly clean of blood?
"We're different, little girl."
Fujiko was certain that while she herself wasn't a saint, she didn't kill good people or murder actively. After all, she was a thief, not a murderer.
But these two, even if they started later than her, had clearly killed quite a few people. Like her, they were irredeemably bad women.
So, she smoothed her hair.
"Don't be naive, little girl. He is indeed a good man, that's true. But he's good to good people. And you two aren't good people. Also, what unrealistic expectations do you have about the moral standards of a pervert?"
Although all men are perverts, Fujiko added in her heart. But Ryuji really was a good man; she was sure of that.
Otherwise, she would have been in trouble long ago, and she wouldn't be proactively seducing him.
Even though she knew she had been tricked, Fujiko was also very aware that it was precisely because Ryuji hadn't forced himself on her that she was willing to sleep with him. In the future, if they met again, she might even let Ryuji catch her and then have sex with him or something.
Ryuji's personality was actually quite likable to her. He was a good man, but not too good... he had just the right amount of bad in him.
Plus, he is an excellent cook.
Getting off the bed, Fujiko opened the food container. Finding it contained her favorite dishes, she cheered happily, then immediately started worrying about her figure.
"Such delicious food is going to drastically increase my workout load..."
Although she had already decided to start doing calisthenics later, Fujiko didn't stop eating.
Shiho was silent for a moment. She indeed wasn't a good person, but she also knew that being coerced didn't completely wash away their sins.
"Really..."
She sighed, sat down at the table, and looked at the delicious food in front of her. Yet, the sense of crisis in her mind grew stronger and stronger.
She felt the Black Organization would find this place sooner or later, so the sooner they left, the better. Also, the CIA wasn't entirely trustworthy. That Moroboshi Dai had abandoned her sister once; he would do it a second time. So, she also needed to find a way to sever her sister's attachment to him.
Otherwise...
Shiho's eyes narrowed.
If one person's bargaining chips weren't enough to make him let them go, what about two?
Shiho knew this was extremely despicable, but it was the only option left. She didn't trust Ryuji but trusted the Black Organization's power even more.
"There's no other way."
Looking at her naive older sister, Shiho took a deep breath.
"Just consider it being bitten by a dog! Using our bodies as sisters to buy a chance to escape!"
In the world they live in, this was hardly considered extraordinary.
While Shiho was steeling her resolve in the basement, Ryuji was in the courtyard, practicing his punches and moving his body, all while continuing to contemplate the path to awakening.
He wouldn't be using the attack that severs space and time again anytime soon. Although the side effects weren't as severe in other worlds, they were still undeniably there... like a bomb with a 500-meter kill radius and a 200-meter blast range. Powerful, but ultimately a suicidal move.
Powerful, yes, but essentially a form of self-detonation.
Even if there was no time-space rift afterward, the destructive power of the temporal rift he created during the slash still affected him. He had almost crippled himself.
A technique that harmed both enemy and self alike.
That made him think of those female Ghost Swordsmen, especially the Sword Masters.
Those women who used the Imperial Swordsmanship had an awakening skill called Time-Space Slash. Three continuous slashes that directly shattered the spacetime in an area into fragments.Anyone caught in that move would be finished.
But what Ryuji felt was that, theoretically, after using such a move, those female Sword Masters should also be done for.
And yet, in high-ranking groups of Sword Masters, that move wasn't even considered that powerful... it could be offset in various ways, and they themselves didn't seem to suffer harm from it.
"Those female Sword Masters… it seems they rely on the temporal aura within their ghost arms to avoid being harmed by the fragments of time-space, right? And that's what allows them to slash spacetime itself?"
While swinging his sword, Ryuji recalled the feeling he had that day.
He had been able to perceive time and space because of his authority or rather, by borrowing the perspective of the universe itself and only then could he cut through it.
But those female Sword Masters seemed to be born with the ability to sever time and space, perhaps because of transferred energy... their bodies had been contaminated and transformed by it. They were, essentially, products of mutation.
"Tch, the world of Arad really is full of monsters," Ryuji clicked his tongue in irritation.He had no intention of mutating his own arm or injecting strange transferred energy into his body.
Just as he was sweating through his training, Princess Mira rushed out in a hurry.
Mira believed it now, she believed it completely. Because just moments ago, Queen Sakura had spoken countless things that only they themselves could possibly know.And in their test, the queen had been able to pick up objects and move in places Mira herself could not observe!
So she could confirm this wasn't her hallucination!
Of course, it was possible she had gone insane, but Mira was certain she did not suffer from any kind of mental illness.
And just now, when she wanted to ask her mother something more, her mother had smiled bitterly and then turned into golden light particles, disappearing before her eyes.
Right in front of her. She had even fell to the ground in shock when her mother vanished!
"You! You!"
Mira stared at Ryuji, stammering "you" for a long time, unable to form a complete sentence.
Seeing the redness around her eyes, Ryuji stopped his movements, smiled, and asked gently,
"Finished talking?"
Mira sniffled and nodded.
"Yes, we're done. I want to know, you..."
Mira wanted to ask if he could completely revive her mother, but remembering what Ryuji had said earlier, she sighed softly.
"Would you be willing to be my husband? To become the prince of Vespania?"
She looked directly at Ryuji and asked, word by word.
Ryuji's ability spoke for itself. His ability to bring back the dead, even temporarily, would make him a guest of honor anywhere in the world.
And more importantly, he had done this after taking her body, meaning he himself had such intentions.
"Of course," Ryuji replied with a smile, "But I want you to know, I won't give up on Ran."
Mira took another deep breath. "I know. But you cannot make it public."
It was precisely because of Ran that Ryuji had slept with her. Given their circumstances, she understood perfectly what Ryuji would do. With his abilities, he would never lack for money!
It was she who needed him.
She needed Ryuji to occasionally resurrect her mother for advice and to ease her longing. She needed an heir. She needed a strong man.
She refused to believe a man with such abilities could be mediocre. Even if he himself wasn't capable, couldn't he just resurrect some capable people?
"All right," Ryuji said. "Don't worry, I won't let the Kingdom of Vespania decline. In fact, one of my wives is the sole heiress of a large corporation. And the girl from yesterday—she's the daughter of the Suzuki Group, and also Ran's close friend. They are involved in countless industries. If you're willing, we can smoothly facilitate numerous collaborations."
Mira didn't take it seriously when she heard this, but she still nodded.
To be honest, she hadn't truly wanted to become Queen before, feeling her uncle was far more qualified. But after learning from her mother that it was this same uncle who killed her mother and brother, she knew the kingdom's fate now rested in her hands.
Because what angered her most was that her uncle had killed her mother for treasure!
At first, he hadn't even wanted the throne, since Queen Sakura ruled so well. But he was a warmonger, believing Vespania could seize greater territory and influence in the current world order. His relationship with Queen Sakura deteriorated over this. To secure sufficient funds, he set his sights on the legendary treasure of Vespania, wanting the key hidden in the crown!
To obtain the key, he had murdered his own sister!
And later, in order to secure both the treasure passed down through generations and the throne, so he could launch his war, he killed her brother as well!
She knew perfectly well she wasn't suited to be Queen, but she also knew her uncle was absolutely a bastard, a fool who would completely destroy kingdom of Vespania.
Although Vespania had some industrial capacity, decent agriculture and mineral resources, and wasn't a particularly small country, she was well aware its overall economy couldn't compare to some major corporations in developed countries.
The Suzuki Group's annual revenue was, in fact, greater than that of the entire Vespania kingdom.
If the Suzuki Group were willing to invest in Vespania, it would be beneficial for both sides.
"I understand." Mila nodded. Her main fear was that Ryuji only had the resurrection ability but lacked any other skills or understanding of what a nation needed. That would have put her in a difficult position.
So, she closed her eyes, choosing in this moment to accept her fate... to become Queen and clear the obstacles from her path to the throne.
"I need your help to eliminate my uncle. Show me what your capable of, Ryuji."
She spoke firmly, and Ryuji thought for a moment before asking,
"Do you want the civil way or the martial way?"
His words made Mila pause.
"What do you mean?"
"The civil way means we find some detectives, tell them the truth, gather evidence, watch your uncle jump around in panic doing all sorts of suspicious things, then use the law take him down."
Mira pressed her lips together. That method was just and proper, but to be honest, very troublesome and her uncle might not be that stupid to expose his flaws.
After all, all he needed to do was kill her, and everything would proceed smoothly for him.
Knowing that her uncle was definitely planning to kill her, Mira made up her mind.
"What about the martial way?" she asked.
She looked at Ryuji, wondering how he would handle things martially.
Ryuji chuckled lightly, casually summoning his flames, which coalesced beside him into the form of a giant dragon.
"I'll break into your uncle's house alone and kill him."
Mira subconsciously took a step back, looking at the giant dragon behind him, then at Ryuji's confident face, hesitated, and asked,
"Can you do it?"
"Easily. I could even go to the battlefield with just a sword, but with modern weapons it'll be faster."
When it came to mowing through enemies, Ryuji still preferred modern weapons because they easy to use!
Up till now, if he didn't call on the power of the Universe sealed in the great sword, his destructive range was only equivalent to five or six cluster missiles; faced with nuclear bombs or concentrated artillery barrages, he still had to run.
It wasn't that he didn't work hard enough. It was just that modern weapons were absurdly overpowered.
Ryuji thought that even that mountain-sized monster from Demon Slayer couldn't withstand a barrage of modern human artillery fire.
But for a small country like Vespania, he could even swing a greatsword across the battlefield and be unstoppable, one man overthrowing a nation wasn't a joke. He could genuinely overturn the regime of a small country by himself!
It was only the superpowers that gave him pause.
The manpower, resources, battlefield control, and training of personnel in a superpower were on an entirely different level compared to a small country.
Take snipers, a branch Ryuji feared most—small countries simply couldn't train them on a large scale; simply because they couldn't afford it! But in a big country, at a single order hundreds of snipers ambushing someone like Ryuji in the city would be nothing.
"How is that possible…"
Mira asked subconsciously.
"Hahaha... Why wouldn't it be? You were willing to believe I could resurrect your mother, and you saw it with your own eyes.. Why can't you believe I have this kind of power?"
Ryuji casually took out his phone and showed Mira the footage of his battle with Gin that had been exposed by the media.
"I'm not afraid to tell you, Princess Mira, I am not an ordinary person."
Watching Ryuji move quickly amid helicopter strafing, each shot killing enemies with pinpoint accuracy, Mira couldn't help but open her mouth, then thought for a moment and asked,
"Can we do both?"
Mira looked at Ryuji. She needed Ryuji to legitimately kill her uncle, but she also wanted her uncle to be killed right in front of her eyes, not just put on trial.
Blood must be repaid with blood; she was certain of that.
"Of course we can. But doing it that way, we'll need help from a certain someone."
"Who?"
Mira asked without thinking.
"Your mother's first love, the man called Lupin, and a little kid named Edogawa Conan. Hmm, if we can bring Kaito Kid along, it might work even better."
When Ryuji said those two names he felt a bit guilty... Conan, he'd just taken Ran away, and Fujiko…
Although he'd called it fast food before, Lupin had been chasing Fujiko for years and never really gotten his hands on her.
What a gathering of scorned men, he thought wryly.
"But you can already make a statement, telling everyone it was your uncle who killed your mother and brother. Your mother should have told you where the clues are, right?"
Mira nodded. This wasn't difficult... once she returned to Vespania, it would be easy to find enough evidence to convict her uncle.
But if they couldn't kill her uncle outright, those lunatics who sided with him, the warmongers would never give up. They might find ways to reduce his sentence or even help him escape prison.
That's why she asked if Ryuji could handle everything at once.
"No problem, I'll issue the commission. That detective is named Conan, right?"
Mila nodded.
"No."
Ryuji waved his hand.
"You need to give the commission to Kogoro Mouri, Ran's father."
Mira: "?"
~~~~~~~~~~
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