When Bronya thrust her knife toward that man's vital spot,
Lin Nai's body trembled, and his expression turned subtle.
Everyone present paused and instinctively glanced downward.
Except for Kiana.
Of course, Kiana herself was stunned for a few seconds too.
She had never expected Bronya to act so decisively.
Such sharp, practiced killing techniques...
Kiana was not all that averse to killing, actually.
During her travels with Lin Nai, she had already seen all manner of things.
Tragedies, comedies, and ordinary, uneventful lives.
She had seen all kinds of people too.
Especially villains.
Lin Nai sometimes killed as well.
At first, Lin Nai had kept it from her.
For instance, whenever Kiana spared someone, if Lin Nai believed that person was utterly evil and had no intention of repenting,
he would leave under the pretense of going to the bathroom.
Then that person would die.
Back then, Kiana had nearly called Lin Nai the Toilet God of War.
Toilet God of War: someone who went to the bathroom often and was also very strong.
Isn't that right, Pointy-headed Alien?
After she discovered it, Lin Nai could no longer be bothered to pretend.
Sometimes, right in front of her, he would lay out every last piece of evidence of the other person's crimes before killing them.
Human traffickers, rapists, or others like them.
Lin Nai told her that some people were not worthy of sympathy or forgiveness.
The same went for enemies. Once they took up weapons and stood on the opposing side, they had to be prepared to die.
And they had to be prepared to kill.
The victors would live on, while the defeated would fall into hell.
But... the victors would live on bearing the resentment of the defeated.
Still, none of that mattered. As long as they remained true to their hearts and kept moving forward, that was enough.
Over the course of that year of traveling,
she had learned much from Lin Nai, understood much, and come to realize much.
But understanding was one thing.
Kiana, who had initially still been able to think things through, was now too lazy to think about so much.
Kiana: I don't know who I am. I just want to slaughter everything!
This was the kind of thinking Lin Nai had led her astray with.
And so,
Kiana used Kaslana Gun Fu to beat the enemies before her into a pulp.
Wait, did kicking with her feet count as Kaslana Gun Fu?
That was so awesome!
We Are! The Trio Squad!
The luxurious hotel suite had become a battlefield.
Lin Nai fought a crowd by himself, Kiana fought a crowd by herself, and Bronya was nearly seeing red from killing.
On the room's walls.
On the floor.
Bloodstains were everywhere.
Corpses, limp as mud, lay scattered across the ground.
Bronya and Lin Nai's clothes were stained with blood as well.
Only Kiana, who was always pulled away by Lin Nai whenever blood was about to splash on her, still had spotless white clothes.
Lin Nai: White clothes are such a pain to wash.
"Phew..."
Lin Nai patted nonexistent dust off himself.
Bronya sat in a pool of blood, taking shallow, ragged breaths.
Lin Nai extended a hand toward Bronya and invited her,
"Want to travel with us from now on?"
"Hm?"
Bronya looked over at him in confusion.
"This girl and I are traveling. Want to come with us?" Lin Nai said, pointing his thumb at Kiana behind him.
Bronya hesitated.
She did not know what she should do next, or where she should go.
So she reached out and took the hand of the man before her, the man who had lent her a helping hand and saved her.
If it had not been for him,
then she... would probably have been disposed of.
Lin Nai smiled at that.
"From today onward, we're companions." Kiana leaned over.
Lin Nai smiled. "I'm Lin Nai, and she's Kiana. Please take care of us."
Bronya gazed at the two of them standing in the sunlight and murmured,
"Companions...?"
Bronya joined the team.
So from now on, we were... the Trio Squad!!
Lin Nai's inner monologue was as dramatic as ever, but as everyone knew, a trio squad had four people.
So they were still missing one.
That had to be a certain purple-haired housewife who cooked.
When the time came!
He, Lin, would either be Taiga or Yuko!
It would probably be the latter, right?
Lin Nai: Shut up! System, you're not allowed to put things in the host's mouth!
Then will you put something in mine?
Lin Nai: ???
His brain crashed.
Lin Nai: Mom gave birth to me...
Something was wrong with you. Very wrong!!
Lin Nai's expression gradually grew complicated. What was wrong with this system?
Leaving aside whether it even had a mouth, even if it did, where exactly was he supposed to put it?
He hated systems that made boundaryless jokes. At least give him a power strip.
Right?
In short, that was how it went.
Lin Nai set off on a journey with Kiana and Bronya...
Meanwhile,
Gray Snake stood on the rooftop of a building with one hand in his pocket, watching the hotel before him.
"Gray Snake, I brought him."
Raven walked over with a man draped in tattered burlap.
"Heh... hehe." The man laughed awkwardly. "Lord Gray Snake, I've already fulfilled all the requirements you mentioned. So, about..."
"Mm."
Gray Snake nodded and tossed the suitcase in his other hand to the man.
The man's smile widened as he hurriedly caught the suitcase. He opened it, and his eyes lit up at the sight of the cash inside.
This money was enough for him to gamble a few rounds!
If Lin Nai had been here, he would have immediately recognized who the man was.
He was the thug who had picked a fight with them right after they arrived in the city.
"Then... then I'll be taking my leave."
The man smiled, clutching the suitcase as he hurried away.
He had accepted this job because they threatened him with a gun, but he had never expected to get paid for it too.
It was just public humiliation.
As long as there was money, who cared?
Gray Snake merely glanced at the departing man without saying anything.
"Gray Snake, I don't understand. If you wanted that child to live a better life, couldn't you have simply given him a card or taken him away?"
Raven crossed her arms, completely unable to understand what Gray Snake was trying to accomplish.
Come to think of it,
the task she received most often seemed to be cleaning up after those two children.
The child with the streak of red hair possessed maturity far beyond his age and was very cautious in his actions.
But even so,
some things were not something a child like him could accomplish.
This world's waters ran deep. How could that child possibly handle them?
At times like this, Raven, the mercenary assigned by Gray Snake, needed to step in.
Raven, the one cleaning up the messes, had to resolve everything.
But since Gray Snake valued that child so highly,
why not simply recruit him into World Serpent?
Just like how they had forcibly taken her away back then...
Before you continue