Morin smiled. "Surprised? Was it unexpected?"
He also glanced at the Cuckoo Egg. It was not glowing, which meant it had not taken effect.
That meant Uvogin and Nobunaga already considered Morin one of their own, without needing the Cuckoo Egg's power anymore.
That warmed Morin's heart considerably.
It was not like I risked that much... Well, it was not such a huge risk after all.
"Did you come to save us, Morin?"
Nobunaga asked excitedly.
"What else?"
Morin stepped forward and inspected the cell door. "Don't tell me you think I got caught like you two?"
The cell door seemed to be forged from some kind of refined iron and was extremely sturdy.
He could open it with Nen, but it would take quite a bit of effort and consume a fair amount of aura.
Fortunately, before coming in, Morin had gotten the prison keys from the jailer, who had even given him a friendly pat on the shoulder.
"I heard everything you two were saying just now."
As he unlocked the cell door, Morin said, "Who was making fun of me? And what exactly were you saying?"
"Uh..."
Hearing that, Uvogin and Nobunaga exchanged a glance. In perfect tacit understanding, they fell silent again and merely gave a couple of awkward laughs.
"Well?"
Morin opened the cell door. "You were talking about me. Since I'm involved in this matter, and it concerns me too, you should at least tell me what happened, right?"
"It's nothing major."
Since Morin had put it that way, Uvogin could no longer hide it.
As he broke free of his chains, he said,
"There was this bastard who had his eyes on Machi for a while. After Machi brought you home, he said some nasty things about you on the street. I got pissed off, so I went to reason with him."
Nobunaga's eye twitched slightly.
The word "reason" sounded incredibly wrong coming from Uvogin's mouth.
"Go on."
Morin raised his chin.
"Then we got brought here. The elder had already chewed us out and was going to let us go."
Nobunaga continued, "But that bastard came over again, begging for another beating, and whispered bad things about you two in our ears."
Uvogin's expression turned frightening. "He said Machi was ******, and you were ****** too."
Words too obscene to describe came from Uvogin's mouth.
Morin listened with a calm expression.
"Fighting is common in Meteor City, sure..."
Nobunaga bared his teeth, visibly furious. "But after hearing words like that, I won't be able to swallow this anger unless I chop his head off!"
"I understand."
For the first time, Morin's expression was this calm.
So calm that it frightened both Uvogin and Nobunaga.
"Did that elder hear it?"
"He probably did."
Nobunaga thought for a moment before answering.
"His voice wasn't quiet. Even I, standing right next to him, could hear it. With the elder's hearing..."
"So he definitely heard."
Morin nodded. "Then what about the person who said those things?"
"Nothing happened to him at all!"
Uvogin spat. "He was even the one who had us thrown in here. He kicked me in the face a few times too. He was arrogant as hell."
"Got it."
Morin turned and headed outside first. "Come on."
"Take me to him."
"Uh..."
Having just regained his freedom, Nobunaga hesitated.
"We're in their lair right now. If we just walk out there openly..."
"I've wanted to do this for ages!!"
Uvogin shouted, cutting Nobunaga off, his face full of excitement.
"I've always wanted to smash this whole building down. Today's a perfect day for it."
"Hey, hey, hey, are you guys crazy?"
Nobunaga said that, but his fingers were already twitching.
"Don't you want your sword back, Nobunaga?"
Morin said without looking back.
"That's true... Fine. Once we get my sword back, we leave immediately. I don't want to keep messing around with you two." Nobunaga said that, but the corners of his mouth could not stop curling upward.
"If that's the case..."
A cold glint slowly emerged in Morin's eyes. "Then let's cause some real trouble."
"Oh!!"
Uvogin answered excitedly. He was trembling with excitement, as though the blood in his entire body was about to boil.
"Move!"
Morin flashed forward and charged out first.
Uvogin and Nobunaga followed close behind.
A rampage was about to begin.
If they did not set the place on fire, wouldn't that be a waste?!
Causing trouble in the building where the elder lived, with so many skilled Nen users present—given Morin, Uvogin, and Nobunaga's current strength, it was practically no different from courting death.
But—
With gadgets, anything was possible.
And Morin happened to have a gadget that could let them escape at any time.
On an upper floor, inside a somewhat old and gloomy little room.
An elderly man sat on a sofa, wearing fur from some unknown animal and holding a goblet. He gently swirled it as he closed his eyes and savored the red wine within. He seemed to be in quite a good mood.
But he seemed to remember something unpleasant and gave another cold snort.
"If those two idiots hadn't damaged one of my collectibles,
that would have been even better."
His face darkened, and even the wine in his hand no longer tasted good.
"I'll definitely sell those two to the gangs outside for a good price. At least I can recover some of my losses."
He tipped back his head and drained the wine in his glass.
Just then—
Boom!!
A tremendous commotion startled him.
"Cough, cough!!"
The red wine in his mouth went down the wrong pipe, making his face flush red from choking.
"What is going on?!"
Once he caught his breath, he shouted toward the door.
A response immediately came from outside.
"The prisoners held in the dungeon have escaped and are causing widespread destruction inside the building."
"Escaped? Destruction?!"
The old man immediately flew into a rage. "What are you all good for? You can't even keep watch over two people?!"
"Yes! We're doing everything we can to capture them!!"
"Once you catch them, break both their arms and legs first!"
The old man dropped back into his seat. "Send more men after them immediately! If they make any more noise and wreck my house beyond recognition, I'll exile every last one of you outside!!"
"Yes!"
A tense response sounded outside, followed by hurried footsteps.
He could not even drink in peace.
He tugged at his collar, grabbed the remaining half-bottle of red wine from the table, and poured it straight down his throat.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
Downstairs.
"This feels great! This is so damn satisfying!!"
After experiencing the misery of prison, Uvogin immediately vented his urge to destroy everything.
The building was at least six or seven stories tall. Uvogin and the others had been on the first basement level, and the moment they emerged onto the ground floor, they began wrecking the place.
They smashed anything they saw and beat up every black-clad bodyguard they encountered.
With Nen wrapped around his body, his destructive power increased even further.
Most of the skilled Nen users in the building were stationed on the upper floors.
Upon hearing the commotion below, they all rushed down toward them.
"Having fun?"
Morin asked.
"Hell yeah!!"
Uvogin roared, reveling in the chaos.
"Nobunaga, did you find your sword?"
"Found it!"
Nobunaga emerged from some room.
"Maybe they thought my sword was too lousy, so they just tossed it aside."
Though he said that, he gripped the battered sword tightly in his hand.
It might have been a lousy sword to others, but to a samurai like him, it was part of his life.
"Experts are coming down from upstairs. Pick up the pace."
Morin instructed.
Before you continue