External Wife

"Damn it, that bastard in charge of buying the children actually dared to embezzle even this money?!"

By nightfall, only six children had made it out. Two of them even had broken limbs; they had escaped purely through their will to survive and sheer determination. The bald man, Bill, was furious. They had agreed on carefully selected promising candidates, yet this was all they got?

The only explanation was that the money meant to be spent had been pocketed by the logistics officer responsible for purchasing the children. Of course, in the corrupt Empire of today, embezzlement was nothing unusual. High-ranking officials and great Nobles enjoyed the tributes offered by lesser officials and lesser Nobles.

In this Empire, where corruption ran rampant, ability alone was not enough for someone to advance. They also needed money to bribe their superiors.

Likewise, if one wanted a good life, the surest path was to squeeze money from commoners, exploit every official matter for personal gain, and accept bribes.

But it was precisely because of this that the Empire had become a dying wreck. Rebellions kept erupting across the land, while those dissatisfied with the Empire's current state stirred the flames from within, intending to overthrow it.

Under these circumstances, the Intelligence Agency planned to form an assassination unit to suppress the unrest across the regions and kill the ambitious schemers hiding in the shadows.

Yet even while selecting suitable children, they had run into corruption within the Empire itself. How could Bill, the man in charge of this matter, not be furious?

"They dare take any money they can get their hands on. Why don't those people just sell the ropes meant to hang themselves to the Empire's enemies?"

"Lord Bill, someone actually did. Not only did he sell ropes, he also sold weapons and armor. Have you forgotten that fellow who was trafficking military supplies recently? We hanged him in the square of Carter City."

The adjutant beside him offered the reminder. Bill's expression froze. He shot the adjutant a vicious glare before snapping in exasperation, "Bring me the Communication Device. I want Logistics to cut off the heads of those anti-Empire scum who dared embezzle the funds!"

The adjutant quickly brought over the Communication Device. Bill made the call, and the Empire Officer stationed at the edge of the forest changed expression upon receiving it, immediately heading into a tent.

Inside the tent, the young Officer who had beheaded the Boy during the day was thrusting atop a Girl with lifeless eyes. When he saw his superior enter, he even invited the man to join him.

Then, with a bang, a bullet hole appeared in his forehead.

"Go ransack that bastard's home. He dared embezzle the Intelligence Agency's money. He fucking deserves to die."

The Empire Officer spoke viciously, then casually shot the Girl beneath the corpse as well.

The truth did not matter. What mattered was that the child delivery had been botched.

Someone had to step up and bear Lord Bill's fury.

It was unsuitable for him, the superior, to bear it himself, and he was reluctant to have one of his confidants bear it for him.

Fortunately, a fellow from an Impoverished Family had recently enlisted. Though the man was quite tactful and treated him with great respect, what else could be done?

The Empire Officer only hoped that this Impoverished Family still had something worth taking, enough loot to soothe Lord Bill's anger.

"Now then, do you want those six children?"

In the center of the forest, Bill had vented some of his anger. Only after calming down did he ask Goeschi.

"You brought me here to be an Instructor. Surely you didn't expect me to train a bunch of trash?"

Goeschi asked in return. He had already looked over the children who had escaped. Setting aside the two who were injured and missing limbs, the remaining four who were intact did not seem to have much talent for assassination either. They were already better than ordinary people, but what he wanted here were elites.

"Then we can only wait for the next batch of children to be purchased and sent in."

"How much longer?"

"Ten days to half a month, at least."

"So we're just going to keep waiting around like idiots in this forest?"

"The forest is more dangerous at night. If you want to go back, wait until tomorrow and take a Flying Danger Beast."

"Looks like that's our only option."

Goeschi looked deeply displeased, but there was nothing he could do.

"Hey, you over there. Scatter some mixed Danger Beast blood around the area. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night and have to fight off attacking Danger Beasts."

Around the Open Space cleared out in the center of the forest, large amounts of blood from different kinds of Danger Beasts were sprayed about. This mixed scent of blood could make Danger Beasts, which possessed greater Wisdom than ordinary beasts, wary enough not to approach the area lightly.

To a Danger Beast, the smell of mixed Fresh Blood meant only one thing: within the area carrying that scent, there might be one or more omnivorous apex predators.

For example, southwest of Jiffonora Sea Tree Forest, there was an Open Space blasted out by Energy Blasts near a river. A pile of Danger Beast corpses, now reduced to Ingredients, lay there, and the complex bloody scent they gave off kept many nocturnal Danger Beasts from daring to approach.

Naturally, some foolishly bold Danger Beasts still came over hoping to eat something, but they ended up falling as well and becoming part of the Ingredients.

"Everyone, Cut Meat into chunks. That way, it'll be easier to cook."

Broly had gathered more than seventy children. After reaching the place he had made for them to rest, they quickly began helping him prepare the Ingredients.

Some gathered branches, some started fires, some Cut Meat, and some looked for wild vegetables. A few had even picked mushrooms.

The logistics officer responsible for purchasing this batch of children had not embezzled anything. These children, forced into this assassination trial, truly each had their own skills.

"Broly Big Brother, your meat."

After grilling a skewer of Ground Lizard meat, the Boy named Nahash, though starving himself, did not choose to eat it. Instead, he carried the grilled meat on a branch over to Broly and offered him the skewer.

During his days as an orphan wandering the streets, Nahash had occasionally banded together with other Street Children to survive. Such groups were no different from wolf packs in the wild. The leader always had to take the first bite of meat, proving his status as the one in charge.

Nahash had not understood this when he first began wandering the streets, but after receiving a vicious beating, he came to understand the logic behind it.

Although Broly had not shown any desire to become their leader, the rescued children had indeed regarded him—someone so powerful he could casually kill Danger Beasts—as the backbone of this temporarily assembled group.

"You're a good person."

Broly was a little surprised when Nahash suddenly offered him Food, but he did not refuse. He gave the other Boy a Good Person Card, then unceremoniously accepted the grilled meat from his hand.

With Nahash setting an example, the other children seemed to come to some realizations as well, lining up one after another to offer what they had cooked.

"This is the Great Horned Deer meat I grilled."

"This is the tail of a Two-Headed Snake I grilled."

"This is the wild vegetable and Swamp Crab soup I stewed."

"This is a raw-roasted Bear Paw made using the mud-baked chicken method."

"These are mushrooms I picked. They're colorful and pretty, so they must be tasty too."

One strange item was mixed in among them.

"Idiot, those are Poisonous Mushrooms! Don't hand Big Brother weird Food!"

The string of Poisonous Mushrooms held by the Girl named Boni was promptly thrown away.

"My mushrooms!"

The Girl raised her hand and watched her Poisonous Mushrooms fly into the river, her face clearly saying that if Big Brother would not eat them, she would eat them herself.

Her resistance to poison was pretty good. Maybe it had something to do with how she had been eating all sorts of strange fungi since childhood without poisoning herself to death.

"You're all good people!"

Broly had not expected there to be so many good people in this world. One after another, they all came over to give him Food.

Although most of it was meat roasted from prey he had hunted, once it had been processed by someone else, it was no longer his.

Because he had said that he would share Food with anyone who helped carry things, it should have belonged to them. Yet these people were willing to share their own Food with him.

Broly was deeply moved. Even though only Akame and Kurome were wives the Crystal Palace recognized as obtainable, he was now willing to regard this group of people feeding him as his External Wives in this world.

"Did you know? Handing over the first bite of Food is the Rules for pledging yourself to a big brother where we come from. Once you pledge yourself to a big brother, he'll protect you. If the people trying to fight us for restaurant leftovers haven't pledged themselves to another big brother, they won't be able to compete with us for Food."

"So that's why. No wonder I could never win against anyone in the city before."

The children who had once wandered alone wore looks of sudden understanding.

"Then Losang, did you used to have a big brother?"

Another child asked.

"Of course. Otherwise, how could I have so much meat on me?"

The child who had explained about pledging himself to a big brother lifted his shirt, revealing a layer of shriveled Little Belly.

Compared to the other, even skinnier children, he counted as fat.

"Then since you're here, where is your former big brother?"

"Dead."

"Huh?"

"When we were fooling around in the city, my big brother accidentally offended a passing Noble, and that Noble's Guard whipped him to death with a horsewhip. After losing my big brother, we couldn't compete with anyone else, so I sold myself to a Slave Trader. I only wanted a meal, but I never expected to be sold to a place like this and become Food for Danger Beasts."

As Little Fatty spoke, he wore a bitter expression. In truth, he possessed Super Strength. The raw-roasted Bear Paw made with the mud-baked chicken method had been given to Broly by him. At the same time, he had been one of the main people carrying the wild bear Broly had killed all the way here.

"But now I have a new big brother. Broly Big Brother looks incredibly powerful. He dealt with those Danger Beasts so easily. Even the Nobles in the city probably couldn't kill him easily. If I follow him, I'll definitely be able to eat my fill."

Little Fatty Losang looked toward Broly by the campfire on the other side, looking as though he had found a good big brother and intended to follow him for good. The surrounding children all declared that they too wanted to follow a good big brother who could keep them fed.

The children chewed their meat and spoke with others of similar age who had likewise been sold here. After learning about each other's difficult pasts, their approval of the big brother they had just pledged themselves to soared.

Part of it was because he had saved them, and part of it was because he was willing to share Food with them and let them eat meat.

They had fed Broly, but had Broly not fed them as well?