Author: Thank you for reading.

Any tips, concerns, mistakes, etc are welcome to be pointed out.

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I gazed behind the fat tub of lard in front of me and peered into the room he emerged from. The foul smell in the air no longer seems to have any effect on me as I feel my pulse speed up. Everything just seems to slow down as I take in and process everything I see.

Abra is tied to a table with some decrepit looking old man standing over her with an annoyed look on his shriveled face. Vials of what seems to be blood are laid across a counter. I see a few creatures in cages with some type of filth covering them. In the corner of the room is a child with dead fish eyes, a slave collar is digging into the victim's neck.

Noticing the assortment of old medical equipment one answer for this situation comes to mind, [Blood Brewing].

After extensive research I discovered that there is no longer an [Alchemist] class in this world, alchemy itself is considered a lost art. What replaced them is the [Brewer] class.

A [Brewer] uses various ingredients to create assortments of alcoholic beverages, potions, and of course poisons. An [Alchemist] doesn’t have the limits of a [Brewer] and is said to be able to create items told in legends.

However, [Blood Brewing] is one of the few things in this world that has been deemed a taboo. The [Brewer] would mix the blood of people and animals along with other ingredients to try and make a potion to steal the vitality of the victims in question. There is no proof that this works due to lack of research, and is also considered a form of cannibalism.

Why it needs to be mixed with both people and animal blood, I don't care to know because it’s not something I plan to do. (Author: I already have an answer for this though. I’ll post it in the guide later.)

Needless to say, Abra is currently a victim of this illegal act from what I can see. Her hair that was once still vibrant with color has faded into a dull sheen of grey. Her figure which couldn't be said to be particularly fit the year before, yet still carried some strength, now appears so feeble she may crumble at the slightest touch.

She appears to be sleeping, but extensive blood loss obviously would do that to a person.

It only took but a few seconds for all of this to be processed in my mind as thoughts of dishing out retribution upon everyone involved filled my head.

Shiro, who is normally very reserved with her words, roared out as we both charged forward.

She charged toward fatty while I went toward the old man.

There was a moment long before we left this place when that fat man took notice of her, I had no proof but I’m pretty sure he was the reason those slave traders kept finding our pick-pocketing routes. Shiro also suspected this and after some discussion we agreed to do some interrogating when we returned.

Now we have even more things to discuss.

Of course that’s if he survives her assault.

The old fart was surprised to see us suddenly charging in. However he still managed to stop what he was doing to Abra and throw one of the vials on the table at me. I’m not fond of having unknown substances on me so I evaded it easily. He doesn’t appear to be strong and is most likely some recluse researcher.

Before he even managed to scream I already had him pinned to the floor. Which also had some disgusting looking gunk all across the surface. I took out my dagger and pinned him to the floor at the shoulder and decided to end his ability to brew permanently.

*Break* “Ah!” *Break* “Wait! You can't do this!” *struggles* *Break* “Ugh! These hands are more valuable than...” *Break* *Break* “Ah! Aaahh!” *Break* “I-I’ll make you suffer for this!” *Break* “Ah! *Sob* wait...please!” *Break* *Break* *Break* “Ugh...stop.” (Old man)

Damn I ran out of fingers to break...I could just heal it and re-break them but...yea let's just crush the rest of his body first then repeat the process.

*Shick* (blade removed from shoulder) “*Pain filled moan* n-need to...ugh…n-no!” (Old man)

*Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix* *Break* *Fix*

A few minutes have already passed as I was working on the old man. Hmm...

The garbage moaning on the floor was music to my ears, but there is no way I would let him off with just this. He seemed to be trying to crawl away, ha like I would allow such a thing.

*Break* *Break* Ah there we go now he can't crawl around.

“Guh!” *faint* (Old man)

“Ah, no no no, you can't pass out yet. There is so much more I need to do to you first before I’m satisfied.” (Kuro)

Tch what a weak willed person. I haven't even gotten to dismember his manhood yet, or any other torture tidbits I want to try, like shoving rusty nails down his throat. Well I got time to torture him more later though, and I need to help Abra anyways.

As I was about to head toward Abra the cries of a pig caught my attention. I turned away from Abra’s direction for a moment to see how Shiro fared against the fatty. Hmm...a bit sloppy but it is indeed effective. I’ll have to stop the bleeding to keep him from dying too soon though.

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Shiro POV

I hate this place.

So many bad things happened to me here.

The only thing good was being with Kuro and Abra.

My nose also hurts being here, but Kuro’s smell helps.

When that smelly man came out of some room, I could see Abra in the back tied down. There is some dead looking guy next to her.

W-What are they doing to her!? I have to help her!

I see Kuro heading for that dead looking person. So that leaves me with the smelly one.

I’ll kill this guy quick and help Abra...no a quick death won't be enough. This place made me hurt so much before, he needs to hurt even more.

I glanced at Kuro as I ran at the smelly man and Kuro is starting to make that scary face again. He doesn’t make that face very much but I don't hate it, actually I feel happy when I see it. When he looks like that, he hurts bad people.

He taught me a bunch of things to make people hurt too, so I’ll start practicing right now on the smelly man. He deserves it anyway for what he is doing to Abra and from what he did before too.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

He tried to hit me but I got behind him, he is pretty slow. Now what is the best way to make him hurt the most?

Hmm? Ew, when he moves his smell gets worse. Ugh I’ll just stop him from moving for now so I can think.

I’ll just cut those tendon things on his ankles to stop him from walking. Kuro can help stop him from bleeding too much, so we can hurt him lot’s without him dying too.

Wow he can’t even get off his stomach, can’t he at least flip himself over? I’ll make sure to never get big like him.

He is too big to get at those sensitive parts...let's cut off the useless stuff then.

*Slice* “Ah!” *slice* “Wah!” *slice* “Guh! Ya bitch get offa me!” *Slice* “Ah! Pleeze!” *slice* “Wait!” *deep slice* *SQUEAL!* *slice* “Ah!” *slice* “No!” *slice* “Stop!” *slice* “*Wimper* s-stop.” *slice* *slice* *slice* *slice* *slice* “Ugh...” (Fat smelly man)

*slice* *slice* *slice* *slice* *slice* *slice* *slice* *slice* *slice* *slice* *slice* *slice*

“ugh...I-I’ll...*faint*” (Fat smelly man)

Ah, he stopped moving, well he is still alive though. I want to do more though...

“Shiro that’s enough for now, we can't have him dying too soon after all.” (Kuro)

“...Ok. How is Abra.” (Shiro)

“Hold on...she is alive but very weak. Give me a moment to heal her up a bit.” (Kuro)

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Puerial POV

I already heard about how Kuro and Shiro lived in the past, so I know how important this Abra lady is to them.

Ugh the air here is so bad, let’s just get close to Kuro. *Sniff sniff* ah, Kuro always smells so nice. I can see why Shiro is so obsessed with sniffing him, I think I’m also getting a bit addicted to it too. Ah, who am I kidding his smell is too good to pass up.

....

I ignore the ugly looking people as we head inside that broken looking house. Hmm?

Ew, who is that? Is that that fat person Kuro talked about. How many chins does he have?

AH! Wow those too suddenly got pretty mad. Oh wait there is a lady in that dirty room, is that Abra? Since she is important to Kuro and Shiro I’ll just make sure nobody disturbs them as they go get her.

....

Wow as cruel as ever.

Meh, they deserved it anyway, I hope this Abra person is ok.

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Kuro POV

As I healed Abra she woke up momentarily and barely muttered out something about her son. Is it that person in the corner? He looks too sickly to determine his actual age. Could Abra have stayed here because of him. He has a slave collar so he can’t leave with her even if he wanted to.

Damn if I had known back then…

No point regretting about it now, let’s remove that collar.

….

That boy just started gazing at the collar on the floor. I can't really tell because his face is so lifeless but I think he is shocked. Like with Abra I started healing him, his complexion at least started to show some color but he isn’t walking any time soon.

As I gazed at the creatures in the cages they all had the same lifeless eyes except for one.

hmm...Is that a fairy?

What is a fairy doing here of all places, those things are nearly extinct from what I read.

The {Fairy} race is a sentient race that is born from very unique conditions. From the various bestiary books I looked at, and some bits of info I got from Amare that she can share. They need a place to have high concentrations of mana in the air. After a long time and a miracle the mana would then gather and create a [Mana Crystal].

Unlike cores the mana within it is a hundred times more pure and naturally filters the mana in the air into a much higher quality than normal. Given enough time and if it formed on the surface within a forest, the [Mana Crystal] will then form into a {Dryad}. The {Dryad} is said to be incredibly beautiful and birth fairies as a type of caretaker and protector. Normally they tend to make the surrounding vegetation flourish and build grand gardens as a habit.

However, since a {Dryad} is rare, powerful, and beautiful, there were many powerful individuals who sought to have them for themselves as a way to show off.

What they didn’t know is that a {Dryad} is sensitive to trauma. When they hunted for them they would hurt the fairies which led to them getting severe depression. It got a lot worse when they discovered fairy wings can be made into highly potent potions.

Fairies became the targets of people all over and became extremely rare to find. A {Dryad} also can't spawn too many fairies at once.

After a while it's said the {Dryad} would die of heartbreak, making fairies even more rare. But I’m not too sure about that part, something doesn't feel right about that explanation.

There have been recorded a total number of 3 members of the {Dryad} race ever discovered.

The fairy race is also fairly easy to distinguish. Maybe this one can be saved.

I remove her from the cage and she seems to be trying to struggle but can't really do anything. My healing magic doesn't seem to have any effect. What about regular mana…

Ah, she became a bit more spirited. Unfortunately she can't fly since her wings were torn out. Her eyes are looking at me fearfully but I just place her in my chest pocket. She doesn’t seem to be trying to get out either. When I took a peek she seems more confused now...oh she suddenly fell asleep.

Me putting the fairy in my pocket only took a few moments worth of time. I have already stabilized Abra and the boy and took them out of the room. They are now resting outside under the sun with Shiro and Puerial. The rest of the animals in the room are either dead or about to die, so I end their suffering along with the other residences of this place.

The old man and the (former) fatty are both also tied up in the corner. At the very least they won't die yet so I can get a lot of information from them. I can already guess most of it, but it's better to confirm a few things.

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A/N: What do you guys think so far?

Comments are welcome.