An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

"You actually make money by trafficking children... Your actions make me a little angry. Go to hell and repent."

Tio finished speaking in a cold tone, and immediately used a powerful fire magic to burn the stairs to ashes. With no way to the upper level, the enemy could only stand there, heading to hell.

Then, the dragon released a "breath" towards the panicked enemies. Although Tio used a single hand to launch a miniature version of the breath, it was a move that even monsters from the abyss were forced to defend desperately, and under the breath's sweep, the wooden buildings were naturally vulnerable.

Aside from Hansen's room on the tenth floor, the cemetery's main camp was horribly burned. Although it narrowly escaped collapse, the entrance wall had completely vanished, leaving not only ample ventilation but also a wider view, practically like an anthill for biology class observation.

The team members staggered out of the wreckage of the house, but could only look up at the upper floors in confusion. However, they couldn't be blamed, because their base camp was suddenly destroyed in half vertically, and it was normal for them to be unable to accept the reality.

However, the normally perverted dragon-man was filled with righteous indignation and showed no mercy, firing wind blades and fire bombs like Hajime's Gatling gun. The crew members were mercilessly attacked and tried to escape... but few succeeded.

While Tio was dealing with the team members outside alone, Shia approached Hansen, who was squatting on the ground, tapping his shoulder with the Druken. Hansen's face was filled with fear and pain, and Shia let go of the Druken, letting it fall onto Hansen's abdomen.

Despite howling in agony, Hansen still managed to push the huge hammer away. However, with only one arm left, he was helpless against the overweight hammer and could only beg for mercy in a cowardly manner.

"Please, please, spare me! If you want money, just take it! I won't do anything to you again! So, huh!?"

"You are not allowed to speak without permission. Just answer my questions. Do you understand? If you refuse to be honest, I will gradually increase the pressure... I suggest you answer them before your internal organs are squeezed out."

"... Shia is indeed the master's companion... Her words and actions are exactly like the master's."

Tio turned around and complained, but Xia ignored Tio and questioned Hansenmiao's whereabouts.

Hearing the name Myu, Hansen's expression was momentarily puzzled, but upon learning she was a child of the Sea People, he seemed to remember. As Druken's weight gradually increased, Hansen, with a pained expression, desperately tried to answer. He explained that an auction would be held that evening, and Myu had been taken to the basement of the venue.

In addition, Hansen seems to be unaware of the relationship between Shia and Myuu, and he seems confused as to why Shia is obsessed with this child of the Sea People.

Judging from Hansen's reaction, it seems his subordinates saw the interaction between Shia and Myuu and suddenly decided to kidnap Shia. Since Shia's name was originally high on the cemetery's prey list, the subordinate must have intended to kidnap Shia to improve his position within the organization.

Shia touched the necklace around her neck, activated the telepathic stone, and connected with Hajime.

"Mr. Hajime, Mr. Hajime, can you hear me? I'm Shia."

"...Xia, I heard it, what's wrong?"

"I've found out where Xiao Miao is. Mr. Hajime is in the tourist area, right? Your side is closer, so please go there first."

"learn. 』

After Shia informed Hajime of the exact location, she cut off the telepathy. Hansen's breathing seemed to be choking due to the weight of Drukken. His face turned purple, and he desperately pleaded with Shia for his life.

Shia lifted the gravity magic on Druken, restoring his normal weight, and lifted him off Hansen's shoulders. Hansen was freed from Druken's weight, but due to excessive blood loss, his consciousness began to blur. Even so, he desperately reached out to Shia for help:

"Help me...get a doctor..."

"You're so naive to play with a child's life and still expect to live... Besides, you're our enemy. If I let you go, Mr. Hajime and Ms. Yue will be furious. Goodbye!"

“No, don’t—”

The sound of something being crushed echoed in the room. Shia swung the fallen hammer, shaking off the blood stains, and slung it back onto her back. If it were shown on TV, Hansen's body would surely be blurred, but Shia didn't even bother to look at it, turning back to Tio.

"Miss Tio, let's kill those who are still alive and meet up with Mr. Hajime and the others as soon as possible!"

“Hmm, hmm… Shia is quite ruthless too… My heart is beating a little faster…”

"?……What did you say?"

"No, nothing."

Shia felt a chill for no apparent reason when she heard Tio's mumbling, and couldn't help but ask. However, Tio's face only flushed, and nothing seemed unusual. So, despite her confusion, Shia continued her destruction of the cemetery's base camp.

After Shia and Tio left, only countless corpses and piles of rubble were left behind.

The cemetery—arguably the largest underworld organization in [Flen]—was easily wiped out on this day.

Meanwhile, after receiving Shia's telepathic message, Hajime and Yue rushed to the location indicated by the intelligence. Since Myuu was being taken to the auction, her life wouldn't be in danger, but she would likely be under considerable mental strain. It would be best to recapture her as soon as possible.

"Is this the place... Ah, I can definitely sense a presence down there."

"……Um."

Arriving at their destination, they found two large men in black guarding the entrance. Hajime worried that if they caused a commotion, Miu would be transported elsewhere again, which would be disastrous. So, they moved into the alleyway and used Refinement to infiltrate from underground.

Hajime and Yue used their breath shield, moving quickly together. Unfortunately, they didn't have a cardboard box. With a cardboard box, they wouldn't even need the breath shield...

Finally, they found countless cells deep underground. A single guard was watching the entrance, but he was dozing off. They passed the guard and saw about ten human children inside, leaning against each other, squatting on the cold stone slabs. They were most likely the children to be sold at today's auction.

Basically, almost all humans are believers of the Holy Church, and believers are prohibited from being bought, sold, or enslaved.

The only humans who could be trafficked were criminals, those who had betrayed God and were enslaved or traded. However, the trembling children before him didn't look like criminals who deserved such treatment. This meant this was definitely the venue for an illegal auction.

However, they didn't see Myuu in the cell. The children were frightened by the sudden arrival of someone. Hajime bent down, matching the children's eye level, and asked through the iron bars in a calm voice:

"Have any girls from the Sea People come here?"

The children, thinking it was their turn to be taken away, were terrified, but when they heard the unexpected question, they looked at each other in confusion.

The children were silent for a moment. Then Yue squatted down beside Hajime, a gentle look in his eyes as he whispered, "...Don't be afraid." The children seemed to be slightly relieved. A boy of seven or eight years old replied timidly:

"Um, the Sea People child was taken away a while ago... Onii-chan, who are you?"

As expected, he had been taken away. Hajime clicked his tongue inwardly and replied succinctly to the uneasy boy:

"We are here to rescue you."

"Eh!? Are you going to save us!?"

Upon hearing what Hajime said, the boy's face showed a mixture of surprise and joy, and he shouted carelessly.

His voice was so loud in the dim dungeon that the boy quickly covered his mouth with his hands, but the watcher seemed to have heard it clearly. He woke up and yelled, "What are you arguing about!" and walked into the dungeon in a rage.

When he saw Hajime and Yue, he froze for a moment, but immediately shouted, "Who are you!" and attacked with his daggers. Seeing this, the children seemed to foresee Hajime and Yue being stabbed to the ground, and they couldn't help but cry out in pain.

However, such a future is unlikely to happen.

Hajime easily caught the blade of the dagger with his left hand, and with a strong squeeze, the blade instantly shattered. He opened his palm and the fragments of the blade scattered to the ground.

The man watching was momentarily bewildered by what was happening. He opened his eyes wide in shock and looked at the dagger in his hand. Seeing that only the hilt remained of the dagger, he finally understood what had happened. His face turned pale and he took a step back.

Without a word, Shi approached the man and stabbed his throat with his knife. He then launched a sweeping kick, knocking his head against the ground.

With a crack, the man's skull shattered and he died instantly.

"If you're in charge of surveillance, you should sound the sirens before taking action."

Hajime said this, as if he couldn't stand the other person's stupidity. Seeing Hajime kill the man with a single, swift move, the children's eyes widened in surprise.

Ignoring their gazes, Hajime used Alchemy to dissolve the iron bars. To the children, it looked as if he had made the bars vanish in an instant, leaving them stunned, their mouths gaping in astonishment.

"Yue, excuse me, could you please take care of them? It looks like I'll have to fight for a while longer."

"Hmm... leave it to me."

"The Security Bureau should be arriving soon. We can just hand the children over to them. I'm sure Branch Manager Ilva will make the arrangements... We can just leave all the trouble to him."

Yue looked into the distance with a hint of sympathy in her eyes, and she headed towards the direction of the guild branch.

In fact, before coming here, Hajime found a random adventurer on the road and asked him to deliver the telepathy stone to Ilva, and explained to Ilva what had happened.

Status plates like "Gold" are very useful in times like this. When that ordinary adventurer saw Hajime's rank color, his attitude was like a Japanese person being approached by a Hollywood star on the street. He even saluted Hajime and the others and readily agreed to their request.

Incidentally, since Ilva's side couldn't activate the telepathic stone, he had to listen to Hajime's report on the battle with the massive underground organization and was asked to handle the aftermath. After hearing this, Ilva was stunned in his office.

Just after he said he would make things easy for them, the next day Ilva was involved in a dangerous and surprising adventure... He could only laugh dryly and feel a little regretful.

Hajime once again used his alchemy to create a path from the dungeon to the upper level, leaving the children in Yue's care while he prepared to rush to the auction venue. At this moment, the boy from before called out to Hajime:

"Big Brother! Thank you for saving us! You must save that girl! She was so frightened, and I was completely helpless..."

It seemed the boy didn't mind Myuu being a demihuman, and even seemed to want to cheer her up. He himself was imprisoned, yet he still had such thoughts, a truly brave boy. The boy lowered his head, regretting his own powerlessness, and Hajime roughly stroked his head.

"Wow! W-What?"

"If you're unwilling to give up, then become stronger. There's no other way. I'll help you this time, and next time you encounter something, you can just contribute."

Hajime finished speaking and immediately turned and left the dungeon. The boy stood there blankly, his hands on the head he had touched. The next moment, his eyes gleamed with excitement, his fists clenched tightly, and his expression became more manly.

Yue smiled at the boy and led the children to the ground.

A strange atmosphere enveloped the auction venue.

There were about a hundred customers at the venue, each wearing a strange mask. They made no sound, only quietly raising their numbered tags when their favorite items appeared. They didn't want their identities to be revealed, so they probably thought twice about even making a sound.

They must have been very careful to keep their identities secret, but when the product appeared, they couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise.

A two-meter-long square tank was pushed out, and inside it was a girl from the Sea People tribe, Myu.

She was stripped naked, crouched in the corner of the tank, her knees hugged. Since sea people can breathe underwater, they probably put her in the tank to prove she was a genuine sea person. Perhaps because she had a record of escaping once, her hands and feet were shackled with metal shackles, and the sight of her thin limbs was unbearable.

Myuu felt intimidated by the numerous gazes, but the bidding continued unabated, ignoring her. The price climbed rapidly. Outsiders had clearly witnessed Myuu's presence, yet they still thought they could buy the Sea People without anyone noticing. Perhaps they were still unaware of the commotion that had occurred during the day.

The atmosphere in the venue grew increasingly heated, and Myuu shrank back in fear, clutching a piece of black cloth tightly in her hand. It was Hajime's eye patch. When saying goodbye to Myuu, Hajime was so busy trying to comfort Myuu that he completely forgot about the eye patch. Only later did he remember that he hadn't brought it back and was wearing a spare one.

The eye patch that Hajime wore was a source of comfort for Myuu's little heart.

Separated from her mother, Miao was forced to endure a long and arduous journey and was imprisoned in a dark and filthy cell. In her desperate attempt to escape, she immersed her body in sewage and fled. Just when she thought she could no longer survive, she was enveloped by something warm.

Myuu smelled an alluring aroma and opened her eyes—before her, a white-haired young man with a black cloth covering one eye. Startled, she stared at him, who, seemingly unwilling to look away, stared intently at her. She fought back, glaring at him, but then a delicious aroma distracted her.

He asked Myuu her name, and after she answered, she saw a beautiful red light flash, and was thrown into warm water. Then, a bunny-eared sister with similar white hair, but with a bluish tint, appeared and began to wash her. The warm water and the gentle touch of the bunny-eared sister as she washed her body were incredibly comforting. Before she knew it, Myuu had begun calling her sister, Shia, "Big Onee," completely trusting her.

Being held in her big sister's lap and being fed delicious grilled skewers, Myuu will probably never forget the wonderful taste of that time. As Myuu was concentrating on eating the grilled skewers, the boy named Hajime returned unnoticed.

Myuu was slightly wary, but Hajime pulled out some cute clothes and carefully helped her put them on. As he blew warm air into Myuu's hair and combed it, Myuu felt completely relaxed, and her previous wariness completely vanished.

Therefore, when Miao heard that he would be sent to a place called the Security Bureau and separated from the two of them there, Miao was very, very sad.

Previously separated from her mother, Miu had endured loneliness and fear. Now, in a distant and unfamiliar environment, she finally met a kind older brother and sister. For Miu, she could not bear to be separated from them and become alone again.

Therefore, Myuu resisted with all his might.

She pulled Hajime's hair, repeatedly hit his cheeks, removed the black cloth from his eyes, and threatened, "If you want Myuu back, stay with Myuu!"

However, although Miao wanted to be with them, the older brother and sister eventually left her.

Miao shrank back and thought—

Was it because I hurt my big brother that I was left behind? Did I make him angry by taking the black cloth? Did my big brother and big sister hate me?

Thinking of this, Myuu couldn't help but shed tears of sorrow. If she saw them again, she would apologize for hurting Hajime, return the black cloth to him, and next time, she would definitely ask them to stay with her.

(Big brother... Big sister...)

As Miu muttered to herself, the sink suddenly erupted with a loud noise, a crashing sound. "Ah!" Miu screamed in fear, frowning and looking around. She spotted a man in a mask and a tuxedo, yelling something furiously and kicking the sink repeatedly.

The man seemed to want to increase the price and let the customers see Miu swimming, but Miu showed no signs of moving. The man could not control his temper and kicked the sink violently.

This made Myuu even more frightened, and she huddled down, not moving at all. She clutched Hajime's eye mask tightly, curled up, and tried her best to endure the shaking and impact of the tank.

This man was a member of the cemetery and also served as the master of ceremonies for the underground auction. Seeing that Miu wasn't moving, he worried that the customers might suspect she was ill, which would lower the price, so he ordered someone to bring a stick. He probably intended to use the stick to poke Miu directly, forcing her to move. As the customers began to make noise, he became anxious and couldn't help but curse:

"What an annoying brat! You're just a mere incompetent demihuman. Don't bother humans with your actions."

With that, the man acting as emcee climbed a ladder and prepared to poke Miu with a stick from above. Seeing that, Miu closed his eyes tightly, bracing himself for the impact.

However, the shock did not come, and instead what reached my ears was...

The voice of the man she wanted to hear.

"I'll return that sentence to you exactly as it was, scumbag."

The next moment, a figure leaped from the ceiling, stepped on the MC's head, and then, with a violent force, crushed the man and the ladder to the ground. There was a cracking sound, and blood splattered. This was the scene of a massacre.

A figure made a shocking appearance—Hajime, without even a glance at the man who had been instantly crushed to death, struck the water tank with his prosthetic hand. A cracking sound echoed, and the water tank was destroyed, spilling out.

“Ah!”

The strong current washed Mu outside. She couldn't help but scream, but was immediately warmed and opened her eyes tremblingly.

Right in front of her was the person she had always wanted to see, the person she had been waiting for since she heard his voice—and now he was hugging her. Myuu opened her eyes wide and stared at Hajime, just like when they first met.

"Hey, Myuu, you're always soaked every time we meet."

Hajime said in a joking tone. Myuu still stared at Hajime and asked quietly:

“…Big brother?”

"Putting aside the title of big brother, if you're asking about Mr. Hajime, the one you pulled his hair, scratched his cheeks, and even had his eyepatch taken away, then it's me."

Hajime replied with a wry smile, and Myuu's round eyes suddenly filled with tears.

then……

“Big Brother!!”

She hugged Hajime's neck tightly and sobbed. Hajime showed a troubled expression, patted her back gently, and then quickly wrapped her in the blanket.

As if to interrupt their reunion, the men in black surrounded Hajime and Myuu. The patrons in the auditorium, perhaps believing they couldn't escape, made a commotion, but didn't seem to be trying to flee.