Former General Is Undead Knight

Volume 3, Chapter 33: Gentleman of Death, Tony Lair⑨

In the deepest part of the underground research facility, the vice-leader of 『Angel of Death』, Tony Lair, was sitting elegantly in his chair with his legs crossed.

「…Well then, is there something you want to tell me, my lovely Robic?」

Kneeling in front of Tony Lair was his toy, the youth named Robic.

「It seems we’ve got a party of intruders.」

「I know. I’m the one who invited them, after all. Thus, I specially prepared the prided sorcerers of our 『Angel of Death』 to welcome them. I want all of them to be tortured to death…」

『Angel of Death』 was a gathering of geniuses, even by the standards of 『Devil’s Piper』, the revolutionary sorcery organization.

One of the Eight Wisemen, the 『Spinner of The Truth』 who was also their leader, was rumoured to be a veteran who had been in 『Devil’s Piper』 since its inception hundreds of years ago.

The leader of the Eight Wisemen, 『Immortal King』, was the strongest. Their right-hand man who was also the second-in-command 『Knight of Blood Mist』 was the second strongest. After that, the leader of their group was the next strongest.

Thus, 『Angel of Death』 was a true gathering of geniuses.

Tony Lair never doubted that fact.

He believed that their group was undefeated.

In the first place, the one who made the plan to besiege the intruders and kill them all was him.

「…Those intruders seem to have managed to defeat the sorcerers of 『Angel of Death』. The situation is strange since none of the sorcerers heading toward the entrance contacted us again.」

「…Uh? Hahaha. Robic, use your brain.」

「Do you really think that the 『Saintess of Life and Death』, Thulenigo-sama; 『God’s Hand』, the Halmain siblings; and 『Laughing Guillotine』Barenman… All of the managers were wiped out…?」

Tony Lair glared at Robic.

Robic raised his face a little bit to gauge Tony Lair’s expression.

Cold sweat was trickling down his young, expressionless face.

「What shall we do then?」

「…Slave have no need to worry about our 『Angel of Death』. Your lame joke is even sh*ttier than horse dung. Do you want me to crush that f*cking throat of yours? You think you can get cocky just because I’m a little bit kinder to you?」

Tony Lair’s tone became rougher as he lost his previous composure.

「But that’s the truth…」

Robic’s reply stayed the same, albeit with trembling lips and a pale face.

There was no trace of scorn left on his face.

Tony Lair placed his fingers on his forehead, pondering for a while.

The youths that he collected as part of his hobby had become his slaves by using torture or sorcery to brainwash them.

They couldn’t lie or betray him.

He ruled them so thoroughly with fear and pain.

Thus, no matter how much they hated him, they wouldn’t be able to kill him in his sleep.

That was something that Tony Lair instilled in them.

But the current situation didn’t even allow such a margin.

‘What’s the meaning of this? The ones who came to Tetomburgh were just a scouting unit of the kingdom, right? Something is amiss here. Someone must’ve manipulated the flow of information. The movement speed of the other party is abnormally fast after all. Is there a spy in our ranks? But the incident that informed the kingdom of our activities was the folly of Count Aubock.’

Tony Lair’s feet tapped the floor in irritation.

「…Does that mean they had long since been aware of the existence of this facility…? Just where in the world is 『Spinner of The Truth』-sama at a time like this?!」

Tony Lair’s wild imagination went full throttle due to anxiety.

After all, it was logically impossible for a scouting unit to invade them on their own.

He thought that it might be a false information spread so that 『Angel of Death』 would let down their guard. Rather than being put down by a small unit, they were most likely facing against a large battalion.

「Oh, whatever… Whether they’re the kingdom soldiers or the church, it seems the time for this Tony Lair to make his move has come.」

Tony Lair stood from his chair and walked toward the entrance of the room.

「Robic, gather my slaves and line them up along the passage. And don’t forget to equip every one of them with a counterbalancing sword.」

「…Counterbalancing sword, eh. I understand.」

「Just a confirmation, you hear me, right? Those ears of yours aren’t for mere decoration, right?」

Tony Lair suddenly stopped, turned around, and pinched Robic’s ears.

「My apologies. I shall prepare the items immediately.」

「That’ll be your top priority. Anyone who dares to come late will spend the rest of their life as a living specimen.」

「Yes!」

Robic bowed and then left in a hurry.

After seeing Robic’s back vanish within the dark corridor, Tony Lair revealed a sneer.

「Let’s see how many of them will survive after this.」

In five minutes, Tony Lair’s slaves gathered in the passage of the underground research institute. All of them were youths with butler attire.

Tony Lair didn’t forget to count them, one-by-one.

「…Seven? There are four people less, Robic.」

「…Parame collapsed after Thulenigo-sama’s training yesterday. I confirmed his death just now. Reylight committed suicide in the bathroom.」

「Such undisciplined fellas, the exact opposite of you, Robic.」

Hearing the contents of Tony Lair and Robic’s conversation, the faces of Tony Lair’s slaves distorted in fear.

As for those who had served him for a long time, they didn’t even flinch.

In this place, the death of their colleagues was a trivial matter.

Moreover, an overreaction would only worsen Tony Lair’s mood, which might result in them being killed or tortured to death.

「Since Shelf is away right now, he might not make it in time. And Nein is dead due to a little joke between Le Look-sama and Tony lair-sama.」

「Huh? Nein didn’t survive that?」

「…The one who killed him was you, Tony Lair-sama.」

「Ah, so that’s what happened, eh? I forgot about it.」

Tony Lair shrugged his shoulders as if it had nothing to do with him.

「Well, this is all of them, I guess. Now, it’s time to hunt the intruder. Since I have no choice but to rely on my subordinates now, I’ll give you special permission to walk in front of me.」