The door of the Night Song Bar opened, and a man covered in dust walked in. Hungry and thirsty, he approached the bar counter, sat down, and spoke to the bartender.
"Give me a cup of water and a grilled sausage sandwich."
"Okay, guest, please wait a moment."
Following the newcomer's words, the bartender went to prepare the food. Meanwhile, on the other side of the bar, Grego had finished his last cigarette and his last cup of drink. After leaving the money on the counter, he stood up and walked towards the exit door. As he did, he brushed past the new guest sitting at the bar.
Grego reached the bar door, extended his hand to push it open, and was about to head home as usual when suddenly, a clear and loud sound came from behind him.
Grego turned his head and saw that a guest at the bar had accidentally broken the cup in his hand. The drink from the cup splashed onto another guest. The square-faced guest with a full beard was fiercely cursing at the other person.
"What the hell! Kid, are you tired of living?!"
"Ahaha, sorry, Mr., I'll compensate you for wetting your clothes. Can I treat you to this meal?"
Saying this, the clumsy guest paid the bartender, and Grego, who had witnessed this scene, didn't think much of it and turned back to leave.
Just then, his expression froze, and his entire body stiffened, as if he had suddenly realized something.
Standing at the door, Grego slowly turned his head and looked at the man by the bar who was wiping the splashed drink off his clothes. His expression became serious. After staring at the man's face for several seconds, he pushed open the door and walked out without a word.
Inside the bar, Geffrey calmed down from being splashed and wolfed down the food that was served, drank the water, then left his seat. While thinking about what to do next, he walked towards the bar door.
Thinking, Geffrey reached the bar door, opened it, and walked out.
Just as Geffrey stepped outside, a brick, which had been prepared beforehand, was violently thrown at him from his side, hitting him hard on the forehead. The entire brick shattered. Geffrey's head was instantly stunned, and the force of the impact caused him to fall sideways onto the ground.
"Ah ah... ha..."
With his mouth wide open and eyes wide, the somewhat dizzy Geffrey looked in the direction the brick had come from. He saw a young man in plain clothes, around twenty years old, standing by the bar door. His right hand was covered in brick fragments, and his left hand held a heavy steel pipe. The expression on his face as he looked at Geffrey was full of coldness, with even a hint of killing intent within it.
"Thank the Saint Child for bringing you before me..."
Staring at the familiar figure before him, Grego muttered to himself. Seeing the young man with killing intent, Geffrey felt a sense of dread, immediately stood up, turned around, and ran away from the young man.
Although he didn't know where he had offended this enemy, he was clearly not in a state to fight at this moment, so he had to run quickly.
Watching the struggling Geffrey run away, Grego tightened his grip on the heavy steel pipe and chased after him unhurriedly. Familiar with the terrain here, he knew that Geffrey wouldn't be able to escape in the direction he was running.
Soon, Grego caught up with the fleeing Geffrey. He was now trapped at the end of an alley; the direction he had run in was a dead end from the start.
With his back against the high wall at the end of the alley, Geffrey panted as he stared at Grego, who was gradually approaching him, and said,
"Hey... Mr., there must be some misunderstanding between us."
"There is no misunderstanding between us."
After saying this, Grego raised the steel pipe and began attacking Geffrey. Geffrey wanted to dodge, but Grego was much faster than him. Almost all the attacks landed on his body. The heavy steel pipe repeatedly struck the hardened skin, making clear and loud clanging sounds that echoed in the alley.
Facing Grego's offensive, Geffrey, who had been passively taking hits, wanted to fight back but couldn't touch the other person at all. With the agility and speed of a Stealth Shadow, even a Thirster with super physical abilities would only be toyed with in a one-on-one situation.
As a Bonecrafter, Geffrey was Black Rank, one rank higher than Grego. He possessed extremely strong defense but had no significant physical enhancement. It was completely impossible for him to catch Grego in close combat. Without his bone artifacts and spirits, he was no match for Grego.
'This speed, is he a Stealth Shadow?! Damn it! If only I still had my bone artifacts, I would have chopped you up long ago!'
While being continuously beaten with clangs, Geffrey thought angrily. For many "Stone" Extraordinary, eighty percent of their strength came from the equipment and constructs they made, but his equipment had already been stripped by Dorothy beforehand.
Earlier on Knight Road, with his bone blade and spirits, Geffrey could easily toy with a small Hunter Squad led by Grego. If Dorothy hadn't intervened, it wouldn't have been a problem for him to single-handedly eliminate Grego's entire squad, after all, he was a Black Earth Stage. But after losing his spirits and bone blade, he could only be unilaterally beaten by Grego.
A Black Rank "Stone" has skin hard enough to block bullets. Grego's steel pipe naturally couldn't cause any effective damage, but Grego also discovered that although he couldn't break the opponent's skin, the shock caused by the blunt weapon striking could still affect the tissue beneath the opponent's hard skin. This might not have much effect on other body parts, but it was different for the head.
Although Grego's forceful blunt strikes could only cause minor damage to Geffrey's scalp, the shock transmitted to the brain could still affect the brain tissue.
After multiple probes, Grego quickly found the best attack position. Aiming at Geffrey's head, Grego held the pipe with both hands and repeatedly struck one spot. Amidst Geffrey's pleas and screams, he knocked him to the ground, unconscious.
In the alley, looking at the man lying on the ground, unconscious again, Grego panted heavily. After sitting on the ground and resting for a while, he began searching for ropes nearby, preparing to tie him up and take him back to the Bureau.
...
At this moment, above the alley, on the roof of a house, a crow stood there, indifferently observing the situation below. And in a cafe one kilometer away, Dorothy was quietly sipping coffee in a private room.
"Well done, Grego. Catching a Black Rank is a great achievement for you, isn't it?"
While drinking coffee, Dorothy muttered to herself. Yes, regarding her Bonecrafter captive, her method was to release him for Grego to catch, giving her older brother a merit.
Since that guy was useless to her, it was better to let Grego earn some credit. On Knight Road, this Bonecrafter controlling the bone blade had caused significant losses to the Hunter Squad, and the An Yin Bureau would certainly want to catch him.
After all, Grego was her only relative in this world, so taking care of him a little was only natural.
There was a time when Dorothy followed Grego to confirm the location of the An Yin Bureau, knowing that he liked to drink at this bar. So, Dorothy used a Corpse Puppet to arrange the unconscious Geffrey nearby and woke him up at the right time.
Afterward, Dorothy had already arranged enough Corpse Puppets disguised as civilians in that area, preparing to subtly guide the two to meet through various manipulations. For example, the clumsy guest who accidentally dropped his cup and spilled drink on Geffrey earlier was Dorothy's Corpse Puppet. His purpose was to make Grego, who was about to leave, notice Geffrey's presence. There were many other similar arrangements.
Dorothy was actually not too worried about Geffrey confessing any information detrimental to her to the An Yin Bureau. When she fought with Geffrey, she and Vanya were both disguised, so Geffrey didn't see much. As for Aldrich's matter, the Director of the An Yin Bureau must know something to some extent.
Dorothy had already spent 50 pound asking Aldrich for help. If the An Yin Bureau questioned Aldrich based on Geffrey's confession about the origin of the two women who defeated Geffrey that day, Aldrich would say that they were helpers he hired privately from outside Igwinte.
"I wonder... what kind of reward Grego will get this time?" Looking at the street scene outside the window, Dorothy thought to herself while drinking coffee.