“Stone, Stone Lion! How did you find your way here?” The sve trader aunt’s face was full of panic. She knew full well that even with all the people present, they were no match for the crazed Jubei.

  From the side, the bald uncle Keiji staggered in, “Dogs are man’s best friend, you know? And my ears are pretty sharp too~” He gnced at the bound bear-like man, Kuma, and added, “This big guy’s loud voice—I heard him from way over there.”

  The other sve trader, who appeared to be a coward, immediately tried to rush over to Kuma in an attempt to use him as leverage to save himself.

  But before he could take a step, Jubei yelled, “Die!” With a swift step, he crossed the distance and swung his rge bde. The sve trader’s head flew off, blood spraying from his neck and spttering onto the others nearby. The sight shocked them so badly that one of the traders colpsed, his pants soiled with both urine and the smell of foulness.

  The sve trader aunt took the opportunity to leap out of the window and flee.

  “It’s just a different way of dying,” Jubei spat, watching the fleeing sve trader without giving chase.

  ...

  The aunt didn’t get far before three children blocked her path. She immediately noticed one of the children and her eyes lit up with excitement.

  This girl with gray-bck hair would definitely fetch a higher price than the one she sold before! If I sell her, I can make a comeback and start over—what luck!

  “Children, what are you doing here? There’s a gang of bandits nearby, very dangerous. You should hurry and escape with Auntie.” Though she was speaking to all three, her bloodshot eyes were fixed on Hayami Reina.

  The sve trader was about to die, yet she still harbored malicious intentions and thought of continuing her wicked work.

  Hayami Reina didn’t speak. She stood on her tiptoes, reaching out as if to touch the sve trader’s face. Nagato and Yahiko took a step back, silently observing.

  The sve trader, completely oblivious, crouched down to make it easier for Reina to touch her face. “What is it, little one? Do you want a hug from Auntie?” she said, her voice sickeningly sweet, making Yahiko cringe.

  If it weren’t for Reina, Yahiko would’ve handled this scumbag who kidnapped Konan himself.

  Reina touched the sve trader’s face as she desired, her eyes curling like crescent moons, and a smile began to form on her lips. Her small face dispyed the kind of perfect smile that no one could fault.

  The sve trader froze, already calcuting how much she could sell this girl for. A million? No, at least five million. If luck’s on her side, she could sell her to some daimyo for ten million. This girl is breathtaking.

  And then, in the midst of her greedy thoughts, Reina grabbed her by the hair, yanking her head down violently for a close encounter with her knee.

  The sve trader’s nose caved in, her tears mixing with blood, and her voice came out muffled as she gasped, “Wh-what are you doing?”

  Reina maintained her smile, but her voice was as cold as the Ice Age. “Killing pests.”

  With a flick of her wrist, the bde pressed against the sve trader’s throat. Slowly, under her pressure, the bde sank deeper. As blood bubbled up from the sve trader’s neck, Reina’s smile only grew wider.

  This feeling—it’s addictive! It really is addictive! It’s like when you first pour liquid into an ant nest. At first, you might feel a hint of pity or regret, but by the second or third time, all you focus on is watching the ants struggle to escape. It’s fascinating.

  Reina watched the sve trader’s futile struggles, both in this life and the st—killing pests is such an addictive thrill!

  Seeing Reina’s smile shift from sweet to eerie, Yahiko and Nagato exchanged a gnce. Finally, Yahiko gathered his courage and stepped forward, “Yo, Reina? She’s already dead. We should stop now, let’s go check on Konan.”

  Reina snapped out of her trance, her smile vanishing as she looked down at the corpse—hair still in her hand, eyes rolled back, and the stench of waste all over the floor. She shook off the body with disgust.

  Can’t get addicted to this. “Pests” can be killed as many times as needed, but “beneficial insects” should be spared.

  “Mhm, let’s go. We’ll find Konan.” Just as she said this, Reina’s gray eyes locked onto the body, and to her surprise, a wisp of gray smoke rose from the corpse. An odd, eerie craving filled her chest.

  The smoke surged toward Reina before she could react, striking her. It dissipated, as if it had seeped through her pores and entered her body.

  “What is this?” Reina examined her body, fearful of any changes. Could this sve trader have some curse like Hidan’s, cursing those who kill her?

  “What? What happened?” Yahiko and Nagato looked at her in confusion.

  “A gray smoke came out of the sve trader’s body,” Reina said softly, her mind suddenly struck by a thought, and she stopped herself from saying more.

  “Gray smoke? I didn’t see anything,” Yahiko said, puzzled.

  “Reina, you… you’re under a lot of stress, right? You can talk to us if something’s wrong. Don’t keep it to yourself,” Nagato said cautiously. From the unsettling, terrifying smile Reina had shown when she killed the sve trader, Nagato had already concluded that Reina might be dealing with serious psychological and mental issues.

  ...

  Realizing the implication in Nagato’s words, Reina fell silent. After already being assumed a girl, now she’s also being beled mentally unstable?

  At this moment, Yahiko, ever clueless, finally caught onto Nagato’s meaning and stepped forward to grab Reina’s hand, pulling her along. “Let’s go, we’ll find Konan together!”

  Don’t worry. Even though you’re mentally off, you’re still an important family member to us. We won’t abandon you! Yahiko thought firmly.

  Yahiko was deeply moved by his own thoughts, nodding vigorously to himself.

  Upon entering the house, Reina noticed that apart from the few sve traders who had been killed while resisting, the rest had been bound and were lying on the ground, bloodied.

  Konan had been untied. Seeing the three enter, she immediately ran to Reina, eyes shut, and wrapped her arms around Reina’s back.

  Reina froze for a moment before hugging Konan. This was the first time in two lives that she’d embraced someone of the opposite sex, and strange thoughts began to stir in her mind.

  Just like a female insect. Feels like if I press too hard, I’ll crush her. Heh, how amusing. The guys who bragged about hugging girls in their past lives were truly ughable.

  After comforting Konan a few times, Reina turned to Jubei, nodding toward the remaining bound sve traders, silently questioning why they hadn’t been killed yet.

  “They kidnapped your friends, so I thought it would be best for you to decide how to handle them,” Jubei said, signaling for the trio to take matters into their own hands.

  “I’ll do it,” Reina said eagerly, her mind already working on finding some test subjects. She wasn’t about to miss this opportunity, speaking without hesitation.

  This is bad. It looks like Reina’s psychological issues from before meeting us have finally been triggered. It’s out of control now, Yahiko and Nagato thought, exchanging worried gnces.

  This time, Reina didn’t torture the sve traders. Instead, she efficiently killed them with a single stroke each. As she watched the gray smoke rise from their bodies and enter her own, her suspicions grew stronger.