CHAPTER 49: TAMPERING

Grinding his teeth, knowing that Nick was right, Marco gestured to one of the junior clerks nearby, muttering something under his breath.

The assistant vanished through the back door and returned a few moments later with the Lamboda Beast’s body in tow, dragging it on a wheeled slab of blackened iron.

Nick walked straight over it, not even bothering to wait for the assistant to finish carting it over, before he bluntly waved the man away without even glancing at him.

The assistant grimaced at Nick’s rude, disregarding actions towards him, since being disrespected by someone as lowly as Nick, aka the Waste of the War Beast Sanctuary, felt utterly humiliating.

But he couldn’t do anything about it under the attention of so many onlookers.

The moment Nick saw the state of the beast’s corpse, he felt his heart sink.

His breathing stopped for half a second, then it hit him.

The bruising was there. Right shoulder, exactly as described. Purple and black swelling that showed as clear as day under the translucency of its waxy skin.

A cracked rib protruded just slightly beneath the surface, not enough to pierce through the hardened waxy layer, but enough for any butcher worth his salt to use it as an excuse to lower the price. The throat was also mangled beyond belief — clearly not from Nick’s attack.

It had clearly been hacked at crudely after death.

Uneven tears, ragged cuts. Something reminiscent of an amateur at work, which fit Nick’s known persona perfectly.

He only had a month’s experience in the Beast Domain, after all.

But he knew for a fact that he didn’t cause any of that, especially from dragging the beast’s corpse over a hundred kilometres back to the Sanctuary!

It’s hardened skin was way too tough to even gain a single scratch from scraping against the environment!

Nick’s jaw clenched, hard.

His gaze turned murderous as he slowly pivoted his face to Marco again.

"You fucking bastard," he said, voice clearly louder than a whisper — but laced with so much fury that it silenced any remnant chatter in the room.

Marco raised his hands, trying to play innocent.

"Hey, hey, calm down! You clearly didn’t notice the extent of the damage it received! Maybe something happened out in the wild, or while dragging it—"

"Dont. Fucking. Bullshit. Me." Nick warned.

"When I bought the corpse through the Sanctuary’s gates, it was in perfect condition. When I walked through these doors, it was in perfect condition. When I sent it off to your butchers, it was in perfect condition! You think I wouldn’t examine it before dragging it in here? Or before I’d even lugged it all the way through hundreds of kilometres of wilderness!?? Heck, do you think all these veterans in here weren’t all ogling its corpse with their eyes the moment I walked in with it. Do you not only take me, but everyone in this room for absolute fools??"

Now, everyone was staring, and they were no longer laughing.

Every staff member other than Marco, who was surrounded on all sides, was nowhere to be seen...

Nick didn’t care though.

"You’ve not only tried to scam me," he growled, stepping towards Marco until he was practically nose to nose with him. "And when that didn’t work, you tried to tamper with the corpse to cover your tracks? What, did you think I’d just take the original offer because I’m some kind of wuss? Because I’m the ’Waste’, right?"

Marco didn’t reply, but the nervous twitch in his cheek gave him away.

Even though he was a strong, veteran Altered in his own right, standing in the middle of so many others who were probably just as, if not even more strong, made him anxious.

His face paled ever so slightly. Nick had hit cornered him, and he knew it.

"You’ve gotten away with scamming weaklings selling Awakened and Mundane Beast parts. Nobody in the Federation cares about that tier of trash in the grand scheme of things. But Mutant Beasts? That’s where the line is drawn, and you should have known full well."

Nick resisted the urge to attack Marco right there.

"... 40,000 credits." Marco spoke through gritted teeth.

Nick couldn’t help but laugh at his capitulation though.

"40,000? You think that’s going to cut it after you not only tried to scam me, but even tampered with the corpse? Don’t you know that’s a serious offence in the Federation, since the moment I conclude this transaction, it’ll become Federation property? You sure fucked up this time. I’m done dealing with you, go get your boss." Nick ordered through his laughter.

Marco’s snarky facade completely washed away when Nick finally mentioned calling his boss over. He spat to the side, narrowly missing Nick by a few millimetres.

"Fucking hell! You’ve already gone so far, is there a need to take it even further already!? Trash like you should be lucky I even give you any credits! Don’t you mistake your pitiful ability to kill one below average Mutant Beast for strength! You better hope I don’t see you outsi—"

"What’s all this fucking ruckus about!?" A sharp, feminine voice suddenly cut through Marco’s words before he could curse at Nick any further, shutting the man up in an instant as his face quickly lost all its colour.

’Shit, that bitch just had to show up now...’

Regardless of how fucked Marco knew he was now, that same feminine voice continued to speak.

The tall, iron faced woman wearing black battle gear walked through the masses, with everyone moving aside obediently without her needing to ask. She was the one person in charge of the whole beast exchange hall in War Beast Sanctuary.

She wasn’t just some local hired help either, she was a direct employee of the Federation, and had strength nearing that of even Beast Slayer and Dido!

To put it simply, she was a force to be reckoned with...

"Care to explain what all this is about, Marco?" She asked, her tone quickly becoming serious after noticing the serious atmosphere that surrounded the exchange hall.

However, Nick wasn’t about to let him get a word in and start twisting all the facts.