My ‘Tormentor’ ability must be making me a bit more sensitive to certain things, or perhaps I accidentally discovered a way to accumulate negative emotions in bulk.

  Following my giving of a good scare to some pests, night came swinging around, and I once again took off to the empty streets.

  Now, prowling the streets of this well-off neighbourhood was not abundantly simple. With more money came more security. The people living here were basically the city’s piggy bank. They were the ones who paid the most taxes. Those below only provided good money because there were so many of them crawling around, and as for those above, they obviously didn’t pay any taxes.

  Or if they did, it was just some coins found in their pockets.

  In any case, this meant that my job was harder because guards were often patrolling the area, and many areas were illuminated all night long.

  This did not use to be the case, although relatively common, lanterns using energy crystals were still too precious to be used like this, especially when rats could come around and steal them behind the backs of the patrols. But apparently, either their prices had fallen way down, or the city lord had lost his damned mind.

  There were lights at every street corner. This sight was simply obscene to me. I had paid a good sum for my own lantern, and it had been for the cheapest sort, one with a mana crystal that wasn’t even of the light attribute, or of any attribute for that matter, and it had still cost me a pretty penny.

  Let’s move on from that… As much as this annoys me, I have more important matters to attend to.

  Namely, the fact that a steady stream of negative emotions was coming my way right now, and it was coming from all over the place! Was this like when I absorbed the fear of the young boys? Were my actions the previous night discovered? Has the news spread already? Was this causing a subtle sense of fear and anxiety to form within the hearts of those who had heard of it?

  I still had no idea what all this negative emotion was useful for, but it was making me feel oddly at ease to be receiving so much, like I was breathing in the morning’s fresh air…

  Oh crap, some guards are coming this way–I swiftly flatten myself against the wall, well, or rather I just go stand up against a wall, there is no such thing as flattening with this steel body.

  Thankfully, the two guards make another turn and never even glance in my direction.

  I do my best to stay in the dark and cover my bright eyes, but moving around this area simply isn’t efficient. I am constantly walking on eggshells. I’ll need to find a good path to the poorer parts of the city. There seemed to be very few lights and basically no guards there.

  For tonight, however, I eyed the residence of someone I used to dislike.

  …Well, saying it like that, that really doesn’t narrow things down at all. In fact, it might actually be expanding it… But anyway, I couldn’t help but notice that the shy boy kind of looked like someone I knew.

  Whether there was any correlation did not matter. It simply reminded me that if there was anyone I should be paying a visit to, it was this guy–I completely forgot what he was called, but it always annoyed me how he would try to flirt.

  It was honestly insulting that he thought he had a chance with me. He might as well have pissed on my shoes directly!

  ___

  There I stood, directly before the gates to one of the more luxurious residences around. The home was big and featured three whole stories, and presumably a basement as well. Despite the sort of wealth required to buy this particular house, the fences and gates were about on par with the rest of the neighbourhood.

  It was merely mundane iron, no enchantments or whatever else. With a mere squeeze, I was able to break the lock and gain entry into the front yard… Nothing happened. There were none of those arrays or magic circles either, truly, life must be safe here normally.

  Normally.

  My jaw groaned as I readied myself to use it if necessary.

  In the past, I used to be a bit of a sleight of hand and probably could have picked the lock open, but with my new hands, such precise actions were basically impossible, so I could only fall back on brute force.

  Still, a brute did not need to be loud.

  I went around the back and found the back entrance. Just like with the gate, I crushed the door handle and pulled, taking several minutes to do so, doing my best not to create a commotion.

  The lock eventually gave, the door swinging open by itself as though honoured by my presence.

  Now, where the hell are the bedrooms in this place? I bet they have like two or three rooms for guests as well.

  Wait, maybe I could try a little something.

  Since everyone in the area seemed at least a little bit spooked by my actions the previous night, and considering that negative emotions drift toward me from the people experiencing said emotions, if I could just focus–Oh, that’s nice, that’s very nice!

  I found another usage of ‘Tormentor’, after all.

  Stolen story; please report.

  By doing my best to isolate the further sources of negative emotions, I was able to get what was basically a line toward every resident of the house. Now, it was possible that some were not afraid at all, but that would have to do for now.

  From what I could tell, inside this huge place, there were only about six people, and judging by how they were positioned within the residence, four of them were mere servants.

  It depended, but usually, the maids, butlers and the like were left on the ground floor, sleeping in smaller rooms that were all clustered together in the same general area.

  The important people had the upper floors for themselves.

  The one I wanted to say hi to should be upstairs, so I slowly ascended the steps, my huge feet fat, too long and wide to properly fit on them.

  Was this some sort of discrimination against me?

  The entire house was drowning in pitch blackness, but I was managing to find my way around using the threats of negative emotions and by being extremely careful.

  If I take one step too large, there is a good chance that I could accidentally kick a hole in a wall or absolutely decimate the leg of some furniture.

  The first door I reached was slowly pushed open, merely using my index and thumb to carefully turn the doorknob.

  What was inside was not completely imbued with darkness. Light from lanterns outside was peering through.

  My, we meet again so soon! The shy boy was peacefully sleeping in bed, although the stream of negative emotions seemed to indicate that he was still scared out of his wits from their earlier encounter, he had still managed to find a spot in the arms of Morpheus.

  So… There is a kid, and only one other person of importance with four servants? That’s an odd lineup… It makes sense that the old man and woman who lived here died within the twenty years I was gone, but then, where did that kid come from?

  No matter… I just slowly shut the door and find myself some space in the closet facing the bed, the light from outside barely illuminates my jaw sticking out, only that and my two beady eyes are visible.

  “Pssst”

  The boy stirred a little bit, a frown appearing on his slumbering visage.

  “WAke uP”

  “~Waaaaaake uuuuup~”

  Huh, my voice doesn’t sound all weird when I sing, that’s odd… Oh, he is waking up!

  ___

  Stirring awake, the boy yawned and slowly rose in bed. He had just had a rather odd dream, maybe calling it a nightmare would be more appropriate, as some dark figure appeared toward the end, calling out to him, telling him to wake up…

  He had no clue why, but the moment he looked forward, he froze stiff.

  It took him several seconds to understand why.

  Instantly, everything suddenly felt cold as he saw the same purple dots that he had seen in the haunted house. He wished that he were dreaming, but it all felt extremely real, and unlike back then, he would see the outline of what looked like a jaw, a monstrous jaw.

  “COmE Here–I–Will–Not–Hurt–You–I–Will–End–Things–Quick” a corrupted voice emerged from the closet, yet the jaw did not move at all, even as words came in rapid succession, nearly overlapping with one another.

  The boy shook his head from side to side, gathering air into his lungs-

  “SCreAM, I DARE-DARE YOU–It will be the last thing you ever do” strangely, the voice went from horrifically deformed and abject, to that of a woman, a rather pleasant voice at that.

  The young one swallowed his scream, trembling like a leaf as the creature in his closet emitted sounds that were like chuckles coming from behind a knight’s helm.

  “Ahah… I SeE YOuR FRIENDS WeRe not InCoRrEcT–SCAREDY CAT”

  The figure emerged from the closet, towering over the boy and his bed, its jaw unhinging, some sort of black substance floating out from its maw as its maw opened to an absurd degree.

  “I alWAYS HURT, BuT You, WiLL OnLy HuRt FoR a MoMeNt”

  The monster seemed on the verge of ripping the boy's head off like a praying mantis, but just then, the sound of a door squeaking rang out.

  ___

  What impeccable timing! It’s like I have a paid performer!

  My slouched back straightened as my jaw returned to a more natural state, reeling it backwards like this had torn into some of the flesh I had regrown, and it had been impossibly painful, but then again… I was always in agony to begin with. A little flare-up of pain was nothing much.

  Footsteps neared the boy’s bedroom. This was not coming from downstairs. This was the other important person in this house.

  I turned my head slightly toward the child, my bear-trap jaw contorted into what might appear as a maniacal grin as I brought my index finger to my maw.

  “Be quiet, sweetheart”

  My voice was sweeter than honey. I spoke exactly like I used to when I worked at the diner. I hated the children, but they all loved me.

  I was the crush of all the boys, and the model figure of all the girls.

  And that practised side of me must have shone through as the shy boy grew perfectly still and silent. Though it was certainly due to the surprise of my voice rather than my magnificent charisma.

  “Is something the matter over here-?”

  I didn’t even look at who it was. I merely took in their overall silhouette and lunged for their throat.

  I thought long and hard about how to properly harvest negative emotions without allowing my victims to scream for their dear life and alert the whole city.

  The solution was actually rather simple.

  As I seized hold of the man shrouded in shadows, I crushed his windpipe before letting him fall to the ground, whilst trying to breathe.

  Almost thought I broke his neck there. It would have been embarrassing.

  “HEy, KID, KeEp YoUr MoUtH ShUt, UNDERSTOOD?”

  I disappeared back into the hallway, grabbing the man by the head, lifting him off the ground, trying to get a good look at his face as I headed into the now open room he had come from.

  A bit of light peered through the window here as well, allowing me to confirm his identity.

  “L-L-L-Long TIME no SEE! DId YOu mISS ME?”

  Of course, he couldn't answer even if he wanted to.

  Have the servants not heard anything at all yet? Their threads of negative emotions had not moved at all.

  “MMMH, DO I WondeR WHat The WoMaN That LET YOU-YOU-YOU MaKe HER A CHILD looKs Like!”

  “Let US MAKEEEE SUUUURE IT NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN–Shaaaall weeeee~?”

  I am no surgeon, but I knew where the main stuff was to be found.